Reality Bites (22 page)

‘She’s fine, doing very well, as far as we could tell,’ said Stiles.

‘Still as beautiful as ever, is she?’

‘Oh yes, very.’

‘Oh, this is nice, do you know, I have not had anyone to talk to for, oh I don’t know how long. You must tell me all the news from the world. The last I heard, Osiris had just married his sister Isis, how’s that going?’

‘I think they’re both dead now.’

‘Well, I’m not surprised. Killed each other, did they?  I never thought that would work out, a beautiful girl, but what a bitch.’

‘Um, it was a long time ago.’

‘Oh, tell me about it, I expect a lot of things have changed.’

‘Oh, yes, you could say that.’

‘Well, you must tell me all about it.’

Tamar interrupted.  ‘Well, we’d love to, but you see, we’re on this quest …’

‘Not unless you can get past me, you’re not.’

‘And how do we do that?’ asked Stiles.

‘Shan’t tell.’

‘He’s supposed to ask a riddle,’ said Tamar, ‘and if we guess right, he has to let us pass.’

‘And what happens if we get it wrong?’

‘Guess.’

‘Oh right.’

‘Of course, we can choose not to answer the riddle at all, and go back in safety.  He can’t touch us. But the catch is you only get one guess, you have to get it right first time.’

‘Okay, but there’s no harm in hearing the riddle, is there?’

‘Oh no.’

The sphinx yawned. ‘All right, clever clogs, so you know the drill, but I’ve decided, I’m not going to ask the riddle.’

‘
What
?’ said Tamar, aghast. ‘But you
have
to.’

‘No I don’t. Make me.  No, I’m bored; I want someone to talk to.’

Tamar glared at him. ‘You’re kidding.’

‘No, besides do you really want to go across that?’  He indicated the vast desert behind him.  ‘You probably won’t survive anyway. Wouldn’t it be much nicer to stay here with me and have a nice chat?

‘But – but.’ Tamar was lost for words.

‘Look,’ said the sphinx.  ‘I can make it nice and hospitable for you.’  An hotel appeared out of nowhere.

‘Oooh,’ said Cindy.

‘It’s just a mirage,’ scoffed Tamar.

‘It’s as real as you want it to be,’ said the sphinx. ‘Go on, check out the facilities.’

‘You know, maybe …’ Cindy began, ‘or no, maybe not.’ She finished lamely, as Tamar glared at her. ‘Except, well – we don’t
all
have to go on, do we?’ she added hurriedly, then looked at the ground.

Tamar thought for a moment. ‘You really want to stay?’

‘Well, he’s not going to ask the riddle unless at least one of us does,’ Cindy pointed out.

‘But what about your promise to Hecaté?’

‘Oh, um well I …’

‘I could stay,’ piped up Eugene.

‘You?’ said the sphinx.  ‘You don’t have any news; you’ve been here almost as long as I have.’

‘What about me?’ said Cindy. ‘Would you at least ask the riddle, if I agree to stay?’

The sphinx considered. ‘We-ell, I suppose so.’

‘What about …?’ Tamar hissed.

‘I’ve decided, that this quest is too important,’ said Cindy.  ‘Besides, after your noble behaviour over that dragon business, I think I can trust you.’

‘I’ll stay too,’ offered Eugene.  ‘I may not have been out in the world, but I managed to keep the library pretty much up to date, I have a lot to talk about.’

‘What about you?’ Tamar asked Stiles. ‘Do you want to stay too; I bet the bar is pretty well stocked.’

‘Very funny, I’ll come with you, if the sphinx agrees.’

They looked at him; he hesitated.

‘It that or we all just walk away,’ said Tamar.

‘Done!’ said the sphinx.

‘And we have been,’ muttered Stiles.

‘You two can go, if you must. But I warn you, they call it the desert of dread.  There are no shortcuts, it’s ten days across, and no water, are you sure you wouldn’t rather …? No? All right then, off you go.’

‘Um,’ began Tamar.

‘What?’ the sphinx said, testily.

‘The riddle?’ said Stiles.

‘Oh yes, forget my head next.’

‘Do we really need to?’ asked Tamar.  ‘You’ve already agreed to let us go.’

She walked past the sphinx and was stopped by an invisible barrier.

The sphinx laughed. ‘You can’t buck tradition,’ he said.

He cleared his throat.  ‘What’s black and white and red all over?’

‘What?’ said Tamar. ‘That’s it?’

‘A stabbed nun,’ said Stiles.

Tamar groaned.

The sphinx nodded. ‘That’ll do,’ he said. ‘I would also have accepted “newspaper”.’

They looked at each other.

‘Well, off you go then,’ suggested the sphinx.

Tamar and Stiles turned to Cindy and Eugene.

‘Well, goodbye then.’

‘Goodbye, and good luck,’ said Cindy.

‘Yes, good luck, it’s been very nice to know you,’ said Eugene.

They turned to go, Stiles turned back to the sphinx. ‘Doesn’t everybody solve that riddle?’ he asked.

‘It’s usually much harder,’ said the sphinx.  ‘But I thought, what’s the point?’

‘Oh I see.’

As they walked away, the sphinx could hear them arguing.

‘A stabbed nun? What’s the matter with you?
Everybody
knows it’s a newspaper.’

‘That was the one I learned when I was a kid, besides it worked didn’t it?’

‘You must have had a very strange childhood, that’s all I can say.’

‘You can talk.’

The sphinx smiled and turned to Cindy. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘tell me all about the world.  Who’s ruling Egypt these days?’

* * *

Denny was sinking.  The loneliness, in his current state of mind, was driving him mad. He would even have welcomed Peirce as someone to talk to, or even Miles, his horrible bullying brother (a man built like a brick outhouse and with the same approximate intelligence) and his squawking wife, what was it Cynthia? Selina? Something like that.  Breaking vampires in half just was not as much fun anymore. Once or twice he had seriously considered using the power of the witch to join them on the quest, but how the hell would he explain it?

He had started drinking heavily, but it did not help, the dreams were not getting any better, and lately, he was seeing another face, the mincing vampire from his captivity, mocking him. He had tried to find out who he was, but without success, he wondered if he might not be Ran-Kur himself. What had he said? ‘No, not
your
god.’ What did
that
mean?

He sighed and went out.  He ended up at a notorious nightclub that the vampires had been frequenting lately.
Keep working,
that was the answer, hope that it would distract him, until they came back and they could finish this thing. 
She’ll be back soon, she’s okay; you couldn’t kill her with a sledgehammer.

He leaned against the bar, staring moodily at the throng, he found it easy to spot the vampires these days, they were so badly dressed, besides he could see the void where their souls should be. They made up about two thirds of the crowd. Wouldn’t it just be easier to lock the doors and set the place on fire? But he did not want it to be easy; he wanted to keep busy.

A pretty girl sidled up to him; this was becoming a more common occurrence; he really had that mean and moody thing working for him lately.  He glanced at her;
she was human – no question, he turned away. She moved to the other side of him. ‘Hi,’ she said, brightly. ‘I’m Laura.’

Denny took a closer look at her; she really was very pretty, nothing compared to Tamar, of course, but then, Tamar was not here.  For a moment he was tempted. He had been so lonely lately; it would be a distraction. He shoved the thought away.

‘You should go home,’ he told her. ‘This isn’t a nice place, and I’m not a nice person.’

She pouted. ‘I like it here,’ she said.

‘Don’t you think it’s dangerous for you to pick up strange men in bars?’ he asked her.

She looked at him as if he was speaking in an alien language.  ‘Suit yourself,’ she said and stalked away.

‘She’s going to get herself killed,’
he thought. He glanced around; the place was full of young women, dancing and drinking. ‘They’re making it too easy,’
he thought. But he understood the loneliness that drove them, the hope that they might meet just one nice guy, men felt the same, at least he had. ‘But you don’t meet nice guys in a dive like this.’

He kept an eye on Laura; she was dancing now with some bloke; she seemed okay – for now.

He drained his beer; the club would be closing soon, time to go to work. He stationed himself by the door outside. He caught two a male and female, each with a supine prospective victim, then he heard a scream, as he rounded the corner, he saw Laura, in the grip of a vampire. She was putting up a vigorous fight, but there was already blood on her neck. Denny grabbed the vampire, flung it against the wall and staked it; it exploded in a shower of ash.

Laura was shaking; Denny took her by the shoulders, gently. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

She looked at him. ‘It’s you,’ she said in surprise. ‘You saved me. I thought you were a jerk. Thank you.’

‘No problem. I warned you; this is not a nice place.’

‘What was that
thing
?’

Denny hesitated, then he thought ‘no point in pretending.’ perhaps it would be better if people knew.

‘That was a vampire,’ he told her and waited for the scorn and disbelief.

‘That’s what I thought,’ she said, surprising him. ‘And you? You’re like a vampire hunter?’

‘That’s one way of putting it. The city’s lousy with them, you’d be better off at home.’

‘Oh, don’t worry, I’ve learned my lesson.’

He smiled. ‘Good, now how about I walk you home?’

At Laura’s front door, she stared awkwardly at his shoes for a moment, then … ‘How can I ever thank you?’ she said, lifting her face up to his, and looking him dreamily in the eyes.

Denny patted her on the shoulder.  ‘Stay alive,’ he said and walked away.

* * *

The Desert of Dread.  Ten days across, no shortcuts and no water. Tamar decided it was time to “fess up”.

‘My powers aren’t exactly on top form here,’ she said. ‘They keep cutting out on me, as if there’s something interfering with them, and it’s got worse since we entered the desert for some reason.  I just thought you ought to know before it’s too late to turn back.’ she waited.

‘Oh I noticed that,’ said Stiles airily. ‘What
aren’t
you telling me?’

Tamar was genuinely impressed. ‘Oh you
are
good,’ she said. ‘Don’t you ever miss
anything
?’

Stiles shrugged. ‘I might do,’ he said, ‘but not this time, what’s up?’

‘It isn’t anything important,’ she said. ‘At least not as far as the quest is concerned. It’s just that … I’m not dangerous here. You know to – Denny – for example.’

Stiles nodded. ‘You mean you could touch him without burning away his insides or whatever?’

‘Yes,’

‘I see,’ said Stiles thoughtfully. ‘I see.’

They had decided to travel at night, when it was colder, and slept during the day when they would dig a hole and hide from the blistering sun.

Tamar was morose; she was not sleeping, she did not really need to, but she wished she could, the long hours while Stiles slept gave her too much time to think.

It was the third night, and they sat on a convenient rock to rest for a while and eat and drink.  Food and water, as it turned out, was not a problem, with Tamar on hand (even if she
could
only manifest egg sandwiches). But she sat silently and ate nothing.

‘You miss him, don’t you?’ said Stiles.

Tamar sighed.

‘I know how you feel, I still miss Mary, my wife, you know? At least you know you’ll see him again.’

‘If we ever get out of here.’

Stiles nodded. ‘That’s the question, isn’t it?’

He glanced at her; she looked so miserable, and unusually vulnerable.  He reached out and put his arm around her, she leaned in. ‘Tamar,’ he murmured.  He brushed her hair off her face and then suddenly he was kissing her. 

She pushed him away. ‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘Don’t get me wrong, if things were different – I
do
like you, but …’

‘It
is
safe isn’t it?’ said Stiles. ‘You said …’

‘It isn’t that,’ she said.

‘You love
him
.’ It was not a question.

‘Yes.’

‘I’m sorry, I just thought … well, what you said.  We might never get out of here, and you’re lonely and I’m lonely. He need never know.  Would it really be so bad to take some comfort in each other?’

‘No, it wouldn’t.  It really wouldn’t. But how can
I
take comfort, when
he
has none?’

Stiles’ face burned. ‘You’re right, I hadn’t thought of it like that.’

‘I could never betray him, he’d know, and it would kill him.’

‘I know.  He loves you.’

‘And you don’t, you know,’ she told him.

‘No,’ Stiles admitted, in some surprise. ‘I don’t.  I thought maybe I did, but I just realized, when you said it, you’re right. You’re very special, but you’re not “the one”.’

Tamar smiled wistfully.

‘You know,’ he said, after some thought. ‘I reckon we’ll get out of here, if anyone can do it, it’s you.’

‘Liar,’ she said. But she smiled. ‘Come on, miles to go, and all that.’

They went on their way, both feeling considerably lighter.

~ Chapter Twenty Seven ~

T
he desert ended abruptly in a hazy shimmer, beyond which appeared to be a forest. It had taken them a week to get there.

‘You see,’ said Stiles, ‘we’re ahead of schedule.’

‘Do we just walk through, do you think?’

‘You’re asking
me
? I thought you were the expert.’

Tamar shrugged. ‘Not really, Cindy’s better at this stuff.’

‘Well, Cindy’s not here, so make a decision.’

‘I’ll go first.’  She walked through and shivered. ‘Oooh it’s cold.’  But she seemed fine. Stiles followed.

It was a relief after the desert to see so much that was green and verdant; the forest was lush and colourful and so cool and shady compared to the white hot scorching desert.