Jaz Parks 5 - One More Bite

GhostCon torches still glowed, making me wonder how soon we’d be running into their fir?ng st walking tour.

This could get awkward. Although those punishment-gluttons would probably embrace the whole experience. Right up to the point where Floraidh started munching on their juicy bits.

Yet another reason we needed to shut this operation down, like, yesterday.

At least we knew where the body snatchers had set up camp. And considering where we’d found Jack’s harness, it made sense that the flicker of their fire reflected off the walls of the inner circle of the northeast cairn.

“What’s the plan?” Albert asked.

“There is none,” I said.

“You should have a plan,” said Albert. He’d resheathed Vayl’s sword and was now leaning heavily on the cane.

I didn’t tell him I’d tried to put something together during our short trek through the pines. But since I had no idea how you kill a resurrected vampire, I figured winging it would probably work better than developing a play-by- play. Also it would leave me in a more hopeful frame of mind, since if I had to think about it any length of time I was ninety percent sure my conclusions would depress the hell out of me.

I had decided that if I was going to die tonight, I didn’t want to do it without making some sort of grand romantic gesture that Vayl would remember forever. Like in the movies. Unfortunately we’d been rushing pretty much headlong through thick undergrowth at the time. So kissing was out. He’d probably view a boob flash as accidental or whorish. Goddammit, why did I already tell him I loved him? This would’ve been the perfect moment!

I tried to calm myself. After all, I’d already dropped a load of flaming coals from the sky and probably ashed out a fraction of my soul in the process. Plus it might be nice if I could think clearly for once. Yup. Time to accept the fact that my mind wouldn’t produce a memorable kissy-face moment. It wanted to work. So I’d better damn well survive, because I’d be so pissed if we missed our chance.

I handed Jack’s leash to Albert. “You stay here,” I said, making it clear I meant both of them. “And this time it would be nice if you didn’t let yourself get kidnapped, all right?” I glanced at Iona. “Have you figured out why Jack’s harness would be so important to Floraidh yet?” She’d overheard my conversation with the Scidairan and had been trying to decide what it meant ever since we left the clearing.

She said, “I need to know why the dog is so significant that they wanted something that was a part of him for so long.”

I filled her in on Jack’s background without revealing exactly who I was. But you could tell she was sketching in the missing pieces pretty well all on her own.

She asked, “Would you say Jack was more important to Samos when he was alive than any other creature he knew?”

“Even though he had an avhar at one time, I’d say yeah. Without a doubt.”

“And now, this is quite important. When you killed Samos, thinking that was his real name, was the dog wearing his harness at the time?”

“Yeah. We didn’t get rid of it until we left Greece later that evening.”

Iona nodded. “Here’s what I believe. Vampires have very little to leave behind. But there is some. Bits and pieces of worldly material. Vapor. Shreds of essence. When Samos left this world, I believe the demon he bargained with caught a bit of his remains. But a portion naturally fell into his pet. This is what happens with those we love. Perhaps all that was left of him settled into the leather of the harness because, as an item formed from the skin of another animal, it still keeps its retentive properties.”

Vayl said, “But if Floraidh did not need it to call Samos from wherever he had stored his essence, why did she bury it in the cairn?”

Iona had crouched down to dig up a hunk of moss. “Because it can be used to destroy Samos for good. Having put all her energies into resurrecting him, she wouldn’t want him taken away from her again. So she found the one weapon that could be used against him and buried it where she could guard it. Except your dog found it.”

With Brude’s help. Why would Brude want Samos gone? He’d said he never had one reason. So if not just to help me  .  .  .  as revenge against his enemies, the Scidairans? Or in his role as the Devil’s Enforcer? At this moment, do I give a crap? Um, no.

Vayl and I shared a moment so intense it could’ve doubled as a hug, except we didn’t even touch.

“Do you know what to do with this information?” I asked her.

“Absolutely.” She took off her belt and laid it on the ground. Yup, now I could sense her. Witchy Woman, sang the silver-blue flare at the core of my brain. She nodded toward the cairn. “I just need you to distract them while I gather the remaining ingredients. I assume you still have the harness?”

A moment of panic as my mind went blank. Where the hell did I throw that dirty remnant of Jack’s old life after we got back to Floraidh’s place? Oh, yeah! “It’s in the van. I threw it in there before the tour group went into Tearlach for its final ghost viewing. I was afraid it was going to fall out of my jacket at the wrong time and then I’d have to come up with some lame explanation nobody would believe.”

“I’ll get it for you,” Albert said.

“You’ll stay here!” I ordered. It didn’t matter. Viv had already left the shelter of the woods. We watched her creep toward the van, which was standing about ten yards from the middle cairn, its right side toward us, its front tires hub deep in grass and mud. Broken glass glittered in the combined lantern and moonlight, both from the front window and the shattered headlights.

I thought, I wrecked another vehicle. Shit! Pete’s going to kick my ass from here to next Friday. Unless this mission comes out amazingly well. I crossed my fingers.

Viv froze as a heart-squeezing scream flew out of the cairn. Jack lunged forward, snapping the leash at its swivels. I started to run after him, but Vayl put a hand on my arm. “Not in,” he said as he nodded at the rim of the cairn. “Up.”