Fear didn’t begin to expin what the first worker felt as he tried to climb up the dder. Grabbed by his foot, the man hooked his arms around the metal in an attempt to hold on. Laughing, the shadewraith formed another six hands and arms, then pulled the man into pieces. Every slice of skin or bone break, added to the beast's power, fuel and vileness. “Yes..scream…beg for mercy…”

  After following the screams for a half-block, Aaron found the manhole and looked down just as the shadewraith turhe st worker into a pile of rotti. “Totally gross.” He paused and pulled a few bloodstones from his pocket and threw o the Shadewraith without any effect. “Boss! These fu things don’t work!”

  Without muergy left, Jester summoned all the words he could. “Aaron, crush thes..its the powder…” His words trailed off.

  Bopping his head side to side and rolling his green eyes, Aaron sighed. “I should have guessed that, stupid me.” Digging out a full hand of bloodstones, he ground them into a fine powder and dumped it down the manhole and blew the remaining dust from his hands, actally making the other dust billow out wide and cover the area, including the three shadewraiths. “Awesome, that is so cool.” He ented as the monsters fshed their metallic teeth and howled in both pain and glee at their deaths. “Boss, that is a little creepy.” Once he grabbed the thid long bhat filtered out all sunlight, Aaroly leapt down into the hole, and spotted his severely injured master. Kneeling so he could look into Jester’s eyes, Aaron lifted his head. “Master..I am going to pull out the same way it went through you. Your heart is outside of your body..I am thinking it o be there.” Slowly removing the devil device from Jason’s body, freed the vampire immediately.

  Reag up to grasp his ward by the shoulders, Jason colpsed in his ward’s arms. “Get me the fuck out of here.” He focused on Aaron for a moment. “Did Kerry make it?”

  Aaron shrugged and offered his wrist to Jason. “No clue, I have beeing all the rocks. The trunk is basically full.” Sighing with delight when Jason started drinking from his wrist, Aaron used his free arm and buhe vampire so the sunlight wouldn’t harm him. “Boss, we ’t stay long, the police are on the way. Too many people heard the others screaming, pictures and video everywhere.”

  Wheer reached a twelve t, he licked Aaron’s wrist closed and double-checked the b for plete ce. “Yonna have to carry me to the car, I am still regeing.”

  -Sylvie and Casey-

  Hours of dialing and speaking to the myriad of people that Sylvie kept seeing iime danger, Casey heard a little beep and then tossed the dead phone across the bed with a huff. “That was the st call, you’ve mao drain two phones, Sylive.” She leaned down and kissed her partner on the lips, without getting a response. “Snap out of this darling, we ot do anything more uhese things get charged.” Casey shrugged and hopped off the bed, found the two charging pads and dropped their phones on it. Within seds the battery dispy appeared in both windows, indig they were recharging.

  Walking into the kit, Casey gathered the st of the blood supply bottles and headed back to their room. “We’ve called just about everyone you know. Even a few you didn’t. I was not thrilled to talk to those two leaders in Rid. I thought you told me Rid should haheir own.” Casey stopped talking long enough to drink some blood, so she could offer her wrist to Sylvie and keep her sated.

  Other than the gentle sug of blood from her wrist, Casey didn’t get a response from Sylvie. When she ted to ten, Casey pulled away and licked her wrist closed and kissed Sylvie a sed time, clearing the blood from Sylvie’s sweet vermillion lips. Uo do anything else, Casey crawled beside her partner and pulled her tight against her body. “I’m here, Sylvie. These things hit about everyone we know tonight and some we don’t really know.” She sighed, “They took down two of those cartel folks, and attacked Amos and Samantha in Vera’s apartment, You even saw An.” Casey twirled one of Sylvie’s gray rows in her fingers. “We have a few rocks in case they e here…which I will need your help for, baby.” She paused, “e bae, Sylvie.”

  When Sylvie saw that Jason was safely on his way home, Sylvie’s snap visions stopped as quickly as they started. Her third eye closed and released her psyche allowing the flood of emotional turmoil to mix in her blood. Rolling over and desperately grasping Casey, couldn’t trol her weeping a streams of blood all over her fad . The overwhelming picture was that of her trusted fidant, Martin Shores. Repying his death in her mind dozens of times, Sylvie shook untrolbly knowing she’d never hear his rich voiymore. “He…he’s, just gone.” She mao whisper the words between bouts of sobbing. “Why was I allowed to save him, just for him to die to those things twenty years ter?” Sylvie peered up into the heavenly gold eyes for an answer of some kind. “Wouldn’t …. wouldn’t letting him go to cer beeer? That would have been peaceful.”

  Blinking her soulful yellow eyes, Casey slowly kissed away the streaks of tear-blood from Sylvie’s cheeks. “More peaceful, certainly.” She lifted Sylvie’s with a single soft touch, “He knew what he was getting into, just like I did with Vivienne. You bought him more time with those he loved, and yourself.” Casey pressed an inte loving kiss on Sylvie’s quivering lips, then slowly pulled baire her partner’s half-moon irises. “You know he loved what he did, you could see the tent look in his eyes.” Casey softly purred for her lover, “I will say that he was a charmer, he and I..”

  Sylvie sniffled and half-ughed, “Yeah, I know. I saw it. Drunk off your asses, the both of you.” She leaned up and kissed Casey. “I was genuinely shocked you mao talk yourself out of his arms. He could be quite charming, as you well know.”

  Laughing lightly, Casey agreed with Sylvie. “Those are the memories to hold onto, We’ll figure something out for a memorial. Right now we have to deal with the fallout of this chaotic day.”

  “Right. An first.” Sylvie muttered, then snuggled deeper into Casey’s tender arms. “We will first deal with our new guest, then find Jessid then deal with An.”

  “Guest?” Casey cooed, “What guest?”

  ing her legs around Casey’s and rubbing their feet together, Sylvie sighed and answered. “His name is Cisbsp; I don’t know much else than his name, so he’s a guest at the least.” She winked, “Possibly a meal at worst.”

  “Devil..woman.” Casey slowly whispered and leaned in for another kiss.