The words hit her harder than any blow could have. "You have no idea what you were trying to make her do. What that gate opened. She looked in my eyes and I could see her begging me to do it, Bobo. I gave her what you couldn't."

The sweat from the red salt is doing a halfway decent job of camouflaging the tears threatening to fall. She's drunk, in pain, Peacemaker's gone, and if she's here she's not doing what she needs to do for Alice.

"She made her peace. And if there's any comfort in you being here, it's that she's away from you. That makes Hell an upgrade, you cradle-robbing fuck."