The Holy Death

Chapter 25

"Fine... them? Like, more than one?"

"Yep!"

"Shit. Fine. Whatever. But Scott?"

Ah, crap. I knew he was gonna throw in a 'but'. "What?"

"I got me some demands of my own."

"You're not in any position to make demands."

"Bullshit! You want my help, you're gonna have to give me a little something, you know?"

Scott rolled his eyes. "Fine. What do you want?"

"Well, I'm gonna need a haircut, and new clothes, and a shower, and cologne. This damn crypt reeks of mothballs for some reason."

"Yeah, you definitely need a shower. Fine. But where the hell are we gonna get you a haircut?"

Jack started climbing out of the tomb. "Well, that's for ya'll to figure out, now ain't it? By the way, what's up with ginger, there?"

Jack, of course, was referring to Dawn, who was still unconscious and reclining against a stone grotesque. "Poison dart. One of Elizabeth's little surprises."

Fortunately, Dawn began stirring at that point, just as Scott was fitting Jack with the second shock collar, down on his ankle, inside his snakeskin western boot.

"Well, she's finally coming around, it seems," Scott said. "So, they let you keep your boots?"

"Yeah, they did. I told that bitch --"

"You mean Elizabeth."

"Obviously. Anyway, I told that bitch that I was going down with my boots on. And you know what she said?"

"Don't know and don't care."

"She says, 'I ain't gonna touch your nasty feet, you can keep 'em on!' I mean, can you believe it?"

Scott rose and grabbed Jack by the left arm as Jeremiah took his right. Dawn's eyes were starting to open slowly, her vision unblurring, beginning to reveal details. It perhaps wasn't the best place for her to be napping, as the first thing she saw was the hideous, malformed, horned face of a grotesque. She screamed.

"Dawn, Dawn!" Jeremiah said, "It's just a statue!"

Dawn bolted upright. "Oh! Oh, yeah, I knew that. Was I out? And is that Jack?"

"Good to see you, darlin'!" Jack drawled. "You are looking delicious today!"

Scott squeezed Jack's arm. He howled in pain. "That is my fiancée there, mister, so hands off!"

"Whoa! So you two are gettin' hitched? Congratulations! Am I invited to the big event?"

"No!" Dawn, Jeremiah, and Scott cried in unison.

"Just askin'!"

"Wait," Dawn said as she slowly rose from the floor, "I was out? As in asleep?"

"Dead to the world," Scott answered. "Well, okay, maybe, 'dead' is not the best word to use, considering that we're in a secret crypt in the basement of the vampire House."

"You were hit with a poisoned dart," Jeremiah explained.

"Well, that explains I was out, and why..." without further ado, Dawn vomited right there, leaving her lunch on the floor of the secret crypt. "And why that just happened."