Because Your Vampire Said So

by Michele Bardsley

Chapter Twenty-One

 

  "Would you look at that!" Nonna flew around her corpse. "I look just like I did when I died. "

  "I told you we buried you in the pink dress. See?"

  She was nodding happily. "And I'm wearing my wedding ring, too. Oh, and the gold cross my mother gave to me on my thirteenth birthday. "

  I had never seen anyone as thrilled to see their own dead body as my grandmother. Actually, I'd never seen anyone thrilled when faced with the proof of their own demise.

  Poppa burst out of his coffin. He'd died ten years before Nonna. My ghost grandma actually tried to straighten his tie. "It's not really him," I hissed. "Stop that!"

  "He never could tie a knot properly. "

  "He didn't tie that one for sure," I pointed out. I stood up and dusted off my dirty hands. "He was dead. "

  "Well, your father never could tie worth a damn, either. "

  I rolled my eyes. My parents had requested to be cremated and I was thankful for that. I didn't think I could face the shuffling dead feet of my grandparents and my parents. Good Lord.

  All throughout the cemetery, coffins were bursting from the ground like demented daisies on an ugly spring day. Whatever occupied the coffin crawled out, and I was surprised to see skeletons as well as deteriorating carcasses and the embalmed.

  "I'm going to hell," I said. "I've just desecrated more than a hundred years worth of Broken Heart dead. "

  "I don't mind," said Nonna. "I can't wait to see me kick ass. "

  Getting zombies to move fast, much less as a unit, was not easy. If something obstructed the walking dead, they just marched in place instead of trying to find a way around it. I understood now why Khenti said they were puppets. They couldn't think. They were only in motion because of me.

  Some of them were really disgusting. The smell was worse than what we endured in the sewer, but I wasn't complaining. I felt much braver going to face Koschei, even if my new recruits weren't exactly up to snuff.

  I don't know how many of Broken Heart's undead we had marching along (well, they were trying to, at any rate), but it was in the hundreds. In recent times, a lot of citizens had buried their relatives in Tulsa graveyards or seen to arrangements in other states.

  After what seemed like ten hours, but was really only one, we were finally approaching the compound.

  At the edge of the entrance to the compound, I saw Durga with her hands facing the demon shield. I could see her lips moving, but we weren't close enough to hear the words.

  I was outraged that she'd chosen the side of evil. What was wrong with these people?

  A sleek gray wolf shot past us. He bounded across the field and knocked down Durga.

  "Arin," said Gabriel proudly.

  The demon shield wobbled like a bowl of melting Jell-O. Then it vanished. Several black shadows appeared where the dome had been, then dissipated. If those things were the demons, I hoped they'd gone back to hell. Broken Heart had enough problems, thank you.

  The wolf sat on Durga's chest, his jaw clamped on her throat. She wasn't moving an inch. She needed her voice to call to her demons, and there was no way she was talking with a wolf's teeth embedded in her neck.

  Gabriel and I walked to the prone Durga. Her eyes were wide and fear-filled. She probably hadn't contemplated her death in four thousand years.

  "You are banned," I said softly. Gabriel joined hands with me and magic flowed from our palms. "We cast you into the world-between-worlds, Durga the Ancient. "

  Arin climbed off the woman and sat on his haunches, watching as Durga slowly faded. Gabriel and I stood up together.

  One bad guy down.

  People poured out of the compound.

  Now the battle began in earnest.

  Fireballs whizzed through the air. Screams and growls issued from all directions.

  "Wheee! Look at me!" The body of Nonna jogged toward me, the arms flopping crazily and the neck lolling. It whirled around, then bowed in front of me.

  "What the fuck?" I scurried backward and stared at the animated corpse.

  "Watch your language!" chided Nonna. But her lips weren't moving.

  "Oh. My. God. Nonna! You've possessed your own body?"

  "You were the one bellyaching about how slow going it was," said Nonna. "At least you got two recruits who can get their butts moving. "

  "Yeah, we're a pair. " Dottie's voice issued from Poppa as he ambled up next to Nonna. They grabbed each other's arms and did a wild dance.

  "Out of all the corpses you could choose, you picked Poppa?"

  "It was her idea," said Dottie.

  I was speechless. Gabriel put his hands on my shoulders and rubbed them until I relaxed. "Okay. Um, stay close. And pay attention. And remember you're in corporeal form, okay? You can't pass through walls or anything. "

  They nodded, then walked ahead of us. The other zombies continued shuffling forward. I made sure no one was trapped behind a tree stump or car or had tripped on a blade of grass, and then I moved through the swaying bodies. Gabriel caught hold of my hand, and just that little gesture made me feel so much better.

  Patsy. You've done well, my minion. Come to me. And bring your army of the dead. They are exactly what I need.

  "Minion, my ass," I yelled.

  "Patricia?" Gabriel looked at me, his eyes flashing with fear.

  I fought off Koschei's glamour, but he was strong and he had more experience. All the same, that bastard was not getting into my head.

  Without my direction, my army of the dead was going all over the place. Zombies were running into each other, falling down and getting trodden on, and going off in opposite directions.

  Y'know, zombies just didn't seem like effective fighting tools.

  I pushed Koschei out of my head and slammed shut the gates to my mind. I couldn't see him. Not yet. But I knew he would find me.

  Lycans fought other lycans. Vampires sought to destroy their kindred. I saw the pink hair of Zerina as she moved among a group of battling creatures I didn't recognize.

  This was Broken Heart. This was the place where we wanted to create a place of peace and hope for parakind. And yet, here we all were clawing each other to bits.

  I'd had enough.

  Power surged through me. I felt all seven gifts of the Ancients intertwine and pulse from my fingertips all the way to my toes.

  "Gabriel," I said. "It's time. "

  While he took his wolf form, I directed my zombies to attack our enemies. It didn't matter if they succeeded. Causing confusion among those fighting was just as useful.

  Koschei appeared at the edge of the battlefield. His gaze was directly on mine, but he couldn't get into my head anymore.

  The waves of fighting men and women who dared get in his way were flung into the air. He didn't care if they were friend or foe.

  It was as if the darkness itself parted for him as he walked toward me. He strode arrogantly forward, his eyes gleaming with the insanity born of droch fola.

  I stayed where I was, allowing him to come to me. In my left hand, I cupped a pure ball of energy. My other hand was on the furry head of my husband, the white wolf.

  Koschei stopped a couple of feet away.

  My nonna marched her body right up to him and slugged him in the mouth. God, I loved that old lady.

  Koschei reared back, obviously flummoxed that he'd been assaulted by a grandmotherly corpse.

  Dottie had taken to tormenting Koschei, too. My poppa's hands were socking him in the backside, but none too effectively. I don't think Dottie or Nonna remembered much about operating a human body.

  I heard the roar-squawk about a second before the dragon swooped out of the sky. Koschei escaped his two attackers and backed away, smirking.

  Lia made a bow of fire. She notched two flaming arrows and shot them toward Nonna and Poppa.

  Thwump. Thwump. The bodies jerked around, then fell
to the ground.

  Screeching, Nonna and Dottie jumped out of the burning bodies. They hopped around as if they were on fire, realized they weren't, and then stared down at the fiery corpses.

  Lia laughed (why do evildoers always laugh?). She pulled on the dragon's reins and it banked right.

  I threw the energy ball at the underside of its belly. White light exploded. It shrieked in pain, and rolled through the air. Lia screamed as she tried to get her pet under control.

  Gabriel, my knight in white fur, stayed at my side. No one approached me. Most were too busy fighting each other or knocking over zombies.

  Koschei, in the meanwhile, was doing something else. I couldn't understand the words he spouted, but I began to understand their intent when other vampires gathered behind him.

  Gabriel and I stood as one. I felt energy pulse between us. The binding made us strong; love made us stronger. Prophecy or not, my place was with him. And there was no other place I wanted to be.

  As we advanced on Koschei and his minions, I saw Ruadan, Patrick, and Lorcan fly over the group. They landed next to us. A sword of pure light shot out from Lorcan's hands; Ruadan had half swords and so did Patrick.

  Koschei hesitated at these new threats.

  I heard barking and growling. Three sleek, black wolves loped across the field and took their places: Damian, Darrius, and Drake.

  Khenti, Velthur, and Zela arrived next. We formed a half circle - and I could see that Koschei was recalculating his odds.

  I focused on the zombies. I raised my hands and shouted a spell. Blue light arced from my palms to the zombies. They stopped wandering the field and formed a tight circle around us.

  People still fought outside the barrier, but I knew the real fight, the one that mattered most, would happen in the next few minutes.

  Koschei stepped behind his minions. Then, he obviously gave them an attack order.

  The first row of idiots charged us, some held weapons, but most had nothing but their Family powers.

  Fire shot out from the hands of two vampires. Velthur stomped the ground and it split. Water showered upward. He drew it into his hands and tossed it at the fire-wielders.

  Lorcan, Patrick, and Ruadan were quick and clever with their swords. Heads were severed and bodies collapsed into ashy piles.

  The lycanthropes went for the throats, knocking down those vampires without the wits to run.

  "Hey!" called Jessica as she flew over my zombie barrier. "Did I miss the fun?"

  Velthur

  Translated from the Memoirs of Ruadan

  Velthur's people lived and died on the land that became Italy; they were the ancestors of the Rasenna, more commonly known as the Etruscans.

  He was a simple farmer who lived alone. He'd always had the ability to manipulate liquids and used his gifts to find water, even in droughts, for his own crops. Other farmers were jealous and mistakenly believed it was his land that held the key to his success.

  I befriended him and after a while, he guessed my true nature. He was not afraid of me, and in fact, he offered himself as a meal every now and again.

  Here, I had found my sixth vampire.

  Velthur accepted my offer. Other than Koschei, Velthur was the only one I hadn't Turned under duress. He liked the idea of immortality, and that he would be able to make others who would also have his gift.

  He sold his farm and traveled with me.

  We seven became the Ancients: the leaders of seven Families who inherited our special gifts. Because of my grandmother's prophecy, I knew we would rule for a long time.

  But not forever.