“With what?” I whispered. “How do you battle something whose weapons you can’t even see?” We’d never had to kill a Scidairan before, dammit. Pete saved those kinds of hits for our warlock.
He came to stand at my shoulder. “Use what you know. And then improvise.”
I took a deep breath. And yelled, “Love those outfits, girls! You look like a couple of litmus test strips. Yo, Vayl, did we bring the acid? Let’s turn these bitches red!”
Anybody with even a week of field experience wouldn’t have missed a step. But these bimbettes must’ve come fresh from the Scidair School of World-Ripping. They both hesitated. And in that moment, as it so often does during the most violent times of my life, everything slowed down as everyone moved at once.
Albert stepped out from hiding, swinging some sort of club at the shorter of the two Scidairans.
She fell to her knees as her partner spun to face this new threat. I hoped the shock of Albert’s attack would send her into instinctual attack mode. If she just jumped him, he’d be fine. Even at his age he could pound the crap out of men twice his size. Unfortunately she kept her cool. Sweeping her power from the shield that had barred us, she shoved it at my dad, throwing him into the barn’s wall. He crumpled to the ground.
Already halfway to them, Grief in one hand, my bolo in the other, I kept one eye on Albert and the other on the girls. The one he’d felled was stirring, moaning. The other had begun to turn back to me. Thank God! Albert moved. But it was to clutch one hand to his chest. Shit!
Vayl swept past me, grabbing my hand on the way and holding our arms outstretched. We cëstr>
“No,” said Vayl. “Remember the mission.”
For a second I couldn’t. Not even the part about why we had to work it in Scotland. All I wanted was to shoot that black heart full of steel, guarantee that nobody else’s dad would ever suffer a heart attack because this twisted bit of snot couldn’t see the good in anything. Then Albert belched.
“Ahh, that’s better. Did you see that, Jaz? She knocked the breath right out of me!”
As I turned my head, my neck aching with the effort it took to hold up my unbelieving brain, Vayl said, “Albert, can you find some rope? We must not leave them free to roam while we chase after Cole.”
I watched Albert struggle to his feet, his knees seeming to be more of a problem than the blows he’d taken from the Scidairan. As soon as he disappeared into the barn I said, “I always suspected he was indestructible. Now I know it.”
However, when he didn’t immediately return I started to wonder if I’d spoken too soon. “You two might want to come in here,” Albert finally said.
Nodding to one another, we each grabbed a girl and shook them awake. I’d chosen the smaller one, who came to all at once. She sat up, grabbing her head and screeching like a pissed-off parrot.
“Be quiet,” I said as I grabbed her wrists and shoved them high enough on her back that she squawked again. “You’re just going to give yourself a bigger headache.”
Vayl’s old gal decided the whole situation was horribly humiliating and began to cry as we walked them into the barn. Or maybe she thought we’d sympathize and let them go. Ha!
Albert stood in the open space between two rows of empty stalls. In one hand he held a tarp. The other motioned to an enormous black-lidded barbecue, the kind you’d expect to see beside a food vendor’s tent at a street fair. “I lifted the lid,” he said. “People store all kinds of stuff in their grills. I thought, Why not rope?” He pointed.
Shoving my charge ahead of me, I moved toward the cooker. And stopped again just before my hip hit the side table.
“Vayl?”
“Yes, Jasmine,” he said gravely.
“Is that an eyeball lying in the cinders under the grate?”
“I believe so.”
“Jesus.” I spun my girl around, but before I could even begin to question her she threw up. The only reason she missed me was that I read the signs correctly and shoved her away before any damage was done. “Tie her up, Albert.” For once, he just nodded.
Turning to Vayl’s prisoner, I stalked toward her, noting with satisfaction that the closer I got the bigger her eyes grew. “I don’t know anything!” she squeaked.
“Sure you do,” I said. “Your boss is cooking people in her backyard. That’s not something she’s going to be ë’s >
I lifted my knife. Pressed the tip against her cheek. “We could add another trophy to the one in that grill real easy.” Change of angle, just enough to draw blood. Vayl held her tightly, not allowing her to jump and injure herself further. Giving me complete control. “What are they planning tonight?”
“Floraidh is bringing the Raptor back to the skies.”
Raising Samos, just like I thought. Okay, don’t panic. “How?”
“We’re eaters of the dead. It transforms us, and allows us to live beyond our mortal lives.” She sounded like she was reading from a textbook. The same one Tolly had stolen a peek from when she’d dipped her foot into Scidairan magic.
“What does that have to do with my friend?”
She gasped as I twisted the knife, letting her cheek feel its sharp edge. “When we eat the living we can make other transformations. With the right words, the right components, we can—” Her eyes widened in horror as they focused on a spot behind me. “She knows I’m talking to you! You must promise to protect me!”
“Of course. Where’s she headed?”
“Clava Cairns. She’s already buried the items she needs there. She just had to get the diamonds to pro—” The girl gasped. “Floraidh! I’m sorry. I had no—” Both girls began to choke. I pulled the knife away from the talker’s face as her body bucked and writhed, struggling for air.
Within a minute Vayl had laid her beside her partner. Though Albert had called an ambulance, it would serve only as a hearse.
I grabbed Vayl’s arm. “Let’s go. We can still catch up to them if we hurry, right?”
He looked off in the direction they’d gone, cast his eyes back down to me. “Possibly. But I would hate to be drained of my energy at the very point I might need it the most.”
“The van, then. I’ll drive,” I said, digging into my pocket for the keys. “Albert, you stay here with Jack.”
“And explain the dead girls how?” he asked. “The way my luck’s been running, they’ll have stood me in front of a firing squad for murder before you two get here to back up my story!”
The fact that Albert had managed to keep up with us as we hurried around to the front of the house explained better than anything how he felt about being left behind. And I sure as hell didn’t have time to argue. “Fine. But you keep your ass parked in the van until we tell you it’s okay to come out,” I said.
“I might be able to help you,” he told me. “I’m pretty handy with a golf club.” Which was when I finally got a good look at the weapon that had taken down girl number two. Hard to tell where he’d found the nine iron he was currently using as a walking stick, but at this point I wouldn’t have cared if it was a bazooka.
“You’re in the vehicle or you’re stuck here and I don’t give a crap if they dangle yoë thnt>u from Castle Hoppringhill’s tallest tower.”
“I knew you were gonna say that. Fine. But if you need me, yell.” Albert hefted himself into the backseat of the Alhambra as Vayl, Jack, and I jumped into the front.
The dog settled between the front seats until Albert said, “Yo, mutt. I’ve got a goody for you back here.” While it wasn’t advisable, I glanced behind me. My dad was just pulling a sausage out of his pocket, which Jack reacted to with a bouncing turn that slapped his tail against my jacket as he enjoyed his snack.