The Deadliest Bite (39 page)

I al owed myself a second to feel relieved that Cole had survived his solo stint in hel , and to be thankful that he’d given us the time we needed to get to the gate in the first place. Then I whispered the news on the Party Line, and Vayl and Raoul quickly let Lotus, Zel , and Helena in on it. Together we intensified our attacks, doubling up on Sthenno while Roldan screamed his frustration and did absolutely nothing to help.

Though we managed to avoid the snakes, the gorgon began to fight desperately enough that her claws became impossible to dodge, especial y once Dave and Cole left cover. Raoul took the first hit, a slash to the skul right at his hairline that brought the blood gushing so fast he had to back out of the fight to bind it before it blinded him.

Surprised at how deeply an injury to Raoul pissed me off, I rol ed under Sthenno, slicing up into her rib cage as she bent over to intercept me. I was stil rol ing back out of range when I saw one of the rattlers leap out of her hair.
Fuuuuck!
The angles were perfect. It would land exactly where I meant to stop. I dug my heels into the ground and reversed myself just as Vayl stepped up, holding his sword up by his ear like a big-league batter. As soon as the snake hit the sweet spot Vayl swung for the bleachers, and it dropped in two pieces by my side.

I scrambled for safety as Vayl said, “I thought I had forgotten how to do that.”

“Holy crapinator, Vayl, I never realized you knew how!”

“I wil have to tel you sometime.” He nodded over my shoulder to where Zel and Helena were battling. Helena had just crushed a snake’s head under her boot, which I found extra badass considering she’d been brought up to swoon at the sight of an earthworm, but then Zel managed to impress me even more when he punched Roldan in the face (although maybe that was just on principle because the Were was only baring his teeth), shoved his bolt-knife through the gorgon’s cheek, and caught the black mamba that was preparing to strike
with his bare hand
, snapping its neck and leaving it to dangle from Sthenno’s do like a greasy curl.

Cole and Dave were racing toward the gorgon and the Were at ful speed, their swords held tight and low for piercing. They’d each put on a pair of reflective sunglasses for the fight, which I didn’t quite see the point of until Cole whistled.

“Oh, Gorgonzola! Give us a kiss, ya big, beautiful girl you!” She spun around. Dave and Cole had put their heads together and grinned, like they were posing for a picture one of them was taking at close range. That much charm packed into such a tight space? I couldn’t resist looking. And neither could Sthenno. She stared straight into those mirrored shades behind which, I guessed, two pairs of eyes were tightly shut. Because Cole’s skin remained its typical golden brown and Dave’s kept al its freckles. Hers, on the other hand, began to get that leathery look you see on old gals who’ve sacrificed softness for tanning. Even her snakes looked a little gray around the edges.

“You think this wil kil me?” she bel owed as she dragged forward a foot that had suddenly gone sand-tinted. “After generations of men, al of them more bril iant and virile than you, have tried to freeze me with my own stare?” Second foot forward. She looked like an elephant trying to reach its water bowl after a hard night of partying.

“This only slows me down!” She looked over her shoulder at us, her gaze even more venomous than the snakes waving almost drunkenly around her skul . “And makes me harder to stop.”

“That works for us,” Dave cal ed. He swept his sword up one side of her head. The snakes regenerated much slower than before. That gave Cole time to carve a ravine in her chest that should’ve laid her flat. But she was one of the original three, and stil connected to Roldan to boot.

Which meant she stil had the strength to bat his sword away as if it were no more irritating to her than a kid’s toy. Cole went flying, landing among a planting of hands that caught him and rol ed him into the mud like he was a round of pizza dough.

Muttering so low that I couldn’t catch the words, only that Vayl sounded like he was giving himself the lecture of a lifetime, my
sverhamin
rushed up behind Sthenno and shoved his hand around the front of her, into the gaping wound Cole had caused. She screamed, turning her head to sink her teeth into his shoulder. Her claws sank into his hips as he reached for her heartstone, but the snakes struggling to respawn couldn’t join in the fray. They yawned their baby mouths and reached out to him like chicks in a nest, begging for regurge, and he laughed as he yanked his hand free, the blood and gore dripping from his fist unable to disguise the treasure he’d found.

“Jasmine! Here!” He tossed me the heartstone, which I caught despite the droplets of ick flying off it and the slick layer of goo that made it slippery as an ice cube. For a second, as I turned toward shore, I did lose my grip. In that nightmare moment I could see it fal ing through the gaps between the ulnas and skul s on the bridge into the river, where we’d never be able to recover it again. I leaped to land, ran about ten yards, and put it safely on the ground. Not even giving myself time for a sigh of relief, I steadied Sthenno’s heartstone between my boots, pul ed the hammer and chisel from my belt, and began my second carving of the day while Astral sat so close it was a wonder I didn’t smack her on the upswing.

Visualizing the symbol that Roldan had traced repeatedly in the air and my own Inner Bimbo had copied, I tapped the pattern into the stone. Sthenno screamed again. My peripheral vision told me she was coming for me, but everyone in my crew blocked the bridge, their blades forming a barrier her claws and slow-growing asps found impossible to breach.

The rock was slippery. So was the mud underneath. This made the chiseling harder and slower than it had been with Brude. And, perversely, now that Roldan could feel his death drawing near, he’d decided to fight forevery last breath. When I heard the growls of a ful y changed werewolf, my heart launched into triple time.

Isn’t that just like a villain?
said Granny May.
Can’t even hold on to the little bit of honor he’s
found for ten damn minutes
. She and the rest of my inner girls had al brought their lawn chairs onto her front porch for the final showdown.

Popcorn? You’ve decided to watch me battle for my life as if you were at a movie theater?

Not completely
, said Teen Me, holding up her snack.
I have yogurt
. She took a bite and then, with her mouth ful of strawberry-banana lusciousness, added,
Isn’t it interesting how demons react
differently to having their heartstones carved by humans? When Kyphas did hers with Cole’s
name he got all demony and she was all, “Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha.” But now that you’re doing Sthenno’s,
she’s acting like it’s the end of the world!

Hopefully it is for her
, said Granny May.
Now, hurry up, Jazzy. Your people may be good, but
the snakes are growing and Roldan is getting stronger. Finish that already!

Luckil ly I work wel under pressure. I chinked in the last flourish of Sthenno’s glyph just as Roldan broke free of her chain and charged our line. He ran straight for Zel . And though Vayl, Cole, Dave, and Raoul al closed on him quicker than NOLA cops on a rowdy Mardi Gras tourist, he stil had the head start and the speed. Zel went down under his snapping jaws and tearing claws.

Helena’s scream tore at my heart as I ran to help, stil holding the pieces of the Rocenz in my hands, the completed heartstone forgotten in the mud just like the slumping form of Sthenno behind us.

When the men pul ed back from their attack on Roldan, his white coat was stained a dark, bloody red. Vayl, alone, tore him off Zel , the sight of whom brought another jagged cry from Helena.

He was also soaked in blood, his throat torn open so badly I thought I could see his spine shining at the back of it. But he’d given as good as he got, which we saw when we rol ed the Were over to find his homemade dagger sticking out of Roldan’s chest.

Helena leaned over Zel , weeping so desperately that her entire body shook. She clutched at his clothes and demanded for him to come back, to wake up. When I looked to Vayl to see if watching this scene was breaking his heart too, I saw two bloody tears tracking down his face.

Helena wrapped her arms around her love and cried even harder, which I hadn’t thought possible. Vayl crouched down to lay a hand across her shoulder. The rest of us stood by, helpless.

Behind us, a sigh. We turned. Sthenno had dropped to the ground, her snakes limp around her head, her entire chest such a bloody mess she looked like she’d just fal en off an autopsy table. But she wasn’t too far gone to whisper, “Cole. You’ve hovered over the edge of the pit before.

Remember al the delectable temptations Kyphas dangled in front of you? She could have given you everything you ever dreamed of. But I can give you more. Not just eternity. You have that now, I can see it in your eyes. Not just women, your skil s are so renowned that even I have heard of them.” Her dying eyes turned to me. “I can give you Jasmine. She considered you once. She’d be easy to turn. And then you’d have a lifetime. Redheaded daughters and towheaded sons. A house on the beach and a big-screen TV to cuddle in front of on rainy nights. What do you say, Cole? Al you have to do is accept me. You’l never even see me.”

He looked at me, then at Vayl. “My girl is waiting for me out there. And I have a feeling she’d be überpissed if I dumped her before we even met. Plus—” He shook his head at Sthenno. “Girl, your sales pitch is just old. Kyphas tried it on me weeks ago and it worked like a salvage-yard reject.” Sthenno sighed again, closed her eyes, and crumpled in on herself like a wilting flower. Which seemed kind of appropriate given her location.

Helena had now begun the hiccup sobbing that let me know she was fast dropping into hysteria.

I knelt beside her, opposite Vayl, suddenly acutely aware that this woman was probably my granny’s greatgreat-grandmother. That she’d died giving birth to twin girls, one of whom had continued a line that Vayl had watched over until he’d final y met and fal en for me. Had I been the only one? I couldn’t bear to look at him, much less ask just now. So I shook her, whispering, “Helena. Helena,” until she looked up and I was staring into the clear blue eyes of my ancestress. I asked, “What are the rules here? Can he die? I mean, considering the fact that he’s already dead?” She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Raoul spoke up. “He’s being given a choice. He can stay in this body and continue to work with Helena. Or he can find peace. If he chooses the latter, we’l see his soul ascend within a few minutes. If he decides to stay, he’s going to be in real danger. The pain wil be immense, and the chance for some sort of wicked infection setting in on a wound like that is excel ent. As soon as we know, we should move him.”

“Then I’d better get busy.”

Cole had shoved his shades back, which swept his hair away from his face as wel , giving him a much more serious look than usual. He held out his hands to me. “I need that tool.” Something about the way he said it made me decide that questioning his motives was so far out of order that I might lose his friendship if I went there. So I just raised the Rocenz to him. He took the hammer and chisel in his hands, holding them so comfortably I’d have thought he’d been born to work wood, except I’d never seen him craft anything more artistic than a ham-and-cheese sandwich.

He took a stone from his pocket. The same one Kyphas had used to carve his name on in Marrakech.

“Cole,” said Vayl, his voice firm, warning. “Do you know what you are doing?” Cole stared into his eyes. “I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.” He glanced over at me solemnly. “I have to do this.” I nodded, only barely understanding. But I didn’t have to. He was my friend. He needed my support. That was al I real y had to know.

Steadying the rock between his feet just like I’d done with Sthenno’s heartstone, Cole began to chisel letters. K. Y. P. H. A. By the time he got to the first curve of the S, the sky above us had begun to darken. We tried to ignore it, but Helena began to look worried.

“We need to get out of here,” she whispered to Dave, who was bending over Zel , providing the first-aid skil s he’d learned in the military.

He nodded. “I agree.” He looked up at Raoul. “Can you take him to your place? He’s dead so, you know, I can feel his state pretty clearly.” Dave cleared his throat uncomfortably as we tried, and failed, not to gape at him. “The good news is that he’s back.” Helena clapped her hands to her mouth to hold back a whole series of sobs that insisted on pouring out around the edges of her fingers anyway. Dave stared at her grimly. “The bad news is that he’s already infected with something, and he’s not fighting it off because he’s so badly hurt. It’s less like a disease than a way of thinking. He’s already considering giving up.”

“That’s not my Zel ,” said Helena.

Dave shook his head. “No. I think it’s hel , getting into his spirit. And if we don’t evacuate him soon, it’l sink into his core. I’m not saying he couldn’t beat this on his own. He’s got you, Helena, and that’s a lot. But if what Raoul said is true about hel ’s atmosphere, and I’m right about this infection��”

“Then we go,” said Raoul. He picked Zel up and threw him over his shoulder like he weighed only slightly more than a basket of dirty clothes. “You can handle this,” he told me.

“Of course. I’l be in touch.”

He smirked. “That I know.” Then his lips stretched into a smile. “I’m proud of you, Jasmine.” That was al he said. And I didn’t know how to answer except to blink like a damn barn owl. Then Helena distracted us both, reaching out to Vayl, who took her hand, bowed over it like they were stil living in eighteenth-century London, and kissed it. When he rose again, the sorrow in his eyes was so deep it threatened to swal ow them both.