"I really don't understand why it has to be here," Tahani said.

"Yeah, we should definitely tell the necromancer that when we find him," Eleanor said. "Like hey, buddy, thanks for nothing, kidnap Tahani's sister to a resort next time."

Tahani swatted away a fly, annoyed. Georgia was nothing like the songs had indicated. It was hot, swampy, and while not technically sunny at ten PM, it still reeked of life and light.

Normally she'd have enjoyed it. Growing up in England hadn't entirely acclimated her to doom and gloom. But right now...

Right now, it felt like betrayal.

Chidi, damn him, detected the direction of her thoughts with uncanny swiftness. He touched her elbow and murmured, "We'll find her, Eleanor, I promise."

"Gay," Vicki said from behind them.

As Eleanor cackled, Tahani said, "That doesn't even make sense, you tiresome - demon!"

"You know calling me a demon isn't insulting, right?" Vicki said. "It's kind of my whole reason for existence."

"Ugh," Tahani said, and hastened her pace.

They'd been searching for Kamilah for three days. She knew Kamilah was still alive, because every night the necromancer sent an envoy to their motel room to mock them and drop hints. But they hadn't yet closed in on her. Locater spells had gone nowhere; they were down, once again, to detective work alone.

Well, detective work and two annoying demons.

"I'm bored," Vicki said. "Can I torture that guy?"

"That man is sleeping on a bench," Chidi said, "so I think we can both agree he's having a hard enough day."

Vicki sighed theatrically. "You take the fun out of everything."

But she was being affectionate, in that weird demony way, and Tahani suspected she didn't really mean it about torturing the homeless man - or at least, she wouldn't go through with it, even if doing so would've satisfied her implacable bloodlust. She had attached herself to Chidi and understood his moral code perfectly well.

It all struck Tahani as being deeply, deeply creepy. And yet she'd only rarely seen Chidi laugh this much, even if half the time it was from being so incorrigibly appalled. That fact was the only thing stopping her from carving Vicki's heart out.

Well, all right, that fact and their arcane no-harm bargain. But still. Tahani allowed Vicki to stay because she wanted to see more of Chidi's smiles. She was a good Slayer, devoted and true.

Maybe if she told herself that often enough, she'd forget what a poor sister she'd been.

She was about to suggest they widen their radius when Eleanor stiffened and threw a hand out. "Wait, all of you."

"What is it?"

"I can sense...something." She flared her nostrils and inhaled deeply. "It smells like you, but it's not you. There's more...patchouli? And, ugh, natural deodorant." She whirled around and stalked towards a nearby shop. It had closed for the night, but its sign advertised ATLANTA'S BEST SHRIMP 'N' GRITS.

"Atlanta's best, my ass," Eleanor said. "Necromancers can only cook long pig."

And she kicked the door open to the sound of screams.

It should have occurred to Tahani to stop her. She'd learned firsthand how dangerous this necromancer was; she knew that impulsive door-kicking was not the way to rescue her sister. But in the moment, the damage was done, and all she could do was rush into the fray.

"Downstairs!" Eleanor shouted. She moved too quickly again, breaking necks, kicking people aside. Tahani kicked a glowing rock from a witch's hand and dropped her with a punch, then whirled to stake a vampire who'd thought to sneak up on her. They advanced down the stairs, Chidi and Vicki bringing up the rear, Vicki spattered in - ugh, were those intestines? Why were demons so gross?

"Hello, Tahani," said a low female voice in Tahani's ear.

Her heart began pounding in her chest. "Who are you? What -"

"Come down here. I've grown bored of your sister." Amusement colored the necromancer's voice. "I've decided to let you go. For now."

"We're going to kill you."

"Dude, what the hell," Eleanor hissed. Tahani tapped her skull, then pointed at the stairs leading to the basement.

"Ohhhh. We can deal with that." Eleanor flipped a knife in her hand, then made her way down the stairs.

But Tahani heard only laughter in her head. "Darling, you won't catch me," the necromancer said. A screech, like metal dragging against stone, made Tahani lurch to the side, holding her ear.

"Damn it!" she heard Eleanor shout. She rushed to follow, taking the stairs down two at a time.

"Cursing will not ameliorate your pain," Kamilah told Eleanor, looking hale and healthy and annoying as ever.

Well, all right, and chained to a chair. Eleanor gritted her teeth and walked over, breaking the chair's back and one leg, so that the chains fell to the ground.

"Thank you," Kamilah said, and stood, shaking the iron chains off as though they were mere silk scarves.

Eleanor pointed a finger at Kamilah. "Yak it up, mini-Plato, I'll cuss my way into the sunset if I want to."

"As you are a vampire," Kamilah said, "I imagine you wouldn't make it very far. Hello, Tahani."

"Kamilah."

"You can leave now. I've arranged for transit from my coven."

"What, are they going to fly you home on their broomsticks?" Eleanor said.

"Naturally not. They're wiring me funds."

"Hold on a second," Tahani said, "since when do you have a coven?"

Kamilah looked at her with that studied blandness that she'd perfected in sixth form. "Why, Tahani, you can't imagine you were the only sister with occult leanings. Although, it must be admitted, developing magical talent through diligent study is a bit different from being caught by vicissitudinous ancient magics."

For a moment Tahani sat again in the solicitor's office, listening to her parents' careless last words. For a moment she felt the phantom ache from where she'd punched through the marble wall, two days before Chidi had found her.

Then she was back in the present, with a very complicated life that, whatever its other failures, involved a minimum of her sister's superiority complex. "Right. Well, off you go then. I'm going to look for clues."

"She swept the room before she left. I wish I could provide you with a description, but I'm afraid she was only ever here through her...mouthpiece."

"Another body," Tahani said. "Of course."

"You're welcome to look, though," Kamilah said - as though Tahani would ever dream of asking for permission for such a thing! She opened her mouth to say as much, but Kamilah was already swanning up the stairs, head held high, not looking like a hostage at all.

"Guess we'd better wait until she's gone, huh," Eleanor said. "So you guys don't have to do anymore sisterly bonding?"

Tahani thought that might be Eleanor trying to be sympathetic. Certainly, she looked a bit softer, under all the gore from the people she'd ripped apart.

She couldn't bring herself to even really care, much less be grateful. She looked away, studying the rest of the basement with deliberate focus.

"Tahani." Chidi's voice this time, quiet in that way that meant he knew she needed space. "Let's go."

-

Atlanta's second highest rated Best Western didn't currently host many night owls, thankfully; they encountered no one as they slipped down the hallway, still covered in blood. Tahani let Eleanor have first shower, saying, "It'll be dawn soon anyway, I know how much you hate staying up after your bedtime." Eleanor had bared her teeth in response, but in an almost gleeful way, as though she hoped Tahani would try to fight her.

Honestly, she was demented. Because she was a vampire. Tahani never quite forgot, but she kept having to remind herself of that very basic, very dangerous fact.

She needed to talk to Chidi. At a time when he wasn't having intimate relations with a demon.

Eleanor fell into a deep sleep the moment dawn began pressing against the shades. Tahani, however, lay awake and worried. They'd disposed of their bloody clothes; housekeeping wouldn't find them, crammed into the dumpster as they were. The necromancer, well, letting her escape wasn't the best strategy, but they'd deal with her. There was no real reason to be struck with insomnia.

Kamilah was a witch now. Damn her, anyway. Tahani just wanted this one thing, and -

Vicissitudinous ancient magics, her mind whispered with Kamilah's mocking, perfect enunciation.

She was a good Slayer. She was.

Not good enough to catch this necromancer, though. Not good enough to be given an assignment more important than the usual traveling from city to city, killing low-level vampires.

Ugh. She rolled out of bed, wrapping herself in her robe and grabbing a few dollar bills from the neat stack on the dresser. If she couldn't sleep, she could at least get a sparkling water - or, more realistically, some tooth-rottingly sweet soda.

She heard the banging before she found its source: a slow, rhythmic slap, reminiscent of an enchanted demon's last struggles. Hand on her knife, she approached the alcove that held the vending machines.

Kamilah stood there, slapping the vending machine and muttering incoherently. Tahani would've preferred the vampire. "What are you doing here?" she snapped.

Kamilah stiffened and turned her head so slowly that for a moment, Tahani was worried she was enchanted. But no, that was a Kamilah expression on her face, annoyed and unbearably superior. "I could ask you the same."

"I thought your oh-so-powerful friends were flying you out on the next chartered jet."

Kamilah glared at her. "Buy your adult cavity and leave me be."

"Oh, very mature," Tahani said. She purchased the plain water, cursing herself. "I don't suppose you're following us because the necromancer still has you under her spell."

Kamilah locked her jaw and looked at the wall past Tahani's shoulder.

Of course, Tahani knew exactly what was going on. Kamilah was alone, likely penniless until she could get back to England. Her friends had left her here - or perhaps she'd never had those friends to begin with. Tahani found it almost tragically easy to believe that narrative. Kamilah had always been charming, but get to know her, and she was a viper.

A pathetic viper, currently. "I'm trying not to rub this in," Tahani said.

"You're not doing a very good job of it." Like everything else, her tone said.

Tahani wanted to fire back. This was familiar, the mutual frustration, the back-and-forth sniping. She knew how to do this. She was good at it. But even as she opened her mouth to deliver a cutting setdown, she thought of Chidi, his huge glasses and utterly ridiculous insistence that Tahani was a hero.

Random magic. It was only random magic.

"You'd better stay with us, then," she found herself saying.

Kamilah's eyes widened. "Me? Stay with you? Here?"

"Yes, well, I know it's not quite what you're accustomed to, but -"

"Oh, as if Father and Mother didn't ensure you'd also be able to afford appropriate accommodations."

"I don't have Father and Mother's money," Tahani said, "and besides, this is - easier."

"I'm sure."

It would have been nice to note the sarcasm, make it obvious it wasn't welcome, and send Kamilah on her miserable way. But now that Tahani had decided to be decent, she felt oddly compelled to stay the course; consequently, she only said, "If you choose to stay, you'll understand why. But you do need a place to sleep. Follow me."

Turn and walk, not looking back to see if Kamilah followed: it was a classic move communicating confidence, one taught to both of them by comportment instructors many years ago. And it worked. When Tahani returned to her and Eleanor's room, Kamilah stood right behind her.

"There's a pullout bed," Tahani said. "Never mind the vampire. She won't wake 'till dusk."

"You'll need to sleep too." Kamilah examined the cot with clear disgust. "Or are Slayers beyond such things?"

"Of course we're not. You're certainly not, either, whatever else you might be." Tahani drank half her water, lay down in bed, and turned her back to Kamilah. "Goodnight."

"I'm a witch," Kamilah said quietly. But when Tahani didn't choose to continue the argument, silence fell. It remained until dusk.

Then, Tahani woke to the sound of Eleanor saying, "Look what the overly moralistic cat dragged in."

"Tahani," Kamilah said, "could you please deal with your - vampire?"

"She's not my vampire," Tahani said, even as Eleanor said, "The only thing that owns me is bloodlust, sister, and right now it's cracking the whip right at you."

"I think she's threatening to kill me." Kamilah sounded exquisitely bored. "Did you plan to ring for service? I'm hungry."

"Did you ring for service, pip pip," Eleanor said, exaggerating her vowels clownishly. "It's the Best Western, princess. We'll get eggs at the diner down the street."

"You're a charming example of vampirism."

Tahani had only seen Eleanor with her teeth out a handful of times. She didn't expose them now, but something in her sneer at Kamilah hinted at them. "And you're a charming example of humanity. You reek, by the way. You should take a shower."

Once Kamilah was safely ensconced in the bathroom, Eleanor said, "You can't possibly expect me to put up with her."

"It's not like you like me, either. She's just...another me."

For a moment she believed she'd said something very wrong. Fury passed over Eleanor's face, along with...well, it looked a bit like hurt. But of course that couldn't be true, and it was gone as soon as Tahani blinked. "I like you just fine," Eleanor said. "For a human, anyway."

"Well, then. You'll just have to deal with one more of us."

"Charming," Eleanor said. "I can't wait until this necromancer is dealt with. I'm going to buy a villa in Russia and spend the next...how long do you have? Ten years? In it."

She might as well have pressed ice against Tahani's spine. Tahani looked away, scrolling through her phone instead. Eleanor didn't apologize; Tahani didn't ask her to. It was almost a relief when Kamilah returned to justify the awkwardness.

Over breakfast, Chidi laid out his suspicion that the necromancer had left town. "Whoever they are, I wouldn't stick around town if you were gunning for me." He ignored Vicki and Eleanor's dramatic eye-rolling, grinning at Tahani.

"That's sweet," Tahani said. "But there's a 'but', isn't there."

"Of course." Chidi's smile grew strained. "The Council disagrees with my assessment of the situation, and has asked us to stay here. Ordered us. They've ordered us."

"And of course you're going to do what they say," Vicki said.

Ah, so they'd argued about this earlier. Tahani raised her eyebrows. "I could call my good friend, Buffy, to ask for intercession. But..."

"They pay my salary," Chidi said. "And generally speaking, we save our goodwill for the big stuff."

"Does this not count as big?" Eleanor said. She sounded genuinely curious, though of course Tahani knew her to be an accomplished liar.

Tahani looked around the table. Kamilah had fading bruises all over her neck and chin; the way she kept her shoulders covered suggested they didn't end at the collar, either. Vicki looked, if anything, even more unnervingly bloodthirsty than she had last night. Chidi was staring at his hands, the familiar and not at all comforting furrow back in his brow.

Eleanor looked directly at Tahani. If someone had set off a bomb in the next booth, Tahani wasn't convinced Eleanor would look away. As vampires went, Eleanor was unimpressive. Why, then, did Tahani feel so terrified?

"Not yet," she managed to say. She picked at the napkin in her lap, squeezing her hands together where no one could see her, willing herself to believe her own words. "When it is, we'll know."

-

"This is boring," Eleanor said. "I'm bored. Why didn't you take Chidi?"

"He's human, and physically vulnerable." Tahani punched the very tall, male vampire attempting to rip her throat out.

"You're one of those things." Eleanor tapped her foot against the gravestone she was perched on top of. "Case in point."

The vampire picked that moment to throw her ten feed. Tahani tucked and rolled, as she'd been taught, and came up with a knife in her hand. "Foolish, foolish Slayer," the vampire crooned. "You think a knife can kill me?"

"You know, if you're worried, you could help," Tahani told Eleanor. She flipped the knife and threw it, catching the vampire directly in his left eye socket. As he howled from the pain, she ducked inside his reach and staked him.

"It's more fun this way," Eleanor said as Tahani wiped the knife clean on the grass.

Something in Eleanor's tone made Tahani look up. For a moment she felt caught like that, kneeling on the ground, knife in hand, as Eleanor regarded her with an utterly unreadable expression. For a moment she imagined that regard turning into touching, imagined Eleanor leaving the top of the tombstone to pull Tahani down on the ground and -

"Let's keep going," Tahani said, leaping to her feet. "These vampires aren't going to stake themselves."

"Not unless they're super depressed, anyway."

They kept on like that, the tense moment decidedly broken. Tahani told herself she ought to be glad.

That morning, Kamilah coolly informed them that she'd be sleeping in her own motel room for the foreseeable future. Tahani told herself that she didn't care about her sister gaining access to her inherited fortune; it would've been better if Kamilah had left Atlanta altogether. But, as she told Tahani, "I intend to see this whole thing through, and ensure my captor is sufficiently dealt with."

Tahani was a Slayer. Of course she'd deal with it. But she only smiled and told Kamilah she'd see her in the afternoon.

She was settling down for a quiet seven hours of sleep when she heard the tell-tale noises of fabric rustling and tiny gasps. Tahani had gone to a girls' boarding school; she knew clandestine sexual activity when it aurally assaulted her. "Would you stop that?" she snapped. "You don't even need to breathe."

"It's more fun this way." Eleanor laughed, low and wicked. She stopped breathing, but it didn't matter; Tahani could hear the sheets still, the slick movements, the - oh god, Eleanor would have to be really wet to make those noises. Tahani pressed her thighs together and told herself no.

"Fuck," Eleanor whispered from the other bed.

It was so hard not to think about: Eleanor's hands on her own tits, pinching her nipples, fucking herself. The smell of arousal was heavy in the air now, and Tahani wanted to touch herself so badly that she all but shook with it. She pressed her thighs together - but that only made her more aware of how badly she ached.

Oh, forget it. She'd do what she'd done at boarding school.

Touching her clit felt like it might set off sparks. She moved as quickly and quietly as she could, even as she knew there was no hiding from Eleanor. When Eleanor laughed, low and knowing, it just spurred her on, added to the wicked feeling of slipping fingers inside herself, fucking herself as quietly as possible, getting closer and closer -

"Ahhhh," Eleanor said, a long exhalation that turned into a moan. And humiliatingly, that was what did it for Tahani: she came, clenching her jaw, heart pounding in her chest.

A long pause. Then: "Hey, can vampires get yeast infections? 'Cause let me tell you, it smells funky over here."

Tahani groaned.

-

Kamilah sat across from Tahani in the Denny's booth, clearing her throat delicately. "I told the others we'd be eating privately. Sisterly bonding time, you know."

Tahani didn't bother pointing out how unlikely that was. She said, "Remember that time you mocked my good grades by pointing out that being proud of my scores was tantamount to approval of English empire?"

Kamilah didn't so much as flinch. She never had. "I was going through a phase."

"You're still going through a phase, I've read your poetry." Tahani sighed. "I just...a fringe benefit of being a Slayer was supposed to be, you know." There was no way to put this delicately. "Freedom from you always being better, always being there."

Kamilah stared at the table. Perhaps she'd never seen a vinyl surface before; Tahani found the thought depressingly plausible. "I'm your sister. Shouldn't I always be there?"

The words were so far outside what Tahani had expected her to say that for a moment she simply didn't process them. Of course then she did, and they were nothing short of appalling. "You can't be serious."

"When have you known me to say things I don't mean?"

"When have I known you to be possessed of a sisterly feeling?"

"You can deny it if you want." Kamilah sounded like she'd expect nothing less, or more. "But I thought we'd have more time to...reconcile. And now you could die at any moment. See it from my point of view, would you? I'm trying to get to know you again."

It was a hell of a speech, as delicately manipulative as Tahani had ever heard from Kamilah. It made her think that perhaps Kamilah really meant it; she didn't generally bother to manipulate people she didn't care about.

What a thought. But she might as well test it. After all, Kamilah was right: she could die tomorrow. Or tonight.

"Right," Tahani said. "I don't suppose Denny's sells margaritas."

"No. Why?"

Tahani ignored the prickly, suspicious look on Kamilah's face in favor of grabbing her arm and hauling her to her feet. With Tahani's Slayer strength, Kamilah had no choice but to go along with it. "We're going out," she said, and waved to Eleanor, sitting in a nearby booth with Chidi and Vicki. "Eleanor. Where's the nearest dive bar?"

Eleanor smiled slowly, teeth glinting in the fluorescent lights. "Why, Slayer, I thought you'd never ask."

An hour later, Tahani bit back laughter as Kamilah examined her neon pink drink with open suspicion. "A non-Newtonian fluid shouldn't behave this way."

"What, the dancing bits? They're totally not enchanted maggots from another dimension. Don't worry about it." Eleanor tossed her own drink back. "Hey, where'd Chidi go?"

"He's in the back with his skank," Kamilah said.

"Kamilah!" Tahani said. "Feminism!" And preservation of her brain, ugh, she didn't want to think about that.

Also, she'd already had one of the not-maggot drinks, so perhaps she was a bit sloshed. Speaking of - "Eleanor. Eleanor! Pay attention to me!" Men and demons both already ogled Kamilah. The least Eleanor could do was not follow the trend.

"Yes, dear?"

Tahani ought to have paid heed to that treacle-poison tone. She didn't, of course. "I meant to say, I meant a human bar, not - whatever this is."

"Humans, meh. Aren't you worried I'd take a bite out of them?"

"I know you're young, but you're not that young."

"What about Vicki? That bitch is old as the hills. In a human bar without the standard demony no-harm rules, she'd clean up. In terms of murders."

That might have been preferable to Chidi putting his lips all over her, but Tahani wasn't yet drunk enough to say that outright. "I don't know if I can be responsible here." Whoops, that wasn't exactly non-embarrassing. "I mean, with the demons, if one of them goes to pull Kamilah's intestines out -"

"I can set it on fire," Kamilah said. She downed her maggot-drink in one go.

"Niiiice! Dude, she totally is competition," Eleanor said, clapping Kamilah on the back.

That was fine, Tahani told herself. For once, she didn't care.

"Another drink!" she called to the bartender. "And then...karaoke."

The bar had strobes and a jukebox that would try to kill you if you got too many lyrics wrong. Chidi begged Tahani not to try it; she did three NSYNC songs in a row. Eleanor drank and drank and drank, a truly awe-inspiring amount.

She was a sloppy drunk. Tahani found herself making excuses for her, steering angered demons away from her, holding her hair when she vomited over the club balcony into a potted plant on the stairs. The night passed in a blur of alcohol and poorly considered decisions, and Tahani almost wrote it all off and slipped away early.

There she stood, alcohol coursing through her veins, on the threshold of a demonic establishment. But she glanced over at the wrong time, to see Chidi telling what she knew was one of his ridiculously overly complex demon-academia jokes, and Eleanor...

Eleanor was laughing, fueling Chidi's delight, slamming back her drink as Chidi gesticulated and strobe lights danced over both of them.

Chidi looked so happy. Eleanor looked so - loose, almost normal. And Tahani, oh, Tahani was a complete and utter fucking idiot, because in that moment she wanted Eleanor more than she'd ever wanted anything short of never having been a Slayer to begin with.

She didn't leave. She couldn't. But she did drink more, then, chasing oblivion with singleminded determination.

-

At first, when she woke to the smell she thought it was simply an odd hallucination related to her aching head.

Then her senses focused, and her healing kicked in, and she realized Eleanor wasn't in her bed.

She was out of bed and across the room before she'd fully processed it. Eleanor knelt on the floor in the bathroom doorway, holding her side. Based on the blood leaking through her fingers, her grip was the only thing keeping her guts inside her body.

"What happened," Tahani said flatly, dropping to her knees next to Eleanor.

But Eleanor recoiled. "Don't. Get too close. I'll -"

"Bite me? I'd like to see you try, in your state."

"Two thousand years," Eleanor said. "I could do it."

Two thousand years of what? "Maybe you should." She must be still drunk; she felt oddly calm as the pieces fell into place. "You've been attacked. You need blood."

It could only be true. Eleanor was even paler than usual, her face covered in cuts, deep scores like claw marks down both arms. Blood soaked her jeans and the carpet below her, and she stank of urine. She was very obviously not long for this world.

And yet she held herself perfectly still, not even trembling, face angled away from Tahani.

Impulse guided her. She wasn't sleeping in long pajamas in Atlanta, so it was easy enough to put her bare wrist in Eleanor's face, to press it against her lips when she tried to move away.

"Don't," Eleanor said, breathy yet furious.

"You need blood." Hungover she might be, but Tahani understood that. "Here's some. Take it. Drink it."

"I could die." She sounded desperate to do so, actually. "What happens if I die, Tahani? Won't you celebrate?"

"Stop that."

But she could hear the weakness in her own voice. Eleanor must have too, because she smirked and said, "So hurry up and let me."

No. Not yet. Not ever in Tahani's lifetime, surely, but definitely not before they'd gotten rid of the necromancer. In that moment she thought she understood Eleanor. She was hedonistic, selfish, and ridiculous, but even as she insisted otherwise, she wasn't ready to die.

And so Tahani twisted, grabbed the knife on the bedside table, and slit her own wrist.

"No!" But it was too late. Even as she choked out the objection, Eleanor moved so quickly that Tahani only registered it after she began to suck her blood. She did it so neatly, too, licking to sterilize and then sucking, not even sinking her fangs in - though they were there, pressing against Tahani's wrist, and her forehead had gone ridged.

She didn't want to like it. In fact the thought repulsed her. But Eleanor held onto her with easy competence, and vampire saliva had sedative properties, and Tahani...drifted.

For a moment, she felt safe. She wasn't, of course. But arousal filled her, making her pliant, interested, grateful, even. Eleanor was so strong, taking such good care of her, as she licked Tahani's wrist until the wound began to close, held Tahani as she shook in near-orgasm.

Ah, no. As Tahani's mind began to clear again, she saw the other side of it. Eleanor still held her wrist in one hand, one shaking hand.

When Eleanor met Tahani's eyes, Tahani saw what her blood had given Eleanor: not just healing, but also power. She all but glowed with it; when Tahani tried to pull her wrist away, she found Eleanor's grip stronger than ever, implacable against Tahani's own strength.

"Slayer," Eleanor hissed, and then her eyes really did glow.

"Um," Tahani said. How could one even reply? "I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me go, now."

Eleanor laughed. It wasn't her normal laugh, low and shallow. This laugh spoke of age, and spite, and terror. "I'm sure you would, Slayer. You'd like me to tuck all my power back inside and keep pretending. A housecat instead of a lion."

Tahani practiced self-control by not pointing out what a ridiculous statement that was. Instead, she said, "Eleanor. Come to your senses, please, and let me go."

"No. You're going to forget this, Tahani." Glowing eyes caught hers, and she couldn't look away. "You'll forget that you saved my life, and you'll forget what happened after. We were both drunk. We came back to the motel and went to sleep."

The power in Tahani shifted discontentedly at that version of events. "I wouldn't have wanted to sleep."

A pressure asserted itself in her mind, creating a horrible, heavy weight. "We went to sleep."

"Being a twit about it won't make it true," Tahani snapped. "Let me go!"

Before Eleanor could respond, someone in the doorway chuckled.

"Did you like my hound, Eleanor?"

Eleanor's grip on Tahani slackened. She closed her eyes, her skin growing sallow. "Fuck off," she breathed through suddenly cracked lips.

"Oh, I don't think I shall." The figure moved inside. It had once been a woman; now it was a fetid collection of skin and fat hanging off yellowed bones.

The necromancer, Tahani thought, swallowing back bile. "Leave us," she said, leaping to her feet. "Now."

She had a split second of freedom while the corpse lifted its hand. She used it to shout, "Chidi! Get in here now!"

Then green fire shot from the corpse's hand, hitting her square in the chest. She flew backwards, smacked her head on the wall, and fell.

She didn't pass out. It might have been better if she had. The magic kept her paralyzed; she had no control over her body. She couldn't stop the corpse from breaking Chidi's arm when he came charging in with an axe. She couldn't stop it from snapping Vicki's neck once, then again when Vicki healed and resumed her attack. And she couldn't stop it from reaching out to Eleanor and absorbing all her Slayer's power, rendering Eleanor helpless and then unconscious, picking up her - not dead, Tahani thought, please not dead - body and carrying her out of the hotel.