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The drive over to the cemetery was short and relatively quiet, the only noise was the careful rustling as both of them nervously checked their supplies again and again. Tessa had grabbed a spare knife which was made of iron, as well as one of silver, just in case she needed something with a little more kick to break the spell. Lee had somehow acquired some mysterious daggers of his own, with a serpentine blade and demonic heads forged into the hilts. When asked he merely shrugged.
'Need something to do in Hel. Took some iron with me. Combined it with ash of a demon, as well as a bone handle. I made them to honour a lost friend, and they are still my companions. Useful for helping cute witches and stopping the evil ones if needed,' he responded, tension over the situation not allowing his full bright smile to show through. Tessa just nodded and let the car lapse back into silence. Now was not the time for idle banter, nor tales of friends long lost.
They parked a street back from the cemetery and silently walked over. Hoping for the element of surprise, they squeezed through a barely open gate and began to search the deserted cemetery. The cemetery in Bayton was huge, having once included a church and many satellite buildings, however most religion was abandoned when the witch trials revealed the presence of witches, demons and a whole host of other critters. The church just couldn't compete when fae and nymphs flittered through suburban streets and fashion catwalks.
Eventually the citizens had pulled down what remained of those buildings in order to fit more dead in the overcrowded cemetery. Now Bayton had the dubious honour of being home to the largest inner-city cemetery worldwide. It also happened to be full of both official and unofficial burials. There were rows upon rows of grave markers, as well as dubious mounds of dirt waiting to trip the unwary visitor. As much as Tessa was loathe to use any kind of light, tripping thrice on the rough burial mounds and once on something she suspected was an exposed limb forced her to summon a muted witch light. Even at the full moon, the moonlight was not enough to penetrate a Bayton cemetery.
Its gentle glow fell over the graves, giving an eerie feel. As much as Tessa knew that any ghosts hanging around could be dealt with swiftly with a single spell or a silvery stab, the effect was still creepy. Tessa was more afraid of interrupting one of the impromptu burials than ghosts. That would involve guns.
Luckily very few people seemed to want to wander around the cemetery on this night. After almost an hour of searching, Tessa realised why. There was a pall of negativity over the area, an itching kind of toxicity that made people want to leave immediately, even if they did not know why. It had to be the work of someone acquainted to magick, and on a hunch, Tessa followed the feeling.
Over a small crest they finally saw what they were looking for. A tiny light flickering from a tiny fire, almost hidden between the head stones. Tessa looked to Lee and they silently quickened their pace, picking carefully through the graves. As she doused her magickal light, Tessa begged the Earth Mother that there be no open graves for them to fall into. Falling into a grave only days after being abducted to the sewer might just be the bitter end of Tessa's sanity. It seemed their luck held and soon they were on the very edge of the light the fire threw off.
Ramona's crimson hair glinted in the fire light as she busied herself around a grave that she had clearly spent the day digging up. There was an abandoned shovel beside a massive pile of dirt that had merely been tossed over all the nearby graves. She had lined up little packets of herbs next to the fire and seemed to be working from a well-used writing pad, the pages torn and curling.
The severed hands had been lined up, all pointing towards the grave. They were directing the energy emanating from Ramona and the murder locations. She kept casting the grave loving stares and even gently caressed the headstone, clearly deep in her madness. He had to be reasonably fresh if the stench was anything to go by.
Ramona had her back to them as she consulted her book, so Tessa took her chance. So far, they had seen no zombies, so she stealthily moved forward to deal with the woman herself. Grabbing the shovel on the way, Tessa had it raised and swinging by the time Ramona noticed she was not alone.
'You b-' Her words were lost in the sickening crunch as the shovel connected with her face, knocking her back and almost into the grave.
'Payback's a bitch and so am I!' shouted Tessa, gloating slightly as she thought of her own bruised and broken face.
Ramona glared through the blood flowing freely from her nose and muttered some arcane incantation. Tessa warily watched the grave, but the shuffling and murmuring came from further down the hill. Clearly, she had back up hidden away down there. Of course, Ramona had been ultra prepared.
Lee chose that moment to appear, leaping from between the graves to stand before them, twin daggers in hand.
'I will deal with this; you thump the girl. Wouldn't be right if I did it and all,' he shouted back to Tessa, who almost swooned at the sight. A demon with fire in his eyes and wicked daggers in his hands was quite the sight. Distracted, Tessa watched as he threw his first powder vial. Ramona took her chance to throw herself at Tessa. Catching her around the hips, Tessa yelped in surprise as she went down hard. She thanked her lucky stars that she was wearing thick jeans as the vials on the back of her belt shattered, spreading glass and green powder everywhere.
Ramona simply grinned up at her, drawing herself up like a demented cobra prepared to strike. She remained in a position straddling Tessa as she began to do a little dance in the firelight.
'I may actually enjoy killing you. You just had to be so contrary didn't you little Mary?' Ramona spoke in a sing song manner, grabbing a sharp athame from her discarded bag. The blade gleamed in the light, lush garnets set into the hilt glinting blood red, a promise of the magick it was made for. Tessa drew her own knife from her boot, not willing to be another victim of that evil knife and its equally evil owner. It had clearly been fed many previous victims.
Ramona swiped at her, missing her face by mere millimetres. Tessa ducked to the side before bucking the other witch off and jumping up. Still mildly dazed Ramona scrambled up, weaving back and forth. Tessa could draw her laser now that Ramona was off her, clicking it onto stun only.
'That's cheating,' whined Ramona, drawing some kind of powder from a hidden source in her dress. Tessa ducked away as she threw it, but some still landed on her jeans leg. She glanced down, waiting for something to happen, but the powder seemed to have no reaction. Tessa grinned and pointed the laser at Ramona, keen to finish this.
Short of looking worried, Ramona merely began muttering under her breath, as calm as can be. Tessa sighed and fired a shot, but it went wide as her leg collapsed. She fell to the floor, realising she could no longer feel her limb. Ramona cackled and began to advance as Tessa scrabbled in her bag for her salt. She fired another shot but it went through Ramona's hair, singeing a few locks on the way through. Finally, she managed to find the container of salt and dumped the entire thing over her leg. She felt the spell break, but her lower leg remained motionless. Ramona grinned wildly as Tessa cursed under her breath.
'You like that? Little creation of my own, but don't worry, your leg will work again. Too bad it will just give me the time I need to finish you,' with that she leapt, swinging wildly and knocking the laser from Tessa's hand. While Tessa did try to throw herself to the side, there was no avoiding this one. The knife gashed a deep line along the side of her ribs, making her cry out in pain. The gems on the hilt seemed to glow in the light as the knife went up in another arc. When it came down and Tessa successfully dodged it, she saw that the gems were indeed incandescent.
Interesting.
She would have to investigate that one when the knife wasn't being used to kill her. She bucked and rolled, dislodging Ramona and ending up on top of her. Far from discouraged Ramona kept slashing, but Tessa finally had the upper hand. Using the hilt of her own knife she smashed the other woman in the face before trying to wrestle the twisted athame out of Ramona's hands.
Realising what was happening, Ramona began to scream and cuss, grabbing Tessa by the clothes and trying to head butt her. They rolled again, Ramona writhing wildly and clawing at Tessa's arms while Tessa went for the blade. When they came to a stop Tessa was bruised and bloody, but Ramona had her own knife in her side.
The glow from the gems in the hilt lit up the night as Ramona scrabbled uselessly at it, but the fire in her eyes soon died out. She looked to Tessa.
'Just. Wanted him. You. Bitch. One day. You will lose. Him too,' she gasped as she collapsed into the dirt from the grave, dying beside her lover. Ramona had even reached out to attempt to touch the headstone.
'You just had to get the last word,' remarked Tessa, feeling callous about slinging sarcasm at a dead woman. A little cattiness seemed justified. Holding her side tenderly, Tessa retrieved her laser and looked to see how Lee was faring. He had a bite or two, but was doing well, a swathe of re-dead zombies now littered the floor and only a handful remained. Tessa flicked her laser to kill and picked the last of them off for him. He looked around for a moment in confusion, before jogging over.
'Hey, that’s cheating, I was having fun there. How's the... oh! What happened to your side? I'll kill her!' he spoke too quickly, still high on the adrenaline from the fight. Tessa laughed dejectedly, despite the pain in her ribs that the effort caused. She started to feel odd, as if the world was going in slow motion, but she still couldn't keep up.
'Way ahead of you there, boy.' she attempted bravado, showing him the body of Ramona. Her madness still tainted the air after death. The garnets in the hilt of the knife were still faintly glowing. It was as if the knife was ensuring it took every last flicker of life.
'Woah... I had heard of knives with bits that glow when they got bloodied, but have never seen one. Apparently they... Tess!' he cried out as she slumped to the floor, unconscious.