A huge shape came leaping out of the darkness, sending one of the men sprawling to the ground, pinned beneath a great gnashing weight. The other man cried out in alarm, turning his gun sights on the black beast. Jay threw his knife at the man, and saw with a kind of hungry fascination how it sped in perfect form through the air and sunk itself in the back of the man’s neck. The Appalian wheeled around, choking on blood and metal, and Jay saw how the throw had actually taken the knife all the way through: the end of the blade emerged from the larynx, where blood was dribbling fast.
