Gods and Swindlers (City of Eldrich Book 3) (37 page)

Chapter Forty-Five

“H
OW DO YOU
turn out this pilot light?”

Terry whirled, Meaghan still in his arms. “Johnny!”

John grinned. “You stealing my woman?”

“Heh,” Terry said. “Nobody steals a woman like Meg. She goes where she wants.”

John smiled at her. “I missed you.”

She smiled back. “I missed you, too.”

“Yeah, not feeling like a third wheel at all here.” Terry squinted in the moonlight. “Uh, Johnny, is that what I think it is you’re dragging behind you?”

John looked over his shoulder. “It is. I brought it for you. This one wanted us to think it was a dragon.”

About five feet behind John, a small gray figure struggled to its feet in the snow. A length of chain was wrapped tightly around its arms and chest, and locked with a padlock. It glared at them and began to hiss something.

John raised his hand to the elf. “Quiet. The only reason you are not dead now is because Steph is busy and I convinced her you were worth more to us alive.”

“Iron works on this one?” Meaghan asked John.

“It appears so,” John said. “My mind is clear. No wings.”

“But no barrier, either,” Meaghan said. “This thing punched right through everything Marnie and the witches had up.”

“So barriers don’t work, but iron does. Unless it’s faking us out again.” Terry stalked toward the elf and stopped a few feet away from where it stood. The elf pulled back on the chain, trying to get as far from Terry as possible.

Terry took another step forward and glared down at the elf. “You know who I am and you know what I can do.” He gave the elf a wolfish grin and rubbed his fingers together. Static electricity crackled in the air. “And I can control it this time. Why are you shit heads doing this?”

“You broke the truce,” it hissed. “You mean to destroy us.”

“Well, yeah,” Terry said. “We mean to destroy you now, but only because you started it. The fair folk broke the truce.”

“You sent the wizards against us,” the elf hissed. “They gave you your power back.” The elf spat at Terry’s feet. “False god.”

“Look who’s talking,” Terry said.

I knew it. Cooper.
“What do you know about the wizards?”

The elf stared sullenly at Meaghan, then spat at her. “Impervious filth thinks it deserves to speak to me.”

Terry backhanded the elf across the face. It yelped and fell to its knees.

“Watch your mouth,” Terry said. “Next time, I’ll hit you with a big iron hammer. Answer her question.”

The elf merely glared at her.

“We didn’t send the wizards,” Meaghan said. “They keep trying to kill us, too. You guys need to do your homework. What wizards are you talking about? You mean the Order? Cooper and his gang?”

The elf shuddered. “They consort with the evil ones.”

The squid?
Meaghan raised an eyebrow. “You mean more evil than you? Because from where I’m standing, you guys are as bad as it gets.”

“You want to wage war on us.”

Meaghan shook her head. “Wrong. Maybe Cooper wants that, but we don’t. You got any idea why the wizards want to wage war on the fair folk?”

Terry gave her a quizzical look. “You mean besides the obvious reasons?’

“Yeah,” Meaghan said. “Why does Cooper want to break the truce?”

The elf glared up at her. “Filth.”

Terry raised his giant fist and shook his head. “Wrong answer. Want me to get the hammer? Make some elf paste?”

The elf shrank away from Terry. “The cooper wants to clear the world for . . .
them.
The terror that sleeps.”

Meaghan rolled her eyes. “The stinky space squid you mean.”
Which you appear to be more afraid of than I am. Time to take advantage of that.
“I’m letting you go.”

“Meg, you can’t.” Terry stared at her in shock. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I want to send a message.” Meaghan stared down at the elf. “I’m not scared of the fair folk, and I’m not scared of your stupid evil ones. All of you can kiss my impervious ass. Go back to whatever hole you crawled out of and tell your repulsive little buddies that if they want war, they’ve got it.” She leaned near the elf’s ear and said, in a soft voice, “Tell them I’m not my father. Remind them I’m a destroyer of worlds and if the fair folk want to survive, they’ll stay out of my way.”

John and Terry stared at her, mouths open.

“Uh, Meg,” Terry said. “Are you sure—”

“Unlock him, John,” Meaghan said. “Now.”

John nodded and pulled a keyring from his pocket. He opened the padlock and pulled the chains loose.

The elf shrieked and scrambled away. “You’ll burn,” it hissed. “I’ll see you burn, filth, you’re—”

Meaghan, her face impassive, took a step forward.

The elf whimpered in fear, then vanished.

“Right,” Meaghan said. “That should help Luka and buy us some time. Now they’ll definitely want to find any miracle cure Luka dangles in front of them.”

“You played him.” A smile blossomed on Terry’s face. “I’m impressed.”

John put his arm around her. “You okay? You’re shaking.”

She snuggled up against him. “Adrenaline. This always happens when I try to be tough. And I’m kind of cold.”

“You don’t try to be tough,” John said, rubbing her arms to warm her up. “You are tough. What do we do now?”

Pilot light.

Meaghan glanced toward the house.
Marnie, is that you?

Yeah. Better now. You guys were trying to figure out how to put out the pilot light in the dragon’s mouth.

Meaghan looked at the buried snowplow. “Terry, the igniter in the dragon’s mouth is magical, right?”

“Yeah, that’s what you said.”

“And the snowplow blade is made out of steel, right?”

“Yeah.” Terry began nodding. “Yeah, it sure is. And it’s bigger than any damn sword.”

“A lot bigger,” Meaghan said. “If we can get the snow-plow blade wedged in the dragon’s mouth, it’ll interfere with the pilot light, but—”

“But the dragon will be so pissed off it’ll keep producing fuel.” Terry slapped her on the back. “Meg, you’re a damn genius.”

John stared at them both, confused.

Meaghan grinned at John. “One spark and boom, we blow the dragon’s head off. We need to get the plow truck shoveled out as fast as we can.”

Terry grinned. “Why shovel when you can melt?”

“Don’t blow up my snowplow,” Meaghan said. “Don’t you dare.”

“Relax. I know as much about electricity as I do about fire,” Terry said. “I’ll start small. Let’s try this first with Luka’s truck.”

“No,” John said. “Use mine. Luka said he’d give me his new one when this is over.”

“Fine,” Terry said. “Which one is yours?”

John pointed at a snowy lump in Meaghan’s driveway. “There.”

Terry grinned. “Check this out.” He rubbed his hands together, and held them toward the truck. “If I do this right, the truck functions like a Faraday cage and the lightning flashes over it, turning some of the snow to steam. Might take a couple of passes. Lightning is more than hot enough to evaporate water into steam, but water and ice are crappy conductors, so it only heats right at the surface. It’s why lakes don’t boil when they get hit.”

“A Faraday what?” Meaghan asked.

“Cage,” Terry said. “Science thing. Cover your ears. This might get loud. And bright.”

There was a flash of light and a huge bang. The indistinct pile in the driveway was now a snowy truck, steam rising off it. Another flash and another bang, and the truck was free of snow.

“Sweet.” Terry admired his handiwork. “If I’d had coffee back in the day instead of mead, I’d still be a god.” He blew on his fingers. “This is the most fun I’ve ever had with the boom boom.”

“That’s impressive. Do the plow,” Meaghan said. “And my car.”

Within two minutes, Terry had cleared the snow from the plow truck and from Meaghan’s Audi.

“What the hell is going on out here?” Gretchen stomped onto the front porch holding a battery-powered lantern. “Yo, Sparky? You trying to blow up the neighborhood?”

Terry grinned at her. “Snow removal. Old school.”

“Terry’s been smiting stuff,” Meaghan said. “How’s Kady and the baby?”

Gretchen grinned. “He got here right before the light show. Big, healthy boy. Mom is doing fine, too.” Her grin faded. “You gotta keep him safe. You got any ideas how to do that?”

“In fact,” Meaghan said, “we do.”
Except for a few minor things. Like how I’m gonna get the plow blade in the dragon’s mouth before it can fry me crispy.
Her grin faded. “Still working on the details. Where’s Marnie?”

On my way
.

A moment later Marnie, bundled up against the cold, stepped onto the porch, next to Gretchen. “Would you take a cup of tea up to Steph? I need to get to work.”

Gretchen squeezed her arm. “Sure, hon. Glad to see you back in the game.”

“Me too.”

When Gretchen went back inside, Marnie walked out to the street. “It’s a good plan. I’ll try to shield you, but after the way the elves blew through the last one, I’m not sure how much help I can be.”

“The more important thing I need from you is to keep everybody else out of harm’s way. Once the dragon gets here, Sam and I are the only ones who’ll be able to get close to it.” Meaghan glanced at John, then at Marnie and Terry. “You need to stay away.”

The three of them looked back, eyes clear.

Time for another test.
“Or the dragon will stun you. Promise you’ll stay away.”

“I promise,” John said, the dreamy look back on his face. “I’ll stay right by your side.”

Terry shook his head like he was trying to dislodge water from his ear. “That buzzing. What is that?”

“The dragon’s shielding magic,” Marnie said. “I saw it this time. But I don’t remember what prompted it.”

Meaghan, Terry, and Marnie all looked at John.

“What?” he asked, “What did I do?”

“What we were we talking about?” Meaghan asked.

“About Marnie trying to shield you.”

“Anything else?” Marnie asked.

“You didn’t feel that?” Terry shook his head. “Johnny, how did you not feel that?”

“Feel what?” John looked puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

Meaghan, her heart back in her throat, took his face in her hands and kissed him.
Hell, it worked in Fahraya.

He smiled at her. “What was that for?”

“What were we talking about?” Meaghan asked again.

“You were all asking me questions I don’t understand.”

“Before that.”

John shook his head. “The shield. What is wrong with you all?”

Marnie nodded. “It makes sense he’d be more affected. His human DNA is from the Bronze Age. More susceptible maybe.”

“My DNA is as old as John’s,” Terry said, “but I can still tell something happened to me.”

“Yeah, but you’re different,” Meaghan said. “You said it yourself. You may not even be human anymore.” She turned her attention back to John. “Honey, you trust me and you trust Terry, right?”

“With my life,” John said. “Both of you.”

“Then trust us now. You need to hang back with Marnie, no matter what,” Meaghan said. “You need to help her keep everyone else away, too. Promise me. I can’t tell you why, but I need you to trust me on this.”

John opened his mouth, the snapped it shut. He nodded.

“Thank you,” Meaghan said.

“I still don’t like it,” he said.

“Neither do I. But it’s the way it has to be.”

Chapter Forty-Six

“H
OW SOON IS
this going to happen?” Marnie asked. “Any idea?”

“Right after Sam gets back with Luka is my bet,” Meaghan said.

“If they get back,” Terry said.

“Yeah, if. Since we don’t know what’s going on, we need to be ready to go,” Meaghan said.

“Go where?” John asked. “How are you going to do this?”

Meaghan shoved down the fear once again.
Don’t panic. It won’t help. It never does.
She repeated it in the back of her mind like a mantra. “What was it you said, Terry? About gathering your tools?”

“And taking your best shot.” Terry nodded. “You’ve got three main tools right now. Me, Marnie, and the snowplow. Let’s get you a few more.”