The Series that Just Plain Sucks: The Complete Trilogy

by Charissa Dufour

  The tiny fur ball, which hovered in the air at my shoulder made a large shudder and pushed its tiny hands forward. An overwhelming stream of ice jumped from his hands and crashed into the ground. Slowly a wall of ice rose above us, cutting off our enemy’s path.

  “Run!” he repeated, when he noticed that I hadn’t budged.

  I turned to obey, grabbing Jordan’s arm and racing toward the car. The wolves had also remained, waiting for me. They parted to let me pass, determined to stay between me and the danger.

  We had barely made it a block down the boardwalk, running at Jordan’s human pace, when I heard a deafening crash. I glanced back and saw a colossal ice golem shaking off the shards of Periphetes’ wall. The little fae was zooming straight for me.

  “That didn’t work,” he announced as he reached us.

  Well, duh!

  Without any sort of command, we all turned, ready to go on the offensive. Just behind the ice golem was a giant yeti—an enormous monster with white fur, enormous claws and long teeth. The other large creature looked like a cloud of snow formed into the shape of a man. The one small enemy was just a woman, rather normal looking at that. Her long black hair flowed out behind her, along with her gown of red silk.

  She lifted her white arms, revealed in the folds of her streaming, see-through sleeves, and flung something at us. Halfway to us, it became visible—a giant stone. We all ducked out of the way, scrambling as the stone struck the boardwalk and cracked the old wood.

  I rushed her, determined to get at least one menace out of our way while the others worked on the giants, or maybe I just didn’t want to deal with the over-sized beasts. I reached her in record time, using every ounce of energy I had left to get to her before she could raise any sort of defense, and slammed into her. It was like running head first into a brick wall. Still, I took her to the ground, grabbed her hair, and lifted her back to her feet. She tried to throw another stone at me, but being so close, it was nearly impossible to do any damage. I dragged her across the boardwalk to a decorative lamp post that I was sure had to be made of iron.

  I was right!

  She screamed as I pressed her against it, using her long, flowing sleeves to tie her to the post. I ignored her screams and turned to rejoin the fight. The wolves were dancing around the ice golem’s feet, snapping at the ice and breaking off small bits. It didn’t seem to be very helpful, but I wasn’t sure what else they could do. Periphetes was working hard to cover the yeti in a thick layer of ice. He flew around the yeti as fast he could, flinging ice at it with all his might, which was substantial despite his size. All of this was rather obscured by the snow-cloud monster who was whipping around, changing shape and generally disrupting everyone’s efforts.

  Where was Jordan?

  “Jordan!” I shrieked, but the sound was barely audible amongst the sounds of battle and fierce wind tearing through the immediate area. Panic gripped my stomach until I thought I was going to hurl. I was already starting to feel the effects of the cold from the snow-cloud monster’s efforts. A human might already be dead if he hadn’t escaped.

  I rushed forward, ignoring the monsters and focusing on the ground, but I couldn’t find any unusual lumps. Before I could complete my search, I felt something strike me in the side of the head. The force was so strong I went flying across the boardwalk, landing near the hole in the boardwalk made by the flying stone. I felt the tattered wood tear up my side as I skidded across the uneven walkway.

  I looked down to see how bad the damage was, but my attention was caught by the enormous bolt, sticking out of the destroyed section of the boardwalk. I grabbed hold of it and, with my vampire strength, wrenched it from the splintered wood. I found another one and freed it, too.

  By the time I got back to the fight, the yeti had broken free from Periphetes’ bindings, swatting at the tiny fae as though it was fly, and the wolves were leading the ice golem on a fun game of chase. I ducked behind a permanent garbage can holder and waited until the yeti had his back to me. With as much strength as I had left, which didn’t feel like much, I ran to its wide leg, and began to climb it, using its long hair as hand holds.

  As a human, I would have never been able to climb a moving fur wall with only my hands, but as a vampire, even a tired vampire, I managed the task. I had barely reached its back side, which had a little stub of a tail, when the snow-cloud monster noticed my efforts. It directed its attention at me, blowing icy wind in my direction. The attack didn’t seem to faze the yeti, but I could feel the ice crystals shred my clothes and skin.

  It was painful, but I could ignore it when I thought of Chloe; I kept climbing and finally reached the yeti’s shoulders. Hanging by one arm, I dug in my pocket and pulled out one of the bolts. I drove it into the yeti’s neck, right at the base of the skull. The yeti let out a gurgling grunt before dropping to its knees and finally falling on its face.

  The snow-cloud monster let out a horrific shriek that was a mix of wind and grating metal before it dove onto me with all its force. I was surprised to find the wind did not strike me as I ducked, covering the back of my head with my arm, and burying my face in the dead yeti’s fur, which reeked of winter, fish, and garbage. I glanced over my shoulder and spotted Periphetes blocking the wind’s path with a small shield of ice.

  “We need fire!” squeaked Periphetes in his tiny voice. Oh boy, was he going to get teased mercilessly when this was all over!

  I glanced around, trying to see beyond the blinding snowstorm. I dropped to my knees, hoping visibility would be better lower down, like how smoke is less thick closer to the ground. My knees thudded painfully on the wooden slats of the board walk. Wood…

  I crawled to the section where the fae had thrown a huge stone at us and began tearing up the remains of the boardwalk. I got a decent pile of splintered wood when I suddenly realized I had no way of lighting the bonfire. I patted my pockets, though I knew I didn’t carry a lighter.

  “Need a light?” asked a voice, full of bubbling humor. I glanced up to see a lighter held frighteningly close to my face. Slightly above the lighter was a smiling woman. She knelt beside me, shielded the lighter, and flicked it on with practiced ease. I stared at her, still in shock that she was aware of our epic battle.

  Humans typically couldn’t see the doings of fae if the fae didn’t want them to. The fae could use powers, similar to the glamors that made them look human, to shield their activities from humans. I could hear this woman’s heartbeat, despite the torrential snowstorm, so I knew she was as human as… well as human as she could be. How, then, was she able to see all this?

  I decided to question her later, and focus on the big, scary Winter Fae currently destroying downtown Olympia. With a little coaxing and a lot of luck, we got some of the wood lit. She scooped up two burning logs, one for each hand, and waded forward into the storm. Carried on the wind, I thought I heard a faint chanting sound. Was she a wizard?

  Once again, I tried to push the questions aside and focus on the issues at hand. I scooped up my own burning plank and followed her. Just as we were reaching the center of the snowstorm, a car zoomed around the corner, over the curb, through the surrounding shrubs, and onto the boardwalk, right in the center of the giant snowstorm. It was a rusted pickup truck that would have been more at home in a John Wayne western than in the middle of a liberal state capital.

  The cloud monster shrieked and zoomed upwards, quickly forming back into the rough shape of a man. It was thoroughly pissed at our new weapons.

  I glanced into the cab of the truck, surprised to find it captained by Jordan. He wasn’t looking at me, but busy looking out the back window. Before I could stop him, he threw the truck into reverse and backed it into the woman still tied to the lamp post. Though she was already unconscious, this new attack was the last straw. She let out one last wail before slumping to the ground, her midsection smashed and leaking frost-blue ichor. From there, Jordan popped it into first and set his sights on the ice golem, which was still chasi
ng the wolves around the three way intersection. Jordan took the truck over the dividers and rammed it into the shins of the ice golem.

  The sound the golem made could have deafened the dead. I couldn’t imagine what it must have sounded like to the wolves with their sensitive hearing. I clamped my hands over my ears, dropping the burning plank in the process, and tried to protect myself from wailing screech of the golem’s scream. It sounded as though someone was scraping ice against a chalkboard.

  “Help the wolves,” ordered the stranger as she knelt down and began chanting over her burning planks of wood. Within seconds, the small, struggling fire began to grow and spread. I didn’t wait to see what else she could do, but obeyed her orders and ran toward the ice golem.

  Jordan was already ramming its legs again. A quick glance into the cab showed that Jordan was bleeding from a cut on his head, probably from the first head-on collision. But this wasn’t about to stop him. He kept ramming the truck into the golem until its legs began to fracture.

  Before I could wave Jordan off, he slammed on the gas until the tires spun, putting excessive force against the golem’s fractured legs. Slowly, the golem tipped forward, crushing the passenger side of the truck and landing with his head on the boardwalk.

  After being sure Jordan wasn’t dead, I jumped forward and began pressing my burning plank against the golem’s back. It screeched and flailed about, knocking me off its back and sending me flying across the street. I skidded across the road on my side, feeling the rough pavement dig into the half-healed skin from the recent attack of ice crystals.

  From where I lay on the pavement, I noticed Periphetes making, what looked like, hollow ice balls around small pieces of the snow-cloud monster. Once the ice ball was formed, he would drop it into the blazing fire spreading across the boardwalk, effectively dragging the snow-cloud monster into the flames.

  I glanced around, spotting the wizard standing at the other end of the fire, her hands outstretched and her mouth moving. It looked as though she was pushing the fire toward the ice golem. Before I could muster up the willpower to rise, the wolves skidded to my side, creating a loose circle around me.

  “Where’s Jordan?”

  Travis looked toward the stationary truck and opened his mouth in what I took to be doggy-grin. I assumed that meant Jordan was all right and focused my attention back on the battle.

  Maybe it was hopeful thinking, but the snow-cloud monster looked a little smaller and closer to the ground. Perhaps Periphetes’ strange attack was working.

  A moment later, the wizard’s fire reached the golem and it let out another ear-bleeding scream. I covered my ears, though it didn’t help much, and glanced at the wincing werewolves. With a final spurt of breath, the snow golem collapsed and began to melt with fierce rapidity. Thankfully, the excess of water didn’t put the wizard’s fire out. If anything it acted like fuel. The flames leapt up into the snow-cloud monster.

  Another wailing screech split the air before the cloud fell into the fire.

  I flopped back onto the cold pavement and let out a gusty sigh of relief.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I’m not sure how long I laid there while the last of the supernatural snowstorm blew itself out, but I don’t think it was very long. Before I could muster up my own willpower to rise, one of the wolves nudged my side and gave me a gentle nip on my thigh. I batted at it, but the stupid werewolf got me to sit up. Based on the fact I didn’t recognize it, I knew it was Murry, the only werewolf I hadn’t seen in wolf form yet. His beast was a lot more like what I pictured a wolf should look like. His undercoat was light, but he had darker colors that made his coloring to be generic enough to blend in with most natural surroundings.

  With a little extra effort, I managed to climb to my feet and stumbled toward the smashed truck. Periphetes was already back under his glamor, and the mysterious wizard was making her way around the growing fire. We converged on the truck. Jordan was sitting, one hand pressed against the gash on his head. It appeared as though the blaze of the fire was sending him into a trance. I wasn’t sure if it was supernatural or if he was just dazed from his first big battle and the head wound.

  The wolves, knowing they couldn’t be much help in wolf form, made a loose circle around us while the humans (I use the term loosely when referring to Periphetes) checked on Jordan. He shook his head slowly and stopped, as though the slight movement pained him.

  “Jordan, look at me,” I said in an authoritative voice.

  A tiny voice in the back of my head said, “What are you gonna do? A boy scout knows more about first aid than you!”

  The voice was right, but attempting to help him enabled me ignore the growing thirst, just not for very long. Jordan turned to look at me, and I got the full view of the rich red blood flowing down the side of his face, seemingly with complete disregard for the hand he was pressing against it. With the blood showing in all its glory, my thirst surged forward until I felt my fangs descend and my hands curl into fists.

  “Umm… vampire lady,” said the wizard from just behind my right shoulder. “Let me look at him.”

  The unfamiliarity of her voice drew my attention away from Jordan’s face long enough to remember who I was about to drain dry. I took a deep breath through my mouth and nodded. Periphetes guided me a few feet away from the battered truck.

  “Healing isn’t my strongest suit,” the wizard was saying as she helped Jordan scoot to the edge of the truck’s bench seat.

  “Just do what you can, Lauren,” Periphetes said over his shoulder.

  “Wait! You know her?”

  “You don’t think I make a habit of joining strangers’ battles? I saw Periphetes from down the street,” the woman, Lauren, a playful smile tugging on her lips.

  “I knew Lauren’s mother and was with her when she received the gift,” Periphetes said, as if that cleared it all up.

  “Gift?” I asked. The conversation was a great distraction.

  “You don’t think just any ol’ human can become a wizard?”

  “I don’t know. I guess not.”

  “Now be quiet,” ordered Lauren. We waited a few minutes while the last few snowflakes settled on the ground, and Lauren muttered words I couldn’t understand. “This is only a temporary fix. But it should hold until the sun rises and you can get him properly bandaged.”

  With gentle hands, the wizard helped Jordan out of the battered truck, and we all crossed the street to avoid the worst of the fire’s heat. The fire, despite the lack of the wizard’s further assistance, was spreading rapidly across the wet wood of the boardwalk. Even the trees lining the boardwalk were starting to burn.

  “Umm…” I began, pointing at the shifting flame. “How far is this fire supposed to spread? You’re not…”

  “No,” Lauren responded before I could finish my thought. “I, uh, I don’t know why it’s still spreading.”

  I jerked my gaze over to the young woman. Were wizards supposed to sound so unsure of themselves?

  “What do you mean, you don’t know?” I demanded.

  “Well… that was actually my first time doing that spell.”

  “Lauren is an apprentice, but she has a lot of potential!” announced Periphetes as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gave an encouraging squeeze.

  I rolled my eyes. Perfect. Just what we need, a fledgling.

  “So let me get this straight, having no idea as to whether or not you could control this, you lit Olympia on fire.”

  “Ashley,” said Periphetes in a dark voice that warned me against further complaining. “That spell was very difficult, and it is quite impressive that Lauren managed it at all. Besides, we would all be dead if it wasn’t for her.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  We waited in silence, watching the fire lick up onto a parked car. I’m pretty sure we all cringed when one of the back tires popped. Just as the fire reached the place where the boardwalk shifted into concrete for a blo
ck or so, we heard distant sirens.

  “Perhaps we should put a little distance between us and the scene?” suggested Periphetes.

  We followed Periphetes a block away and down into a dark alley. I reminded myself we had three werewolves, a seriously powerful fae, an insane wizard, and a blood-thirsty vampire—no one would dare mess with us, despite the creepy nature of the alley.

  I thought Periphetes was leading us back to his own car, but he stopped us halfway through the alley, where the shadows were darkest, and spoke. “We need to get the wolves changed and dressed before we make it back to our cars. Then we go back to the seethe and tell Mikhail just how much of an idiot you’ve been!”

  I cringed. I had never heard Periphetes speak to anyone like that—as though they were a bratty teenager who had just been caught with dad’s liquor.

  “We have to find Chloe,” I said firmly. “She’s an innocent in all this. She doesn’t deserve to be captured by fae, suffering who knows what.”

  “You forget who you speak to,” growled the fae.

  “Besides, any woman who lets herself become the property of a vampire is hardly an innocent,” said Lauren.

  I glared at her, but it was Jordan who spoke to Chloe’s defense.

  “We hardly had a choice. I stumbled upon Ashley when she was hurt. Nik either had to take me as his or kill me. I’m pretty glad he showed me mercy.”

  “This accounts for you, but why is Chloe Nikolai’s sheep? Was she with you?”

  “No.”

  “Then a choice was made.”

  Jordan opened his mouth as though he wanted to argue but couldn’t think of anything to say.

  “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is or how it happened,” I interjected. “Chloe is one of Nik’s and now she’s in trouble. Now we have a choice. Are we going to choose to help her or choose to leave her to our enemy’s mercy?”