Tiny followed him as he re-crossed the street and retrieved his boot. Once Will was reshod, he used the butt of Tiny’s fallen spear to nudge the various vampire parts into a pile. The task was easier than he had expected since most of them had been gradually wiggling themselves closer together before his intervention.
Initially he had meant to simply resummon the alchemical firebomb and let it handle the incineration for him, but as he watched the wriggling mass of vampire parts, another idea came to him. Back when his grandfather had been educating him on the finer points of troll regeneration (and reproduction), the old man had told him that troll parts would fuse together. Will wondered if the vampire pieces would do the same. Or will they somehow differentiate and separate themselves? Will we wind up with two new, mixed-together vampires, or one larger, mixed-up vampire, or just the two individuals that we started with?
“Will, what are you doing?” asked Tiny, nudging his elbow.
“I’m waiting to see if they mix together or separate into the original creatures,” said Will absently.
“Shouldn’t we burn them?”
“I will, just give me a minute. We may never get a chance to observe something like this again.”
“I’m going to have nightmares for months,” complained his friend. “In my ideal world, I would never see anything remotely like this ever again.” His eyes fixed on the body parts. “They keep moving, ugh.”
Will heard a strange noise from Tiny’s throat. “Are you all right?”
Tiny gagged. “It’s the smell. I think I’m going to lose my supper.”
He scowled at the big warrior. “Don’t you dare. That meal was a work of art. Go stand a little farther away if it bothers you too much. The smell will be worse when it starts burning.” Will still had vivid memories of the stench of burning flesh from when he had set fire to the enemy camp in Barrowden. It wasn’t the sort of thing one forgot, but fortunately he didn’t have a sensitive gag reflex.
Despite his warning, he heard Tiny begin to retch into one of the ornamental bushes planted in the exquisitely maintained garden. Will kept his attention on the pile of flesh in front of him. It’s definitely separating, he observed. The parts can tell the difference between self and other.
The movements were slower as well, as though the vampiric flesh was beginning to run out of energy, like a clockwork music box whose spring was winding down. It wasn’t too surprising. They were trying to heal from a massive trauma, and almost all their vital fluids had spilled out. Would they eventually die without nourishment, as the fae did if cut off from Faerie? He had too many questions.
Will activated the limnthal and asked the ring a question. “Do you think it’s safe to store a pile of vampire flesh inside the limnthal?”
For once, Arrogan didn’t immediately respond with sarcasm. In fact, the ring took several seconds to process what Will had said before it answered. “So many questions. I’m assuming you need a quick decision?”
“Yes,” said Will. “I’m not in a safe place.”
“If you still have some of the clay jars in there, one of the big ones that I kept water in should do. Dump it out, put your, uh—sample inside. Be careful, though. If you’re injured or have cuts don’t let any of the vital fluids get on your skin. If it mixes with your blood, you’ll have a whole new set of problems. Seal the top with a heavy piece of cloth and tie it tightly around the neck. If any light gets inside it will destroy your vampire.”
“It’s dark out right now.”
“Not here, moron. Inside the limnthal. It might be daytime in there.”
That brought a dozen more questions into his head, but there wasn’t time. “You said the blood is dangerous. I didn’t get cut or bitten this time, but suppose I do—is there a treatment?”
“Sure. Tell your friends to leave you out for the next sunrise, then put a knife in your heart. That will keep you still until the sun comes up. It takes a few days before you start regenerating the way they do.”
“Anything less fatal?”
“A blood-cleanse potion will work, but only if given within an hour or so. After that, it will just make you feel sick before you finish transforming into an unholy abomination. It’s a good idea to keep a few of them with you as long as you’re dealing with the undead.”
Will nodded out of habit. The ring couldn’t see his expressions or movements. He actually had several dozen blood-cleanse potions stored inside the limnthal already. He’d made most of his money selling them to the school, and when they’d no longer wanted to buy them, he’d been stuck with the surplus. “How long do you think it will be safe in there? I don’t want to summon it out and have a fully functioning vampire at my throat.”
“If you’ve fully exsanguinated the creature it will heal very slowly. Hell, it might not even finish unless you pour some fresh blood on it. Add to that the fact that time inside the limnthal is a thousand times slower and I would think that you should be safe even if you wait a week or longer.”
“All right. I’d better get to work then,” said Will. Following Arrogan’s advice, he summoned the big water jar and dumped it out. Then he used the butt of the spear to shepherd one of the now-separate piles of vampire pieces into it. That done, he stood the jar up and used one of his spare school tunics to cover the top before tying it shut. He sent the jar back into storage and then took a few steps back from the remaining flesh pile. With a thought, he summoned the alchemical firebomb and tossed it at the pile before moving even farther back.
“Watch out,” he cautioned Tiny, who started to step forward, curious as to what he was doing. “It’s about to—”
“Damn it!” yelled the big man. He was far enough back to be safe, but the sudden eruption of flames had startled him. “Warn me next time!”
“—burst into flames,” finished Will, giggling with nervous laughter. The macabre events were beginning to take a toll on his nerves.
Chapter 17
There was a strange scene unfolding at the Nerrow house as Will and Tiny returned to check on Darla and the baron. Agnes was back at the front door, this time joined by both Laina and Tabitha. All three of them had tear-stained cheeks.
Darla knelt on the path from the door to the gate, her head bowed, while Mark Nerrow stood over her, his sword raised as he prepared to strike. Arrogan’s advice was still fresh on Will’s mind, and he realized immediately what must be happening. “Wait!” he yelled.
The sword came down in a blurring arc but stopped when it met Will’s point-defense shield just above the Arkeshi’s bare neck. The baron turned to face them as they entered the yard, a look of fury on his face, as well as a few tears of his own. “Stay out of this, William. You don’t know what we’re dealing with.”