Брайан Макклеллан - Blood Tally

Olivia pulled me toward the house. I tried to run with her, only to find that something had happened to my knee. I leaned more heavily on Olivia, trying not to fall, my vision growing hazy. Around us, I could see that whatever she’d done to incapacitate the vampires was not permanent. They clutched at their eyes and ears, but they were already beginning to recover. I managed a glance over one shoulder to see the shape of Boris himself stalking after us, slow but determined.

“Get him to my temple!” Eddie called again from ahead of us.

“Hey,” I muttered in Olivia’s ear. “You need to get out of here. I’ll try to distract them. See if you can get back to the truck and get out of here.”

Olivia turned suddenly, clapping her hands together. Fire engulfed a single vampire that was rushing us from the side. He cartwheeled away, screaming. “Eddie says you’ll be fine if you can make it to the house.”

“My temple,” Eddie mewled. “My temple!”

I could feel a little anger in my growing despair. “My house isn’t warded! It’s not going to protect us from shit! You’ve got to get out of here.”

Olivia paused again, jerking a fistful of something from her pocket and throwing it toward Boris. I heard the sound of a thousand tiny wings. Glancing over my shoulder, I could see that whatever they were, they weren’t slowing him down. Olivia propped me up again and pulled.

The porch light loomed large, and we were suddenly underneath it. I stumbled against the siding, searching for my keys, only for Olivia to open the door. I’d left the damned thing unlocked all week. Somehow that stood out to me as funny. I wasn’t sure why, when I was about to die. I used the last of my strength to push her behind me and turned to face Boris’s army. I raised my one good fist, knowing I was moments from passing out. Mjolnir glowed brightly.

Boris stepped onto the half-rotted wood of my front porch. His face was red, and he looked more than a little annoyed at the garlic bomb that Olivia had hit him with. A victorious smile darted around his lips.

A little shape suddenly deposited itself between us. Eddie, the little fucking sphinx. He sat on his haunches, raising one paw toward Boris.

Boris snorted. “So that’s where you got to, you little shit. I’m going to sell you to the shittiest zoo I can find once we’re back in the old country.”

Eddie shook his whole body, his wings unfurling. He raised himself onto his back legs in what was clearly meant to be a threatening gesture but looked too adorable on someone his size. Oddly, he seemed to grow larger. He said, “This is a consecrated temple of Sekhmet. Be gone, or face the wrath of the guardian!”

Something – hesitation, maybe – crossed Boris’s face. “Sekhmet has been dead for thousands of years,” he scoffed. “If you had any real power you would have used it to escape the cage I kept you in.” He took another step onto the porch.

Eddie was definitely growing. He was the size of a golden retriever now and still getting bigger. A rumble came from deep in his throat. “Your home was never consecrated. But I am the Herald-Prince of a dead god and this is holy ground. Ferryman grants me her power from beyond the grave.” The voice was deep and vibrant. Boris came to stop halfway across the porch. Eddie rocked backward. “You were warned,” he growled.

The pounce took Boris off the porch, hurling him into the darkness. Eddie was the size of a lion now – maybe bigger – and his wings spread as he cleared the porch, blotting out my vision of the entire yard. Olivia clung to my arm, both of us staring open-mouthed as the darkness suddenly burst into a chaotic whirl of shadows. Dozens of vampires poured toward Eddie – the same wave that had hit and almost overwhelmed me minutes before. The wave crashed, and I expected Eddie to go down beneath the weight of it.

The wave wavered, shaking, and suddenly broke. Vampires fled across the lawn, scattering in all directions. Eddie’s wings flapped heavily, and his immense form crisscrossed the yard, paws swinging talons the size of scythes, rumbling roars echoing in the night. Within moments all I could see in the darkness was the corpses of vampires and I could hear something large crashing through the woods. Boris himself lay where Eddie had pounced upon him, the old vampire nothing but a shriveled, bloody wreck. I stared at that body for several moments, wondering if I’d already died.

“I think,” I said aloud, feeling consciousness slipping, “that he gets albacore from now on.”

I floated in a warm, brightly lit place for what felt like a very long time. I wasn’t conscious, but I wasn’t completely out of it either, and at some point during that floating I realized that I was lying in a hospital bed. Someone had left the drapes open. And, most importantly, Maggie was trying to get my attention.

It took me a while before I could answer her. Even the effort of a mental huh? was beyond me for what felt like an eternity. Finally, slowly, and with what seemed like a colossal force of will, I answered her.

Hey, Mags.

She let out a relieved sigh. Thank heavens. You’re back.

Been out of it for a while?

Four days.

Jesus. Isn’t that kind of dangerous?

I put you in a comma, magically. You were in no shape to wake up.

And now?

You’re still not in great shape.

I was still floating, unable to open my eyes, and it took me a while to realize that I was probably on some pretty fantastic painkillers. How am I looking?

Like Frankenstein’s Monster.

That’s not funny.

It’s not a joke, Maggie replied. It could tell she was genuinely worried, and that sent a bolt of concern through my drugged-out state. Those vampires tore you to shreds. If it wasn’t for your troll skin, you would have been nothing but a skeleton – and vampires aren’t sanitary. I had to burn an infection out of you on the way to the hospital. The doctors are curious about that, but they chalked it up to your troll blood.

How did I get here?

Olivia and Eddie got you in the bed of the truck. Olivia drove you. It wasn’t pleasant.

So they’re okay?

Eddie got a little cut up, but I have never seen anything like him. He killed over sixty vampires in a few minutes. It would take at least three full OtherOps sweeper teams to do the same.

Any survivors?

Nope.

Wow. I guess Sekhmet does still have some power.

Even dead gods are still gods. Makes me wonder what her guardians were capable of back when she was still alive.

That’s terrifying. How is Olivia?

She’s fine. Mentally scarred, but fine.

Oh. Good. I floated around, part of me trying to find the strength to open my eyes, but the other part of me really enjoyed the drugs. Hey, you never told me how you knew Sting.

Maggie snorted, then let out a soft chuckle. Is that important right now?

I could die any moment.

You will not, you big baby.

Weirdly, it did seem super important. It was probably just the drugs talking. I have to know.

I could sense Maggie chewing on her thoughts. I … I was in his jewelry collection for a couple of years in the midnineties. He never actually put on my ring, but I was physically close enough to touch his dreams very lightly. The song “Desert Rose” is about me.

No. The word came out far more “playfully shocked” than I had meant it to. I was genuinely surprised. How have you not told me that before?