The sound I let out as Stefan lurched forward, using all his strength to impale himself on the blade, was somewhere between a gasp and a shriek. The one I emitted as the sword’s tip emerged from between his shoulder blades to tent the back of his leather vest was more of a whimper.
Once again, time . . . stuttered.
It was like watching the flickering images of an old black-and-white film. One instant Stefan knelt impaled; the next, he was on his feet, whole and uninjured, the sword in his right hand. Dead one instant, cast out of heaven and hell and back onto the mortal plane in the next. I’d seen it happen with Ray D, but this?
If I were the fainting type, now would definitely be the time. Instead, I severed the ropes around my ankles.
“Guard the women and keep watch over Dunham,” Stefan said to Cody, who nodded, phosphorescent green shimmering behind his eyes. “I will handle the others.”
Shrugging off the last of the ropes, I watched him exert his control over the remaining ghouls.
The only one who made a move to resist was Johnny, reaching to reload his shotgun. Stefan was on him in two swift steps, his sword held low, the tip of his blade hovering in the vicinity of Johnny’s belly.
What followed basically looked like a good old-fashioned stare-down contest, only with a hell of a lot more tension. When Johnny looked away and dropped the shotgun, the tension broke, or at least most of it. By the looks of them and the creeping sensation against my skin, a few of the more undisciplined ghouls like Al were still ravening, but Stefan’s control of them held. I guess there were some advantages to this whole hierarchical thing after all.
“It seems after all this time there are things I have yet to learn about judging a man’s character,” Stefan said in a deadly tone.
Johnny shrugged. “I saw a chance and I took it. You’re a warrior. I reckoned you’d understand.”
Stefan gestured around the room with his sword. “This was not a worthy battle.”
“I’d have made it right once I won,” Johnny said stubbornly. “I would have!”
“No.” Stefan shook his head. “It would already have been too late. Such thinking is why you are, and remain, Outcast.”
On the floor, Jerry Dunham gave a short bark of laughter that turned to a coughing fit. “Like you’re any better than the rest of them, Lord High and Mighty?” he said in contempt when he regained his voice.
“No.” Stefan spared him a single disdainful glance. “But I aspire to it.” He turned back to Johnny. “Take your people and go. When the ravening has passed, depart from my territory and never return. Is that understood?”
Johnny gritted his teeth, but he bowed his head. “Yeah.”
“Good.”
A cold rill ran through dauda-dagr’s hilt into the palm of my hand, reminding me of my duties. “Ah, Stefan? It’s not that simple. What about the ones who got away? Ray and Mary? Hel’s pronounced them under a death sentence.”
“The runners?” Cody cocked his head, listening to the sound of yipping drawing nearer. “Unless they’re in a mood to get mauled, my kin ought to have them rounded up soon.”
“Those are Fairfaxes out there?” I was touched.
He gave me a faint smile. “I invoked clan loyalty. You’re sort of my partner, Pixy Stix. I wasn’t taking any chances.”
Outside the shattered front door, the thick coils of an iridescent tail flicked. Ray D’s body sailed through the entrance and landed on the floor, looking slightly . . . squashed. Apparently he hadn’t gotten far.
Lurine slithered through after him, bracing her spectacularly naked torso on her hands and arms before drawing herself up to her full height, the rec room suddenly seeming a lot smaller. Her worried gaze sought mine. “Hey, Daisy, girl! You okay, cupcake?”
I nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”
She poked Ray’s squashed-looking body with the tip of her tail. His sunken chest rose and fell feebly, breath wheezing in his lungs. “I hope you don’t mind. I took the liberty of—” Her gaze fell on the mermaid’s tank, turning thunderous.
Ghouls scattered as Lurine flowed across the room and wrapped her protective coils around the tank, including me in their circle. She lifted the tank’s massive lid as though it weighed nothing, setting it carefully aside.
The mermaid surfaced, her head breaking water, nictitating eyelids opening to fully unveil her lucent green eyes.
Lurine questioned her in one language.
The mermaid shook her head and replied in another, adding, “I listen long time. I speak some English.”
“Rosie?” I asked softly, leaning forward.
“Rusalka. It is not a name. It is what I am.” With an obvious effort, she lifted one webbed hand toward me. “Thank you.”
I clasped her gray-green hand as best I could, tears stinging my eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
The rusalka drew a long, sighing breath. “I know.”
If I could have stayed there, I would have. But I was Hel’s liaison, and I had a job to do. Reluctantly, I extracted myself from the security of Lurine’s coils. “Take care of her?”
Lurine nodded, tightening her coils around the tank. The ominous expression on her face promised a world of agony to anyone who dared entertain the thought of hurting the rusalka again.
Outside, the Fairfax wolves were drawing nearer, herding their quarry relentlessly toward the Locksleys’ summer home.
Inside, Ray struggled to draw breath. Unsure how to proceed, I glanced at Stefan. Now that the moment was here, I felt scared and uncertain.
Stefan’s stillness encompassed me, cool and soothing. His pupils looked normal, and I could sense the effort it took to maintain his immaculate self-control. “You have a duty, Daisy. Are you capable of carrying it out?”
“I don’t know.” My voice sounded small. “What happens if I do, Stefan? Do I risk my immortal soul?”
He hesitated. “I do not believe so, no. Not for ending the existence of one of the Outcast on the orders of Hel herself. The divine laws that govern the taking of mortal life do not apply in this instance. But I cannot swear it. So I ask again, Hel’s liaison: Are you capable of doing your duty?”
I took a shaky breath, gazing around the room. I had accepted this role. I had taken on this responsibility. My hand tightened on dauda-dagr’s hilt. “Yes,” I said. “If it’s what must be done, yes.”
Stefan took a knee beside Ray’s half-crushed body. “The sentence has been passed, brother,” he said gently. “And one way or the other, it must be carried out. You loved, but I fear that you loved unwisely and committed sins in the process. What will you? I give you the choice: starvation and the void of nonbeing, or Hel’s dagger and the risk of a second chance at divine judgment?”
Ray D’s fingers twitched in my direction. His chest rose, and he whispered something so faint I could barely hear it. “Maybe I can be with her again in hell. . . .”
My hand trembling, I placed the tip of dauda-dagr against his breastbone. Stefan reached down to adjust my hand, relocating the tip under Ray’s chin. “What I did takes a great deal of physical strength,” he said in a quiet voice. “It would be better and quicker to thrust upward into the brainpan.”
Closing my eyes, I did it.
And yes, it was awful.
Ray D convulsed, his broken body arching. I felt his death flow into dauda-dagr. A final death, a lasting death. The weight of it settled onto my shoulders, into my soul. I had taken a life.
All at once, Ray’s body vanished.
It was just . . . gone.
I looked at Stefan. His pupils were wide, and there was hunger and envy and regret in his gaze.
“He has gone to the final death,” he said formally, rising to his feet. “But our business is not yet concluded here.”
After Cody handcuffed Jerry Dunham’s wrists behind his back, we went outside and waited in the driveway. Someone had turned on the outdoor lights, and it wasn’t long before Mary Sudbury limped into the circle of illumination. She was barefoot, having lost her shoes or kicked them off to run. Brambles and stray branches had scratched her porcelain skin, tangled her golden hair.
Three wolves sat on their haunches just outside the pool of light, red tongues lolling, eyes reflecting green. Oddly enough, I recognized two of them: Cody’s brother Caleb and his wife, Jeanne. Don’t ask me how, but I did.
“Thanks, guys,” Cody said to them. “We’ll take it from here.”
The wolves melted into the darkness.
“I’m sorry,” Mary said in a little-girl voice, clasping her hands in front of her. “I didn’t mean to do anything wrong. Where’s Raymond?”
I felt sick.
“Raymond’s gone, Mary,” Stefan said gently. “And you have a choice to make, a very hard choice.”
“I don’t understand.” Her gaze met his, her pupils fixed and dilated. “Raymond promised to take care of me. And I’m hungry, ever so hungry!” She sniffled. “Will you take me home to my sister?”
Stefan shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s over. You must choose your ending, Mary.”
“But I don’t want to!” she said plaintively. “I don’t understand! It isn’t fair!”
No, it wasn’t. My palm, wrapped around dauda-dagr’s hilt, was slick with sweat. “I can’t do this,” I whispered. “She’s right; it’s not fair. She’s ill, for God’s sake! She’s mentally ill!”
“Life isn’t fair, Daisy,” Cody murmured.
Mary Sudbury’s head snapped up. “Did you kill my Raymond?” she asked me, not waiting for an answer. “Oh, you bad, bad girl! Did you kill my sweet boy Raymond? I’ll eat you up whole, I will!”
I didn’t expect her to rush me.
Silly me.
She was a hell of a lot stronger than she looked. Faster, too. The back of my head hit the pavement with a cracking sound. Mary’s pretty, doll-like face loomed above mine as she inhaled deeply, her eyes like twin eclipsed moons. “Eat you up whole,” she crooned. “Oh, yes, I will!”
