Alex Van Helsing The Triumph of Death - By Jason Henderson Page 0,74
go package to find the vial gun. He brought it out, found one of the half-full vials, and then started to open the jar.
Suddenly Elle kicked out, smashing the Polibow out of Astrid’s hands and screaming as she pried herself off the bolt.
Astrid screamed, forcing her hands to move as she bent down to rummage through her bag. She emerged with a six-inch green baton that she flicked, and it telescoped instantly into staff-length. She brought the staff to Elle’s neck. “Now can we kill her?”
“No, we really might need her.” Alex slid the lock of hair into one of the vials and clicked it into the vial gun. “We have to get closer.”
They moved out of the box with Alex’s Polibow firmly to Elle’s back and into the open air. As they held Elle at the top of a stairway that ran down to the platform, Alex took a moment to admire the island, an eighth of a mile of ice and snow.
“It’s a vampire wonderland,” he said as Astrid forced Elle down the stairs. They reached a plateau, behind a large crowd of vampires, who ignored them. The Queen was chanting still, her hands raised as she read from the text laid before her. The vampires were chanting in response, Now is the time.
Over the platform, from the satellite dish, darkness was spreading out and seemed to be pulsing in waves. Soon it would be done, and every street throughout the world would be madness.
“That’s enough,” Alex muttered as they drew close. Alex held up the vial gun, aiming for the Queen.
“It’s not that easy,” Elle hissed, spinning. Alex heard the Polibow go off, missing Elle, because Elle was a blur now, her arm swiping and smashing against Alex’s, sending the vial gun flying.
All eyes turned, and a few of the vampires spotted them. Alex heard the chanting dissipate throughout the island.
He watched the vial gun with the sample of Allegra’s hair and holy water clatter to the ice and slide against the platform where the Queen stood. It burst, spilling.
Icemaker turned then, registering mild surprise, and his first move was to throw a bolt of ice and bury the weapon.
Next he beckoned to Astrid and Alex, and Alex felt Elle grab him by the shoulder and drag him forward, shoving him roughly until he was brought to them. He felt Astrid pushed next to him and they stood, defiant.
Elle forced Alex to his knees, and he was staring now at the feet of the unholy couple, the skeletal feet of the Queen and the icy hoof of Byron.
“My Lord.” Elle bared her fangs. “It is time to be done with them.”
“I love how you get all formal around him,” Alex said. He was looking at the mound of ice where the weapon was buried. All that work by Polidori, all that work by some unseen force to lead them to the lock of hair, gone in a moment.
Oh, well. “It doesn’t matter; I don’t need it,” Alex said. He had a dagger in his hand and a ball of holy water.
“Why’s that?” Elle asked.
“Because whether you want to admit it or not, whether they ever saw fit to tell you or not, you are Allegra Byron,” said Alex, suddenly rising and slicing at her forehead with the dagger. “And I’m taking some of your freakishly spiky hair.”
A few strands fell into his hands, and as she was staring, dumbfounded, he slapped the strands of hair into his palm with the ball of water, and then smashed the glass ball against the heart of the Queen, feeling her rib cage crack as he pushed with all his might.
The Queen staggered, reaching out her hand to Elle, who was on the ground, trying to decide what to do. Icemaker was the first to regain his composure, and Alex felt a blast of cold slam into his chest and drive him back, sprawling across the ice, toppling handfuls of vampires. He heard Astrid, fighting already, and the Queen was screaming.
For a moment, Alex watched the Queen, Claire Clairmont, who had lived her whole life dedicated to finding power because what she had really wanted was to find a lost daughter, seem to grapple with all that she had learned in a few short moments. And then as she clutched at the holy water and the hair of the former Allegra Byron, she burst from the inside, and rained down on them all.