and a hideous, snapping, crunching noise as Hattori went down

beneath the creature’s weight. Kawashima screamed and turned to

run.

There was a figure standing in the alley, blocking his way.

Kawashima didn’t stop, but kept on running full speed, intent only

on escaping from that horror that had killed Hattori. The figure’s

eyes seemed to light up with a bright green glow and suddenly he

was falling.

He struck the ground hard and tumbled, then scrambled to his

feet… only to discover that he wasn’t in the alley anymore. He had

no idea where he was. He was in some sort of an enclosure, in what

looked like an underground plaza. With a sharp intake of breath, he

glanced around and saw burning torches, a strangely glowing pool,

and some sort of shrine standing in the center of it, on a large

pedestal. It looked like it was made of solid gold. Splattered with

dried blood. He heard footsteps behind him and spun around.

It was a woman. The most beautiful woman Kawashima had ever

seen. She was dressed all in black leather, with high-heeled boots

that clicked on the floor as she approached him slowly. She was tall

and long-legged and the leather hugged the lush curves of her body.

Her fire-red hair fell down past her shoulders and her skin had an

incredible coppery-golden hue. Her eyes were a bright, almost

phosphorescent shade of green. Under any other circumstances, on

finding himself alone with such a woman, he would have been

seized with a paroxysm of lust and would not have hesitated to

satisfy it on the spot. But the emotion that seized him now was

fear. Fear and confusion. For a moment he thought he must be

dreaming, but what had happened to Hattori was no dream. It was

a nightmare.

He raised his gun and aimed it at her. “Who are you?” he

demanded, his voice strained. “Where am I? How did I get here?”

She smiled. Her eyes flared with a hellish green light and the

gun in his hand suddenly glowed red with searing heat. He cried

out and dropped it, clutching at his hand. The skin on his palm and

fingers was charred and blistered. She came closer. Trying to ignore

the agonizing pain in his right hand, he reached with his left hand

for the small of his back and pulled i