Breathing heavily, Shania glares at the woman standing past the redhead who struck Johnny and professor Gilbert. After nearly three years of searching for the murderer, she is finally face-to-face with her...but powerless. The Garvoy warrior grits her teeth as her knees give out. She had hoped to defeat the grey-haired woman and finally have revenge. Instead, she and all her companions were defeated by a miserable beast in its final seconds.

The red-eyed woman kneels down. Despite the desire to kill her, Shania edges away, knowing full well she has no chance in her state. But the woman only leans forward more, bringing their faces closer until their lips meet.

At first, Shania is repulsed, heated by what she thinks is shame--the murderer is toying with her. Only as the spirits stir, their voices clamoring in warning, does the Garvoy priestess realize it was no game. The burning hits her chest, making her gasp as she breaks away.

The scarecrow with red hair remarks, "Damn, Lady, you do have a thing for women, don't you?"

The silent woman stands. Shania can feel the burn and scratch marks on her body healing. She guessed that "Lady" had been the one to give Edna her malice, but she never even thought it a possibility that the woman would give her the same strength--and curse.

Her tomahawks are already in hand as she rises to face Lady. If she will have the burden of the Malice, she might as well use its power. But Lady is not even paying attention to her any longer. She has walked away, now standing over Johnny. The boy is glowing with Malice, something that occurs whenever he is both hurt and unconscious, but Lady's fascination with him and Gilbert's chuckles as he watches the two are disturbing.

"Hey!" Shania shouts, hoping to distract Lady. Before she can say anything else, a knife slashes across her face, cutting her cheek. She winces and turns to the tall man idly fingering knives.

"Most people," he says, "would be grateful. But you're just bugging her."

"Grateful?" Shania spits. "You have no idea what you're talking about--or didn't you see what happened to Edna?"

He smirks. "She turned into a goddess. Though, you killed her...so she was pretty short-lived."

Lady kneels by Johnny, turning him onto his back. Shania has no idea what the woman is planning to do, but she seems to be claiming him. "Get away from him!"

This time, the man targets her arm. Even as the blade hits its mark he moves closer. Before she can react, he has a knife pressed against her throat and wrenches the uninjured arm behind her back, his eyes glaring at her with Malice.

Lady has taken no notice of the brief scuffle. Instead, she scoops Johnny up into her arms while the stumpy professor studies the entire scene intently.

"Let him go!" Fear skitters across Shania's stomach. She is afraid for her companion, knowing that with Lady his fate may be worse than death, the woman can turn him into a monster. Shania will turn into a monster, and with this realization she snaps. Her yells turn into wordless screaming. Malice surrounds her body, causing Killer to jerk away as it burns his skin. He nicks her, but she ignores the blood running down her neck as her red eyes hold Lady's. "Put him down."

Shania sees the woman of malice hesitate, something she hasn't never done before. Then, she lowers her arms, dropping Johnny. He lands on his back and groans. Startled by the easy compliance, Shania hesitates, her rage ebbing to be replaced by confusion and relief--and then something large and hard strikes the back of her head, and she falls to the floor.

Author's Note: This is a lot shorter than what I originally thought it would be. I took a long break between the majority of it and the last two paragraphs, so I might've forgotten something. Can't figure out what it is though...gah, I hate when the plot bunnies get covered by dust. :p