“That old?”
“The symbolism, yes. These two? Probably not.” She pushed the door open and waited for him to follow her inside.
“Okay. Good to know.”
He walked after her into shadows, almost blind for a moment as they left the daylight and entered a large room redolent with the fragrance of flowers and incense. It took a moment for his vision to adjust as the door swung shut behind them.
Light filtered in from small windows high above, revealing a lot of what Buck would call clutter. But this clutter was probably priceless to anyone interested in Oriental antiques.
There were hangings covering the walls, delicate silken works of art mixed together in a subtle blend of colors and shapes. One large glass-fronted cabinet housed jade, carved, polished, huge statues, small trinkets, beads and whatnots, seemingly tossed in disarray on the shelves.
Fans littered other tables, porcelain vases stood as high as his waist, tiny bowls glittered translucently on pedestals—he gulped, almost afraid to move lest he knock something unique and expensive onto the floor. “Talk about a bull in a china shop.”
Lian laughed then headed to the back of the room.
To his surprise there was a woman there. He would have believed her part of the antiques except for the fact that she was sitting in a rocking chair and stroking an enormously fat cat that nearly covered her lap.
“Little Lotus. It is good to have you visit.” The woman’s head turned toward Lian, shocking Buck.
She was Oriental, dressed quietly in a simple dark robe. Her hair, grey and neatly pulled into a knot, had two ornate sticks pushed through it. But it was her eyes that caught at him.
They were pure white. No pupils, no appearance of injury or cloudy obscured vision, just pure white. It was, for lack of a better expression, spooky as shit.
“Hello, old Mother.” Lian took the woman’s hand and bent to kiss her cheek. “How are you?”
“Better for knowing you are well, child.” A smile crossed the old woman’s face. “And that you have brought a strong man with you.”
Lian beckoned to Buck. “This is Detective Buck Shand, Mother. He and I are working together at the moment.”
The smile grew. “That is not all you are doing together, child.”
He shifted a little and cleared his throat with the natural discomfort of a man discovered to be sleeping with this woman’s—relative? Daughter? Granddaughter?
“Now, old Mother. Don’t embarrass him.” Lian laughed. “Buck, I’d like you to meet old Mother. She has outlived many generations and will outlive many more. She is the head of our family in every way that counts.”
“Um—hello.” He had no idea whether to extend his hand or not. He was feeling more than a little awkward about this whole deal and the expressionless white gaze fixed on his face was starting to freak him out. “Nice to meet you.”
A gnarled hand reached out to him. “I am honored.” The cat deigned to look up at that moment, surveying Buck with its own inscrutable gaze. Apparently he was deemed insignificant, since the feline eyes closed and the critter went back to sleep.
“You will take care of Little Lotus.” The eyes never moved from his face. “I may not see well, but I can sense much more than some people realize.”
He took the fragile hand in both of his. “I will do my best, old Mother.”
“This is a good one, Little Lotus. A strong one. He will give you many fine children.”
“Er—” Buck was caught off guard by that particular comment.
“He has a fine cock. He knows what to do with it.”
“Sh—um—shoot, ma’am, I don’t—” He knew his face was burning and he didn’t dare look at Lian.
“Mother.” Lian’s voice was crisp. “We have business. Stop this immediately.”
The fingers released Buck’s hand and the woman sighed. “Such silliness. Afraid to talk of what matters between a man and a woman. Always hiding from your nature, Little Lotus. This man—” A finger poked at Buck. “This man will indulge that nature. He will release it. And you. If you let him.”
Lian rolled her eyes and gazed heavenward. “I’m glad you are still well enough to make visitors blush, old Mother. But that is not why we’re here.”
“I know, I know. You have business. Go then. Leave an old woman to her cat and her memories. But be glad I am old, Little Lotus. Were I younger, I might take this man away from you and drain him myself.” She chuckled deep in her throat. “He is, as you young things like to say, hot.”
Ever the gentleman, Buck picked up her hand again and dropped a light kiss on the aged knuckles. “And if that were the case, I would be ruined for every other woman.”
The cackle of laughter followed them as Lian pulled him away and toward the back of the room.
“He’s a good one, Little Lotus. A keeper. Don’t forget it.”
Ignoring the parting comment, Lian marched to a silk screen. “This way, Buck.”
“Hey. Slow down. I have to save my strength. I’m a keeper, ya know. You heard her.”
“Oh shut up.”
Exasperation riddled her voice, bringing a wicked grin to Buck’s face. “You’re blushing.”
“Am not.” Her hand reached to a small panel and she pushed a button, which smoothly moved the screen to one side, revealing a passageway. “Come on.”
Pushing his humor away, Buck followed her, curious now as to where they were going. Lian had revealed that there was a database of sorts—her words—kept unofficially by her Oriental relatives. It contained information that might be of use to the case.
The captain had willingly given permission for them to use it—at this point they were all ready to grab at whatever straws blew their way. They’d worry about the legal intricacies later, when the monster had been stopped and destroyed.
The passageway led downward, a winding staircase at its end and then another door, this one solid and not unlike a bank vault in style and strength.
“Wow. This isn’t someplace you drop in unannounced, is it?” He gazed thoughtfully at the shining steel composite soaring above them.
“No, it’s not. And I’m putting my trust in your ability to keep secrets, Buck. Very few know of the existence of this place. Even fewer have been inside.”
“Understood.” Buck blinked as a few lights flickered and she passed her hand over a very modern-looking palm print identifier. Oriental symbols flashed, more buttons were pushed, she bent to a small aperture for a retinal scan and finally, silently, the door swung inward.
The scene it revealed caught Buck by surprise. This was no Far Eastern junkyard of antiquities. This was—well, he’d never been on a spaceship, but if he thought about it this was probably what he’d have expected it to look like.
There were quietly humming banks of electronics, gleaming against a pristine white walled room. The floors were shiny and polished, reflecting a myriad of tiny LED lights. Several large screens were placed over workstation areas, there were a few empty chairs in front of surfaces gleaming with state-of-the-art laser keyboards.
In the center was a square table above which hung a hologram cube—something Buck recognized from a piece he’d read in the latest tech journal. This wasn’t supposed to exist yet. The editorial piece had claimed it was only theory.
“Holy shit.” He sucked in air as he stared around him.
“Yes, it does sort of take one’s breath away, doesn’t it?”
Lian sounded a little smug and he glanced at her. She was indeed smiling, but she was also craning her neck, looking around. “Karl? Hey, Karl, you in here?”
He followed her gaze. Who the hell was Karl? At this point, it could have been an android or a real Chinese Fu dog for all he knew. It was quite possible there wasn’t much left in this world that could surprise him.
“Lian? Lian, honey, is that you?”
Okay. He was wrong. There was still something left that could surprise him and the head that popped up over the top of some
sleek piece of equipment did just that. It wasn’t just that the guy was good looking—it was that he fulfilled all the qualifications of being drop-dead gorgeous.
A warm brown gaze danced over Lian’s face, echoing a smile that curved full lips. A hint of sexy stubble, sharp high cheekbones and tousled sandy blond hair falling casually around the face completed the picture. He was every dude Buck had ever seen staring from the covers of those god-awful romance novels, or from inside the pages of women’s magazines under the heading of Sexiest Man Alive.
And he was staring at Lian like she was dinner and he was starving.
“Doll, seeing you is a breath of fresh spring air in the middle of winter. You gonna come over here and get naked for me? I got a real bad hankering for some sweet pussy, darlin’…”
Buck cleared his throat. Loudly. It was either that or grab something hard and blunt and pound this dickhead into his electronics.
“Cut it out, Karl. I’m here on business.”
There was a dramatic sigh. “You never let me have any fun. Gimme a sec and I’ll be right there. This sequencer’s gone hinky on me.”
The head disappeared, there were a few taps, curses and then the click of something being put back into place.
“There. That oughta do it. For now, anyway.”
Karl emerged from behind the equipment. Or sort of emerged. He wasn’t where Buck expected him to be.
He was about three feet lower.
Perfect in every way but one, Karl the electronics wizard and smart-mouthed asshole was, in fact, a dwarf. “Gimme a kiss, sweet thing.”
Correctly deducing this wasn’t intended for him, Buck watched as Lian bent over and dropped a light peck on Karl’s forehead. “Hi, Karl. Good to see you.”
“Mmm.” Karl stared her straight in the crotch. “One of these days, baby.” He licked his lips, his tongue darting in and out suggestively.
“Detective Buck Shand.” Buck aggressively stuck out his hand. “I’m pleased to meet you. Right now, anyway. Keep going the way you’re going and you won’t be pleased to meet me.”
“Ah, yeah. There it is. The growl of the dominant male.” Karl turned and looked Buck up and down. “Hey, Lian. This one’s not bad.” He stared at Buck’s crotch as well, a hungry look in his eyes. “He swing both ways, you think?”
“No.” Buck resisted the urge to cover himself with both hands. “Lian…” It wasn’t a whine or a whimper, but it was damned close. They were here for information and so far he’d been nearly hit on by a senior citizen and now propositioned—almost—by a handsome dwarf.
“Knock it off, Karl. We need help.” Lian walked to the center table and stared at the empty glowing cube. “What have you got for us?”
Karl sighed, cast a last lingering look at Buck’s crotch and then ambled over to hop up on a stool in front of a glowing control panel. “You guys are no fun.”
“Neither is this killer.”
Buck’s somber statement echoed through the room. It was time to drop the cute shit and get down to business.
“You’re right about that, Detective dude.” Karl’s fingers whizzed over lights and buttons. “I’ve fed in a lot of the data Lian passed along. Done a few things with assumptive programming. Run some simulations, that sort of thing.”
Buck tried to look knowledgeable. “That’s good.”
Lian simply grunted. “Gimme, Karl. We’re in trouble if we can’t get a handle on this thing.”
“What can you do that our guys can’t?” Buck watched the small man work.
“A whole bunch of stuff.” He absently leaned over and flicked a switch. “This facility has been running for nearly two decades. Thank Lian’s grandfather for it.”
Buck looked at Lian knowing she’d hear the unspoken question.
“On my mother’s side.” She acknowledged him. “He was a total genius. My family has always been involved with the DNA mutations.” Leaning back she drummed her fingertips on the table. “The Feds have a good database. Solid information. We specialize in the unclassifiable. The odd men out, as it were. Those mutations that don’t fall neatly into any definite category. We don’t care about names or numbers or varieties. This is all to do with genetics. The essence of humans as they mutate, if you want to look at it that way.”
He chewed that over for a few moments. “So you’ve got what amounts to a catalog of oddballs?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” She nodded. “I’m in here. My DNA is unclassifiable.”
“You’re not an oddball, darlin’.” Karl shook his finger at her. “I keep tellin’ you that.”
“Wait up a minute here—” Buck interrupted. “We have no DNA from our killer. Nothing we can put into any database for a match, oddball or not.”
“Exactly.” Karl looked pleased. “That fact, in and of itself, is something to work on.”
“How?” Buck’s brain was skidding around itself in circles.
Karl leaned forward patiently. “The ability to mask or remove one’s DNA is a genetic skill. Just as definable a skill as sprouting wings or going furry on a full moon.”
“Hmm.”
“So we look for mutations that might involve that skill. Some odd wrinkle that will permit total removal or complete alteration of DNA. Creatures that can—for want of a better expression—become invisible.”
“Oh swell.” Buck’s mouth drooped. How the hell did one catch an invisible killer, let alone gather enough evidence for prosecution?
“Fortunately, there aren’t that many.”
“That’s good.” Lian sounded a helluva lot more positive about this than he felt.
“And with the other data, the chill in the air, the sexual violence and…thanks to you, Detective…the eye…” Karl paused dramatically. “We came up with this.”
The cube above the desk shimmered a little as a shape began to coalesce within its borders. Buck stared, fascinated, as first the outline of a man formed, only to shift, to change somehow into a thing more reptilian than human emerged.
When it was finally complete, he couldn’t drag his eyes away.
“Behold, ladies and gentlemen. Observe the magic of technology.” Karl waved his hand with a flourish. “I give you the basilisk.”
———
Lian narrowed her eyes and stared at the creature solidifying before her in a mass of pixels and particles. The skin was gleaming, the hint of scales adding to the iridescent sheen. The head was softer than she’d expected, although the jaw line hinted at some crushing strength it might well take for granted.
But it was the eyes that dominated—large and bulbous—they were almond shaped as Buck had said. Slanted at enough of an angle to be noticeable and a deep, rich amber. The pupil was a contracted oval, that typical reptilian slit that was unmistakable.
She could well imagine what one single eye would look like to Buck, glowing from the darkness, alive as this model was not. “Is this what you saw, Buck? Those eyes?”
He seemed almost frozen next to her, then he sucked in a breath, circled the table to take a full inventory and returned to her side. “Yeah. That’s it.”
Karl preened. “Told you I was good.”
“You’re fucking amazing.” Buck kept his voice low. “It looks real.”
“It’s not. I’m not even sure if the coloring is right. And the proportions may be off. I can only deduce so much from the data I have. Putting in a few reptile genes and adding a dash of chameleon—” Karl broke off and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s not anything I’d stand behind one hundred percent, Detective. But it may be a place to start.”
Lian continued to stare at the dragon-like apparition, noting the sharp, curved talons and the powerful muscles. The tail was short and barbed and the top of the head was ridged with a small row of spikes.
Karl noticed her gaze and fiddled with a few buttons. The crest flared upward, a membrane tipped with viciously sharp death.
She jumped and Karl chuckled. “Just a few special effects there.
”
“Sheesh, Karl. Gimme a break, will you?” She held her hand to her chest and patted her heart. “What do you know about the basilisk?”
Buck nodded. “My question too. We both need that info, Karl. Whatever you’ve got.”
The little man hopped up onto a large padded chair and settled himself. “It’s a lizard, of course. You know that. South American, I think. That’s the everyday critter.”
Lian pushed herself up onto a metallic counter and swung her feet thoughtfully. “I guess it’s the mythical one we’re dealing with here. South American lizards aren’t likely to murder Pleasure Pets.”
Buck glanced at her. “Thank you. I was wondering about that.”
She ignored his sarcasm. “Go on, Karl.”
“Well, mythically speaking, the basilisk was a monster. But the description varies according to the civilization. A lizard, a snake with legs—even a rooster with scales and fangs. Take your pick.”
“Great.” Buck wrinkled his nose. “Not a lot of specifics, huh?”
Karl shook his head. “Sorry, O great detail-oriented servant of the people. It was described according to the legends of the time. You hated snakes? You got the snake version. You had a thing against chickens? Behold. Killer Reptile Rooster.” He paused. “Although I’m not sure how they arrived at that one. Maybe the crest…”
Lian followed her own train of thought. “Well, given the effects of Afterglow, I suppose it would be safe to assume that sometime, someplace, there was a real basilisk. As in the monster genus. And it’s back now.”
“Yep.” Karl looked somber. “I’m guessing the chameleon component is what allows it to vanish. For lack of a better word. The factor in a chameleon’s physiognomy that permits color change and blending has been ramped up in this beastie. It can not only blend with its surroundings, it can disappear from them entirely.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Much as I hate to say it, this is only a guess. I like assumptions even less than you do, Detective.” He glanced at Buck who shrugged in acceptance.
Karl continued. “But this is ninety percent guesswork and ten percent technology here.”
Demons are Forever Page 7
