Tooth and Nail by Chris Underwood

Author:Chris Underwood [Underwood, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-30T22:00:00+00:00

22

I picked Lilian up from outside Alcaraz’s estate. Lilian was more than capable of driving herself to Lockhart’s mansion, of course, but I figured that what we were about to do would leave her drained. I didn’t want her falling asleep at the wheel on the way home.

When I stopped the van beside her, she was sitting on top of a large plastic storage box. Sliding off the box, she opened the back door of the van. Despite the fact that the box was almost as big as she was, she had no trouble lifting it over her shoulder and throwing it into the van.

“I’m pretty sure the vampires are supplying the corpse,” I said. “You didn’t have to bring your own.”

She climbed into the passenger seat and shut the door. “Just some new equipment I’ve been working on.” She shrugged. “Like I said, I’ve never done a vampire before. I want to be prepared.”

“Making the Boy Scouts proud, as always.”

We drove back down the hill toward Lost Falls. The sun had vanished below the horizon now, plunging the valley into darkness. Below us, the lights of the town shone like a tiny cluster of stars within the endless dark of the void.

I glanced over at Lilian. She leaned back in her seat, eyes staring at the road ahead. It was hard to make out her expression in the dark. Every now and then her face was caught in a flash of reflected light. The light softened the sharp lines of her face and made wisps of dark hair glow around her cheeks.

I turned my eyes back to the road, silent.

“How’s your sister?” she asked after a few minutes.

She doesn’t know about the duel, I realized. If she did, she wouldn’t be opening with small talk.

I should tell her, I knew. She was my friend, and she deserved to know that I was about to get my head crushed by an angry ogre.

I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, I just said, “She’s good. They’re thinking of renovating the basement, turning it into a play room for the kids.”

“With padded walls, I hope,” Lilian said. “How many bones have the twins broken already?”

“We’re very hardy, us Turners. We don’t break. We just bounce.”

We fell into silence once more.

After another few minutes, I noticed her absentmindedly rubbing at her sternum with the heel of her hand.

“You all right?” I asked.

She glanced at me, then seemed to realize what she was doing. She returned her hand to her lap. “Heartburn.”

“Want to stop and grab some lozenges?”

She shook her head. “Not that kind of heartburn.” She paused. “You ever think about the tomb? Morley’s tomb?”

“I try not to,” I said.

She nodded, looking out her passenger window at the town below us. “I tried to go back.”

“What?”

“A couple of months ago. I just…I couldn’t get that place out of my head. After the fight with the wraith and everything, we left in such a hurry. I kept feeling like we’d missed something.

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