Kyle looked down at his stomach, eyes wide. Huh, that was interesting. It didn't hurt at all. He'd heard that before, that something like this wouldn't hurt. Something about shock, or something like that. Wow, huh, he was saying something a lot of times. That probably wasn't a good sign. Maybe it meant his brain was dying.

Because there was definitely a huge spike made of...well he wasn't sure, really. It was covered in the hall carpet, so you'd think it was the wood of the floor it was made of, but that shouldn't be hard enough anymore. Not to go right through his body like that. And it had DEFINITELY speared him straight through his stomach.

And it still didn't hurt. Not even after the tendril pulled out of his stomach and...wow that was a LOT of blood. And bits of him. He fell to his knees, blood gushing out of him. Abby screamed.

And then...he didn't die.

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He felt himself almost die. It was a weird sensation, like losing his balance for a second, as his soul actually tried to leave his body. But then it didn't, and he fell back against the hall, clutching the hole in his stomach. A hole which was slowly, very slowly, closing up.

One eternal node, dedicated to healing. As long as he didn't die instantly, he'd heal forever. Ot had been so long since he was really seriously injured he'd forgotten about it. But it was a SMALL node. He'd heal forever... eventually. And this wound was too much to heal in time for him to help Abby.

Or protect himself, for that matter. A couple more of those and it could finish him off no problem.

"Abby..."

"How the hell are you still alive!?" She shrieked. "How the hell are you still TALKING?"

"Magic," he said. "That's not important right now. I'm really, REALLY hard to kill but it's not impossible. You need to go."

"And leave you alone?"

"Love the instincts but I think I've got a bead on this thing's personality. It wasn't going for you, it's going for me. And I'm pretty sure still being alive is going to piss it off. So get out of the way, and I'll handle this."

"But I can't just..."

The house shuddered around them, a soundless scream of rage and frustration reverberating through the walls. Another spike of carpeted floor shot through the air, slamming itself into Kyle's chest. He coughed up blood.

Then there was a second scream of rage, this one not soundless at all, as Jenny exploded through the wall.