I kept an eye out for the Draugr, looking over my shoulder about every five seconds. Erasmus sighed with impatience. “We don’t have to walk, you know.”
“Oh. I forgot about your particular mode of transportation. Do you want to…?”
He stepped forward. Without another word, he took my arm and stood with his face inches from mine. We locked eyes, and the sudden dark cold of teleportation took my breath away. When I blinked and looked past his shoulder, we were in the cemetery again.
But he hadn’t let me go or stood back. He was still looking at me as if he wanted something. And I knew what that was. Why was it that when I was with Erasmus I wanted him, and when I was with Ed I wanted him? Could you juggle two men? Only if they agreed to it, I supposed.
“Erasmus…” I pleaded.
His fingers slowly uncurled from around my arms, and then his warmth was gone.
The sheriff and deputy were still there. I could see the flashing lights from Deputy George’s Jeep as well as a few more cars. Maybe the coroner and some techs. We’d have to avoid them.
“I wonder if any other corpses are newly buried here. Maybe Dan Parker. But where would he be?”
“I can smell them, you know.”
“Charming. Any more unique talents I should know about?”
A smirk lifted one corner of his mouth. “I daresay, you know some of them already.”
“Erasmus.”
“Sorry,” he said without apology. He looked more animal than human as he raised his face and sniffed the air. And worse, he seemed to be enjoying it. Enjoying sniffing out a corpse. It was just one of many reminders that he wasn’t human and that I shouldn’t ever really let my guard down around him.
He pointed. “That way.”
I followed him up a rise and under some wide-spreading oak boughs. I’m sure the cemetery was lovely during the day, all green lawns and shady trees. But at night it was dark, foggy, shadowed, and downright creepy.
I could hear vague voices of the techs and coroner on the wind, which made it hard to listen to other things, like Viking zombies and a ghoul. Whatever a ghoul sounded like.
Erasmus moved steadily ahead but stopped at the top of another rise. I came up beside him and followed his gaze. Something small and wiry was digging furiously at a grave. It reminded me a lot of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings stories. Only this was much worse.
Erasmus made sure we were upwind as we carefully approached. The ghoul was more than boney—effectively a skeleton with skin stretched over it, wearing only rags. It had wisps of hair that looked green in the moonlight. Its mouth was set in a grimace that revealed long, human-like teeth, like a skull would have. And it kept on snapping its jaws in irritation. Its eyes bulged out too, or at least looked that way staring out of deep, bruised sockets. It was digging hard, tossing dirt everywhere. Like a meth addict trying to get its next fix.
The crossbow was armed. I stopped and stood firmly on the uneven ground to get my balance. I raised the weapon to my shoulder, taking careful aim.
Just as I was about to pull the trigger, it looked up, alarmed. It’s ping-pong ball-sized eyes focused on me as it drew back its thin lips and hissed, a skull grimace in full.
I pulled the trigger, but it was too late. The ghoul had already moved. The bolt pinged off a tombstone and disappeared in the shadows. I didn’t worry since I knew it would magically appear back in the crossbow in an eye blink.
The ghoul fell forward and started running on all fours as it had done when it was disguised as Lexy.
I plunged down the hill, giving chase. Erasmus was beside me but soon pulled away, gaining on the ghoul with supernatural speed. He reached an arm out and nabbed the little creep. They tumbled on the turf, smacking against a tall, moss-covered obelisk.
I slowed as I came up to them. Erasmus was wrestling with it, trying to hold it still. “Any time, Kylie,” he grunted.
“Oh.” I swung the crossbow up, armed of course, and took aim. The thing was pretty pathetic-looking. It was whining and snapping its jaws and waving its thin skeleton arms. Its hair and skin tone were green, pale and sickly.
“Kylie!” Erasmus reminded me as he continued to struggle with it.
“Okay, okay.” I took aim again. It just seemed unsavory to shoot it point-blank like that. My finger tapped above the trigger. It fed on corpses. Not nice, but not dangerous either. Just icky. But…I guess Jolene said it preyed on children, and I wasn’t sure if that meant live children or only dead ones. Not that either was good…
“Dammit, Kylie!”
The crossbow had sagged in my grasp as I argued with myself, but I raised it again. I was about to squeeze the trigger with the full intention of dispatching the ghoul, when I was suddenly knocked aside.
I tumbled and rolled, losing the weapon even as a sharp pain wracked my shoulder. I caught a glimpse of a shadow swooping down and lots of white feathers.
Erasmus growled and crouched like an animal, glaring up into the sky. The ghoul saw his chance and ran, disappearing into the veiling fog.
I felt stupid. I should have just shot it. I would have to eventually anyway. But now my shoulder was screaming in pain, and Andras was circling me.
He hovered lower, wingbeats blasting me with cold air and throwing my hair back. “You see, Kylie Strange,” he said from above me, “I can get to you anytime I like.”
I pointed an accusing finger at him. “You’re an asshole!”
He seemed taken aback by that. “A very crude era,” he scoffed, raising his owl-like face like an aristocrat to a peasant.
Screw this guy. I lifted my hand, and when the crossbow slapped into it, I aimed and fired.
The bolt hit him square in the chest. His wingbeats faltered, and he slipped from the sky, landing hard on the lawn in front of me. Erasmus was on him instantly.
The growling and snarling sounded like a terrible dogfight. White feathers scattered. The crossbow re-armed with another kind of bolt. I didn’t hesitate. I aimed carefully and fired again.
It hit his neck and he cried out, throwing his head back. He squared on me again, his eyes becoming wide, glowing red embers. He snarled his sharp teeth at me as I fired again.
Andras stumbled back, releasing Erasmus. Erasmus jolted to his feet, barking, fingers curled into claws, nails grown to talons. He was a fierce beast, not the Erasmus I knew at all.
Andras’ wings drooped behind him. He reached for the bolts at his chest, neck, side. Black blood oozed from the wounds. He was only weakened. I knew they wouldn’t kill him.
He tugged at the bolts even as he clumsily unfurled his wings and slowly beat them to lift himself into the air. Erasmus lunged, but Andras kicked out with his taloned feet. Black gore spattered off his skin with each flap of his enormous wings.
He was so angry he could only spit and snarl at me. Maybe it wasn’t the best course of action, getting the assassin sent just for you really angry. But darn it, he pissed me off!
He rose brokenly into the sky and soon zoomed from view.
Panting, Erasmus was back to normal. And he was smiling. “Well done, Kylie. He’s afraid of you now. He thought he had an average simpering human to dispatch. But you are far from average.” I had never been showered with so many compliments from him. He turned to me with bright eyes and a very human smile before he grabbed me.
The kiss was one of pride, but it morphed pretty quickly into lust and maybe something deeper. I grabbed a good handful of his hair and held him in place, taking what I wanted too. And how I wanted.
His hands slid around me, fingers kneading, slipping here and there, grasping handfuls of my bottom and bringing my hips in full contact with his. Oh yes, he clearly wanted me, too.
“Erasmus,” I breathed into his voracious lips.
“Kylie,” he purred, mistaking the reason why I whispered his name.
“No, Erasmus…” I didn’t want to stop. I really didn’t. But I pushed him back, pushed hard at his chest. “Erasmus…no.”
His burning eyes simmered. “No…as in ‘no’?” He still held me but with more space between us now, not every inch of us touching.
“The time and place is just not…” I slid my gaze toward the flashing police lights in the distance, the tombs and gravestones. Somewhere in the cemetery, a ghoul was looking for lunch. At least, I hoped it was in the cemetery. What if it was out there looking for some new kid to munch on? Yeah, I screwed that up. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
Erasmus looked toward the flashing lights too and seemed to read the rest of my thoughts. He licked the kiss from his lips and let me go. His expression had cooled. There was even a little bit of blame in his eyes, which I felt keenly. Why hadn’t I been stronger? Why did I always have this reaction whenever he was around?
“I’m sorry.” I couldn’t help but say it.
He ignored me. “Would you pursue Andras or the ghoul?”
“Um…ghoul.”
Without another word or glance, he leapt forward and started running through the cemetery. It took me half a second to wake up and realize what he was doing, and then I was running too.
I saw a figure in silhouette up ahead near one of the crypts. I slowed and lifted the crossbow, taking a bead down the flight groove. When I got just a little closer, something felt wrong. For one, the crossbow hadn’t armed itself. And for another…it just wasn’t right.
The figure rose and turned toward me. A light gust of wind ruffled the shading trees. Moonlight peeked between the leaves just enough to illuminate that face.
“Ms. Strange?”
I whipped the crossbow behind my back. “Ruth? What…what are you doing here?”