Gale Force

called normal life. If anybody had turned up likely suspects for the Sentinels list, they weren't

sharing it with me. No sign of David, and no messages from beyond. I got calls from various

Wardens either congratulating me about the upcoming marriage, or fishing for gossip about the

confrontation with Kevin. I answered honestly to both, so far as it went. I didn't try to hide my

frustration with Kevin, but I told them it was Lewis's problem, not mine.

None of the phone calls had seemed overly strange, but my paranoia dials were all on high. I

couldn't rule anyone out.

Hearing my doorbell ring only made my self-preservation alarms go off. I was boiling pasta. I

took the precaution of turning off the burner-in case I died, no sense in burning the building

down again– and went to look through the peephole.

It was David. Oh. I had told him to start acting like a human, hadn't I? I needed to get him his

own key. I unbolted the door and swung it wide-

David lunged forward, grabbed me by the throat, and drove me back to the wall as he kicked the

door shut. It was a real threat; his grip was bruising my neck, making parts of me panic in fear of

imminent strangulation. I grabbed for his wrist, which was stupid, and tried to get a scream past

his hand.

No good.

He smiled, and I recognized the expression. It wasn't David's, although he was wearing David's

face. I croaked out, ''Don't you fucking pretend to be him!'' and David's body shrugged, and the

Dji

It was Ashan, leader of the Old Dji

I'd ever met, including the ones who'd tried to kill me. Ashan was a cool, smooth, handsome

bastard, all chilly grays and ice whites, and he didn't care for people at all. He liked me a good

deal less than that. ''I've come for a purpose,'' he said, ''but I don't need to hear your prattle.''

I made some incoherent noises, which got the point across that his grip on my throat was

impairing my ability to curse, and he finally let up enough to allow breath in, profanity out. After

the profanity, I got my pulse rate dialed back from Going to Die to Total Panic, and said, ''What

the hell are you talking about?''

''You brought this on yourself,'' Ashan said. He emphasized that by slamming me back against

the wall with painful force. ''I was content to let you live, but you, you push, you always push.''

''Let go!'' I snarled. He must have sensed I meant business, because although he didn't obey

instantly, he finally released his grip and stepped back. Not far back, though, and the cold fury in

his eyes stayed in place. ''Where is David? What have you done to him?''

He slapped me. A solid man-slap, one that I was not prepared for; it burned and I felt a wave of

total rage crest at the top of my head and flow down every nerve ending. Somehow, I held

myself back, but my hands clutched into convulsive fists. ''You will destroy him,'' Ashan said

flatly. ''I care nothing for you, but I do not want another war among the Dji

bring it on. It is best if you disappear from this world before you can rain destruction on all of

us.''

Word had gotten around fast, even on the outer reaches of the aetheric. I hadn't expected the

Dji

right about one thing: The two of us engaging in a little sexual adventure hadn't bothered too

many people. It was the wedding that was pissing them off.

''It is a vow,'' Ashan said. ''And a vow is, for us, unbreakable. Do you understand? You will

bind him to humanity, and he is the Conduit.''

All at once, I got it, and it was like a second, harder slap, only this one was directly to the surface

of my brain. ''Oh crap,'' I breathed, suddenly not angry at all. ''You mean that by taking vows

to love and cherish in sickness and in health-''

''Through him, all of the New Dji

must not make such vows. We became slaves the last time such was made. I will not allow it to

happen again, not for such small gain as your personal happiness.''

And another thing came crystal clear to me. Ashan wasn't screwing around this time.

I read it in his expression: He was going to kill me. Problem solved.

And I think he would have, except that right at that moment, somebody else tried to kill me.

I thought it was Ashan who'd attacked for an instant, as I felt the force slam into me and pin me

back to the wall, sink past my skin, and close around my heart like an iron hand. But I could see

that in fact it wasn't him, because he'd been forced back from me by the attack, and he was off

balance and confused.

I remembered David at the diner, blown back by the aetheric attack that had taken out Lee

Antonelli.

They were coming for me. No warning, no quarter. I was under attack by the Sentinels.

Dark shadows flew out of the walls and coalesced into Dji

keeping their distance until they were summoned. A threat to their boss brought them ru

but once they were on the ground, the next step wasn't exactly clear, since Ashan wasn't the

target. I was.

And one more coalesced out of the air, a blur of motion, burning copper-bright. David. He was

coming, and coming very fast, heading straight for me, blind to everything else around him.

The Dji

even collectively, but the instant he broke free, Ashan lunged like a white tiger. The two of them

fell, rolling, a blur of motion that somehow still conveyed the fury and power of the conflict.

As David tried to fight his way to me, I drew all my power inside, fighting the invisible fist that

was trying to contract and squeeze my heart into red jam. I felt my distant, powerful daughter's

flow in to augment mine; she couldn't act directly, but she could help.

It was enough-barely-to keep me alive.

For now.

I opened my eyes. The fight between the two most powerful Dji

David was on his knees, held fast with Ashan's arm around his throat and his hands twisted

behind his back, and the look on his face nearly made me cry out. It was shattered. Horrified.

Betrayed.

''Oh, God, no. Jo, hold on,'' he said, his voice rough and trembling. ''Ashan, let go, damn you.

Let me help her!''

The Dji

how fast I was going to drop dead. This was nothing but a gift to Ashan-I'd die, and his hands

would be clean. There was no reason for David to come after him.

I held against the assault, somehow pushing back the squeezing hand around my heart, and I

didn't dare speak to David. I couldn't. No breath and no strength left over, and I knew it

wouldn't do any good, no matter what I said. He couldn't act, not with Ashan in the way. If he

could have, he'd have already done it.

''Ashan, you can't stand by and see her murdered!'' David screamed. ''Let me go!''

Ashan said, in a soft but deadly cool voice, ''It's the business of humans. She told you that. I'm

only enforcing what you know are the rules.''

My vision was eroding, black spots appearing at the edges. Maybe that was why I didn't

immediately recognize that one of the Dji

her Alice pinafore outfit, but in plain black. I focused on her. Her blue eyes were blazing hot, the