“What did you discover?”
“That a woman can have piercings in places I wouldn’t dare dream.”
“This is what you’re going to do with your time as a ghost?” I asked. “Peeping on women go to the bathroom?”
“There are worse ways to spend eternity.”
“Let me rephrase my question,” I said. “What did you find out about Poe?”
“Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. He’s in the living room. Through the bay window. With Quinn. Augie is duct-taped to a chair and bleeding. I think they roughed him up a bit. He was worked over pretty bad. There’s a thug on the porch, one outdoors on the side of the house, two smoking by the barn, and one crouched in the bushes taking a deuce.
“How many total?”
“With Poe and Quinn? About seven.”
“About or exact?”
“Exact. You’re so anal.”
“Good ghost.”
I turned over the engine. I reached into my belt and grabbed my healing agent. The thing about this cocktail was that it will heal you instantly if you’re wounded. But if you’re not, it will burn up in your system in less than twenty minutes. After that, I’d be normal again. So I needed to time it just right and end this fight within that twenty-minute gap.
I didn’t always rely on the cocktail to save my ass, if that’s what you’re thinking. If used too much, it could have unforeseen consequences.
But Poe was a tricky bastard. And there was too much at stake with Grace not to have insurance.
I took the syringe out of the vial and held it tight. I put my foot on the gas and rolled to the farmhouse.
I came up on the driveway and a goon waved me in. Serena wouldn’t be much help against them. Typical magic can only be used on things within this universe, and Forevers didn’t conform to the natural laws of our world.
But you remembered that, didn’t you?
It’s that exact reason Serena wanted her own Forever to raise and brainwash. So she could have an infinite supply of Forever blood, along with a guinea pig, to experiment on to develop a magic system specifically geared toward them.
As much as I hated to admit it, as much as I despised her for wanting to gain more power, I respected the idea. Any advantage we could get over them must be taken full force.
I rolled closer to the house. Poe saw me through the bay window. In an array of multicolored light, he teleported.
He appeared on the front porch with Quinn.
Augie was between them, still tied to the chair.
To the left of the house was a corral with three horses.
I took a mental picture of the area, examining and breaking down all exits, ambush points, kill spots, and places where Poe’s men could be hiding.
Poe wouldn’t have had time to prepare a place like this. Just like our bloodbath house party at Poe’s, Forevers often don’t live in homes unless they steal them from someone else. The owners of this property were already dead, drained, lying somewhere in the barn or basement.
Poe came here, killed the family, and took over the farm. Those were not his horses. This was not his farm.
The horses looked well fed and taken care of. Which told me Poe hadn’t been here for long. I checked the ammo in the Beretta and opened the back window.
“Serena, stay here until I call for you,” I said.
Landon rubbed his hands together. “What do you want me to do?”
“Make sure I don’t get killed.”
“Just like the good old days.”
I sighed. “Okay… Team,” I said, the words grinding through my teeth. “We need to kill them all. Except Poe. We need him so Serena can extract Grace’s soul. Easy as pie.”
I pressed the syringe into my thigh and squeezed the healing agent into my bloodstream.
Landon shook his head, giving a sign of disapproval. “I think we need to work on your definition of easy.”
“It’s about that time,” I said pulling the handle to my damaged driver-side door. “Here goes everything.”
Chapter 39
Last Stand at the OK Corral
I was several yards from my truck with the Beretta in hand. Poe stood beside Quinn. I spotted his team in the landscape around me. The whole scene felt like a standoff from Walker, Texas Ranger. But with monsters.
I could hit Poe’s three goons from my current position. But with Augie being so vulnerable, I couldn’t take the chance. Poe could slit his throat in a heartbeat.
And blood would pour all over that nice watch I gave him.
Poe took a few steps off the porch. “I didn’t think you were going to show,” he said. “But you’re early.”
“I hear this is where the party’s at,” I said. “Hey, August.” He nodded.
Poe shook his head. “An hour to get here?” He rubbed two fingers together in a shaming motion. “You were fibbing.”
Poe stuck his thumbs in his belt, like he was in an old western. It didn’t help that he actually was around during the old west. He one-upped me on that one. He could very well have been three hundred years old or more.
Poe was facing the sun. He covered his hand over his eyes to provide shade. “You see your boy,” he said, gesturing to Augie. “Where’s mine?”
I squinted and spit into the dirt of the driveway. “Serena. Be a dear and come on out with the package, won’t you?”
Serena popped out the back with Alan Dill.
He came prancing out in his soiled rubber ducky Burt and Ernie boxers. I looked at Dill and returned to Poe. “Your people have lousy taste in underwear.”
Poe snickered. “I should let you kill him for his fashion sense alone.”
I almost chuckled, but refrained. He was still a psychopathic monster, after all. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. It’s harder to kill a man when you laugh together.
Under different circumstances, Poe would make a good hunting buddy. It was too bad I’d have to slice off his head and melt it in a bucket of acid.
“Give me the broker and you can have your trainee,” Poe said. Behind him, Quinn held his Uzi to Augie’s temple.
“I don’t trust Forevers,” I said. “Least of all you and your undead jagoff with the BB gun. Let Augie go and you’ll get Dill before we leave.”
“That doesn’t work for me,” Poe said, stepping closer. His boot scraped the dirt, kicking dust up around him. He pulled back his jacket to reveal a holstered knife on his hip.
I clicked my hammer. “It would seem you brought a knife to a gun fight.”
“I like knives,” he said. “You can look in the eye of the person you’re killing. It’s more intimate.”
“I wouldn’t take you for the sentimental type, Poe,” I said.
“I have my moments.”
“Release the kid.”
“I think this is called a standoff,” he said, smacking his lips. He gestured around the area. “I have a handful of ranch hands surrounding you. One word from me and you’re a dead man.”
I glanced around. None of the goons had guns. It would seem Quinn was the only gun here.
Strike one for them.
“I killed an entire town of your goons yesterday,” I said. “I think I can handle a few rejects.”
“That was in a confined space,” he said. “And there were only seventeen. Don’t exaggerate. It’s not polite.”
He sounded like me. That pissed me off.
“I can kill your goons in less than three seconds, if I was so obliged,” I said. “But instead of battling it out like the OK Corral, let’s you and me duke it out. Right here, right now. Mono y Mono. Poe vs. Ivy.”
“I can respect that,” he said, moving closer to me. Being Forever, he overpowered me. I couldn’t match his strength. And he knew it. But with the jolt of Forever blood cocktail, I was feeling pretty good. At least for another eighteen minutes or so.
The only gun I had on me was the Beretta, believe it or not. I set it gently in the grass beside me, protecting it from the driveway di
rt. I wouldn’t want to get it dirty, after all. Poe grabbed his twelve-inch blade and dropped it into the ground.
He waltzed toward me. We stared at each other for several seconds before I made the first move.
I jabbed with my left. He dodged. His palm came up and hammered my nose. I heard the crunch. My eyes swelled. I staggered back. My nose was broken.
He was quick.
Poe threw a punch toward my temple. I blocked as my foot swept under his, dropping him to the ground.
We were lions.
Circling each other with the occasional small strike, testing each other’s capabilities.
As he lay on the ground, I drove my knuckles into his cheekbone. I swung again. Before I could connect, he teleported.
My fist passed through tendrils of energy as my knuckles ground into the dirt.
He re-appeared behind me, threw his arm around my neck and tried to snap my head clean off. I flipped him over and threw an elbow into his nose.
I jumped back, putting distance between us.
He slowly got up and flicked the dust off his shoulder. He looked down at his feet. A single drop of blood landed in the dirt.
His nose was bleeding.
He wiped it off. “You’re not a bad fighter, Solomon. For a human.”
“I’ve had some practice,” I said.
We attacked, laying waste to each other with knuckles of steel.
Forearm to cheek.
Knuckles to teeth.
Elbow to nose.
Unfortunately, it didn’t end well for me. When I felt it, my heart skipped a beat.
I dropped to my knees. Looked down. Poe’s knife was buried in my gut.
He cheated.
He walked over and grabbed my Beretta off the grass. “I admit, Solomon. You were a pain in my royal ass. But all things come to an end.” He pointed the gun at Serena. She dropped her Glock and put her hands up. Poe nodded. “Alan, why don’t you scamper over there and join Quinn?”
The broker meandered toward the porch.
While Poe was focused on Serena, I yanked the knife from my gut and threw it with conviction. It flew from my hand and drove into Alan Dill’s spine.
He bounced on the porch steps and rolled, coming to rest face down at Quinn’s feet, the blade sticking out of his back.
I felt my abdomen. With the Forever blood in my system, I could feel my wound stitching itself up.
“Well damn, that was fast,” Poe said, raising the Beretta towards me. “I take my eyes off you for one second and you kill my broker. With the knife I stabbed you with. My knife. That’s fucked up.”
I looked up at Poe, the gun in my face. “Blake and your broker are both dead. Who’re you going to get your human supply from now, Poe?” Still on my knees, I coughed blood over the ground.
“I’ll bring him back. Make him a Fiend. He’s gonna be an even bigger pain in the ass though. Not like he wasn’t before.”
I glanced at Augie. He was shaking his head. Scared. Quinn was grinning. He placed his foot on Alan Dill’s corpse, like a deer hunter standing over its dead prey for a photo.
Poe pulled back the hammer to the Beretta.
With defeated eyes, I looked up at him. “I get one last wish.”
Poe snickered. “A dying man’s last request?” He reset the hammer on the Beretta. “Let’s hear it.”
I raised my voice so Augie could hear. “August, how do you like your watch?”
“What?” Augie asked. “You get a dying wish you ask me about the watch?”
“That was Houdini’s watch,” I said. “It was lost in history. Now it’s yours. Just thought you should know. In case you wanted to look into it.”
Poe shook his head. “Well that was a waste of a dying man’s request.”
I shook my head. “I kind of screwed the pooch on that one, didn’t I? I should’ve rehearsed. It’s not like I die every day.”
“No, but you’re about to get some practice.” He raised the Beretta to my forehead. “I’m disappointed in you, Solomon. I expected more from you, the great Reverend. But when push comes to shove, you fall. Like every other hunter. Like every other human.”
“How does Quinn feel about that?”
“What does Quinn have to do—?” He looked over at Quinn. The Uzi ripped from Quinn’s hands. Landon turned visible as he ran away with the gun. Quinn was startled. He turned to Augie, but he was no longer in the chair.
And the knife was gone from Dill’s dead body.
Augie stood behind Quinn. With a powerful thrust, the knife pierced Quinn’s heart. Poe raised the Beretta at Augie and fired.
CLICK.
Misfire. He pulled it again.
CLICK. CLICK. CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.
I grinned. “Damn. Did I forget to load my own gun?”
“I don’t need a gun to kill you, hunter,” Poe said.
I sighed. “Poe, you’re already dead.”
Poe dropped the Beretta and looked at his hand. A black liquid covered his palm.
Black Death.
Poe stared at it. “What is this?”
“A little cocktail I cooked up to kill all you sons of bitches,” I said, getting to my feet. “The dose ain’t enough to destroy you, but enough to make you pass out in agony while your system goes into shock. You really shouldn’t pick up other people’s guns. You don’t know where they’ve been.”
Poe stumbled sideways. He was sweating. “You-you…” Black veins formed under his skin. He hit the ground hard. Unconscious.
Serena threw me the Glock. I fired at the remaining members of Poe’s team. One to the side of the house. One inside the house through the window. One in the driveway.
The last one was hiding.
From out of nowhere, the fourth man came flying over the hood of the truck. Not attacking. He was thrown.
By Landon.
Before he could get back up, I put a bullet in his head.
Augie ran at me and hugged me. “I thought you were dead. He had you.”
“He never had me, kid. Getting him to grab the Beretta was my agenda the whole time.”
“Is he dead?” he asked.
“He’s alive. Long enough for Serena to extract what we need.”
Serena crouched over Poe, chanting in a whisper.
“Is Grace still in there?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “But the energy is weak. We need to get Poe into position so I can extract it.”
“Well, kid,” I said, turning to Augie. “Want to get your mom back?”
Chapter 40
A Beautiful Soul
Poe was unconscious, strung up against the oak horse fence. His arms stretched, wrist and arms tied to the rail. Chest out. His legs were stretched wide against the posts.
It was nice of Poe to leave enough duct tape in the house for us.
Several horses ran around the fenced area. The horse behind Poe whinnied. I scratched under his jaw.
“How are you, boy?” I asked. He whinnied again. “Did the monster man give you bad vibes?”
Serena ripped open Poe’s shirt, popping the buttons off. “You’re not seriously talking baby talk to a horse, are you?”
“It’s not baby talk,” I said, grimacing at her. “I connect better with animals. They’re more pure than humans or monsters. All instinct. No agenda.”
“Get a room,” she said. She stared at a necklace Poe was wearing. Leather bands holding several turquoise stone beads with a purple circular pendant. The stones had sigils on them. She ran her fingers down the pendent as though she was transfixed by it.
I snapped my fingers at her. “Serena.”
“What? Oh, right. Where was I?” With a flask in her hand, she poured a white gooey liquid down Poe’s mouth, massaging his throat to get it down. She closed her eyes and felt along Poe’s torso.
Augie scrunched his brow. “What are you doing?”
“The cocoon we put in your mother’s body acts like a tracker to her soul,” she said, “
allowing me to pinpoint and congeal her energy into form.”
Augie didn’t get it. He had a stupid look on his face. But then, he always had that look. “I don’t know what that means.”
“Quiet,” she said. “I need to focus.” She ran her hands down Poe’s chest. “I sense it. The energy is here.” Her hands stopped and centered around the navel. “Lower right abdomen.”
I held up the demon blade. “Want to do the honors? Or have you gotten soft?”
“Give me a break,” she said, snatching the blade. “I live for this shit.”
She plunged the knife into Poe’s stomach. Gripping the handle with both hands, she pushed down about six inches. When done, she handed it to me and pulled from her bag a small glass jar.
She muttered a string of words I couldn’t make out. It sounded like she was speaking in tongues. I only recognized the last word. “Grace.” She relaxed her hands and breathed out. “We need to give it time to work,” she said.
Something started to move inside Poe’s abdomen. Under the skin.
Augie’s eyes got huge. “What’s happening?”
I decided to enlighten the boy. While I wasn’t as well-equipped in the area of so-called magic as Serena, I understood it. “The cream liquid she fed him laced Poe’s organs with a vibration conducive to the spirit matter of your mother—”
“Sol, don’t give away the secret,” Serena said. “You’ll ruin it.” She turned to the boy and smiled. “It’s magic. That’s all you need to know.”
I sneered and shook my head. “You’re codling him. Tell him the truth.”
“Don’t be like Solomon,” she said. “Try to keep some mystery alive in this world. You don’t have to understand every little thing like Mr. Sourpuss here. Just have faith.”
“Faith comes from understanding,” I said.
She sighed heavily. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, Solomon.”
“That’s funny,” I said. “Can you perform this spell because of your faith or because you understand the workings of universal law and how to make them work for you?”
“Shut up, Sol,” she said. “No one likes a smarty-pants.”
“You understand the physics of the soul,” I said. “Faith is not your strong suit.”
Memoirs of a Monster Killer: Killing Forever Book 1 Page 22
