Cain's Coven (Begotten Bloods Book 1)

Monster's Edge

Justice skidded through the gravel in front of the shop stopping with his right rear tire on the concrete entrance ramp. The pain was almost unbearable now as each pellet burned like its own incandescent flare under his skin.

It was reminiscent of the uncomfortable tingling from a limb gone to sleep, but each tingle was more molten stabbings running across the left side of his chest, around his side and into his back. He knew his flesh was burning away and trying to recover moment by moment.

He would not have been able to drive much further. He didn't have much time.

His left arm didn't seem to function properly, so he awkwardly shoved his body against the car door and half stumbled to the customer door of the shop.

Fumbling the keys with one hand, his body convulsed in reaction to the toxic metal within causing him to drop the keys. He bent over painfully to retrieve his keys from a crevice between the concrete walkway and the foundation of the building. Justice considered just breaking the glass out, but his better judgment was still weighing in.

The slayer had carried a shotgun of modified shells, and he had not been the only one. On your average cattle range a shotgun might be loaded with rock salt to discourage coyotes, stray dogs, or rowdy teenagers. Instead, these shotgun pellets had burst on impact injecting quick silver into what felt like a million holes in his screaming skin. Justice was sure he could actually smell his flesh burning inside.

Vampire skin being what it is, it had healed over the mercury in seconds before his body had time to try to expel the poison. The vampire blood was rushing to the mercury to try to fight the invader much like white blood cells in humans, but that ancient compound didn't stand a chance.

First things first. Start with just opening the damn door. The formidable task of getting the quicksilver out of every fiery pit before his body used up its liquid reserves was too far in the future to consider.

Opening the door was taking all the concentration he had, so he didn't pay attention to the car in the distance.

Didn't matter. He was confident he'd lost his pursuers before cutting across country on dirt tracks that weren't on any maps or GPS. It helped that he could race through the desert without the need of headlights.

The door burst open rattling the customer bell Chess had hung mostly as a joke. It seemed to set off a ringing in Justice's ears that got deeper and louder till it sounded more like a jet engine landing on his brain. Got to think, he told himself, or you're dead.

The silver plated blade he needed was supposed to be in the top drawer. He pawed through three drawers before spotting the long knife. He'd worry about why things weren't in their proper place if he survived the next hour.

He stumbled across the room and braced himself against the table. Justice gripped the knife with his right hand forcefully enough to bend the handle and let himself collapse onto the nearby sofa.

Tearing off his shirt to expose the wounds, he didn't even notice the new one he made with the blade. No more pain could register, it was already too much.

The convulsions came and went as he excised the bulging mercury. The liquid silver was actually burning away the flesh under his skin even as his body worked to restore it. For now his body was holding its own. It just wasn't able to generate the force necessary to break through his Kevlar like skin from the inside.

A wooden splinter would spit back out as fast as it went in. And the silver coated blade cut through his hide like it would into butter.

Shaking hands botched jagged cuts as he perforated the bulging skin. The mercury oozed out and burned a trail down the top of his skin before it balled into the deeper seams of the leather upholstery.