It's going cool places, the next chapter will probably arrive in September. I've been addicted to GRRM's [i]A Song of Ice and Fire[/i] lately, so influences from that will probably show in this. Just wait for the Covenant-Purple Wedding. Nah, I'd never do anything that brutal to my characters. But I am trying to make this a little grittier, which is the natural evolution the story's been going through anyway as the chapters have gone on.