Blood & Dust

by Jason Nahrung

Reece looked for the best way out. They seemed to have forgotten him, but sooner or later - preferably sooner - he'd have to move. Get up to the car. He eyed the eastern sky. What were these two playing at? They'd have to find shelter before he would.

  'I'm very tired, Chris. Aren't you tired?'

  'Plenny.' Taipan gave a half-laugh, an exhausted snatch of pain. 'So how you bin, anyways?'

  'I've been better.' She forced a smiled. Wiped a tear. 'There's no going back.'

  'Ain't no goin' forward, either, eh.' He looked at the washed-out sky turning from the thinnest of grey to the lightest of blue.

  Birds called. Jackass and crow, magpies, parrots, cockatoos. Reece mentally joined the chorus. Run, you dumb shit. While you can.

  'Do you remember this place?' Taipan asked.

  'I don't think so. And yet, I seem to know it.'

  'Maybe it's home, eh?'

  'I don't know where home is anymore. You kind of burnt down the last one I had.'

  'That wasn't ya home. But this is as good a place as any.' He dug in his jacket pocket - the action made Reece grasp his dagger tighter - and swore and reached to his ear and then looked around until he crawled a couple of feet to pick up a crumpled cigarette. He returned to his spot and straightened the ciggie out and lit up. He reached across Turner's body to offer it to the girl, but she waved it back.

  Reece pulled himself up, expecting - he didn't know what. The knife hilt was slick with sweat in his hand.

  Taipan looked over his shoulder at Reece. 'You still there, Gespensten-shit?'

  'Still here.'

  'Pity.' He blew smoke. 'Thought 'Cacia mighta done for you, back there at the homestead.'

  'I've got a hard head.'

  'You myxos usually do.'

  'One of the fringe benefits.'

  'Worth dyin' for?'

  'No. But then, what is?'

  'Family.'

  'I'll leave you to it.'

  'That'd be good.'

  'Haven't seen my gat, eh?'

  'Don't push it, Hunter.'

  Reece's ravaged body complained in every muscle. The bullet wound felt as if maggots were crawling inside it, nibbling at the torn flesh.

  The sun broke through the trees lining the gorge, fringing them in gold and orange.

  Last thing he heard as he shuffled away was Taipan talking to his sister.

  'Looks like a nice day comin', Willa. No cloud.'

  'Yeah,' she agreed. 'Nice day comin'.'

  SIXTY

  Kevin's chest filled with pain as the sound of gunfire faded away, replaced by the squawking of birds. He'd shot Hunter, had been about to put a bullet through Jasmine, too, to give Taipan his chance. And then he'd had his legs knocked out from under him. His breath stolen. His heart stopped.

  Kala lay by his side in a spreading pool of blood. She looked surprised, a dog kicked in the guts and winded.

  He tracked Mira as she slid down the slope above in a shower of pebbles and dirt, an assault rifle just like Hunter's held high. She was dressed for war in combat boots and black cargo pants, a tight, black long-sleeved top under her fancy vest. Protective collar and armguards. The hooded Driza-Bone flapped at her ankles as she stood above Kevin. She lowered her head so she could see him over the rim of her mirrored sunnies, and said, 'Bleed for me, Grease Monkey.' She fired a short burst into Kevin, like bricks hurled into him, his body jerking as though electrocuted.

  The gun clicked empty.

  She threw it away.

  She wore a pistol and a long knife and a sword with a curved blade. Scimitar or a sabre, something like that: a chopping blade. His pendant, the one Danica had made for him, glimmered on her vest. She still wore Kala's earring. Trust Mira to not miss the chance to rub salt in the wound.

  She kicked his rifle - his father's rifle - over the cliff, then drew Hunter's sword and threw it out of easy reach up the slope she'd come down. She stalked over to Kala - panic pushed aside Kevin's agony for a moment, but Mira merely lifted Hunter's pistol from Kala's limp grip, checked it, then tossed it to land up near the sword.

  'Did you kill him?' she asked Kevin.

  He couldn't answer. It was all he could do to keep his eyes open as his heart faltered.

  Mira held up her left wrist and spoke to it as though it was a radio. 'Still kicking, Reece? That's my boy. Though you might wish you weren't when I catch up with you.' She looked at the sky, then back at Kevin. 'Getting light, Grease Monkey. Do you think she'll put in an appearance before I or the sun put you out of my misery?'

  Movement caught his attention. Near the cave mouth at the far end of the ledge. Behind Mira.

  Cassie!

  She aimed a submachine gun, a short black thing with a curved slab of ammo case hanging under it.

  Mira barely looked at her, just a glance along her gun arm as she drew her pistol and fired three rounds into the girl's chest. Cassie dropped.

  Shit, Mira had taken them all out, just like that. What chance had they ever had against someone who'd been fighting wars for centuries? The weight of his wounds held him down, his body burning with its feverish attempt to heal the massive damage.

  The air rippled. A gush of heat far above. Brightness in the trees, as though aflame, and the silver trunks on the opposite crest turned to orange in the dawn light.

  'Morning,' Mira said. Greeting or statement of fact, he couldn't tell. Pistol reholstered, she walked to where Cassie lay gasping and hauled the girl to her knees. She held her by her hair to stop her falling. 'You red-eyes can be such pains in the arse sometimes.'

  Kala moaned. Her fingers moved, as though looking for the pistol Mira had taken.

  Kevin had no guns. No guns, damn it. Just Hunter's wide-bladed knife and the HeartStopper. He fumbled the staker from its holster but knew he had no chance to use it, to save Cassie; to save himself.

  'Come out, Mother!' Mira drew her sword. 'Or are you going to sacrifice these fools as well? What will it take to make you give a damn?'

  'Enough, Mira.' Danica stepped out from the nearby cave. She pushed the hood of her cape down. She wore jeans and a lace-up shirt hanging loose. No weapons. 'Why are you doing this?'

  'You really don't know?'

  'It's been so long.' Danica approached Mira, her hands out as though trying to soothe a snarling dog.

  Mira faltered, the sword tip dropping. Cassie swayed in Mira's weakened grip, then cried out as Mira pulled her straight, the sword lifting once more.

  'Out of my head, Mother. You've given up your trespass rights.'

  Kevin pulled himself into a sitting position. Caught Danica's eye. She shook her head at him, and Mira, following the action, turned to him and said, 'Sit, there's a good puppy.'

  'You still haven't told me why you're doing this,' Danica said.

  'Vater sent me to clean up the trash out here. It was as good a reason as any to track you down.'

  'And now that you've done so?'

  'I get a clean start. Your power. My inheritance.'

  'You assume you can take my power without taking me.'

  'Ghosts can't hurt me-'

  'Then why are you falling apart in front of my eyes? There are too many doors for you to keep shut. You're in bedlam, and the more you take, the worse it gets.'

  Cassie clawed weakly at Mira's grip. 'Where's 'Cacia? What have you done with my Acacia?'

  Mira shook her, like a cat with a dead rat. 'Who?' She looked at Kevin, her eyes going distant, and then she blinked herself back. 'Ah, the cockatoo. The pilot. The lover. Unusual, that level of loyalty. Of love. Among our kind.'

  'For you, perhaps,' Danica said.

  'I'm not the one who abandoned her child.'

  'You were always your father's daughter. Never mine.'

  'So you gave up and left me with him.'

  'It seemed the only choice, if I didn't want to kill anyone.'

  'Weak,' Mira said. 'Even weaker than I imagined.'

  'What happened to Acacia?' Cassie asked again, her voice dissolvi
ng into sobs

  My country is wherever her feet are touchin'.

  Kevin closed his eyes, drawing on the memory, on the love in her voice, in her eyes, tapping the well of his own loss, of his own rage. He was on his knees, his body responding, finally, but clumsy and heavy. He twisted the hilt of the staker to arm it; kept its long, shining length hidden behind his body.

  'Your cockatoo couldn't fly so well,' Mira said, and Cassie sagged, a deadweight that pulled Mira off-balance, that made her jerk the girl's head again, allowing Danica to take two steps closer.

  'What I want to know is,' Mira said, pointing her blade threateningly at Danica, 'is how you could do it. How you could choose these untermensch over us - your own family.'

  'I found a place to belong. Have you?'

  'What, here? Look at you, grovelling in the dirt, feeding off animals too stupid to fuel your dreams. You left your family for this?'

  'Some family we have by blood, Mira. Others, by choice. Blood is not always the thicker.'

  'And no regrets about the daughter you left behind?'

  'I regret the creature that she became, but what was my choice? To destroy her? I could never do that. Maybe that was my mistake.'

  'Creature? Creature!'

  'How else would you describe yourself?'

  'I am Strigoi. I am what you made me.'

  She swung the sword. It sliced into Cassie's neck.

  Danica screamed, 'No!'

  Kevin forced himself to his feet. Mira swung again and the blade went all the way. The body fell, fountaining blood, and she dropped the head, shaking her hand to loosen the hair entwined in her fingers. The head hit the rock with an empty thud and rolled a few paces till it nestled against the torso.

  'I won't fight you, my daughter,' Danica whispered.

  'Then you can watch these two die. Tell me, did you have any pet names for them?'

  Danica knelt by Cassie's body, then reached out, her hands bloody. 'Please, Daughter - enough. You can have me, if that's what you want. We'll be together, just the two of us, family again. But leave these people alone. Leave them to be free.'

  'Free? Free to pillage and rape? To burn and destroy and bring us all into the light?' She glanced up, paused to reef her hood over her head. Then she stalked toward Kevin.

  Behind him, Kala's breathing was shallow, her fingers curling and uncurling. He staggered to meet Mira, the HeartStopper behind his back, knowing he had only the one chance.

  'Stop!' Danica reached for Mira, fingers clenched as though pulling on reins.

  Mira paused mid-stride, stiffened, then pushed through with a shake of her head.

  'Assume the position, Grease Monkey. It'll be easier if you don't move. Necks are tough, you know.' She drew the sword back.

  He lunged.

  She caught him, holding him one-handed against her chest as he fell against her, and reversed her grip ready to plunge the sword into him.

  He reefed at the rim of her vest, then stabbed the staker into her side, angling upward. The staker bucked as it fired.

  Mira stumbled back and he sagged. The sword clanged to the ground as she clutched her side

  - the inch of steel in Taipan's chest -

  and stumbled to one knee. She clawed at the buckles of her vest until she was able to hurl the flexible carapace away.

  Kevin's blood burned as he fought to reach her, to stand, to finish this.

  'I will kill you for this, Grease Monkey,' Mira told him through gritted teeth as she dug at her flesh. 'I will make you eat this spike.'

  Danica reached out to Mira as though holding her head between her hands.

  Blood trickled from Mira's eyes, her nose, the corners of her mouth. A stain spread across her groin. Her skin glistened with a red sheen. She clawed at her chest. Her top tore under her nails; she pressed her palm against the bubbling crimson and silver on her left breast.

  Kevin picked up Cassie's sword and advanced, one leaden step at a time.

  Mira reached for him, for his blood. She clasped her left wrist with her red right hand and one of the scar bracelets turned fluid, an evil worm squirming under her flesh. He saw through Mira's eyes:

  His mother on the couch, fighting futilely, as his/Mira's fangs opened her flesh and her life flowed into him/her

  Himself through his mother's eyes, attacking Meg

  Fleeing, bloodstained and monstrous, with Kala

  And he felt:

  That horrible dagger in his heart of a child turned to monster. Of a child he still loved

  That incredible depth of hate for this woman who was killing him/her

  He shrugged out of whatever spell Mira had cast, surfaced from his mother's second-hand lifestream, and stumbled forward, and heard Kala shouting so faintly, and heard Danica, felt her inside his mind pushing at him, trying to stay his hand, but his hate was a bushfire and he blazed through it all.

  He thrust down at Mira, thrust down at the woman who'd killed his mother, who'd consumed her life's memories. He would drain her, drain her to the last drop, and he would have his mother back.

  He stabbed - stabbed through the resistance of flesh using all his desperate strength.

  When his vision cleared, he was looking at Danica, transfixed on his blade.

  Dark blood poured from her mouth.

  Mira grabbed him from behind. 'Like mother, like son,' she snarled as she bore him down. 'Little rays of sunshine.'

  Her fangs sank into his shoulder. He fought to stay upright, his eyes locked on Danica's as she toppled backward, her hands working to remove that great iron weight from her body.

  He'd kill Mira for tricking him. He'd tear the bitch's head off. If only he could get her off him! If only she didn't kill him first.

  'I will take you as I took your mother,' she said in his ear, her arms locked tightly around him. Her gory fangs flashed in the corner of his vision. 'And then I will consume your precious Danica and even your little half-breed whore over there, if she's got anything left, and we'll all be together. Forever. Won't that be nice.'

  Her teeth found his flesh again and he screamed.

  She jerked sideways. Her fangs ripped a chunk out of his flesh as she was dragged away. Her momentum carried him with her, knocking him to the ground as she lost her grip on him. Kevin rolled free; rolled free in time to see Mira and Kala locked in each other's embrace. They reeled in some sick dance as Kala, her dagger in Mira's back, steered them over the edge of the cliff.

  And where they fell, in the space they left behind, he saw sunlight bathing the cliff opposite. He saw two people sitting there on a rocky projection, holding hands over the body of a third. He saw them crumbling like sandcastles in the surf. Then he was screaming, screaming, screaming…

  SIXTY-ONE

  When Kevin came to his senses, he was on his knees being cradled by Danica, her bloody wrist to his mouth.

  'Better?' She pulled away, leaving him swaying.

  'A little. What just happened?'

  'Blood calls to blood,' she said.

  'Taipan?'

  'You tell me.'

  Where Taipan had been, that shadowy presence inside his head, there was nothing. A sensation of lightness, but also of emptiness. He shook his head, then levered himself to his feet. 'Kala? Mira?'

  She pointed to the cliff.

  Swearing, he lurched past Cassie's body to the edge. Sunlight bathed the other side of the gorge. The cliff where he'd seen Taipan was bare but for a few piles of clothing. Vertigo struck. He was high up, very high. Could even Mira have survived a fall like that? Maybe she'd hit a dead tree, was lying impaled down there by a sapling through the chest. Or maybe Kala was. Movement caught his attention. Mira, like a giant fly, crawling up the rock wall, scrabbling from hand hold to hand hold. She called, inside him; she wanted him so!

  Step forward, come to me.

  He gritted his teeth with the effort of resistance. Could feel Danica in his blood, that fresh infusion sparking the lessons she'd taught him.
r />   Lock her away. Lock her out. Do not take a step.

  Mira was closer, her eyes shining purple, her face ruddy and sheened with bloody sweat.

  A bullet took her in the shoulder. For an instant, she held on. Then gravity peeled her away. She arced down, swallowed in the trees at the base of the cliff with a distant crack and thump.

  Kevin shook himself free of her influence and stepped back from the rim. Danica stood beside him, Reece's pistol still pointed down the cliff, his sword in her other hand.

  'Can you see Kala?' she asked.

  'No.'

  'Take it,' she said, passing him the pistol. 'I hate these things. And this.'

  He sheathed the sword and holstered the pistol. 'How do I get down there?'

  'Climb.' She glanced at the sky, so light, so hot, and considered dead Cassie for a moment. Then she crouched on the cliff edge and lowered herself.

  'Trust the blood,' she said. 'Let it guide you. Try it without your boots.'

  Awkward. But he did as she said and followed her, letting his instincts guide his feet and hands despite the sword swinging from his hip, the ground threatening to rise up and smack him like a cockroach. They reached a scree slope dotted with boulders, wrapped in vine, peppered with saplings that offered darker shade. His muscles ached, his face felt as if he was running a fever. Danica slid down nearby. Her skin was pulled tight across her cheekbones; her eyes were black pits lit by green embers.

  'There,' she said, pointing.

  Kala had landed in a young tree and snapped through its branches to lay crumpled at the base.

  Mira stood over her.

  He pulled the pistol. 'Leave her alone!'

  'She's got nothing I need.' Mira leaned against the tree trunk, one arm dangling limply, squinting with the loss of her sunglasses. She looked like a bug bounced off a car windshield. But she had her pistol pointed at them, however unsteadily.

  'You can't beat both of us,' Danica said. 'It's over.'

  Mira shook her head and lowered the pistol with a look of relief, as though she'd been lifting a great weight. 'Looks like you've got a choice, Grease Monkey. You might be able to take me. You might be able to save her. But you certainly can't do both.' She backed away, hobbling down the slope where the trees were thicker. The vegetation quickly hid her from view. For just an instant, he felt Mira's rage, her despair.