Angel's Kiss (16 page)

“These are the monsters you’re most likely to come across in this region of the world. The most common of which are vampires and werewolves. All of these displayed before you are in their true form and only two of them cannot change forms. Can you tell me which ones?”

Zombie was a no-brainer, but I wasn’t sure about the other one …
is it vampires or that other thing?
The vampires I’d had dealings with hadn’t changed form, although it could be that I just hadn’t seen it happen.

“The zombie and the lizard man,” I said.

“Not quite correct. The zombie and the vampire. Now tell me everything you know about the creatures here that you recognise.”

“There’s a lot of conflicting information out there really. I guess I’ll start with the one I know least about — of the ones I know, I mean — the zombie.”

What
did
I know about zombies? Very little really.

“They’re reanimated corpses. If they’re brought back by voodoo they can be controlled, although sometimes they’re uncontrollable, so I don’t know how that works. They’re cannibals, feasting off human flesh and they’re dumbshits, but very
strong
dumbshits. If they’re a zombie as a result of some viral mutation their bite can turn you into a zombie as well. I can’t remember if they fall to pieces after a while, as their corpse rots. I might have read that somewhere. You have to cut off their heads or stab them through the brain in order to send them back to the grave. I don’t really know anything else about zombies.”

Danny grinned. He thought it was hilarious, finding out what mortals thought about the monsters everyone hoped weren’t real, and only the stuff of fiction, movies and nightmares.

“Go on,” he said encouragingly, “continue.”

“Werewolves … let me think.” I tapped my lips with a finger. “Okay, if you survive a werewolf attack you become one, and the curse can only be broken if you kill the one that created you. They only turn into wolves during the full moon and can lead reasonably normal and active lifestyles for most of the month. They can be killed by a silver bullet and when they die they resume their human form. They’re very big, strong and fast, and can run on all fours or walk on their hind legs. They usually have quite long fingernails and toenails in their human form, but I imagine they could trim them if they wanted to. Also they’re meant to have a unibrow,” I rolled my eyes, “but in some European countries
everyone
has a unibrow, and I doubt they’re all werewolves. Besides, with laser hair removal, or shaving cream and a razor, they could fix that problem easily.

“I’ve also heard of something called wolfsbane, but I don’t have a clue what it is and what it does.”

“Is that it for werewolves?” Danny asked.

“Um, they don’t make good pets?”

Danny didn’t get my warped sense of humour.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess that’s it.”

“Tell me about vampires,” he said.

“Traditionally they can only come out during the night and sleep in coffins during the day, with a small bag of soil from their homeland. They can hypnotise people, are very pale and have two very prominent canines. They’re extremely strong and fast, and some can turn into bats, and others into wolves. I know that the latter isn’t right because you’ve already corrected me on that one.

“Some have red eyes, but all of them have piercing eyes. They hate crucifixes, holy water, garlic and salt, and can’t walk on hallowed ground — although newly created vampires seem to claw their way out of coffins in cemeteries, so that can’t be right either, unless the ground hasn’t been consecrated.

“They can’t come into your house unless you invite them in, have no reflection whatsoever, and don’t cast a shadow. A wooden stake through the heart will kill one, as will decapitating them and burning the body, or filling the mouth with garlic. Oh, yeah, sunlight kills them as well — fries them to a crisp, until they’re nothing but dust.”

“Anything else?” Danny asked.

“Probably,” I said, “but I can’t think of any more at the moment.”

“Okay, I want you to forget everything you read, heard, or saw in the movies about these creatures, when you were mortal. Ninety-five percent of it is fiction and the five percent that’s correct was probably sheer luck.”

“Well, I don’t even know what that thing is,” I pointed to the lizard man on the end.

Danny beckoned the creature forward with his index finger. The thing walked to his side, turned once and halted, teeth bared. It was a brownish-green colour, had two arms and legs, an almost triangular shaped head with eyes set on the sides, two prominent needle-like teeth extending from the top of its mouth and, covering its bottom, a thick tail that reached to the floor.

“This is a varakiana, created by a demon that had taken on the form of a snake. They don’t leave witnesses and can transform almost as quickly as werewolves — not bad for a demon-created monster,” Danny said appreciatively.

“Danny, if demons can create monsters, why don’t angels create their own
creatures,
to fight on the side of good?”

“We
do not
play God!” Oops, that was Danny’s angry voice. He was upset with me for even suggesting such a thing. “That is
not
our purpose.”

“It was only a question, no need to get upset.”

Danny clasped his hands together and rested his forehead on them for a few minutes. When he looked up again his face was once again composed.

“Mortals aren’t the varakiana’s only prey, but they are large, so they don’t have to feed as often. As they use their fangs to kill, those that aren’t eaten, bones and all, are thought to be victims of snake bite. Their venom is highly potent and kills instantaneously, but it’s never been identified by mortals as something other than that of known poisonous snakes. Why? It’s quite clever really. They can communicate with snakes and know what poisonous species are in the region. They genetically alter their venom, pre-bite, to mutate once their victim is dead, until it matches that of a specific type of snake.”

Danny clicked his fingers and the thing changed form, clad in the most basic of clothes — underwear.

“In human form they are extremely difficult to detect, as their fangs retract,” he twirled his finger once in the air and it turned so I could see it from behind, “their skin colour resembles that of mortals, and scales only appear on their lower back. It’s another feat of evolution, to make them appear more like the dominant species on the planet — man. There’s no uniquely identifiable scent to their species, so you can’t detect them that way. They smell like any other mortal.”

I leaned forward in my chair and studied the varakiana’s back. The scales looked very much like a three-dimensional tattoo. I reached my hand out hesitantly.

“Can I?”

“Go ahead, touch it,” Danny encouraged me.

I stood up, walked closer to the creature and ran my fingers across the scales. From a distance they did look like an exquisitely detailed tattoo, but one touch dispelled that impression. They were cold, harder than skin, and slightly ridged. I pulled hard at one and it came away in my hand. It was very pretty, for a scale. Colours danced along it as I held it this way and that, to inspect it in the light. I instinctively put it in my mouth to bite, and taste with my tongue. My brain registered it as being hard, but thin plastic, though I knew that assessment was
not
correct. As to taste, it was slightly salty. The scale itself did not seem to have a distinctive flavour of its own, just as the body did not have a distinguishable scent.

“So how do I kill one if I come across it?”

“When in their humanoid form they can be killed like any other mortal. You just need to be sure it really is a varakiana you’re dealing with. Killing a mortal is not acceptable.”

“Okay, so I get them to show me their back somehow,” I smiled. “I’m a girl of many talents. I’m sure I could come up with something.”

Danny smiled wryly. “I’m sure you could.”

Hmm, what
was
going on in that angel’s head!

“And what about when it’s in its true form?” I asked. “How do I kill it?”

Danny clicked his fingers again and the varakiana changed from humanoid to reptilian. It was interesting to see the transformation take place, watching the head flatten out and the tail grow.

“Their scales are like armour plating and quite impenetrable to all but angels, demons and other monsters.”

“How so,” I asked, “and would the same rules apply to me?”

“Frankly, Helena, you break
all
the rules, so I’m not sure what will work for you apart from the tactics mortals could employ — if they were quick enough to react and
knew
what to do!” Danny sighed. “Angels have a number of natural weapons in their arsenal for killing monsters, depending on the type of monster. For example, angel fire always works. For Satan-created monsters we can only kill one at a time, yet with demon-created monsters a few dozen can easily be dispatched. Angel ice is effective on cold-blooded monsters, such as the varakiana — freeze them then smash them to oblivion.

“Angel blood also acts as a poison to all but werewolves. The larger the creature the more blood that’s required, and for vampires, they must drain us dry — a life for a life.

“Mortals can decapitate a monster and burn its body, but very rarely are mortals strong enough or fast enough to do this. You, however, are stronger and faster than a mortal. And we already know what your hands can do to vampires. It’s possible that may work on other creatures as well, but I wouldn’t rely on it. We need to work on the basis that you’re more of a mortal than anything else, just to be safe.”

“Got it. Don’t try the hands unless I have no other choice. Chop and burn is the best defence or offence. But that
would
require me to carry around a weapon. What other choices do I have?”

“All methods mortals can employ require some
sort
of weapon. A varakiana can be killed by stabbing or shooting them in both eyes, penetrating a specific section of the brain. An injection of dry ice at the base of the tail — on the underside, that is, where it joins the legs — also works.”

The creature turned around and raised its tail to give me a better view — not a pretty sight.

“The dry ice effectively freezes them and they can then be broken up quite easily. However, they’re not likely to raise their tail willingly, and the tail is very strong and muscular. I once saw a varakiana knock a vampire twenty metres away using only its tail.”

Danny waved his hand dismissively and the varakiana walked back to its place in the line. The vampire stepped forward, teeth bared. Was he going to make all of them bare their teeth?

“As you’re already aware, vampires look like mortals. The easiest way for us to tell them apart from mortals is by the sickly-sweet smell each of them exudes. Mortals
cannot
detect this smell, so vampires can live amongst them with little to fear — sunlight, garlic, crosses and holy water are no barriers to them. They do, however, require three hours of sleep each day, generally in a clean dirt-free bed, not a coffin.” He snickered softly before continuing. “They have not evolved to such a degree that they can do away without some rest all together. This is when they’re at their most vulnerable.”

“Do stakes work,” I asked impatiently, “or is decapitation and burning the only way?”

“It always amazes me the number of rules and requirements mortals create around monsters to help them sleep at night.” Danny chuckled. “Think about it. If you stabbed something through the heart that was already dead, what do you think would happen?”

“Well, if it was already dead, I guess it couldn’t get any deader.”

“
Exactly!
” Danny said.

He produced a wooden stake and stabbed the vampire through the heart to demonstrate how futile this was. The vampire stood there, unblinking, uncaring.

“Anything that makes a vampire burn, either internally or externally, can kill them. Flares, napalm or sulphur — ingested or injected — will cause a reaction that, once started, cannot be stopped.”

“Sulphur?” I asked.

“Many chemicals and elements react differently for monsters and immortals,” Danny explained. “Sulphur causes something akin to spontaneous human combustion in vampires. There is something in their bloodstream that causes the reaction.”

“So a stake through the heart doesn’t work because the vampire doesn’t get burned to a crisp?” I asked.

“Not quite. A vampire can heal itself, provided their body isn’t damaged beyond repair. They can sustain a substantial amount of damage and still repair themselves. The only sure way to prevent that from happening is to turn them to a pile of ash, hence the burning.

“Now, note how human they look. Their eye colour is the same as when they were mortal, as is their hair colour, though it no longer continues to grow. Their skin retains its natural colouring, thanks to evolution and their teeth remain the same shape, size and colour. Some have white teeth, others yellowed or rotten, and since the last century some have fillings. Everything about their physical appearance will remain exactly the same.”