Sarafina felt like she was spinning in freefall. Trevellian was next to her wheezing heavily and clutching his head. He sounded like he was drowning in air. 

She bit down on her bottom lip. The fingers gripping her baton felt numb, as if her strength was draining out of her. She felt like the universe was swirling around a vortex with Kessler at the centre. 

Bennet and Forester drew into a defensive formation around her. Sarafina looked for the spider creature and realised that it had disappeared from view. She swallowed. It felt like there was something stuck in her throat, like a button or a small stone. 

Beside Kessler, the bleeding woman shuddered as the spines inside her pushed through her skin. She let out a low moan, and looked at Sarafina and the others with an expression of empty hunger. The creature torturing Trevellian didn't move. The girl wrapped in bandages simply looked at him as if the two of them were the only things in the world that mattered. 

Kessler started to walk towards them, holding her sword loosely at her side. 'There's a question that's been irritating me for a while now. It's been swirling around ever since I found out that Regan was alive. I'll have my answer when she finds your corpses though.' 

Sarafina licked her lips. Her mouth felt like paper. 

'Relax,' said Bennet. 'You've stopped breathing.' 

Sarafina heard her blood pumping in her ears. It sounded like a hurricane in her skull. Kessler seemed to grow in front of her until she filled every corner of her vision. 

Kessler was almost lethargic as she lifted her sword. 'The weak shouldn't challenge the strong. You're about to get killed and it's your own stupid fault.' 

Sarafina looked up at the stars. She could feel a tingling sensation in her cheeks that seemed to brush the edges of her vision like feathers. The stars were like drops of water frozen in time. A flickering orange orb drifted lazily across her vision like a falling ember. It stood out from the stars like a burning ruby among diamonds. 

Her brow creased. As she stared dumbly at the falling flame, the instinctual part of her brain took over. Her body seemed to move without any input from her. She watched herself from the outside as she grabbed the back of Bennet and Foresters' clothes and dragged them to the side. 

A paint tin full of petrol hit the ground next to Kessler with a sound like a sledgehammer. Globs of fire exploded across the concrete as the tin burst open and the burning rag tied to the handle ignited the liquid inside. 

Sarafina hit the ground with her shoulder and felt Bennet land on her legs. Burning petrol splashed across the ground in front of her, and she rolled backwards to avoid it. 

She heard screaming, and looked back to the expanding pool of fire where they had been standing. The woman covered in spines was burning. The left side of her body was covered in flaming petrol that seared her skin and filled the air with the smell of burning meat. 

The man with the girl in his stomach had caught some of the flames too. It splashed his back and ran down his legs until the back half of his body was covered in fire. He dropped to his knees and pawed at the burning petrol on his back as it peeled back the layers of skin like a knife. 

Forester coughed and pushed himself up onto his elbows. There was a graze on his forehead where it had hit the concrete. His expression was uncomprehending as he looked at the puddles of flame around them. 

'What the hell is going on?' said Bennet. 

Trevellian hadn't been as lucky as the others. With the bandaged girl torturing him from inside his head, he hadn't even attempted to move. The explosion of fire had broken the connection to his tormentor, but a glob of petrol burned on his arm. He struggled with his suit jacket as the burning liquid melted the material like plastic. When the jacket finally slipped off his shoulders, he rammed it over his arm and tried to smother the flames. Sarafina saw his back shudder as he took a deep, painful breath and slumped over in his wheelchair. 

Kessler was untouched by the fire. She slipped her free hand into her pocket and looked at the burning chaos that had exploded around her. She placed her boot on a spot of flame and ground it out against the concrete. 'Sloppy.'  

'I wasn't aiming for you, Kessler,' said a voice from the roof of the petrol station. 'But I won't pretend I wouldn't like to see you wearing fire.' 

Kessler tapped her sword against the side of her boot. 'Regan. It would have been smarter if you hadn't come. You've unnecessarily made yourself a target.' 

Sarafina looked up to the roof. Regan stood on the edge, looking down at Kessler. Her eyes were bright in the darkness. A night breeze pulled at her hair and ruffled the material of her skirt. She was holding another paint tin. It was larger than the first one. 

'I've been waiting around here just hoping to see your face again, Kessler.' She held up a silver lighter and struck a spark. 'If I had to wait any longer, I was going to start getting bored.' 

Sarafina looked at the lighter in Regan's hand. She recognised it as Latimer's and realised that Regan had taken it from the investigator's corpse. She wondered when Regan had started to plan her ambush. 

Trevellian was still clutching his smoking forearm. There was a sheen of sweat across his forehead that reflected the firelight around them 'You used us to achieve your ends rather well, my frosty angel. Rather ruthlessly too, I might say.' He winced and gripped his arm. 

Bennet wasn't so calm. She rammed the butt of her spear against the ground and pointed at Regan. 'You bloody traitor. You were using us to bait your hook!' 

Regan looked at her like she was a cockroach on a wedding cake. 'Your life is your responsibilty. I'm not your babysitter.' 

Kessler looked from Regan to the others and ran a finger along the back of her blade. She touched it gently, like she was stroking a cat's tail. 'You say the words, but I'm not sure I believe you. You know as well as I do; it would have been better to have waited until I'd finished my fight with them before you attacked me. Instead, you chose to intervene. I think you've lost your killer's edge.' 

Kessler and Regan held each other's gaze across the divide like they were connected by invisible strings. Sarafina could feel a tingling sensation on her skin. It was as if the air between them was filled with a static charge that would shock her if she came too close. 

Regan struck a flame from the lighter. She looked at Kessler over the tiny blade of fire. 'Everyone seems to feel they have a stake in my psychology these days. I should start selling tickets. It would be dangerous to assume you understand my motivations. If you could really read me so easily, you would have killed me the first time.' 

As Regan lowered the lighter to set fire to the rag on the handle of the tin. Sarafina saw movement in the darkness beneath her. On the underside of the roof, The pale spider-like creature was crawling towards her. It moved slowly, like a spider creeping closer to a fly. Each movement was careful and deliberate. She could see the wiry muscles moving beneath its skin as its long pale fingers curled around the rusted support struts of the roof. 

Sarafina wanted to yell a warning, but her chest felt like a belt had tightened around it. She took a breath and tried to fill her lungs. 

'You're not hard to understand, Regan,' said Kessler. 'A broken sword can't be repurposed. It's simply a piece of garbage to be thrown away.' 

Regan flung the burning tin at Kessler as the creature beneath her struck. It moved with sudden ferocity as it darted to the edge of the roof and flew at Regan with a speed that came from blood-driven instinct. 

There was no moment of surprise in Regan's reaction. Her expression was savage as her sword came free of its sheath in one fast swipe. 

Sarafina had never seen Regan fight at full power before. The sheer speed and violence of it shocked her. The creature was still in the air as they met. Its fingers were extended towards her, and its lips were drawn back from its blackened gums to reveal rows of pointed teeth. 

Regan didn't flinch. She slipped past the grasping fingers reaching out for her flesh and flowed under the creature like air. Sarafina saw the flash of a blade, and there was a sound like a wet sheet being torn in half. 

The two halves of the creature separated from one another in a twitching, bleeding mess as the second tin of petrol hit the ground. Dark blood splattered Regan's clothes, and the thrashing halves hit the ground with a continuous, convulsive scream that sounded like a pair of bats being tortured.  

The second paint tin burst open and liquid fire raced across the concrete like mercury. Sarafina jumped over a rivulet of fire and ran for Trevellian as the others scrabbled away from the lake of flame that splashed and spread around them. 

Kessler leapt back lightly as the flames snapped at the edges of her coat. She looked at Regan with a predatory expression. 

Regan jumped off the roof and landed lightly on the concrete. Kessler watched her from beyond the reach of the fire, and adjusted her grip on her sword. 

Regan's eyes were like the empty void of space as they looked at each other across a pool of flames.

'You sold me to human scum and threw me into a freezing hell. It's time for you to pay the price for your betrayal.'