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“Immortality,” he breathed dramatically, hesitating again, expecting perhaps that I should cry out, “Not immortality!” but I was too preoccupied pulling at my restraints.
He
“I am, very. But I’d find it easier to share your enthusiasm if I wasn’t bolted to this table.”
“Actually, bodies aren’t immortal, only the brains.”
The zombies drooled and muttered a chorus of “Brains. Brains.”
Sonia mouthed the word and licked one corner of her painted lips.
“I’ve perfected the technique of head transplants. I can swap bodies as easily as you change pants. Let me show you.”
He
He
Cleto’s head sat in a steel dish. His face was gray except for the top, which was pale and shaved bald. Tubes ran up his nose and into brass fittings along his temple. A net of wires crossed his scalp and were taped to his skin. His eyes were pressed tight, dark and shriveled as prunes, as if to not see what had happened to him.
On the other hand, Cleto deserved the look.
“Once you understand the biology and chemistry, it’s a straightforward process, a lot like fixing an appliance. The problem is not physical trauma but emotional. One minute you’re cruising along on two legs and the next you’re as mobile as a casserole.”
“Why attack Cleto?”
“Opportunity, mostly. I’ve been stalking those lowlifes for a while. I couldn’t believe my good fortune that I got a fresh head and my zombies got a nice snack.”
“What’s going to happen to him?”
“I haven’t decided. His body was torn up when we captured him. In the meantime I have to keep his head locked up because of the brai…”
The zombies leaned into him and their cracked lips pursed to mutter their favorite word.
“You know what I mean.” He
He
Not if we’re decapitated. “We can be killed.”
“I figured that from your reaction to the sunrise.” He
That’s what immortal means. “Yes.”
“How old is the oldest vampire?” He
“I don’t know,” I answered, my muscles tensing as I expected the worse. “Several hundred years.”
“A thousand?” The prickles on his aura grew into thorns.
“I’m sure some have been that old.”
The thorns on his aura danced like individual flames. “Can this kill you?” He let go of the rheostat knob and grasped the switch.
The electricity bit where the steel hoops held my wrists and ankles. My body tightened in anticipation of the next jolt.
“Yes, this could kill me.”
He
“Yes.” I hoped we weren’t checking the list of options.
“Garlic?”
“Poisonous.”
“Really?” He
“Probably.”
“Gunshots?”
“Not fatal but very painful.”
“How painful?”
He rolled the right leg of my sweatpants to my knee. The thorns on He
He opened a drawer on the workbench and withdrew a revolver. More tentacles whipped from his aura.
The zombies, even Sonia, leaned close.
He
My kundalini noir turned on itself in despair. I steeled myself to be strong. The bullets would tear flesh and shatter bone.
He
“Yes, I am.”
“But you said gunshots weren’t painful.”
“I said gunshots weren’t fatal.”
“First rule of any guest. Don’t correct your host.”
He
CHAPTER 42
My mind put everything in vampire speed.
The knuckles on He
The bullet spiraled toward me, my mind so focused on the slug that I could pick out the grooves carved into the brass jacket from the barrel rifling.
Despite that, it happened quick. The trigger pull. The bullet flying out the barrel.
The bullet striking my right leg.
Time reverted back to normal speed. Pain tore up my leg through my spinal column to my head, a thunderbolt of misery that blanked out every other sensation. I couldn’t do anything but cry out to relieve the agony.
Blood gushed from the ragged hole, a well of red liquid that turned into a swirl of brown flakes.
He
He dropped the gun into a pocket of his lab coat. He went to the workbench and returned with a wooden tongue depressor. He scooped through the dried flakes and they floated light as ash. “Interesting.”
I couldn’t escape. I accepted the inevitable. The Araneum was sending help-Jolie-and with me captured, that meant the destruction of everything and everyone in this house. Felix Gomez included.
I should’ve waited for Jolie before starting this assignment.
This was what I was reduced to, wishing for relief by a
He
He told Sonia to go downstairs. He instructed Reginald to put out guards. Kimberly pawed my crotch and gave an abbreviated zombie smile: I’ll be back, sweetie.
“I’ve got another project demanding my time,” He
The pain crushed me to unconsciousness. I came to a moment later.
He said, “I trust you won’t insult my hospitality by trying to escape? Tomorrow you’ve got a date with Mr. Morning Sun.”
He
“That’s not necessary,” I replied.
He
Cowboy zombie pushed the switch closed.
The hot blast of pain ricocheted inside my body. My muscles locked up and my vision went from blurry to black.
The pain stopped. My arched back rested flat on the table. I tasted charred flesh and belched smoke.
“Excellent.” He