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Dumb asses.Too much booze made tourists wander off like snacks-on-delivery. And as much as I wanted to dismiss it as simple Darwinism in action, I couldn’t. I had an overactive need to save people.
I motioned for them to stand. “Come on.”
“Where are you taking us?” The man moved his feet like he was going to stand and fight, and as much as I respected the instinct to save yourself, it would serve him better if he’d had that self-preservation urge before coming to a cemetery at night.
Before I could say anything else, adraugrarrived as if summoned by their foolishness.
The dead lady was standing in the periphery of my vision. Sheflowedwith the speed of a century-or-more corpse. Dressed in a cream linen suit coat that was cut for a woman and a pair of trousers that matched, thedraugrlooked like a well-dressed woman who’d merely forgotten to wear a blouse under her suit jacket. Her hair was all but shaved, and she wore no jewelry that I could see. If not for the pervading feel of death that flooded me, I might think her human from this distance.
But my magic was grave magic. She was human once, but from the feel of her, it had been atleasta century.
Sword up just in case, I called, “On my left.”
Eli moved toward the nice, human tourists and raised a lethal blade that looked like it had been cut from moonlight. The man had an uncanny ability to hide weapons that I wanted to study in detail.
The human woman gasped as she saw that short sword. “Oh my goodness, oh my—"
“Hush,” the man said, pulling her close.
Then, thedraugrwas beside us,flowingwith the serpentine motion that typically only came with age and experience. She was one place and then the next, faster than vision can track. It probably looked like magic to the tourists, even though it was simple—albeit remarkable—speed.
“My lady has a question for you, Ms. Crowe,” thedraugrsaid, bowing her head to me briefly before she glanced at the humans who were currently protected by Eli, and then back at me. From this close, thedraugr’sserpent-like slitted eyes were impossible to mistake for human.
She flashed a grin at me and put a hand to her chest. “Oh, no, a flimsy clasp and a cheap piece of metal. Whatever shall I do?”
Eli raised his sword as she took a step toward the tourists. “Nothing.”
Before she couldflow, I moved up to her back, lifting my dagger. I stopped my cut just at the kiss of her throat.
“Don’t,” I whispered, behind her, sharpened blade at the right side of her throat.
Thedraugrreached up with her left hand and shoved my arm away. Sheflowedso we were face-to-face and punched me.
I stumbled, feeling foolish that I’d underestimated her. Maybe the “lady” she referred to wasn’t Beatrice. I’d gotten so accustomed to all thingsdraugrbeing my dead great-times-great-grandmother’s domain that I’d assumed. Possibly incorrectly.
“Ouch.” I grasped my sword, but before I could retaliate, I felt the echoing voices of the waking dead under the earth. “Donkey dongs!”
In my stumble, my hand sliced along a grave, and my now-bloodied hand slammed down on to the soil. It wasn’t a large cut, but it was my blood on grave dirt. Blood filled with grave magic was like wakey-wakey juice for the dead.
I looked at Eli. “Get them out. Now.”
I urged the waking dead, “Stay where you are. Please.”
We come.
Mother.
We are yours.
Who struck you?
We protect.
“Protect,” I echoed.
Protect!
Their voices rose, twining together like so many threads. I hadn’t ever been fond of raising the deaden masse, but the combination of my rage and fear had tainted my blood this time. I’d summoned them, and in my exhaustion, I’d given them purpose by repeating that word.
