Zade was glad the rain was finally over... although she imagined she wasn't as glad as the townspeople of New Venyce. After all, SHE had only been getting soaked for the past day or so. They'd been under constant assault by the sky for more than a month. Still, the welcome lack of rain would make her job much easier.

She had returned to the casino in hopes of finding Emory Tibbs... homeless bum, holder of needed information, and probably the smelliest man Zade had ever encountered. She picked up his trail not far from the gambling establishment that she and December had visited earlier. His scent was unmistakable... old sweat, rotting garbage, and fresh fear. Lots of fear. Even though the earlier rain had reduced his trail to a faint trace, Zade could still follow it across town. Though Zade was loath to admit it, being a lycanthrope had its advantages.

"Could be worse," she said to herself. "I could be a WET werewolf..."

She strolled down a street leading toward the central area of the city. The street was mostly deserted, but every once in a while she would catch a whisper or a sent that told her she wasn't alone. There was no threat... they always turned out to be townsfolk out enjoying the first rainless night in weeks.

Except for the last one.

Zade was in the commercial district, following Emory's trail as it weaved in an out of dark corners and back alleys when she felt it. The familiar cold chill... It reminded her of her employer's presence, but no, that would have been welcome. THIS was something else... something that had been literally haunting her since before she'd left Montfort. Zade ducked into an alley and pressed herself against the wall. The alley was deserted... dark, but still clearly visible thanks to her enhanced senses. She heard footsteps. Boots.

"Hmmm..."

Zade turned and began to scale the wall behind her. The knotted wood of the building had plenty of hand-holds for her nimble fingers... she climbed quickly and silently, then crouched on the roof and peered down on the street below. She saw him. A large man. Not huge... just overweight and slightly muscular. He wore a dark gray cloak drawn tightly around his body. The hood was pulled back, revealing stringy mop of dark hair.

Something about him seemed familiar, but that was to be expected. They were ALL familiar. Zade strained to see the man's face, but he was looking off in the opposite direction. All she could see was a profile.

The man walked past the building and passed right under Zade. She could've dropped down on top of him if she wanted. She didn't. The man kept his face pointed away from her the entire time, almost as if...

Zade crouched down lower on the roof. The man knew she was there... knew exactly where she was. He knew he was being watched. The man confirmed Zade's theory when, after walking to the next block, he stopped, turned around, and looked right up at her. Zade saw his face.

"You!" Zade gasped.

The man turned back around and continued walking.

Zade ran... barreling toward the edge of the roof like a runaway carriage. She made a running leap and landed on the rooftop of the next building. She sprinted to the edge and looked down. The man should have been right there beneath her, but he wasn't. He was two blocks away, just vanishing around the corner of another building.

"How did he get over THERE!?"

Zade didn't think about it, she just followed. Another running leap took her to the next building... and then to the next. Once there, she saw him walking calmly down the street... over four blocks away. Zade jumped to the adjacent building and then climbed down. She ran after the man, determined not to let another 'ghost' get away from her. He made a left turn down a street leading to the waterfront. Zade approached the intersection at top running speed. At the last moment, she performed a forward flip and landed in a crouching position with dagger in each hand... ready to bury the weapons in the throats of whoever was waiting to ambush her. There was no one.

He was at the next block. He stopped walking and turned to look at her. They locked eyes for an instant... then he turned another corner and was gone. Zade was a few seconds behind him, quick enough to see him ducking into an alley a few blocks away.

"This is getting annoying," said Zade. She followed the man down the alley and out into the street beyond. Zade was very near the waterfront now... tall buildings on huge wooden stilts loomed all around her. A few blocks away, the huge wooden platform that served as 'ground' in New Venyce made a steep drop of about ten feet. There, the docks and warehouses received their goods from the boats that passed down mighty river Hames. The man was heading right for it. Zade charged after him for another block, then stopped and took a stealthier approach... he was obviously getting close to whatever trap he was trying to lead her into. Zade kept to the shadows and alleys. Just as she predicted, her slower pace didn't result in losing her quarry. The man simply walked slower and allowed her to follow.

She reached the waterfront. Avoiding the stairs that her quarry had used, Zade jumped down into the lower section of the city... and landed in two feet of water. The place was flooded. The river was supposed to be BELOW the platform, but the recent rain had flooded everything around her. The water wasn't deep, but it looked like she was standing in the middle of a lake. Tall buildings blocked out the sky directly above her, the wooden and stone pylons that supported them rose up from the water like giant trees in the center of a swamp. Zade quickly scanned every direction... looking and listening...

"I see you haven't lost your touch," said a familiar voice. Familiar, yet... different.

Zade spun and faced the man she'd been following. He stood two feet away from her. He seemed to want to smile at her, but his tight, pallid face didn't seem capable of producing the expression.

"Hello, Damion," said Zade.

"You remember me," said Damion VonSinterbourne. "I'm surprised."

"Don't flatter yourself... it just hasn't been long enough to forget. December said he had you killed-"

"He did," Damion replied. He offered nothing further in the way of explanation.

"You and the others... why are you following me?"

"As you said... don't flatter yourself. We aren't here for you."

"Who is 'we?'"

"All of us. All of his sins. The Multitude."

"You're a fine one to talk about sins," said Zade. "You drugged people and fed them to wild animals for fun."

"And you helped me do it," said Damion.

Zade ignored the comment... she ignored it because it was true and she didn't want to think about it.

"Who sent you?" she said.

"My time is short," said Damion. "The gathering is almost complete. Then He will summon Himself into this world. Then you will see... then you will know..."

"Know what? You brought me here... so tell me what you have to say-"

"Leave him now," said Damion. "You can chose NOT to suffer his fate along with him. All you have to do... is stop."

"Stop what? Stop working for December?"

"And stop what grows in your heart. Do not nurture it..."

"What are you talking about?"

"You will know. But by then it may be too late. Leave him now... leave this place and do not return to Montfort."

"Sorry," said Zade. "Once I'm bought, I stay bought."

"Loyal... loyal to the end."

"More than I can say for you. You left me to die, remember?"

"In the end, it would not have made a difference had I stopped to save you or not. I would still be dead, and, since you chose to stay with December, your fate would still be what it is now."

"My fate," said Zade. "I don't believe in fate."

"I've seen what's coming. I know what it will do.... and why. Perhaps it is best if you not survive what awaits you here in this place. Best for you if you die... here and now..."

"What-"

Zade responded instinctively to the threat. Daggers in both hands, senses sharpened, muscles tensed.

Damion VonSinterbourne vanished. One moment he was standing in front of Zade... and the next he was gone. Zade didn't even have time to be unnerved... the screaming started instantly.

"AAEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

A man's terrified cry echoed across the water. There was a loud eruption of frenzied splashing... someone running through the water...

"OH GODS! SOMEBODY HELLLP MEEEE!!!"

Zade made out the fleeing shape as it emerged from the darkness. Emory Tibbs. The man was frightened out of his mind, and was on a collision course with Zade. Zade sheathed one of her knives, stepped to one side, and snagged the man as he ran past. She nearly had to dislocate his arm to get him to stop running.

"HE'S COMING!" Emory screamed. "RUN! RUNNNNN!!!"

"Who? Who's coming!?"

Emory looked up into Zade's eyes. He tried to speak, but was too frightened to do anything but whimper and tremble.

"Calm down!" Zade said. She shook him violently.

"...p-p-PLEASE help me!" the man stammered. He started to cry... tears of fear rolled down his grimy face. "I don't wanna die... please don't let him get me! please!"

"Who!"

"...th-th-the man! The Man!"

"Damion?"

"He's coming! He's after me! Don't met him get me! Save me! SAVE ME!"

"I'll save you," said Zade. "But... December wants something from you. The-"

"The book! The book! I'll get it for you... I'll take you to where I hid it! Anything you want! I promise! Just don't let him get me!"

"Don't let WHO get you?"

"...please don't let me die..." he groveled. He was still crying and pulling at Zade's sleeve like a frightened child.

"Nothing's going to happen to you," said Zade.

"But he's comin-"

Zade suddenly clamped her hand down over Emory's mouth. His muffled mumbling echoed uncomfortably loud in the silence that followed. Zade froze... she shifted her gaze around from one dark patch of shadows to the other. She saw nothing. All she heard was Emory's whining and the gentle lapping of the waves on the support beams. The air was filled with the pungent musk of Emory's fear... and the fishy stench that all waterfronts tended to share. She heard, saw, and smelled nothing out of the ordinary... which is exactly what bothered her.

"We have to get out of here," said Zade. She removed her hand.

Emory latched on to Zade's arm and tried to pull her along with him.

"This way... I know a place-"

Zade yanked Emory back, held him still, and listened. There... an echo... something moving... a sound. The bottom of a large building stretched above them... it was cloaked in shadows... and in those shadows, something was moving. Moving slowly... taking advantage of the noise from Emory's and Zade's conversation to cover its own sounds. Now it was silent... waiting... watching...

Zade squinted up into the darkness.

"...Emory..." Zade whispered. "...don't run until I tell you..."

SPLASHH!

The dark figure dropped seemingly from thin air, landing in the water a few yards in front of them. He was unmistakable... a strange black cloak, hood drawn over his face, black gloves and boots...

"The G-G-Grim Reaper!"

"Also known," said Zade. "As Faction."

"We meet again, mercenary," said Faction. "And with no irate neighbors threatening to call the sheriff. Tell me, who will save you this time?"

"You ought to be asking yourself the same question," said Zade. She turned her left side toward Faction and assumed a fighting stance. "I owe you one, and the bill just came due. Now bring your sorry ass over here and let's do it."

Faction gave a sinister half-smile. Then, without so much as a flinch to telegraph his intentions, he reached up his sleeve and launched a throwing star. The spinning missile whizzed through the air... at the same time, Zade spun and swept her leg to the side, knocking Emory's legs from underneath him. The missile sailed past his head as he fell. Zade threw two knives... one aimed at Faction's chest, the other three feet to the assassin's left. Faction ducked and spun to his right just as Zade launched her third and final blade. The knife would've caught Faction in the throat if he hadn't snatched it out of the air and tossed it into the river. In the spit second it took him to do that, Zade charged him. Faction jumped up, flipped over Zade's head, and landed right behind her. Zade threw a powerful back-kick just as he landed. Faction caught her leg. Zade twisted, her hand thrusting a long hunting knife towards his neck. He released her foot so he could block the knife. Zade aborted the attack and pretended to back away, then threw a front kick. Faction dodged to one side, his cloak making a rustling sound as he moved. He punched at her extended leg, intending to snap bones with a powerful blow. Zade was too fast... she twisted into a roundhouse kick... the toe of her boot missed Faction's head by a mere fraction of an inch. Faction ducked and threw a complex series of punches and ridge-hand strikes, each capable of snapping bones like dry twigs. Zade blocked and counterattacked with knife, fist, and foot. Somewhere in the blinding series of attacks, Faction managed to wrestle her blade away from her. Then one of his punches got past her defenses, a glancing blow to the side of her head... she felt like she'd been hit with a brick. Faction took advantage of the moment... a deadly ridge-hand blow to the other side of her head. The blow never landed. Zade had only pretended to be stunned, she ducked and delivered a straight blow to the area just below Faction's stomach.

"UNGH!"

Faction threw himself into a backflip and came up in a fighting stance. Zade was in a similar stance just a few feet away from him.

"RUN EMORY!" Zade shouted. Surprisingly, the beggar had obeyed Zade's orders and stayed put until she told him. Now that Faction was distracted, the poor man had a much better chance of escape. Emory ran... quickly vanishing into the darkness. The only sign of him was the sound of his feet splashing in the water as he ran.

"Just you and me," said Zade.

"We have fought his fight before," said Faction. "You know how it ends."

"Yeah... with me safe and sound and you running like a scalded dog with my knife buried in your leg."

"Your memory of events is flawed."

"Remind me, then."

The fighters circled each other... each step sending ripples coursing through the deep water. Each watched the other... and then-

Zade launched into a series of powerful kicks that drove Faction backwards despite his equally powerful blocks. Faction spun away from one kick and delivered a delivered a spinning hook-kick that sailed right past Zade's face. Zade drove her fist into the leg as it past... punching Faction in the exact spot she'd wounded him in their first encounter. That didn't prevent his second kick from slipping in under her extended arm. His foot pounded the side of her chest just under her arm... jarring several organs and bruising several important nerves. She was SUPPOSED to be incapacitated, but Zade ducked under the third kick, then jumped straight up and delivered a flying snap-kick to Faction's face.

CRACK!

Faction wasn't expecting the kick. He wasn't expecting it to land, and wasn't expecting it to be as hard as it was. He took one staggering step back, then spun to one side. He came around to face Zade, and Zade was already attacking. He was ready. Fists and feet clashed in the air as the two tried to pummel each other into submission. Zade threw every attack she knew, and some she just made up on the fly. Faction knew more. They traded punches and blocks for several seconds before Faction's greater skill began to force her back. His potentially deadly blows missed vital parts of her body by smaller and smaller margins. Straining to keep up, Zade shifted to more defensive tactics and backed away. Faction pressed her hard... Zade leapt backwards, Faction rushed her... Zade spun... moving faster and kicking harder than she could have ever done as a normal human... and caught Faction in the solar plexus with a spinning back-kick-

"ARRGH!"

Faction flipped backwards and landed on his feet. Zade had anticipated the move and was already charging. Just as he landed, her fist sailed towards his head. She quickly changed the attack leaned to one side, and cracked her elbow across his lower jaw... just as Faction's fist sank into Zade's gut.

"UNGH!"

Faction's next attack, a spinning backfist to the right temple, threw Zade to one side. She landed on her side in the water, she immediately swept her leg out... Faction jumped over the attempt to trip him as Zade rolled to one side and leapt to her feet-

CRACK!

Faction's fist came out of nowhere... a straight punch to the face that sent Zade staggering backwards. Faction followed her, driving her back with a seven-punch combination that Zade normally wouldn't have had a prayer of blocking. But Zade wasn't normal... her own hands moved with a speed that surprised her. The skill was hers, but the reflexes belonged to the animal within. She fought him with determination and a growing anger that added more strength... more ferocity...
Faction's leg came around in a roundhouse kick just as Zade threw a spinning hook kick. Their legs met painfully in mid air. Both combatants stepped back, then lunged, twisted, and threw identical punches at the exact same time.

They were both stunned for a fraction of a second. Zade recovered first, but Faction dodged her kick. With one foot still in the air, Zade hopped and threw another kick. Faction blocked it, and when Zade's feet touched the ground he kicked them out from under her. She fell on her back; the water was over her head. Faction's fist came straight down towards her face.

Zade reached up and caught it with both hands... stopping Faction's powerful punch cold.

For an merest instant, nothing happened. Then Faction's other fist delivered five quick blows to Zade's gut. Pain from bruised and ruptured organs threatened to swallow Zade's concentration. She cried out in pain... and ended up breathing a mouth-full of water. Zade reached up and grabbed Faction's neck... not in a choke hold, but in a nerve pinch, driving her thumb deep into the trapezius muscle between the shoulder and the neck. Faction quickly moved away from her, allowing Zade to leap to her feet. The first thing she saw was the bottom of Faction's foot-

CRACK!

Zade stumbled backward, but didn't fall. She blocked the next kick, but Faction spun around behind her and hit her with a back-fist to the back of her head. He immediately followed with a spinning ridge-hand strike to the center of the back of her neck.

The resulting trauma to Zade's spinal cord drained the strength right out of her. She dropped to her knees, trying to force back the pain.

Faction stepped back and threw a kick at her head...

Zade's arm shot out, grabbed his leg, and shoved him back. She was on her feet in the blink of an eye. A spinning back-kick knocked Faction backward another few steps. He blocked the rapid-fire series of attacks that followed, then leapt up and back... another backflip that carried him out of range.

Zade was already charging him when she remembered what came next.

Faction reached up his sleeve and retrieved the small wand-like object. Once in his hand, the thing lengthened into a full quarterstaff, and then began to glow with the light of a roaring kiln. Faction swung the staff in Zade's direction... Zade threw herself down into the water.

FWOOOOM!!!

A blast of flame erupted from the end of the staff and seared the air where she was standing. Another blast followed, this one was even hotter, and was aimed at the water. Zade had already rolled out of the way of the flames, but the water around her was now boiling hot! Steam billowed up around her as she jumped to her feet and launched her last two shuriken at Faction. Faction twirled his glowing staff, weaving a complex design in the air. Somewhere in the middle of the maneuver, the enchanted staff knocked Zade's missiles out of the air and destroyed them... melting them to slag with just the slightest touch. Then he swung the staff in a horizontal arc, releasing a crescent of fire that roared through the air toward's Zade, creating a billowing cloud of steam in its wake.

Zade ran straight towards it... then leapt into the air and flipped over it. She landed inside the steam cloud. The flaming arc had set a huge volume of water to a violent boil... steam was everywhere... she couldn't see anything. She dropped to a crouching position , which wasn't all that comfortable in the middle of a lake of boiling water. Zade's leather boots and pants kept the water from searing her skin as the heat and steam quickly dissipated. She watched and waited and listened...

Faction wasn't there. There was no sign of him OR his glowing staff. Zade knew better than to think she'd driven him off... hell, he was WINNING. So why-

Emory.

Faction wasn't here to fight her, he was here to kill Emory.

How long had they been fighting? How much time had Emory had to get away?

...and there was still the matter of the book.

"Looks like none of us are gettin' off easy tonight..." said Zade. Keeping her keen senses focused on her surroundings, Zade quickly followed Emory's path. His fear-laden scent was like a trail of burning footprints leading her right to him. Hopefully she'd find him before Faction did. There was no sign of Brinks' assassin... no sounds or scents. And there wouldn't BE any until it was almost too late. The man was obviously a master of stealth and concealment as well as hand-to-hand combat.

Zade had followed the trail for less that a minute before the scream reached her ears. A high-pitched wail of pain and terror... it continued for quite a while before finally fading away. More than long enough for Zade to recognize the voice as that of Emory Tibbs. It was close by. Emory hadn't gotten far at all.

Zade followed the sound... sprinting through the water at high speed, yet pausing every few yards to stop and listen. She could make out a large pile of *something* in the distance. It looked trash... driftwood and garbage washed up onto the platform by the rising river. But as she got closer, she saw that they were actually the ruins of small dilapidated houses... shanties inhabited by the homeless. They must have been abandoned due to the flooding, and since then water and the poor construction had caused the majority of them to topple. There was one that was still standing... well, half of it was standing. Emory's scent lead straight to that building.

Zade approached the one-room shack, and as she did, the scent of Emory's fear changed to something else. Smoke and burning flesh.

"Dammit man," Zade whispered to herself. "you should have kept running... shouldn't have tried to hide."

One of the walls and about half of the ceiling had collapsed. Emory was inside, propped up against one of the remaining walls. He was still alive... but wouldn't be for very much longer. His arms and legs were gone... burnt completely off. The smoke and smell of scorched meat still saturated the air. The bum's limb-less torso convulsed and shivered... his eyes were wide open, staring at her as she entered.

She rushed over to him and knelt at his side.

Emory's mouth began to quiver.

"It h-hurts," he mumbled. "h-hurts so b-bad..."

"Emory-"

"...y-you said... you would s-save me," he moaned weakly. "...you...lied..."

"Emory, where is... Emory?"

The man died with a cough and a gurgling sigh. Zade closed his eyes. As she did, she saw a small object tucked into the bum's rags. She knew what it was before she retrieved it... It was the reason why Emory hadn't made it very far despite the head start she'd bought for him. It was the reason Faction was able to catch up to him so fast. It was his promise to Zade... Jake Fast's journal. He was trying to fulfil his promise-

"-and I couldn't even save him."

Zade stuffed the tiny book under her armor, in the small of her back where it would be out of the way.

"He didn't have to kill you that way," she said to Emory's corpse. "He did that for me. Which means he's probably still around here watching."

Zade grabbed a piece of driftwood and turned toward the open space where a wall used to be. Then she looked behind her at the doorway. Two exits.

"Uh-huh..."

Zade threw the flat piece of wood out through the open wall, and then immediately turned and dove through the door-

FWOOOOM!!

A thick, wide blast of flame incinerated the wood the second it left the house. The flames then swept across the shack, setting the rotting structure ablaze as Zade landed in the water nearby. She rolled to her feet, then ducked behind a nearby support column. The burning house cast its wicked, orange and red glow over the surroundings... shadows danced and leapt in time to the flickering flames. Zade didn't move... it was her turn to wait. Faction was out here somewhere; maybe he saw her leap to safety and maybe he didn't. Either way, he'd be moving soon. Zade filtered out the hiss and pop of the fire and tried to hear the tiny sounds that it was masking... was that a footstep? Someone moving through the water? No...

...where was he?

Zade sniffed quietly... the air tasted like smoke... but was there something else there?

A minute went by.

Then another.

Then three more.

Pressing her back against the wooden support beam, Zade slowly slid around to the other side. She heard nothing except her own movements... saw nothing but flame, water, and shadows. She stopped and squinted out into the darkness... then moved a little further. She stepped away from the beam... moved about two feet away from it... then paused.

It was a long, uncomfortable pause... Zade stared off in one direction and focused her concentration on her peripheral vision...

She slid her foot forward slightly... shifted her weight...

Then suddenly twisted and made a threw a ferocious punch at the wooden beam. Faction had been standing there the entire time. Taken by surprise, he barely managed to block Zade's punch before it could pulverize his throat. Unfortunately, that punch was a decoy. Zade stunned him with a blow to the kidney and followed it with a knee to the stomach, then stepped back and threw a spinning kick that knocked Faction away from the beam and out into the open. He dodged her front snap kick and blocked all of the furious assault that followed. Zade managed to back him up a few steps before he leapt into a back-flip that carried him away from her. She charged him while he was still in the air... a full speed run that ended in a flying side-kick. When Faction landed, his hand was already reaching up his sleeve for his flaming staff-

WHAM!

Zade struck him hard and fast, planting both feet dead center in Faction's chest. The assassin went sprawling in one direction... and his staff flew off in another. Both combatants went into fighting stances and faced each other with less than six feet between them. Somewhere in the darkness, Faction's staff fell into the water with a tiny splash.

"Awww...," said Zade. "No more fancy glowing stick! Your ass is KICKED now!"

"You are already defeated," Faction said with a light chuckle. "What follows is just a formality..."

[To Be Continued]