5.0 - Light Of The Stygian Orb

by Krista Walsh

  The ice in Zach’s blood melted as a furious heat swept through him, and he squeezed his hands at his sides. His desire for justice was gone, replaced by his wish for revenge as his demon strength surged, responding to the threat he only now recognized. Taking him in alive was the only answer that made sense. But again he had to wonder why him? Why was he so damned important that Karl had risked five strong demons just to drag Zach to wherever this new factory lay hidden? It couldn’t be simply to put him to work. That explanation no longer fit with the picture, if it ever had.

  The fact that he couldn’t come up with another theory did nothing to put Zach at ease.

  Snarling, he threw a scaled punch into the wall of the college, then stepped back as an avalanche of brick and cement crumbled at his feet.

  Lashing out didn’t make him feel any better, so it was time to try something that might actually get him somewhere. He pulled the sheet of paper he’d taken from the Project Oracle folder out of his pocket and tipped it toward the street light.

  Ever since he’d returned from the plant, he’d wracked his brain trying to make sense of the plans, but they may as well have been written in another language. By what he could make out, this page represented level twelve of the building, but there were no markings for windows. Instead, there were extra supports on the thick walls, as well as runoff for water.

  If Zach had to guess, this part of the building was underground. Very far underground. He counted twenty-four rooms on this floor alone, all the shame shape and size. Were they cells? He shuddered at the thought of being locked inside.

  When the answers didn’t materialize in front of him, he shoved the paper back in his pocket and turned his attention to the corner where Daphne’s car had disappeared, impatient for the headlights to brighten the street on her return.

  He wasn’t too concerned about people coming across the demon corpses where they lay. In the darkness, without even the benefit of moonlight, they looked no more impressive than Halloween decorations made of rubber and fake blood. One more prop for the humans to ignore, just as they usually did.

  Zach curled and uncurled his hands, too tense to go back inside, too restrained to keep throwing punches into the wall. The seconds ticked by in his head. How far away did the girl live by car? It only took him twenty minutes to walk her home, for the gods’ sakes. Had the sorceress changed her mind about helping him?

  He decided to give her another five minutes, and then he’d handle the corpses on his own. He’d drag them into an empty parking lot and set them on fire. The smell would stir up the neighbors, no doubt, but there wouldn’t be enough of the demons left by the time he was done for anyone to determine what they’d been.

  Before he had to decide, Daphne’s car turned the corner and pulled up near the side door.

  “Sorry,” Daphne huffed. “The girl wanted to talk about life and stuff. Teenagers.” She pulled her bloodstained jacket on over her T-shirt and propped her hands on her hips. “Shall we?”

  “Your contact?” Zach asked. Irritation simmered under the surface of his temper, but he held it back. Molly had experienced a shock, and it was no surprise she’d wanted to work it out with someone who might have some idea of what was going on.

  He ignored the faint glimmer of jealousy that the person she’d spoken to had been Daphne. Was it only because she’d been the first person available, or was the girl still angry with him for withholding information?

  Zach gave a mental grunt. If that were the case, she’d better get used to it. He had no intention of dragging her into danger or spilling light into every corner of his life just to keep her happy.

  Though part of him did feel a twinge of guilt for sharing everything he knew with Daphne when he’d held back from Molly. Maybe he’d been an idiot to trust either of them.

  “She’ll be waiting for us at the side door of the hospital near the incinerator.” Daphne said, sliding her hands into her jacket sleeves and extending her fingers to stretch out the cuffs. “We might have to deal with her anger at being pulled into a body disposal, but we’ll deal with that when the time comes.”

  Zach didn’t care whose anger he had to deal with, as long as they dealt with their problem quickly. The sun would be rising in a couple of hours, and he wanted to be well out of sight by then.

  He pulled the Colcex demon over one shoulder and grabbed the Lingor demon by the scruff of her neck. Daphne grabbed the ankle of the Kozkor demon with both hands.

  “The car doors are unlocked, and I’ve popped the trunk,” she said. “There’s already a blanket back there, so if we could fit them all on that so they don’t seep into the upholstery, that would be great.” She paused. “I cannot believe those words just came out of my mouth.”

  She shook her head and jerked the wolf-demon across the cement, its face scraping over the stones and cracks.

  Zach dumped the Colcex demon in first, snapping limbs where he needed to in order to get the beast crammed in nice and tight while still keeping it on the pale blue hospital blanket. Daphne was panting when she reached his side, so he did the work of fitting the Kozkor demon in beside its colleague. The Lingor demon was easiest to wedge into place, her limbs and joints as pliant as rubber.

  Daphne crossed her arms and stared into the trunk. “They look so tiny and pathetic in there, don’t they? Hard to imagine they’re such huge pains in the ass when they’re alive.”

  Zach shrugged. “The Colcex demon’s boils are still oozing.”

  “Ugh,” Daphne said, pressing her hand against her stomach. “Let’s just get out of here. I don’t want him stinking up my car. I’m really glad I got my taillight fixed last week, because I don’t know how I would explain this one to Hunter if we got caught.”

  ***

  They arrived at the hospital without incident, but then Daphne got lost in the parking lot and had to call her contact to figure out which door they were supposed to meet at.

  “Definitely pissed off,” she said as she hung up. “I suggest we keep the conversation with her to a minimum. And let me do the talking. I’m afraid if you say anything, she’ll come at me with a hypodermic.”

  Daphne pulled up to the door, and Zach peered around her to check out the woman standing in the open doorway. She appeared to be in her mid-thirties, with tight brown curls pulled back into a ponytail. A pair of glasses were perched on top of her head. She was dressed in purple scrubs, and the toe of one of her white nurse’s shoes tapped against the ground in an impatient rhythm.

  Zach had no issue leaving her to be Daphne’s problem.

  The sorceress got out of the car to speak with the woman while Zach went around the other side and popped the trunk. The Colcex demon had already begun to rot, its beet-red skin shriveling up and pulling away from the boils and pustules to send more noxious fluids dribbling toward the blanket.

  He heaved the corpse over his shoulder and approached the doorway.

  “Oh, sweet heavens,” the woman gasped, pressing her hand to her chest. “Daphne Heartstone, what have you dragged me into now?”

  “Nothing,” Daphne said. “We’re going to be in and out, and you don’t need to remember a thing. You don’t even need to be here. Denise, Zach. Zach, Denise.”

  He nodded his head in greeting, but the woman stared up at him in wide-eyed wonder. Zach wished he’d thought to position himself out of the light to hide the scars on his face. They tended to draw the eye even more than his wide frame.

  Denise gave herself a shake, then fanned her face as she puffed out a breath. “If you’re going to do this, please make it quick. The ER is a madhouse tonight, and I can’t be off the floor babysitting you two for long.”

  “In and out,” Daphne assured her again.

  Denise jerked her head toward the parking lot. “The incinerator’s out here. These things cause no small amount of environmental damage, so we try to limit what we burn. I’m sorry it’s out in the open, but at this time of night, no one comes back here.”

 
She led them to a system that reminded Zach unnervingly of the defunct boiler near his living space. If destroying these demons had been as easy as finding a way to get that hunk of machinery working, it would have been better than dragging them across town. But the incinerator would work faster and leave fewer traces behind.

  “There’s not a lot of space in here,” Denise warned.

  “I’ll make them fit,” Zach said.

  She eyed him up and down and crossed her arms. “I don’t doubt it.”

  Zach stuffed the already broken Colcex demon into the back of the empty incinerator, then returned to the trunk and came back with the Kozkor demon over his arm and the Lingor demon over his shoulder.

  “What trouble are you getting yourself into now, Daphne?” Denise asked. She kept her voice low to prevent Zach from hearing her, so he didn’t let her know that he could make out every word. “Who is this man? Does Hunter know about this?”

  “He does not,” Daphne stated. “Nor will he, until we’re looking at a fait accompli that he doesn’t need to stress about. There’s nothing he’d be able to do anyway.”

  Denise narrowed her eyes in Daphne’s direction. “That is not how relationships work.”

  Daphne arched a brow at her. “Does Bob know you’re out here helping me burn some bodies?”

  Her friend’s mouth fell open, closed, opened again, then pressed into a thin line. Daphne gave her a smug smile, then put her arm around her shoulder. “Admit it, you’re glad I brought you into this. You’ve missed our little adventures.”

  Denise wrinkled her nose and pressed her finger against her nostrils. “I did not miss those smells. Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything that horrible, and I work in a hospital. What is that?”

  Zach turned around so Denise could get a full glimpse of the Kozkor demon’s snout. She muttered something under her breath and rolled her eyes skyward as he crammed the other two demons in with the first. It took a few more snaps and pops to get the door closed.

  “How does it work?” he asked.

  She flapped her hands in front of her face, as though working to get herself out of the strange dream she’d found herself in, then went around to the back of the incinerator. She opened a panel, pushed a few buttons, and the fans kicked in with a steady vibration of air.

  “This’ll take a while,” she said, “and it’ll smell worse than it already does.”

  “Will we need to worry if the day shift switches over?” Zach asked.

  She looked at her watch and puffed out a breath. “You might be able to squeeze it in on time. When does anything go according to schedule around here? Once it’s done, the ashes will need to be raked out, unless you want whoever opens it next to find whatever traces might have been left behind.”

  Daphne rested her hand on Denise’s shoulder. “We’ve got it covered. You go inside and we’ll take it from here.”

  Denise looked to Zach, who was doing his best to hide the smirk that threatened to take over his mouth. He didn’t know what he’d expected from Daphne’s contact, but a human nurse with a conscience and limited experience with the otherworld was not it. Despite her obvious reluctance to be involved, he admired her courage for doing it anyway, and with so little fuss.

  “Thanks for your help,” he said.

  “Mmhmm,” said Denise, scanning him over again. This time her gaze moved across the span of his shoulders, paying only passing attention to his scars. She shifted her gaze from him to Daphne, who offered another shrug at her friend’s silent question. “Right, then. I’ll leave you to it. If you get caught, you’ve never met me.”

  “Understood,” Daphne said. As Denise reached the door, she called out, “Are we still on for that barbecue tomorrow?”

  Denise nodded. “Four o’clock. I’m bringing the coleslaw.”

  She raised her hand in farewell, then shut the door behind her, leaving the other two in the darkness of the empty lot.

  “Well,” Daphne said. The wind picked up around them, and she glanced toward the car. “Are you going back to chase after those demons?”

  Zach scowled. “I already tried. The trail ended in the middle of an alley.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “Ended? Just like that?”

  “Like they upped and flew away. Or like someone transported them out of there.”

  “Damn,” she said. “This could be bigger than we thought.” She looked around the parking lot. “Then shall we wait somewhere more comfortable? Sounds like we’ve got quite the night ahead of us.”

  Zach sniffed and returned to the passenger seat. The car squeaked and tilted to the right under his weight.

  After Daphne closed the door and they’d sat in silence for a few minutes, he shifted toward her. “You’re dating a human detective and your contact at the hospital is a human nurse. Is there any human in your life you haven’t told who you are?”

  She frowned. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

  “It is if you’re trying to drag them into my life. It goes against every rule of our kind.”

  “You can just stuff your angelic justice crap back in its box, all right, daemelus?”

  Zach snarled and crossed his arms, the leather of his coat stretching at the seams.

  Daphne shifted in her seat and started picking at her nails. “It was a series of very strange circumstances that led to so many people finding out. I did not just wake up one day and decide to take a bunch of random people into my confidence. Trust me, it was not a good week.” She leaned back against the headrest and rested her elbow on the side of the door, propping her forehead on her fingertips. “At the same time, I have to admit, it hasn’t changed things as much as I thought it would. We’re all so used to living in secret. Maybe too used to it.” She tilted her head toward Zach. “I know for me, anyway, I was afraid that if people found out, they’d turn their backs on me. They’d instigate some sort of modern day witch hunt and burn my family home to the ground. Instead, it was as if I’d revealed that I was turning vegetarian or had discovered religion. There was some surprise and an adjustment period, of course, but then they carried on the same way they always did. They didn’t see me any differently.”

  She snorted. “Except Emmett, but he didn’t know me before, so it’s not like I can offer a real comparison. He’s just a teenager who thinks I’m awesome because I can wash dishes without getting off the couch. Not that I do that on a regular basis,” she rushed to add. “I’m still struggling with my magic addiction. The pull is always there, always trying to lure me in, so I’m really working on limiting how much I use it. These days it’s solely to help people who need me. Including killing the occasional demon, apparently.”

  She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the window, her shoulders slumped.

  Zach considered what she was saying, but he couldn’t help but believe that she had it easier than he did. Although magic ran through Daphne’s veins, she was human. She’d have a natural lifespan, and even at the height of her power, she would still look like the people around her.

  If he let either side of his blood loose, he would transform into something that would set any human around him quaking. At full demon, horns would grow from his forehead, and the red scales that covered him in his anger would grow thicker and hotter, with molten heat seeping between the cracks. He’d only experienced that full transformation twice in his life, and neither time had ended well.

  He’d never gone so far on his angelic side to find out what the physical changes would be, but if it was like the assholes he’d met on his attempted journey of self-discovery, he could expect to go through the whole wings-and-light-of-purity route. Out of the light would grow a sword as long as his arm and as sharp as his wrath, and the lethal energy would snick through someone’s head with the barest touch.

  Neither side would let him fit in at a family barbecue.

  At his calmest, he appeared as a human, albeit a large one, but the scars he’d received at the hands
of pure-blooded Korvack demons kept people from seeing him as anything other than dangerous. He doubted he’d ever experience anything like friendship with people outside of the otherworld. There would be too many explanations to offer. Too many warnings to give.

  “You’re not much of a talker, are you?”

  He shrugged. “I work better in my own head. You’ve made things work for you, and that’s something. At least not everyone in our world has to be an outcast.”

  “You’re not as alone as you think you are,” Daphne said, returning her attention to the incinerator ahead of them. “You’ve got Molly.”

  “She’s a teenage girl who’s going to get herself killed,” Zach growled.

  “And in spite of yourself, you care about her and want her to be safe,” she said. “And considering she came out ready to fight whatever was coming after you, she obviously feels the same way. Sorry, big guy, but that sounds like a friend to me.”

  Zach grunted and slouched into the seat. The car bounced with his shifting weight.

  “Stop treating it like it’s a bad thing,” she said, a trace of laughter in her words. “It’s important for us to have a reason to stay on the good side. Otherwise, we run the risk of turning into them.” She gestured to the demons burning in the big metal box. A crease formed between her brows. “I wonder what they were up to, anyway.”

  “I’d hoped to find out today, but it looks like we’re just left with this.”

  He pulled the paper out of his pocket and handed it to Daphne. She spread the paper over her knee. “What is this?”

  “A page of the blueprints for Mayzell’s new factory. It was one of twelve pages, one for each floor.”

  The sorceress’s eyes widened. “Not a small place.”

  “But I can’t make sense of what’s here. It’s big, and this part must be underground. But for what?”

  “We’ll find out. You’ve got me on the case now.” Daphne cast him a grin. “You haven’t met anyone as skilled as I am at talking up the county clerk’s office. Just you watch.”

  “If you learn anything, you come to me,” Zach said, keeping his voice firm. “This isn’t a story for you to make a name out of. They’re working hard to keep their secret, and I want to know why. On my own terms.”