diana

Female say Pack Leader stop,_ Pack Leader said angrily.__hat?_ Caine could make no sense of it till he saw Diana striding up, dark hair flying, eyes furious.__ told this filthy beast to stop,_ Diana said, barely controlled.__top what?_ Caine demanded.__hey__e still attacking the kids,_ Diana said. __e__e won. Sam is dead. Call them off, Caine.__aine turned his attention back to the battle between Drake and the monster. __hey__e coyotes,_ Caine said coldly.Diana flew at him. __ou__e lost your mind, Caine. This has to stop. You__e won. This has to stop.___r what, Diana? Or what?_ Caine demanded. __o get Lana. I__ hurt. Pack Leader, do what you want.___aybe this is why your mother abandoned you,_ Diana said savagely. __aybe she could see that you weren__ just bad, you were twisted and sick and evil.

It__ only a scratch, don__ cut my arm off!

Desire urges me on, while fear bridals me.

I__ sorry for hurting you. I know I did. I__ most likely dead now, and I guess if there__ any kind of fairness in the afterlife I__ probably in hell getting roasted. But if that__ where I am, I want you to know, I still love you. Always did. Love, Caine

Come live with us, Diana. Don't argue. Just say yes."Diana looked at the ground to hide her emotions. Then she said, "Would I have to be hearing you two going at it night and day?

Say it. But...""But what?" he asked.She whispered it, sounding too vulnerable. "But only if its the truth, Caine. Only. If.""I love you," he said.

You can't comfort the afflicted without afflicting the comfortable.

On the day Princess Diana died, a group of students had gathered before a lecture, talking about what they had heard on the radio that morning, repeating __aparazzi_ over and over, all sounding knowing and cocksure, until, in a lull, Okoli Okafor quietly asked, __ut who exactly are the paparazzi? Are they motorcyclists?_ and instantly earned himself the nickname Okoli Paparazzi

Has Orc shown up here?_ But neither Caine nor Diana answered. Both were staring at Drake, who sauntered toward them, all his cockiness restored, no longer the ragged scarecrow who had wept when he saw the melted stump of his hand lying on the tile floor. __rake,_ Caine said. __e thought you were dead._____ back,_ Drake said. __nd better than ever.__he red tentacle unwrapped itself from around his waist, like a python releasing its victim.__ike it, Diana?_ Drake asked.The arm, that impossible bloodred snake, coiled above Drake__ head, swirled, writhed. And then, so fast that the human eye could barely register the movement, it snapped like a bullwhip.The sound was a loud crack. A mini__onic boom.Diana cried out in pain. Stunned, she stared at the cut in her blouse and the trickle of red from her shoulder.__orry,_ Drake said with no attempt at sincerity. ____ still working on my aim.___rake,_ Caine said and, despite the blood, despite Diana__ wound, he grinned. __elcome back.___ brought some help,_ Drake said. He extended his left hand, and Caine shook it awkwardly with his right. __o. When do we go take down Sam Temple?

If you do bad stuff and don't repent, you go to hell," Orc said, like he was begging for a refutation."Yeah, well, you know what? If Howard's in hell, I guess we can all have a big get-together soon enough. a

Drake's whip hand spun Diana like a top.She cried out. That sound, her cry, pierced Caine like an arrow.Diana staggered and almost righted herself, but Drake was too quick, too ready.His second strike yanked her through the air. She flew and then fell.__atch her!_ Caine was yelling to himself. Seeing her arc as she fell. Seeing where she would hit. His hands came up, he could use his power, he could catch her, save her. But too slow.Diana fell. Her head smashed against a jutting point of rock. She made a sound like a dropped pumpkin.Caine froze.The fuel rod, forgotten, fell from the air with a shattering crash.It fell within ten feet of the mine shaft opening. It landed atop a boulder shaped like the prow of a ship.It bent, cracked, rolled off the boulder, and crashed heavily in the dirt.Drake ran straight at Caine, his whip snapping. But Jack stumbled in between them, yelling, __he uranium! The uranium!__he radiation meter in his pocket was counting clicks so fast, it became a scream.Drake piled into Jack, and the two of them went tumbling.Caine stood, staring in horror at Diana. Diana did not move. Did not move. No snarky remark. No smart-ass joke.__o!_ Caine cried.__o!__rake was up, disentangling himself with an angry curse from Jack.__iana,_ Caine sobbed.Drake didn__ rely on his whip hand now, too far away to use it before Caine could take him down. He raised his gun. The barrel shot flame and slugs, BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM.Inaccurate, but on full automatic, Drake had time. He swung the gun to his right and the bullets swooped toward where Caine stood like he was made of stone.Then the muzzle flash disappeared in an explosion of green-white light that turned night into day. The shaft of light missed its target. But it was close enough that the muzzle of Drake__ gun wilted and drooped and the rocks behind Drake cracked from the blast of heat.Drake dropped the gun. And now it was Drake__ turn to stare in stark amazement. __ou!__am wobbled atop the rise. Quinn caught him as he staggered.Now Caine snapped back to the present, seeing his brother, seeing the killing light.__o,_ Caine said. __o, Sam: He__ mine.__e raised a hand, and Sam went flying backward along with Quinn.__he fuel rod!_ Jack was yelling, over and over. __t__ going to kill us all. Oh, God, we may already be dead!__rake rushed at Caine. His eyes were wide with fear. Knowing he wouldn__ make it. Knowing he was not fast enough.Caine raised his hand, and the fuel rod seemed to jump off the ground.A javelin.A spear. He held it poised. Pointed straight at Drake.Caine reached with his other hand, extending the telekinetic power to hold Drake immobilized.Drake held up his human hand, a placating gesture. __aine_you don__ want to_not over some girl. She was a witch, she was__rake, unable to run, a human target. The fuel rod aimed at him like a Spartan__ spear.Caine threw the fuel rod. Tons of steel and lead and uranium.Straight at Drake.

Find Sam Temple. Tell him you escaped.__ack gulped and bobbed his head.__etter yet, find that girl, Astrid._ Diana recovered some of her mocking attitude. __strid the Genius. She__l be desperate to save Sam.___kay. Okay._ He steeled himself. __ better go.__iana touched his arm. __ell them about Andrew.__ack froze with his hand on the key. __hat__ what you want me to do?___ack, if Sam blinks out, Drake will turn on me, and Caine won__ be able to stop him. Drake is stronger than before. I need Sam alive. I need someone for Drake to hate. I need balance. Tell Sam about the temptation. Warn him that he__l be tempted to surrender to the big jump, but maybe, maybe, if he says no_ She sighed. It was not a hopeful sound. __ow: go.