Honeyed Words (43 page)

She pulled the vial out, broke the wax seal, and wrenched the stopper out with her teeth. Without hesitation, she tilted the vial to her lips, drinking the harsh brew.

Harsh was not a strong enough word. The coppery taste of blood was overpowered by the yeast and alcohol. The mead was by no means fermented adequately, but from the moment the liquid touched her lips, she felt the power surge into her.

In an instant she knew exactly what to do.

She snatched her guitar from the floor, slamming out chords that Sarah would recognize. Heavy metal washed through the room. The vermin flew from her, washed into nothingness by the blast of song that rolled forth.

A bubble of golden light pushed outward, larger than before, more solid and strong. She stood, pushing the table to the side, righting the refrigerator and blasting away the ectoplasm dragon fire in a flash of gold.

I’m coming for you, lover mine

The wolves will cower in their dens

Raise your broadswords, stamp your feet

Tonight we ride to victory!

She strode from the kitchen, through the living room, and down the hall. The oozing walls and scrabbling spirits melted before the might of her song. Golden light washed away the foulness, leaving the walls and floors clean in her wake. Katie turned to the final room, pushed the door open with her hip, and strode to her lover.

As the light filled the room, destroying the shadows, Sarah moved.

In a blink she went from holding Qindra’s shoulder to swinging around.

Katie stumbled back as Gram sliced the guitar from her hands.

The song faltered, and Sarah stumbled forward to her knees.

“Oh, god. It was him,” she mumbled. “Jean-Paul. I was fighting him again.”

Katie dropped the shards of the guitar and grabbed Sarah. “It’s okay; we’ll beat him together.”

Sarah wrapped her arms around Katie and buried her head in her shoulder.

“We gotta move,” she said. “Find a way out.”

“What about Qindra?”

Sarah just shook her head. “She’s holding the dome, keeping them contained.”

The crow squawked from the other room, and Katie looked around. The spirits were still coming to the house, drawn like moths to the flame.
The only other living creature in the place,
she thought.
Time to set him free.

She stood, helping Sarah to her feet, and turned. Lyrics flowed from her as she began to sing again, about apples and love.

The glow that surrounded them was slighter without the guitar, but it was strong enough to allow them to see. They crossed the hall quickly. Sarah gasped, but Katie did not look back toward the living room. No time.

Once they were in the room, she opened the cage, never missing a note. The crow squawked once, hopped out of the cage, and flapped up, its mighty wings beating.

Sarah slammed the bedroom door shut. “Zombies!” she cried, moving the dresser over the door.

The crow flew up onto the dresser, squawking manically.

Mirror? “Sarah!” Katie shouted. “What about the mirror?”

Sarah turned from the door. “Damn, girl. You’re a freaking genius.”

Sarah grabbed the edge of the mirror and shouted, “Skella, for all that is holy, pay attention. Open the mirror!”

Something slammed against the bedroom door from the hall, and Katie began singing again.

Sarah shouted and smacked the mirror with her open palm. “Come on, damn it. Answer.”

Then Skella was there. The room behind her was a maelstrom of activity.

“Sarah? Where are you? I can’t see you.”

“Never mind,” Sarah said, “get us out of here.”

“Okay,” Skella said. “Hang on!”

Katie sang louder, letting the music overcome her fear. The pounding from the hall grew more insistent. Tendrils of smoke curled from under the door.

“You first,” Sarah said to Katie, who shook her head no.

“This is our only shot,” Sarah said.

“Okay,” Skella shouted. “I’ve got it opened, but it’s shaky; you’d better hurry.”

Katie wasn’t budging.

“Shit,” Sarah swore, then sheathed Gram, jumped from the bed to the dresser, and dove through the opening.

Fifty-nine

I rolled into the new room. It was huge. Football field in width, with a high domed ceiling. A dozen or more dwarves hustled about. In one corner I saw Melanie working on someone, and Gletts was nose to nose with a dwarf, yelling about crossing a line. I looked back, and the mirror had become opaque. Katie hadn’t come through.

“Open it!” I shouted, rounding on Skella.

She leaned against the mirror, straining, tears running down her face. “It’s too…,” she stammered, “hard … fighting me … too much.”

“Katie!” I screamed, collapsing onto my knees in front of the mirror. My reflection shone back at me in the blackened glass.

Sixty

Frederick sat back, smug in his victory. Young James “JJ” Montgomery sat across from him, sipping his pinot noir and enjoying the company of the young barista Mr. Philips had scared up for the evening.

“I’m flattered,” JJ said, setting his glass on the coffee table and looking around the huge room. “I like to think I could make it in Hollywood, but…” He shrugged. “You know. I’m no superstar.”

The girl, Bridget, Bethany, something with a B, leaned in and kissed JJ on the cheek and squeezed his thigh. “I watched you in
Blood Brothers Two.
You rocked.”

“Yeah,” JJ said, beaming.

The girl leaned in, running her hand up his thigh and cupping his crotch. “Oh god, yes.”

Frederick smiled. This was almost too easy. Of course the young man had talent, he’d seen it right away, but the speed at which he was so easily manipulated just added to his value. “Chance of a lifetime,” he said over his glass.

“Your work in
Elvis Versus the Goblins
was spectacular,” the young woman gushed.

JJ blushed. Brittany said something to him quietly, and he looked around, as if afraid Frederick had heard.

Frederick just smiled. The girl would bed him soon, perhaps here on the leather sofa, if given a chance. He loved the little pushes he’d made throughout the evening. Dinner, wine, plenty of wine, promises of glory and sex. Not to mention his subtle charms, the heat he could instill in the willing. Delicious.

JJ drained the last of his wine, and Belinda kissed him, hands on either side of his face, holding him to her.

“A toast,” Frederick declared.

Bonnie and JJ turned, seemingly having forgotten Frederick was in the room. They were both quite inebriated.

“I’m dry,” JJ said, holding up his glass.

“I’m not,” Betty said, giggling into the side of JJ’s neck.

“I’ve been saving this,” Frederick said, standing and plucking the glass from JJ’s hand. “I think you’ll find it amazing.”

He walked to the bar, allowing the young ones a moment to grope. He took the mead from the cabinet where Mr. Philips had stored it earlier and poured it into the young buck’s glass. He poured himself a scotch and turned back, clearing his throat.

Brenda paused, her hands obviously working the front of young Montgomery’s trousers.

JJ’s eyes were mostly glazed.

Frederick handed JJ the glass and held up his scotch.

Brandy took up her glass of pinot grigio and held her glass high. “A toast,” she said.

“To the next George Clooney,” Frederick said.

“Hell, yeah!” Becky said, draining her wine and lowering her head to JJ’s crotch.

JJ looked at Frederick for a moment and then quaffed his mead in one long pull.

Frederick smiled, sipped his Talisker, and settled back into his chair.

Becky moaned loudly as she took him in her mouth. JJ tipped his head backward, crying out, oblivious to Frederick’s continued presence.

Neither of them noticed the glow that erupted around Montgomery, engulfing the two youngsters in a halo of gold.

Sixty-one

Katie, for all that’s holy
. I smacked the mirror with my palm. Skella looked up at me, the strain obvious on her face.

“Don’t,” she murmured. “Don’t break it.”

“Open it,” I shouted, and she strained harder. She battled Qindra’s shield, I knew. I sat with my legs folded underneath me and held Gram on my lap. “Please,” I whispered. “Let her be safe.”

The dwarves were shouting. Two of them were arguing with such ferocity I expected to see them come to blows.

Gletts appeared at our side, sliding to his knees and placing his hands on the mirror opposite Skella’s. He murmured an incantation, and Skella’s voice rose to join his. They spoke in a language I half recognized, but the words were meaningless.

“Too hard,” Skella said. “Nothing like I’ve ever felt.”

He strained beside her, their breath coming in gasps.

Nothing happened.

“Katie,” I whispered, reaching out to touch the glass, gently this time. “I need you.”

Golden light burst from the mirror, and Katie flew through, slamming into me, knocking me onto my back.

She was bleeding, but laughing. There were cuts on her arms and face, but she leaned in and kissed me.

We’d escaped. For half a second I was giddy, light-headed with joy, then a deafening roar echoed through the room.

Katie lifted her head, looking back, and I peered over her shoulder. Gletts and Skella were thrown backward as Jean-Paul burst through the mirror, followed by a few thousand of the little uglies.

“Incoming,” one of the dwarves bellowed, and they scattered.

Melanie screamed, and Katie rolled off me, scrambling to her feet and looking around.

I rolled the opposite way, bringing Gram around to shred a lumbering shadow creature that was within reach. A second one, which looked like a cross between a T. rex and a very ugly chicken, was snapping up the littler shadows as fast as it could.

But the big daddy in the room was Jean-Paul—or rather, his spirit form. Damn, I hated that I had to kill him again.

He scattered the dwarves, bowling several over before snapping his great smoky head down and biting one of the fallen. The dwarf screamed, and Jean-Paul reared back, tearing the dwarf’s spirit from him. The body shook, a broken automaton winding down as the dragon threw his head back and swallowed the spirit in one gulp.

His laughter echoed across the great hall.

Some of the dwarves had taken up weapons and were battling the shadows.

Gletts was helping Skella to her feet. She leaned against him, exhausted.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean for them to follow.”

I laughed, the blood rising in me, the cry of battle and glory. “You brought Katie through,” I yelled. “You have redeemed yourself as far as I’m concerned.”

Gletts gave me an odd look, but Skella smiled.

“Katie?” I called.

Gletts pointed around the edge of the room, toward a large central altar. Katie was running to Melanie. She sang, bless her, sang as she ran, with her head held high. Golden energy flowed from her, forming a wall between the baddies and her friends. She was a rock star!

“They’ve been bleeding him,” Gletts said, the disdain clear in his voice. “They wouldn’t listen. They thought to keep him as a never-ending source of potion and wealth.” He turned his head, looked at Skella, and grimaced. “When they’d gone too far, I went for help. They didn’t expect me to turn against them,” he said, a blush covering his cheeks.

“He’s a good boy,” Skella said in his defense. “He just learns the hard way sometimes.”

I was all over that. My motto was “The hard way or no way,” at least if you asked anyone who knew me.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said finally. “We all make mistakes. Can you get Katie, Ari, and Melanie out of here?” I looked at the mirror. I had a sense we weren’t going back through that. “Is there another mirror?”

Gletts nodded and pointed across the great hall. Roughly two hundred yards away, with Jean-Paul and a dwindling supply of spirit monsters between us, was another mirror. “Okay,” I said, picking my first target between me and the ones I loved. “We make our way to Katie. Once we hook up with them, we make our way to the other mirror.”

They both nodded.

We were able to avoid those creatures who were feeding on their smaller brethren. They were gaining on Jean-Paul in size but were more interested in the easy pickings. Jean-Paul was reveling in his slaughter of the dwarves. Already I saw four or five fallen. Three groups had banded together and were making a stand. They were armed, most of them anyway, but not all the weapons seemed to have an effect. A few were successfully hurting the baddies.