Thanks for all the reviews! *stops crying*

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Anne contemptuously watched the dog move towards her. Someone else might that that he was full of grace, the play of muscles bunching and releasing under his skin a testament to an inhuman power, but to her it was nothing. Physical brawn, no match for what she could do with a single thought. Her eyes sought out Ace instead. This was hardly the way to begin the game, with such a weak move by a meager pawn. She had to know that this wouldn't stop her, so instead of instantly dealing with the threat the animal posed she assessed her foe. Ace had drawn her body off to the left, shifting her right leg behind her body so she provided less profile. Her hands were raised to the level of her waist, palms facing towards the threat that Anne posed. The cold look that had entered her eyes as she left the apartment two weeks ago was still there, the ice having grown only harder in the interim. She might have thought that she was hiding what she felt but Anne was too old and too experienced to be fooled by an amateur's attempt at concealment.

Anne rapidly assessed what the chit might be trying to do next, whether defense or attack. By the look in the girl's eyes it was defense, and Anne prepared her response accordingly. She had better be ready to defend against something that she had no way to expect, because that was what was coming her way. Only a fraction of her attention was being paid to the dog. He was no threat.

As far as the dog was concerned, though, he was a very viable danger. Not knowing that he was out of his league, he threw himself at her with a fury unmatchable by a creature capable of higher thought processes. His mind was concerned with only one thing: death. A leap, then two he advanced, intent only on savaging. Finally deigning to deal with him, Anne reached out her mind to stop his advance.

And her mind slid through his with no damage dealt.

Ace had not been ignoring the group as they had wandered through her new home. She had kept an eye on them, sensing their disruptions in the currents of energy of the place. Every step they took was carefully watched by her mind. She had felt Knives open the door for them, had known their passage as they came inexorably closer. Everything they did in her building, she knew. And so she was the only one who actually caught what it was that Anne did when she killed the dog who had been about to attack.

Ace didn't spend any time pouting that Anne had failed to include that in her book of tricks. She could see how it would be advantageous for information like that to lie in the hands of only one person. It made one very powerful indeed. But now was not the time to dwell on the attack and the evidence that things had been hidden from her. Now she needed to find a way to counter it or she would likely be the next victim. Her thoughts found what she thought might be a solution, but rather than risk her life on it, she fixed it in the dog's head and resolved that he would test it for her.

Her solution worked, obviously.

The shock of it was enough to grab Anne's attention immediately, all her mind reeling from the concept that something might be going wrong. That wasn't supposed to happen; she was supposed to win. She was the good guy, right? Wasn't it in her contract somewhere? Random thoughts fluttered at the edges of her mind but she paid them no heed. She tried her trick again with equal success, wasting her first moment making sure that she hadn't done anything wrong the first time, then wasted a precious second in shock. She had barely enough time for her surprise turn to a realization that she was in danger, and for that to register before she was actually in extreme danger. Her arms came up in an effort to ward her torso, again just a reflexive action, and with about the same impact. Thought was an impossibility as she was transported to the last time she had felt so helpless. The image of her stepfather's face flashed before her eyes and her mind went blank under the accompanying wave of terror.

The dog slammed into her, over eighty pounds of muscle, teeth, and claws. His muzzle sought her unprotected throat and his teeth sunk together in the soft flesh. After getting a good grip he shook his head, tearing the muscles and breaking the skin. The carotid artery was nearly severed and her blood splashed in his face and eyes. The dog was not deterred, even as the blood ran down his throat and nearly choked him. Her trachea was crushed, the pain of its breaking spiking through her skull. She knew that it hurt, knew that the pain was terrible, but her conscious mind could not focus on it. It was hazy, distant, happening to someone else very far away. There was no pain as the fangs ravaged her neck, just a vague feeling of something that wasn't right. What her mind focused on was the strange feel of the blood running down her chest, how hot it was, and how much of it there was. She was much more concerned with how heavy the dog was, and how he was on top of her and she couldn't get him off. Why was she on the ground? This just wasn't going right at all.

Then she wasn't really thinking of anything at all. It was funny, really, how unprepared she was. She had let her training slack off, had trusted to her reflexes, and then look what happened. Someone went and changed the rules of the game on her.

What a sad way to die.

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The end.

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*snickers the quiet evil author laugh*