The Night Beat, From the Necropolis Enforcement Files (27 page)

Chapter 39

“I changed my name as soon as our pack reached a larger group of undeads.”

“I’d have gotten rid of Eudora as fast as I could, too, girl,” Sexy Cindy said.

“I wanted to get rid of Harp more. Besides, Black Wolf named me Victoria.” For victory, my victory over the Prince. My throat felt tight. Black Wolf had been more of a father to me than anyone else. He’d made me a werewolf, he’d taught me how to be a good one, and he’d loved me. While Wolfe was sort of obvious, I’d taken that as my last name to honor him, not so much to species-identify.

“Lucky for you his werewolf pack was nearby,” Jack said.

“Black Wolf’s pack was assigned to, in that sense, outpost duty. Their job was to find new undeads formed or created too far from Necropolis and bring them back safely.”

“Was?” Freddy asked. “What do they do now?”

I looked away. “They’re all…gone. The Adversary marked them and found them…one by one.”

“They live on in memory,” the Count said gently. “Now,” he added more briskly, “since we’re all up on history, we need to determine our next steps.”

“Where are all our angels?” I hoped they were following leads, not at the hospital already. I chose not to think about any worse possibilities.

“They couldn’t take the smell, literally,” the Count said. “Once the Adversary was run off they had to move as well.”

“So, what interfered with Vic’s wrist-com?” Jack asked.

“The Adversary,” Clyde answered. “He has much power.”

“Power to disrupt isn’t all that big a deal, either,” I added. “Just mess up something here at headquarters and all of a sudden, we can’t talk to each other any more.” I tried not to growl but didn’t manage all that well. “So, how many of us were ‘here’ as dupes?”

“You, Mister Wagner, Miss Cindy, and Frederick,” H.P. answered. “We arrived as the altercation was dying down.”

“It was good timing that you’d checked in when you did,” the Count said to me. I didn’t preen -- luck was great but it wasn’t something to brag about. “Because I knew where you were and who you were with, I was quite clear that I was dealing with doppelgängers.”

“How’d they get in?” Jack asked, back to full on cop. He even had his pad and pen out. “From what I’ve seen, there are a variety of beings who could’ve and should’ve smelled the Adversary.”

“The minions don’t give off much of an odor unless they want to or have been injured in some way,” the Count explained. “Even a werewolf would have to be up close to one in order to spot the differences in smell.”

“Which is why we look so great,” Gretel said. “The three of us got here first. For some reason, the Adversary didn’t focus a lot of attention on Ralph. Can’t say the same for me and Hansel.”

“That seems odd,” Jack offered. “I would think the Adversary would view every werewolf as a reminder of…Eudora.” He said the last word carefully.

“Me. You mean dear old Dad would want to kill all werewolves because I’m one. And, yes, you’re right.”

Ralph gave me a hurt look. “I fought as hard as the others. I’m not a turncoat, either.”

“We know, Ralphie,” Maurice said. He grimaced at me. “I’d assume your not-so-dearly suspects you and Ralph are an item. In which case, leave him alone until he can be destroyed or turned in front of you.”

“Supreme punishment for disobedience or annoyance. Yep, sounds like my family.” I examined Ralph. He was the best of the lot, but it didn’t look like he’d been sitting it out, hiding in the doghouse somewhere. “Saying Ralph looks the least hurt is sort of damning with faint praise. If I didn’t have the rest of you to compare him to, we’d be rushing him over to the hospital right now.”

“Speaking of which,” Edgar said, “let’s get all of us over there now. The sooner the better.”

Internal communications had been disrupted and was still offline, which was why no one had come up to help, as near as I could tell. The four of us who weren’t injured took the worst hurt, so I had Gretel, Jack had Hansel, Freddy had Amanda, and Sexy Cindy had Maurice. The others did the mutually hurt lean and drag and in this attractive way, we managed to get to the lift and down levels, in shifts.

By the time the last load arrived we’d gotten some help, and one of the ghosts in attendance had flitted off to the hospital. The emergency personnel arrived as we reached the exit.

Much medical chaos ensued, but finally even Ralph was on a gurney and headed off to give the little undeads tour group a real wake up call in terms of choosing their adult careers carefully. If they were still there. I realized we were very close to dawn. This night had flown. I wondered what the day would bring and if we’d get to sleep or not. I didn’t want to place a bet on it, per the base of my tail.

Sure enough, as the four of us stood in the Necropolis Enforcement doorway, wondering what to do next, the suns started their slow rise. The undead world had its own sun, moons and stars. Thankfully, they followed the Earth solar cycle, or at least they appeared to. It was always interesting to watch sunrise in Necropolis, though, because it was the clearest point in the day where you could tell for sure you were in one plane of existence and watching another at the same time. I made sure the others weren’t in a position to look. Beautiful, yes. Potentially disconcerting, bigger yes. And we had enough disconcertion going on; we didn’t need any help from the planetary elements.

“I got some information from the Count while we were waiting for his gurney,” Jack said. “Big fight, but he didn’t sound like he thought the Adversary was trying all that hard.”

“Makes sense. They have a larger plan than just getting rid of us. But still, disabling Necropolis Enforcement permanently would have to be a good thing in the Prince’s mind. So, why was the damage so minimal? In that sense?”

“They want you,” Freddy suggested.

“Maybe.” I thought about it. Didn’t come up with enough. “Did the Count, or anyone else, mention if the dupes were destroyed?”

“Yeah,” Sexy Cindy said. “I heard all the vampires talking. Ralph, Hansel and Gretel all wounded the dupes, and when the vamps arrived with all the angels, they destroyed the dupes completely. That’s when the Adversary appeared. I think part of it was in each dupe.”

“Yeah, they can do that. It’s one of the reasons they’re so strong. They were used to having divided souls, so doing it comes naturally and easily to them now.”

“You think they’re in more of the doppelgängers than just the four of ours?” Jack asked.

“Not sure. If so, it would explain why the Adversary wasn’t able to kill everyone or destroy the building. It’s a possibility, but there are others, too. Besides, I’m pretty sure Abaddon is walking around in Tomio’s skin, and that means Apollyon is probably the Tomio doppelgänger. So, find a Tomio, find a major minion.”

“Hitler could be in Tomio, too, you said,” Sexy Cindy reminded me.

“Yeah, but he’s vain. He’ll look like himself as fast as possible. So even if he used Tomio’s body to get through, he’s in a dupe and it’s altered to look like him now.” One small blessing, because every being knew what Hitler looked like, alive or undead.

“But why didn’t they show up to everyone who was tailing them?” Jack sounded as frustrated as I felt. “I mean, maybe they could have fooled Amanda and Maurice, but Black Angel Two?”

“And Black Angel One.” It didn’t make sense.

“Sure it makes sense,” a smooth male voice said from behind me. “If you remember that angels have strong psychic powers.” I turned around, knowing who I was going to see. Sure enough, I got the glittering grin as he went on. “Abaddon and Apollyon were as powerful as Lucifer when they fell.”

“Not as powerful as us,” his younger brother said with another dazzling grin. “You going to introduce us to your new friends, Vic?”

“Sure.” I risked a look at Jack. He didn’t look happy. For some reason, that made me feel good. “Jack, Cindy, Freddy, meet Black Angel One. Their friends and associates call them Cain and Abel.”

Three jaws dropped. I turned back to Cain. “Look, that’s peachy, but if you and Abel couldn’t spot that you were following Abaddon or Apollyon, we’re really screwed.”

Cain shook his head. “Remember what our orders were? We were tailing and watching for odd activity.”

“Yeah,” Abel added. “And we had to hang back. I mean, I know we and Black Angel Two have the best range, but even we have limits.”

“Do Abaddon and Apollyon have limits? Or the Adversary? Since all three are on the human plane now, wandering around, doing Gods and Monsters knows what.”

Cain chucked me under my chin. “Vic, you worry too much.”

“Excuse me.” Jack’s voice was like ice. “Am I understanding this right? You’re
the
Cain and Abel? From the Old Testament?”

“That’s us,” Abel said with a wide grin. “We look pretty damned good for being this old, don’t we?”

“I’ll say,” Sexy Cindy muttered. I got the impression she was ready to offer up the Corner Special for Two. Not that I could blame her. Sexiest things with two wings, that was Black Angel One.

Jack pressed on. “So, you,” he pointed to Cain, “murdered him,” pointing to Abel, “and yet you’re an angel and happily working together? And this doesn’t seem odd to anyone?”

Cain sighed and rubbed his forehead. “You make one smartass comment to your parents at what turns out to be the wrong time, and you’re branded for life.”

Abel put his arm around Cain’s shoulders. “I knew. I was waiting for you, wasn’t I? I tried to tell them, they didn’t listen.”

“Tell who what?” Jack asked.

Abel shrugged. “Cain didn’t kill me. He always took care of me. But we’d had a fight and I ran off because I was upset. Ran into trouble, didn’t have my big brother there to back me, I was murdered. Yahweh angelicized me, I tried to let the others know -- the scribes and the storytellers, let alone our parents, that Cain wasn’t to blame.”

“It got so bad I had to leave,” Cain said with a sigh. “But, you know, in the long run, things worked out.” He tousled Abel’s hair. “Was nice to see my baby brother waiting for me, I must admit.”

Jack caught my eye. “Seriously?”

“Yep. Haven’t you picked up yet that the religious texts of the human world, while well meaning and doing their best and all, aren’t necessarily the most reliable reference materials on the planet?”

“Most humans don’t use them for reference, Vic.”

“Yeah, Jack, I know. Most humans don’t think I’m real, either. We’re here to protect them, not make them love us.”

He gave me a long look. “Cops stick with cops.”

“Right. You’re hanging with a bigger force than you’re used to, that’s all.”

Jack managed a weak grin. “Well, I did always tell my parents I wanted to fly with the angels.”

“Give it time,” Cain said.

Abel nudged him. “Actually, I think right now is good.”

“Why?” Cain asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

Abel shrugged. “Incoming.” With that he grabbed Jack and Freddy, while Cain grabbed me and Sexy Cindy. They took off like the proverbial bats out of Hell.

“Not that this sucks,” Sexy Cindy shouted. “But what’s going on and what’s coming in?”

“Black Angel Two are under attack and they’d like our help,” Cain said as he went supersonic and I tried not to squirm, to no avail. “Vic, hold still!”

“Trying.” Failing. I looked down, the suns were high enough that I could see the ground clearly, and it was too far away. Werewolf paws demanded ground, Cain lost his hold, and then I got to see what flying without wings felt like.

I wasn’t a fan.

Chapter 40