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And then soundlessly, without distinct words, the lesson came

The ravening lust which they had just witnessed, the deaths they had seen at my hands-that was to be the eternal res and ain The males had been sacrificed to the embodiment of their own violence

In sum, these women had witnessed a new and transcendent ritual; a new holy sacrifice of the Mass And they would see it again; and they must always remember it

My head swa ago were there to torment me I had wanted the world of e of evil in the theater of the world and thereby soood

And noas that ih the minds of these few simple souls into myth as she had pro in e: be careful what you wish for; your wish ht come true

Yes, that was the heart of

it; all I'd ever wished for was coed to awaken her, and dreaether, she and I, and the hymns rose around us Hosannas Cries of joy

The doors of the palazzo were thrown open

And ere taking our leave; ere rising in splendor and inout of the doors, and up over the roof of the oldwaters into the calm sweep of the stars,

I had no fear of falling anynificant Because my whole soul-petty as it was and always had been-knew fears I'd never iined before

Chapter 32

THE STORY OF THE TWINS,

PART II

SHE WAS DREAMING OF KILLING IT WAS A GREAT dark city like London or Ro, to bring down the first sweet human victim that would be her own And just before she opened her eyes, she had s she had believed all her life, to this si She had done what the reptile does when it hoists in its leathery slit of athat soft heartbreaking song

Awake in the dark; and the house alive above her; the old ones saying Coin Mary had appeared on an island in the Mediterranean Sea