Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 27
© Denise Bossarte
Grace dug through her pocket looking for
the lighter she carried as part of her regular supplies. Finding it with a
satisfied grunt, she headed back around the crates to the chaos on the other
side. The Glamour was shouting encouragement to the woman-thing as it continued
its strangle hold on Anthony who was turning blue. Billy stopped trying to
shoot the thing, as it had no effect, and was angling to get past the monster
to deal with the Glamour instead.
Grace
scooped up a piece of discarded clothing as she passed the torture table and
headed toward the others. She stopped a few feet away from the monster and lit
the lighter, holding the flame to an edge of the blouse to start the cloth on
fire. It refused to catch at first, and Grace’s frustration rose. Forcing the
flame against the material, she glanced over at Anthony and saw his purple
face. She recognized he was losing consciousness as his futile kicking and
punching against the thing slowed.
Finally
the blouse caught fire. Grace moved in as close to the monster as she dared to
toss the burning shirt on the back of the thing’s head. She placed it as far
away from Anthony as she could and still start the monster on fire. The flaming
material landed right on target and the hair caught with a whoosh forming a
halo around the grotesque half-human face. In response to the noise, the
creature turned its empty eyes toward Grace although no sound came from its
gaping lip-less mouth.
“No!”
Grace heard the Glamour scream.
Turning,
she saw him drop the curved knife and go to the creature, beating his hands
against the flames, only fanning them and burning himself badly.
The
flames now engulfed the entire head of the creature and were progressing down
its body, and still it did not try to quench the flames. It simply stood in
eerie silence continuing to throttle Anthony. It was oblivious to the
destruction; it ignored the smell of burning flesh growing stronger by the
minute.
With
the progress of the flames, the thing began to register pain, and it dropped
Anthony to bat at its own head.
Seeing
Anthony released, Billy raised his pistol and shouted “Stop” to get the
Glamour’s attention. All his police training and his natural sense of fairness
made him reluctant to shoot someone in the back. But in this case it was a
mistake. Getting the Glamour’s attention was the last thing he should have
done.
Grace
bent down and grabbed Anthony’s limp form under his arms. She heard several
gunshots from the other side of the creature as she backpedaled to drag Anthony
away a large distance. She noted the pentagram containing the thing was marred
during Anthony’s attack and now it was almost obliterated. Setting her pistol
beside her, she checked for his pulse and finding none started CPR, working to
restore his breathing and heartbeat.
As she
kept up her rhythm on Anthony’s chest, she started as the thing all at once
went up completely in flames, despite not being clothed in obvious flammable
material. She wondered with distraction what made it that susceptible to fire.
If its incomplete nature or the broken pentagram had something to do with its
now full immolation. As the creature fell to its knees, a sinking pillar of
flame, Grace saw two figures struggling beyond the smoke and light cast off by
the creature.
Turning
her attention back to the still unbreathing body beneath her, Grace exclaimed
“Damn it, Anthony! What the hell were you thinking? Come on, idiot! Breath!”
She continued working on him, trying to maintain an even rhythm despite the
distractions.
As the
seconds stretched into minutes, she continued to berate him. “Come on, idiot!”
she shouted, working until he let out a weak cough.
“Stay
here!” she commanded as he tried to roll over onto his side, not wanting him to
get in the way. She grabbed her pistol and jumped to her feet.
She
dashed toward to the creature. It was now a burning heap on the floor, its
movements like a dying bug trapped on its back, scrabbling but finding no
purchase. With a chill of premonition, Grace saw there was only a single figure
on the ground behind it, unmoving. Belatedly, she realized while she was working
on the unconscious Anthony she left Billy with no protection from the Glamour’s
mind controlling ability.
She
raced past the burning creature to find Billy lying unconscious with a piece of
concrete lying next to his bleeding head. Grace cast about searching in vain
for the Glamour, but he was gone.
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