Tzich hissed through his teeth and flung his arm out, but nothing happened. Carly had done something -- drained him or stunted him, he hoped temporarily. He snarled and lunged forward, ready to tear the beast off his student -- but Carly got to it first.

By the time he was near enough to grab Carly's shoulder, the dog was motionless. He stared at it with violent, confused black eyes, his fangs glinting. He pulled his hand away from Carly. "That dog is already full of holes, a dagger shouldn't make a difference." But it had, because Carly had willed it to. He rubbed his face, paced a few steps back and forth, kicked the dog but it only flopped in response.

Finally, he dropped to his knees and peered close at the dog's maggot-eaten face. He opened his mouth and sucked in a trickle of black that was much less opaque than the woman's demon had been. This was grainy, and it went down like fiberglass.

He gagged and coughed dryly, but he got to his feet and swallowed it down with a twitch in his mouth. He tipped his head and cracked his neck. "There's nothing left but fragments," he said in a wheeze, and cleared his throat. "There wasn't much left of that demon in the first place, but you pulverized it like a meat grinder." He wasn't even sure how. He gave her an uncertain look. "How do you feel?"