A Kiss Before Doomsday

by Laurence MacNaughton

  “We’re not going to stick around,” Greyson said. “Not until we know what we’re fighting. We need to buy some time first.”

  That was something that Dru had taught him. Find out more about your enemy. Be prepared. Don’t rush into the fight. Don’t get cornered.

  He wasn’t cornered, at least. Not yet.

  But he was out of time. As quickly as it had appeared, the sun disappeared behind the heavy clouds once more. The world around him darkened into a gray gloom. The headlights of the motorcycles surged toward him again.

  Rane knelt over Salem where he lay on the floor. She looked more worried than Dru had ever seen her. “D, he’s not answering me!”

  Dru picked her way through the wreckage of the shop as she studied the text of the ancient book, tracing her finger over the diagram of the magical circle inscribed on one of the pages.

  “D!”

  “Still reading.”

  “Read faster!”

  Outside, footsteps splashed. The bell on the wall jingled as Opal barreled through the front door, precariously balanced on purple-sequined platform mules that matched her crushed purple silk top. Her thick black hair was frizzed from the rain, her dark brown skin wet and shining, her arms loaded down with plastic shopping bags.

  When she saw Salem lying on the floor, Opal dropped the bags. Her wide eyes went from the black claw marks on Salem’s barely rising chest over to Dru, asking her without a word just how bad it was.

  Just as wordlessly, Dru gave her a look that said it was bad. Really bad.

  “Okay, so the Folio says the black stuff is called scourge.” Awkwardly, Dru held up the ancient book, accidentally tearing one of the brittle pages in half. “Son of a—argh. Anyway, according to this, the scourge is sort of a super-creepy undead slime from the netherworld. It can ooze around on its own, and it can get inside you. So we have to be careful. It could attack any of us.”

  “Rubber gloves,” Rane suggested.

  Opal nodded dubiously. “We just got that biohazard kit from eBay the other day. Still in the box.”

  Dru set the book down. “No, I wish it was that easy. But we’re talking total magical containment. So, super fast, here’s the plan.” Dru ticked off points on her fingers, one at a time. “Copper wire to weave a containment circle. Spectrolite to protect his soul. Black tourmaline to keep him grounded. Sulfur to negate the evil energy from the scourge when we expel it from his body.”

  “Expel it?” Rane said.

  Opal wrinkled her nose. “That does not sound sanitary.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s not. According to this, after you drive out the scourge, you can briefly dilute it with pure water. But it separates like oil, so you need something to soak it up before it comes slithering after you again. That’s why Salem was so keen to get his hands on some fuller’s earth, so he had something to absorb it. But we need to start with the circle.” Dru held out a hand to Opal. “At the hardware store, did you find any copper wire?”

  “Finding it was easy. Paying for it was something else.” Opal dug through one of the shopping bags and pulled out a spool of shiny new wire. “Here you go.”

  Dru took it and hurried around Salem’s body, unrolling enough copper wire to create a circle around him. “Now we just need black tourmaline and sulfur.”

  Opal searched through the various piles of supplies and came back holding up a pair of small crystals, one spiky and glittering black, the other lumpy and bright yellow. “Tourmaline and sulfur. Where do you want these?”

  Dru grimaced in dismay. “Those are tiny. Is that all we have?”

  Opal put her hands on her hips. “Far as I can tell. You want them or not?”

  “Okay, okay.” Dru put one on either side of the circle below Salem’s right and left hands. “Got to keep the sulfur away from anything flammable, in case it blows.”

  She bent the copper wire until it broke from the spool, then twisted the ends together. With practiced ease, she bound the copper wire around each crystal, securing it in place. As she did, she felt the magical power of the crystals humming through the wire. It didn’t feel like enough.

  Salem was growing paler by the minute. There wasn’t much time.

  Dru matched the torn pages of the book back together and kept reading. “Says here that we can sluice the scourge off of him with pure water. Luckily, we don’t have to find a natural spring, because these days it comes in bottles.” Dru glanced around at the wreckage of the shop. “Where’s all the bottled water?”

  Rane’s lips pressed together, and she avoided Dru’s gaze. “Okay, so, I was thirsty.”

  Opal folded her arms. “Did you drink all the water?”

  “Staying hydrated, dude.”

  Opal shook her head. “I am not going back to Costco right now.”

  “Maybe there’s one bottle left,” Dru said. “Look around.”

  Trying not to show that she was terrified, Dru sat down cross-legged near Salem’s head. Exhaling, she touched one fingertip to the warm copper, tapping herself into the circle. She could feel the energy, like an extension of her body, wrapping around Salem. The black tourmaline on one side helped keep his soul anchored, while the bright yellow sulfur on the other side stood ready to negate the side effects of the scourge as soon as she could draw it out.

  With her mind clear, Dru reached for the shimmering dagger-shaped wedge of spectrolite and touched it to Salem’s forehead.

  A sharp breath blew out from between his lips. His eyes rolled back, showing only whites, and his back arched. With frightening speed, Salem’s entire body started to convulse.

  They had run out of time.

  4

  HOT METAL AND GASOLINE

  Hellbringer shot out from behind the warehouses back onto the street. Greyson steered like mad, dodging the cars that came at him from both sides.

  The long black car skidded across the intersection, toward a flat expanse of undeveloped scrub land. He hopped the curb, and they took off overland.

  Hellbringer ran arrow straight across the flat expanse of rain-drenched fields, kicking up twin plumes of grass and leaves against the faded blue silhouettes of the mountains behind them.

  Moments later, the pale headlights of the motorcycles peered through the weeds behind them. Two creatures, then three, spread out on either side, closing in fast. The rain clung to their web cocoons, making them shimmer.

  Ahead, several trailers sat parked at the far edge of the muddy field, bushes growing up around them. To one side, a squat building was surrounded by junk. On the other side, a pile of dirt and construction scraps rose fifteen feet high. All around, a chain-link fence circled the property, lined with old trucks and trailers parked nose to tail, blocking any exit.

  Beyond the fence lay the railroad tracks that marked the city limits, and then the deserted county highway that led straight out of town. In the distance, the endless flatness of the highway was broken only by the regular rhythm of utility poles and occasional trees. That was the best escape route. On the open road, Hellbringer would leave those motorcycles behind in seconds.

  If only they could get to the highway, he could lead them out of the city and minimize the chance of innocent bystanders getting hurt. Whatever these creatures were, Dru would know how to stop them. But he couldn’t reach her as long as he was trapped here, ringed in by the fence and the parked trailers.

  Greyson considered trying to make a stand in the abandoned-looking building. But that meant getting out of Hellbringer, and right now the demon car was his only advantage.

  He thought about turning around and doubling back again, but he doubted the same bootlegger trick would work twice. Especially with the darkening clouds making it unlikely any more sunlight would help keep the undead creatures at bay.

  That left him only one option. Straight ahead.

  The pile of dirt was stacked up with enough siding, lumber, and construction scraps to form a crude ramp. If he could hit it just right, it could carry Hellbringer up ove
r the trailers, the fence, and the railroad tracks beyond.

  To the highway. To freedom.

  Or they could hit the ground in a fiery pile of wreckage. One or the other.

  A long shot, but the only one he had.

  He aimed Hellbringer’s long nose at the scrap pile and pressed the gas pedal to the floorboard. The massive engine wound up, deafening. The acceleration pushed him back into the seat.

  Behind him, two creatures closed in, raising their arms to point their bony fingers at him. Fluttering streamers of webbing shot from their fingers, wrapping onto Hellbringer’s tail wing, grabbing it like lassos.

  If they were trying to drag Hellbringer to a halt, they were too late. The car hurtled toward the scrap pile and hit the makeshift ramp hard, like a punch in the gut.

  With a bang of abused metal and a squeal of tires, Hellbringer shot up the ramp and went airborne over the top.

  The world dropped away, and for a moment Greyson felt weightless. The creatures behind them, tethered to Hellbringer’s tail wing by webs, tipped into lazy cartwheels.

  The car sailed clear over the trailers. The razor-topped fence. The rusty brown railroad tracks.

  Tires spun through the air as the car crested the arc of the jump and nosed down toward the hard pavement below. Greyson tensed for the impact, bracing himself against the steering wheel.

  Below, the rest of the pack of motorcycles swooped in his direction, riding the rocky fringe of the railroad tracks. The pack must’ve split up and circled around, trying to catch him from both directions.

  As Hellbringer hurtled earthward, the motorcycles drew closer, closer, until they roared onto the road right underneath him.

  He knew what was about to happen, but there was no way for him to stop it.

  Hellbringer hit the road with a crash of steel and sparks, landing right in the midst of the motorcycle gang, crushing creatures and machines underneath. Moldering bones and fragments of metal scattered across the road.

  But the car didn’t land square. The crushed wreckage beneath the chassis prevented two wheels from touching the ground, tipping the car dangerously to one side. Out of control, Hellbringer skidded sideways to the edge of the road, where the pavement dropped off into the bumpy, wild grass.

  Off-balance, the car tipped up on one side. As the tires left the ground, Greyson fought the steering wheel, but it was no use. The big car slid over the edge of the road and down into the grass.

  For a moment, tall grass whipped against the window as the car drunkenly rolled over. Weeds and bushes struck the windshield like hail. Hellbringer quickly shed speed as it pounded its way to a stop off the side of the road, wheels up. The entire car slowly rocked, front and back, on its roof.

  Dru watched with horror as Salem writhed on the floor. “We have to wash away the scourge! Now! We need water!”

  Rane tore the room apart. Books, jars, and cans went flying.

  Opal wrung her hands. “What about tap water?”

  “Not pure enough. Has to be water straight from a natural source.” Her torn-up shop offered her nothing but walls stained wet from the rain as it leaked in through her smashed windows. Right then, the solution hit her. “Rain!”

  “I’m looking!” Rane shouted back.

  “Not Rane. Rain, rain!” Dru pointed at the dripping wet window frames. “It’s natural water. Catch some. Hurry!”

  Frantically, Opal rooted through her shopping bags. “I don’t have any cups, or bowls, or anything. Hell.” She emptied out a bag from the dollar store, dumping shampoo, candy bars, and kitty litter on the floor. Holding the empty plastic bag open wide, she headed out into the cold rain. “Hold on!”

  “Hold on,” Dru repeated to Salem, whispering it again and again like a mantra over his convulsing body. The copper wire grew hot in Dru’s hand, threatening to burn her. “Hold on, Salem!”

  Opal rushed over, holding maybe an inch of rain in the bottom of a dripping plastic bag. Rane got there first, her big hands cupped full of water.

  Dru wanted to hug them both. But her hands were busy holding together the protective copper circle.

  With her mind, Dru reached out through the wire to the yellow sulfur and activated it. Holding her breath, she poured energy into the crystal, making it glow as yellow as a traffic light.

  The unseen presence of the scourge reacted with the sulfur, blasting it to pieces.

  Dru’s ears rang from the blast. Bits of shattered sulfur clattered off the ceiling and walls.

  Repelled by the sulfur, the scourge backed out of Salem’s body, oozing out through the claw wounds. The black slime wriggled across Salem’s pale skin.

  “Okay, now the water!” Dru sent her last reserves of energy through the wire into the tourmaline, anchoring Salem’s soul against the onslaught of the scourge.

  Carefully, Opal and Rane poured steady trickles of rain water over Salem. Purified by the presence of the charged tourmaline, the water sparkled like a stream of diamonds as it fell.

  It rinsed away the scourge, exposing clean skin underneath. The flow of water chased black swirls of scourge off Salem until it pooled in a tar-colored puddle next to his body. Hissing, the scourge seemed to come alive, slithering toward the break in the circle where the sulfur had been.

  “Dru!” Opal backed up a step. “It’s moving!”

  “Don’t touch it!” Dru said, as Rane moved to stomp on it. “It’ll get inside you!”

  Dru didn’t dare let the scourge escape the circle, or it would turn right back on one of them. As the foul puddle slithered toward freedom, she tore her horrified gaze away. There had to be something she could use to stop it.

  Behind Opal lay the pile of stuff she’d bought at the dollar store. Cheap pink shampoo. Brightly colored candy bars. A bag of kitty litter.

  Kitty litter.

  Dru sprang to her feet, snatched up the bag, and ripped it open. Just before the scourge reached the edge of the circle, she dumped a pile of dusty gray kitty litter on it, burying it.

  The scourge let out a muffled squeal and went silent as the litter soaked it up.

  Dru stood over it, grinning at the surprised looks on everyone’s faces. “Just remembered. Old-fashioned kitty litter, the kind from the dollar store? It’s made of fuller’s earth.”

  Opal smiled widely with satisfaction. “See? If I didn’t go to the store, this place would fall apart. Mark my words.”

  Salem’s eyes moved under his heavily lined lids. He gasped, then stirred and blinked up at them. “Well,” he croaked, “this is embarrassing.”

  Rane smothered him in a tight hug, rocking back and forth, smoothing his hair down. Seeing them embrace made Dru feel all warm and fuzzy. To a point, anyway, considering it was Salem.

  When Rane finally let him go, Salem pointed to the pile of kitty litter. “What are you going to do with that?”

  “Get rid of it.” Dru stood up slowly, dizzy from the effort of the spell.

  Opal headed back to the storeroom and returned with a heavy-duty red plastic bag stamped with a biohazard symbol. “What did I tell you? I said we need a biohazard kit around here. Didn’t I say that? And look, it was cheap on eBay.” She pulled on long rubber gloves and tugged each one tight with a loud snap.

  “Maybe we should double bag this.” Dru put on her own gloves and carefully helped Opal sweep the contaminated mess into the bag. There wasn’t much more than a couple of fistfuls of clay, but its very presence scared her.

  With Rane’s help, Salem struggled to his feet and held out his hand. “I’ll take that.”

  “What? Why? No.” Dru clutched the bag tighter, which she immediately recognized as a horrible idea. She set it down on the floor and backed away. “Why would you want that? It nearly killed you.”

  Rane nodded. “She’s right. Screw that.”

  Wincing, Salem pulled his torn black shirt back on and buttoned it. “Let’s call it scientific curiosity.”

  “No. Forget it.” Dru sagged against the wall, feelin
g drained. “That undead scourge is going nowhere. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it someplace safe.”

  Salem gave her a ghastly smile. “Well, against the undead forces from the netherworld, I’m sure your made-in-China plastic bag is the best defense.”

  Dru’s mouth dropped open in indignation. “By the way, you’re welcome for saving your life. Now, how did you get into this mess in the first place? Where were you attacked by undead?”

  Instead of answering, Salem finished straightening his clothes. “Where’s Ember? She should have been here by now.”

  Dru didn’t have to look at Rane to know the hurt look on her face.

  The man was impossible. In frustration, Dru shoved her hands into her pockets. She felt the black Lemurian jade crystal that had mysteriously appeared in her mail slot earlier. When she pulled it out, its polished surface glittered with golden flecks of iron pyrite.

  Without a doubt, this was the crystal she had given to Greyson. To help protect him.

  What had happened to him? Where was he now?

  Momentarily stunned from the crash, Greyson crawled out the broken window, looking around for the creatures that pursued him. For now, the road was empty. But the unmistakable droning of motorcycle engines approached from the distance.

  Greyson stood up. At his feet, the broken glass reformed, like frost on a freezing winter day. As long as he stayed close by, Hellbringer could heal. But it couldn’t flip itself over.

  As he surveyed the upside-down car—the dirty frame, the snaking exhaust pipes, the dented metal slowly straightening itself out—Greyson wasn’t sure if he could turn the car completely over on his own. Tipping it over when it was balanced on its side, like he had done in the netherworld, was one thing. His connection to the speed demon certainly made him feel stronger than he ever had been in his life. But completely flipping it over? He didn’t know if he was that strong.

  “This would be a lot easier if you could just keep your rubber on the road,” he growled. The car didn’t respond.

  Greyson worked his shoulders, trying to loosen them up, and stepped up to the side of the car. Taking a deep breath, he planted his hands wide against the black metal, tensed, and pushed.