The sensation managed to reawaken his resistance, but it was little more than brute force will applied against power. The strategy Elizabeth had conce...ved and he had tried to apply had fallen apart, and he had no energy to spare to both determine why and maintain his free will.Heather sat on the front steps of Debby's house, her arms wrapped around her knees. She gazed up at the ice blue sky, squinting at the amber rays of late afternoon sunlight and contemplating the unthinkable.Heather felt a. "Yes, ma'am. She's been poisoned by the dagger of a black guardsman." Where is the guardsman?" A'Potnia asked, anger thick in her voice."He lies there," Nathalie said, waving her arm gracefully to where Nigel still laid, his body puddling the floor with its black blood."Who killed him?" A'Potnia asked, stepping eagerly toward the bed."Your daughter did, ma'am. She stepped in front of my son when she saw the dagger, saving him and killing the guard with her sword. She's a very brave fighter,. .. I moaned to myself. I stood up with the bottle of water and walked down the aisle back towards the clerk. He's still staring at me, so I decide to play with him a bit."Are you watching me?" I asked him in a tone that was halfway between seductive and authoritative. He quickly snapped out of his daze and stammered his response."Uh... no, ma'am. I was just... Yeah. Uhm, I mean, I... No. No, I wasn't watching." He spat out. His phone had disappeared from the counter, and his hand was in his. As he approached, I slunk back up against the wall and pretended to be texting.He was a big dude in his thirties. He had a shaved head and goatee. He was wearing a wife beater t-shirt, baggy jeans shorts, and basketball shoes. My overall impression of him was that he looked like a gangsta - exactly the type of guy who wouldn't tolerate a white person in this neighbourhood. But I knew from experience that in here, things would be different.He spotted me as soon as he turned the corner. He looked.