Billy the Kid & the Vampyres of Vegas (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #5.5) (7 page)
Read Billy the Kid & the Vampyres of Vegas (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #5.5) Online
Authors: Michael Scott
“You could stand against them and fight with me,” she suggested. “We’ve faced down monsters before.”
“I prefer the winning side.”
“Did you ever wonder why I loved you, Cuchulain?” Scathach asked.
“Everyone loved me,” he said arrogantly.
“I loved you because I once saw in you the very best of the new human race. But that love blinded me to what you really were.”
Setanta ignored her words. Drawing back his arm, he flung the Gáe Bolga. It screamed through the air. “Time to die.”
“Time to die,” Scathach echoed. Without looking around, she stepped to the side, caught the spear in midair, turned and flung it back at the young man.
Setanta managed a single horrified scream before the spear took him high in the chest. The weapon vibrated, the bone-white shaft shimmering with bands of color. Setanta’s golden hair turned gray, then white. His smooth skin ran with wrinkles. “You said you loved me …,” he breathed.
The Shadow’s face was a mask. “I loved Cuchulain, but you’re Setanta.” She clapped her hands sharply together and the man exploded into fine white powder. For a single moment, a cloud hung in the center of the room, a vaguely man-shaped outline in dust.
The door burst open and Billy the Kid appeared. The sudden draft of air sent the powder curling past Scathach, through the broken window and out into the morning air.
Billy was red-faced and gasping and his entire body was covered in filthy grey-black grit. “You okay?” he wheezed.
“Fine.” She turned back to the window and watched the Crow Goddess swoop over the city, following the almost invisible twist of dust in the air.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
Scathach crossed the floor and lifted the Gáe Bolga, tapping the head against her boot. “In a manner of speaking.”
“And the person you came to rescue?”
“Set free,” she said. She looked Billy up and down. “I am pleased that you survived.”
“I’m rather pleased myself.” Billy grinned. “The vampyres—with a—were so intent on fighting me, they forgot about the sun!” He brushed some of the filthy grit off his clothes. “You should have seen it. One moment they were getting set to eat me and the next it looked like an explosion in a flour factory!”
“And then you raced up here to rescue me,” Scathach teased.
Beneath the gritty ash, Billy the Kid’s cheeks flared crimson.
The Shadow squeezed his shoulder hard. “You remind me of someone I knew a long time ago.”
19.
“You never did tell me what’s in the jar I delivered,” Billy said as they pulled out of the garage.
Scathach nodded. “Yes. The jar. Have you ever heard of Pandora’s Box?”
“Sure,” the Kid answered, then jerked his thumb behind him toward the trunk of the car. “But that’s a jar, not a box.”
Scathach smiled, showing her vampire teeth. “Well,
pithos
was a bad translation. It doesn’t mean ‘box.’ It means ‘jar.’ ”
“So we just drove to Las Vegas with all the evils in the world in the trunk of my car?”
Scathach nodded happily. “I could hardly leave it at the dojo. Someone might have opened it.”
Billy shook his head and let out a sigh. “All the evils of the world,” he murmured. “Can I ask what you’re going to do with them?”
“I was going to lock them away where they would never be found.…”
“But I’m guessing you’ve changed your mind,” Billy said.
The Shadow smiled. She dropped her mirrored Aviators onto her face. “There’s a Shadowrealm I’m going to release them into. It’s the home of the Elder Crom Cruach.” She paused and added hesitantly, “You could tag along if you like. It’ll be dangerous.” She turned to look at him and peered over the top of her glasses. “It might even be fun.”
An authority on mythology and folklore, Michael Scott is one of Ireland’s most successful authors. A master of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and folklore, he has been hailed by the
Irish Times
as “the King of Fantasy in these isles.” “Billy the Kid and the Vampyres of Vegas” is a short story based on Scott’s worldwide bestselling Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series:
The Alchemyst
,
The Magician
,
The Sorceress
,
The Necromancer
, and
The Warlock
, all available from Delacorte Press. Also available as an ebook original is the short story “The Death of Joan of Arc.”
You can visit Michael Scott at
dillonscott.com
.
Follow Michael on Facebook and on Twitter.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents