Black Knight 02 - Back in Black (23 page)

After a series of whirling slashes, I saw out of the corner of my eye what Lenny was doing. He was trying his best to steer me over to the same hole he had dropped Tivernius in. The dragon had managed to drag his wounded leg over to one side of the cage, and Lenny was slowly but surely maneuvering me backwards into the same hole. I ducked under a huge thrust and rolled forward, getting us turned around so Lenny's back was to the hole, and by the ferocity that he thrust and slashed to get us turned back around, I could tell that I was right.
 

The only problem was that I couldn't stop him from driving me back, and if I went into the hole, nobody was left to come in and bail me out. Everybody else was either human or injured, so I was on my own this time. I looked from side to side, frantically trying to find a way out, when Lenny spun around and caught me with a kick high in the midsection. I screamed from the pain in my already broken ribs, and flailed my arms around like pinwheels as I stepped into the hole in the ring and went down on my back, just like Tivernius had.
 

Lenny grinned an evil grin and leapt into the air, just like he had over the fallen dragon, and came down with his sword ready to remove my head from my shoulders with extreme prejudice. Except for the part where I wasn't lying there anymore. Since I knew what he was doing, I never put any weight on the leg in the hole; I just lowered myself backward onto the canvas in a fake fall worthy of any Wrestlemania Main Event. When Lenny jumped, so did I, and by the time he came back down, his sword hit nothing but canvas and wood, burying itself a good foot into the floor of the ring. Lenny looked around, startled, and his eyes got huge for a split second just before I buried my fangs in the side of his neck.
 

His blood spurted cleanly into my mouth, and I drank deep. The coppery taste of blood was mixed with the earthy taste of moss, pine trees, fresh-cut grass and late night rain night in a spring wood. There was even a hint of lavender, before I got down to the nasty bits of Lenny, the hot anger that tasted like burned meat, spoiled cheese and a touch of churned gravedirt and tears. I drank, and felt his hands hammer on my head and shoulders. He beat me as hard as he could, but the more I drank the stronger I got, and his blows grew weaker and weaker. My cuts and bruises faded, and I felt my ribs begin to knit back together. Just before I took the last of his blood and turned him, I pulled away from him, as hard as it was to do. I pulled back and he fell to his knees in front of me in the cage. And with him looking up at me from the brink of death and possible rebirth, I took my sword and cut his head off with one big looping stroke.
 

Chapter 34

I closed my eyes for a long moment and let the blood flow through me, healing the hurts of my body and leaving a few more unpleasant scars on my soul. Taking in the dirtier pieces of Lenny’s life force literally left a bad taste in my mouth to counterbalance the flush of healing energy I got from the fairy blood. Sometimes I understand why Greg doesn't drink from the source anymore. Not often, but sometimes. I heard Lenny's head and body fall to the canvas separately, and opened my eyes.
 

I looked around at the carnage and counted better than a dozen dead trolls, an unconscious vampire, a crippled dragon, a bloodstained blonde fairy, a decapitated brown-haired bad guy fairy, and several wary and blood-soaked humans. Then there was me, a freshly fed monster with my opponent's blood dripping off my chin and fangs overlapping my bottom lip. The crowd stood frozen in silence for just a second after Lenny's corpse hit the canvas, then erupted in wild cheers like they had all hit the lottery.
 

In a way, I suppose they had, since they stormed the two trolls manning (trolling?) the betting windows and beat them with chairs, purses and whatever else they could find until the less-than-jolly green giants just threw all the money into the crowd and slunk off into the night.
 

I limped over to Sabrina and the others and slid down to sit in the cage with my back to the chain link. "That sucked." I said.
 

"Didn't look like much fun from here." She replied.
 

"Good. Wouldn't want you to romanticize it or anything."
 

"Don't worry, Jimmy. When I watch you fight, romance is the last thing on my mind."
 

"Yeah? Well what does come to mind when you watch me fight, Detective?"

"The scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz on crystal meth." Greg said from where he lay on the canvas with a bandage wrapped around his head.
 

"Nice. Where'd the bandage come from?" I asked.
 

"That would be me, James." I looked over at Mike, who had on his priest's collar, but was now lacking the shirt that usually went with it. I couldn't help it, I started to laugh. Mike looked down at where his belly was poking out over his belt, and he laughed too. Then we were all laughing, slapping legs and the whole bit.
 

After a few minutes of silliness we calmed down, and started to work on getting out of the cage. Lenny hadn't bothered to put a door in when he built the thing, so I told Stephen to go get an axe and start cutting.
 

"Why am I doing the cutting? I thought I was the client?" He said as he came back with the axe.
 

"Technically, you're the victim; we're working for the cops. But since I just ate someone who disagreed with me, you're stuck doing my dirty work." I said, struggling to my feet. He set to work with the axe, cutting a big enough hole with just a few strokes, and we walked out into the empty warehouse. A few scattered dollar bills were all that was left of the cash wagered on the fight, and I swore loudly as I ducked through the cage.
 

"What's wrong with you?" Sabrina asked.
 

"Lenny owed us fifty large for the first fight." I said.
 

Her eyes got big as she looked around the building. "I don't think there's that much here."
 

"That's why I was cussing." I said, holding my not-quite healed ribs.
 

"Dude," Greg said from behind us. "I got it covered."
 

"How do you have it covered?" I growled.
 

"Lenny didn't trust all his money to the betting windows. I just grabbed about thirty grand off his dead body." That's my partner. He might claim that I'm the money-grubber, but he's the one that'll bleed you dry. Figuratively, of course.
 

"Nice work, bro." I turned to head for the exit, but stopped as the roll-up door slowly rose and a figure on a sleek black motorcycle rode in. The bike rolled up to us almost silently, and the rider pulled off her helmet as she got off and strode over to Greg. Lilith, one-time mate to Adam the Father of Man, one-time outcast from the Garden of Eden, one-time servant to the fallen angel Zepheril and current proprietrix of the biggest and fanciest topless bar in North Carolina, strutted across the concrete like she owned the place. Lilith was pure sex on two legs, with her leather jacket unzipped enough to make you wonder if there was anything under there, and leather pants tight enough to let you know there wasn’t anything on under
there
.
 

"I'll take that," Lilith said, holding out one hand for the cash.
 

"And why exactly would we give you my money, Lilith?" I said, stepping in front of her. "And what are you doing here?"
 

"The answer to both of those questions should be obvious, little vampire, I'm here because this is my establishment, and you'll give me the money because I will have a great deal of cleanup to do, not to mention more trolls to recruit after this debacle." The immortal strip club owner held out her hand again, and I couldn't help but laugh.
 

"Why am I not surprised that your hands are all in this mess?" I said. "Let me explain a couple of things, Lilith. One - we are not giving you any money. Greg won a bet, and your guys lost a fight. When that happens, you don't get paid."
 

She started to say something, but I reached out and put one finger across her delicious-looking lips. Lilith's lips are the reason mortal women take Botox - they're trying to catch up to what she has naturally. Too bad she knows it. "Two - you're closed. For good. And three..."
 

 
I stopped talking because she had grabbed my finger and slid into me, pressing herself along my body and looking up at me with a heat that I felt even with borrowed blood. She ran a finger over my lips, and I forgot how to breathe for a minute. Good thing for me it's more a force of habit than anything that keeps me alive. Lilith looked up at me and purred "But Jimmy, I don't want to close. That would make me unhappy." She gave a little pout that made me want to give her my firstborn, my kidneys, Greg - anything to make her smile again. "And you'd much rather make me happy, wouldn't you." She stood up on tiptoes and licked along my jawline, and I could almost feel my IQ drop into the single digits.
 

Suddenly Lilith flew backwards and landed on her leather-clad rump, kicking up a little "poof" of concrete dust. I shook my head to clear it and saw a very angry Sabrina standing over Lilith with her finger in the immortal woman's face. "Look here, slut. In case you're hard of hearing as well as low on morals, the man said 'you're closed.' And I'm saying it again. You're. Closed. Any questions?"
 

"Oh, I understand you perfectly, detective. But do you understand yourself?" I've never seen anyone slink to their feet before, but Lilith moved with a liquid grace that was at the same time seductive and unnerving. Watching her walk made me wonder who was really the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
 

"I understand all I need to, you antique hag." With the mention of age, Lilith spun on her heel and stared at Sabrina like she'd been slapped. "Yeah, I know who you are. And I know another thing - if you ever lay a finger on my cousin, or any other person in this city under my protection, I will personally end your ridiculously long life." Sabrina stood with her arms folded across her chest, almost daring Lilith to make a move.
 

"You can't kill me, Detective. Better women than you have tried." She slithered back around to me and whispered. "Now, Jimmy, why don't we get out of here?"
 

"Because I don't go for older women." I said, and shoved her back. Keeping Lilith at greater than arm’s length was looking like a very good idea. "Now get out of here, Lilith, and keep your nose clean. I owe you for helping us with the Belial thing, but after this, we're square. Your little fight club is out of business. Go back to running a strip bar, it's legal at least."
 

"Little vampire, you have no idea what forces you are setting in motion against you." Lilith started forward with venom in her eyes, only to stagger back as a blinding white light came from behind me.
 

"But I do, Lilith. And you know all too well the forces that are at play alongside me." Mike stepped forward, holding his crucifix out in front of him like a shield. The holy symbol put off a light brighter than the July sun, and Greg and I both shielded our eyes. Bright lights make you more than a little nervous when you're one of the undead creatures of the night.
 

Lilith stood defiant for a long moment, then spat at Mike "I'm not done with you, priest. I'll see you again." Then she hopped on her bike and roared out into the night, her raven hair flying out behind her.
 

"We'll be ready," Mike said in a low voice, and I was pretty sure that I wasn't part of the "we" in question.
 

"Hey," I said to nobody in general. "Think she knows there's a helmet law in North Carolina?"
 

Chapter 35

An hour later, I was sitting on the floor of my den, leaning against a wall with a beer in my hand, looking at my friends scattered around the room and smiling. Sabrina was sitting on the floor next to me, her shoulder warm against mine. I could feel her heartbeat through her skin, pulsing along merrily. Greg was in a chair pulled in from the kitchen, sipping a bag of blood from the crisper and looking better every minute.
 

Stephen and Alex were sitting on the couch holding hands. Now that things had calmed down and no one was trying to kill any of us, Alex had a lot of questions about vampires, fairies and dragons. Stephen had more than a few questions about fairyland for Tivernius, who sat in our lone armchair explaining what he could. Mike walked in from the kitchen with a Scotch for himself and one for the gimpy dragon, and sat in another kitchen chair.
 

"If this keeps up we're going to have to get more furniture." I said across the circle of people to Greg.
 

"Yeah, well, we can afford it now!" He laughed, pointing over his shoulder at the pile of cash on the table. We all chuckled, and Tivernius sipped his Scotch, savoring the smoky flavor.
 

"I do wish we had this concoction in the lands of House Armelion." The dragon murmured.