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beds. . . ."
"We're wasting moonlight," Suki said as I turned around.
Mooncloud had just sat down and was once again struggling to leverage herself
out of her chair with her crutches. Smirl stood and helped her up. "I
appreciate your hospitality and handling the arrangements for Luis's remains.
But we dare not let the trail grow colder by another night."
Jim Satterfield nodded. "Is there anything else we can do to help?"
"Cross your fingers," answered Mooncloud.
"Light a candle," Suki added.
Get me outta here, I thought.
We drove to the abandoned warehouse on the riverfront. Smirl followed in a
long black limousine.
He sat in the back where silhouettes suggested at least one additional
passenger. I only caught a glimpse of the driver: it was enough to convince me
that I didn't want a closer look.
Smirl's "people" had already tossed the premises so we weren't expecting any
additional clues, save one.
"All right, ye great slobberin' beastie," the general was prodding the cu sith
down the rear steps of the bus, "it's time fur ye to earn yur not so
inconsiderable keep."
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The cu sith yawned, displaying teeth that might have coerced A. Conan Doyle to
rename his story
"The Chihuahua of the Baskervilles." Mooncloud produced a scrap of black
fabric that had been left behind in Luis Garou's grasp.
The redcap held it to the green dog's snout. "Here now, Luath: get the scent,
now. Have ye got it, lad?" Luath sneezed and wagged his ropelike tail, causing
us all to scatter. "Right, now!" the old haunt shouted. "Hunt, laddie! Bring
it to ground!"
The Faerie beast raised its emerald jaws to the sky and made a great baying
sound that put city-wide disaster sirens to shame. He followed that with a
second that was even louder than the first. I had my hands over my ears before
the third bay sounded, but could distinguish no lessening of the volume. I
took my hands away from my ears as he lowered his muzzle and could hear the
tinkle of broken glass coming from all over the neighborhood.
Then Luath leapt forward, unfolding into a run. He vanished into the darkness
of the night.
Suki appeared in the doorway of the bus as we heard the tattoo of massive paws
whisper away into the distance. "All aboard or we're gonna lose him!" We all
piled into our vehicles. As the bus pulled out again, the limo turned on its
lights and followed behind us.
Suki drove, keeping one eye on the CRT display that tracked the homing device
in the cu sith
's collar. Lupé and the general opened one of the locked closets and were
checking out a veritable storehouse of weapons. There were regular crossbows
and crossbows with double and triple bow/barrel compositions. There were
firearms of more recent design until you studied them closely and noted
deviations in the standard configurations. Some weapons appeared to be the
latest in state-of-the-art, while others looked like they'd been ancient
before Angle met Saxon.
"The head," the general said, hefting a broad-bladed battle-ax, "a stake
through its heart and removing its head from its shoulders shuid do the
trick."
"We've never had to do that before," Lupé said. "A stake through the heart has
always been sufficient."
Mooncloud stared out the window at an unpleasant memory. "I could've sworn I
nailed this thing's heart. When it got up, I assumed I'd missed. But if I
didn't. . ."
"We could be in a whole lot of trouble," Lupé mused.
"There are myths and stories that suggested other means of disposal," I said.
Mooncloud nodded. "Too bad we can't go back to Seattle and spend a few days in
the Doman's
library researching this."
"Maybe we don't need to." I got up and retrieved my laptop computer. "I've
scanned a number of books and reference articles onto the hard disk.
Unfortunately, I've had little time to organize it much less do any actual
cross-referencing. It may take awhile to come up with something pertinent."
"Then you'd better get started," Lupé said.
Even with a week's head start, our quarry probably hadn't gone far.
Judging from the trail that the cu sith was following, they had spent at least
three more days in the
Kansas City environs before heading south on Highway 69. Luath circled three
different motels between the river and the intersection of 435 and 69 South,
indicating our targets had spent time there. Whether they spent more than one
day/night cycle in any or all of those places was anyone's guess.
There didn't seem to be much point in spending more time in checking them out:
they were already gone and, as Suki had already said, we were wasting
moonlight. We left K.C. behind, following the cu sith
's collar tracer, and hit pay dirt shortly thereafter.
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"Gonna see daylight in a little less than two hours," Suki called from the
front of the bus.
I had volunteered to spell someone on the driving chores but was told that my
top priority lay with the computer texts and researching alternate dispatching
techniques.
Mooncloud laid a hand on my shoulder. "If you've come across anything helpful
so far, now would be the time to share it with us."
I scowled at the screen. "The deeper I go, the more complicated it gets. So
far, I've identified over thirty different vampire legends from more than a
dozen different countries, most requiring different rituals of protection and
warding and separate means of extermination."
"Can you isolate any common threads? The next time we run into that thing we
need a better plan than the ones we've used in the past."
I opened another file on the computer's display. "See for yourself."
She scanned my short list. "Stake through heart or navel must be driven with a
single blow.
Decapitation consecrated ax or gravedigger's shovel. Complete immolation. Bury
face downwards. . ."
She shook her head. "The rest are just techniques for warding, delaying, or
discouraging vampires."
"You asked for the common antidotes. I'm still compiling data on the more
unusual vampire legends."
The general leaned over my shoulder. "Make yur lists, laddie, but I'm bettin'
on number two, here."
He thumbed the edge of a nasty-looking halberd that seemed to materialize in
his hands like magic. "This beastie may not have a heart where we'd expect it,
but there's verra little guesswork when it coomes to taking a head from atop
its shoulders. It'll no be gettin' oop again once't Axel-Annie, here, has
barbered it proper."
"I'm sure you're right, Angus " Mooncloud stared out the windows at the
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