Bite Marks

My remaining pursuers fell back, taking themselves out of range, though that meant they couldn’t hit me either. They fanned out, trying to surround me before I could reach my escape hatch. I could see the plan in their eyes. They knew how long Grief needed to reload now. The second I turned to run, the last three gnomes would rush me. As soon as they got into range, they’d open up with their overengineered handguns and pop me into the next world for good. With a sound only slightly louder than a Jack fart.

The two sides of me warred. I wanted so badly to escape the confines of the tunnels that my eyeballs were straining for natural light. If they could, they’d probably leap from their sockets and bounce down the path, leading the rest of my body to freedom. At the same time I felt insulted at the possibility of death by “poof.” When you get taken out, you kinda want it to happen with such an epic blast that people wish they were sitting on their toilets during the final kaboom. That way there’s less mess to clean up later on.

Okay, well, if this is it, I glanced down at the cat, let’s do it up right.

I said, “Astral, as soon as I shoot, launch a grenade in the same direction. Let’s think airtime this go-around, okay? Imagine it’s burrito night at Crindertab’s.” She responded with her accordion dance. I gave her to the count of three and shot at the gnome farthest from me. A beat later she raised her butt and heaved. This toss reminded me of a second-grader’s softball pitch. One that bounces before it hits the plate.

“Really?” I spared her a disgusted glance. “I’m about to get wasted and you shit out another dud?” She looked up at me, her eyes crossed slightly as if somewhere in her circuits the ghost of a Siamese kitten lurked. Her tail twitched. And the grenade began to smoke. Bright blue. In the shape of a fist with the middle finger raised.

“Oh, Bergman,” I chuckled, “you didn’t.”

His voice came back to me, breathless from running. “You like the effect?” he asked. “I think I got the same shade as Ufran’s nose. At least, that’s what I was going for.” The smoke, thick as yogurt, allowed me to back down the tunnel to where it turned before one of the gnomes caught up to me. We shot at nearly the same time. Only I didn’t jump when the adrenaline surged. Or tighten my major muscles and forget to breathe.

I won the showdown. Later I might puke in reaction to the close call. Now I said, “Come on, Astral.” I turned and rammed full into Vayl. “Ow! Geez, you could’ve warned me!” He’d wrapped an arm around my waist to keep me from falling. Now he pulled me in closer. “You are the most spectacular woman I have ever met.”

My toes literally curled inside my boots as he dropped a light kiss on my lips. A breathless moment later he’d disappeared into the square, swallowed by the smoke. I heard a strangled scream. Well, that takes care of my prob—

Another cry. And another. It sounded like reinforcements had arrived. And not one of them had counted on confronting a vampire in the full rush of his power. We’d created exactly the kind of havoc a shaman couldn’t just shrug off. But we had to survive to make it work. We needed to get our asses out of here.

NOW!

I knew Vayl could feel my urgency. He’d come. But would it be too late?

I transformed Grief back into gun mode, hoping whoever built these caverns had shored them up California style. I went back into the cavern, stood with my back to the tunnel entrance, and stared hard into the smoke, straining to see my sverhamin . It was a role he took seriously if the next groan I heard was any clue. Well, he could protect me until cows crapped coal, I also had a part to play in this relationship. And as his avhar it was my duty not only to watch his back in the fight he was waging, but to get him out in as good a shape as he was when he went in.

There! A face swimming out of the mist. Long, knobby-ended nose. Skin the shade of stale marshmallows. A moment of recognition as we both realized we’d met the enemy. Blur of movement as he raised his gun. But I’d beat him before he knew we were competing. I blew him back into the smoke.

“Jasmine!”

“Vayl, stop playing! We gotta go!”

Rush of cold air as he came to my side. “I do not play,” he said as he wiped a droplet of blood from his lips.

“You were eating ? A religious fanatic? Damn, don’t you have any taste?” Together we turned and ran down the tunnel. Moments later we heard the tromp of boots coming after us.

Still Vayl had the breath to say, “Your dinner before made me hungry. You should be thanking that little Ufranite. If not for him I might be asking you for a donation.”

“On second thought, snack on all the gnomes you like.” I didn’t mean it. I’d just begun sharing sheets with the guy and already I’d have given him anything he asked for. God forbid he ever figured it out. I also wouldn’t tell him that when he took my hand and his power jumped through me, giving me speed no human should master, I wanted to giggle like I had the first time I’d ridden the Rock-O-Plane at the county fair. I’d already embarrassed myself enough for one lifetime.

Vayl handed me my bolo. “I believe you dropped this.”

I hadn’t even realized how much I hated leaving it until my fingers tightened around the hilt.

“You cleaned it and everything! Vayl, this is… wow! Thanks!” For once I could tell exactly what was going on behind those amber eyes. So strange to have found another man who’d do anything to see me smile. I vowed never to take this one for granted.

We burst out of the illusionary door so quickly I’d have cracked my skull on the opposite wall if Vayl hadn’t pulled us to a sudden stop. Bergman, who’d been standing in the corner by the other door, moved forward. He held a bulging white sack whose writing I couldn’t read. But as soon as he threw the contents at the doorway I smelled the powdery grit of quick-drying concrete.

The door shimmered, twisted, and turned a putrid shade of yellow as the crete interacted with it. “What did you just do?” I asked.

“It’s a temporary blockade,” Bergman said.

“But… how did you know what to do?”

“I’d have been able to figure it out myself if I’d had the time. And RAFS. I mean, Astral,” he said defensively.