“Kez!” Luci shouted from behind us. That was all the motivation I needed. I was not going to let my sister see me fried alive.
I threw my arm back, hissing when heat raced across my exposed hands. My elbow connected with the Mangler’s ribs and he grunted, caught by surprise. I swung myself around and pulled him with me, shoving him between myself and the glass door.
He screamed, and smoke rose from the back of his neck. His good hand scrambled for a grip on my arm, but we were both slick with the blood Luci had drawn from him.
I threw my leg up and kicked him in the chest as hard as I could. He flew backwards and crashed through the glass door onto the porch. When he tried to get up, smoking all over by now, he tripped and fell down the steps into a viciously sunny patch of light.
My hands still burning, I swung the wooden door closed and slid the bolt into place. I watched through the keyhole as the Mangler burst into flames. Only then could I look away. Only once I was sure he wasn’t getting back up.
That’s when I let myself slide to the floor, my back against the solid wood standing between me and an agonizing death. “Come here Luce,” I whispered, and she looked up hesitantly. “It’s OK. Come here.”
Luci crawled to me and climbed into my lap. She put her head on my shoulder and looked up into my face, now just as tear-streaked as hers. “Is he . . . gone?”
“Gone for good hon.” I hugged her as tight as I could, only relaxing my grip when she yelped. “Now we just have to find a phone –” I had a feeling mine was gone for good “ –and wait for the police.” But we wouldn’t have to wait long; the first sirens were already wailing in the distance, probably summoned by one of the horrified neighbours who would later tell reporters that the Mangler had seemed so normal.
Outside, a car door slammed. The sirens weren’t close enough yet. My pulse jumped, and I clutched Luci harder.
“Kez! Are you in there?” a familiar voice shouted. I gasped and my heart beat in excitement and disbelief now.
I stood and pulled Luci with me as I peered out of the peephole, squinting against the cruel daylight. A figure stood on the sidewalk between the Mangler’s charred corpse and Titus’ beat-up compact, parked on the street. He was covered from head to foot in a purple cape with a deep hood and huge dark glasses covering his face.
“Step back,” I said, guiding Luci behind the door as I opened it and stepped aside with her. “Titus?”
He stepped over the body and raced up the walk, pulling open the busted glass door. The first cop car arrived, followed immediately by several more and an ambulance, as Titus stepped inside and swung the door almost closed. He pulled his hood and glasses off in the safety of the shadowed interior, and his eyes relaxed the moment they met mine. “I thought that bastard had killed you.”
“Nope, but not for lack of try –” I never got to say the rest because his lips met mine, sucking the words right out of me. Along with my breath.
When he finally pulled away, I frowned at him, as the commotion rose outside. “How did you find us?” I asked, my hand on his arm. I wasn’t willing to stop touching him. Ever.
“Police scanner,” he said, tossing his head over his shoulder in the direction of his car. “I heard the address, and I guess I was closer than the nearest units. So, what the hell happened?”
Luci tugged on my sleeve then, and we glanced down at her to see her looking up at Titus. “I bit him,” she said. “Just like the witch in Oscar’s story.”
And I’d cooked the son of a bitch, just like the witch in our mother’s version.
“That’s right, hon.” I stroked her hair back in spite of the pain in my hands, streaking it with blood neither of us had lost. “You did great.”
She smiled at us then, and her teeth were smeared with blood, dainty little fangs and all.
Vestigial, my ass, I thought. Then I started to laugh, and was still laughing when the first cops burst through the door.
The End
Rachel Vincent
Urban fantasy author Rachel Vincent writes the Werecat series for Mira Books.
www.rachelvincent.com
Copyright © 2008
The Midday Mangler Meets his Match Page 4