and backed away, drawing him farther from Saiman to the car.
A searchlight swept over us, lingered for a second, and moved on. The guards had to have seen
us.
The snake boy kept cutting the air, his swipes enthusiastic but a bit off the mark. Still catching
his breath. If he ever got his wind, we'd be in deep shit. Almost to the car. Step. Another step.
Saiman staggered to his feet.
«Stay away!» I barked.
The snake man glanced back, slashing at me with his right to cover up. I grabbed his wrist with
my left hand, pulled him forward and down, and stabbed the splintered cane under his ribs, into his
kidney. He screeched. I hurled him past me straight into Saiman's car.
His body collided with the passenger door. The defensive spell rippled with a flash of bright
yellow and clutched at the body. Orange sparks flew. The snake man flailed in the ward, stuck to
the car as if glued, his body jerking in a spasmodic, obscene dance. The stench of burning flesh rose
from his chest. His arms flexed. His hands-still clutching the daggers-braced against the car. He
was trying to push free. The ward wouldn't be enough. God damn it, he just refused to die.
I pulled the sticks out of my hair and clenched them in my fist.
With a sound of torn paper, the ward split, exhausted. The snake man broke free and lunged at
me. I kicked his knee. It was a good, solid blow. He went down and I grasped his head by the hair
and plunged the hair sticks into his left eye, once, again, and again, four times. He screamed. I
flipped my hold and buried the sticks in his socket as far as they would go.
The daggers fell from his hands. I swiped one and sliced his throat. The razor-sharp blade nearly
took his head off. Blood fountained, drenching me. I whirled to check on Cesare, but found only
empty space. The Reaper had vanished.
The snake-tongued corpse lay limp and pale in a puddle of its own blood. I looked at Saiman and
raised one red-stained finger. «Definitely not human.»
Saiman's face shook with fury. «This is an outrage. I own a seventh of the House.»
The ward on Saiman's car had been broken. «You mind popping the locks?»
He found the remote with a trembling hand and pushed the button. Nothing happened.
«The magic's up,» I told him.
He swore, produced the keys, and unlocked the door. I grasped Slayer's hilt and instantly felt
better.
Saiman dragged his hand through his hair. «I need you to come back to the Arena with me.»
«No. I have a prior engagement.»
«You're my witness!»
I tried to speak slowly and clearly. «I have somewhere to be.»
«We're in the middle of nowhere. You have no vehicle.»
«I have two legs.»
«If you come with me and tell the House what happened, I'll drive you anywhere you want.»
I shook my head. It would take too long before he was done.
«I'll get you a horse!»
I stopped in midstep. A horse would cut my traveling time by a third. I turned. «A quick
statement, Saiman. Very quick. Then you give me a horse, and I leave.»
«Done!»
As we marched back to the Arena, he said, «I thought you said those weren't blades in your
hair.»
«They aren't. They're spikes. Breathe deep, Saiman. Your hands are still shaking.»
RENE'S EYES WERE CLEAR AND COLD LIKE THE crystalline depths of a mountain lake.
Saiman's indignant outbursts shattered against her glacial composure.
«How long does it take to retrieve one corpse?»
«The body will be here in a moment.»
I perched against a desk. We stood in one of security's rooms. Precious seconds ticked by. There
was nothing I could do about it. Rene was doing her job and I had to let her do it.
Rene glanced at me. «Did you cut out the heart?»
I shook my head. «Didn't see the need. I scrambled the brain and cut his head off. I never had
one regenerate a head on me.»
«True.» Rene nodded in agreement.
Saiman picked up a coffee mug, stared at it, and hurled it against the wall. It shattered into a
dozen pieces. We looked at him.
«Your date appears to be hysterical,» Rene told me.
«You think I should slap some man into him?»
Saiman stared at me, speechless. I had to give it to Rene-she didn't laugh. But she really
wanted to.
A squad of Red Guards came through, carrying the snake man on a stretcher. Two guards and an
older man followed. The man handed Rene a large book bound in leather and spoke softly. She
gave him a crisp nod.
«We take the safety of our guests and especially of our House members very seriously.
However.» She raised her hand and counted off on her fingers. «First, this incident took place
outside of our jurisdiction. Our responsibility for you ends at the white line. Second, this creature