Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Regge saving the bad guys really sucks
Abraham’s panel van smelled like cleaning supplies and barbeque potato chips. I internally raged against the mob guy and his stupid ideas as we rode toward my flat. If he hadn’t kidnapped Anu, things would have been fine.
I gave a brief thought to poor Nigel, whose spirit might be lost somewhere in the hotel, but my head was consumed with Hunter. What would happen now? Pery’s silence was a welcome relief.
“Could you wait a moment for me?” I asked as he pulled up to my building.
At his nod, I dove out of the car. Would Anu’s spirit be trapped inside Hunter’s body for a lifetime?
Maybe we could revive the old guy somehow.
He was a necromancer after all. My thoughts raced as I took the stairs two at a time.
Ziggy and Hunter were drinking tea on the couch. The cozy scene lifted my spirits. It vanished as Hunter’s eyes turned to me. They held the cold, disinterested stare of the necromancer. Anu’s body was gone, but his spirit was alive within Hunter.
“Well?” Not-Hunter’s voice gave me chills. Cobb stood in the kitchen, a spatula in his hand as he tended scrambled eggs on the stove.
We’d deliberately left him out of our quest to Eskridge’s place. As part of our little underworld group, both Cobb and Ziggy often helped, but they were honor bound to follow the laws of the land.
I steadied my voice. “Anu’s body is downstairs with Pery.” I sighed. “I’m sorry. We were too late.”
Anu remained cold and calculating. “Never mind the body. It was dying anyway. The tablet is what is important. Did your people find it?”
I shook my head. “Eskridge wanted you to bring his boss back to life. He was the man who died summoning the demon. The boss, not Julian.”
He sat back, drinking his tea with the daintiness of a Victorian noble. “All these years and the stupidity of the human race never ceases to amaze me. The fool opened a door to the Ether. A guard slipped through. I dispatched him.”
“A guard? Julian said it was a demon who killed both his boss and a woman.”
Not-Hunter frowned. “You have seen much in your youth, boy, but there is far more you haven’t seen.
Be glad of that. The Ether is guarded by creatures designed for that purpose.
They are strong but not particularly bright.
The witch should have known better. She used the human’s energy to fuel the ritual. It was an unfortunate decision.”
Ziggy’s mouth dropped open. “A man died. Two people died.”
His frozen tone and blank expression shifted toward her. “I did not ask them to attempt such a thing. There was a disturbance in the energy of my home, so I restored it.”
He’d seemed more empathetic when Nigel translated his words. I realized that any softness or kindness we’d been privy to had been Nigel, not the necromancer.
I focused on Ziggy. “When Julian learned what Anu was—what he could do—he hatched a plan to bring Ramon Castenada back. He’ll be blamed for Ramon’s death by the… criminal manager?”
“Crime boss,” she said.
“None of this helps,” Anu said. I longed for Hunter’s teasing tone, his run-on sentences.
Cobb served up eggs and toast. I was tired, upset, and forlorn, but I ate like a starving man. Cobb’s phone rang as he took plates to the kitchen. “It’s Abraham.” He put the call on speaker.
Abraham’s voice came across the room, sounding a bit rushed. “I’ve got the disk and Eskridge; he’s badly wounded. Can you meet us at the hotel? It’s closer.”
Not-Hunter nodded. “We need to be there anyway for the ritual. The energy is flat here.” He looked flat here. Hunter’s normal energy and exuberance was absent—truly an old man in a young man’s body.
I scowled at him. “A ritual. Why is everything a bloody ritual? Strange ingredients, chanting and smelly candles, every damn time.”
“Welcome to our world,” Cobb muttered.
Ziggy rose. “Let’s go. I have a med kit in the car.”
We headed out, scrambling into the SUV. Pery roused as he saw us.
“What do you want us to do with the body?” he said, jerking a thumb toward the very back of the vehicle. Ziggy and I looked at Hunter’s figure between us.
“Our traditions called for a pyre at dawn,” the necromancer said.
“Fitting. But I don’t think that would be allowed here.” I didn’t much care. All my focus was getting Anu out of Hunter’s body, and at this point, I had no real idea how we were going to do that.
“There are places,” Ziggy said. “We call them crematoriums. An indoor pyre, if you will.”
Cobb looked over at Pery from the passenger seat. “Drop us at the hotel and head to the warehouse. I’ll tell Abraham that’s where you’re going.”
Pery dropped us off around the side. Not-Hunter walked slowly beside me, trudging every step. Being inhabited by an ancient being was taking its toll.
“Are you okay?” I asked as we fell behind the others.
Anu stopped, taking a long breath. “Your friend’s body is healthy and young, but I am dying. If we don’t complete the ritual soon, it may be too late.”
“And then what?”
He shrugged. “Your technology can keep a body functioning for some time without its consciousness. This would not be ideal.”
“Bloody right, it’s not.”
“This is why we are forbidden to resurrect or transfer ourselves to another. Our essence is simply too strong to cohabitate with a simple human.”
I digested Anu’s words. A sadness etched its way through me.
My gaze flickered over the hotel lobby. The building seemed to groan with the wind outside.
Cobb and Ziggy stood halfway between the lobby and the staircase.
I guided Anu to the lumpy couch, passing by the empty reception desk.
A few minutes later, Abraham banged on the glass front doors.
I raced to let him in. He carried Julian in front of him, the mobster’s white shirt soaked through with blood, his skin pale.
“Is he dead?”
At Abraham’s head shake, I pointed to the elevator, but he took the stairs. Rapidly, considering he was carrying a large man. Ziggy hustled beside him as Abraham huffed out his story.
“The bullet was meant for me. He saved my life. I thought I should return the favor.”
The empty room was a hub of activity. Ziggy had cleared off a counter for her patient. Her normally soft demeanor changed to authoritative as she worked.
“I need the IV equipment set up and lots of gauze. I’ve got to get this bleeding stopped.
” She looked at Not-Hunter who had settled into the only chair in the room.
“Hunter, ah… damn it. I could use his help. Regge, throw some gloves on and jump in here.” I pulled the latex over my hands and pressed where she told me to.
A wad of gauze soaked up blood. “Pressure there, don’t let up. ”
Across the room, the necromancer sighed, winded from his trek down the hall. “His essence is strong. Too bad the vessel seems too damaged.”
Ziggy and I glanced at each other across Julian’s body. “Let me in there,” she said. “I’ll see what I can do.”
I turned to Anu as she worked. “Master Anu, can you do the ritual? Can you use Julian as your vessel? Would that help to save him?”
He shook his head vehemently. “Absolutely not. It is forbidden to force ourselves into another soul. This—” He indicated the body he occupied. “Was an accident.”
“Even if it saves his life?” My voice pitched up in desperation. “And what about Hunter?”
“Death is merely the end of life, as you know it.”
“Life is precious,” Ziggy argued. “And we will save him if we can.”
“Please,” I begged. “I need Hunter back.”
Anu heaved himself off the chair. “Lyncus.” He addressed Abraham. “Fetch me the copper bowl from my room.”
Abraham stopped at the door. “Oh, yeah. Julian gave me this.” He handed over the medallion.
Anu spoke with a touch of Hunter’s normal tone, his humanity. “Perhaps there is something… You.” He turned to Cobb. “Light the candles in a circle. His blood will do. We do not need much.” Anu took some of the blood-soaked gauze, wringing it over the bowl as he chanted.
Next to me, Ziggy had her hands in Julian’s chest.
“Damn it. It isn’t working. I’ve slowed the bleeding, but the bullet nicked an artery.”
The necromancer glanced at Ziggy. “Perhaps he can heal from the inside, but the ritual takes energy and mine is waning.” He sighed. “Everything takes energy.”
“We’ll work together,” Ziggy said, her wide blue eyes narrowed in determination. She grabbed some instruments from the tray she’d set up. “Damien, I’ll need your hands in a minute. Glove up.”
Cobb hurriedly yanked on a pair of gloves, promptly tearing the latex and cursing as he started over with a new pair. With Cobb now assisting, I stripped off my gloves and stood next to Anu to steady him.
“Blackroot. Now.”
I crumbled it into the bowl. Anu lifted the medallion, dipped it into the bowl.
The disk flared white and floated, spinning in the dim light.
He chanted more nonsense and snapped his fingers.
A blue flame shot up. When the flame died away, he drank the contents. My stomach lurched, but I kept silent.
The bowl hit the floor and I rushed to grab Hunter before he collapsed. Abraham got there before me. “Wait,” he said.
Black smoke poured from Hunter’s mouth, sour and thick. A faint voice from inside him whispered in an ancient tongue: Agathos Chaire.
“He’s gone,” Abraham said. “That was goodbye.”
I couldn’t breathe. “Sodding hell. He’s not. He—” I got no further as a silent blast burst through the room, a thick mist plunging us into darkness.
Ziggy shouted, and I squinted to see her leaning over her patient to shield him. Abraham rose to grab his phone to use as a flashlight. Using his light, Ziggy continued working as the smoke dissipated.
“I’ve sutured one bleeder, but wait—” She felt around the wound, dabbing away blood with lap pads. “The tissue seems to be regenerating on its own. The artery was shredded. I had no hope of fixing it without a graft but… this is amazing.” She felt under Julian’s jaw. “Pulse is stronger now.”
I dropped to my knees beside Hunter, clutching him to my chest and whispering in his ear. “Hunter, come back to me. Please.” He didn’t stir, but his pulse was strong.
The stink of sulfur still burned my eyes as I watched Ziggy work.
She stared at Julian’s wound like she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.
Glancing up, she caught my eye. “The artery’s been repaired.
The bullet is out. I’m going to stitch the wound closed and we’ll just have to wait and see. How’s Hunter?”
I shrugged. “He’s breathing fine, but he won’t wake up.”
“It may be a recovery sleep or something else. I’d like to get him into a scan. To take a look at his brain activity,” she clarified.
“Can we not?” I said tiredly. “How about we get him home and I promise to call you if he doesn’t wake up after a few hours. I think it’s best.”
“You think it’s best?” Cobb growled. “We need to be sure it’s Hunter and not some ancient fuckwad who brings back the freakin’ dead.”
“I really think the necromancer is gone,” Abraham said.
“Damien, hold this open for me,” Ziggy scolded. The big man went back to his task.
“I have a feeling he’s our Bruce Hunter. My Bruce Hunter.” My nose and throat suddenly closed with emotion.
Abraham turned to Cobb. “Oh, and we have another little problem. We took Castenada’s body back to his apartment. There was a welcoming party. Castenada’s dead. I killed two of his men.” He shook his head. “Couldn’t be helped. Cleaned up as best I could but…”
“We knew Castenada was dead. That’s what started this whole mess,” Cobb said.
“Not Ramon, but Papa Castenada. What was his name?” Abraham asked.
“Cesar Castenada? The head of the Castenada cartel is dead?” Cobb’s eyebrows rose.
“Yep. Shot by Julian. Self-defense, really.”
Cobb swore before shaking his head. “What kind of mess are we gonna have to clean up?”
Abraham winced. The detective, his gloved hands covered in blood, looked at his girlfriend.
“I got this. Go,” Ziggy said.
The cop stripped off his gloves and reached for his phone. “I’ll call in. I can trade with another team to pull the case.”
Cobb wandered through the room as he spoke to his partner. “So hey, we gotta call. I know we’re not on the rotation, but Abe’s involved so…” Everyone in our group kept the existence of folk like Abraham and Pery under the radar.
“Yeah, three dead in the Kensington area.” Cobb looked at Abraham who held up four fingers.
“Make that four. Good news is they’re organized crime.
Some real douchebags. The Castenada cartel.
” As he talked, he wandered the room, snuffing out candles, throwing towels on the ground and stomping them into the blood-soaked carpet.
Ziggy stepped back from Julian and stripped off her gloves. “I’ve closed the exterior wound; bleeding has stopped. He’s stable. And hopefully he’ll keep healing at this rate. He’s got a saline drip going, but he needs blood. He should be in the hospital.”
Abraham looked at Ziggy. “We’d be explaining a GSW and my presence at a cartel guy’s house. I’m not saying Julian shouldn’t be arrested. But the mob will want recompense for Castenada’s death, which brings a whole lot of bad down on him, the hotel, and us.”
Cobb ended the call. “I can drop you guys off and I’ll meet a team at Castenada’s.”
Abraham shook his head. “I’ll drive them. Julian’s car’s around the corner.”
Cobb eyed the unconscious man. “So we just leave him?”
“He’ll be out for some time, and I’ve done all I can,” Ziggy said.
I spoke from the floor where I held Hunter against me. “Get us home. Maybe Pery and the guys can keep an eye on him. If there is some sort of mystical power source here, it might help.” Listen to me, being all helpful. Hunter would never let me live it down.
Cobb put up his hands. “Abe, can you come back to check on him? If he survives, maybe the feds will get him to turn state’s evidence.” He leaned over to give Ziggy a kiss. “I’ve already got four bodies to explain—I don’t need another one here.” He moved toward the door.
We left Julian in a clean bed with an IV in his arm and his cell on the nightstand.
As Abraham lifted Hunter, I lingered behind to study the cartel criminal.
He was younger than I’d originally thought, maybe mid-thirties.
Bruising shadowed his eyes, and his chest rose and fell with steady breaths.
A full-lipped mouth fell slack, surrounded by dark stubble.
He certainly didn’t look like a dangerous criminal.
More a benign but exhausted man caught up in something he regretted.
I left the door ajar and hurried to catch up with my friends.