Reality Bites (24 page)

‘It’s a bad head wound,’ the doctor said phlegmatically. ‘We’ll do what we can.’

As she was wheeled away, Tamar opened her eyes. ‘Denny,’ she whispered.

‘I’m here.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Sorry? What for? You got him.’

‘I meant for – for dragging you into this … f – farce I call my life, I shouldn’t have.’ She was gasping, her breathing ragged.

‘Don’t talk rubbish; you’re going to be fine.’

‘Liar.’  She managed a grim smile.

He realised that he had never told her.  Of course, she knew, but he had never said the words to her.  ‘I love you,’ he said. And for a moment, he looked like his old self again, even his hair was back to flopping in his eyes, although this might have been due to his recent exertions.

She reached up and brushed it back gently.  ‘I know that,’ she said, ‘fool.’

‘Christ,’ she added, ‘it
must
be bad.’

He shook his head mutely, as she passed out again.

* * *

Tamar opened her eyes and was surprised to find that she was apparently floating.  She felt fine; wonderful in fact sort of light-headed and dreamy –
good drugs these. 
Then she saw him, a sinister robed figure sitting cross legged and apparently at his ease but floating in front of her about three feet in the air.  Lying negligently across his knees was a large farm instrument of some type and he was reading – a novel apparently entitled ‘The Passion of Lucille’.  The cover was of the lurid “Bodice ripper” type, featuring a nubile yet over-developed woman in a nightie in the arms of a well-muscled werewolf – well he was extremely hirsute anyway, too much so for Tamar’s taste.  The figure never looked up; he was apparently thoroughly absorbed in its contents.

Tamar was fascinated. Whatever her expectations of the afterlife had been – and she had not really dwelt on it much – the last thing she had envisioned was to meet the grim reaper (she knew him from his pictures) passing the time before she passed on by reading a romantic novel.  The fact that she had obviously died was, to her mind, the least of her problems.

She was also a little put-out by his obvious indifference to her predicament.

 ‘It’s all very well to him I suppose,’ she thought, ‘all in a day’s work.’  Tamar was not inclined to take the matter so lightly.  ‘Ahem,’ she ventured.

The spectre looked up, embarrassed, and secreted the book hurriedly in his robes somewhere.  ‘So sorry,’ he said.  ‘I didn’t realise it was that time already.’

‘Don’t mind me,’ she said, caustically.  ‘Take your time,
I’m
in no hurry, I’m just dead, no big deal.’

The reaper checked his watch.  ‘Thought so,’ he said.  ‘You’re early, so there’s no need to get snippy.’

‘I’m dead,’ she retorted.  ‘I’ll be as “snippy” as I like.  How would you feel?’

The reaper grinned.  ‘Ah well,’ he said.  ‘As to that, you’re not, not yet anyway – it’s not your time yet …’

‘All right, so I’m early, in a few minutes I’ll be dead, it’s all the same thing to me.’

‘No, no, you misunderstand.  You’re early for our little meeting is all.  This is what they call a near-death experience, the latest thing in popular theology apparently.  And this is about, as near to Death – that’s me – as you’re likely to get without actually crossing over ha ha, little joke there – no?  Oh well, it’s playing merry hell with my schedule if you want to know the truth, they never had any of this nonsense in the old days, you either lived or died end of story, but you have to keep up with the times, so they tell me.’

‘It’s a fad,’ said Tamar.  ‘You know what humans are like.’  Now that she knew that she was not dead, she had recovered her equanimity with astonishing speed.

‘A fad, yes, I suppose so, well I’ll just have to …’

‘So, is there any point to this meet and greet, or am I just going to go back in there,’ she pointed to herself lying on the hospital stretcher looking wan and battered.  ‘God, I look terrible.’

‘The point?  Ah well yes… caught me off guard a bit, sorry about that, rather spoils the drama doesn’t it?  You were supposed to feel the awe and solemnity of the occasion, but I don’t suppose you would have anyway, not
you! 
I daresay you’ve seen stranger things than me in your time, eh?  Anyway, I’m here to offer you a choice – you can continue your life from this point on or you can have a new life – in the same body of course – but without the powers and responsibilities not to mention enemies that you have now.’

‘Do you always offer people this choice?’

‘No you’re a special case.’

‘No powers?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Is this a test?’

The reaper looked awkward.  ‘Well now, you can hardly expect me to answer that, can you?’

‘I’ll take that as a yes.  Okay, it doesn’t matter anyway; I don’t see that I have much of a choice really, no matter what you say.  I have to go back to who I was otherwise people are going to die, aren’t they?’

‘Are you sure?  This is a chance to change your destiny. To start again, a clean slate, no consequences I promise.’

‘Not for me maybe, besides, destiny’s a load of bull anyway.  I’ve made my decision – if this isn’t an hallucination brought on by the drugs.’

The reaper smiled.  ‘You know better than that,’ he said.  ‘So be it,’ he added, in a voice that made her shudder.  He handed her a packet bearing the legend “Not to be opened until …”

‘Until when?’ she said.  But he had gone.  His voice floated across the aether to her, ‘See you in hell.’  His head re-appeared in mid-air like the Cheshire cat, but not as scary.  ‘Oops, I shouldn’t have said that,’ he grinned then he vanished again, this time for good.

* * *

‘What the hell went wrong?’ said Stiles, as they waited.

Denny shook his head.

‘I thought she could fly,’ said Cindy. ‘I’ve
seen
her fly.’

‘
I
thought she was invulnerable,’ said Denny.  ‘Just goes to show, doesn’t it.  Now shut up.’

Cindy backed away nervously. Denny had gone from intimidating to terrifying.

The doctor reappeared. Denny leaped to his feet.

‘She’s stable,’ the doctor informed him.

‘Don’t give me that bollocks,’ said Denny menacingly. ‘Tell me how she is.’

The doctor backed away involuntarily. ‘She’s still unconscious but …’

‘Doctor, doctor,’ a breathless nurse appeared.  ‘You have to see this, the patient with the head trauma, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear someone had switched patients on us, I’ve never seen anything like it.’

‘What are you babbling about?’ said the doctor, irritably.  But Denny knew, he barged past the doctor and the nurse and a flustered orderly and into the post op. Tamar was sitting up, looking fine.

‘Thank God!’ he said, putting his arms around her while he still could. ‘I told you, you weren’t going to die.’

Tamar’s fingers closed on the packet in her hand; she smiled to herself – she thought she could guess what it was.  ‘Thank God you were wrong,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘Nothing, never mind.’

‘We have to get out of here,’ she said unromantically, ‘before I get written up as a miracle.’

 Cue the comic interlude with much dressing up as orderlies and running around with stretchers.  Oh no, wait, they could teleport.  Denny drew the curtains around the bed. Put it down as another mysterious disappearance.

* * *

Tamar had no good explanation as to why her powers had failed her, but she did tell them that it had happened just as the dagger went in. ‘As if he was sucking the life out of me,’ she said.

‘The Hart did say he would try to take you with him,’ said Stiles.  ‘He must have realised what was happening.’

‘Well he’s gone now,’ said Tamar with satisfaction,

‘So why’s it still all dark?’ asked Cindy. She had not wanted to bring this up; it did rather spoil the party atmosphere.

‘It’s as if nothing’s changed,’ said Stiles.

‘It’s true,’ said Denny. ‘The vampires are still out in full force.’

‘So, what can we do?’ said Tamar.

There was a silence. Denny was frowning.  He had been thinking about this and he thought he understood.  He had been hoping that the darkness would suddenly clear, that he was wrong, but it was time to face facts.

‘I think we have to face the fact, that it’s not over,’ he said reluctantly. ‘There’s another. Someone else is behind this. Ran-Kur was just a front, a patsy.’

‘Where do you get that from?’ said Stiles.  ‘How do you know the vampires haven’t just decided to stay here because they like it?’

‘What about the darkness?’ said Cindy.

‘Exactly,’ said Denny. ‘Vampires
can
control the weather, but not on this scale, not without help. And anyway, this darkness is something else.’

‘But what makes you think there’s someone else behind all this?’ persisted Stiles.

‘It came to me in a dream,’ said Denny.  ‘And I think I might even know who it is. Time to wake up Peirce.’

Part Three : The Reckoning

~ Chapter Twenty Nine ~

T
he ‘Master’ was delighted.  All was going according to plan; these heroic types were so predictable. It was a shame that Tamar had survived. On the other hand, it would be more fun to kill her, himself.  He had suspected all along that he would have to, he quite relished the idea.  Then again, an eternity of torture – even better.  And she would suffer the worst kind of torture, the mental kind, knowing that she had brought it all on herself, and her friends and her lover. It would kill her – she was so arrogant – to know that she had made the biggest mistake of them all.  He rubbed his hands together. If only they would hurry up.  Still he had waited this long, he could be patient, if he attempted to interfere now, it could ruin everything.  She was not stupid; she just was not as clever as she thought she was.

* * *

 ‘You can’t think that
Peirce
is behind this,’ said Tamar.

‘I don’t,’ said Denny.  ‘But he’s in deep.  He knows what’s really going on, I’m sure of it.’

‘And if he doesn’t?’

‘At least he knows where we can find the one who is.  He’ll tell us if I have to beat it out of him.’

Denny explained, about the dreams he had been having about the “vampire” he had met in the old house.  ‘It’s him, I’m sure of it; I keep seeing him, mocking me.’

‘Do we really need Peirce?’ asked Tamar.  ‘If you’re so sure it’s the house you went to, can’t we just go there and see?’

‘Don’t you think I’ve tried that?  It must be shielded or something; I can’t find it; I was asleep when they took me there.’

‘What about focussing on the vampire himself?’

‘If he
is
a vampire.  And no, I can’t, he must be shielded too. Like Peirce said, “better protected than a school girls diary”.  It just makes me more certain that he’s the one we’re after’

‘But how can it be?’ objected Stiles. ‘Ran-Kur definitely
was
a god, wasn’t he, and that definitely
was
Ran-Kur wasn’t it?

‘Yes it was,’ said Tamar. ‘The summoning was absolutely specific.’

‘So, what could make a patsy out of a god?’

‘There
are
things more powerful than gods,’ said Tamar. ‘Besides, all he would have to do is use Ran-Kur’s name, it’s been done before.’

Stiles had to concede this.  ‘So, we’re sure, then?’ he said.

Tamar nodded. ‘I think Denny’s right.’  She looked at Denny. ‘But Peirce?’ she said.  ‘I don’t like it, I don’t trust him.’

‘How else are we going to find that house again?’ challenged Denny.

‘Well, - I – no, I got nothing.’

‘Excuse me,’ said Eugene, ‘but who
is
Peirce?’

‘In the bottle,’ said Cindy. ‘I told you. I never saw him, myself.  But I heard all about it.
H
e’s a vampire, remember? I told you.’

‘Oh yes, Peirce, ha, ha, good name for a vampire.’

‘Why?’ said Cindy, blankly.

‘Because, pierce, vampires pierce … and you kill them by … never mind.’

‘It’s a good job she’s pretty,’ he said in an aside to Stiles.

‘Can we get back to the point?’ said Denny, impatiently. ‘Peirce?’

‘Oh let him out,’ said Tamar. ‘I want this finished.’

Peirce, naturally enough was not inclined to be helpful. ‘Why should I?’ he said.  ‘You put me in a
bottle.
’

Denny smacked him. ‘Keep talking,’ he said. ‘I could do this all day.’

Peirce began to change back into fog.  Denny clapped a jar over him.

‘Try that again,’ he said when he released him, ‘and we’ll leave you in bits all over the world.’

‘He’s scary,’ said Eugene to Cindy.

Cindy nodded. ‘Attractive, though – if you like bad boys.  Which I don’t,’ she added hurriedly.

Peirce subsided.  ‘Okay, I’ll behave,’ he said, mutinously. Bastard!’

Denny grinned, wolfishly.  ‘You’d better believe it. I’m just getting started.’

Tamar produced the sketch she had done from Denny’s description. ‘Who is he?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Try again,’ said Denny, suddenly producing the Athame.

Peirce baulked.  ‘Where the hell did you get
that
?’

‘I’m sorry; I thought
we
were asking the questions.’

‘All right, all right!  I’ve never seen him, but I think he’s the one they call the “Master”.’

‘And the big country house, where is it?’

‘What, you want me to draw you a map? I can’t.’

‘But you can take us there.’ It was not a question.

Peirce shrugged then squealed as the Athame dug into his neck.  ‘Yes, Yes I could.’

Tamar made like the good cop. ‘Look, think about it, this is the one who’s been using the prophecy to control all the vampires. He’s the one who’s been masquerading as Ran-Kur. You want to take him down as much as we do.’

‘Cut it out,’ said Peirce.  ‘I don’t have much choice, do I?’  He indicated Denny. ‘Just keep
him
away from me.’