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At this point, I think the worst of it is over, but some of the ballsier Lodge Within the Lodge members who still have weapons charge us. Vidocq is beginning to run out of vials, but I still have my Gladius, so I’m pretty confident we’ve got this covered.

Nope.

Some of the Lodge bastards Mike was guarding managed to jump him. The ones not holding him down are with Dan and Juliette, who must have circled back and grabbed Janet to complete the ritual.

I scream hoodoo at them but have to be careful. I can’t blow up or burn anybody without killing Janet. Instead, I call down a swarm of Hellion hornets on them. They’re twice the size of mortal hornets and the venom in their tails is pure acid. A few stings will burn holes in you. Too many and you start losing limbs. Enough stings and you’ll melt like a snowman in Malibu.

I’m close enough that I can control the hornets to go after the doom twins and the Lodge assholes while keeping Janet safe. Dan, Juliette, and their mob scatter, screaming at a real vision of Hell.

Dan takes off for the mansion again, leaving Juliette behind. The hornets drive her back across the cavern. Half-blinded and bleeding from the stings, she bounces off the sacrifice table in Kenny’s direction. He sends out a couple more Stay Belows and they grab her by the arms. The hornets swarm around the three of them, but only Juliette feels the stings.

Kenny says, “You let me die, Juliette. You let me die and then you brought me back so I could be your errand boy again. Not this time. Not ever again. Do you want to see the Land of the Dead? Then come and join me.”

Juliette doesn’t go easy. She fights back against the Stay Belows, but in the end it gets her nowhere. Her screams from the hornet stings eventually turn to watery gurgles as the Stay Belows drag her to Kenny, where they’re both ripped to shreds in the House of Knives.

The Lodge toughs holding on to Manimal Mike run off into the cavern when they see what happened to Juliette. I pull Mike back to his feet and take him to the boulder where I hid Janet. But I can’t find them or Vidocq. I dispel the hornets and look for them.

Kenny has called up more Stay Belows, this time with weapons. I should be

able to take out all of them easily with my Gladius, but I’ve lost enough blood that my reflexes aren’t what they should be. I might be fine against a few mortal opponents, but these undead pricks don’t fall down as easily.

They surround me and attack with broadswords and Mayan battle axes. I swing the Gladius in a wide defensive circle, but no matter how many spooks I take down, it seems like there are more to take their place. I manage to hack a hole in the mob and get through so there’s no one at my back, but I take a lot of shots along the way. I’m bleeding all over.

Stumbling back, I shout fire hoodoo, but they walk right through that. I can’t think straight. I know there are other ways to hurt them, but my brain has flatlined. All I can think to do is put my head down and charge back into the bunch, hacking them down before I bleed out.

As I start to put that brilliant plan into play, something noxious explodes in front of me. It smells like garlic, burning rubber, and the taste of pennies. I stumble back, my eyes watering. Someone is shouting in French. Vidocq closes in on me and the Stay Belows. His potions force them farther and farther back.

He shouts, “I’ll push them back to Hell. You deal with the rest of these curs.”

Vidocq gets the bunch away from me long enough that I can get a breath and clear my head. Not that it helps much.

The moment I’m clear of the Stay Belows, Dan comes out of fucking nowhere and slams me in the ribs with a war hammer. I go down on my stupid face and the Gladius goes out. I really don’t want this Hollywood High, wannabe Criswell, Hugh Hefner, snooty wine-snob piece of shit to be the one who kills me for good, but that’s how things are looking as Dan stands over me with the war hammer aimed at my head.

He says, “Looks like we didn’t need Janet after all. You’re going to be a much better sacrifice.”

I tense my muscles, hoping I’m still fast enough to roll out of the way in time.

He raises it above his head. I get ready, but I know I have a less-than-even chance of doing this right.

Something streaks behind Dan. He cries out in pain and half drops the war hammer to his side.

Something shoots by again, and this time it latches on to him.

It’s Janet. They have the small automatic knife they showed me way back in Teddy Osterberg’s cemetery. They’ve latched on to Dan’s back and are stabbing him over and over again. Finally, he drops the hammer and falls to his knees. Janet keeps stabbing and all clever Dan can think to do is roll up like an armadillo and hope he grows armor.

When I can get to my feet, I grab Janet and pull them off Dan. He’s fucked up but not dead yet.

I kiss Janet on their bloody cheek and say, “Thanks.”

Then I get out the black blade and cut Dan’s head off.

But I do it at a specific angle and in a certain way, so that when his head comes free from his body, he’s not dead. He’s exactly like Kasabian that first night when I came back from Hell. And just like Kasabian, Dan is screaming up a storm.

“What’s happening? I’m dead! I’m dead!”

I pick him up by the hair and angle him so he can see his body lying on the cavern floor.

“No, Dan,” I tell him. “You’re not dead. And you’re not going to die until I let you.”