The Slayer by Theresa Meyers Read Free Book Online Page A

It looked sturdy enough, but could it actually fly? The ship shuddered and hissed, a column of white steam erupting from near the rudders. He glanced back at the advancing silvery tide of spiders, with their glowing, beady red eyes. Looked like they didn’t have much choice.
    â€œGet aboard! They have already set the fires to high to accommodate liftoff.” The contessa’s voice startled Winn. He glanced down at her upturned face. Damn, but she moved quiet-like. He was going to have to be more aware. Being away from hunting for so long had left his senses dulled. He didn’t wait to be told twice. He swung down off the horse and slapped the creature’s backside, letting it run off into the night. It’d have a better chance of escaping the spiders and getting back to Bodie if he turned it free.
    Winn jogged up the thick wooden gangplank that had been extended from the first deck of the airship to the ground as he followed the vampires.
    â€œEnric, see that those things are kept off the ship,” she instructed as she kicked a mechanical spider off the gangplank. “And bring Mr. Jackson up to the captain as soon as possible.” She turned and disappeared through a door with a stained-glass window in it that bore the same castle-tower-and-bat-wing emblem as on the dirigible’s balloon.
    If she thought he was some trained lapdog that was gonna come running every time she snapped her little fingers together, she’d better think again.
    Enric swore as he hauled up the gangplank. “We’re not going to get off the ground in time. Those things are everywhere.”
    The swarm of spiders was indeed covering the ship, weighing it down. The clicking of their millions of sharp, metallic legs caused an almost constant hissing sound, like a sleet storm against a metal roof. They skidded off the smooth wood of the gondola but clung to the gangplank and the ropes. The airship rose slowly into the air. Too slowly. But at least no more of the things could climb aboard.
    Winn stomped one with his boot. A thin, greenish liquid squirted out, and the wood beneath it began to smolder, sending up wisps of acrid smoke. “Damn things are filled with acid. Don’t squash them!” he yelled at Enric.
    He and Enric worked side-by-side trying to brush the spiders off the ship through the railings of the gondola with their feet. A few got close enough to crawl up Winn’s pants, their needle-like appendages gouging into his legs. “Ow. Those damn things are sharp,” he snapped as he kicked them off and swore in Latin, English, and French. “There’s got to be something we could do to get rid of them.” But there were too many of them.
    â€œI have an idea,” Enric said. A swirl of smoke appeared at Enric’s feet, forming a large, banded steam trunk and a pair of iron tongs Winn had seen farriers use to dig red-hot horseshoes out of the coals at the stables.
    â€œStart throwing them in here!” Enric said. He lifted the lid.
    Winn snatched up the tongs and started grabbing and tossing as many spiders as he could into the trunk. Enric’s vampire reflexes were fast enough that he could open and shut the trunk quickly and keep the spiders contained. The wind tore at Winn’s hat, threatening to rip it off his head as the ship rose higher and higher. He was moving so fast he almost missed seeing the several harried faces of identically uniformed crewmen that seemed to appear here and there as they scurried about ridding the ship of spiders.
    Winn glanced around and didn’t see any more. “What are you going to do with them?” he asked Enric.
    The vampire smiled back, showing off his fangs. “What we usually do to a nuisance. Get rid of them.”
    Winn watched as Enric tossed the trunk over the edge of the airship. It hurtled down, spinning end over end until it crashed on the desert floor.
    Adrenaline pumped hard and fast in his system,