The Night Beat, From the Necropolis Enforcement Files (49 page)

“I might.” I looked over my shoulder at Benny who was rummaging through the bag, grunting, whistling, and muttering. “But if we have a reliable source -- and we think that we do -- we don’t really need to go.”

“What about getting these items into some sort of safe place?” Ralph asked. “I don’t want them falling back into minion hands.”

“You got that right,” Benny said. “Good lord, and I mean that to cover all the options, but there’s a lot of Armageddon in here.” He looked at both of us. “And some nasty things for werewolves, too. You two are at risk just being in the same vicinity as this idol.”

“Idol, totem, statue -- no matter what you call it, it’s still worse than butt-ugly.”

“It’s also incredibly dangerous,” Benny said. He shook his head. “I told Cotton to lock this away.”

“Shocker alert, he didn’t. However, at least it’s in our possession now.”

“It needs to be destroyed,” Ralph snapped.

“No, no, no!” Benny seemed freaked by the idea. “You want to destroy all your race?”

“No, but you yourself said that thing could do it.” Ralph growled. “What do you suggest we do with it?”

“It needs to be contained,” Benny said, with forced patience clearly showing. “If you destroy it, it’ll pull out all the were in the wolf, so to speak. You’ll all lose your abilities to switch forms and be stuck in whatever form you happen to be in when the idol is destroyed.”

Ralph and I exchanged another look. “You always stay in wolf, I’m usually in human.”

He nodded. “No way to mate, ever.” He growled again. “I loathe these beings.”

“It gets better,” Benny said. “Without the power from this idol, werewolves as a race would start weakening. Oh, not immediately, but over time.”

“I thought it was evil.”

“It is.” Benny sighed. “Think about it.”

“I mean, I thought whatshisname was contained and all that, and that he was the evil one.”

“Adlet,” Ralph said shortly. “I told you, what, five minutes ago?”

“Longer than that, but whatever.”

“He
is
contained,” Benny said. “However, this was a being who wanted all the werewolves under his control or dead. Legend has it that as he was overthrown he passed a curse, that if he was fully destroyed, he’d take the rest of the werewolves with him.”

“That must be why Black Wolf chose a totem instead of complete annihilation.”

“Most likely.” Benny sighed. “We need to get this thing locked away where no minion can ever touch it. Same with most of these items. Singly they’re horrific enough. Put together they could end everything tonight.”

“What’s with the bag of marbles?”

“Representation of every inhabited world in the known planes of existence. Destroy the marble --”

“Destroy the world. Got it.”

“Right. Miss Wolfe, we need to get to someplace safe.”

“There is no place safe, really. And call me Victoria or whatever nickname from that you like.” I thought about this. There really wasn’t a safe haven. It was going to come down to us protecting a big bag full of life-as-we-know-it ending items in whatever way we could. “They blocked us in here, but didn’t follow. Why?”

“Who?” Benny asked.

“The minions trailing us,” Ralph answered. “And I’d guess because they either knew where we were going and planned to meet us there, or there’s something worse up here waiting for us.”

I hit my wrist-com. “Monty, where’s Dirt Corps, exactly?”

“Waiting for your signal to attack. No idea what they should be attacking, by the way.”

“Me either. Makes it more fun. I’d like Dirt Corps to swarm randomly all over the Estates, then head to the convergence chasm, preferably leading as many minions away from the Estates as possible.”

“Why?” This was asked by all three males within my hearing.

“Because I’d like us to be as alone as possible for a while.”

“Is now really the time for you and Ralph to make that relationship commitment?”

“I hope not,” Benny interjected. “Because I’m not in the mood to watch and I don’t know who could be in the mood to actively participate at this precise time.”

“You have company?” Monty asked.

“Benny the Fence. You okay with that?”

“Yes, always checked out as clean.”

“I should hope so!” Benny sounded offended.

“Benny, I think we mentioned that we’ve had an eventful few days, filled with chaos, complicity and betrayal?”

“Fine, fine,” he huffed. “But I still want to know why you’re trying to send what sounded like protection and backup away from us.”

“Because I want to get up close and personal with my God. Or at least, some of his representatives.”

Chapter 67

Dirt Corps did as requested. As a variety of undeads swarmed all over the Estates, I had Benny open Nero’s garage door so I could store our car. Then the three of us and our bag of evil goodies went into the house.

Ralph and I did a fast check for Nero or any other unsavory beings. We found nothing, literally.

“I think you’re going to have to find another transient tenant,” I said to Benny as we looked at the last room, a room as devoid of Nero’s trappings as all the others were. He’d cleaned out his stuff and he’d done it fast.

“He must have come back here, after the incident at the Little Church,” Ralph suggested.

“Maybe. Maybe he came here during the incident. He’s a being big on creating havoc but he’s also good at getting out of his own messes relatively unscathed.”

“He must have used one big truck,” Benny said. “He had a ton of junk last time I was here to check on things.”

“It was all here the other day.” Whenever that was. Oh, right. “Sunday.”

“It’s Tuesday night now. Plenty of time. Unless you all were watching the house.”

I sighed. “No. We were watching other things.”

Ralph leaned against me. “Stop it.”

I stroked his head. “Okay. I’ll try, anyway.”

“You two actually want to be alone?” Benny asked. “I was serious, I’m not in the mood to watch.”

“Yes, we’d love to be alone. Sadly, we’ve got that whole trying to avoid Armageddon thing going, so we’ll hold it.” Nero had left the larger furniture, so I could sit down on a couch. Ralph hopped up next to me and I leaned against him.

“I can’t speak for your partner, but I’d like to have some idea of if I’m going to survive the night or not.” Benny didn’t sound like he was joking.

Neither Ralph nor I corrected Benny on the partner statement. “Okay, first, I need to call a couple of beings.” And I needed to come up with a full plan. I had a sorta plan, but not a real one. Something was missing. I knew what was going on and roughly how it had been done, I was sure of it, but I needed one more piece of information -- I just didn’t know what it was or how to find it.

Ralph groaned. “You do this all the time. You hate sharing.”

“True.” My wrist-com went live. “Merc, you there?”

“Right here, darling. What’s shaking?”

“The worlds. Did Freddy ever get time to tell you and L.K. what the Estates advertising slogans were?”

“He did, and we’ve gone over them. You were right, they’re a spell for sure. We aren’t positive, but the goal seems to be to lull the human residents into a sort of stupor.”

“That makes sense. Any analysis of who created it?”

“P.T.’s working on it. His first guess is Hitler, but he stressed that he wasn’t sure by any means. Could just be someone imitating his style.”

“Super. Can you and L.K. meet me at the Salvation Center? I think we’re going to need beings who can counter spells.”

“I’ll bring along some support, then. Any suggestions?”

“Surprise me. Just make sure they’re powerful.”

“The Bard’s been complaining that no one ever lets him do active service. Want him along?”

“Sure. If we don’t do it right, we’re all dusted or minions anyway.”

“Love your sunny outlook, darling. Over but hardly out.”

Ralph and Benny didn’t look happy. “Why aren’t you pulling in trained witches and warlocks for this?” Ralph didn’t sound happy, either.

I rubbed my forehead. “You know as well as I do that the Count already has all of them working on counter spells. The few who showed up for the pre-Armageddon party are either hurt or back with the rest of their counterparts. They’re our last line of defense, so I’m not going to ask any of them to go to the front lines if I can help it.”

“Why Merc and L.K. then? Or Will?”

“Because Merc and L.K. are already deeply and willingly involved and both of them are really clear on the power of words. And we might as well have the best of the best with us, too, especially if he’s antsy to get into the action.”

“The Bard’s more of a lover and talker than a fighter,” Benny offered.

“Well, I’m hoping to have him focused on the talking side while the rest of us take on the fighting portions.” I tapped my wrist-com again. “Agent W-W-One-Eight-One-Niner.”

“Agent Wolfe, the formality, it’s almost heart-stopping.”

“Missed you, too, Count. Are Black Angels One and Two ready for action?”

“Yes, and impatient for it, as well.”

“Good. Have them meet me up at the Little Church of the Country as soon as they can fly by.”

“Any other directions?”

“Tell them to listen intently. They’ll know what to do when.”

“Does your love of mystery drive Agent Rogers mad with desire or merely to distraction?”

“Both. Count, I have no idea what she’s doing, just for the record.”

“Agent Wolfe keeps us all on our toes, doesn’t she? Anything else before I rush to comply with your demands?”

“Yeah. Please call the Chief and tell him I need a lot of black and whites standing ready. If I’m right, we’re going to need the police escort.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

“Really, how often am I wrong?” Ralph started choking. “I mean about things like this?” Ralph was up to gagging. He even rolled on his back, paws waving in the air. “Must dash, I need to put Ralph out of his misery.”

“Thank you for making eternity go by so quickly, Agent Wolfe.”

I rammed my elbow into Ralph’s side. “You’re not funny.”

He righted himself, doing that canine grin thing that looks so cute. “You were hilarious. ‘How often am I wrong?’ Wow. I’m sorry only Benny and the Count got to hear that one.”

“You know, this kind of attitude doesn’t get you past a hearty handshake.”

Ralph put up his paw. “I’ll risk it.”

I ignored the paw, stood up, and took a look outside. I could see the last vestiges of Dirt Corps heading back down the hill. There were SUV’s following them, more than I’d seen following us, so hopefully my subterfuge had worked. “Let’s get back into the car. Ralph, think you can hotwire it faster this time?”

“No,” he said flatly. “I’m not hotwiring it at all.”

I stared at him. “Oh. Right.” I looked to Benny. “Know how to hotwire an unmarked police car?”

“If I say yes will I be arrested?”

“Only if you say yes and then can’t actually do it.”

“Then, let’s go with ‘we’ll see’.”

We went back to the garage. I opened the door and listened.

“Sounds like pursuit is going away from us,” Ralph said softly.

“I agree. Turn your ears up, though.”

We both strained. “It’s faint,” Ralph said finally. “But I think you’re right -- there are beings of some kind up at the Little Church. But why?”

The car started and we piled in. “See, this is why I don’t like to explain until we’re moving.” And because I still wasn’t sure. But cops never admit when they’re not sure, it’s bad for the longevity. “There was a bigger why that I’ve been trying to solve.”

“What was that? I thought we’d figured out the Adversary’s plans.”

“I think we have. But the bigger why is simply this -- how did the Three A’s get past Jude? He’s one of the strongest angels in existence, and he’s on the convergence chasm solely to keep them out. So, why didn’t he even know they were around?”

“You think he’s a traitor?” The way Ralph asked, he wanted to hear me say “no”.

“No.” It was nice to see Ralph and Benny both relax. “I think there was a powerful spell put in place that blocked Jude’s abilities.”