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The pain stole his voice For a few seconds his lips ainst his hair It slid like black silk against my cheek Then his words came, softer than a whisper “This isn’t the end, my own Have faith Even death will not keep me from you”

He tried to lean forward, to holdon the palainstinto my chest It should’ve been me Should’ve been ainst his His breath barely puffed, but he returned the kiss Tears burned behind my eyes Trickled out from the sides like salt in a wound

The first Hazo pressed through the doorway Charged The rest would be on us soon No more time, no more, no more

I didn’t want to believe he’d taken a mortal wound, but I saw the placerief, I screamed as I never had before, past pain, past sanity, and I pulled the knife out, but it was too late His red, red blood gushed over the ri shock wave ofit crih The water gate formed in an unnatural swirl overhead, and Shannon pulled me toward it

I tried to carry hi buckled His body fell against the fountain The stone that had been ht as sunrise at ered me

The Hazo thundered toward us

“We have to go,” Shan shouted, “or this is for nothing He died for nothing”

Weeping and blind, I dove through the gate and howled as half my soul ripped away

Collateral Dae

The gate dumped us in an alley—a one-way trip—it ed demons to mai the athaed the blade tobursts On soetwith a bloody knife in my hands, it would mean trouble

Bad trouble

For Shannon, I had to get ether

But I couldn’t The tears wouldn’t stop falling, and then I felt her beside ainst my hair and stroked my back as if I were a child Now and then, Shannon choked back her own sobs as if she kneouldn’t serve any purpose for us both to lose it She was so da

Oh, Chance, no Not like this I can’t live through this I can’t

“He loved you,” she hispering “So damn much”

The words meant to comfort only made it worse I’d never wanted him to love me so much that he died for me There was so much blood…

Stop With ih I had never been this broken First my father, and now Chance It was too ainst a broken brick wall The darkness of the wrecked building loole I could alreat yawning hole echoed inside of me, as if I’d had more than my heart ripped out in the last thirty seconds I was…empty Incomplete

I sat away from Shannon and brushed the damp hair away from her cheek; it was sticky with sweat or tears or both “Are you all right?”

“No,” she said, her voice thick “He shouldn’t have—”

“I know” I didn’t say he’d done it for me, for us, but she understood I’d asked the question of myself before, but now I had h; I had been ready to die beside Chance, but he’d inflicted upon ain and then forcing me to live without him

“We’llmy thumbs, I wiped away my tears and blotted my face on my sleeve

I glanced down to see how bloody I was, and then I realized the black I’d preferred as the demon queen didn’t show the stains The fabric simply sed the from head to toe, I pushed toenough to survive anything Even the unthinkable Even this

Fortunately, Shannon had gathered our things before pulling ate Otherwise, I’d be injured, exhausted, brokenhearted, and stranded wherever ithout any recourse I couldn’t think about Chance Had to focus on oneabout the future was impossible With effort, I turnedmy purse from Shannon, I opened it to hide the bloody athame and Butch popped out

“You made it,” I said in relief

The little dog sniffedaway my tears At least I still had Butch…and Shannon For now

First order of business was to figure out where ere

I picked up s from where Shannon had dropped them—all I had left of Chance—and spun in a slow circle The buildings were old, shoddy brickwork and rickety fire escapes claraffiti had been sprayed all down one side, but it was in a different style than what I’d encountered in Mexico City Plus, the air was cool and damp, the sky overcast

“Where do you think we are?” I asked Not because I expected an answer, but because I thought she needed the question, giving her a reason to separate fro else

I could do it, one minute at a time, but I had never wanted those minutes less

She took her own inspection and then shrugged “I’m not sure Nowhere I’ve been before”