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The immortals surrounding Molly and her sister were still too weak to be
effective. The attentions of the two who might provide genuine resistance were
fixed on his two alter egos. And the two people who stood in the way of his
plans for Earth and the worldchain sat in a cage of their own making with a
child who had the smell of future trouble about him. They were armed and they
were wary, but they were also vulnerable. If he could somehow draw them out of
their cage&
Molly teetered on the brink of the long fall into dark godhood. Enough of her
remained that she was still aware of all that she had lost, and still cared
that she had lost it. Enough remained of her humanity that she feared the
inhumanity that spread inside her that held the majority within her now. She
feared, too, the hunger for the drug of death and the desire for power that
came with it. Shamed by the realization of what she was, she already yearned
for oblivion.
If he could push her closer to the real self in her that longed to come out,
if he could force her to embrace that hunger, he could help her find the
nonexistence she wanted. She was already close he would need only a little
push to send her the rest of the way.
He studied her for a moment, and her sister, and the little boy.
The child was the key, wasn t he? She d died for him, setting herself on this
path. She bore some resentment toward him for that. Resentments could be fed.
Nurtured. Prodded.
Baanraak smiled down at the just-waking Rekkathav and said,  You did well,
Snacklet. I think perhaps I won t eat you today.
He left the observation room, heading for the Hub control room and for a
convenient, maintained gate. His audience in the arena could wait. Only a fool
would let an opportunity like this one slip between his talons, and Baanraak
was no fool.
Cat Creek
 So as long as they re inside, they re safe, Pete said as he and Heyr stepped
out onto the back porch.
 More or less. Heyr bound the door behind him so that it would not permit
passage to any save the five of them. He would have sealed it entirely, but
the chance always existed, however remote, that something would happen to
break his bonds with the Earth, and that Baanraak would triumph and Heyr would
die. He would not chance leaving the hope of this world caged, should that
happen.
 Then we don t have to do anything but sit out here and wait for the Baanraaks
to realize they can t get in and go away.
Heyr looked at Pete. The back porch light showed more than it should
have Pete s skin was an unhealthy gray, sheened with sweat in spite of the
coldness of the night. Pete hadn t yet found a way to filter the little bits
of live energy left on the planet so as to block out the poisons, and this
wasn t something Heyr could show him. Only experience could do that and Heyr
didn t know of any way to speed experience. Pete would get it eventually, if
he didn t give up first, or go mad in the interim. Heyr frowned, sympathetic
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with Pete s suffering, and said,  Unfortunately, this is a siege situation.
Not favorable to us. We don t know how long they are prepared to stay out
there, but we do know that we can t keep Lauren and Jake and Molly inside
forever.
 So we have to destroy the Baanraaks.
 Yes.
 Only we can t see them.
Heyr sighed.  We have some options. We can try to make them visible. We can
try to lure them out. We can shoot at where we think they are.
 We could use more people.
 We could use more immortals. More people would just get in the way and get
themselves killed. In fact  He waved a hand and cast a shield around Lauren s
house and yard. It would hide the ungodly events that were about to erupt
there from anyone on the outside.  Let s make sure we don t draw attention
from the mortals. He shrugged.  We aren t going to get help from the rest of
the Sentinels. You re the only one standing, and you re barely on your feet. I
can t believe you re here, actually.
 I couldn t leave Lauren to get through this without me.
Heyr nodded.  Love can work miracles.
Nearby, a gate opened softly, smoothly, making almost no ripple and something
came through. Heyr got an instant s impression of massive size, terrible
power, endless intelligence, and bottomless evil. And then, as if a door had
closed, nothing.
His heart sped up, and his groin tightened and his belly knotted. Without his
realization that he had called it, Mjollnir was in his hand. He knew the shape
of that evil, and knew how it felt to have the weight of that intelligence
aimed against him.  We re going to need a miracle, he told Pete.
Pete looked at him sidelong, and his eyes narrowed. In an instant his weapon
was in his hand, the safety thumbed off.  Why?
 A third Baanraak just arrived. And this one feels like the Baanraak I
remember who once nearly killed me.
Cat Creek
One minute Molly was sitting there trying to block out the discomfort of being
so close to Lauren and Jake. The next, she was hungry.
Hungry in a way she d never been before, though. The life that radiated from
her sister and her nephew suddenly smelled like food to her. With that much
life in them, think about how much death will be in them. They owe you. You
died for that little bastard, and he won t even look at you now. You gave up
everything for your sister you gave up your lover and your life and your place
in a world where you belonged and where you had no pain, and she doesn t trust
you enough to close her eyes while you re in the same room.
Molly s blood burned, her belly ached, her skin tingled. She had never known
hunger like this. She could taste the two of them so near her. They were
incapable of reacting in time to save themselves if she chose to take them.
She could not use Loki s gun against them, but she still wore Seolar s dagger
at her hip. She d changed that, had turned it into a weapon worthy of a god,
and even here on Earth it would have those qualities.
She sat on the tub, eyes still closed, and saw herself killing the two of
them. Saw herself crouched over them, eyes closed in ecstasy, drinking death
and feeling the power pour into her like a drug. Feeling herself expand,
feeling her mind encompassing the whole of the universe through a gate of
darkness.
She was a dark god who had not yet claimed her birthright. She clutched
eternity in one hand, with the whole of this world spun out before her, naked
and vulnerable and ripe for the taking. And all that stood in her way if she
decided to claim what was rightfully hers were two people who owed her who had
both played a part in making her who she was. What she was.
Her hand slipped to the pommel of the dagger, and she opened her eyes, and
Lauren noticed and smiled at her a tired, worried smile. Lauren was holding [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]