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gone, half of her fingers missing. I veered out of her path, but she kept coming, lurching and lunging,
faster than I would have thought possible.
As I backpedaled, one of those bony claws sheered my way. I acted on instinct, hitting the bottom of
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her arm with an uppercut. Her arm flew up with the blow, then fell limply to her side. Yet she kept
coming, her good arm clawing at me.
As I dodged her blows, her limp arm seemed to be slipping& sliding from the sleeve.
Had I knocked her arm off? With a simple blow? Then how the hell was I going to subdue her? If I
threw her down, I was liable to rip her in half.
She kept coming, eyes rolling with rage.
 Rose! I yelled.
She didn t stop coming at me, stumping forward, good arm clawing the air. When I called again, her
gaze met mine, telling me she was still capable of hearing and processing words.
I let her get less than a foot away, then scampered to the other side of the room, leaving her yowling in
rage.
 I can keep this up all night, Rose, I said.  You can t get me and you know it.
She only snarled and flung herself toward me. I sidestepped past her. Just walked. Once across the
room, I perched on the side of an old metal desk, as if making myself comfortable.
 I can give you what you want, Rose, I said.
Her lipless mouth opened. Her words came out garbled, but I could make them out.  Good. Then come
 ere.
 Still got a sense of humor? Pretty soon it ll be all you have 
She lunged. I pulled my foot back, caught her in the stomach and shoved as hard as I dared, knocking
her to the floor. She didn t rest for even a second, just struggled to rise on her good leg. As her body
jerked with the effort, her severed arm slid to the floor. Seeing it, she let out a howl of rage and
frustration.
 I didn t mean to do that, I said.  If you can still think as clearly as I believe you can, you know that
was an accident. I have no interest in making things any worse for you than they are. All I want is to get
Matthew Hull.
Her eyes rolled up to mine and I knew she recognized the name. Had there been an inkling of doubt in
my mind that he was the controller, it evaporated. She stared up at me, unblinking. She couldn t blink.
She didn t have any eyelids. I forced my gaze away as my stomach rolled.
 What has he promised you if you catch me? I asked.
 That it ll stop, she mumbled.
 So you can die in peace.
Her body went rigid.  No. Not can t die. I ll go to  Ell. She shuddered.  This is better. Close the
gate. No more& it ll stop.
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 The rotting you mean.
 It ll  eal.
 Heal? Is that what he told you? Maybe so, but is he planning to regrow all those parts you ve lost?
Your foot? Your lips? Arm? Nose? Eyelids? What you really want is peace, isn t it? To die and go
someplace peaceful, where you ll be whole again. I can make sure that happens.
She made a hiccuping noise that, after a moment, I realized was laughter.
 You don t believe me? I have someone here who can help. The one who summoned you. She can
make sure you cross over.
 And go straight to bleedin  Ell, she snarled.  After all I ve done, where else would I go?
She had a point. Then I remembered Jaime talking earlier about Eve&
 I wouldn t be so sure of that, I said.  I can t tell you what s on the other side. No one can. But there s
more redemption than vengeance. I d say you have a shot at some peace in the next life. Especially if you
finish this one doing some good.
 She s right, said a voice behind me.  I don t know what s over there either, but I know plenty of
spirits who expected to end up someplace far worse than they did.
Jaime stepped forward. Her gaze lit on Rose and if she felt any revulsion or horror, none of that showed.
Not even pity. She just walked over to stand beside me.
 Just lead us to Hull, and we ll take it from there, I said.  You ll be free.
Rose looked at us with her horrible lidless eyes.
 You don t still feel some obligation to him, do you? Maybe you did, when you first realized he d given
you a shot at another life, but I hope you don t forget he ended your first one. You re a servant. A
zombie slave, put in that portal to serve him. And serve him you have, haven t you? He used you up, and
let you die, and die again and still threw you into our path. Who cared if you fell to pieces? He had a
backup. A man. You don t seehim rotting this badly, do you? Did you think that was just luck?
 Will you kill  im? she asked.  The wizard or whatever  e is?
 That s the surest way to close the portal. And something tells me Hull isn t going to get one of those
 get out of Hell free cards.
Her face contorted in a hideous smile.  Good.
Betrayed
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AS IT TURNED OUT,HULL DID HAVE SOMEONE WATCHING the hotel: Rose. I don t know
how he expected her to stop us if we d tried to leave. More likely, Hull had been giving Rose a
near-meaningless assignment to keep her rotting corpse away from them. Guarding us hadn t been a high
priority. Even if we left, he could find me.
But what could have been so important that it diverted his attention and his primary resources away?
Rose knew only that Hull was  getting something related to his ongoing experiment, the one whose [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]