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“Shut up, Straw!” Haber snapped, and pushedSusa
Mia arched her back, groaning. The ratheadnurse put her hands on Mia’s hips and pushed them gently back down to the bed.“Nawthee, nawthee, push ‘ith thy belly.”
“Eat shit, you bitch!” Mia screamed,and while Susa
Summoning her own concentration, Susa
“The link… is down,” said the pleasantfemale voice. As before, it spoke in the middle of Susa
There was a tooth-rattling BEE-EEEEPfar down in Susa
Mia screamed again, and Susa
Susa
She started up on her elbows at this newvoice, for a moment almost forgetting the woman beside her. That hadbeen—
Jake? Is it you, honey? It is, isn’t it?Can you hear me?
YES! he cried. Finally! God, who’veyou been talking to? Keep yelling so I can home in on y—
The voice broke off, but not before sheheard a ghostly rattle of distant gunfire. Jake shooting at someone? Shethought not. She thought someone was shooting at him.
Two
“Now!” Scowther shouted. “Now, Mia!Push! For your life! Give it all you have! PUSH!”
Susa
Mia screamed again, crying out to a strangegod in a strange language. When she tried to raise her midsection from thetable, the nurse—Alia, Susa
“Why d’ye do that?” Sayre demanded. Thesheets beneath Mia’s spread legs were now damp with blood, and the boss soundedflustered.
“Won’t need them!” Scowther returnedbreezily. “She was built for babies, could have a dozen in the rice-patch andnever miss a row’s worth of picking. Here it comes, neat as you please!”
Scowther made as if to grab the largishbasin sitting on the next bed, decided he didn’t have quite enough time, andslipped his pink, gloveless hands up the inside of Mia’s thighs, instead. Thistime when Susa
“Once more!” Scowther cried. “Foryour baby!”
Like the low men and the vampires, Mia hadforgotten Susa
Sayre took her hand. The mask which coveredhis real face smiled. “Yes, my darling,” he said. “The chap is yours for yearsand years. Only push this one last time.”
Mia, don’t believe his lies!Susa
Susa
No answer. Not good. Please God he wasstill alive.
Maybe he’s only busy. Ru
Mia howled what sounded like a string ofobscenities, pushing as she did so. The lips of her already distended vaginaspread further. A freshet of blood poured out, widening the muddy delta-shapeon the sheet beneath her. And then, through the welter of crimson, Susa
The mottle of white and black began toretreat into the crimson and Susa
“HEEEYAHHHH!” she cried. “COMMALA,YOU PRETTY BASTARD! COMMALA-COME-COME!”
“Dan-tete,” murmured Jey, the hawk-thing,and the others picked it up in a kind of reverent whisper: Dan-tete… dan-tete…commala dan-tete. The coming of the little god.
This time the baby’s head did not justcrown but rushed forward. Susa
Howling in pain and triumph, Mia surged upon her elbows, her eyes bulging and streaming tears. She reached out and seizedSayre’s hand in a grip of iron as Scowther deftly caught the baby. Sayre yelpedand tried to pull away, but he might as well have tried to… well, to pull awayfrom a Deputy Sheriff in Oxford, Mississippi. The little chant had died andthere was a moment of shocked silence. In it, Susa
“DOES HE LIVE?” Mia shrieked intoSayre’s startled face. Spittle flew from her lips. “TELL ME, YOU POXYWHORESON, IF MY CHAP LIVES!”
Scowther lifted the chap so that he and thechild were face to face. The doctor’s brown eyes met the baby’s blue ones. Andas the chap hung there in Scowther’s grip with its penis jutting defiantlyupward, Susa
Rather than spanking the baby’s buttocks,Scowther drew in a breath and blew it in puffs directly into the chap’s eyes.Mia’s chap blinked in comical (and undeniably human) surprise. It drew in abreath of its own, held it for a moment, then let it out. King of Kings hemight be, or the destroyer of worlds, but he embarked upon life as had so manybefore him, squalling with outrage. Mia burst into glad tears at the sound ofthat cry. The devilish creatures gathered around the new mother werebond-servants of the Crimson King, but that didn’t make them immune to whatthey had just witnessed. They broke into applause and laughter. Susa