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I’D PUSHED MYSELF HARD to return to the portal. At my rough estimate, we’d been here for just over six and a half weeks. The gate was tantalizingly close now. I could almost smell zombies waiting for us.
Ruen waited until we’d neared the cemetery before he suddenly stopped. “Wait here for a minute,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
He vanished into the low fog and I exchanged a puzzled look with Aurora. “Don’t look at me,” she whispered. “I have no idea what he’s up to.”
The vampire hadn’t ducked off to take a leak, since he didn’t need to expel any waste. I could hear him giggling as he rustled around in some shrubs. His hands were behind his back when he returned.
“What are you hiding, Ruen?” Aurora asked him suspiciously.
His grin was so wide that most of his fangs were on display. “Surprise!” he exclaimed and whipped two of the stiff-furred, sheeplike creatures into view. Releasing their snouts that he’d been holding shut, he aimed them at me. They projectile vomited all over me before I could sidestep and the leech burst into hysterical laughter. “I told you I’d get you back when you least expected it!” he crowed in victory. “I told you!”
I’d forgotten all about his petty revenge plan. So had Aurora. She gave him a withering look, but he was doubled over, slapping his bony thigh in hilarity. He’d dropped the animals and they’d run off, bleating in terror.
Dripping with the acidic smelling puke, a vein throbbed in my temple as my temper took over.
“No, Saige!” Aurora shouted, but it was too late. I snatched Ruen up by the feet with one hand, then began to swing him over my head as I raced towards the graveyard. He screamed in shrill outrage, but he couldn’t do a damn thing to stop me.
I’d sensed a necromancer from a distance, but now realized there were four of them. They’d raised an army of shambling corpses from their graves to prevent us from leaving. The overlord must have sent them here when he’d learned we were in his realm. They wouldn’t have agreed to work together if they’d been rivals.
Ruen didn’t even realize the danger we were in until I smacked him into the first wave of zombies. He shrieked loudly enough to shatter my eardrums, but it did nothing to halt the horde. I staggered a few steps until my eardrums healed, still swinging him in a circle, while lashing out with my hammer.
I heard the slide of metal on leather as he pulled his knives free, then he began to get into the slaughter. Heads flew, arms dropped to the ground and black blood gushed everywhere as the vampire swung his knives at our foes.
Aurora was laughing at the spectacle, unable to do much to help us in this battle. I worked my way towards one of the necromancers, then threw Ruen at him. The bloodsucker twisted in midair and landed on his enemy. He sank his fangs into flesh and drained his foe dry in seconds. The undead who’d been beneath the necromancer’s control immediately toppled to the ground.
Vomit was still dripping from me as I kicked, punched and hammered my way towards the next necromancer. Ruen flashed past me, slicing and slashing as he cackled shrilly. He leaped onto the second necromancer and I kept the horde from overwhelming him while he fed. Half of the walking dead were eliminated after the second man died. The last two necromancers were female. Their screams were almost as shrill as Ruen’s when he hunted them down and drained the blood from their veins.
Aurora picked her way through the carnage until she reached us. The leech was lying on his back. His stomach was distended and grotesquely swollen. “You look like you’ll burst if I poke you,” she said in amusement.
“I drank too much,” he said in a drugged sounding voice, then giggled and held his arms up. “A little help?” he requested.
He was covered in gore, but we were filthy anyway, so a bit of extra blood wouldn’t really matter. We helped him to his feet and he wiped his knives on his sodden pants. Everything we owned would be magically cleaned once we crossed through the portal. I didn’t need the hammer anymore and dropped it with a slight pang of regret. It had served me well, but it might disappear if I took it to my world. It was best to leave it here.
I could make out the bright blue glow and loped towards it. My companions hurried to catch up to me. Ruen was hunched over, groaning as his stomach sloshed noisily with each step he took. He pulled an empty meat sack over his head to block the light and allowed me to guide him through the gate.
Aurora came through behind us, waiting a few seconds so it would be less painful for her. The transition back to my human form was so rapid that I didn’t even feel myself shrinking. I couldn’t express how glad I was when my muddled mind finally became clear again. The clothes I’d been wearing had vanished after I’d turned into a troll, so I was stark naked. I quickly pulled on a t-shirt, jeans and spare sneakers from my backpack.
“Knock three times, wait for four seconds, then knock twice,” Ruen instructed us hoarsely. His voice was slightly muffled by the sack that had reverted to a backpack.
Aurora did the honors, then the door opened a crack. “It’s Saige and her team,” Sherlock said and pulled the door open wide.
“What’s wrong with Ruen?” Watson asked in concern as Aurora assisted the shuffling leech through the door.
“I drank too much blood,” Ruen said. He waited until the metal door was closed and the bright glow from the portal faded before he took the backpack off his head.
“You look pregnant,” a werelion said in amusement and reached towards him.
“Don’t!” Aurora warned her, but it was too late. Her finger sank into his distended gut and he bent over and vomited up all the blood he’d ingested.
Everyone leaped backwards out of the splash zone, but most of it had landed on a table full of food and drinks.
“Were you having a party?” I asked, realizing the radio was playing merry music in the background. Sherlock was now on his phone, no doubt letting Drake know we were back. My gut clenched at the thought of having to see the dragon again.
“Yeah. It’s Christmas Eve,” the werelion said dourly. “I guess our party has just been cancelled.”
“I’m glad I don’t have to clean up that mess,” Aurora said with a snicker.
“You’re not getting the candy bar I’ve been saving for you now,” the shifter said in retaliation.
“Aw,” the demon said despondently.
Caving in, the lion pulled two chocolate bars out of her pocket and tossed them to us. I gave her a smile of thanks, glad the tension that had been so thick the last time I’d seen them had eased.
Watson waited for me to finish my snack before he handed me an envelope. “What’s this?” I asked.
“It’s the bill for fixing the door on the SUV you damaged,” he said with a smirk. “I got a good rate, since the shop is owned by Lord Gilden.”
The auto repair shop was an effective disguise to hide the portal. No one would question why so many people worked here if they actually repaired vehicles as well as guarded the gate.
I let out a sigh and tucked the envelope into my backpack. I’d forgotten all about slamming his door so hard that I’d warped the frame. “I’ll pay it when I get home,” I promised.
“Are you ready to go?” Sherlock asked, putting his phone away and ambling over to us.
“More ready than you’ll ever know,” I replied wryly. They had no idea what sort of trials we went through in the underworld, or what we were doing over there. All they knew was that Drake kept sending us on important missions.
