“I’ll do more than kill you.” Zack held the gun rock steady and his voice was calm as a lake. “If you cut her, so much as nick her, I’ll take you apart, piece by piece. I’ll put bullets in your knees, in your balls, in your gut. I’ll stand over you and watch while you bleed out.”

The color that rage brought to Evan’s face drained away. He believed what he saw in Zack’s eyes. Believed the pain and death he saw there, and was afraid. His hands trembled on the handle of the knife, but he didn’t move. “She belongs to me.”

Ripley’s hand gripped Mia’s. Nell felt the punch of energy they created, felt the hot waves of love and terror that rolled off Zack as he stood bleeding for her.

And felt, as she had never felt, fear from the man who gripped her.

Her name was Nell Channing, now and always. And the man behind her was less than nothing.

She closed her hand over the pendant Mia had given her. It vibrated. “I belong to myself.” Power trickled back into her, a slow pool. “I belong to me.” And faster. “And to you,” she said, her eyes locked on Zack’s. “He’s done hurting me now.”

She lifted her other hand, laid it on Evan’s wrist, lightly. “Let me go, Evan, and you’ll walk away. We’ll put all of this behind us. It’s your chance. The last chance.”

His breath hissed at her ear. “You stupid bitch. Do you think I’ll ever let you go?”

“And your choice.” There was pity in her voice. “Your last.”

The chant was in her head, rising, as if it had only been waiting for her to free it.

She wondered how she could have been so afraid of him.

“What you’ve done to all and me, turns back to you, one times three. From you this night I’ll forever be free. As I will, so mote it be.”

Her skin glowed like sunlight, her pupils dark as stars. The knife trembled, whispered along her skin, away, then fell. She heard the choking gasp, the high whine that couldn’t reach a scream as Evan collapsed behind her.

She didn’t spare him a glance.

“Don’t shoot him,” she said quietly to Zack. “Don’t kill him like this. It wouldn’t be good for you.”

Because she could see the intent, she walked to Zack as Evan began to moan. “It wouldn’t be good for us. He’s nothing now.” She laid a hand over Zack’s heart, felt its wild beat. “He’s what he made himself.”

Evan lay on the ground, twitching as if something vile slithered under his skin. His face was bone white.