Maggie Get Your Gun (19 page)

“Killian…” I warned.

Out of nowhere charged a pair of fucking vampwolves.  Up
close, they were ten times larger than any pit bull.  Really, they were
horses.  Except dogs.  Great big undead dog horses.  With teeth.

My heart pounding with the first hit of "oh, I will be
eaten if I don't do something right now", I raised my gun with its silver
bullets.  I steadied my hand and squeezed the trigger.

Both puppies dropped.

Killian and I stood there just staring at the vampwolves.

"I thought that would be harder," I said.

He shrugged in bewilderment, so I shouted to Mr. Smith, “I
thought this was going to be harder!”

I needed to learn to keep my mouth shut.  Really and
truly.  Shut my mouth.  Because life sometimes has a nasty habit of giving you
exactly what you ask for.  And I asked for it.

Those two dogs got up.

And it got harder.

Killian fired his crossbow, which caused the vampwolves to
slow down long enough to yank the arrows out of each other's sides.  Sure, it
left gaping holes all the way to their innards, but when you're already dead, I
guess you don't have to worry about gangrene.

"The crossbow is no good," I said, stating the
obvious.

Like linebacker angels from the undead Super Bowl, I heard
a crunch as two ghosts tackled the vampwolves, buying us precious moments.

"I shall fire upon them to distract them," Killian
said as he reloaded.  "You pierce their hearts with your bullets."

"Do you know where the heart on a werewolf is?"

Killian pointed to his rib cage sort of generally on the
left side somewhere and wiggled his finger, "It is around here... I
believe..."

He was no help.

I raised my gun, "Well, looks like I'm about to get a
crash course in canine anatomy."

The ghosts were holding the vampwolves for me to get a
clean shot.  I fired, but didn't hit the heart.  I fired again.

Mr. Smith shouted over the chaos, holding up his necklace,
“Thirty-three souls, Maggie!  With every monster you kill, you come one step
closer to becoming mine!  I will own you!”

My hand faltered, but I fired anyway.  The shot went wild.

"Steady, Maggie," Killian ordered.

It was like being caught in a macabre game of "Would
You Rather?".  We could either get eaten by werepires and vampwolves or
defend ourselves and become zombie slaves to Mr. Smith.

My skin tingled beneath my neckguard, the scars reminding
me of what it felt like the last time I had gotten bitten.

I had sworn never again.

No matter what, never again.

So I fired.

My silver bullet pierced the vampwolf straight through the
heart and a bead on Mr. Smith's necklace faded to darkness.  I braced to see who
would be forced to take his place.  Mr. Smith was looking straight at me and began
to lift his hands as he gathered his energy.

But just then, a silver specter rushed towards Mr. Smith
and the ghost took the hit.  The spirit's eyes turned to shiny blue as the bead
around Mr. Smith's neck lit back up.

I suddenly realized what had just happened.

We were in a Ghost Town. 

We were in an entire city inhabited by souls.

And Mr. Smith had a necklace that collected them. 
Unfortunately for him, the new soul he gathered was lacking corporeal form,
thus rendering it completely harmless to those of us classified as alive.

Oops.

Seeing that I wasn't bowing and groveling at his feet, Mr.
Smith cried, “What is happening?”

I fired off another round and hit the other vampwolf.  As
the bead faded, once again, a ghost leapt forward, willingly giving himself up
to the Empress's Necklace.

Mr. Smith seemed to have figured out what was going on,
too.  And he was pissed.  He turned to his new ghostie pals and shouted,
"Attack!"

The ghosts ran at their friends, but it was like watching a
playground game of tag.  Ghosts can disappear and reappear at will.  So, the
possessed ghosts would charge, and their buddies would just vanish and show up
a couple feet away to sucker punch a monster before vanishing again.

"Thank you!" I shouted to the ghosts as Killian
fired a crossbolt into a khaki wearing werepire in a popped collar polo shirt. 
As I followed it up with a silver bullet through the chest, I felt like I had
really done the world a favor.

A ghost in a ten gallon hat and a shiny sheriff's badge on
his chest slowly appeared from thin air in front of me.  He pointed at an
elderly looking ghost who hobbled towards Mr. Smith to take a place on the
necklace.  I'm not sure who was grinning more, me or the sheriff, at the
thought of Mr. Smith having THAT guy in his army.  The sheriff tipped his hat
and gave me a wink before disappearing.

Maybe ghosts weren't so bad after all.

"I promise my mom will send all of you home once we're
done!" I shouted.

A silent cheer seemed to move through the town as
translucent arms were raised and fists were pumped to the sky.  And then those
fists went back to punching.

Speaking of my mom, I wondered how she was doing.  I turned
around and there she was, muumuu flying, as she drop kicked a werepire and
staked the bloodsucker with Thomas’s candlestick.  Dad finished the monster off
with his gun.

"How can this be happening?" screamed Mr. Smith
as he lost another bead to a worthless ghost warrior.

“I got a clue for you right here!” I shouted at Mr. Smith,
“My mom!  With a candlestick!  In the middle of the fucking street!”

I gave her a thumbs up.

She paused to tuck her hairdo back into place and gave me a
wink.

I fired another shot and got a vampwolf who was trying to
tear his way through my protective wall of ghosts, then took down a werepire
Killian had prepped for me by pinning him to the wall with a crossbow bolt.

And that's when I felt an arm across my throat as fangs
struck my neckguard.  I bent and flipped the werepire over my head.  Hulk Hogan
eat your heart out.

Scrabbling in the dirt was that lying witch of a woman, one
Miss Veronica DuBois, who evidently had decided I was on tonight's menu.  She
leapt up with her claws out, a furious ball of white satin and spit.  She
rushed towards me and I barely managed to sidestep her.  As she passed, she
ripped at me with her nails and caught my arm.

She stopped to lick my blood off her finger.

"O positive?" she purred.

"Oh, I'm pretty negative, bitch."

I threw my silver stake at her and it caught her right
shoulder.  She staggered back as it impaled her, but then she smiled.

"Men have been looking for my heart for years, but not
one was ever idiot enough to think it was there," she said, as she reached
over to grasp the stake and pull it out.

"Really?" I replied.  "Sounds like you've
got some daddy issues.  I know just the person to help resolve them."

And my dad shot her straight through the heart.  The eerie
glow faded from her eyes as the bead released her and she fell to the ground.

"Father knows best," I said.

Dad lifted his gun and blew the smoke off the muzzle like
some sort of badass.  Which he was.

"Thanks, Dad," I said as I ran to retrieve my
favorite stake.

"Nobody gets away with trying to bite my girl."

We were interrupted by a sound that rang out down the
street.  My mom cried, "WILLIAM!"

Both Dad and I turned.  Roaring with rage, Mr. Smith had
decided to sic his entire army on Mom - ghosts, werepires, vampwolves, and all.

The whole world seemed to slow as I saw that wave of fangs
and teeth roll towards her like a tidal wave.

Dad was off like a rocket.  Mom was hurling everything she
could find at her attackers.  The remaining ghosts gathered as one host to form
an other worldly chain of protection.  Killian was at my side in an instant,
and shoulder-to-shoulder, we opened fire. 

My dad got to Mom just as the monsters joined in battle
with the ghosts.  He grabbed her wrist and they ran to the car.  He ripped open
the door and pushed her inside.  They both jumped in, locking the door behind
them.

Sure, the wheels were missing and the bumper was nowhere to
be seen.  And yes, the engine was scattered all over the street.  But the cage
of the car looked like it would hold for a few minutes.  My dad looked at me
and I realized what he was doing.  He and Mom were baiting the trap.  With all
the monsters focused on them, all I had to do was pick off the beasts as they
descended upon the car.

Dad gave me a wink.

It should have been easier than shooting fish in a barrel. 
Unfortunately, if you are going to start shooting fish, it helps to have ammunition.

“I’m out of bullets, Killian,” I said, my gun clicking.

“I ran out of arrows two vampires ago,” he admitted.

Mr. Smith started laughing a low and sinister sound that
grew with each breath.

“Did I hear correctly?  Did I hear that the mighty Maggie MacKay
is as defenseless as a fawn in the field?  KILL HER!” he shouted, pointing his
hand towards me and giving his army the command to charge.

I looked at Killian and Killian looked at me and we tore towards
the closest building, which happened to be the saloon.  We burst through the
swinging doors when I heard my sister’s voice.

“Over here!" shouted Mindy.  "Come and get me!”

I peered out from the doorway.  She had climbed out the
window of Thomas’s house and stood on the 2nd story balcony, taunting Mr. Smith
with the child-sized, unicorn decorated knife I had given her in case we needed
backup.

“How did you get up there?” asked Mr. Smith, with a bit of
wonder and astonishment in his voice.

The pieces clicked in my brain.  He knew I had a sister,
but I don’t think he knew I had a twin sister.

“Jade comb!” she lied.

The pack advancing upon us turned and began stalking their
way towards her.

“Don’t come closer!” she said, “or I will destroy it!”

“Always think you have the upper hand, don’t you?” said Mr.
Smith.  He pulled out an old fashioned peacemaker with a pretty mother-of-pearl
handle and, without blinking an eye, shot one of his werepires. 

The bloodsucker went down.  And freed up an empty stone on
the necklace.

Mr. Smith pointed his hand at my sister and I saw Mindy's
eyes turn golden.  Her arms dropped limply to her sides.  Her face went blank. 
It was like her soul had been sapped out of her.  Because it had.

“MINDY!” cried my mom, opening up the car door and spilling
out onto the street.

“MINDY?" shouted Mr. Smith, his face turning from smug
satisfaction to a snarl, "You are Maggie's brat sister?  You shall DIE!”

He lifted his gun to shoot my sister.  My heart caught in
my throat.  Complete instinct kicked in and I threw myself out of the saloon, screaming,
“NO!”

I raced straight at Mr. Smith.  I was going to kill that
fucker if it was the last thing I ever did.

Faced with offing my sister and getting offed by me, he
turned his gun and killed another werepire.

And then he held out his hand, locking eyes with mine, and
I felt the thrall descend like a firestorm.

Chapter 26

Being put under a thrall is not the most unpleasant
experience I’ve ever had.  Your brain sort of empties out and your body feels
like it’s been shot full of Novocain.  I couldn’t really lift my arms or legs,
but that felt okay.  I didn’t really care much about anything.  Sure, there was
a little voice screaming in my head that I needed to move, to run, to fight,
but that pushy little voice was harshing my mellow.  It seemed to make so much
more sense to just ignore it.

The world was covered in a haze of gold, as if someone had
put yellow sunglasses over my eyes.  I heard words, or rather the garbled sound
of words, but I couldn’t make sense of it.  The only voice I could hear clear
as a bell was Mr. Isaac Smith.

I saw my parents run out from behind my wreck of a car,
shouting something.  All I heard was Mr. Smith shout, “Move one step closer and
both your daughters die!  That goes for you, too, elf!”

It looked like some big blonde guy with pointy ears was
trying to sneak over to a house.  Watching him was like watching someone run
through water.  That annoying voice in my head mentioned his name was Killian
before I told the voice to shut up again.

But with the knowledge of the name, the world got a little
clearer.

“What happened?” Killian seemed to ask my family.  He
sounded weird and echoey.

“He got them,” said my mom, her voice bouncing around in my
skull.  “I don’t know how, but Isaac got them.”