Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

cow," Rose said casually. "So up herself just because she lives in a cabbage patch. Treating us like shit, like we're only here on sufferance. We're here to talk to Moon, bitch, and you don't get a say in the matter."
    "I'd put that sword away, if I were you," said Hellen Adair. She hadn't budged an inch, and she met Rose's cold gaze squarely.
    "Or what?" said Rose. "You'll bash me over the head with a flower?"
    "Something like that," said Hellen.
    Bloodred vines snapped out of the surroundings like living whips, and wrapped themselves around Rose in a moment. They tightened painfully, cutting into Rose's flesh through her leathers, but she never made a sound. She tried to struggle, and more vines lashed out to envelop her. Brett's hand went to the gun at his side, but Jesamine was quickly there beside him, her hand on top of his, holding it firmly in place.
    Saturday looked to Lewis, who shook his head quickly.
    "Please release our friend," Lewis said to Hellen. "She may be crazy, but she means well. Mostly. Either way, she's with me, and I vouch for her behavior."
    "This is our world," Hellen said calmly to Rose. "It harbors and protects us. It is alive and aware, because the Red Brain is in every part of it. And Moon is always listening. Now, are you going to behave, or shall I have the city thread a barbed vine up your arse, through your guts, and out your eye?"
    "She'll behave," said Lewis. "I guarantee it. On my honor as a Deathstalker."
    "She's not worth it," said Hellen. "She'll betray you in the end. Her kind always does."
    "She is my friend, sworn to my cause," said Lewis. "Now release her. Unless you want to take me on as well."
    Hellen looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, and then nodded abruptly. The vines slowly loosened and unwrapped themselves from around Rose. Brett helped her pull free, and everyone watched to see
    what she would do. She put her sword away and nodded to Lewis, as calm and cold as always.
    "Thank you, Deathstalker. She would have killed me, you know, just to make a point. She has her own agenda here. Don't trust her."
    "Everyone has their own agenda," said Lewis.
    Hellen brought them to the heart of the city—St. Beatrice'sMission , or what was left of it. The original rough buildings had been carefully maintained down the years as a shrine to the memory of the blessed St. Beatrice, the simple nun who came to tend the dying lepers of Lachrymae Christi, just because she thought it was the right thing to do. Lewis and his companions were astonished. They had no idea the original mission still existed; no one in the Empire did. It was a place of legend, of mystery, of awe.
    Hellen left them at the gates to the courtyard and said she'd be back for them later, after they'd seen what Moon wanted them to see. For a long time, none of them moved. It seemed a small and shabby place, compared to its mythic status in the story of Owen Deathstalker and St. Beatrice, but just being there took their breath away. To be where legends had been carved out of history, to walk where heroes walked…
    Lewis moved slowly forwards across the packed-earth courtyard, and the others followed him. They were all affected to some degree, even Saturday. The place fairly radiated weight and significance. Vital matters had been decided here, where a small group of people had beaten off overwhelming inhuman odds. Stretching away before them were two rows of wooden stakes, forming a long path, and on every spike was impaled the severed head of a Grendel. There were hundreds of the ugly things, shining scarlet heart-shaped heads that had no human element in them. Grendels were living killing machines, bastard children of the Madness Maze, long and long ago. Deadly, implacable, unstoppable. Except here.
    Jesamine pressed in close beside Lewis, holding his hand almost painfully tight.
    "These creatures died over two hundred years ago," she whispered. "Why haven't the heads decayed?"
    Lewis shrugged uneasily. "Maybe Grendels don't decay. They were famous for being indestructible."
    "Yes, but you cheated," said Brett.
    Rose sniffed. "I won, didn't I?"
    "You killed one," Lewis said shortly. "Owen and Hazel killed dozens. Sometimes with their bare hands."
    "You're right," said Rose. "That is impressive."
    "I would have liked to meet a Grendel," said Saturday, flexing his foreclaws wistfully.
    "No, you wouldn't," said Lewis. "Trust me on this. They weren't natural creatures. They were created to be unstoppable. They