Spells, Salt, & Steel--A New Templars Novella by Gail Z. Martin & Larry N. Martin

Author:Gail Z. Martin & Larry N. Martin [Martin, Gail Z.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Falstaff Books

Nikki No Neck drove, and I followed in Elvira because no way in hell was I riding with a Mob enforcer. Serenity Acres was a pretty campus of modern, one-story buildings and lovely gardens that looked more like a resort hotel than a waiting room for the afterlife. Nikki led the way in, and the greeting he got from the ladies at the front desk made it clear he had been here before.

I hung back and observed, also noticing possible exit routes, just in case. Chiara had made me a curse-deflecting amulet and given me other protection charms, which I had hidden in various pockets. Still, as I followed Nikki down the corridor, I tried and failed to sense any bad mojo. Mostly, I just noticed how the place smelled like piss and baby powder.

Nikki’s shoulders practically brushed the walls on both sides. He stopped in front of a door and held up his hand for me to wait outside. A man of few words, that Nikki. He went inside and closed the door in my face. After a few minutes, he opened it again and stepped aside for me to enter.

I expected a hospital bed and oxygen equipment. Instead, I found a comfortable studio hotel room and in a chair beside the window, looking out onto the garden, and a very old man with a fancy crystal glass in his hand, probably full of top-shelf whiskey.

“So you’re the monster hunter,” Johnny Vasili said without even turning to look. “Come to hunt me?”

I stopped a few feet away from where he sat and clasped my hands in front of me. “No sir. I’m here to talk about your release.”

Vasili gave a wheezy chuckle and drew in his breath with a rasp that suggested a pack-a-day habit. “What would you know about that?”

“I know that neither Vinnie Trinotti nor you can move on. Something went wrong that night seventy-five years ago, and now you’re both trapped here. All that’s left of Vinnie is an insane, murderous ghost. And all that’s left of you is right here.”

“I don’t want your pity, boy.”

“You don’t have it,” I snapped. “I thought we might make a deal.”

Johnny looked like a corpse. His skin had a bluish-gray cast to it I’d only seen in the morgue, and it hung on his bones, stretched so tight that his face looked like a Death’s Head. He must have been a big man, long ago. Physically powerful, in addition to his magic. Now, he resembled a concentration camp inmate, hunched and emaciated. Then he turned to look at me, and his hard gray eyes bored into me, merciless and shrewd.

“Come closer, boy. Tell me about this deal.”

I had the sudden urge to make damn sure we weren’t at a crossroads because if Johnny Vasili wasn’t a demon, then God didn’t make little green apples.

“Come with me back to the railroad line, where you did the spell on Vinnie. I need your help to break the magic and send you both on.

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