The Hallowed Ones tho-1

by Laura Bickle

  Joseph smiled when he saw me, lips peeled back from his teeth. “I was always a bit jealous of Elijah.”

  “You had Ruth,” I said, my voice quavering.

  He gave a small, boneless shrug. “Ruth was not very interested in me. Not until the end.”

  I shuddered, remembering the corpse at the threshold of the Hersberger house. It had not occurred to me that he had slaked appetites other than for blood with her mutilated body.

  “Unfortunately, it seems as if Ruth will no longer be the recipient of my ministrations.”

  “Ruth’s dead,” I said.

  His eyes narrowed. “Did you have anything to do with that?”

  “No.” I glanced at Seth, who held Sarah, squirming in his grip. “Let her go. Let my family go. You can have me.”

  Joseph laughed. “You overestimate your value. I pressed my ear to your kitchen window. I heard your mother whispering about you being a defiled woman. So Elijah finally got some?”

  “Let her go,” I said. “I’ll do anything you want. Willingly.”

  Joseph flicked a glance at Seth. “For a moment.”

  Seth placed Sarah on her feet. As if sleepwalking, she stumbled back toward the house. I saw her through the safety of the threshold before I turned my attention back to the vampires.

  Joseph crooked his finger. “Now. You promised.”

  I took a step toward him. Then another.

  Then I flung the lantern at his face. He shrieked, clawing at the burning kerosene.

  Seth was fast. He grabbed me by the waist, then howled. I struggled to reach into my pocket, hauled out the Himmelsbrief, and waved it in the air like a flag. It seemed to burn him to hold me, and his grip faltered.

  “Get off of her.”

  I was thrown to the ground by a force that knocked the wind out of me—and Seth off of me. I rolled, gasping for breath, to see a Plain man brandishing a shovel. It made a ringing sound as it collided with the vampire’s head.

  My heart soared as I saw the stain of a familiar tattoo on the man’s arm.

  The Himmelsbrief had fluttered to the ground a yard away. Instinctively, I reached for it.

  But something clutched my ankle. Something that burned.

  I shrieked. Joseph, engulfed in flames, had latched on to me. The fire lit the edge of my skirt. I kicked and fought against him, desperately reaching for the Himmelsbrief.

  And Joseph abruptly let go. I rolled away, slapping out the fire on my skirt and stuffing the Himmelsbrief in the top of my dress.

  “Ginger!”

  She stood over the flaming man, beating him with a fireplace poker. In the glare of the fire, I could see hate and fury boiling in her eyes, the first emotion I’d seen in days.

  “No . . . more . . . killing . . .” she panted.

  Joseph snarled and hissed at her, snatched the poker away as if she were a child.

  “Bonnet! Here!”

  I turned. Alex threw me a garden hoe. I turned the metal end away from me and charged Joseph.

  The shaft of the hoe pierced his chest, slammed him to the pumpkin patch. I put my full weight against it, driving it into the soft, tilled soil. He flailed liked Ruth had, squirming and spitting. Fire splashed onto the pumpkins, and I smelled roasted pumpkin seeds and meat.

  I held on until he stopped flailing, until his burning chest cavity was pressed into the earth.

  I released the hoe, turned back to the house.

  Alex stood over Seth. The shovel was embedded in the vampire’s neck. Black, viscous fluid leaked onto the earth. But his eyes were closed.

  I ran to Alex, threw my arms around him. I wound my fingers in his open shirt. It smelled like blood. “You’re alive.”

  “Yeah. Well . . . not for lack of trying by your Elder guys.” He kissed the top of my head. “They roughed me up, tied me to the horse. Spooked him with gunshots to send him running west. Horse ran for what seemed like forever.”

  I fingered scratches on his face. “Like the cow in your myth?”

  “Like Io.”

  “And the vampires didn’t find you.” I hugged him happily.

  “Well . . . not exactly. They did.”

  I drew back, stared at him. I began to run my fingers over his neck and wrists.

  “Horse ran out of steam, eventually. I was busy trying to cut the rope on a stop sign beside the road when the vampires turned up. And it should have been easy for them, since I was still trussed up like a pig.” He looked down at his arms. “I think it’s the tattoos.”

  “It is,” the Hexenmeister confirmed. I turned to see the old man limping across the yard toward us. “I cannot read them, but they are just as powerful as the Himmelsbrief.”

  I ran my fingers over the black ink. “They’re holy to you.”

  Alex flexed his fingers. “They are now.”

  “How did you escape?” I asked Herr Stoltz.

  The Hexenmeister’s eyes twinkled. “My guard likes to sleep. He does not pay much attention to the back windows. Though my old joints do.” He rubbed his knee.

  “What will happen when they find out you’re gone?”

  The old man smiled. “There is little they can do to me. They will need me. They know it, even though they refuse to admit it. I shall confess, ask forgiveness. I will allow them to swear me to silence, immerse myself in making ink and paint.” He made a dismissive gesture.

  “More Himmelsbriefen. More hex signs.”

  “Ja. I will do what I can do.” He glanced at the bodies of the vampires before stumping away, muttering to himself. “But for now, we need more kerosene. And some kindling . . . maybe salt . . .”

  “I’ll get the kerosene and the salt.” Ginger ran into the house.

  Alex took my hands. His hands were warm and solid. I rested my head against his, a prayer of thanksgiving on my lips.

  * * *

  Dawn seared the horizon pink and red, burning away the violet of night.

  I stood at the gate in a clean dress, with a heavy pack on my shoulder, watching the sun rise.

  “What happens now?” I asked.

  I would be lying to say I wasn’t afraid. I glanced back, seeing the line of Elders in the distance, like crows on a telephone wire. The Hexenmeister was with them, but he was silent. I knew that he would do his best to protect our community. I think that my parents believed what had happened last night, after Elijah had told them. But the Elders couldn’t allow that belief to spread. It made me angry, leaving everything I loved behind. But, on some level, I also craved it. I turned my face to the sun.

  I was sad that my family would not come with me. Some sliver of me hoped that they would not send me out into the world alone, knowing that I spoke the truth. But I knew that they had Sarah to care for. And that this was the safest place for them.

  Baptized or not, I was an adult woman now. Time to make my own choices. I chose not to repent and ask for mercy. I chose to go beyond the gate.

  Alex shrugged, adjusting his pack. His sleeves were rolled up over his elbows and shirt unbuttoned to show his tattoos, and his hat was pulled down low to shade his eyes. His black jacket with the zippers was tucked under one arm. He led the white horse on a bridle behind us.

  “What happens now?” I asked again.

  “I dunno, Bonnet. But we’ll figure it out.”‘

  “Wait! Wait for me!”

  I turned. A round figure in Amish dress ran toward us, kicking up dust and clutching a pink purse. Ginger. She broke past the startled line of Elders as if she were playing an adult version of red rover, launched herself over the fence with a degree of agility that shocked me. She skidded to a stop in the dust before us, the sun reflecting off her eyeglasses.

  “Um. You guys want some company?”

  “Ja.” I grinned and nodded. I unlatched the gate and we stepped through into the unknown together.

  About the Author

  Laura Bickle's professional background is in criminal justice and library science. When she's not patrolling t
he stacks at the public library, she's dreaming up stories about the monsters under the stairs, and writing contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams. Laura lives in Ohio with her husband and five mostly-reformed feral cats. The Hallowed Ones is her first young adult novel. For more about Laura, please visit her website at: www.laurabickle.com.

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