“Of course, dear. Which one is yours?” I waved in the direction of Annalise’s big white van. “Wonderful. You just get in that van and drive right out of town, understand, dear? There’s no reason for you to stay here. We protect our own, and we don’t want you here.”
I glanced at her and back at the cashier and the small crowd that had gathered by the door. So much for small-town hospitality. At least I knew how to pick a fight, if I needed to. I nodded to the old woman and rushed back to the van.
Annalise was still alive. I pulled out of the supermarket parking lot with them still watching me. I drove a block toward town and parked beside a dry cleaners. Then I crouched behind the passenger seat with the front wheel of her motorcycle poking me in the back. I laid a hunk of meat on the cutting board and shaved off a slice with my ghost knife. Ghosts, magic, and dead things. Then I cut crisscrosses through the meat, being careful not to touch the cutting board. The ghost knife could cut straight through the bottom of the van and I wouldn’t even feel it. The board was only there to keep the raw beef off the metal deck of the van.
I had to feed the bits of meat to her, of course. She took them almost blindly, like a baby bird. After she had eaten a pound or so, the color started to come back into her face. After three, her face no longer felt cold.
She rolled onto her side. She was more alert but also wary. I kept cutting meat, kept feeding her piece by piece. She watched every morsel move from the board to her mouth as if watching for some trick.
After she’d eaten half the meat I’d bought, Annalise said: “Help me up.”
I did, lifting her by her elbows so she wouldn’t have to lean on her injured hands, then opened the side door and supported her as she climbed down. She let me.
She turned toward the van, putting her back to the parking lot, hunched over, and held her hands out of sight. She flexed them slightly. Flakes of black skin broke off her fingers and fell to the pavement.
My whole body tingled and I closed my eyes. Of all the things in the world I didn’t need to see, that ranked pretty high.
With my eyes closed, I suddenly remembered Carol the receptionist. I remembered the way my ghost knife had cut through her neck, and the way she had burned away because of it.
I opened my eyes. The blackened skin of Annalise’s hands had peeled off like burned paper, mostly. Beneath was raw, wet red flesh, and not much of it, either. Her hands looked scarily reduced. She touched her fingers together and gasped.
“Go back in,” she said, not looking up. “Get more meat. Then we’ll get out of here.”
I did. I drove back to the supermarket and bought most of the lean meat remaining in the case, along with a box of plastic forks. I didn’t speak to anyone and stood in a different cashier’s line. No one threw me out. When I got back to the parking lot, Annalise had returned to her seat.
I put the groceries in the back, closed the passenger door, and buckled Annalise in, taking care not to touch the seat belt to her raw hands. She looked at me strangely, but I didn’t think about that.
We pulled out of the lot.
“What happened back there?” I asked.
Annalise didn’t answer at first. Finally, she said, “I don’t know. Charles Hammer was the source of the magic in Hammer Bay, but I don’t think he knew what was going on.” She was quiet for a moment, as though the effort of speaking exhausted her. “Did you see the look on his face when those women all stood up at once?”
“I didn’t.”
“He was surprised. Bewildered. He was the source of the magic, but he didn’t control it.”
“You mean he doesn’t control it.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s alive. I saw-“
“Bullshit. I took his head off.”
I shook my head. “Just before we got out of there,” I said, “I saw him standing by the desk. His clothes were soaked in blood, but he was whole and alive.”
“Shit. It fits, I guess. I just hate it when they won’t stay down.”
“Do you think Charles Hammer has someone behind him, pulling his strings?” I tried to imagine him with his own Annalise sending him out to fight and die.
“It’s possible, but the spell I touched to him shot sparks. That means predator, and a powerful one.” After that she was quiet.
I thought about that column of fire on the stairway, always striking where I had just been, never anticipating me. I mentioned it to Annalise.
“Some of the predators don’t have concrete understanding of time, or three-dimensional space. It can be a weakness for them sometimes.”
She fell silent again. I didn’t press her for more information. I didn’t want to push my luck.
We arrived at the motel. I fished Annalise’s key out of her jacket pocket and opened her door. She collapsed onto the bed, exhausted from the effort of walking into the room.
I fetched the meat and cutting board from the van. The room had a small, round table, where I put the supplies down. I locked and barred the front door, then made sure the curtains were fully closed and began cutting the meat.
This time I fed Annalise with a plastic fork. It was more dignified than using my fingers. She watched me the whole time, her gaze wary and measuring. Obviously, she expected me to betray her again.
“Will this be enough?” I asked after she had eaten the first ten pounds I’d bought. I couldn’t believe she’d eaten so much. Her stomach should have been swollen, but it wasn’t. I assumed her body was using the meat to
