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My fingers tingled as a low rumble from the clouds echoed through the graveyard. The Moon Mother was listening. I could feel her energy cloaking me, moving within me, circling me in a cone of power, a tornado of invisible waves that buffeted me so hard I almost broke my stance and stumbled. Hastily, I caught myself and reinforced my position. If I moved suddenly, it could break the spell or send it astray.
And then, I heard her laugh. The Moon Mother, her voice cascading over a waterfall of crystal, filtering down to soothe my fear like mist cushioning a chill night. The sky crackled, and a bolt of energy raced down to my fingertips, lashing me with a thousand shocks. The lightning recoiled in my body, churning as I focused on giving it form, on working it into a giant beach ball o' fun. My teeth started to chatter, and I knew I had to get it out of my system before it overloaded me and sent me into a coma.
"Eat this, boys!" I stretched my hands out toward the nearest dubba-troll. The stupid, shorter one, of course. I always got the stupid ones. He blinked—all four eyes—and was about to scratch his heads when the lightning shot forth from my hands, a round ball of brilliant light, to zing across the space between us. It hit with a loud blast, and his bewilderment turned to anger, then to the realization that he was going down.
I anxiously watched for any signs that my spell might ricochet—which had happened before—but the bolt merely encased him in a neon web of sparks. Within seconds, he keeled over with a tremendous thud, snaking the ground as he fell. His buddy turned and, seeing his fallen comrade, started in my direction.
Right then, a screaming of sirens slashed through the night, and there was a loud bellowing as a police cruiser screeched to a halt and Devins leapt out of it. "Johnson, what the fuck is going on?"
Though I felt sorry for Chase—his boss was a total prick—I had my own problems to worry about. I took off running. Away. The dead troll's buddy was too close for comfort.
As soon as Dubba-Troll the Bigger moved past his companion, Delilah and Trillian raced in. "He's not dead," she called. Trillian brought his sword to bear and stabbed the prone troll, first through one head, then through the other. He aimed for the eyes, the one place vulnerable to regular blades.
"Now he is," he said, avoiding a nasty spurt of eye juice.
"Very nice, but I've got troll number two on my hands!" I dodged out of the way as the bigger troll took a bead on me and changed direction to match mine. But as I tried to shake him, I glanced over my shoulder one too many times. My foot made direct contact with a low, flat tombstone. Pain rippled through my toes as I went sprawling across the marble edifice.
"Hell and double hell!" I tried to sit up, but the wind had been knocked out of me, and I could barely think.
"I've got her covered!" The voice wasn't Chase's. I glanced up. Oh shit! Devins was headed my way, gun drawn.
"Don't!" I tried to yell.
"Bullets won't work on them, sir!" Chase raced after his boss. "Their hide is too tough—"
"Bullshit! I'll show this SOB not to tear up the graveyards in my town!" Devins leapt over an open grave and landed on the other side. As he did so, the troll who was following me stopped, pivoted, and charged toward the chief of police.
"No! Get out of the way!" I forced myself to my feet, screaming. Menolly was flying in our direction, running faster than I'd ever seen anybody run, but she wasn't fast enough. The troll reached Devins before anybody could help him. With one swipe of the wooden club, the dubba-troll sent Devins flying back into the open grave. There was an awful thud as the chief hit the hole at an awkward angle, then slid into it.
Chase skidded to a halt and made a U-turn. Menolly kept up her charge and leapt on the troll's back. She managed to get her arms around one of the dubba-troll's necks, and squeezed. Hard. Very hard. The head went slack, and she let go, falling to the ground as the troll bellowed and swatted at her.
Smoky moved in. He had grabbed the club from the dead troll and was wielding it like an expert. He hoisted it with one hand, even though it was almost as tall as he was, and swung low, clipping the troll across the shins.
The troll bellowed again from its one still-functioning head. Menolly moved in behind it and again leapt, landing high. She reared back, exposing her fangs, and sank them deep into the troll's skull. He roared once more as Smoky took aim again and this time, hit him square in the groin.
Watching the troll fold was like watching one of those giant balloons at the Macy's parade deflate. Menolly leapt free, and we all stared as the creature keeled over, groaning. Trillian raced in then, sword raised high, and planted it through the troll's eyes in his still moving head. I limped over to Delilah's side, and she offered me her arm to steady me.
"Thank the gods. It's dead," I said quietly, peering down into the lifeless eyes of the dubba-troll. "They're both dead. Anybody hurt?" My foot still ached where I'd hit it on the tombstone, but it was nothing a foot massage wouldn't heal.
Everybody shook their heads as Chase knelt by the open grave.
"Shine that light over here," he said to Shamas.
Our cousin pointed his flash light into the hole as Chase lowered himself gingerly to the bottom. "We know the trolls already killed two hobos who were trying to sleep in the park," he said quietly.
Chase reached for Devin's pulse, then glanced up at us and shook his head. "Make that three victims. Devins is dead. His neck's broken."
I leaned on Delilah's arm. Three victims, killed by Cryptos. Joy oh joy. The Freedom's Angels were going to have a field day when they found out.
Chapter Eight
By the time we got home, I wasn't up to heading out to Smoky's, so he agreed to me coming out the next day to talk to Morgaine and took off walking down the road. Feddrah-Dahns decided to stay the night at our house, though he opted to sleep outdoors. We couldn't go after Mistletoe in the night. For one thing, we still didn't know where to start.
Morio still hadn't shown up by the time we got home, and I ended up leaving three messages on his cell phone. As Trillian and I climbed into the shower together, I couldn't get my mind off worrying about him.
"What's wrong, babe?" Trillian soaped my stomach as I leaned my head back to avoid getting my hair wet. He liked to bathe me, and I was quite happy to let him. Showers—now that was one luxury I'd miss whenever we went home to Otherworld.
"Just worried about Morio," I said. "He never forgets to call."
