by M. R. Forbes
“Respect for taking a punch,” he said.
“Fuck you,” I replied.
He scowled, his hand coming in hard and fast, a killing blow.
I shifted slightly, just enough that the blow went wide. I reached up, putting my hand on his outstretched forearm.
“You should be more afraid when you see a man with one arm wandering the streets in the middle of the night,” I said, the death magic tearing into him. His arm was black within seconds, the poison spreading toward his chest. “Especially when they cough up blood at you, idiota.”
He looked down at his arm, and back at me.
“Wait,” he said. “Please. Wait.”
I kept my grip on him. It would be so easy to overpower him with it, to turn him into a corpse. I might have even reached the point that I could bring him back. Maybe I should try?
“Please,” he said again. “I’ll give you anything.”
“Anything?” I said.
“Yes. Please.”
I let him go. His arm dropped to his side, limp and dead. He clutched at it, whimpering softly.
“My arm. My fucking arm.”
“Let me go,” I said to his goons.
They did.
“I’m looking for my friends. They’re staying in town, but I’m not sure which hotel. You’re going to help me find them.”
“What if I don’t?” he asked.
I held my hand out toward him. His other arm began to turn black. “I don’t need to be near you to kill you.”
“Okay, okay,” he said. “Don’t.”
I let it go. An armless ogre was useless to me, anyway.
“You have a car?” I asked him.
He shook his head.
“Rickshaw, wagon, something? I need to sit.”
“I got a wagon,” one of the others said.
“Go get it,” the ogre said.
I had never thought about becoming the leader of a gang before.
I kind of liked it.
44
Wash it away.
“Boss!” Frank shouted, after following one of the gang members out of the Westin and down the street to the alley where I was waiting. “You look like shit.”
“Frank,” I replied, smiling. “Where are Amos and Dannie?”
“Dannie’s back in the room. Amos is out by the pool.”
“It’s three in the morning.”
“Yeah. I don’t know. I heard squealing on my way down.”
“Like a pig at trough?”
“No. Women, I think. At least three or four. I don’t know how he does it.”
“That makes two of us.”
“Who are your new friends?”
“This is Chapo,” I said, motioning to the ogre.
“What kind of ogre are you, bro?” Chapo said to Frank.
“Trogre,” he replied. “Half-troll, half-ogre, all awesome.”
Chapo grunted at the comment and turned to me. “We found them. Are we done?”
I was tempted to keep them around, but what would be the point? We weren’t sticking around here anyway.
“Yeah. You’re done,” I said. “Next time, be a little more cautious about who you fuck with.”
“Good advice,” he replied.
I climbed out of the wagon on shaky legs, stopping to cough once I got to my feet. Then I made my way to Frank, putting my hand on his shoulder for balance.
“Any word from Death?” I asked.
“Nope,” Frank replied. “I think he was waiting for you.”
“The Morrigan?”
Frank shook his head. “I won’t lie, Boss. It’s bad.”
We started walking. I kept a grip on his arm, using him to balance. I felt like garbage, and I was getting weaker with every breath. How many days did I have left to live? Two? Three? Or maybe I should have been guessing in hours.
“How bad?” I asked.
“The Morrigan have been through France and Spain. The news is reporting viral outbreaks, just like London. Except they couldn’t stifle everything coming out of there. There are thousands of deadies out there. Tens of thousands. And whenever you see a photo or video capture of the containment zones, you’ll see a crow in it.”
“Containment zones? That means they have it under control for now.”
“If you want to call it that.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Houses are a mess, and the few that are left can’t handle it all on their own. They’ve got the military in, doing their best to put up defensive barriers and keep the deadies boxed, but I don’t think it will hold forever.”
“But if we get rid of Samedi, all of the zombies drop.”
“Yeah. So that’s what we’re doing, right?”
“We will. Take me back to the hotel. I want to get cleaned up.”
I was covered in sweat and blood, again. I was filthy from the ride, and I was sure I stank.
“Dannie picked up some new clothes for you when we got here. She figured you would want to change.”
“She knows me better than I know myself.”
“It’s tough sitting with her, though,” Frank said. “I know Death can be watching me.”
“Watching you what? Watch television? When he could be with Macha?”
“True.”
We walked back to the hotel. My legs were still shaky, my body tired. I had been dying for years, but I knew it was getting closer. I could feel it in my muscles. I could feel it in my soul. I was coughing more often, sweating more easily. My stump hurt. My side hurt. My leg hurt. My face hurt. I was pretty sure I had a black eye and a broken rib. Meat. That’s all I was.
Frank guided me through the lobby, keeping me somewhat covered from sight. Not that many people were awake at this hour. The path led us to a hallway next to the pool. I heard splashing and laughing as we crossed it, and I looked out to see a handful of topless Brazilian women jousting with one another. And Amos. He had one of the women positioned over his shoulders and was holding her up while she shoved at her counterparts. She was unstoppable with him as a base, knocking the others over one at a time.
“Beats the hell out of trying to kill a lich,” Frank said.
“Why don’t you go join him?” I said. “Take a few minutes to have some fun. I’ll grab you when we’re ready to go.”
He smiled. “They don’t want an ugly trogre like me in the pool with them, and water isn’t kind to the pustules.”
“They haven’t refueled yet,” I said, pointing to the spaces in his skin where the healing fluid would fill. “It might be the only chance you get.”
He looked down at himself, and then back out at the pool. Then he smiled. “Okay, Boss. I’ll give it a shot. Here.” He handed me the card to the room. “Thanks.”
He put his hand on my shoulder before he headed down the hallway, around to the door out to the pool. The activity paused for a moment when he emerged there, and then I saw Amos pointing at him, and the girls laughed. Then they all swam over to him, beckoning him into the water. He took off his shirt and jumped in, a big, toothy smile on his face.
It was my good deed for my lifetime. I made quick eye contact with Amos and then continued down the hallway to the elevator, using the wall to hold myself steady. I took it up to our floor and made my way to our room. I opened the door, stumbling in.
“Dannie, you here?” I said.
She came out of the bedroom a moment later, smiling when she saw me. “I’m glad you made it,” she said.
I eyed her cautiously. “I have everything we need. Mostly. We need Samedi’s location.”
I thought maybe Death would reply, but he didn’t. Dannie stayed Dannie. “I think I know where he is.”
“You do?”
“He has to be deep, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Krubera Cave. It’s the deepest natural cave in the world.”
“Where is it?”
“Georgia.”
“United States?”
“N
o, the country Georgia. The former Soviet state.”
“Death told you that?”
“No, Conor.” She sighed. “I get it, I’m a fucking zombie, too. I didn’t ask to be. He lied to me the same way he lied to you and Amos.” She looked at herself. “I don’t know whose body this is, or how she died. It’s so close to mine, I never noticed. For all I know he had her killed so he could stick me in it.”
“I’d like to say he wouldn’t do that, but-” I trailed off.
“Tell me about it. Anyway, I may be a deadie, but I’m not an idiot. There may be other caves around that we don’t know about, but I don’t know if any of them are as deep.”
“You knew about the caves ahead of time, or you did some research?”
“Research. Death may be good at magic, but he sucks at the Internet. I also mapped the Morrigan’s path. They’re headed right for the place, winding their destruction around it. I can show you.”
I shook my head. “I believe you. I just want to take a shower, change my clothes, and lay down for an hour or two.”
“People are dying, Conor.”
“I know. I’m one of them. I can’t do it, Dannie. Not without a little rest. I’m not going to make it.”
“Okay.”
I shrugged off my jacket and dropped it on the floor before heading to the bathroom. The room was a three bedroom suite, and Dannie had claimed the master. I turned on the shower and shrugged out of my clothes, taking a peek at myself in the mirror. Still hairless, still grey, still stick-thin. I had two gashes and plenty of bruises to accompany the waxy pallor.
I sighed and climbed into the shower, letting the warm water wash over me. It felt good, and I was determined to enjoy it. I figured that one way or another, it was the last one I was ever going to take.
“Conor,” Dannie said, entering the room.
“What’s up?” I asked.
She slid the curtain aside. She was naked. Standing there looking at me with the softest face I had ever seen on her.
“Do you mind if I join you?”
“Dannie, you know I can’t-”
“I don’t care about that,” she said. “I just want a little time with you, before-”
It was her turn to trail off.
Before I died. How could I say no?
I held my hand out. She took it and climbed in. I didn’t give a thought that Death might be orchestrating her, or watching the entire thing. At the moment, it didn’t matter. I wrapped my arms around her, and she wrapped her arms around me. We held one another while the water cascaded down on us, trying in vain to wash away our sins.
When the water ran cold, we got out, moving to the bed together, still just enjoying one another’s raw, defenseless company. I had a lot of pain stored up. For myself. For Molly and Karen. For Dannie. It ran out in my tears. So did hers. I closed my eyes, afraid to fall asleep. Afraid I wouldn’t wake up.
After that, I laid there with Dannie’s head on my chest, her warm body pressed against my side. I wanted to enjoy the moment, to take in an hour or two of peace before the end. To prepare myself to die.
I couldn’t.
I started to think. Not about the past. Not about Karen and Molly. Not about what could have been with Dannie if things had been different. I started thinking about the netherworld. I started thinking about the voices I had heard, and what they had said. I slipped out from Dannie’s grasp, rising from the bed and padding across the suite, back to where I had left my coat. Amos and Frank were still MIA, hopefully having a good time. I was sure it wasn’t going to last.
I reached into the pocket and extracted the stone I had found in the City of the Damned. I carried it back to bed, sliding my way under Dannie’s arm to my original position. I held the stone up, staring at it, my mind working.
The City was connected to all of this. So was the portal. So were the druids. It was an ancient mystery, one that I had no chance of solving. But I didn’t need to solve it. Not completely. I just needed to take the puzzle and start fitting a few of the pieces together. I just needed to build a framework. Everything Death had done, he had done for a reason, all the way back to the first time he had contacted me through Danelle. He had been pushing me. Sending me where he wanted me to go. But he had revealed Dannie’s nature outside the City. Because he didn’t care if I knew? Or was there another reason?
I looked up at the stone. It was dark now, but my blood had brought it to life. The druids had made it. What had they used it for?
I stifled a cough so I wouldn’t disturb Dannie. I lowered the stone, still clutching it at my side. I had a few ideas. The makings of an edge.
If I was right, for once?
Everything else would fall right into place.
45
Georgia on my mind.
“Whoa. Heh. Not what I was expecting to walk in on.”
I opened my eyes. I hadn’t realized I had fallen asleep. Dannie’s head was perched on my chest, both of our bodies on top of the blankets. She stirred at the sound of Amos’ voice, lifting her head and looking at him.
“I didn’t know you were into necrophilia,” he said, turning his head away from us. “Heh. Necrophilia. It works. Anyways, sorry to interrupt you two, but there’s something you need to see.”
“Is it important?” Dannie asked.
Amos turned his head back. I had never seen him look as serious as he did then.
“Very.”
Dannie rolled off me, padding over to the bathroom to grab her clothes. I had a fresh pair set out on the dresser, and I picked them up and pulled them on in a hurry.
“I thought you couldn't, you know,” Amos said, motioning toward my groin.
“I can’t,” I said. “There is more to intimacy than sex.”
He laughed. “Yeah, right.”
Dannie came out of the bathroom, and we moved back into the living room together. Frank was already there, along with a few of the girls who had been in the pool with them. They had found the rest of their bathing suits, and they were so focused on the television they didn’t notice me.
“Boss,” Frank said, glancing over at me. “You have to see this.”
My eyes shifted to the TV. It looked like live video footage from a drone flying through a city. The headline at the bottom read “Has the virus run its course?”
“Spain,” Frank said.
The drone was panning over the streets, where hundreds of deadies were on the ground, lifeless. As it went by, a crow flew past it, landing on the top of a car. A few more were visible in the shot.
“They’re not animated,” I said.
“Nope,” Amos said. “Normally I would say that’s a good thing, but in this case.”
“This isn’t good,” Dannie said.
“Not at all,” I said.
“It’s disgusting,” one of the Brazilian women commented.
“I thought we were going to have a little fun,” another one said. “You said you would pay us.”
I looked over at Amos. He smiled and shrugged. “Frank here hasn’t been with anyone since they trogre-ized him.”
I didn’t respond. Something outside caught my attention.
A crow landed on the window sill. It sat there, looking in at us.
“Tell your friends it’s time to leave,” I said, pointing at it.
Amos looked at the bird. “Oh. Fuck me.” He walked over to the window, pushing it open and shooing the crow. Then he paused, staring out into the distance. “Uh, Baldie. If the deadies around the world have all stopped moving, and there’s about a million crows flying this way, what do you think that means?”
I looked at Dannie. She looked back at me. Her face changed, showing me that Death had taken over.
“It means Samedi isn’t waiting for me to come to him,” I said. “Frank, tell your friends to leave. We’re leaving, too.”
“Sorry, ladies,” Frank said, standing up and ushering them toward the door. “Something came up. Go home and lock your door.”
&n
bsp; “What about the money?” one of them asked.
Frank found his pants and dug out some cash, handing it over. “Please, just go home and lock the door.”
“Baldie, we need to move it,” Amos said, backing away from the window. He vanished into one of the separate bedrooms, emerging a few seconds later in his duster, shotgun in hand.
“What do you think?” I asked, still staring at Dannie.
“You have the spell?” Death asked.
“I have it, but I’m missing one of the requirements.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“You’re out of your fucking mind if you think I’m going to slaughter Ash.”
“Am I, Conor? One dragon over the entire population of the world?”
“The last dragon, and my bond-brother, you piece of shit. Besides, he isn’t here.”
Dannie’s head turned, surveying our group. “Where is he?” Death asked.
“Gone. I sent him away as soon as we learned what the spell needed. You want me to kill an immortal? Bring Macha here. Her sisters are already on the way.”
“Macha?” He looked appalled at the idea. Because of course, my friends were okay to kill.
“You want Samedi gone as much as I do, Hades,” I said. “I don’t know why, and at the moment it doesn’t matter. Ash is off the table. Bring me a fucking immortal, or we’re all going to die.”
I turned away from him as Amos fired the shotgun. I could hear the birds squawk outside the window, just before he pulled it closed. A few of them slammed into the glass. Then more of them. It started to crack.
I looked back at Dannie. She was herself again. She ran into the bedroom, returning a few seconds later with a gun and a knife.
“It ain’t going to hold,” Amos said.
“We have to get out of here,” I said. “I need some space to create the portal.”
“I’ll take point,” Frank said. He moved out into the hallway, scanning it quickly.
I heard glass break. Not the glass in our room. The glass outside, closer to him. He dove back inside, kicking the door closed as the birds started swarming in.
“Fucking Hitchcock,” Amos said. The window ahead of him shattered, and he fired into the mass of crows, knocking at least a dozen of them down.
