The roots attacked.
Beneath the earth, the Green Knight charged forward. His warhorse thundered. I raised my spear.
From the dark, Yummy screamed a wordless challenge. Hurtled to us.
The Blood Tarot rattled in its box.
T. Laine fell back.
Tomás fell with her.
Yummy popped to my side. She raised her sword and brought it down.
Tomás ripped his fangs up.
Blood flew. Massive gouts.
Yummy severed the spine of Tomás de Torquemada.
A mist rose from somewhere and vanished into the vessel.
Two sparks flew toward the opening, one red, one blacker than night. The red of undeath. The utter absence of light of the demon.
Yummy’s sword stopped a hair’s breadth from cutting through and slicing into T. Laine.
Lainie’s blood pumped. Pumped. Everywhere.
Yummy dropped the longsword and from somewhere a shortsword appeared in her hand. She slid it between the vampire and the witch. Cut upward, toward herself. Severing Tomás’ blood vessels.
A second spray shot out. Doused T. Laine’s face. Mixing with her blood. Healing vampire blood.
I tried to set the lid back in place.
Silence. Intense silence. Like nothing ever imagined.
Yummy batted Tomás’ head away.
T. Laine’s blood pumped.
Yummy cut her own arm.
I had seen only two sparks. The demon and the undeath. Not the green of Tomás’ soul.
The collection vessel roared. I quaked trying to get the lid aligned with the vessel’s open mouth. It clunked into place and I shoved it down. As I did, two green sparks flew into the vessel.
Two.
Tomás was dead. T. Laine…?
Yummy dropped to her knees. Her blood flowed over Lainie’s throat.
T. Laine lay still.
I shoved the vessel away and leaned over her. She had no throat to check for a pulse. Just gouged meat.
Tomás had killed my friend. And her soul was contained in a vessel with his soul and with a demon.
Yummy cut another place on her arm, deeply. She bled more onto Lainie. Reached with her free arm and took my nerveless hands. She placed one on Lainie’s chest and the other onto the dirt. “Fix this.”
