A second knock as Tony’s fingers closed around the door handle convinced him to yank it open immediately. He very much doubted Arra would open a gate but, as the lock, the spark, and the incident with the litter box had proven, she could do smaller magics without attracting unwelcome attention.

“Look, Julian, you’ve got to sto . . .” Propelled by Keisha’s fist, the final consonant exploded out of him along with all the air remaining in his lungs. Gasping for breath, he was able to offer little resistance as the set dresser shoved him up against the wall, his head impacting against the drywall with a distinct crunch.

“So here you are.” Her forearm up against his throat, she leaned a little closer. Her dark eyes gleamed. “I was wondering who’d find you first.”

Shadow-held.

Holy obvious observation, Batman.

“You don’t have to do this.”

“Do what? Kick your ass?”

As her knee came up, Tony brought his own leg up and around, hooking hers while simultaneously slamming her on the opposite the side of her head with his elbow. Between the double blows she went down. He followed her to the floor, landing on her torso as hard as he dared.

Keisha grunted, reached between his legs, grabbed a handful of crotch, and squeezed.

Tony yowled. Rearing back, he clutched at her arm with both hands and tried to free himself from her grip. Free her grip from him. Stop the pain!

When his balls dragged away from his body with her fingers, he changed his plan of attack. Unless he could knock her out and take the shadow controlling her out of play, just hitting her wouldn’t do any good. Catching her free hand around the wrist, he pinned it to the floor then, twisting his body as much as the pain allowed, began to tickle her exposed side.

The release hurt almost as much as the initial grab and he yowled again as blood flowed suddenly back into abused tissue. Bright side, he hardly felt the back of Keisha’s fist drive the edge of his lower lip in over his teeth reopening the cut he’d received during his earlier dance with Mouse. Her hips canted up between his thighs, throwing him forward, off-balance. Barely managing to keep from kissing the linoleum, his weight slammed down on his elbow.

“The master says we can’t kill you,” she growled, her teeth closing around his ear. “But we can hurt you.”

If he yanked his head away, he’d lose a piece of his ear.

Jesus FUCK!

If he didn’t, he’d lose a piece of his ear.

Tony could feel warm and wet running down his neck and he really hoped Keisha was drooling.