around, and fired. The blast took Megan full in the chest.

around, and fired. The blast took Megan full in the chest.

Kira swore and ran to where Megan lay in the center of the street. The people had all fled. The street

was empty as Kira crouched down over the fallen agent.

"I . . . fucked up . . ." gasped Megan.

"Hold on!" said Kira, holding her hand palm down over the ruin of Megan's chest and hoping

desperately that there was something the runestone could do to repair the horrible damage. But even as

she did so, Megan's eyes glazed over and she was gone.

Wulfgar materialized back inside his apartment, clutching at his chest in pain. The robe was charred

where Megan's bolt had struck him and his flesh was badly burned. So close, he thought, fury consuming

him. So close! He had failed! He had not seen Kira destroy his demon, he had seen only that woman

with the blond hair, attacking him—ahuman adept, attackinghim!— and he had shot her, then he saw

Kira turning toward him and he teleported instantly, barely avoiding the much more powerful bolt of force

that had been hurled at him from the runestone. Barely in time. He would heal, he could still escape, they

had no idea where he was, but he needed to recover his fragmented subconscious selves . . .

As he concentrated, grimacing with pain, a look of horror came over his face. He couldn't reestablish

contact! It could only mean one thing. They were gone! Both gone! Panic flooded into him. He already

felt the weakness overwhelming him, the dizzying sensation of having lost an essential part of himself, and

he tried to think what he could do, but his thoughts were already becoming disorganized and he found

that he could no longer concentrate, could no longer even think clearly. His mind desperately attempted

to form concepts, but all he was aware of was the pain, the loss, the terrifying sense of being incomplete,

forever mentally crippled—

The front window exploded in a shower of glass as a bright, gleaming, gold and silver object came

bursting through it. With a screech, Gomez launched himself from Ramses's back and landed on Wulfgar,

his claws raking wildly as he yowled with feline fury. Wulfgar threw his arms up in an instinctive attempt

to protect his face even as he felt one of his eyes being clawed from its socket. He cried out and fell

backward, with Gomez clinging to him, howling and spitting and clawing at his face, and then he found an

opening and fastened his teeth in Wulfgar's jugular vein.

Blood shot out in an arcing fountain, spurting high as Gomez tore savagely at Wulfgar's throat. A horrible

gurgling came from the necromancer and he thrashed desperately on the floor, unable to dislodge the cat.

Gradually, his thrashing grew weaker and weaker, until he finally lay still in a spreading pool of blood.

Gomez kept tearing at his throat, growling and digging in with his claws, until he heard a familiar voice

behind him.

"Let him go, Catseye. Let him go. He's dead."

Gomez stopped and raised his bloody face from the ruin that was Wulfgar's throat. Blaize was standing