Stephie's mouth was open in a silent scream. She stood petrified, absolutely

frozen with terror, unable to believe the horror she'd just witnessed. Two

men,

both armed with guns, and only one had time to get off a shot... and even

then

it had been too late. She had no chance. None whatsoever. The Ripper slowly

turned back to her. Something snapped. She turned and ran screaming down the

alleyway.

Joey slowly walked after her, his pace unhurried. The alley ended in a

cul-de-sac.

She reached the end and stopped, staring at the brick wall with an agonized

expression. She spun around and saw him coming toward her purposefully. Her

eyes

were drawn to the gleaming steel blade he held at his side. She started to

cry.

Then she noticed the long black limousine pull up and stop at the mouth of

the

alley. The door opened and someone got out.

"Help!" she screamed. "Help me! Please, help me!"

The Ripper turned and looked over his shoulder, but the dark figure just

stood

there by the car, motionless, silhouetted in the light from the lamppost at

the

mouth of the alley.

Sobbing, Stephie shook her head, unable to believe that no one was going to

help

her. The Ripper seemed to nod at the figure standing at the mourn of the

alley,

then he turned back to face her.

"You said you knew what I needed," he said with a smile.

And then he started coming toward her.

Blood awoke to the insistent beeping of his pocket pager. It felt like sonic

needles going through his brain. He slapped at it repeatedly until he managed

to

shut it off, then he grabbed his head and groaned. It felt as if someone had

pumped up his brain until it threatened to explode his skull.

"God," he said, moaning, "if you make tin's go away, I'm never going to take

another drink as long as I live."

But God was apparently not feeling very sympathetic. The pain of the hangover

persisted. Against his better judgment, Blood opened his eyes. And

immediately

closed them once again.

"All right," he said to himself, pressing his fingers up against his temples,

"it seems you didn't spend the night at home. Now think. Where the hell were

you

last night? What happened?"