Tearing The Shroud (43 page)

Jimmy’s hands paused and he spoke to his bodyguard. ‘I can see why he’s been such a nuisance. How’s he moving so quickly?’

‘How are they
all
moving that fast?’ the football player asked in amazement.

‘It’s the potion I gave them. The one we took allows us to see it.’ Jimmy started to wave his hands again.

Potion?
Fear raced through her. It was
him
. The Tearer.

The football player shook his head, his attention rapt.

‘As entertaining as this is, I simply must get back to the house. I’ve completely forgotten an appointment. Let’s conclude our entertainment.’ Jimmy sped up his tempo.

Without consideration, Jule drew her leg knives and let one fly at his exposed side. In that moment, she understood what Vinni had described. She clearly saw the knife flip through the air, its surface dully reflecting the dim lights of the festival as it spun. He moved his arm, and the moment was over. The knife had buried in it just above his elbow.

Jimmy screamed and clutched at it. She took a second to determine her target and threw the second in a hard overhand. As she released it, the football player came between them, and the knife sprouted from his shoulder. She reached for another blade and saw the rocker’s arm snake around his protector, pointing at her, and starting to glow.

Vinni heard a scream and glanced. The football player covered Jimmy protectively, as Jimmy stretched out his arm, his hand glowing. Vinni felt the power surge as Jimmy’s voice somehow cut through the night.

‘
Soonjarr
...’

Jimmy
was
the Tearer. A blast of sickly yellow light erupted from Jimmy’s hand and enveloped someone.

Jule.

She flew backward like a rag doll thrown in a tantrum, slamming into a tree and fell in an unmoving heap.

Something in him changed. Vincent had never experienced the sensation, but Coleman knew it well: battle rage. A fiery energy formed in his gut and flowed outward, bringing mist over his vision that outlined his foe’s life energies as they pulsed in the night.

The knife wielder took advantage of the moment, darting in to slash across Vinni’s ribs. Blood poured from the gash, but Vinni only bared his teeth and duplicated the cut on his foe. The man recoiled, clenching his injured side, and raised his knife arm.

If you insist
. Vinni nodded as he sliced off the offered hand. The man’s mind hadn’t accounted for what’d happened, and he struck, blood arcing in a long spray. When he failed to land the blow, he held up his arm, his brow wrinkled.

‘Where’s my hand?’

Under other circumstances, Vinni would have moved to other foes, but they had hurt Jule, and he would mete out justice. He drove the
wakizashi
in and out of the man’s neck in one fluid motion, severing his spinal cord. Blood streamed from his mouth, and he went rigid then fell like a tree. Vinni immediately attacked a pipe wielder. Shuffling his feet forward, quickly, he feinted at the man’s flattened nose. When the pipe came up to block, Vinni stepped to the side, slicing open his exposed stomach, and the thug’s innards spooled from the wound in a ropy mess.

The remaining three encircled him and attacked as one. Vinni drove straight at the blocky man and let the pipes land. He heard his ribs break and felt the second blow across his back but never slowed. Thrusting his blades in an X across the broad man’s shoulders, he sliced them outward snipping off the blocky head and sending a second fountain of blood into the night air. The last two men attacked again, and Vinni lunged, thrusting to each side as their blows passed overhead. The stout blades drove upward into their chests and the men fell, one dead before he hit the ground and the other gasping as blood filled his punctured lungs. He calmly slit the man’s throat, and a third spray pulsed into the air.

The red mist receded. Jimmy and his guard were gone. Vinni rushed to Jule’s crumpled body, kneeling beside her. She lay on her side as if she slept peacefully. Blood pooled in her ear, running down her cheek. A frothy mixture of saliva and blood drooled from her soft lips and bubbled at her delicate nose. Her eyes stared, fixed on some distant place.

‘Jule...hon’...Jule.’ He didn’t know what to do.

Her breathing slowed.

‘Nonono. Please. Just... Please...’ He gently caressed her hair, and his hand came away sticky with blood. ‘Please no, please,’ he begged into the night, tears streaming down his face, as her breathing became shallow gasps. He carefully touched the back of her head; her crushed skull felt like a sponge. Jule exhaled a long breath and stopped breathing.

Chapter 43

Departure

Sebastian rushed him through the darkness. ‘To the car, Mr Wood.’

How could he have underestimated this? ‘Yes, the car. All will be well,’ he said, through clenched teeth. ‘I thought that minx’s knives were decorative.’ He clutched at his injured arm where a knife protruded from both sides. Sebastian opened Justus’ door then his own and started to get in, but Justus stopped him. ‘You won’t be able to drive.’

‘Why not, sir?’

‘You have a knife in your shoulder.’

Sebastian tried to look at it. ‘Ah, man, I hate getting stabbed.’

‘It didn’t penetrate deeply.’ He looked carefully. ‘I believe it’s lodged in your shoulder blade. Just a moment.’ He reached in his breast pocket, feeling for the small bottles, and handed two of them to Sebastian. ‘Open these and place them on the car. When I tell you, pull the knife from my arm, take my coat off — pour the solution directly on the wound, some on each side.’

Sebastian opened them as ordered, and Justus spoke over them, ‘
Oowdefnoi
.’ A red glow enveloped them and the color sucked into each bottle.

‘W…what was that?’

‘Later. Pull the knife out, now. Quickly!’

Sebastian yanked the sharp blade out, and Justus let out a long moan as he collapsed to his knees. Sebastian stripped the coat off him, bringing another groan.

‘Hang on; I can’t see the wound.’ Sebastian ripped the shirtsleeve open then poured the tincture on both sides of the bloody hole. Justus lowered his arm, and Sebastian looked at the injury. ‘The bleeding has stopped already!’

‘It’s a healing draught. Not the strongest, but it will be well within a few hours.’

‘Sir, how? Is it...magic?’ he asked, his eyes wide.

‘No, it isn’t.’

The big man looked confused but breathed a sigh of relief.

‘It’s sorcery. Now, help me up so we can get you patched and depart this wretched place.’

Return

‘Have you seen Vinni and Jule?’ Knife asked.

‘No, I’ve been here the whole time.’ Flea grinned as he handed a dollar to a pretty redhead behind the counter.

The sorority girl sighed. ‘Another one?’

‘Oh, you bet.’ He leaned in and kissed her, getting every bit of his dollar’s worth. ‘Mmm, mmm.’ He turned to Knife. ‘The best twenty dollars I’ve ever spent. But I’m out of cash.’

The young woman smiled in relief.

‘You haven’t seen them?’ Flea had an itching feeling…and it wasn’t good.

‘Not since I went to the egg booth.’

‘Maybe she knows.’ He pointed at Emily stalking up Caf Lane. ‘C’mon,’ Flea said, hurrying after her. They wove through the crowd and caught her near the library.

‘Emily,’ Knife called.

She turned, her face red and puffy. ‘What do you want?’

‘Have you seen Jule and Vinni?’

‘Jule? Vinni? I...I think I’ve done something horrible...’ Her hands waved like they had lives of their own and she started to stagger away.

‘Emily, we don’t have time for your crap!’ Flea grabbed her arm and spun her around. ‘Have you seen them?’ He said each word distinctly as he leaned over her.

She pointed toward the grassy area. ‘Vincent headed up there with Jimmy.’

Flea bolted and they pushed through the press of people to the path.

‘Where did angry guy come from?’ Knife asked.

‘What, you think I only do comedy?’ he replied.

At the path, they ran up into the darkness and paused near the music building. Knife said, ‘Hold up, let’s get where it’s quieter.’

Flea nodded and went into the tree-filled area to the north. They’d gone a short distance when he tripped, going down in the grass. ‘Gaaa.’

‘You okay?’

‘Yeah, but there’s something here.’

‘Well, be more careful.’

‘Hey, it’s dark, whadd’ya want?’

Knife flicked his lighter. ‘Let’s see what it...’ The light revealed the head of an Asian man with a surprised look.

‘Oh, this can’t be good.’ Flea shook his head.
Weird
, why didn’t this freak him out?
Knife on the other hand…

Knife gagged, and looked like he might pass out.

‘Dude, kill the light.’

‘Yeah, you’re right.’ Knife pocketed the lighter and coughed. ‘Let’s keep looking.’

‘Please!’ A voice cried in anguish further on.

That couldn’t be good. Flea ran toward it with Knife right behind. They found Vinni from the sound of his weeping. He knelt on the ground, looking at Jule, his hand resting on her arm.

‘Vinni, you okay?’ Flea asked.

‘Vinni,’ Knife repeated gently.

He looked up, his cheeks wet with tears. ‘She’s...she’s not...she...stopped...’

Knife searched for a pulse, first in her arm then carefully in her neck, and then sat back silently.

‘Knife?’ Flea asked.

His friend shook his head. Flea suddenly couldn’t stand and collapsed clumsily to his knees. The three of them looked down at her, silent, except for Vinni’s sharp breaths as his crying abated.

A leaf floated out of the darkness and landed on her temple. Knife started to brush it away, but Vinni stopped him. ‘No, it looks like a flower in her hair.’

Another one descended and came to rest near the first, and he realized they weren’t leaves, but large butterflies. Knife lit his lighter.

‘They’re Monarchs,’ Flea said quietly, afraid to disturb them.

A third flickered in from the side then a fourth, and as they looked on speechlessly, a swarm of the beautiful creatures flitted in to land on Jule, covering her broken body in a blanket of velvety color. Their wings beat in slow, random rhythms, but within moments, the movement of the wings changed. Starting at the first one that had landed and radiating outward, the beat synchronized. They watched awestruck as each brightly colored wing rose and fell at exactly the same moment in a pulse — up and down, pause, up and down.

‘What do you — ?’ Flea whispered.

‘Shhh,’ Vinni said.

There was a sharp intake of breath from under the covering of wings then another. As one, the whole swarm folded their wings and fell over, dead.

Her eyes opened. ‘I had the most amazing dream,’ Jule said, her voice filled with awe.

‘Jule?’ Vinni asked, his voice nearly a whisper. It couldn’t be. Every molecule of him surged with hope that it was, that this wasn’t another vision.
God, please let this be real.
He reached a trembling hand toward her prone body.

‘But...she was...’ Knife said.

Flea gaped like a fish out of water.

She sat up smiling, chatting, ‘I was with my grandma — you know how dreams are.’ She waved her hand. ‘We sat in a room by a fire drinking tea. It was really good tea.’ She grinned.

‘How?’ Vinni touched her shoulder. It was really her. He wanted to grab her and hold on tight, never letting Jule go; but was afraid he might hurt her, or crush the fragile life that somehow filled her again.

She didn’t pause. ‘I told her what happened, and she said she was very proud of me for saving your life.’

‘Saving my life?’

‘When you were fighting those men’ — she looked for them, and waved dismissively — ‘that Jimmy guy, he’s the Tearer, I threw a knife and hit him in the arm! I would have hit his side’ — she pointed to her body — ‘but he moved, so I threw another, then that football player got in the way. Then...then...’ — she stopped and looked around — ‘then I was...talking...with my dead grandmother.’ She wiped her cheek and saw the blood on her hand. ‘Vinni, what happened?’