Recieving a kick to her face as she reached the top step, Lorena almost fell backwards down the stairs again. Somehow she managed to stay standing and keep her balance. Ducking quickly, she avoided the next punch aimed at her. She was not trained how to fight.  The only fighting she had ever done before was against her brothers when they were playing, but her brothers weren't fighting full-strength.

      Running quickly up the rest of the stairs, she turned back around to face Mandy. "Can't face me? What, are you afraid of me?" she asked as she prepared herself to fight.

      "You really think that you are going to beat me?" Mandy asked. "Why don't you just leave and let me have Nick? He and I were meant to be together, that is all there is to it. He doesn't want you anymore; I've treated him right while you were getting here. See, I'll fuck him and he likes that, so you see, he'll stay with me because I give him what he wants. If you leave now, I'll spare your life."

      "Why, if you wanted me simply out of the picture, did you go to all that trouble to get me out here?"

      "Perceptive; I called you that already, didn't I? See, if you are still alive, there is no way Nick will want to come back to me heart and soul. Part of him will always be with you. As I see it, you stole my man, my fame with his fans, and could possibly get my record deal. You are going to have to die."

      "Okay, I took your man, but I don't want the other two things, really, you can have those. I have no desire to sing."

      "Whether you have the desire or not, you have set the ball in motion, and I am going to stop you before you can get to far ahead."

      Saying those words, Mandy stopped talking and moved towards Lorena moving in to punch her. Somehow Lorena avoided getting hit, but managed to bring down her elbow on Mandy's back. Countering, Mandy grabbed Lorena's legs around the knees and knocked her over into a pile of drywall.  Making sure Lorena couldn't get up very quickly, Mandy jumped up and started to kick her anywhere her foot would hit.

      Feeling each blow to her body, Lorena didn't know how she was going to get out of this. How was she going to find the strength to fight now? She had just made her way all the way to the sixth floor and was out of breath, but Mandy just sat and waited for her to arrive. Shielding her face, she was close to giving up. She looked around the warehouse, getting in a good look at the place that was going to be the last place she was going to see.  The blows on her body were hurting more now and covered more area than a foot. Mandy had picked up a board and was hitting her with that instead.

      Her eyes were swollen from crying, but she continue to look around the room. That's when she saw him. He was sitting there tied up, mouth taped shut but no blindfold. There was a sadness in his eyes that she didn't want to see. His eyes were pleading her to get up and do something. Battered, bruised and with failing strength, Lorena rolled out of the way of the board.

      "Afraid you can't take me without the use of a weapon or without having to keep me down?" she spat at Mandy.

      "I could take you easily. Look at yourself, you're already halfway to the point I need you at." Mandy threw the board down and walked close to where Lorena had been standing. Quickly wiping her eyes, Lorena swung at Mandy and missed. "HA! And you think that you are going to beat me?"

      Bringing her foot around after missing Mandy, she knocked her flat on her back. Working fast, Lorena threw all her weight in one step down onto Mandy's stomach. While she was keeled over in pain from the kick, Lorena grabbed her hair and pulled her back to a standing position. Still holding her hair, Lorena punched Mandy in the stomach where she was still in pain from her earlier blow.  

      Through the pain, Mandy reached around and grabbed Lorena's hair in an attempt to pull her off of herself, but it only brought Lorena's foot sweeping back against hers and knocking them both over.  Stunned, both girls got back to their feet and stared at each other. Both girls were injured now; blood dripped from both of their mouths and Lorena had a trickle falling from her head.

      Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Mandy began to talk again. "Killing you is going to be fun. This is the first time you've put up a fight." Seeing Lorena's stunned face, she went on. "Oh, yes, I know about our past lives together. I had it figured out before I met Nick. I knew that it was my destiny to be with him, and I will do anything to get him back with me.  I've kept you apart in every other life that we've all been in; what makes you think this life will be any different?" Using some move she had been saving up for, Mandy kicked Lorena backwards.

      Trying to keep her balance was tricky for Lorena with all the piles of junk on the floor around her, but she managed to stay standing. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted another figure moving in towards Nick. Noticing who it was, she smiled and charged at Mandy, knowing she had to keep her away from Nick.  With all her might she knocked herself into Mandy. Before she could stop herself, they were both falling down the flight of stairs to the lower level.

      The fall injured both girls even more than they were before, but Lorena had been luckier. She had landed on Mandy, so she was able to stand back up, and she stood hovering over Mandy, awaiting her nemesis to open her eyes.

      With pain surging through her body, Mandy awoke. "What? Where am I?" It took her only a few minutes to remember where she was and what was going on, but she could do nothing about it; the fall had broken her leg. "I guess you've won. Are you going to kill me now?" she asked after mustering up enough courage to not let any tears fall with the realization that she had lost.

      "And bring myself to your level? Never!"