I shrugged off my shirt, and crossed back to where Vivien sat, transfixed. With my shirt, I wiped away some of the blood on her face, a mix of mine, hers and Apep’s.
Vivien’s rounded eyes were fixed on Apep’s head; his eyes continued to blink in dismay. His body flailed behind me, searching for his missing parts.
I’d make sure they would be separated for a long time.
22
Vivien
To say Grim was more powerful than he had been before was an understatement. The beheading of Apep with the almighty scythe had me shaking in my booties, and that was my boyfriend.
Though part of me had never felt so safe, watching daddy death go loco over me. If it were possible to fall more in love with him, I did.
After assuring Grim I needed a little longer of a time-out slumped on the ground, he grabbed Apep’s head. He left to throw it in the trunk of the Bugatti, leaving Apep’s body stumbling around in the cavern. When he returned, I was on my feet, though a bit wobbly. Then the vampires regained consciousness.
Still set on attack mode, they went right back to trying to rip us to shreds. We quickly discovered Apep had an adjoining dungeon room—which first off, ew—that could be secured from the outside. We rounded the sekhors up and locked them up. I scrounged up clothes for the vampires and left them inside on the ground. The naked sekhors were too busy trying to murder me to pay attention to their lack of dress, but maybe they’d want to get clothed after we’d gone.
I took the time to kick Apep’s dismembered wang under a massive, ornate bureau. After stomping on it a couple times, of course. Good luck finding that, dickless.
Back in the employee break room, I stood a couple feet back, so the sun wouldn’t burn my skin when Grim opened the door.
I gripped Apep’s fang, knowing it was the key to sending Galina to the cradle. Maybe it would also work on Sekhmet because they were sisters.
Grim activated his dark shadow shield and walked me back to his car.
We drove up to Sinopolis and Grim got the door for me before rounding to the trunk and grabbing Apep’s head. Hate filled those red-rimmed eyes, but without his vocal cords, he couldn’t say a damn thing.
With head in hand, we found Aaron and Miranda still waiting for us in the penthouse.
Grim dropped Apep’s head in the kitchen sink.
“Whoa,” Miranda said. “Did that thing just blink?”
“Sure did.” I wrinkled my nose in disgust. “And while I got away with my life, Cookie Monster was not so lucky.” I clutched my ruined coat. There was no saving my big blue friend as Apep left a massive, blood-soaked hole in it from his spiked tail.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Miranda said, touching my shoulder.
“Sh-should we throw a funeral later?” Aaron asked jokingly.
“I think we should,” I answered in all seriousness. Aaron looked back and forth between Miranda and me to see if I’d break. I didn’t.
I’d wear black. Say a few words. Maybe sprinkle some cookie crumbles in the grave over my beloved accessory.
“Did you get what you needed?” Miranda asked, bringing things back to the present.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding toward the kitchen. “We are going to keep Apep’s head on ice, though. In case we need him to grow another fang.”
Grim came to stand next to me and laid his hand along my lower back. I loved how he always touched me. “The venom in it is Galina’s secretum mortis. I daresay it could be Sekhmet’s too.”
Aaron edged closer to the kitchen to get a look at the head, but quickly backed away. I can only assume Apep shot him a scathing glare.
Aaron stuttered and muttered to himself about how trippy life had become. Then he asked, “Sh-should we be talking in front of…uh…whoever this is?”
“His name is dickless,” I supplied in a flat tone. “And unless he can grow back his body, I think he’s pretty harmless in the sink until we decide what to do with him.”
Grim shot a disapproving glance at the sink. “Apep is a blight upon this earth and had long outgrown his usefulness. I plan to spread the pieces of him out across the land in boxes, as was done in the old days. Or perhaps use a more permanent means to remove him from this plane.” His eyes swept to the blade in Miranda’s grip.
“So what’s the plan now?” Miranda asked, shifting her grip on the weapon.
