Chapter 6

 

Reaper stared at me, eyes bulging, gurgling noises coming from his throat. A thin stream of blood seeped from his mouth and ran down his chin. I was about to reach into his back pocket to retrieve the statue when he beat me to it.

He was grinning again now, right in my face, which was only inches from his. He held the statue up with one hand, arm extended, just out of my reach. I gnashed my teeth as I twisted the pole inside him. His body spasmed, but he was still smiling, still holding the statue.

The hell with this. I’d essentially nailed him to the wall. Time to grab that statue and—

“Beverly, no!” I heard Jimmy cry.

Apparently, Beverly had the same idea, but was far less patient. She dashed forward and snatched at the statue. Reaper threw me aside with one powerful stroke, and I went crashing into the shelf of cars on the right. He wrenched the pole out of his torso and struck Beverly on the back with it just as she approached.

Beverly cried out as the pole hit her, then again as Reaper broke her fall by grabbing her hair. He held her head in the crook of his elbow, rising in the air to stand on the tallest shelf where we’d first seen him. Then he reached around and pulled his sword out from its sheath, which made a chilling, slicing sound. He released Beverly’s throat from his elbow only to hold the sword underneath her chin.

So that was why Reaper seemed so confident. It was his plan all along to wait until one of us did something rash, then take advantage of the situation. And we’d played right into his hands. At this point, gentle reader, I uttered a long stream of unpleasant words that I won’t trouble you with here.

“Wait, please!” Jimmy begged as he rushed toward the shelf, arms outstretched. I managed to pick myself up off the floor, despite the fact that it felt like all my bones were broken. I stumbled next to Jimmy and looked up. Light glinted off the sword in the most terrifying way. Even at this distance, I could tell it was no Renaissance faire replica. That thing was the real McCoy.

Now Reaper’s laughter reverberated throughout the room at a nearly hysterical pitch. The sound made hairs on the back of one’s neck stand up.

“You three are right idiots, you know that?” With the hand that held the statue, his free fingers pulled even harder on Beverly’s hair. She squeezed her eyes shut from the pain. “Coming here like this to my territory. What were you thinking?”

“Look, just forget about the statue!” Jimmy’s voice was high and tight with panic. “Just let her go and we’ll forget about it, too. You’ll never see us again.”

“Judging by what he’ll do if you don’t deliver it, I guess that’s true,” said Reaper. There was no need to clarify who “he” was. “But why shouldn’t I have some fun before then?” Reaper drew the sword closer to the bottom of Beverly’s chin and upward at an angle, forcing her face close to his. “Can you even guess what I’m going to do to her?” he murmured. I saw Jimmy clench his fists until his knuckles were completely white.

“I was kidding about the train tracks thing!” I called desperately. Beverly gave Reaper a look of pure hatred and spit in his face.

“Go to hell, you bastard!” she hissed. He let go of her hair for a moment, but only to hit her across the cheek with the statue. She gave a sharp yell, then Jimmy did the same.

“Jimmy,” she said, choking back a sob, “get out of here!”

“No!” His face was still turned upward, eyes desperate and searching. “I’m not leaving without you.”

“Jimmy, please.” Her voice broke as tears streamed down her cheeks, making thin, clean trails in the dirt on her face.

He shook his head, never taking his eyes off her. “If we die, then this time, it’s together.”

“No, no, no. Forget what I said before,” she begged. “Run, just run!”

The look on Reaper’s face was one of absolute triumph. He really was going to cut her head off, just like his namesake, the Grim Reaper, might do with a scythe.

“Pathetic,” he said. “Well, mage? Aren’t you going to do something about this?”

I thought hard. The second I made a move, he would slice her throat. It was hopeless.

Reaper laughed again. “It’s as I thought. Do you know what I have that you don’t?”

“Something to prove?”

Reaper looked down at me, then closed his eyes.

“Unresolved parental issues?” I continued. Reaper let out an impatient sigh.

I threw my arms out. “Smaller-than-normal genitalia? Look, obviously I’m no good at guessing, so why don’t you just tell me?”

“A lack of burdens,” he said. “These two,” he jutted his chin at Beverly and Jimmy, “are burdened by affection for one another. You are burdened by a conscience. I, on the other hand, have no such mortal sentiments, and am thus unencumbered.”

“Mortal sentiments a burden?” I said in disbelief. Then, angrier: “Spare me.”

Reaper’s smile was only for me this time, and chilling. “That is not in the cards.”

“No, I mean spare me your stupidity,” I started. But Jimmy pulled back his arm and struck me so hard, I fell backward into the skeleton of a car. Reaper burst out laughing again.

Shut up! Even the voice in Jimmy’s thoughts was anguished. You’ll only make him kill her faster.

I was about to reply when I saw an old, black Ford Model T across the way. It was set apart slightly from the other cars, as if mechanics had been doing bodywork on all four sides. It was also in better shape than most of the vehicles here. The Ford’s huge headlights were set high in front, like the eyes of a giant insect. A thought began to work its way through my mind.

I may have a plan, I said to Jimmy. He turned his head sharply toward me. He walked to the side of the car I was in, his eyes darting back and forth from me to Beverly. Reaper was staring down at us in amusement. Do you know if any of these cars are functional? I asked Jimmy.

He shook his head. The cars here haven’t worked for decades, if they ever did. He closed his eyes for a moment. Oh God, I can’t believe it’s going to end like this.

Nonsense. I started to get up, calling magic from every corner. Haven’t you heard that with magic, anything is possible?

Really? Jimmy opened his eyes. He pulled on my forearm to help me crawl out of the wreckage.

Well, no. But it never hurts to try.

“Apropos of nothing,” I said to Reaper, “with all this magnetic charisma you have, being able to do whatever to whomever and such, aren’t you wasting your time with these two?” I splayed my fingers at my sides, sending out pulses of energy through them. It was questioning, searching, trying to find the earth magic in the room. It wasn’t hard. Earth magic includes metal, and this space had a mountain of it.

“I mean, it’s a lot of bother for an evening’s entertainment, don’t you think?” I continued. “Losing comrades, almost getting blown up . . .” Although there was plenty of earth magic around, it can be a stubborn energy that doesn’t want to be moved. But if you can get it to do so, it packs quite a wallop. Slowly, I gathered as much around the Ford as I could.

“Oh, it’s no bother at all,” Reaper said pleasantly. He pulled Beverly’s body closer to his, and I didn’t want to contemplate the way his hips were rubbing against hers. “Besides, good ol’ Bev and Jimmy have had it coming for a long time.”

“Oh, have they now?”

What the hell are you doing? Jimmy demanded. I thought you said you had a plan.

I do! I’m trying to distract him. I felt inside the car with my mind, trying to determine its inner workings. Damn. Where was my best friend, George, when I needed him? He was so much better with all this technical-mechanical crap.

I didn’t need to drive the car; getting a few key parts to work would be enough. I prayed the pieces I needed were still intact. Suddenly, I could feel them lighting up in my mind, like fireflies, illuminated by the earth magic surrounding the car.

God, this was hard. I hoped Reaper thought the perspiration pouring down my face was from fear, same as Jimmy’s. Fire, earth, air . . . I needed three kinds of magic to work this spell, and none of them were going easy on me. Every muscle in my body felt like it was seized up, but I couldn’t let it show. I had to make Reaper believe there was nothing unusual going on.

“Of course they have it coming!” Reaper snapped. His body shook with the force of his words. He pressed the sword closer to Beverly’s throat, where it made a small cut that drew blood. Beverly inhaled sharply, and Jimmy stared up at her, wide-eyed with terror. He stood just below the shelf now, arms out in front of him as if this would freeze Reaper and prevent the unthinkable.

“They deserve to die,” he shouted. “Just like the old one they’re working for. He killed my master—my true father!”

“Ah, so you do care about something.” My voice grew heavier as I worked to complete the spell. Fire, earth, air . . . you all know each other. You are all part of the same great magic. I need you to come together, to work in cycles like you always have . . . Now the pain in my head was excruciating.

“You know,” I continued, “it’s a natural response to grow bitter and cynical when one’s heart breaks.” The last word nearly came out in a gasp as I tried to disguise how out of breath I was. “It’s hard work to remain hopeful, to have compassion.” Jimmy, step away from the shelf, I said.

What? Why? He seemed immobilized by his fear for Beverly.

Just do it! I yelled in my thoughts. He complied.

“Unfortunately,” I called out to Reaper, “in my book, you don’t get credit for what comes naturally. You get credit when you work your ass off.” The ignition on the Ford coughed, sputtered, and finally turned on. All the vampires turned their heads toward it in disbelief.

“And I work my ass off at magic.”

The car’s headlamps sprang to life like two enormous floodlights, which I bent and aimed right at Reaper’s sensitive vampire eyes. He howled in surprise, and his grip on Beverly loosened enough for her to leap away. Lifting both arms above my head, I saw the Ford rise from the sea of cars. My entire body felt like lead from the effort, but with all the strength I had left, I hurled the car at Reaper.

The impact of the Ford going through Reaper and hitting the wall was more than I bargained for. It started sending the shelf and its contents crashing down. Dear reader, I cannot even begin to describe the noise. The sound of the metal and glass from all those cars and trucks hitting the floor . . . suffice it to say, my ears are still ringing.

The statue flew out of Reaper’s hand and also began falling. The tractor trailer on the shelf below made a giant moaning sound, the way large pieces of metal do when they’re moving. It started coming down as well—with Beverly directly beneath it.

“BEVERLY!” screamed Jimmy. With vampire speed, he flew at her, sending them both tumbling into a corner just as the trailer hit the ground, only inches away. The statue was still falling, about to be shattered on the cement below. With Jimmy lying on top of Beverly, her hand shot out at the last second and caught the tiny green monkey. She opened her palm. The statue was intact.

“YES!” I shouted, throwing my fists in the air. Jimmy pulled Beverly to her feet and wrapped her in his arms. His hat was completely dented on one side, but otherwise, he and Beverly were unharmed.

Looking directly up, we could see Reaper’s legs dangling from below the Ford. It hissed and sputtered, curls of smoke rising from the front. Reaper’s eyes were even wider than when I’d run him through with the pole. His throat made a gurgling sound as he tried to speak, but only short puffs of air came out. Finally, he closed his eyes, his arms and sword spread before him, and lay unmoving on the hood of the car.

The other half of his body fell with a thud to the floor.

We stood together, dazed, as dust from the crash rose, then fell again. Somewhere in the background was the ringing sound of a hubcap clattering to the ground. We were all silent for a few moments, almost unable to comprehend it all. But the silence was broken when Beverly’s face scrunched into a frown, and she hit Jimmy hard in the arm.

“Ow!” he cried. “What was that for?”

“I told you to leave!”

“You’re out of your mind,” Jimmy said. “I wasn’t about to go anywhere.”

“Well, that’s quite a change from the last time,” said Beverly, her eyes flashing.

“The last time . . . which you begged me to forget about only a few minutes ago, when you were up there with him.” Jimmy folded his arms. “And I told you before: I was always going to come back for you.”

“But what if you hadn’t?” Beverly’s eyes brimmed with tears. “What if I never saw you again? I could have died in that horrible place, with those horrible men.”

“Over my dead body.” Jimmy’s voice was thick with emotion. “No matter how rough it gets, Bev, we’ll always be together.”

“Jimmy, Jimmy . . .” Her words were drowned out as they came together again, kissing furiously. I waited for a few minutes.

“Ahem,” I coughed. They ignored me and continued kissing.

“A-hem,” I coughed again, louder. Still nothing. “Uh, you’re both very welcome.” I raised a finger in the air and tried to make eye contact. “That wasn’t incredibly difficult or painful or life-threatening or anything.” They continued kissing as if it were the end of the world.

“Never mind me,” I finally said, looking away. “I’ll just stand here awkwardly.”

And for a while, I did.