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I HAD TO TURN MY BACK ON THE HAG, TO HAVE ANY CHANCE OF REACHING the gun I gave her my back; my hand was under the pillow, and claws slashed un Clawed hands wrapped aroundme to the floor I hit the floor hard,

unarmed, and Nerys was on me before I could catch h the slacks I kept trying to kick at her and get to avethe air, my slacks, the flesh underneath, until I crawled to the wall, and there was nowhere else to run

She was shrieking at me "He’s ours! Ours! Ours!" Each as punctuated with a slash I hadto strip the flesh from my arlow to be gone in a wash of terror and pain, but I was still a shining thing Blood spilled out of lowed I felt power like a war out, but not like any hhesitated

Then she yelled, "I’ll eat your skin off, girl, and you won’t glow anymore" She slashed my ar at my face, my eyes

I pushed my hand into her bony chest between her breasts, and power spilled upShe stopped trying to slash hburned all at once I screarew until I looked at Nerys through vision gone grey and spotted I was close to passing out from the pain, and if I did that, Nerys would killpulled apart with red-hot knives I finally found voice to screaain, and Nerys joined ainst the side of the bed She watched me ide eyes, a look of disbelief on her twisted face Her skin began to floas the only word I had for it Her skin began to flow like thick water, spilling over her hand like a glove

Nerys was screa, "No, no!"

Her body began to fold upon itself, the bones sliding out of place, thein water Blood spilled onto the carpet, then thicker, darker fluids burst in an acrid wash from her I watched her heart move to the surface of her body and draw the rest of her internal organs with it like a string offish She screa tie round ball of flesh, you could still hear her screa turned inside out didn’t stop that

My pain was fading now like an amputated lis It had been one of his hands of power, the one that earned hi for the door, watching that pulsing,that I had nes straddling Sholto She’d taken that shining piece of hi, but she held his ars as are one of thenes’s voice chase me down the hall "Nerys, kill that white bitch" The last thing I heard was a plaintive, "Nerys?"

I was in the elevators before the next round of screanes had wanted me dead before, what I’d done to her sister wouldn’tti, cold I raisedwith that sharp pain that only slash cuts give, but my left arm was the worst I could see bone in the cut on the side of my left forearm Blood flowed from it to run in a steady, red stream from my elbow to the elevator floor My slacks were soaked nearly purple with blood

I was hurt enough for shock, but I didn’t think that was it It was the ic I’d done what could only be a hand of power I’d done so my father could have done It was his ret, because they don’t die Nerys wouldn’t die She would be trapped in a prison of her own flesh and fluids forever Blind, unable to feed or breathe, but never dying Never dying

A scream built at the back of my throat, and I knew that if it canes found me and pulled out un in the roo to bind e my bra so that my breasts were covered

The elevator doors opened, and a couple alot in, then saw me Shock, fear showed on their faces, and they let the doors slide shut I’d forgottenlike this

Personal glaled as never before, to throw a veil of it over me The best I could do wasnothing above the waist but a bra I couldn’t seelah, and I couldn’t see myself in my head I couldn’t visualize it, and without that, I couldn’t do glamour

The doors opened to the lobby, and I walked out No one screaht I was going to be all right Then I saw Segna the Gold sitting on the plush oval couch in the center of the lobby She watched me with narrowed yellow eyes

I turned on my heel and went for the back entrance, and found Gethin of the Hawaiian shirt and the baseball cap a few yards away, in front of the other doors I searched that bright, busy lobby, all the s out, and knew that they could kill me here on this flowered carpet and no one would know until round and my murderers had fled

The ladies’ room was visible from where I stood I didn’t question it, just walked calmly to it When the door shushed behind th on the door I had enough blood co out of my body that I could have written a letter I pressed ht have feared doing it so soon after what I’d accidentally done in the room, but I had no choice I poured my power into that door, those runes, and I knew that no one of the blood would be able to pass I knew it, because I willed it so, and I was sidhe, and I had warded the door with my own blood No one uses blood-it’s too powerful to waste on ss, not to mention unsanitary-but a little overkill wasn’t a bad thing tonight I needed tie area with its sofa and line of mirrors, to the real bathroom beyond What I saw in the far wallThere was aset high in the wall All I had to do was get to it

I grabbed a handful of paper towels to shove against the worst of the ar to stand on Once outside I was going to have to find medical help But I had to survive first, or the onlywas from the medical examiner