Tara blinked sleep from her eyes as she stumbled out of her bed and grabbed her bathrobe. She spared a blurry-eyed glance at the alarm clock as she slipped her robe on. She mumbled something that vaguely sounded like three thirteen a.m. She frowned as she wondered who would be ringing the shop's doorbell at such a late hour. She was still mentally checking off people as she climbed down the loft stairs to walk over to the door and peek through the peephole in the door to check to see who was outside. After seeing no one through the peephole, she carefully opened the door to reveal an old cardboard box sitting in front of the door. She glanced around the empty streets. She prodded the box with her foot briefly before reaching down and bringing it inside.

She set the box on the counter. She gasped when she opened the box to find the cut up remains of a very familiar dress. Her face drained of blood as she noticed drops of blood on some of the cut up pieces of cloth. Her eyes blinked back tears as she hesitantly pulled a handwritten note out of the pieces of shredded clothing.

"Dear, new immortal," She read the first part again to be sure she was not imagining it. "I would hate for you to skip out on my lovely challenge or tell your mentor, so I figured I would have a nice chat with your friend. She is quite the cutie, if you want her back in one-piece come to the abandoned church on the edge of town. I'm sure you know the one."

Tara's blood ran cold when she read the last part of the letter, "P.s. I hate waiting and I like cutting things and as I've ran out of clothes to cut off of her I'll just have to do something different if you aren't here in an hour. I think I'll start with her juicy fingers maybe after I finish all of those I'll start on her toes, through there are always her teeth to break and eyes to remove or nose to slice off. Oh, and ears are tasty, after that I'll just have to get creative."

Tara frantically climbed the stairs and tossed on some clothes before grabbing her sword off the shelf. She frantically headed for the church on the edge of town.

Tara was out of breath by the time she arrived at the church and felt the presence of another immortal. Her breaths were coming in rapid gasps as she slammed open the church door.

She noticed a large man, standing a few feet from an alter; raise his index finger to his lips in the symbol to be quiet. In a mocking voice, he admonished Tara, "You should not slam the door to this sacred place for it is a house of god."

Tara's eyes wrenched past the man in a mockery of bloody priest robes to Claire's naked body that was spread-eagled and nailed to a large wooden cross. The large spikes stood out vulgarly from where her hands and feet where pinned to the wood. Tara's eyes involuntarily traced the blood dripping from her wounds to where it pooled on the marble floor. Some small part of her brain noticed that Claire had her mouth taped shut with duct tape.

He smirked, "Yes, she made quite a mess of this place. I think she deserves to be punished, but first I think she should watch as I take your head."

Tara's startled voice broke out, "But you can't fight here it's holy ground."

His laugh drowned out Claire's quiet sobbing. "Who said anything about fighting?" He raised his sword and traced a line down her chest between her breasts. Tara watched in horror as a faint line of blood welled up. "I think you will just toss your sword down to save your girl any more pain."

Tara shook her head slightly, "You would just kill her anyways."

He nodded, "No faith, but I guess you have a point."

He smiled as he pulled a handgun from behind the alter, "I have a better way."

Tara crumpled as the two quick shots into her stomach dropped her to her knees. She was only dimly aware of her sword clattering to the ground as she lost her grip. She blinked up at the man in shock "Holy ground?"

He grinned as he raised his sword, "I don't believe that drivel about holy ground. After I kill you, I'm going to ravage your girl and leave her broken body in the street for strangers to laugh at." He had a brief moment to wonder what had gone wrong with his plan when he found himself tossed off his feet by a bolt of white lightening. He felt several bones break as he slammed against the wall.

Tara pulled herself to her knees with one hand, her other hand still dripping sparks. "I should thank you for making me realize something. This world has plenty of magic I was just naïve for not understanding that it was I that was running away. Scared little Tara was too afraid of becoming something else."

He weakly tried to raise the gun still clutched in his hand.

With a wave of her hand, she melted the gun, the molten metal immediately making a wreck of his hand, in addition to causing him a great deal of additional pain.

"I had been dreading fighting another immortal. I was so worried that it would be like killing a human. It's not you know, we're more like demons. Some of us are good and some of us are not. The game is just something we have to live with. I'm not a head hunter, I don't like the idea, but for you I'll make an exception."

The man blinked incoherently still out of it from the lightening.

Tara gestured with one hand at the man on the ground, his arms plastered themselves to his side as he rose up into the air. "There can only be one, and it isn't going to be you."

With a gesture, her sword skittered along the ground before leaping into her outstretched hand. Tara's face softened briefly as she glanced at Claire to whisper a shield spell. She glanced back at the man she didn't even know that had caused her such pain. "My friends would make a quip now, but you aren't worth it."

The guy barely got the words, "Holy ground out before Tara's sword sliced his head from his body."

Tara watched the body slump to the floor as she released the magic holding him up. She heard the thunder start even as the lightening started flowing from the man's corpse. She had time for one last thanks to the goddess that she had tossed up the shield over Claire before she knew only pain.