stored away, Will used several force-lances to further dismember the creature. Then he opened the cage and used his sword to do a more precise job. It was bloody and awful. The smell alone was enough to turn his stomach.
His goal was to return the vampire to a pile of parts, devoid of vital fluid. It was a harder job than he imagined, and he wound up wishing he was only covered in pig’s blood by the time he was done. Then he removed the chains and stored the vampire’s body in a new jar, covered it, and stored it away in the limnthal.
Throughout the horrid ordeal, Will made mental notes. The next time he needed to harvest vampire blood, he would have a better process in place. Going up the stairs, he opened the door. The fading rays of the sun burned away the black blood coating his tunic and sticking to his hair. He used Selene’s spell to further purify himself.
Blake and Tiny were fully engaged in cutting up the pig, but it was obvious they wouldn’t finish soon enough. The sun was dropping quickly, and Blake needed to leave with the others. Will shooed them to the side and stored the rest of the pig in the limnthal. “You can finish this tomorrow. Blake you need to go.”
“All right,” said the manservant. “Are you going to come see them off?”
“It would just give them another opportunity to argue. Tiny and I will head to the Alchemy building. Make sure they know I won’t be back, otherwise they might try to wait,” ordered Will.
Blake nodded and Will and Tiny set off.
“Janice is going to be unhappy about us sneaking off without giving her a chance to join us,” said the big warrior.
“But you didn’t argue against the idea, did you?” said Will.
“Guilty as charged.”
Lawrence was once again manning the desk at the Alchemy building. He glanced up as Will signed in. “Hi, Will. Who’s your friend?”
“This is T—”
“I’m his bodyguard,” interrupted Tiny, affecting a menacing expression.
“Tiny, stop it,” said Will, embarrassed. Then he turned back to Lawrence. “He’s a good friend of mine.”
Tiny nodded. “That’s true, but I’m also his bodyguard.” He held out his hand. “The name is Skullcrusher.”
Lawrence wasn’t quite sure whether they were joking or not, but he offered his own paw and watched Tiny’s hand engulf his. “Nice to meet you.”
Once they were on the stairs, Will turned to his friend. “What’s gotten into you?”
“Janice said I seem very nice.”
“You are nice.”
The big man frowned. “It’s well known that women prefer dangerous men. Besides, I am your bodyguard; it won’t hurt for me to project a more intimidating image.”
“This is hilarious. So you’re doing this because you think it will make you more appealing to Janice?”
In response, Tiny shoulder-butted Will, knocking him into the wall. He caught Will’s shoulder before he could fall down the stairs. “Sorry. No, of course not Janice! I meant women in general.”
Will was pretty sure that his eyes had rolled around several times inside his head, but things straightened up a moment later. “You never worried about women in the past. Why now? It seems suspicious.”
“No reason. It’s just something I’ve been thinking about lately.”
“Since when?”
“A while.”
“Since you met Janice?” Will braced himself in case Tiny reacted badly, but his friend kept his involuntary reflexes under control this time.
“The l-last f-f-few months,” stammered Tiny as he utterly failed to lie convincingly.
Will nodded. “All right.”
“Honestly.”
“Sure.”
Tiny’s face was shading toward a bright pink. “You won’t say anything to her, will you?”
Will looked up at him with innocent eyes. “About the fact that you’re looking for someone to court? Or the fact that you’re infatuated with her?” Before the sentence was half out, he dropped down against the landing to avoid the blow that he anticipated, but Tiny didn’t move.
He was stricken by a pang of guilt when he saw the desperate look