As Jennie cleared people of possession, they began to struggle against the weight on top, pushing to try to free themselves from the tangle of bodies. Jennie was afforded a breath as the pressure eased. She flailed her arms, touching anyone and everyone she could, dispensing Susannah’s healing powers into the remaining corrupt. After another minute the pain eased, and she was clear.
A hand reached in and helped Jennie up. Baxter gave a weak smile. The large woman was unconscious nearby. Baxter raised his wrench, and Jennie understood the large welt on the woman’s forehead.
Jennie gasped for air. “Let’s keep going. We’re so close.”
“What about those guys?” Baxter asked, pointing to the men and women they had freed from the spell. They were now fighting the corrupt, doing whatever they could to help, although their number was nothing compared to the enemy.
“We’ll come back for them,” Jennie replied. “That’s all we can do.”
They found their way through the remaining enemies and broke free on the other side. After the torture of wading through the bodies, the last few meters to the community center was a breeze.
Jennie barged through the door and scanned for any sign of Jiao and the Dreadnought.
She felt his power the minute she entered the building. A wave of corruption caused her to gag. She darted from room to room, hoping to find them, and it was only when they came to the final room off the back of the hall and saw the doors had been left wide open that she knew they’d escaped.
“Shit,” Baxter cried. “So damn close.”
Jennie couldn’t help but smile.
“What have you got to be smiling about?” Baxter asked.
Susannah’s face was stern as her eyes stared at the tire marks left on the asphalt by their speedy getaway. “They’re on the run, and they’ve left their army behind.”
* * *
Jennie, Susannah, and Baxter climbed the bell tower and took a stance where Jiao had been for most of the night before.
From there, they had a direct view of the battle. The smoke from the grenades had almost cleared. Their agents had disarmed the enemy and arrested those who had shot at them, including Agent Sturgeon and the ringleader of the GOA. While the other possessed civilians fought on, the battle was beginning to wind down.
Only a few had lost their lives, a better result than Jennie could have hoped for.
Jennie studied her hands then looked at Susannah. “What was that we did back there? What power lies within you?”
Susannah shrugged. “I don’t proclaim to understand it; I just know that it can work. I’m able to manipulate dark magic and provide light in the darkness.”
“Can you perform an exorcism?” Baxter asked.
Susannah shook her head. “Oh, no. That takes a great power that few possess. My power is limited and can only extend to the magic that I had in life.”
“What do you mean?” Jennie replied.
Susannah looked at her own hands. “This mess is my fault. I put my curse on Haybourne, and now he has spread that curse to others. I didn’t believe it to be possible when I removed him from the mortal realm, I only thought that I was binding him to his sarcophagus. Over time, magic can grow stronger and darker. As adversity strengthens the human condition, so too does it create fortified darkness. There is still so much we don’t know about how magic acts beyond the grave.”
“You’re telling me,” Jennie mused, remembering the Mendlesons and the bond they had made with the manor. Recalling the sturmgeist and the host of spectral creatures that had wandered alongside them in the forests of New Jersey.
“How do we clear all of those guys?” Baxter nodded toward the combat. “We need to help.”
Jennie nodded. She leaned forward and rested her hands on the cold stone ledge, the action disturbing a pigeon that had nested below. Alarmed, the pigeon burst from its hiding in a mass of feathers and wings. Jennie jumped back and knocked into the bell, eliciting a chime that carried over to the battle.
Those nearest to them turned at the disturbance. The bell rocked gently back and forth. Interesting, Jennie thought. She took her pistol from its holster and whacked it against the metal. This time the chime was loud enough to carry over the entire horde, and they all turned their heads at once. A moment later, the possessed whirled on their heels and began marching back toward the community center.
“Summoned by the bell?” Jennie chuckled. “How Pavlovian.”
They watched as the possessed crowd filed back inside the community center. Some remained unconscious on the battlefield. A few agents lay in bloody puddles, shot by those with firearms. The agents who had joined them worked their way after the crowd, guns trained on the group in case they took another sudden turn.
By the time Jennie made her way down the stairs, the hall was nearly full. The possessed civilians stood like statues, eyes all blanks and vacant. Jennie cautiously approached the nearest person and waved a hand in front of their face. They did not blink.
“What the hell?” Jennie muttered. “I’ve known certain sounds to trigger responses in primitive creatures, but this is just freaky.”
She waved a hand again and gleaned no response. She poked the man’s forehead with her finger, and he rocked gently on his heels.
Baxter chuckled. “When you’re done playing, you might want to help free these poor folks from their trance.”
Jennie smirked. “Of course. Come on, Susie. We’ve got work to do.”
Susannah glared at Jennie. “It’s Susannah.”
“Sure,” Jennie replied as she latched onto the witch and passed her power into the man. The shadow of corruption melted inside him. A few seconds later, he gasped as if he had been swimming and was surfacing for air. He blinked stupidly, flinching at how close Jennie was to him.
“What happened? Where am I?” he asked.
“It’s a long story,” Jennie replied. “Just wait until we’ve freed your brothers and sisters, and we’ll do a mass announcement.” She turned to Baxter. “Can you imagine explaining to each person individually?”
Baxter rolled his eyes and laughed.
Chapter Sixty-Four
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Jennie found a folding table in a nearby cupboard and set it up at the far side of the room. She climbed on top and looked out over the confused faces of the possessed they had freed.
Jennie raised her arms and gained their silence. “I understand that you’re all confused. We’re confused as well, so I can imagine that this will be difficult for you all to take in. The best way I can explain it is this…”
It was a tough sell. Jennie, having lived around specters and mortals for years, knew that it was often best to keep the spectral realm hidden. As much as she wanted to explain the truth—that an ancient specter known as the Dreadnought had somehow infected everyone with pieces of himself and placed them under his spell—she knew that over a hundred people with the knowledge that specters were a real thing would only cause more trouble.
Instead, she concocted a master lie. It was something that she had used before, only with mixed results. Jennie explained that a crazed local who experimented with a trial drug had dropped a new form of hallucinogen into the water supply. Those who had drunk the water or been exposed in any way to this new drug had been instantly put into a collective daze that drove them from their houses and brought them into the open.
While Jennie spun her lie, her clean-up crew worked quickly outside, returning the street to normal, washing away the blood and mess and removing the dead bodies. Hands raised in the crowd, and people asked a multitude of questions. Many hadn’t drunk any water from their taps in the hours before bed. Some had been under the influence longer than others. A few of the smarter among them questioned the government’s role.
Jennie batted all of these away with the grace of a true diplomat, and soon the civilians filtered through the door to the community center and made their way home.
The only sign of the co
mbat were the shells of smashed cars. A few eyes stared in confusion, unconvinced by the whole experience, but no one said anything further. Soon the crowd had dispersed and gone back to their homes, and Jennie found herself alone with the agents in the hall.
As they chatted among themselves, Jennie excused herself and found a side room she could get a moment of quiet. She needed a breather. From the moment the chopper had touched down in Richmond, things had been non-stop. She needed to compose her thoughts, try to understand just what exactly was happening. More than that, she needed to figure out where Jiao and the Dreadnought had fled to.
Jennie was so preoccupied in her own thoughts that she didn’t even notice Agent Sturgeon balled up in the corner, her head resting against the wall. “Strange day, huh?”
“You could say that.” Jennie sighed and took a seat beside her. “Are you okay? Can’t have been fun to have that creepy darkness inside of you.”
“You mean the tainted water?” Sturgeon smirked.
Jennie laughed.
Sturgeon continued. “Nah. It wasn’t fun. It was like being trapped in a nightmare. One where I have no control over my body. You don’t know who you are or what you’re doing, but you know that it’s wrong. I could see flashes of myself, moments where I raised the gun and aimed it at you all, but I was helpless to stop it. It was out of my hands.”
Jennie thought back to the moment she had latched onto the corrupt, repressing the memory of the nausea that had brewed in her stomach. “Tell me, did you feel any nausea? Any kind of sickness ?”
Sturgeon shook her head. She was tired, the bags under her eyes telling the story. She fixed her gaze on the far corner of the wall. “No. Nothing like that. Only that I wasn’t a part of my body. I was…”
Jennie waited expectantly. Sturgeon remained quiet. “Was what?”
Sturgeon opened her eyes as if suddenly picking her train of thought back up. “I was part of something bigger. I could feel my interconnectedness with all the others under the spell. Traces of their fears, their worries, their concerns. All of the negatives brewed inside me, and I just felt…”
“Miserable?” Jennie finished.
Sturgeon nodded.
Jennie heard the rest of the group in the other room, their voices rising and falling as they spoke animatedly among themselves. The door opened and Ula poked her head around the door. “Ah, that’s where you went. We were looking for you.”
Triton appeared behind her. “Rhone was worried.”
“Was not,” Rhone refuted, appearing behind him.
Jennie laughed. “Get your arses in here, we need to talk about what just happened.”
They all filed in. It was a strange reunion as Jennie saw with joy that even Tanya and Sandra had answered the call she had put out over the radio. Rogers, Jack, and Ruby represented the SIA. Ula, Roman, Triton, Julia, Baxter, Carolyn, and Feng Mian represented the King’s Court, and Sturgeon represented the SIS. The specters of the Spectral Plane held back, as did Grimald and his GOA members.
Jennie addressed them all. “We’ve built quite the congregation, but all of this means nothing if we can’t trace down Jiao and the Dreadnought.”
“We’ve finally got confirmation that Jiao is working with him?” Jack asked.
“We have,” Baxter answered. “We still don’t know how she’s linked to all of this mess, but the only assumption we can make is that she’s helping the Dreadnought.”
“How do you know?” Ruby asked. “Was she here?”
Jennie nodded. “She set the possessed on us, commanding them into battle somehow.” Her mind flashed back to that moment, Jiao’s hands pulsing with power. The three rings had glinted on her hands. Her brow creased, and her mouth fell open.
“Jennie?” Carolyn asked. She had been bored on the other side of the city, looking out for the enemy and seemed relieved and eager to be back among the group. “Are you there?”
Jennie met her eyes. “The rings?”
“I’m sorry?” Carolyn replied.
“The rings!” Jennie exclaimed. “When Jiao snapped her fingers and commanded the possessed, something sparked between the rings—a pulsing light. They must be the reason she’s able to command them.”
Julia and Tanya exchanged glances. Julia spoke up. “I suppose that’s possible. There are thousands of records from history detailing items possessing strange abilities or unexplainable powers that have aided leaders and rulers over time.”
Tanya nodded in agreement. “Tokens, talismans, usually objects made of precious metals. The more expensive objects were the ones that were used to contain the power, adding further value beyond the magic they were chosen to contain. I’ve got ledgers and books full of that kind of thing back in NYC. All hearsay, though. None of it is proven.”
Jennie touched her chin. “I’ve seen a few objects of power over the years, but they’re rarer and rarer with each passing year. Most of these objects are buried with their owners, now hidden beneath the earth, yet when they do come to light, they’re a real pain in the ass.”
“What about that sword you took from London?” Carolyn asked. “That’s one, right?”
“It was.” Jennie thought back to the sword, tucked away safely in a hidden nest at the manor. “One of the few items that had found its way into the hands of a clueless mortal. If he truly knew the power he held with that possession, there would have been some trouble.”
“What sword?” Julia asked, her curiosity piqued.
Tanya grinned. “The Holy Saber of the Divinity. It’s a sword that instantly exorcizes a specter on contact.”
A few eyes around the room widened.
“You’re kidding?” Julia breathed.
Jennie smiled, turning the conversation back in the right direction. “The rings must be imbued with some kind of power. Something that allows Jiao to work with the specters and hold influence over them.”
“But how?” Rogers asked. “Where would she find those?”
“None of that matters right now,” Jennie replied. “All that matters is we find the pair of them before they can do any further damage. I have a feeling we’ve just flushed the hornets from their nest, and now they’re going to be pissed.”
Sturgeon ran a hand through her hair. “Which brings us back to the big question. How the hell are we going to find them before they attack?”
Jennie looked around and motioned to the old female specter looking behind the group. She waved her toward the front and the others fell silent.
Jennie put a hand on her shoulder. She introduced Susannah and told them of Susannah’s history in Richmond, of the approach of Richard Haybourne and his men. She told them of the curse and the burial place of the monster before she had to uproot and leave the city.
When she was done, she turned to Susannah. “You must know of somewhere the Dreadnought would want to hide. My experience tells me that specters cling to places that hold great personal memory and value. Does anything spring to mind for you?”
Susannah nodded. “It does. A few places. The world has changed much since I last visited, though, so I can only give you approximations of their locations.”
“That’s fine,” Jennie replied. “We’re not averse to splitting up and covering ground again.”
Carolyn’s eyes lowered.
“What?” Jennie asked.
“Can I come with you this time?” Carolyn pleaded.
Jennie chuckled. “Sure. Of course, you can.
Chapter Sixty-Five
Richmond, Virginia, USA
The rain came down in sheets, slickening the mud beneath their feet. The sky was dark, and the cemetery was empty.
Tombstones littered the ground like fallen giant’s teeth. Many were cracked, most were faded. This far into the cemetery weeds were overgrown, and trees hung low above them.
The man of many names, Rathbourne, soaked it all in. From inside the woman, he could feel her skin prickle. He had gotten used to riding around in this vessel, although he wo
ndered how long it would be before he could finally take his true form once again.
The little woman, his future queen, stood beside him silently.
Rathbourne crouched down and pressed his fingers into the soil. The damp earth gave way to him easily and covered his nails. He closed his eyes and felt for their vibrations, sensing and hunting those for whom he searched.
He could feel the woman’s eyes on him, studious, unconvinced. She knew nothing of the power that emanated from his body. For years he had lain awake in that tomb, brewing, simmering, harnessing every piece of spectral power he could until all he could see was black. Waiting for the moment he’d be found, and revenge would at last be his.
They had suffered a small setback by losing their mortals to the enemy. But Rathbourne should have known better, it was the specters who would be his ticket to domination.
Jiao’s eyes widened as the ground rumbled. Nearby, half a dozen tombs cracked. The dirt seemed to shift, and from out of the soil came hands and feet and bodies and heads. Jiao flinched, ever so slightly, but it was enough for him to notice. Rathbourne grinned.
The specters rose from the grave. They weren’t the color and tone of the specters that roamed the world but appeared as manifestations of the gray darkness that poured from Rathbourne. Their eyes were black and their bodies gaseous, as though the storm clouds had fallen and taken the shape of specters.
They limped toward Rathbourne, the figures clothed in strange attire. Rathbourne stood straight and awaited their presence. They gathered close to him, then knelt.
“My King,” one of them declared, his voice like rocks thrown down a wind tunnel.
Rathbourne allowed himself a slight smile. He moved to each in turn and touched their shoulder, an ancient form of greeting. He asked them to rise.
“We have work to do,” Rathbourne stated. “For years, we have lain dormant in our slumber, but our time has come to rise. Stand with me, brothers, as we claim what should have been ours long ago.”
Agents, Agreements and Aggravations: In Her Paranormal Majesty’s Secret Service™ Book Three Page 49
