I asked the Green Knight, both aloud and in my thoughts, “The vampires who were eaten by the land at Esther’s. Did they have blood that was contaminated, like these guys? But maybe not so bad yet?”
“Dayum, girl. You’re getting spooky on me.”
I ignored her.
The knight nodded, that single slow nod, the green glint of his eyes barely visible through the helmet’s protective ocular slits.
“So the land has tasted dragon through its venom?”
He tilted his head to the side, which wasn’t an answer. With one finger he pointed at the vampires, crumpled on Soulwood. The land had tasted enough to give them a full shape and form now, recognizable as who they were. Finger extended, he waited.
“Don’t kill them. Don’t eat them.”
The finger remained pointed at them. He had spoken to me before, but it had to be difficult.
I thought about what he might be asking. This time I sent just my thoughts, because Yummy didn’t need to hear this question.Wood can incapacitate vampires. Maybe enough roots and vines would eventually kill them, which is not what I’m planning. Is it possible to heal them from the venom? Is that what you’re asking me if I want you to do?
In what might be best described as an overlay, resting on top of the image of Soulwood, the knight sent me a vision of vines coming out of the ground and piercing the wounds of the vampires. I saw the bodies pulled underground, the turf and soil turned as if plowed under. Beneath the ground, the roots andvines coiled against the bodies, the life of the land cleaned out the evil, the poison, depositing the venom and the infection far underground. Breaking it down, cleansing it, leaving the vampires underground but not, maybe not, true-dead. Inigo had told Yummy he’d “be buried.” He hadn’t actually saidtrue-dead.
Is that what is happening to the vampire you first buried? Near the church land and the long cliff?
He nodded, too slowly for me to be fully certain.
The vampire with the…with the dark spirit energies inside. What will happen if you heal him? Will the demon get free?
The knight nodded. More certain, and though his expression didn’t change, I got the feeling of worry, concern, and that sensation of trees dying. I remembered Brother Ephraim. His filthy soul had been trapped in the land. It had taken a lot for me to destroy his devil dog evil. I wasn’t certain I could kill a demon.
“Let me think about that,” I said aloud. I eased out of the ground to see Yummy, sitting beside Alonso, watching me. “What?” I asked her.
“You talk to things I can’t see. Beings I can’t see. And when you do, you— Okay, don’t take this the wrong way. But when you talk to the nothings, you sort of glow.”
“I what?”
“I’m not sure if any creature but Mithrans andmaybewitches in aseeingworking can see it, but you glow.”
Dang it,I cursed silently. Did I only glow when I was talking to the Green Knight or also when I communed with the land? If I was gonna start glowing all the time…Dang it!
“Do you still love Inigo?” I asked.
Yummy laughed. “I don’t think I ever loved him, but the attraction is still there.”
“Well, he ain’t true-dead yet. He’s buried underground with thorns inside him while the tree and the land heal him of a dragon bite. You’re about to see what happened to—”
The frozen ground around the two vampires erupted with thorned vines, whipping in the air. Yummy jumped just a bit, in surprise.
The vines wrapped around the men, every limb, joint, finger, coiling all around their torsos and heads. Beneath them the ground quivered, shook, rattled.
The bodies were pulled beneath the surface.
“Like that.”
“Dayum. Dayum dayum dayum.”
In her shock, her accent had sounded a little like Rick LaFleur’s. I didn’t let my amusement show but it was a near thing.
I had put my cell phone in my back pocket. I pulled it and called headquarters. JoJo answered. I said, “Just listen. I’m’a make this fast. I got three vampires staked and full of dragon venom. The land is—” I thought about listening ears. “I’mtrying to heal them of the poison.
“Inigo was buried last night. Tomás and the vampire named Alonso attacked my property with two adult devil dogs tonight. Dogs were eaten by an arcenciel, I think, and then that arcenciel set my woods on fire. Fire’s out now, but it was a mess.”
