Page 78 of Unbound By Shadows
“No!” Selene cried, breaking out of her temporary paralysis to run toward them.But as she did, Margery deftly untangled her foot from the tree root and popped to her feet. She sprinted toward Selene and shoved her to the ground.
Margery made a disgusted sound and smacked the back of the vampire’s head. “You idiot, stop wasting time!” Pointing at Selene, she said, “She’s the one we want!”
White-hot fear coursed through Selene’s veins. For a second, she was beset with the ridiculous urge to look behind her—just in case there was some other “she” they were referring to. Surely these two monsters couldn’t have set this trap for her alone.
“I only need a taste,” the vampire said.
He drew his tongue over Sam’s bloody cheek. The sight was so revolting Selene wanted to turn away, but then then vampire beganto gag. Violently. Crimson blood trickled down his thick jaw. He slid off Sam’s body to writhe on the ground. Coughing and spitting, he wheezed, “His blood! It’s… it’s like acid!”
“It’s demon blood, you fool,” Margery cried. “You’ve just poisoned yourself.”
The vampire began to vomit in the grass. The smell was so noxious Selene pressed a hand to her mouth, fearing she might join him.
Margery watched him, then said with exasperation, “Look at you. What good are you to me like this? Oh, forget it,” She reached inside a fold in her red cloak and pulled out a polished stake. It was about eight inches long and made of dark wood. “I knew I should have done this alone.”
The vampire tried to crab-walk away from her, but Margery advanced toward him. Then she drove the high heel of her boot into one of his hands, pinning him to the ground. Crouching before him, she flashed a smile that showed her yellow fangs.
“Don’t—” the vampire begged.
“Don’t what?” Margery teased. With brutal efficiency, she placed the stake above his heart then drove it in deeply with the heel of her hand. “Nighty-night!”
The vampire’s body tensed, then crumpled. He fell back into the grass before the light in his eyes winked out. Television had led Selene to believe vampires disappeared in a poof of ash when they met their final end, but it wasn’t true. She took in the lifeless vampire before turning her gaze to Sam. Oh God, was he dead too?
A nauseatingsquelchpulled her attention back to the threat at hand. It was Margery, pulling the stake out from the vampire’s chest. Margery cleaned the wood with a handkerchief, humming softly to herself. When she was done, she twirled it like a baton then tucked it back into the folds of her cloak.
“There,” Margery said, winking at Selene. “Now it’s just us girls.”
Chapter 32
Margery pursed her bloated lips. “Are you trembling, darling? I’m not planning to hurt you. I need you alive.”
“What do you want with me?” Selene asked. She was still sprawled on the ground after Margery pushed her.
Margery looked surprised. “To claim my reward, of course. You’re a very popular girl. A true treasure.”
“Me? Why?”
Margery wagged a bony finger. “I knew you weren’t a Nereid back at Padu. And Samael said it was just your soap I scented—naughty boy! Tell me, how did you get to Aurelia? Did one of the queens bring you through as Lilith brought us?”
She knows I’m human.Selene swallowed. Why hadn’t she probed Arkaya further about why she had to disguise herself as a Nereid? Was it to protect her from vampires?
“No. Lilith didn’t bring me,” Selene said.
“Then how did you get here?”
“I… I fell through a puddle.”
Margery moved closer, her gray eyes gleaming. “What’s it likeback home? It was 1899 when I left. Why it must be over two thousand by now! Is everything run by automatons?”
“I… I…” Selene trailed off as she thought about what to do. Desperately, she tried to remember any moves from that self-defense class she took at the Y years ago. Besides yelling loudly enough to make a scene, all that came back was the instructor’s insistence that women have more power in their lower bodies. Kicking was better than punching.
Margery’s painted-on eyebrows drew together. “I asked you a question, human. Is everything run by automatons or not?”
“Uh, sort of,” Selene said. Her eyes darted around, searching for a weapon of some kind. The ground was bare of branches or sharp sticks. The club that was used on Sam had been tossed about fifty feet away. “We have machines to clean the house called vacuums. Carriages that don’t need horses and everyone talks to each other through little glass rectangles.”
Margery looked interested. “Are there cities underwater?”
“No.”
