Jaz Parks 5 - One More Bite

by Jennifer Rardin

Brude’s force had done a number on Floraidh’s coven. But they’d suffered heavy casualties as well. Still, I thought we’d win. Until I spied Samos at the edge of the clearing, holding Viv in front of him, his arm around her neck as if he meant to break it sooner rather than later. Cole stood maybe three yards out, his hands raised, talking so softly I couldn’t hear. Why couldn’t I hear? We hadn’t cut off his audio feed. I tapped at my ear. Realized my party line had fallen off.

  “Vayl!” I yelled. “Samos is trying to escape!”

  I began to run toward him, realized my sverhamin hadn’t replied, and peered over my shoulder. Brude’s army, having defeated Floraidh’s coven, had backed Vayl and Albert to the edge of the ravine. The fact that they’d hadn’t touched Vayl and had barely put a slice in my dad said more to me about the two of them than I’d ever understood before.

  Albert stood straight as a flagpole, Vayl’s sword swinging sure and true in his strong right hand. This was the man who other men had told me they’d willingly die for. Not because he knew pretty speeches. But because he put himself out there first. He understood the cost of battle and the real reason men and women fought; I saw it there in the lines on his forehead and beside his eyes. And his little grin told me he was glad to be back at it. Even though he was grossly outnumbered, the action filled him with the purpose he’d lost when they’d forced him to retire.

  Beside him, Vayl wielded another sort of power. It must rise from the same side of the grave as Brude’s army, because it was taking a heavy toll. When his blasts of ice and wind hit their shields, they shattered. The ancient warriors flinched and cried out as sleet began to fall from the sky just over their heads, cutting through their armor as effectively as a cleaver through steak.

  Nobody could keep up that kind of attack indefinitely, but Vayl would last a lot longer than Albert, whose teeth had begun to chatter despite the fact that sweat ran down his forehead. They needed to win, and fast. Especially since Samos had disappeared into the woods, leavinûe wun g Viv panting on the ground. Since I couldn’t see Cole anywhere, I had to assume they’d made an exchange, Cole’s body for Viv’s. And now that eternal thorn in my side had what he wanted.

  “Brude, call off your men!” I yelled.

  He stood on the opposite side of the glade, having found a stump from which to survey his troops. He eyed me like I’d just been led to the sales block. What a nice piece of horseflesh she is, said his expression. So shiny and full of spunk. “This creature must die as well,” he said. “Unless you would like to enter into another agreement with me.”

  “Jasmine!” Vayl didn’t even glance my way. How could he while working with Albert to fend off twelve of the most bulletproof fighters in the multiverse? But his tone made it clear I’d better damn well listen up. “If you make one deal with this scum, you and I are through!”

  “What the hell kind of ultimatum is that?” I demanded. Tightening my grip on the hybrid blade I’d borrowed, I mowed into the back of the line, hacking heads and torsos like they were nothing more than jungle overgrowth, blocking my path to the real showdown.

  In retrospect, it’s probably good that Iona borrowed a Scidairan blade and came along for the ride, because I was so furious I paid no attention to anything or anyone beside me. I did hear her panting, her weapon clanging on the misses and hissing on the hits, so I’m sure she saved my life numerous times. But my mind was on that goddamned vampire.

  I swung the blade and beheaded a bald shade dressed like a Nazi, clearing my view so I could see Vayl’s pale, frost-rimmed face. I stuck the axe in the spine of my next victim, who went to his knees. When he didn’t move out of my way fast enough, I planted my foot in his back, finding myself mildly amazed when I met actual resistance, and pushed. He fell over and I moved forward again, yelling, “Since we hooked up, I’ve been a stellar girlfriend! Hell, I haven’t even had impure thoughts about my neighbor who looks just like Jason Statham. So where do you get off threatening to dump me? Especially when this whole deal was your idea!”

  By now only a couple of fighters stood between Vayl and me. But the battleground had become no less dangerous, because I’d totally lost my temper and little fireballs had begun to fall from the sky. “Now look what you made me do!”

  “To me!” Brude called. His remaining forces, some frostbitten, some burning, ran to his side. He glared at me. “This is not over!” he bellowed. “I am not conceding. I only leave the field because I am called by a master I cannot refuse. Do not forget—you owe me a boon!”

  “Bullshit!” I yelled. “You killed, like, eight Scidairans. If I know anything about the rules of interplaner battle, and I do, that gives you leave to recruit them. Count that as your payment and get the fuck outta here!”

  With a final cry of outrage he snapped out of sight, taking his entourage with him.

  Vayl looked into my eyes. “Your language is quite shocking. But I love the way you fight.”

  “I’m still pissed at you!”

  “I know. And I find it incredibly titillating.”

  ed "0%">

  I snorted and laughed at the same time. “Vayl, really, you can’t say that word and believe people will take you seriously.”

  Vayl shrugged his indifference to people’s opinions as he asked, “Any guesses as to where Brude has run off to?”

  “I think he’s supposed to be Enforcing for Lucifer, whatever that entails. This other gig”—I gestured to the clearing, now littered with Scidairan corpses—“is just a part-time thing.”

  “Jasmine?” Albert had dropped Vayl’s cane to his side. He was looking around the battlefield, his eyes skating past the bodies to the flaming balls of muck that had dropped in our general area. “Did you really do that?”

  “I . . . uh . . .”

  “And, Vayl? How is it that you can control the weather? Did Bergman make you some sort of portable snow machine?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “That’s it. Snow. Sleet. Fire. It’s all right here.” I patted Vayl’s breast pocket, which remained agonizingly flat.

  Iona stepped up, supporting a weeping Viv. “Samos is probably at Clava Cairns by now,” she reminded us. “I’ve been called by my circle to prevent Floraidh from resurrecting him. And it seems like you’re of the same mind. I suspected as much when you cleared our room yesterday, but of course I couldn’t reveal myself to you in case I was wrong. So what do you say? Shall we join forces?”

  My reaction really pissed Viv off. She began signing like she’d much rather hit me. Iona said, “Viv wants to know how you could possibly smile at a time like this.”

  “Because Floraidh all but told us we couldn’t beat her without a spell caster.” I nodded at her. “And now we have one.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  My guess is that when confronting your newly risen nemesis who is now trying to cement his remains into a stolen body, your best approach should probably involve some form of stealth. Unfortunately our crew included an untrained civilian, a distracted witch, a rickety old man, and an excited malamute.

  Jack hardly ever barked. Strangers remarked on his polite behavior. In the park he refused to woof at bikers, other dogs, or even little kids chasing bright red balls. But now I couldn’t get the mutt to shut up!

  He sounded a little like a sinus-infected bear as he vocalized. Along the lines of, “Roo-roo, we’re coming after you-poo!”

  I wiggled his lead. “Jack! What the hell? Where were you when that wild-eyed Bible thumper came to the door trying to save my soul?” He threw a furry grin over his shoulder and launched into a second verse.

  I said, “Swear to God, dog, if this doesn’t turn out well I’m buying you generic food for the next month!”

  We stood at the edge of the woods, staring out at Clava Cairns. The Scidairans’ fire had sputtered out, but the GhostCon torches still glowed, making me wonder how soon we’d be running into their firþng st walking tour.

  This could get awkward. Although those punishment-gluttons would probably
embrace the whole experience. Right up to the point where Floraidh started munching on their juicy bits.

  Yet another reason we needed to shut this operation down, like, yesterday.

  At least we knew where the body snatchers had set up camp. And considering where we’d found Jack’s harness, it made sense that the flicker of their fire reflected off the walls of the inner circle of the northeast cairn.

  “What’s the plan?” Albert asked.

  “There is none,” I said.

  “You should have a plan,” said Albert. He’d resheathed Vayl’s sword and was now leaning heavily on the cane.

  I didn’t tell him I’d tried to put something together during our short trek through the pines. But since I had no idea how you kill a resurrected vampire, I figured winging it would probably work better than developing a play-by-play. Also it would leave me in a more hopeful frame of mind, since if I had to think about it any length of time I was ninety percent sure my conclusions would depress the hell out of me.

  I had decided that if I was going to die tonight, I didn’t want to do it without making some sort of grand romantic gesture that Vayl would remember forever. Like in the movies. Unfortunately we’d been rushing pretty much headlong through thick undergrowth at the time. So kissing was out. He’d probably view a boob flash as accidental or whorish. Goddammit, why did I already tell him I loved him? This would’ve been the perfect moment!

  I tried to calm myself. After all, I’d already dropped a load of flaming coals from the sky and probably ashed out a fraction of my soul in the process. Plus it might be nice if I could think clearly for once. Yup. Time to accept the fact that my mind wouldn’t produce a memorable kissy-face moment. It wanted to work. So I’d better damn well survive, because I’d be so pissed if we missed our chance.

  I handed Jack’s leash to Albert. “You stay here,” I said, making it clear I meant both of them. “And this time it would be nice if you didn’t let yourself get kidnapped, all right?” I glanced at Iona. “Have you figured out why Jack’s harness would be so important to Floraidh yet?” She’d overheard my conversation with the Scidairan and had been trying to decide what it meant ever since we left the clearing.

  She said, “I need to know why the dog is so significant that they wanted something that was a part of him for so long.”

  I filled her in on Jack’s background without revealing exactly who I was. But you could tell she was sketching in the missing pieces pretty well all on her own.

  She asked, “Would you say Jack was more important to Samos when he was alive than any other creature he knew?”

  “Even though he had an avhar at one time, I’d say yeah. Without a doubt.”

  “And now, this is quite important. When you killed Samos, thinking that was his real name, was the dog wearing his harness at the time?”

  “Yeah. We didn’t get rid of it until we left Greece later that evening.”

  Iona nodded. “Here’s what I believe. Vampires have very little to leave behind. But there is some. Bits and pieces of worldly material. Vapor. Shreds of essence. When Samos left this world, I believe the demon he bargained with caught a bit of his remains. But a portion naturally fell into his pet. This is what happens with those we love. Perhaps all that was left of him settled into the leather of the harness because, as an item formed from the skin of another animal, it still keeps its retentive properties.”

  Vayl said, “But if Floraidh did not need it to call Samos from wherever he had stored his essence, why did she bury it in the cairn?”

  Iona had crouched down to dig up a hunk of moss. “Because it can be used to destroy Samos for good. Having put all her energies into resurrecting him, she wouldn’t want him taken away from her again. So she found the one weapon that could be used against him and buried it where she could guard it. Except your dog found it.”

  With Brude’s help. Why would Brude want Samos gone? He’d said he never had one reason. So if not just to help me . . . as revenge against his enemies, the Scidairans? Or in his role as the Devil’s Enforcer? At this moment, do I give a crap? Um, no.

  Vayl and I shared a moment so intense it could’ve doubled as a hug, except we didn’t even touch.

  “Do you know what to do with this information?” I asked her.

  “Absolutely.” She took off her belt and laid it on the ground. Yup, now I could sense her. Witchy Woman, sang the silver-blue flare at the core of my brain. She nodded toward the cairn. “I just need you to distract them while I gather the remaining ingredients. I assume you still have the harness?”

  A moment of panic as my mind went blank. Where the hell did I throw that dirty remnant of Jack’s old life after we got back to Floraidh’s place? Oh, yeah! “It’s in the van. I threw it in there before the tour group went into Tearlach for its final ghost viewing. I was afraid it was going to fall out of my jacket at the wrong time and then I’d have to come up with some lame explanation nobody would believe.”

  “I’ll get it for you,” Albert said.

  “You’ll stay here!” I ordered. It didn’t matter. Viv had already left the shelter of the woods. We watched her creep toward the van, which was standing about ten yards from the middle cairn, its right side toward us, its front tires hub deep in grass and mud. Broken glass glittered in the combined lantern and moonlight, both from the front window and the shattered headlights.

  I thought, I wrecked another vehicle. Shit! Pete’s going to kick my ass from here to next Friday. Unless this mission comes out amazingly well. I crossed my fingers.

  Viv froze as a heart-squeezing scream flew out of the cairn. Jack lunged forward, snapping the leash at its swivels. I started to run after him, but Vayl put a hand on my arm. “Not in,” he said as he nodded at the rim of the cairn. “Up.”

  I glanced at Iona. “Go,” she whispered. “We can get the ƒ€e can gerest of what I need.” She nodded to Viv, who’d forced herself to move on. “When I’m ready, you’ll know.”

  Leaving Albert holding the broken leash, Vayl and I ran the short distance to the cairn. When we reached the entry Vayl took my hand and together we jumped to the top of the wall that rimmed it. The stones were surprisingly firm underfoot as we followed them along the edge of the passage to where they formed a central pit. We’d started at a crouch, but by the time we reached the inner circle we were crawling, our heads barely clearing the stones before us as we peered into the burial chamber.

  The fire Samos danced around didn’t look exceptional. Until you realized its source wasn’t a pile of kindling, but the contents of the bowl I’d found in Floraidh’s oven, with the container itself acting as the fire pit. Jack stood beside Cole, both of them almost underneath our noses. Our third had draped his arm around the malamute in a gesture of protection that went straight to my gut and twisted.

  As Samos began to chant, Vayl tapped me on the shoulder and made a few gestures I couldn’t mistake. I sent him my Are you sure? look. When he nodded, I shrugged. I didn’t think it was going to work, but it was worth a try.

  I stood. Drew Grief and aimed it at Samos’s head.

  Boom!

  He staggered sideways, the hole just above his ear trickling a line of blood down his jaw. The other side of his head should’ve blown all over the stones beside him. It didn’t. Something protected him, counteracting the force of the bullet, healing the wound almost as soon as it occurred.

  I shot him again. Filled his head with steel, and when that was gone switched to bolts. Before I’d finished he’d flattened his chest against the far wall of the cairn, shuddering with every hit. But taking them. Not falling. Definitely not dying.

  Vayl had been busy as well. He’d risen to his feet beside me, calling down such a vicious blizzard inside the cairn that Cole and Jack began to disappear under a drift of snow. Thank God Cole had some resistance to Vayl’s powers or he’d have been an icicle within minutes. And no way would Jack freeze to death under that pile of fur.

  While Samos’s lips turned blue,
I holstered Grief and moved to my next-best choice, the Scidairan weapon that had saved my hide during the previous battle. I weighed it in my hand, wound up and threw it, burying the axe head in his back. He reared up, screaming in pain as it hit.

  Spinning, he pointed to me with fingers that had transformed into Floraidh’s pink-nailed claws. “Ildacante!” they screamed. The smell of Scidair’s rot filled my nostrils as the rocks beneath my feet began to shake. Vayl’s arms waved as he, too, fought for balance.

  Earthquake? My eyes sought Cole and Jack, hoping they’d had enough sense to take cover. Yup, they were motoring toward the entrance, but Samos blocked their exit. Cole grabbed him. They began to struggle.

  Then something imprisoned my ankle. I sucked in a breath. Looked down. A bony hand had reached out of its burial mound, wrapped around my living skin and begun to pull.

  “Skeletons, Vƒ€>“Skeletayl!” I yelled. “Get out!”

  I jerked my leg free, but Samos and Floraidh had animated an entire host of the dead, and at least five of them had clamped their icy fingers on to my other ankle now. It wasn’t just that they’d gotten a good grip. The rocks were still moving. Falling out from under my feet. The hands, more and more of them as the seconds ticked by, were pulling me down to join them.

  “Vayl!” I looked over at him, horrified to see that he was also knee deep in the cairn. Oh my God, oh my God, they’re burying us alive!

  “Jasmine, do not panic. Take my hand.”

  “Are you kidding me? We’re going to be underneath soon! The rocks will be over our heads! We won’t be able to move, or breathe, or—”

  “Jasmine.” So soothing, that voice. Such calm in the face of certain crushing suffocation. How did he do that? “Hold my hand.”

  Vayl leaned forward. Reached out. I focused on his hand as if it were a lifeline. Which it wasn’t. He was going down, down, down too. Never mind that. Just wrap your fingers around his. It’ll be a good thing. Then maybe you won’t feel those other fingers, on your thighs now, pulling, bruising, ripping into your skin . . .

  I couldn’t quite reach. Part of my mind saw the irony. Like it had always been with him, he remained just out of my grasp. On the edge of an embrace but never anyone I could grip on to.