Page 45 of Blood Illusions

“Then we have the lore to kill them. Plus what you two found out.”

I was intrigued. “What normally happens in this test?”

“Vampires’ anatomy is close to humans, regarding their ashes, anyway. Human ashes do not dissolve because the calcium compounds and other minerals are largely insoluble. After stirring, most of the ashes settle to the bottom of the container as sediment. The water would be cloudy at first, then turn clear. Basically, there’s no dramatic reaction in a solubility test. No fizzing or color change.”

He looked between us and drew a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” He scooped up three tablespoons of the ashes and added them to the beaker.

The moment the ashes touched the water, an immediate, eerie change occurred. They swirled in an unnatural pattern.

Every muscle in me tensed as I focused on the beaker. The water took on a sickly green hue, glowing ominously in the small room and casting a strange glow on our faces.

Damon stood taller beside me, and his eyes slowly widened as he leaned in for a closer look. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves some radioactive ghost dust here.”

“Never seen that before.” Tom held the beaker up to the light. “The strands of the ashes are defying gravity. They aren’t supposed to dance like ethereal tendrils.”

The initially placid water rippled and churned, then a faint hissing emanated from the beaker. The eerie whisper raised the hairs on the back of my neck, and goosebumps broke out all over my arms.

As the glow peaked, the water itself became dense and took on an almost gelatin form.

Tim frowned. “The beaker is turning cold.” He sniffed the beaker. “I can detect the smell of an electric charge, but there’s another make-you-want-to-lose-your-cookies stench. Something earthy and metallic. It smells almost ancient.”

Damon wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Whew, what is that? Smells like you cracked open a pharaoh’s personal gym locker.”

“Really?” Curiosity got the better of me, and I leaned in for a whiff before quickly pulling back and coughing at the noxious order. My stomach recoiled. “I’ve never smelled anything like that.”

The weird activity within the beaker subsided. The water calmed, but the creepy luminescence persisted and grew brighter. The smell got stronger, too.

“Awesome.” Damon shook his head and gestured. “Now, we’re dealing with Slimer’s cousins. Who you gonna call? Definitely not the Ghostbusters.”

Tim rubbed the back of his neck. “This isn’t good. No substance I know of does anything like this. It’s something entirely new. Something we know nothing about. We’re in serious trouble.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Tim carefully placed the glowing beaker on the counter. Its eerie green light cast an otherworldly glow.

I nervously pushed my hair behind my ears as we stared in disbelief. “What do we do now?” My voice trembled.

Tim shrugged as he lit a Bunsen burner. “The heat test. What else?”

Damon rolled his eyes and snorted. “Sure, Tim, let’s crank up the heat. Because if there’s one thing that makes evil ashes better, it’s a barbecue.” He chuckled, but I could sense the fear beneath his bravado. “I hope they don’t start screaming for an encore.”

“One way to find out.” Tim carefully took a pinch of ashes and poured them into a beaker, securing it with metal clamps. He then held the beaker over a small flame from the Bunsen burner, watching intently.

“All right, let’s see what you’ve got, Wizard,” Damon muttered.

As the flame heated the ashes, something happened that blew my mind. The ashes stirred as if moving on their own.

I blinked. “Wait a minute. Am I imagining it, or are those things moving?”

“Nope, you’re not imagining it.” Damon looked closer at the beaker. “Looks like these ashes skipped the ‘laying still’ class in vampire school. Here I was, thinking we’d seen it all. Welcome to the Twilight Zone, sis.”

As the fire licked the edges of the glass beaker, the ashes inside danced and writhed. They seemed to have a mind of their own, frantically moving away from the flames in a desperate attempt to save themselves. The granules clumped together, forming a protective barrier on one side of the beaker while others scattered toward safety. It was like they were alive, fighting against the destructive force of the fire with all their might.

“Uh, guys? Are you seeing this?” Tim’s voice was laced with wonder and disbelief.

“Whoa, hold up. That’s not normal,” Damon remarked, his usual humor replaced with a tone of seriousness.

The ashes continued their erratic dance as though panicked.

---