I also feltguilty about what was about to come. Even Graydon didn't deservesnailhood, or bimbohood, or whatever teenage-wet-dream he was about to bec...njured into."Berty, you know better than to sit down at a guest's table! Sir, I'mafraid we need our waitress on the floor. Can we fix whatever's wrong?" Oh, I think so," the "guest" said. With a snap of his fingers Graydon...... turned inside out.* * * * * * * *"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" I yelled as the thing that had been Graydon letout an. I called her, wanting answers.“I’ll always be there for you, Barry. Call me when she goes into labor. But right now, I can’t be around her. It’s up to her to tell you why.I asked El, but she said it was a woman thing, and I wouldn’t understand. It upset my mom so bad she went to see Sarah. She came back looking thoughtful.“Something bad happened between them, son. She won’t say what it is, but I don’t know if they’ll ever mend fences.”So the last three months, instead of being the happiest in. He was busy but promised to call back. While waiting for Doug to call back, I started on the door removal project. I knew Doug would do this favor for me or almost anything else I asked of him. When you go into combat with someone at your side and you know your life depends on that person just as his life depends you, a bond is forged that will not break for any reason. With Brian and Doug as a start, I was building an effective combat team.Just as I finished stowing the third door (remembering. Seeing me move in, Ben activated Aura of Flame, and Mason and Anja took advantage if it being stunned. I pulled out my xiphos and hacked at it. It tried to constrict Ben and myself, but we managed to sever it in a number of places before it could do any damage. I looked over to see how Sonja was doing and was surprised to see a gory mass of flesh and bones rather than a large snake. She had her katana in her hand, so it appears that Windblade made short work of it.We picked up the mana crystal.