Artful: A Novel

Artful: A Novel by Peter David Page A

Book: Artful: A Novel by Peter David Read Free Book Online
Authors: Peter David
Ads: Link
simply run down his face; instead it began to eat right into it with a sizzling and hissing, and the foul smell of the man’s breath was obliterated by a brand new aroma: the stench of burning flesh.
    He dropped the Artful as he staggered backward and then fell, clutching at his face, thrashing about like a fish just landed on a pier.
    “What the bleeding Christ did you do!” shouted the other man, the one who was holding the boy roughly, and the truth was that Dodger had absolutely no idea, but he knew one thing and one thing only, and that was that something that had worked once might well work again. He wadded up and spat once more, although this did not strike as directly as the first one had. Instead , it grazed the other man’s cheek, but it was sufficient to cause him extreme pain. The ruffian staggered, grabbing at his face and letting out a string of profanities, but he still clutched the boy. The Artful Dodger grabbed the man’s hand and spat upon it, and it had the same effect as his spit had upon their faces, causing the skin on the back to sizzle. Now the man released the boy, grabbing at his own wrist, and Dodger seized the boy’s hand and yanked him toward himself. In his other hand, he was still clutching the remains of his walking stick, and he ran toward the hansom cab, hauling the boy behind him. He as much as hurled the boy bodily into the cab even as he shouted, “Go! Go!”
    The driver had observed everything that had happened with eyes the size of two half-crown coins. But the moment the Artful and the boy were in the cab, he snapped the reins and yelled, “Yaaaah!” at the top of his lungs. The horse wheeled around and started barreling down the King’s Way.
    “What happened back there?” asked Drina. She seemed out of breath, although that might well have been from the excitement of what she’d just witnessed. “Dodger, what happened?”
    “I don’t know. Honest to God, I have no idea.”
    “Dodger?” said the boy. “You’re the Artful Dodger?”
    “The same.” Reflexively Dodger tipped his hat even as he felt his mind was whirling.
    “What did you do to them?” Drina was still looking stunned.
    “I spat on them. I spat on them and it just . . . it burned them somehow. How is that possible?”
    “Pardon what may seem a ridiculous question,” said the boy, “but you haven’t been drinking holy water by any chance, have you? ”
    “Holy water?” said Drina before Dodger could answer. “That’s ridiculous! Why would he be drinking holy water?” Then her voice trailed off and she looked at him with suspicion. “Wait. The . . . the tea . . .?”
    “The water was just sitting there in the stoup,” he said defensively .
    “You stole water from a church ? To make tea ?”
    “It’s not like I was impersonatin’ a choker and goin’ ’round and usin’ it to baptize babies and chargin’ a quid for it!”
    “That’s not the point, and . . . choker?”
    “Priest,” he said, motioning to his neck to indicate a collar. And before Drina could start up with her recriminations once more, he quickly turned his attentions back to the boy. “What dif’rence would it make what I was drinking?”
    “It probably won’t last for long—a few hours from now, your saliva will be back to normal—but for the moment there was enough residue in your spit to be effective against them,” said the boy.
    “Effective how?” said Drina. “I don’t understand. Who were those villains?”
    “Not who. What .” The boy said very darkly, with much drama and pronouncement, “Vampyres.”
    Drina and the Artful Dodger exchanged looks. Dodger didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the notion. “Vampyres,” said Drina slowly. “You cannot be serious.”
    “Serious as the grave, miss,” he said. “Those two took me prisoner . . . held me captive . . .”
    “And that makes them vampyres?”
    “No, the fact that they are undead, drink blood, and are burned by holy water

Similar Books

The Devil in Green

Mark Chadbourn

The Afterlife

John Updike

Spook's Curse

Joseph Delaney

The Hole in the Wall

Lisa Rowe Fraustino

Barsoom Omnibus

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Ashes to Ashes

Nathaniel Fincham