Deadly Curiosities (37 page)

Lucinda began to sway back and forth, humming an unfamiliar melody, her eyes shut, face upturned.

After a few moments, she took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and murmured her thank-yous to the Loas.

She ducked outside the police tape and turned to Sorren and me. “Like the other murders, he wasn’t killed here, just dumped,” she said, her voice tight with anger. The smell of cloves clung to her clothing like an aura. “That’s why there wasn’t as much blood as you’d expect, considering.” Considering that the body had been flayed and then torn apart, bones broken and joints shattered, before the killing blow was administered.

“Did it leave a revenant?” Sorren asked.

Lucinda shook her head. “Not anymore. I freed the spirit and its energy. And in a moment, I’ll get rid of the nasty psychic sludge the killers left behind.”

Although the whole thing had taken less than ten minutes, I was getting antsy. I could see that Mirov was fidgeting, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

“We need to get out of here,” he murmured. His accent seemed thicker, and I wondered if that happened under stress. “Not long,” Lucinda said, with a glance toward Sorren. “I think you want this space cleared.”

Sorren nodded. “Just be quick.”

Lucinda reached into her large bag and withdrew a bottle of rum, a piece of chalk, a horseshoe and a handful of iron nails. She used the chalk to mark a
veve
on the horseshoe and laid it front of the stained pavement. Then she walked in a circle outside the police tape, sprinkling the ground with rum and dropping iron nails as she hummed and sang. When she had finished the circle, she retrieved the horseshoe and the nails and handed them to me, along with the rum.

“Put the horseshoe near the front door and the nails near the back door,” Lucinda instructed.

“Sprinkle a little of the rum on the sidewalk outside the warding at both doors.”

She turned to Sorren. “We’re through here.” The five of us walked around the block to the alley.

“What about security cameras?” I asked nervously, torn between glancing up to see which cameras might have captured our image and not wanting those cameras to have a full-face shot of me.

“Not a worry,” Lucinda said. “Your demon hunter friend zapped them with something that fried their circuits.”

I was glad he hadn’t zapped the security lights in the alley behind the shop. They weren’t bright on the best of nights, and tonight my nerves were jangled enough, I would have preferred the kind of lights they use for nighttime football games.

I was very aware of the shadows as we walked toward the cars. The alley smelled of old garbage and mold, urine and dirt. Just then, every security light in sight suddenly went dark.

I heard the scuttle of claws against pavement, and a low, guttural growl. The
akvenon
ran like hunchbacked, reptilian Mastiffs, as big as a large man but with teeth like a crocodile and skin like a snake. Horrible, curled claws protruded from their feet, and powerful hind legs propelled them with nightmare speed. “Incoming!” Mirov shouted.

I looked up to see three
akvenon
minions, heading straight for us, in between us and our cars. The scuttling noise grew louder, and three more of the minions closed on us from behind.

Mirov stepped up to meet the three demon spawn hurtling down the alley toward us, while Sorren moved to get between us and the others approaching from behind. Lucinda stood with Mirov, while Teag and I took our positions a pace behind Sorren, ready to do what we could.

“I liked fighting them better when I could hit them with my car,” I muttered. Tendrils of mist curled around my ankles, coalescing into Bo’s ghost dog form. Bo lowered his head and stalked forward, growling. I wasn’t sure he could do anything to the
akvenon
, but I didn’t figure it would hurt to have all the help we could get.

“One for each of us,” Teag replied. “That’s better odds than we had last time.”

“Get ready,” Sorren said grimly. “Cassidy – draw on the memories from the new artifacts and see if you can call the kind of power you summoned at the Archive.”

There was no time to point out that I had absolutely no idea of how to do that. Instead, I planted my feet firmly, stretched out my right hand with the spoon-athame up my sleeve, and opened myself to the memories of the spoon and the spindle whorl, the ring, and the bracelet. Alard’s walking stick hung from my belt loop, just in case. Lives and centuries spun around me, gathering in a cloud of power, and with a shout, energy coalesced in my body, coming to a focus in my outstretched palm, and blasting toward the
akvenon
with a torrent of power that stung my hand.

These new artifacts enabled me to call an energy stream that wasn’t flame but packed a wallop when it hit the target, unlike Alard’s wand which spewed real fire, and my grandma’s spoon that projected a force-field.

The stream of energy caught the
akvenon
at the front of the pack full in the chest like an explosive charge, blowing a hole through his ribs. The
akvenon
gave a death shriek, as its form began to unravel, decomposing into shadow before it vanished entirely.

The energy stopped abruptly, and I felt as if I had just run a marathon.
Why don’t magic objects ever come with instructions?
I thought.
It would have been nice to know I only get one shot before I have to ‘reload’.
Grimly, I grabbed Alard’s walking stick, since it looked as if the spoon-athame and the souped up power it got from the jade torc needed time to recharge.

Sorren went for the second
akvenon
with his sword, his speed and vampire strength easily a match for the creature. Bo’s ghost harried the third minion. Teag bent down to pick up a rock the size of his fist from the gutter and let fly. The rock struck the third minion right between its slitted reptilian eyes. He lobbed off two more shots, smacking the
akvenon
in the head both times. Every time it tried to advance on Sorren, Teag forced it back again. At this rate, he should pitch for the Yankees.

The rocks had kept the minions at a distance, but that wasn’t going to last forever. Sorren already had his sword in hand, and Teag drew his new short sword and dagger. Warily, they advanced on two of the
akvenon
, while I took aim at the third.

Sorren went left. Teag went right, and I sent my shot down the middle. Sorren had immortal strength and speed, making him a match for the creature. Teag wasn’t immortal, but he was damn good. Years of martial arts made him quick on his feet, able to make lightning-quick strikes and get back before the monster’s claws could strike. He had blades in both hands, but the minion underestimated what Teag could do with his feet. Eskrima had taught him blade work; Capoeira taught foot fighting and acrobatics.

Put them together, and he was lethal as he swept the minion off its legs, then followed with a kick that could break bones. By the time the minion came back for more, Teag was ready with his blades. I wished I could watch, but I had my own
akvenon
to fight.

I leveled the walking stick at the
akvenon
and used the ring to focus my thoughts, managing to blast a torrent of fire that blackened the monster’s tough skin. The creature recoiled, then charged me again. I concentrated harder, hoping to get fire that was hotter, longer in duration. I heard a popping, sizzling sound and an ungodly shriek, and the
akvenon
exploded into charred bits that disintegrated and vanished.

Mirov’s Sig popped once, then twice, its suppressor muting the sound of the shots. The rounds slowed the
akvenon
rushing him, but didn’t stop it. Mirov was cursing under his breath in Russian as he jammed the gun in his belt and took up his sword two-handed and went after the monster.

Lucinda had a short wooden staff in one hand, something else she had pulled from her huge tote. It was festooned with crow feathers and charms bearing the
veves
of the Loas. She called out a word of power and leveled the short staff at the
akvenon
like she did this kind of thing every day. A wave of power blasted the creature back, slamming it into one of the other
akvenon
. That slowed them down, but didn’t stop them.

Mirov pivoted out of the way of the
akvenon
’s sharp claws and brought his sword down hard on the monster’s neck, severing its head. With a cry, he ran at the next minion. He slashed low, severing one of the thing’s legs, then brought the blade point down, through its chest. It was already disintegrating into shadow when the third minion sprang forward, slashing at him with its claws.

Mirov blocked the creature with his sword as his left hand grabbed for something under his jacket.

Silver glinted in the moonlight as he flung a knife-edged throwing star at the beast. The star blade caught the
akvenon
in the neck, spraying the alley with its ichor. Mirov wheeled, bringing his sword down with his full strength, impaling it from one side through the other. The creature jerked and spasmed, flailing with its deadly claws, and Mirov twisted the blade. With a screech, the
akvenon
bucked against the blade and then dissipated into darkness.

The air smelled of ozone like after a lightning storm, and my palm was red and blistered. Mirov was breathing hard, splattered with the beast’s black blood. Lucinda kept her short staff aloft, watching the shadows for another attack. Sorren and Teag had both finished off their opponents and walked back to rejoin the group. Their clothing was streaked with ichor, and Teag was sweating, but they looked unharmed.

“Let’s get out of here,” Sorren said. “There’s no good way to explain this to the police, and we can’t stop a demon from inside the Charleston jail.”

E
VEN THOUGH IT
was Wednesday, we were too busy in the store for Teag and me to talk about anything but business all day. I hadn’t even had time to check the package Sorren had left on my desk. When the time came to close up, I sagged against the wall and closed my eyes, letting out a long breath. “Be careful what you wish for,” I said. “That was the busiest we’ve been all week.”

“At least we can pay the bills,” Teag noted, looking on the bright side.

I had been so busy, I hadn’t had a chance to check the voice mail on my cell phone. I recognized the number and put it on speakerphone.

“Hi Cassidy,” Mrs. Morrissey’s voice chirped from my voice mail. “I did a little more digging on the Navy yard. Turns out that, during the Quake of 1886, there was an old warehouse in that area that was used as a temporary morgue for the victims of the earthquake. It gets worse,” she added. “Back in 1858, there was a Yellow Fever epidemic. It hit Charleston so badly, some churches lost half their membership within a week. Guess where they brought the bodies to try to contain the contagion?” She paused.

“Most of those buildings were on land that sooner or later ended up belonging to Jeremiah Abernathy.

“I hope you don’t mind the long message, but I thought you might want to know. Stop by any time. I always enjoyed helping Evan, and I’m glad to help you, too.”

I put the cell phone back in my pocket, deep in thought.
How much had Evan taken Mrs. Morrissey into his confidence?
I wondered.
Did she have an inkling about what we really did at Trifles and Folly?

Teag had overheard the message. “More evidence that we’re looking in the right place,” he said. I slipped my phone into my pocket.

“Did you get a chance to hack any more of the Stor-Your-Own files?” I asked. I was dying to know who Clockman was and how he fit into the picture.

Teag nodded. “After we got back from seeing Flora and dropping you off, Anthony and I had a bit of a row.”

I looked at him, worried. “Bad?

He shrugged. “Not fun. He’s resigned himself to ghosts, but Flora’s talk about demons, and the possible connection between what we’re dealing with and the murders, has him really freaked out. He’s worried about both of us.”

“What did you tell him?”

Teag looked uncomfortable. “I told him that the shop worked with a secret European organization that looks into supernatural threats, kind of like NSA for ghost hunters. CSI: Undead. Torchwood. He can figure it out.” He sighed. “And then I told him it was all part of a new Homeland Security partnership and I couldn’t say more.”

I didn’t know whether to hug Teag or burst out laughing. “Wow,” I said. “Just…wow. You’re good.

That’s the most inaccurate truth-telling I’ve ever heard.” Teag looked a little sheepish, and I grinned.

“Hey, you were brilliant. And honestly, aren’t you glad he doesn’t want you to get eaten by a demon?”

“It’s kind of sweet, yes,” Teag replied drolly.

I happened to glance out the window, and I saw a figure in the shadows across the street. Teag seemed to sense the shift in my mood, because he sobered immediately. “There’s someone out there,” I said.

“Moran?”

I shook my head. “Not tall and skinny enough. I’ll go to the front door. You go around the back and see if you can catch whoever-it-is by surprise.”

He nodded. “I’m on it.”

I moved to the door, keeping out of sight of the big glass windows in the front of the store. Then I counted to one hundred to allow Teag to get into position before I threw open the door.

Our stalker was gone.

“No one there,” Teag said, shrugging. Neither of us wanted to go beyond Lucinda’s wardings.

“Maybe we’re jumping at shadows. Ready to see what Sorren left us?” I asked. We had come into the office that morning and found a small package on my desk with a note from Sorren. The note said that it was something he had found scouting ‘the location’ and I should look at it when Teag could help. I took that to mean that Sorren thought it would pack a psychic wallop and so I should have Teag around to anchor me.

“Absolutely,” Teag replied. “I thought we’d have a chance to look at the package much sooner. I never expected to be so busy today.” Teag walked with me to the office after making sure the door was locked and ‘Closed’ sign was turned.

Sorren had left me a paper bag, folded and tied with a string.