Storykiller (40 page)

“Brand? Is everything okay?”

“Yes! We got Circe!”

“What?!”

“Yes, just like two minutes ago. I mean, I know you’re going to be mad, but I like, figured out where Circe was, and we went on, like, a recon mission, but then she was there, and so Snow just, like, walked up to her in the restaurant and knocked her out. It was the single greatest thing I have ever seen!”

“Snow knocked Circe out? She’s still unconscious?”

“Yes, we have her with us, we’re driving to the condo.”

“No. Bring her here,” Tessa said, and looking at the ghost-zombie on her floor, added, “And make sure she doesn’t wake up.”

Tessa and Robin were standing in the backyard, staring at the pile of re-animated, now unconscious dead in a pile on her grass. They’d dragged the handful that had made it to the front yard into the backyard again. Altogether there must have been nearly four dozen.

“The Draugr,” Fenris said from behind them, and they spun around, startled.

“Jesus, Fenris,” Tessa breathed. “Can you be less goddamn stealthy, please?”

“The Draugr,” Robin said breathlessly and looked at the pile again. “He wouldn’t.”

“He has,” Fenris said solemnly. Tessa looked between the two of them. It was nice that they were finally on the same page and not fighting, but she would have appreciated being in the loop.

“Helllloooo? Care to fill me in? What’s a Draugr?”

“
The
Draugr,” Fenris corrected. “They’re Norse Mythology—loosely translated it means ‘again walker.’ They’re like zombies, but also a bit like ghosts, they have much more power than your average zombie.”

“Power?”

“In the past, in their Stories? They can exhibit superhuman strength, change their size and weight, they’re, well, they can be very powerful,” Fenris said.

“But these, they lost consciousness when Circe did—is it possible she’s controlling them?” Tessa asked.

Fenris bent down to examine one of them. “I don’t know,” he said, unsure. “Perhaps—”

“Perhaps what?” Tessa urged.

“Perhaps if they have been called against their will, if Circe and The Monster have raised them and are controlling them, it would explain their behavior.”

The sound of a car in front of the house and Brand and Micah screeching at the sight of the house actually made Tessa smile. In all this madness it was easy to forget how much she was cared for, and how much she cared back.

Tessa went to the car, where the group stood gaping at the house.

“Yae Simane,” Grey said, stepping out of the car, his face shocked and concerned. Tessa moved to the car and took Circe from Brand who was struggling with her limp frame. Tessa threw the woman over her shoulder and took her into the house.

Tessa set Circe in a living room chair. The woman looked like some kind of ethereal blonde sex goddess. A mane of impossibly thick, flowing blonde hair, flawless skin, curves to kill, and legs so long and shapely that they practically caused Tessa to blush. She was wearing a low-cut, fitted, glittering green dress, appropriate for nothing short of the red carpet and an amount of expensive jewelry that on anyone else would have looked wildly excessive.

Tessa rolled her eyes. She was getting tired of beautiful. It was exhausting to be surrounded by so much of it. She felt like an unfortunate looking extra on a movie set. Just as Tessa turned to speak to Brand and Micah, the woman stirred in the chair.

“She’s waking u—” but before Brand could finish the sentence, Tessa spun around and punched her in the face, knocking her out again. Brand and Micah giggled.

“Nice,” Micah said, nodding. Tessa smiled at them.

“Watch her for a minute, would you?” They nodded. Tessa walked to the backyard. On the way she ran into Snow, standing in front of the open freezer and drinking ice water.
“Thanks for knocking her out,” Tessa said to Snow. Snow nodded.

“We’re even now, Scion,” she said back, her voice calm. Tessa shook her head, disappointed. Of course that’s what it was about. Couldn’t have just been Snow doing the right thing. Tessa went into the backyard to find Grey standing with Robin and Fenris, staring at the pile of bodies.

“So what do I do?” she asked them. They turned and looked at her
as one and then looked back at the pile.

“I think you have to kill them,” Fenris said. Grey shuddered a bit but didn’t comment.

“Robin?” Tessa asked.

“I agree,” he said. “We can’t risk them re-animating when Circe wakes up,” he said. “Especially since you’re the only one that can kill them. It would be nearly 50 against one, impossible odds.”

Tessa nodded. “Will killing these—will it erase them—their Story? Their Myth?” She stood on the other side of the pile and stared at the three of them. They all avoided her gaze. “C’mon guys, zombies or not, we’re talking about your people here—what are we talking about?”

Grey shrugged, conflicted. “I don’t know, Tessa, I’m new to all of this. I have no idea.”

“I doubt it will erase the myth of The Draugr by killing these,” Robin said.

“I agree,” Fenris said. “I think, to kill The Draugr as a Story you would have to kill them all. It’s not like with Bluebeard, where he is the central character of his Story. The Story cannot exist without him, but these are just part of a concept, none are integral to the story itself—in theory, at least.”

“I’m not hearing a lot of confidence,” Tessa said,
turning to look at the bodies again.

“Because I’m not,” Fenris said.

“My fucking kingdom for a rule book!” Tessa shouted at the sky.

“Tessa—” Grey began, and stopped, seeming to have second thoughts.

“What Grey?” Tessa asked. “Now’s not the time to be shy, there are no stupid questions today.”

“I just wondered if you wanted the answer to be yes, or no,” he asked.

Tessa balked. “No. I want the answer to be no.”

“But—” he began again.

“But what?”

“But if you don’t eliminate their Story, then even if you kill these, Circe can likely just call more,” Fenris supplied. “The Draugr, they are, I don’t want to say infinite, but that wouldn’t be an unreasonable estimate.” Grey nodded his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. Tessa got even quieter.

“Well, if they’re infinite then at least it makes my job tonight easier,” she said, and threw out her hand. “La Colombe Noire!” The Black Dove materialized into her hand, and she looked over her shoulder at them watching her. “Go inside and watch Circe. I’ll be there in a bit.”

Tessa moved toward the line of bodies and began the messy business of disposing of them one at a time. At the door, Fenris and Robin looked back just once before going inside.

“She’ll be fine,” Fenris said, and it almost seemed comforting to Robin. He looked at Fenris and tried to read his face. But he couldn’t.

“I know,” he said, going inside.

Tessa hadn’t just sent them inside because they couldn’t help her, she’d also sent them inside because she didn’t want them watching her do it. She wasn’t sure if she was going to straight up have a mental breakdown chopping the heads off of fifty people, zombies or not, but it seemed like one of the worst things she could imagine. She felt like some kind of medieval executioner, and she puked three times before she was done. When Tessa came back inside twenty minutes later,
she was messy and exhausted, spent both emotionally and physically.

She returned to a heated discussion about drawing straws to see who got to throw a glass of ice water on Circe to wake her up, but given that Circe had almost killed Micah, in the end everyone agreed Micah should do the honors. The Shiki seemed particularly pleased about it, prancing around happily and almost grinning, even in his house-cat form. Tessa got the distinct impression that he had not enjoyed being Circe’s Shiki, which, she had to admit, made her like him more. For her part, Micah seemed to find the biggest cup in the house and filled it with the coldest possible water, Tessa suspected she had Snow work a little magic on it as well. Micah threw it in Circe’s face with a joyous abandon and Circe sputtered to life under the deluge and opened two big, beautiful green eyes right at Tessa and then smiled easily, too easily.

“Scion,” she said, and it was more a purr than a word.

“Bitch that blinded me,” Tessa said in response.

Circe’s smile spread. “None other, darling.”

“And raised The Draugr?”

“Guilty as charged.”

“And sent The Shikigami after us.”

“Mmmmhmmm.”

“And The Troll.”

“Mmm, no,” she said, and Tessa blinked in surprise.

“No?” Tessa asked, unconvinced.

“No,” she said again, and Tessa had the distinct feeling that she wasn’t lying.

“But everything else?”

“Correct,” she said.

“Why?”

“California,” Circe said simply.

Tessa opened her mouth to speak and then did a double take, “Huh?”

“I have been promised California. And Maine, actually. When this world is covered in the dead, ruled by him alone, California and Maine will be mine to do with as I choose. I’ll probably have to build some big fences, but that’s a small matter,” she mused, as if she was also thinking about what wedding china she would register for.

“That’s it? That’s so…random,” Tessa said. “He’ll have all the world and you’ll have California and Maine?”

“I’m not greedy. And I’m fond of both California and Maine.”

“You’re nuts,” Tessa said, looking down at her.

“I’m not fond of that expression,” she said, almost demurely and then slid her eyes off Tessa and directly at Micah. Tessa saw this and placed herself more directly between them.

“Don’t look at her,” Tessa said quietly. Circe flicked her eyes back at Tessa and then strained a bit to see Micah again.

“Come now, Scion, I’m only curious. Curious to see what was so powerful in that little one that she could best me and my Shiki in battle. There must be power there—let me see it.”

“I’m all the power you need to worry about just now.”

Circe sent a disdainful look her way. “Please. Your power doesn’t interest me,” she said dismissively. “What are you going to do? Punch me again?”

Tessa arched an eyebrow as if to say ‘hell yes’, and Circe’s lips curled up at the edges.

“Ah, Scions. All brute force. Crude and unrefined. All sharp edges and no nuance. All arrogance and superiority. Bulls in china shops. I have no interest in you. But your little friend—
that’s
something else,” she said, sliding her eyes to Micah again, who shifted uncomfortably. Next to her, Jeff shifted into a tiger and roared. “See?” Circe said. “Complex and delicious. I can almost taste her.”

Tessa smacked Circe so hard across the face she was shocked that she didn’t knock her unconscious again, or just take her head clean off. Circe looked back at Tessa, one hand on her face, a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes flashed a glowing green for a split second before returning to normal.

“You look at her again and I will end you,” Tessa hissed. Circe pulled back her hand, bloodied from her mouth and showed all her teeth.

“I
did
say crude and unrefined, didn’t I?”

Tessa was unnerved by her control. She was captured, surrounded by enemies, and yet she was clearly unimpressed. And wholly unafraid. Tessa couldn’t tell if it was an act or not. If it was an act,
she deserved the Oscar she looked like she was dressed to receive. If it wasn’t, then they were in big trouble. “What’s the plan and where is The Monster?” Tessa said abruptly, hoping, if anything, to draw her focus away from Micah.

“Ah, Scion, you ask the wrong questions. I think The Doctor may have overestimated your worth.”

“Nice try,” Tessa said, crossing her arms. “We know we’re dealing with The Monster, not Dr. Frankenstein.”

Circe laughed. The sound unnerved Tessa to no end.

“Yes, you are right, Scion. Dr. Frankenstein has nothing to do with this.”

Something was going on, and Tessa didn’t understand what she was missing. She looked to Robin who shook his head lightly. He was lost too. Fenris looked slightly less lost but he wasn’t sharing if he knew something.

“Then who are you talking about?”

“It’s nothing for you to worry about, my lamb. You’ll find out in time.”

“You’re not working for The Monster?”

“I am.”

“Then what am I missing?”

Circe smiled at her, fixing her gaze deeply on her. “Oh, so very much, Scion.”

“Are you telling me that The Monster is not my enemy?”

“He is.”

“Goddamnit!” Tessa shouted and had to curb the urge to strangle her to death. “Who am I fighting?”

Circe tsked and smiled widely again. The bitch pretty much hadn’t stopped smiling since she’d arrived, and Tessa was at the end of her rope. “You ask the wrong questions, Scion. The Monster
is
your enemy and I am indeed in league with him, But what is beyond him? You haven’t even begun to scratch the surface, darling.” She paused and addressed the room. “You’re all going to die. Some of you more gloriously than others, and all of you at the side of this petulant child with delusions of grandeur. A worthless waste, if you ask me.”