Page 83 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

‘Matilda, Matilda, Matilda!’ I called out desperately. She’d said she’d come with us to the mean men, but I had no idea how long it would take her to cross from the other mine given the expanse of water between them. But shewasan earth elemental and below all that water there was earth, right?

Calling Matilda’s name gave me another idea. ‘Yo!’ I shouted. ‘Aoife!’ There was a beat and then the teenage banshee appeared in front of me. ‘Care to help?’ I asked. ‘Can you go deep into this place where all the enemy soldiers are and let out a scream?’

She shot me a mischievous glance. ‘I am tired but I can manage one full scream before I’m spent.’

‘I’d appreciate it!’

She gave me a thumbs-up and disappeared ahead of us. I plugged my ears, but even so I heard her scream rip through the mine. That had to have done some damage to a good number of the fuckers!

Silence reigned for a moment and then I heard a bear’s roar accompanied by the crack of a shot: either Stan or Mads had taken a hit. Thankfully it was followed by more screams – human this time – so it seemed like the wound hadn’t been fatal if our guys were still dishing it out.

A wave of Liv’s magic passed over me again and the tugging in my guts reminded me she had something up her billowing sleeves. The magic pulsed again hard, and the three of us lurched forward before we had time to plant our feet.

‘Down,’ Connor barked.

I nodded. We backed up to an area where there was better cover and crouched down. Something big was stirring. ‘What the hell was that?’ Sidnee whispered to us once we were under cover.

‘Necromancy,’ I whispered back.

The bodies that lay between the battling parties suddenly lurched and rose jerkily to their feet. It was as freaky as hell, and the shots died away as everyone on both sides of the conflict stared in horror. Once the bodies had gained their feet, they charged towards the enemy. They were fast and deadly: there were no shambling zombies in Liv’s world. I wanted to cheer.

The enemy reacted once their initial horror had worn off and started shooting at the newly risen. They peppered the bodies head to foot with bullets but nothing stopped their advance, and once a dead body grabbed a live one they bit into its throat and silenced their screams. Because of Liv’s power, once someone fell they rose again.

We charged behind her army of the dead and gained some ground. I had no idea how long her power would last but in that instant I was grateful for her terrifying magic. We made it to the enemy’s last stronghold before she burned through her death magic and the necromantic bodies collapsed. I would personally make sure that goat had a beautiful funeral.

I realised that the gunfire had suddenly stopped. It was difficult to see what was happening ahead: it was dark and there were too many combatants. The shots were replaced by shouting, then the floor of the mine rumbled and we tumbled to the ground. Loose dirt filled the air; had the gunfire caused a cave-in?

Finally I stood up, brushing stones and dirt from my hair and clothes; Connor and John were doing the same. We looked at each other, not sure what to do next, but finally we huddled close to the wall and advanced. No enemy fire met us; in fact, there seemed to be no enemies once we’d stepped around the bodies of Liv’s dead.

Once we were past them, we saw what had caused the rumbling: the floor of the mine ahead of us had collapsed. As I looked closer, I saw that a huge cement slab had been pulled back to reveal choppy waves. A number of boats were being loaded up – the Knight Stalkers were retreating!

As I peered into the hole, I saw the last of their people climb into one of the boats carrying someone, probably one of their wounded. He turned as though he sensed me watching him and looked up. His blond hair was distinctive, as was the hand with the single middle finger pointed at me. Chris fucking Jubatus!

‘Chris!’ I shouted, then realised what he was carrying. My stomach lurched as I spotted Thomas’s features. Holy shit!

There was a scratching noise and Matilda walked out of the wall. She looked around, frowned at the hole then clicked her fingers and it was gone. She’d filled it with earth. ‘Bring it back!’ I said hastily. She looked confused. ‘The hole!’ I cried. ‘Bring it back.’

‘Earth should not haveholes.’Matilda said. ‘More air then.’

I groaned. ‘Matilda! Please! Open it back up!’

She shrugged as if I were crazy but obligingly opened it again. I peered down. The boats had completely disappeared and I hadn’t seen in which direction they’d gone. Fuck!

‘Do you need hole?’ Matilda asked.

Filled with despair, I shook my head. ‘No. You can close it now.’ Even if we jumped into the sea, we were too far from our own boats to give chase, and the Knight Stalkers’ boats had already travelled too far for even Sidnee and Calliope to follow then. I knew that once Sidnee heard that Thomas was gone, she’d swim towards him until she dropped dead with exhaustion if she thought there was a chance of saving him. This was a mess.

My heart ached – but then I brightened. Sidnee could get inside Thomas’s house and we could scry his location. He’d been kidnapped, but this was far from over.

‘Chris was there,’ I told Connor. ‘He took Thomas.’

Connor swore darkly. ‘We have to finish the job and clear the mine. Maybe we’ll find some more intel on another location where they might take Thomas.’

There was no one left in the mine except us; our enemies had even taken the time to destroy their drug lab. All that remained was rubble and junk – and skulls. Lots of skulls.

‘My family!’ Matilda cried, tears of joy flowing down her cheeks. She picked up one of the skulls and kissed it. ‘Husband,’ she murmured, cuddling it to her chest. The moment was cute and gross in equal measure.

‘That’s how the dwarves will feel when you give themtheirskulls back,’ I said pointedly,

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