Geist (12 page)

Back to the basics. 

"Let's see...the first body was found this past Monday, October sixth. Then the next one was found on Wednesday the eighth, and the third one on Friday." 

"The tenth?" 

"Yeah, like every other day." Joe replaced his phone in his front left pocket. His badge hung on a chain around his neck. "This whole thing just has me sick to my stomach—and we don't have time for it right now. We need to get to the Abysmal and get Zoë out." 

"That's true," Jason glanced at Dags and me. "But you do realize—or I hope you all do—that you're not going to just pull her out and leave. There can't be a vacuum in that Throne." 

"So I keep hearing." He rubbed his hands together. "We got any candidates?" 

"Joe!" I heard myself scold. "That is not a place I would stick my worst enemy." 

"I would," the detective said. "Look, we've been trying to get in there ever since you vanished. The Revenants have been keeping a close guard on that building in Between. There's no way for anything to get into the Abysmal or out of it right now. Except for you, Zoë." He glanced at Dags. "Which is just, weird." 

I remembered the place in Between, the building that sat between the Physical and the Abysmal where Sophia had created a null area for the Revenants to be brought and the spell of obliteration could be carried out. 

But...there was something nagging at me. Something I'd forgotten but remembered now. "Jason—" 

"Yes?" 

Nick was turning the limo into the parking lot of the building I'd first met Lex in. Dekalb County Morgue. 

"When I went into the Abysmal through the door in Between, TC and Daniel came too." I frowned. "I understand how TC can go back and forth. He's not bonded. He's still First Born. But how was it that Daniel was able to?" 

"Because at the time Daniel was bonded to Inanna for less than a month," Jason said. "Inanna is one of the oldest, born after Aether. But she was also one of the last of the brood to bond. Daniel was very sick after she did that...and she's never gone back in again." 

He was? I didn't know that. "So the Revenants really can't go back home once they bond?"

Jason shook his head. "I'm afraid not. And once we bond and our host dies, then we have to bond again or we will..." he gave me a sad look. "Vanish." 

I shivered. As creepy as Mephistopheles had looked hovering around Jason, he'd always been kind and fair. And I didn't want anything like that to happen to him. 

In fact...other than Lex, who was really half nuts with grief for the loss of Mialani when she fell off the deep end, I wondered if there was such a thing as an evil Revenant. 

Huh...did I really want to find out? 

Nick remained outside with the car. It was late afternoon—Saturday. That was the first time I'd even known what the day and date had been. In the Throne, I lost track of it all. It was October...what month had it been when this all started? June? I remembered that last night training with TC, before it all changed...again. 

It was supposed to be cooler in Georgia in October. The leaves were just starting to tip for autumn. But...I couldn't feel the chill. And worse? I realized with a shock that I couldn't smell it either. The autumn had a specific smell for me—that of burning leaves. Crisp air. Just like summer always smelled like fresh cut wild onions and the sound of cicadas' song and a catbird's call. 

I balled my hands into fists as we stepped inside the familiar building. These simple things I missed—and I was enraged at my dad all over again for wanting to sentence me in that damn egg for eternity, away from everyone and everything I loved, just so he could gain control. 

Bastard
. 

He really was a fucking bastard. 

Not much had changed inside the building. This time I was relieved I couldn't smell the formaldehyde and industrial cleaners. That always turned my stomach. But I did get a tinge of it from Dags. Somehow. There was an echo of the smell. 

Ick. 

A dark skinned dude met us at the office door and after giving us all the hairy eyeball he buzzed us through. Dags held my hand as we followed behind Joe and Jason. I looked at the sheet covered bodies, toes with tags sticking out from one end. I noticed there was an autopsy in progress and looked away. 

We went into the back room and I guessed from the way Dags and Joe shivered it was a bit cooler than the rest of the place. I'd changed out of my black shirt and jeans and bunny slippers and into a simple tee-shirt, jeans and sneakers. Didn't want to frighten anyone with the bun-buns. 

Three covered bodies were lined up along the back and the guy that'd led us in nodded to them. "They're all yours, Halloran. But you didn't see me here and I never saw you, got that?"

"I got it," Joe said. 

"Nice guy," I said once he was out of the room.

"He really is. And he's doing the best he can since Lex's disappearance." He looked at me. "Jeffrey was Lex's assistant and took a lot of flack for her over the years. So he's been loyal. But I don't want to get him in trouble, and the new M.E.—like I said—isn't my biggest fan. So," he moved to the closest body and pulled back the sheet. "Take a look you two." 

I moved away from Dags and joined Jason as we positioned ourselves on opposite sides of the gurney. Before when I'd sensed all the oogie, I'd had to touch the corpse. And it hadn't been a very pleasant experience since I'd had to do it with my astral body. When my hand had sank
into
the physical and touched
their
astral ghosts—

It'd burned like fire. 

But since I couldn't feel anything now...

Her markings were nearly identical to what had happened before. Just like the ones that had been carved into Jason. I glanced over at him and he was paler than usual. "Jason?" 

He looked at me and the sheen in his eyes told me Mephistopheles was up front. "I'm sorry," the dual voice said in a hushed tone. "It's just still so fresh in my mind. The markings look the same. Even the positioning is the same." 

"Can you tell if it's a Revenant?" 

"It's not." 

Okay. So was it a Ghoul? I raised my hand, took a deep breath, went incorporeal, and plunged it into the corpse. 

Nothing. 

Just...silence. Blank. 

Nobody was home. "It's not a Ghoul either," I said as I pulled my hand out. "I don't get it—why do this? Why make it look like the same kinds of murders and yet not use it on real Ghouls or Revenants?" 

Joe rubbed at his chin. "Maybe someone's just trying to get your attention?" 

"Well they have it," Jason said. 

The door to the room opened and Jeffrey came back in. Only this time he was followed by six Dekalb County uniforms. 

Uh-oh. 

Joe immediately stepped forward and held his badge out. "Hey there fellows—I'm Sergeant Halloran and I'm working on this case—" 

"Look out!" The shout had come from me. 

I'd seen Jeffery's hand come from his white lab coat and in it was a gun! 

Joe ducked in time and the shot pinged off of one of the morgue drawers behind us. Jason ducked down as well just as I felt Alice beside me. 

"They're not humans anymore," she said aloud. 

I nodded. I saw the tattoos on their faces. "They're Powers." 

"Anyone else here think this was a trap?" Joe called out. 

"Yah think?" Jason answered. 

Seven against three. 

And two Familiars. 

Gotta love the odds.

-18-

West Side Brawl, Morgue Style

"Aw Jeffrey..." Joe said as he pulled his gun from his holster and removed the safety. "Did anyone notice the tattoos before we came in here?" 

"No," Jason said as he picked up a scalpel from a nearby table. "Which is alarming—it means they've found a way to hide them." 

Jeffrey grinned and brushed a finger over his face where the tattoo was visible now. "It's called makeup, asshole. I'm so going to love gutting you," he said with a smile as he brandished a machete in the air. 

What was it with these guys and sharp objects? 

"Zoë," Alice said to my right. "Prepare for battle." 

Huh? I turned and looked at her—

Yow!

I'd seen the costume before—the silver and white battle armor. Any Fantasy RPG player's wet dream. The helm she wore obscured her face. "How do you see?"

"To me it's not there," she said softly. "But it will protect. Don your armor." 

My what? 

Well my armor had always been me as a Wraith. All ashy and wingy and just plain ugly. 

But before I could poof myself that way, she put a hand on my arm. "Not as a Wraith." Her voice was barely audible as the Powers started their advance in the small room. "As a Familiar. We don't want any of them reporting back to Raziel they saw the Wraith here." 

Ah. Good point. 

So...I needed to go
Warrior Princess
on them. 

Uhm...

How was I gonna do that? Not being one for original fantasy costumes, I took my cue from Alice's get up—and a half formed memory of what Maureen had looked like in hers—and suited up. 

When it was done I looked down at myself and realized—there was more flesh uncovered than covered. Gah. I sure hoped that wasn't my subconscious wanting to explore deep fantasies of being a fantasy femme-fatale, complete with gravity-defying boobs. 

Anime fun, here I come! 

The heart breaker of fourteen year old boys everywhere! 

I put my hand up to my face and found it too was covered in a helm similar to Alice's. Only where hers showed white, mine was black. 

I thought Maureen's was always red? 

You are Phantasm. Channel that, Zoë.

"Geist?" 

I will help you
. He almost sounded...excited? 

Jeffrey attacked first, heading straight for Joe who immediately fired off his weapon. The others then scattered around and came at us. Alice charged out and slipped her sword across and through the first one. He fell to the floor in two pieces. 

Nice. 

But gross. 

One of the tattooed freaks lunged at me. Instantly, the ice-flame sword I'd wielded before getting egg-housed appeared and blocked his attack. The dude himself stumbled back as if he'd rammed into a brick wall. 

Sweet. 

Not wanting him to get the upper hand, I moved like I remembered how Dags had moved and hacked that guy down in the warehouse. My sword cleaved him in half—between his shoulder blades. To me it felt like slicing butter. 

I glanced back to see Dags behind all of us. He was on his cell and I assumed he was calling cavalry. Or so I hoped. 

Hearing a loud noise to my right, I glanced over to see Jason dropping another tattooed guy. That was three of the seven down, four to go. I saw Joe and Jeffrey wrestling with one another in the far corner. It was looking like the big guy was going to possibly win—and I just wasn't willing to let Joe be hurt. 

Not again. 

I don't know why I did it—or how I even knew I could. Because even as I made up my decision to help, another of the Powers came at me, stumbling over the halves of his dead comrades. I don't consider myself a quick thinker—I actually always thought of myself as kind of slow. Not really dumb; but not out there with like Stephen Hawking types (yes I know who that is, thank you very much). 

But it seemed the natural thing to do. I pointed my left hand at the Power coming at me and then my sword at the guy pummeling Joe. It was a simultaneous hit. My left hand shot some kind of concussive wave at the Power. He stopped in his tracks, his eyes bugged out, and then he just sort of...fell apart. Anywhere there was a joint—it gave. He looked like a puppet that'd had all the hinges removed. 

And as for Jeffrey? 

He froze. 

Literally turned into a block of ice. 

Unfortunately he was on top of Joe and the ice-wave nicked Joe too. He yelled out and I saw his right arm had been in the process of stabbing Jeffrey in the chest. It looked like the knife conveyed the ice and his fingers got singed. 

Oops. Damn it. 

That left two more—the one Jason had engaged and one that stood there—staring at
me
.

Alice went forward and attacked Mr. Stare as I looked back at Dags to make sure he was okay. Other than looking supremely tired he appeared to be unharmed. 

"Asshole!" Jason yelled and I looked back to see him raise his own hand at the attacker. Apparently he'd punched the thing back and the Power had kicked Jason—where it hurts. 

Now it was time to see the power of a First Born—a pissed
off
First Born. 'Cause I was pretty sure Mephistopheles could feel what Jason was feeling. 

Ouch. 

The Power stopped in mid-lunge. Thousands of tiny cuts appeared on his body simultaneously. And all at once—they opened. 

Blood and organs poured out and made the most God-awful splattering noise on the tile. The guy fell forward about ten pounds lighter. On top of his guts. 

I have to say fighting with these guys was just—gross. 

I'm not sure what happened next—and even looking back on it none of us could explain it. Alice was fighting the last of the Powers so I moved myself to where Joe was and with a single touch of my hand—cured his blackened fingers. I hadn't even known they were blackened and dead till I was next to him. I figured if I could cure Dags, I could cure Joe, right?

I turned to look at Dags again and saw him fall on the ground face first. He was completely still. 

I felt the tug then—the urge to return to him. Inside. 

Alice returned quickly, vanishing in the middle of fighting the Power. 

But I wasn't ready to. 

No...the job wasn't done. 

As I turned and looked at the remaining Power, I felt a slight shifting inside. I knew I'd changed outwardly as well. 

"Zoë!" Jason hissed at me as I walked past him toward the Power. 

The man's eyes widened as he saw me and he stumbled back. He pointed. "Wr-wraith! Wraith! The Wraith! Raziel—the Wraith!"  

I opened my mouth and obliterated him with a scream.