Free The Foul Mouth and the Fanged Lady by Richard Raley Page B

your Economics class. I used most of the bought anima
for experimentation, but so far, other than the static ring, my
experiments weren’t going anywhere unless they exploded first.
    The static ring . I had it, full
charge. I had enough anima built up in my body to do something with
the Mancy. I had my artifacts. Only one of which was going to be of
use in a fight. The first one I ever made . . . I grabbed it.
    They were metal cuffs, lined with a glowing
white light to let you know there was something going on inside.
Cold cuffs, I’d called them back at the Asylum. Slap them on and
watch cryo-anima cool down the person’s body temperature until they
could barely move, too busy fighting off hypothermia. With a charge
long enough for one hour of use before they ran out, that’s more
than enough time to figure out what to do with the vampire. Or at
least call Ceinwyn and have her figure out what to do with the
vampire.
    Ceinwyn . . .
    Volunteered . . .
    She wouldn’t . . .
    Annie B burst through the door with enough
impact to crack one of the hinges. She blinked, taking in the room
to line up where I was at. There was a nasty look on her face. It
was the only warning I had before she threw my teapot back at me
with so much speed it would have killed me.
    Only she missed.
    Not by accident. She’d meant to miss.
    Hitting my wall at Mach 3, the teapot
finally broke. The shards of ceramic clattered all over the floor,
a dust of red mist spraying over the room. Poor chicken . .
.
    She wanted me alive to use the Mancy for
her. Couldn’t be good, vampires being vampires. It was never
supposed to be good with the Vampire Embassies. Infighting and
personal feuds going back thousands of years. Bad mojo to be a part
of. Especially for the food. But whatever she wanted from me, no
matter how bad it was, it meant she couldn’t kill me.
    I can win this shit .
    “It’s cute you’re fighting back, King
Henry,” Annie B told me, “but you’re making this much harder on
yourself than it needs to be. I’m not making you into a slave . . .
more like an indentured servant. Two days, your opinion, maybe a
bit of Mancy, that’s all. Am I really so scary?”
    “You want to fuck me and then eat me,” I
growled at her from across the room, my worktable the only obstacle
between us. “Of course you’re scary.”
    “Now, now,” she whispered as she strode
forward. “No reason we can’t do both at the same time, is
there?”
    “Leave, Annie B, last time I’m telling you.”
The Cold Cuffs clicked in my left hand, the ring sat ready on my
right hand, and anima bubbled in my chest. “I ain’t your normal
mancer.”
    “No . . . you’re far more fun.” Her hand
flicked at her face where the cut had been and now very much
wasn’t. “Have you ever had a woman inside you , King Henry?
Slipping in, running through your veins, tasting every part of you
as her body rides on top of you? It only takes two small cuts on
our hands . . . I promise it won’t even leave a scar . . .”
    My dick hollered from where it had run away
to hide, “ I ain’t ever coming back, I hope you know
that! ”
    For once, I was speechless.
    Annie B started circling the table. I
circled it with her, the opposite way. “No answer?”
    “Leave me alone.”
    “Final answer?”
    “You come at me again and I’ll do everything
in my power as an Ultra to destroy you, Annie B,” I told her, feet
still circling.
    With another lick of her lips, she made the
mistake I’d been waiting for. She hopped up on the table to try to
get to me. She’d kind of done a sloppy free-running move to get
over it. Hands down, butt sliding forward, legs out in front to
make sure I didn’t rush her. Only I didn’t need to rush her.
    The table was metal.
    Yeah, motherfucker. Metal . My
favorite. Better than soil, better than stone, better than glass.
Wonderful meee-ee-e-e-eetal. Oopsie daisy, Annie-bo-fanny.
    Anima burst from me, ten full minutes of
build up. A lot more than a