Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang(64)

 

“Got it!” she said rather breathlessly as she stopped in front of us, both she and Eve bright red with cold. I handed them towels, holding blankets at the ready as Siobhan explained, through chattering teeth, how she was just about to give up when she spotted the essence of a horse, and followed that to Ulfur’s final resting place. “We may get pneumonia from this, but by God, it was worth it. Behold, the essence of one human named Ulfur Hallursson.”

 

I looked at the empty palm she held out for inspection.

 

Do you see anything? I asked Kristoff.

 

He frowned. No.

 

“Um. Are you sure it’s there?” I asked her.

 

“Oh, yes, it’s there. Only vespillos can see the essences-otherwise, we’d be out of a job. He’s right here, swirling around like a piece of blue dry ice.”

 

Eve had been peeling off her wet suit under the cover of a blanket. She emerged now fully clothed, with her head wrapped in a towel, rubbing her hands to get the warmth back. “Do we want to do this here?”

 

“Sure,” I answered, glancing around. “No one else is here, and I know you guys want nothing more than a hot bath.”

 

Have you ever seen a lich raised before?

 

Not raised, no, Kristoff answered, his gaze interested as he watched Siobhan gently set her handful of nothing on a flat rock. I’ve seen liches, of course.

 

What do they look like? Is Ulfur going to be all green slime running off his oozing flesh, and empty eye sockets? I asked nervously, trying to brace myself for the sight of Ulfur as an undead, albeit corporeal being. Or is he going to be nothing but a skeleton, like in those role-playing games?

 

Liches don’t look any different from a mortal, other than having black eyes.

 

Soulless, dead eyes that leach the life from people around them, you mean?

 

Siobhan changed into her clothing as Eve sat cross-legged on her blanket, her eyes closed, her hands held out as she swayed and chanted softly. “It shouldn’t be long now. Eve is pretty quick. She doesn’t do all the fancy ceremonies unless someone really wants them.”

 

Kristoff gave me a long-suffering look . I will be glad when you move past the point of believing everything you’ve read or seen in the movies.

 

Don’t get snarky with me, Boo. As of a couple of days ago, I had no idea liches even existed, let alone what they were.

 

Eve got slowly to her feet, her eyes still closed, her hands held out palms down over the rock. Suddenly she froze for a moment; then her eyes shot open and she brought her hands together with a loud clap that sounded like a shot, causing me to take a step back.

 

“Holy . . . Ulfur!” I jumped forward in joy at the sight of the familiar face, even if it was a bit wavery and wispy, as if it had been projected on a curtain of smoke. “Thank God! I thought I’d lost you!”

 

“Pia?” The smoky figure solidified before our eyes, Ulfur looking down at his hands for a moment.

 

“Yes! It’s me! I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you. Oh, well-done, ladies, well-done. Ulfur, I wouldn’t blame you in the least if you were pissed at me for leaving you to be sucked up by an Ilargi, but I assure you-”

 

“Dear God, what have you done?” Ulfur asked, his eyes as black as Kristoff had warned they would be, shiny and filled with horror.

 

Before I could say anything, he dissolved, just dissolved into nothing.

 

“No!” I wailed, waving my hands around in the spot where he had been.

 

“I thought that might happen,” Eve said, shaking her head. “Not good.”

 

“Not good? Not good? What happened? Where’s Ulfur? Why did he say what he did?” I asked, panicking. “Why did he go away?”

 

“His soul is held by the Ilargi,” Eve answered, her thin face pinched. She glanced at her friend. “I’m sorry; I had hoped that you would have a little time with your spirit before he was summoned from you, but the Ilargi must have been waiting.”

 

“But . . . but . . . I don’t understand!” I felt like pulling my hair out, near tears at the thought of being so close to rescuing Ulfur.

 

“Let us discuss the issue in the car,” Kristoff said, glancing over my shoulder. “The sound of the raising has caused some interest in the village.”

 

I turned to see a line of people streaming toward us. We didn’t hesitate in packing up our things and returning up the rocky path to where we’d left the car. I crawled into the back next to Kristoff, miserable and sick at heart at the thought of Ulfur suffering any more.

 

“You’re going to have to get the soul away from the Ilargi if you want your friend to be free,” Siobhan said a short while later, when we were heading back to Reykjavik. “I’m really sorry, Pia. As I told you, normally liches are bound to the person who raises them, unless, as in this case, their soul is held by someone else. I really thought the Ilargi wouldn’t even know that we raised Ulfur, but evidently he’s keeping a close watch on the souls in his possession.”