all in seconds. He had been such a fool, and his selfishness was going to cost them all their lives.
For the first time, the idea of dying was devastating. When he was a loyal member of the Order, he
wasn’t afraid to lay down his life for the cause. He understood the promise of life eternal beyond this
mortal existence, and while he never hurried to it, he didn’t fear it.
Even now, it wasn’t death that terrified him. It was knowing he wasn’t going to be with Frankie again,
that he was leaving Frankie alone with this wretched fiend and was helpless to stop it. He summoned
every prayer he knew, pleading desperately to God for a miracle.
Frankie... I love you...
Obe! No! I love you! Hold on!
I love you so much...
Snod stopped struggling, waiting for the inevitable moment for his head to collapse beneath Terrell’s
palms. Right when he was certain he was about to meet death, the pressure suddenly released.
Terrell growled softly in frustration, spitting, “Well, that was just rude.”
Snod blinked as he collapsed on the floor, staring stupidly up at Terrell to see what had happened.
There was a dart sticking out right between Terrell’s eyes, Rees’ voice taunting from above them,
“Ha! Have some of my big ol’ swingin’ dick!”
Rees had climbed his way up to the balcony on the third floor, lying down on his stomach with the
rifle. Apparently, it had taken him the entire battle thus far to make the journey up there. He bowed his
head down, firing again and a second dart thunked dead center in Terrell’s forehead.
Terrell groaned as he pulled out the darts, his skin bubbling and popping around the tiny punctures. He
bared his teeth, sighing, “I’m beginning to grow tired of these games... it’s been fun and all, but I think
we’re done now.”
Snod struggled to get to his knees, glancing up to see that Ephraim was on his feet again and Lorenzo
was limping up the stairs, holding his injured arm. Ephraim had stakes in both of his hands, throwing
himself at Terrell with a loud roar.
Terrell vanished into a puff of black smoke, leaving Ephraim to tumble headfirst into Snod. He caught
his friend, helping him regain his balance and looking all around.
There was no sign of Terrell.
“Where the fuck did he go?” Ephraim spat, searching every inch of the house with wild eyes.
“Fuck! I don’t know!” Snod growled impatiently, pulling a stake out from his vest. They were all out
