I grabbed each of the bikers by the scruff of their necks and threw them, whipping my arms out to the side. Caught off guard, and only weighing as much as their human counterparts, they flew head over heels away from me and Kit. Then, the instant the pressure of their magic withdrew, I flipped the switch on my own power and teleported them both away while picturing open sky, thousands of miles away in either direction. I wished I could be there to watch the landings, but it was enough to know that Gravity was gonna do my dirty work for me.
Kit exhaled loudly, shaking the after-effects of the biker’s magic off, the lines creasing her face flushing with red. “Fucking empaths.” She growled, and I just nodded my agreement, surveying the battle to figure out where everyone was.
A body lay over by Grace, its head separated from its shoulders, showing she’d been busy during my ass kicking. Still, the fight wasn’t over. Venai stood close, hunkering down and throwing blow after blow while Grace dodged, looking for an opening to rip the huge Nephilim a new one with her kusarigama. It didn’t look promising though. Grace was on her heels, her face swollen and already showing signs of bruising.
“Shoot her!” I screamed at Kit as I started toward the mêlée.
Poe and Thud got there first.
“Venai!” Poe shouted, drawing the Nephilim’s attention for just an instant.
It was more than enough.
Thud laid into her, his meaty fist colliding with her chin. The sound reverberated and I felt it in my chest. Venai stumbled, eyes wide, hands popping up to defend herself, but Thud was having none of it. He split her guard with an uppercut that clacked her teeth together and sent her sprawling. Yet he still wasn’t done, diving onto her and pulling a Hendo special, slamming his forearm into her jaw, all his considerable weight behind the blow. Venai crumpled beneath it and went still.
To my surprise, Thud clambered off her without throwing anything else.
I ran over. “There were two more, I think. Anyone see them?” The words came out a bit muddled, like I was deep throating a bag of marbles, but I’d already begun healing and it looked as if I’d been understood.
Poe nodded, coming up alongside us. “We met them coming out of the wreckage, Mister Trigg. They have been neutralized.”
“Good,” I said, just glad to not have anyone else to deal with right then. I turned to Grace, who still stood where she’d been a moment ago, shaking out her limbs. “You all right?”
She touched her cheek with a tentative hand, wincing a bit. “I’ll be fine,” she said. “Venai sucker punched me while I was dealing with this one.” She pointed to the headless corpse and made a sour face. The body was smoldering and melting away as if it were made of hot tar.
“The others did the same,” Poe told us.
“Man, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sick of getting my ass stepped on,” I said. “How about we collect Shaw’s BFF over there and retreat to my place to catch our breaths?”
Everyone offered up a nod or a grunt so I let my magic out and whipped us away, humming Lamb of God’s “Walk with Me in Hell.”
Fourteen
I landed us outside the chamber Rahim and Rachelle had set up their command center and had a group of dread fiends haul Venai’s unconscious ass down to the cells where Maximus was being held. Once that was done, I ushered them inside, figuring Grace and Kit would want to get right back to work. They did apparently, neither of them saying a word to me as they greeted the DRAC folks and insinuated themselves straight into the process of setting up all the equipment Grace had shipped to hell with the retreating DSI operatives.
Poe was a little slower joining them, seemingly concerned with leaving Thud there with me without adult supervision.
Stop worrying and go do what you have to, I told him through the telepathic connection.
He nodded and left us alone. Thud turned to me as soon as Poe was gone.
“Hey, look—”
I cut him off with a wave. “No, this one is on me. I’m sorry for what I did. When I saw the video of my house and heard the reporter say I murdered—”
It was his turn to cut me off. “No, I get it,” he said. “Not going to lie and say I’m not still steaming a little, but I get it. I didn’t know about your wife, Trigg, Shaw having kept that shit from me while I was off running errands for her. That’s some dirty shit Trinity pulled, doing what they did right in front of your kid.” He stuck a lunchbox paw out to me. “Shit’s squashed on my end, man. Good if you are.”
“We’re good.” I shook his hand, glad we could come to an understanding, but it only made me feel more like a dick than I already did. Here he was espousing the wrongness of fucking with a person’s family and I was holding his hostage. I pulled my hand loose of his as I thought, feeling pathetic for the subterfuge. While I kept telling myself it was for the greater good, I had to wonder if I had a clue as to what that really was. It sure didn’t feel like it right then.
“Hey, Grace. Clue Poe and Thud in on what Morrill told us,” I told her, glancing over at Rachelle and snagging her attention. “Work out the logistics with Kit as to how to open a pinhole portal to Earth so she can magic us an internet connection down here. And let me know if you need something. I’ve an errand to run.”
“Alone?” Rahim asked. He was giving me the stink eye like he always did when he suspected I was gonna go off and do something stupid.
He wasn’t wrong.
“Yeah,” I answered. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. I won’t break anything too important.” Not giving him, or anyone else, a chance to join in or stop me, I ducked into the hallway and speed-walked away.
A few minutes later, I was back in the God-proof room as the dread fiends shuffled out, having secured Venai in the cell beside Maximus. There, I spied at a morose Styg as he hovered over a collection of esoteric instruments and spell components.
“You ready, Tim? I asked, using his real name because I knew how much it annoyed him.
To my surprise, he ignored the jibe. “You sure you want to do this?”
“No.”
It was an honest answer but Shaw and her asshole buddies hadn’t left me any choice but to do something drastic. Venai wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon given the beating Thud had put on her. Not that she’d tell us anything. She was as loyal to Shaw as anyone. Even if we tortured her, I doubted we’d learn anything. Still, she was a good prisoner to have, especially since Shaw was fond of her. Once we figured out where Shaw had lighted, we could use Venai against her. The irony would be delicious. Until then, it made sense to stick to the plan no matter how much it sucked.
“Let’s go before the Common Sense Fairy flies in and shoves a reason stick up my ass, convincing me this is a bad idea.”
“It is a bad idea,” Styg muttered as he collected his gear, stuffing it into a black leather bag and carefully hanging it off his shoulder, “but I’m as ready as I’m going to be.”
“Then let’s go before I change my mind and teleport us to a bar instead.”
A drink sure sounded good right then.
We stalked through the empty hallway, the sound of our footsteps echoing. Add in the whispering scrapes of Styg’s coat and you had the making of a Halloween soundtrack. The dead body at the end of the journey only made it more authentic.
The door we approached opened before we’d quite reached it, and a soldier peeked out, recognizing me and offering up a curt salute. “Didn’t know you were coming, sir.”
“You can dispense with the pageantry…” I told him, glancing at his fatigues for a name, “Sergeant Skorkowsky. Even if I was into that shit, there isn’t enough of the DSI to warrant such formality.”
His eyes narrowed, and I could see the questions forming behind them, but there wasn’t time for all that.
“Sorry, but we’re in a hurry or things will just get worse,” I said. “I need you and your men to clear out and take the old guy with you. Pack your shit, and I’ll give you a lift to where everyone else is en
sconced.”
A born soldier, Skorkowsky stiffened, offering up the customary, “Yes, sir,” despite what I’d just said, and spun on his heels, calling out to his men to pack up.
“We’re going to do this here?” Styg asked.
“Got someplace better?”
He shrugged. “Not particularly, I guess.”
“Then here it is.”
The sergeant came out then, his hand on the shoulder of Vol, guiding him through the door as the rest of the soldiers trailed behind.
“I can feel you, Shadow Man. Have you come to finish what you—?”
“Oh Jesus Fucking Christ on a crooked crutch, shut up already, Vol.” Not giving anyone time to get ready, I waved them away, the whole group transported to Hell before I had to listen to any more of the old man’s blathering.
“Making friends and sowing seeds of happiness everywhere you go, I see.”
I put my hand on Styg’s back and nudged him into the room.
Well, shoved is a more appropriate word, I imagine.
He chuckled as he caught his balance and went over to the body still lying in state in the center of the room, setting his bag down beside it. My eyes took in the corpse despite it being the last thing I wanted to do.
No, that’s not entirely true. The very last thing I wanted to was the exact thing I had ordered Styg to do.
That was to bring Veronica back to life.
My stomach churned as Styg unpacked his gear and arranged it beside the body of my ex-wife. She’d pushed me to the point of my killing her, offering up Abigail in exchange for her own life, which was something I could never let her get away with. Still, I felt bad about what I’d done, my fury and protectiveness of my daughter taking control, but the deed was done. Undoing it was something I’d never even thought of, but there I was, demanding it be done.
My how things change.
Desperation was a hell of a motivator.
“I’ll be outside,” I told Styg as he started in, painting a mystic circle around Veronica’s body.
“The fuck you will,” he said, startling me with his ferocity. “This mess is yours to clean up. I need you here. You’re carrying her essence.”
My first instinct was to sink my boot into his face, but he wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t given much thought to the process but it made sense he’d want me around seeing how I’d absorbed her soul when I killed her, forever combining her spiritual essence with mine.
Well, apparently not forever.
I groaned but kept my mouth shut. No point in antagonizing the necromancer when you needed him to work his magic. If there was any hope of Veronica coming back as something other than a zombie, Styg would need to draw her essence out of me and return it to her body.
“How long is this gonna take?”
“As long as it takes.”
I sighed. “You’d never make in the pizza delivery world.”
“This isn’t exactly something you want to rush. Now, if you don’t mind, how about you shut up and step off until I need you.”
“Yes, sir,” I said mimicking Sergeant Skorkowsky, moving away from the body and slumping down in the corner to await my turn in this sordid drama. And while I wanted to punch Styg in the mouth for talking to me like that, it was good to see some of his old fire again. It’d been a long time since he’d shown any confidence. And though I wasn’t looking forward to raising Veronica from the dead, it appeared as if the act was therapeutic for him. Since the shit had to happen anyway, he might as well get something good out of it.
All I was gonna get was hell, a woman scorned.
Trying not to think about that, I rested my head against the wall and closed my eyes, doing my best to ignore the throb of my jaw.
Apparently, I managed, seeing as I fell asleep.
Styg woke me up by kicking my foot until I peeled my eyes opens.
“There are donuts downstairs and cab fare in my pants on the floor,” I murmured.
“I’m not one of your booty calls, Trigg. Now wake up.”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s what they all say.” Picking at the crust in the corner of my eyes, I pulled myself to my feet, glaring at the still lifeless body of Veronica, laying right where it had been before my nap. “You forget something?”
“Only that I promised never to work with you again.”
“Cheeky monkey. Now why isn’t she alive and shrieking at me?”
“Because I need your blood and for you to willingly release her essence.”
It was always something. “Yeah, let’s do this.”
“Hold your hand out,” he said, showing me how he meant.
I mimicked the movement, my hand out, palm up. It trembled.
Styg looked from it to me, then back to my hand. “You ready for this?”
“Does Captain America shit stars and stripes?”
“I’m just going to go with yes.”
He led me over to the body, making sure I didn’t scuff the circle with my feet, and stopped me just outside of it, holding me by my forearm. Then, before I could draw it back, he pulled a blade out I hadn’t noticed and slid it across my palm. Dark crimson welled and he grinned at it, tugging my arm so it hung over the mystical circle, and turning my hand so the blood pooling in my palm fell and splattered across Veronica’s face.
I giggled, remembering what else I’d covered her face with over the years, but Styg wasn’t gonna let me wallow in my perverted reveries. He stepped back, his blackened energies whirling to life around him, a chant spilling loose, the sound distorted and haunting. I found myself humming along, almost forgetting there was a dead body not two feet from where I was standing.
Then I felt a tingle in my chest, something soft and feathery tickling my ribs. My gaze dropped immediately. She was wreathed in an ebony sheath, wriggling shapes dancing in the darkness. Her mouth was open as if she might just take a breath, the barest haze hovering above her like a spent storm cloud.
“Now, Trigg.”
Styg’s voice was a whisper despite realizing he’d shouted the words at me. Still, I was compelled to do as he said. I relaxed as the chant went on, spirits in the air taking it up and carrying the rhythm, sinking into the roiling wisps of black energy that devoured the room is slow bites. The flutter in my chest grew faster, more insistent, and I reached for it, calling to it, teasing it out. It responded with a lust I hadn’t known since Veronica had been alive.
If I’d had any doubt it was her essence I was courting then, that laid it to rest.
The feeling built, an orgasm washing in with the tide, teasing, then retreating out to sea every time it came near, the feeling taunting me. It fled each time it grew close, a doe bolting at the slightest noise. I called to it again, urging it forward, ushering it from the cold depths of my whole, but it drew no closer. Then, when I thought I could take it no more, the feeling crested and spilled loose of my mouth, a willowy tendril of eldritch darkness slithering toward Veronica as if it were a snake. It met the storm at her mouth, mingling and building strength until it rained obsidian down her throat.
Veronica gasped then, bolting upright with wide eyes, ink-like striations squirming beneath her flesh, restoring her vigor as it passed, healing what death had done to her as well as what I had. Her cold gaze settled on me after a quiet moment.
“You motherfucker!”
“And she’s back,” I said, taking a deliberate step away from the circle, staying out of reach.
I’d known for a certainty Veronica would want my scalp when she returned to life, but I figured it would take a few minutes before she remembered everything. Apparently not.
She frothed and fumed and clawed her way to her feet. Fortunately, she wasn’t quite recovered yet, and she couldn’t seem to get her feet to cooperate. Too bad her inability function didn’t include her mouth.
“You shot me!”
I nodded. “And you threatened the safety of my daughter, giving her up to Shaw. Sounded fair to me at the time.”
Ver
onica hissed. She apparently didn’t feel the same way as she stumbled toward me, reaching for her swords, which weren’t there. I’d taken them from her after she died. That didn’t stop her murderous advance, however. Her cheeks were flush and even her tattoos carried a tinge of red, shimmering in the ink.
“Be reasonable, Veronica. Starting right where we left off isn’t going to lead to a different ending. Just stay calm and—”
“Stay calm? The best you have is a fucking T-shirt slogan? I’m going to—”
“You’re going to be quiet and still and listen to Frank,” Styg told her.
And sure enough, to everyone’s surprise but the necromancer’s, she did exactly what he told her. Her head snapped his direction but her glare couldn’t quite muster enough fury to shatter the passive expression holding sway over her features.
“I didn’t know you could do that.”
Styg shrugged. “Not something we advertise, you know.”
“This happens with everyone you raise?”
He nodded, likely not realizing what he’d just revealed.
The only thing I could think of right then was that I was glad he hadn’t been able to raise Karra, but what if he had? He would have been in control of her, and I wouldn’t have known until he’d decided to reveal it.
Icy coldness filled me, chilling me to the marrow. “Command her to do as I ask of her, no matter what,” I told Styg, struggling to keep my voice on an even keel.
He did and, judging by the pained expression that leaked through the mask of Veronica’s face, she didn’t appreciate it, not that I would have expected her to. The truth was though, I didn’t have the patience to overcome her free will and, despite my fury at Styg, his power was just what I needed then.
“Is there anything—?” he started to ask when I cut him off with a snap of my fingers, teleporting him back to Hell without another word. Him gone, I turned my attention back to Veronica.
“Let’s be honest here,” I told her, taking advantage of Styg’s last command to remain quiet to get shit off my chest. “I’m not sorry for killing you. I’d do it a thousand times more if it meant my daughter was safe, so understand that, Veronica. But,” I raised a finger, waggling it in front of her rigid face, “if you do what I need you to and never, ever threaten the safety of my child again, I will restrain from putting another bullet in your head. Are we clear?”
Institutionalized (Demon Squad Book 10) Page 13
