Next on Christy’s list was melting Ed’s cuffs, but not before telling Tina, “Protect your Uncle Bill but ... um, don’t vaporize him.”
Well, that was reassuring as all fuck. At the same time, I had to admire her not giving into the parental cliché of telling her child to run and hide, especially since we needed the help and Cat had firepower in spades.
Ed stood up a moment later, freed. “Thanks. I was just about to do that.” He immediately hit the deck again, though, as our remaining enemies finally got their shit together and opened fire. Fortunately, Christy’s shield was up to the task, the bullets doing nothing more than causing sparks as the magical force field deflected them.
Holy shit! There was both gunfire and fucking magic being thrown back and forth. Where the fuck were the police in all of this? You can’t tell me nobody in this fucking building had heard any of this?
Or maybe you could.
As Ed was freeing Kelly, I spied a shimmer of power behind him. Christy’s wasn’t the only shield in place. I glanced around from my low vantage point, realizing one of Komak’s men had disengaged from the battle and stood with his hands raised, sadly not in surrender.
Smart. They no doubt realized that outside help wasn’t likely to advance their cause. It wouldn’t be much of a covert mission if the NYPD was all up in their asses.
Speaking of assholes, Hipster was back on his feet. He grabbed his weapon and turned it toward Gan, who was still wrestling with Komak. I opened my mouth to croak out a warning, but Ed was already on the job. He rushed through Christy’s shield and began to grapple with Hipster for control of the weapon.
“About ... fucking ... time,” I muttered, just barely able to raise my voice above a whisper.
“Better late than never,” Ed growled, sparing a glance my way. “Oh shit, man. You don’t look good.”
I didn’t feel particularly good either. It was like my systems were shutting down one at a time.
Or they might have, had Tina not picked that moment to perch herself protectively over where I lay. The energy crackling around her was awesome to behold – less awesome to experience. This close, it was like sticking a penny in an electrical socket. My body began to vibrate from the proximity to so much raw power, and not in a good way.
Painful as it was, though, it definitely woke me up a bit – like some sort of whole body defibrillator. Glass half full and all that.
“Tina!” Christy cried. “You’re too close.”
“N-no,” I managed to sputter out, my teeth chattering uncontrollably. “It’s f-fine.”
All right, it was far from fine. But I didn’t want her worrying about me in the middle of this shitstorm, especially since our other big gun was turning out to be a peashooter.
Hipster contemptuously pimp-slapped Ed with a backhand, sending my former roommate flying ... right into Vincent, who’d just been freed.
“Who would have guessed our sire would be so weak?” Hipster proclaimed.
What a prick. Mind you, when one is a complete prick, one shouldn’t act surprised when they get totally fucked. “Cat! T-that man hurt Uncle Ed. H-hurt him back!”
Tina didn’t question me. She didn’t need to. All she saw from her perspective were big, mean assholes threatening her loved ones. Unlike most little girls, though, when she kicked you in the shins, you really felt it.
She held out her hands and a gout of green flame shot forth toward Hipster. I’d only meant for her to incapacitate him, realizing a second too late I should have perhaps been a little clearer with my instructions.
The spell hit the neo-vamp dead on in the torso, utterly erasing everything it touched. When it was finished, he dropped to the floor in two pieces.
Holy shit!
Tom turned from where he’d been continuing to harass Komak’s people. “That’s my girl!”
A moment later, the remaining parts of the now very dead vamp flared up like they were made of phosphorous. They burned white hot for several seconds before turning to ash, leaving the carpet a charred and smoldering mess. Huh. Seems these neo-vamps bit it somewhat more dramatically than the old breed. Something to remember, perhaps.
Gan followed up by launching Komak at two of our remaining attackers, scattering them like human bowling pins. One landed in the corner where Christy’s purse had been set, knocking it over and sending Max Adventure rolling out – aglow from the seething energy within it.
I closed my eyes for a moment, half expecting it to explode and render the whole battle moot, but fortunately that didn’t happen.
“Hey, watch that shit,” Tom protested, stepping in front of the lone gunman still firing upon Christy’s shield.
The distraction proved to be just what was needed as Kelly, now freed, blasted him with a beam of blue magic that left him a twitching heap on the floor.
Liz was finally getting back to her feet along with the wizard Christy had stunned. Too bad for them Gan was on the move again.
She intercepted him first, took a swing, and ... eww ... basically exploded his head with a single punch, sending bone and brains flying everywhere.
Liz, not an idiot and apparently realizing the battle was lost, screamed for the remaining mage, the one keeping the shield up around the apartment, to retreat. Then, without waiting to see if he did or not, she threw herself atop Komak’s prone form, cried out an incantation, and the two of them disappeared in a flash of light.
The shield Magi grabbed the other two survivors and did the same a scant second later, leaving us with a trashed apartment, two dead bodies, and even more questions than we’d started out with.
INSURANCE CLAIM
Tina’s jolt had brought me back a bit, but I was still in shit shape to do much more than watch as Ed raced to put out the fire caused by Hipster’s rather violent dusting.
Mind you, I wasn’t so far out of it that I couldn’t chuckle when he slipped on some brain matter. Yeah, it really wasn’t funny, but it was either that or pass out.
This pulse was definitely turning out to be a long one. So far as I could tell, everyone was still powered up, except for me. Even Vincent was back on his feet doting over Kelly who – despite the shiner on her face – seemed ready for round two.
Christy was all over Tina, hugging her like there was no tomorrow. All the while, Tom stood close by expounding on what a badass his little girl was.
There were bruises and abrasions aplenty, but all in all, we’d gotten lucky.
“It’s not funny,” Christy finally told Tom, as he continued to brag about how much ass Tina had kicked.
“Sure it is. She fucked him up six ways to Sunday.”
“That’s exactly my point,” she snapped. “Our daughter is five. Her introduction to magic shouldn’t be this...”
“Awesome?”
“No. Dark.”
“I’m okay, Mommy,” Tina replied. “I’m not even tired.”
“That’s not what I mean, baby girl,” Christy said, rubbing her eyes. “Why don’t you go play in your room while we clean up out here?”
Tina must have realized her mom wasn’t really asking, because she ran to her bedroom without further protest.
“Speaking of cleaning,” Tom said, stepping over to where I still lay. “Looks like we missed a spot.”
I lifted my hand, feeling as if it weighed a hundred pounds, and flipped him off. It was a lot of effort, but worth it.
Gan saved me from further humiliation – sorta – by dragging me up and laying me on the couch. “Did one of our foes strike while you were unprepared, my love?”
“Nobody hit him,” Ed replied, finishing up what he was doing. The fire was out, but the rug was clearly ruined. Mind you, the headless body still bleeding out all over it was likely not helping.
Kelly, in the meantime, finally managed to pull away from her husband. “Wow, dude. You look terrible.”
“Nice to see you, too,” I croaked. “That bad, eh?”
She hooked a thumb at Tom. “You’re a
lmost as pale as him.”
Christy stepped over and gave me a long look. “Oh my goddess.” Apparently realizing I wasn’t merely stunned, she knelt down and started checking my vitals. All things considered, I couldn’t blame her for not noticing before. She’d had more than her share to worry about during the battle.
I tried my best to crack a smile. “Sorry.”
“About what, this?”
“No ... Tina. I didn’t mean for her to do ... what she did.”
A mix of sadness and fear flashed across her eyes, but she simply said, “We can talk about that later. For now, I’m worried about you.”
“But not too worried, right?” Tom asked, drawing glares all around. “What? He’s obviously more alive than me. He can’t be that bad off.”
Dumbass.
Speaking of my former roommate, while everyone else was busy gawking at me, Gan wandered over and picked Max Adventure up.
“Give me that,” Christy said, taking notice.
“Is this...”
“I said give it to me. It’s not yours.”
Gan appeared to consider the implied threat for a moment. With both of them powered up, things could get nasty real quick although, truth be told, I didn’t like Christy’s odds in these close quarters. Fortunately, after a tense second or three, Gan relented and placed the action figure in Christy’s outstretched palm.
“The original prism,” Gan remarked, one eyebrow raised. “The same that closed The Source.” Christy didn’t reply, so she continued. “Remarkable that it survived. I see your former lover wasn’t exaggerating when he said he’d been here all along.”
“What do you mean former?” Tom asked with a huff.
An uncomfortable silence descended until Ed, no doubt trying to deflect everyone from the rising tension in the room, addressed me. “It’s getting worse, isn’t it?
As much as I wanted to nod, I could barely lift my head to do so.
“Worse?” Christy asked.
“Yeah. You probably should know, since he’s in no position to tell me to shut up, that these pulses have been affecting Bill in pretty much the opposite way of the rest of us. He’s been getting weaker every time.”
“That shouldn’t be possible,” Gan said, giving me her full attention now that she realized her beloved was in shit shape. “You’re fully human, my love. None of this should have any effect on you at all.” She raised an eyebrow. “Your whore. Has she experienced...?”
“Sally,” I corrected weakly. “No. When last ... we spoke, she hadn’t even noticed ... the pulses.”
“Neither have I,” Vincent said, quickly adding, “Don’t forget, my fellow Templar and I were turned, albeit for a short time.”
“And you’re okay?” Kelly asked him, concern coloring her voice.
“Aside from the embarrassing beating I just took?” he replied with a laugh. “I haven’t felt a thing.”
“This makes no sense.” Christy reached out and checked my pulse again.
“Please tell me it’s still there,” I said with a brittle chuckle.
She nodded, her face grim. “There, but weak. I think we need to get you to the hospital.”
“What? No.”
“Listen to me, Bill. What if this is unrelated to the pulses? You could be sick or... Maybe those vampires hurt you worse than you realized the other day.”
“No...”
“Don’t be stubborn.”
“I’m ... not. I’m saying it isn’t that. Believe me. I’m not ... acting brave. Do me a favor, and try something.”
“The only thing I’m doing is calling 9-1-1.”
“Trust me, please.”
Christy looked split, but then Ed stepped in. “Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“Fine,” she replied, seeing I wasn’t backing down. “But then I’m calling an ambulance. What do you need?”
“That time stop spell. Do it again.”
“But...”
“Just for a few seconds. Please.”
“I’ll help you,” Kelly told her.
“No, you’re...”
She pulled away from her husband’s doting. “I have a black eye and a few bruises, that’s all. I’m more than capable of lending some power if it’ll help.”
The matter settled, Christy and Kelly sliced open their palms, joined hands, and closed their eyes. A few moments later, two things happened: a shimmer of light encompassed the room, and suddenly I felt a hell of a lot better.
♦ ♦ ♦
It wasn’t a cure-all. Don’t get me wrong. I could still feel that weakness within me, threatening to take over again at any moment. But even so, it felt as if a hundred pound weight had been lifted from my chest.
To prove it, I got off the couch and stood up. “See? Would I be able to do that if I was standing at death’s door?”
Outside of Ed, the rest of the folks in the room looked surprised at my sudden resurrection.
“I don’t understand how this is possible,” Christy said after several seconds.
“You said time is stopped, correct?” Vincent asked.
“In a sense, hon,” Kelly replied. “We’re actually a step out of sync with the rest of the world. This is a form of pocket dimension, if you will, existing in the space between seconds.”
Tom raised a hand. “Anyone else not understand a fucking word of that?”
“Like we’re in the TARDIS,” I explained.
“Gotcha!”
I turned to face the rest of them. “Okay. We already know Tom still works here, for lack of a better term. What about the rest of your powers? Do they ... whoa!”
Ed grabbed hold of my shirt collar and lifted me off the ground with one hand.
“The fuck, man?”
“Sorry, always wanted to try that.” He lowered me back down. “But I think that answers your question.”
“Same here,” Kelly said, waving her hands and conjuring a small shower of multi-colored sparks.
“So why are you the only one affected?” Christy asked me. “This isn’t healing magic. Someone who was injured out there would still be hurt in here. At best, it might slow down blood flow enough to staunch some bleeding, but that’s it.”
“Hold on,” Ed replied. “Kelly said this was a pocket dimension. Is that true, or were you just dumbing it down for some of us?” He inclined his head at Tom.
“In essence it’s true. We’re one step removed from the reality we know, but the walls are paper thin. You could step right through and normal time would resume for you.”
“What about someone or something on the outside?”
Christy glanced at Kelly for a moment and then shrugged. “Unlikely, unless we allowed it. A skilled enough caster could bend the construct around anyone she didn’t want to enter. And on the outside that person would be moving too slow to compensate.”
“Skilled enough?” I asked with a smirk. “As in present company included?”
Christy flashed me a smile, the first I’d seen since we’d gotten here. “Guilty as charged.”
“Don’t butter up my woman, dude.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ!” I turned toward the ghost of my best friend. “It’s not like I was dry humping her in front of company.”
Christy cleared her throat, reminding me I’d said that in front of everyone. Oops.
“Why would you wish to...”
“Just a figure of speech, Gan,” I quickly amended, doing my best to cover my tracks and praying to whatever gods could see us in this time bubble that Tom ceased flapping his translucent gums.
“Speaking of spells,” Kelly said, “how much longer are we going to keep this one up? Because I’m starting to feel it.”
“Me too,” Christy said. “Bill, maybe we can...”
“It’s okay.” I sat down and made myself comfortable on the couch. “There are bigger fish that need frying than me. Let’s focus on saving Sally and stopping this. I can ... I don’t know ... always drink a few Red Bulls. Tha
t might help.”
“Good plan,” Ed replied with an eye roll. “That oughta work.”
I flipped him off as Christy released the spell, my body once again feeling like it had the weight of the world upon it ... perhaps literally this time.
♦ ♦ ♦
The pulse lasted for at least another hour, a near eternity for me. Several times, I came close to passing out. But thankfully my friends were there to keep an eye on me. Christy conjured that time bubble a few more times whenever she felt my heartbeat was getting too slow. I won’t lie, tired as it made her, I appreciated the momentary reprieve.
When they weren’t helping me, my friends were hard at work vaporizing any evidence, scrubbing blood stains out of the carpet, and conjuring wards to prevent our enemies from teleporting back in – that sort of stuff.
Even Gan helped, if indirectly. She made a few phone calls and then announced the building was now under surveillance and that any further intrusions would be dealt with.
Christy’s poor neighbors, at least the ones Komak hadn’t killed already. I could only hope none of them returned home after some grocery shopping only to end up with a sniper bullet in the back of the head.
At long last, the pulse finally ended. The result was instantaneous. Not only did I immediately feel better, but Tina came out of her room to complain that she couldn’t make her stuffed animals fly anymore.
The only indication any of it had even happened – aside from the damage, hole in the wall, and aforementioned dead neighbors – was Tom. His battery had apparently gotten a good charge as he remained with us even as everyone else reverted to normal.
“Ah, that feels so much better.” I stood up and stretched. Not to be overly melodramatic, but it was like rising from the dead.
“I’m glad you’re back on your feet,” Kelly said. “But damn, did it feel good to...”
“Be your old self?” I offered.
She nodded. “I know we left that life behind, and I accept that. Life’s been good to me.” She blew a kiss Vincent’s way. “But still, stretching those muscles again, it just felt so ... natural.”
Strange Days (Bill of the Dead Book 1) Page 17