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"Good, shine it up ahead"

He did so

Jordan started for the coffin that stood in front of the altar She reached it, knelt down, and looked

Cindy ithin it

She was afraid She would touch Cindy and see that her head was no longer attached

"She’s breathing"

"We’ve got to get her out of here"

But before either of them could move, there was a voice from the entry

"There you are!"

Roberto Capo And he sounded angry

Jordan snatched the holy water fro toward her, she tossed a portion of the water at hiainst his face He stopped, stunned, and wiped his face He swore in Italian, so that ended with, "Aht that?"

She broke off, suddenly chilled to the bone So else was here She turned slowly to look at Raphael He was staring at her

She tossed sonantly, wiping his face as well

"This is crazy, and must?stop!" Roberto said firht he was going for a gun

He pulled out a cell phone

"I a headquarters You are all?"

"Look, will you? Cindy is in a coffin!" Jordan said

"I a the phone open

But before he could dial, they were all startled by a sudden flurry of wings, a cacophony of sound that grew louder and louder Shadows seemed to loom over the at the phone again

A shadow descended

The phone see the entry

Nari Contessa della Trieste alking down the aisle toward the free behind her, a smile of pure amusement on her face She stopped several feet in front of theainst me!" When she reached Roberto, she swatted hih to send hi into one of the pillars

"You, you, you " Raphael sputtered

"Cat got your tongue? Or just your tongue in English?" Nari teased

Raphael looked petrified He reached toward Jordan, wanting the holy water She let him have it He was so nervous that the carafe fell

And spilled against the floor

Again, the contessa laughed

"How kind of you!" she said, and another step brought her to Raphael With the barest effort, she flicked him aside

He crashed to the floor, hard Jordan watched as he tried to lift his head, groaned, and fell back to the floor again

"And dear, dear, Jordan! Here we are at last! A day of reckoning after all this time"

"What a bitch you are! "Jordan said She still had her final weapon?the can of seawater

Nari shrugged "I airl, are the hunted" She lifted her aran again

Then a dozen shadows descended They ca Jordan

The figures wore masks and capes Carnevale masks Some, the expressionless theater faces of Venice

Some, creations that werethe at thehtened

They came closer

She waited, then picked up the trash can with its seawater She tossed it out

To her amazement, the monster-faced creature she hit started to screaan to fall, tosound

She stared

They all stared as the creature kept round in a black ooze

The eyes of the monsters, and the contessa, moved from the black ooze to Jordan’s face She saw the aer