Imperium (Caulborn) (30 page)

Yes, Lord.

My faith reserves were almost gone. I’d used up almost everything I had left making that telekinetic shield earlier. I’d have enough for one fire blast, but the timing would need to be perfect.

“I don’t think you’re trying hard enough, Corinthos,” Treggen said. He spoke into the walkie-talkie and Megan’s screams began again.

Aegeon,
I called.
Open a portal on your southwest wall. As slowly as you can. Now.

“Dammit, Treggen, I’m going as fast as I can! Stop hurting her! Look, see, the dome’s opening.”

Through the gateway, we could see the dome’s wall opening. Treggen smiled. “Ah, wonderful.” His smile never touched his eyes. “You know, Corinthos, the old Greek and Roman gods never actually cared for humans. I believe they considered it a sign of weakness to care for inferior creatures. I suppose ‘weak’ sums you up pretty well, doesn’t it?” He put the walkie-talkie up to his lips. “Dr. Leevan, please bring Herr Herrscher down to the basement. He’s about to meet his newest troops.”

I reached out to Petra again through Aegeon.
Where are you?

Close.
Her voice was clearer.
In the sewers. Coming to a rusty stairwell.

Lotholio, now!

A searing blast of telekinetic force surged through the gateway. Grenlori shrieked and closed. The blast struck Treggen square in the chest and threw him against the wall. A force that strong should’ve turned him into a bloody smear, but it lost a lot of its punch traveling through Grenlori. Still, it was enough. I Opened my bonds and used the last of my faith reserves to immolate the vine golem. The smell of burning plant filled the room.

The neo-gremlins were on me in a flash, their tiny jaws biting me. Pain burned along my arms and thighs where they’d torn out chunks of my flesh. I could feel their toxin surging into my system. I opened my mind to my followers to keep myself awake. It helped, but my movements were still sluggish. Their claws were tearing into my chest when the door exploded off its hinges.

Petra rushed into the room, her dark hair streaming out behind her. She shot forward and tore the neo-gremlins from my chest. She squeezed and their heads exploded. Her white Ghostbusters shirt was again splattered with silver gore.

Damn, Gears did a hell of a job fixing her. Petra helped me up to my feet. There was a sheet under the table I’d been strapped to and Petra tore this into strips for makeshift bandages.

I hobbled over to Treggen’s limp form and used some of the strips to bind him. As I did, I reached out to Lotholio.

Nice work, Loth. The Urisk just dropped Warlord Treggen.

I could hear my followers cheering as Lotholio relayed the message. I smiled and let Petra wrap my wounds. We shared a long kiss and hug. After her being shattered, my capture, and now this, it was good to hold her again. After a while, I asked, “Where are Galahad and the others?”

“We dealt with a bunch more of these things.” Petra waved to the neo-gremlin corpses as she helped me into the hallway. “There were a couple of bigger golems, too. Kristin and Mist stayed in the sewer tunnels to keep our exit open. Galahad was searching the other rooms.”

“Why didn’t you guys come through the front door?”

“You know those rolling metal shields that convenience stores pull down over their windows and doors at closing time? This place has those things everywhere. I tried to punch through one of them and I barely made a dent in it. Galahad’s going to have some people out to analyze it.”

Galahad and a sheet-clad Megan came out of the room next to the one Petra and I had left. Megan was leaning heavily on Galahad for support, and I could see blood running down her legs. Her head lolled to one side and she collapsed against Galahad, who struggled to keep her upright. He nodded to me. “We need to get Megan back to Dr. Ryan,” he said. “Come on.”

“You are not going anywhere,” a voice called from our left. I turned to see Dr. Leevan pushing Herrscher’s wheelchair down the hall. The ex-Nazi grinned at us. Behind them were Justine Delion, Lucille, and Gearstripper. All of their eyes were white. Leevan pointed at the room Galahad and Megan had just come out of. “The lot of you will march into that room there.” Justine and Lucille were behind Galahad and me before I could blink.

The neo-gremlin chattered at Herrscher for a moment and pointed at Petra. “I see,” he said in a heavy accent. “So this one is inhuman as well.” Crud. The neo-gremlin must’ve seen Petra crushing its fellows. “Come over here, my dear,” he said warmly. “Let me look at you.” To my horror, Petra leaned me against the wall and walked over to Herrscher. The pit of my stomach fell through the floor. We weren’t going to get out of this. Not without a really bloody fight, anyway, and I wouldn’t be able to fight Petra or Gears. We’d lost.

Petra stood in front of the ex-Nazi, and his eyes hungrily went up and down her. He reached up and brushed her cheek. “Exquisite craftsmanship,” he whispered.

“Thank you,” Petra replied, and punched Herrscher square in the face. Blood splattered across her shirt as his nose broke and his head snapped back. He slumped forward in the chair, unconscious. I gaped at Petra for a moment, then realization dawned. Petra couldn’t be dominated for the same reason that Aegeon couldn’t be penetrated; she was built directly by a deity. Gears, Lucille and Justine swooned and then shook their heads. Lucille recovered first. Her eyes gleamed with a pale red light and she lunged forward, catching Leevan around the neck. She threw the other woman to the ground and bit her.

I didn’t mean to, but my caul filtered out Lucille’s illusion. I saw the corpse kneeling over Leevan, watched as the red blood welled up from Leevan’s neck and past Lucille’s dead lips. Lucille made greedy sucking sounds as she drank. Galahad watched Lucille feed. Then he looked at me.

“Are there any more hostiles?” he asked.

“Treggen, the fuckstick behind all this, is in that room.” I waved in its direction. “What about the zombies?”

“They’re still locked in the side room there.” Galahad nodded toward the door. “I’ve searched the rest of this level and didn’t find anyone else. I’ll do a circuit of the upper floors shortly, but I suspect that we won’t find anything other than a few stragglers. A significant force tried to take headquarters.”

“Everything okay back there?”

“Yes. The monitoring equipment Gearstripper set up gave us plenty of warning. We knew exactly when the attack was coming.” He smiled at Petra. “Petra was most helpful in dealing with the threat. We owe her a great deal of thanks.”

“None necessary.” Petra smiled. “I’m just glad we were able to get Vincent back.” She hugged me so tightly I thought my ribs would crack. I was grateful for it, and hugged her back.

We all turned when we heard a slurping sound, the kind you'd hear when you’ve emptied a cup through a straw. Lucille had finished her meal. She stood and wiped her mouth on the back of her sleeve. I looked down; the late doctor was little more than an emaciated skeleton. Lucille sneered at the body and kicked it across the room. “Bitch,” she hissed.

“Right with you there, sister,” Justine Delion said as she moved behind Herrscher’s chair and stroked the fur of a small wolf that was sitting atop a neo-gremlin’s chest. I hadn’t even realized Casey Delion was in the room. Casey snarled as the neo-gremlin sputtered in German. “Sweetie,” Justine said, “just hold him. Mommy will tend to him in a moment.”

She shifted into a half-wolf form; her features and limbs became feral almost instantaneously. It was creepy watching all that hair and muscle suddenly pop out on such a slight woman. She grabbed the neo-gremlin and carried it into the room Galahad and Megan had come from. The creature continued to sputter as Justine shut the door behind her.

I heard “
Nein, Nein!
” And then silence. Justine came out in human form a few moments later, wiping silver fluid from her lips.

Gears whistled at her. “Wow,” he said. He looked up at me. “That’s the last of the neo-gremlins, Vinnie.”

“Well, assuming we can figure out how to get past the steel shields, it looks like we can go out the front door, boss,” I said to Galahad. He nodded at me and pulled out a radio.

“Jake, pull the ambulance around to the front door.”

“Okay.” I jumped. That was the sixteenth word I’d ever heard Jake say. I almost didn’t recognize his voice. Galahad took Megan and the Delions upstairs. Lucille was studying Herrscher’s still form with a gleam in her eye. Gears, Petra and I went back into my cell.

Treggen was gone.

Chapter 25

Two days later, we were wrapping up the case. “Where do you think he went?” Gears asked from the other side of the conference room table. He was perched on the edge of the table drinking a Slush Puppy.

“No idea. That phasilion he was with could’ve taken him pretty much anywhere on the Bright Side.” I thought the psychic energy the Urisk had sent through it would’ve permanently disabled the creature, but after a brief chat with Aviorla I had learned otherwise. I’d been kicking myself pretty hard for letting him get away. “From what I’ve learned, Treggen has some sort of pact or bond with the phasilion. I don’t know which yet. But that’s how he was able to appear so suddenly, and why Megan and Gearstripper’s shots never found their marks. Treggen had phasilions passing the bullets around.” I ground my teeth. “Next time, though, next time I’ll finish him before he can run.” Galahad gave me a look that said he understood.

Megan limped into the room and sat down next to Gears. She gave us a smile.

“How do you feel?” Galahad asked her.

“My legs are a little tender,” she said, “but Doc Ryan says they’ll heal cleanly. I probably won’t even have scars.” I had spoken to the Doc shortly after we’d gotten back. He’d gotten his test results and they said there were no traces of any supernatural disease in her system, and he attributed that to the botanical magic from the flower; that incident had turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Megan turned to me. “I was pretty woozy after the rescue. What happened to Herrscher?”

“Lucille dealt with him while Petra and I were looking for Treggen.”

Megan inhaled sharply. “She drained him, too?”

“Nope,” Gears said with a slurp. “She fed him to the zombies. She kicked open the door and wheeled his chair into the room. Then she jammed the door shut again. By the time we realized where he was, there wasn’t much of him left.”

“Jake had some firebombs with him,” I added. “So we took out the rest of the zombies with those.”

“We’ve confiscated most of Leevan’s equipment and files,” Galahad said. “We’ll be going through her notes for some time.”

“At least she’s been stopped,” Megan said. “Leevan’s experiments are over, Herrscher has been dealt with, and the missing paranormals have all been found.”

“What about Nathan Singravel?” I asked.

Galahad smiled. “Dear Nathan has been relocated back to Ashgate. Impersonating a Caulborn agent and selling secrets is not a good way to stay paroled.”

Megan pursed her lips. “What about Lucille?” she asked. “We watched her feed on an unwilling human. The pact—”

Galahad raised a hand and Megan fell silent. “Given the circumstances, I have granted Lucille clemency.” His tone said that the subject was not open for further discussion. “I have also notified the leaders of the Midnight Clan and the Blood Runners about what happened to their missing people. They mourn for their fallen, but they approve of how the situation was handled.” He rubbed his eyes as he took in the group seated around the table. “Memorial services for Miguel will be held early next week. It will mean a lot to the family if you attend.” I nodded. Jake and Galahad had found Miguel’s body in the clinic and we’d returned it to Miguel’s family. “Treggen is still at large,” Galahad continued, “but I think you three have earned a few days off.”

Gears and I left the conference room, while Megan stayed behind to talk with Galahad. “Vinnie,” Gears said, “I’m really sorry about what happened back at the clinic. I—” his ears drooped. “It’s a horrible feeling, being dominated. It happened a lot back in the war. You’re not in control, you’re doing things you hate, and you can’t stop yourself. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“No worries, Gears.” I smiled. “I was worried I might’ve hurt you throwing you into Lucille like that.”

Gears snorted. “Oh, please. You throw like a girl.”

I grinned wider. “Better not let Petra hear you say that.”

“Touché, Vinnie.” He stopped and looked up at me, his yellow eyes troubled. “I don’t get it, Vinnie. From everything I read, the Mother wanted a fresh start. I can’t figure out why she’d help Maxwell, or why Axle’d go along with her. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

“We don’t know what Maxwell said to your Mother, Gears. Maybe he misled her, made it look like what he wanted wasn’t wrong?”

Gears frowned as we started walking again. “Could be. I’ll go through her notes again. Maybe I missed something.” As we passed beneath an air conditioning vent, he said, “Hey, give me a boost, will ya?” I hoisted Gears up and he quickly pulled the grate to the vent off, then pulled himself inside. “I gotta figure out where Axle hid all those cameras. There are probably more up in here. At least, that’s where I’d put them.”

“All right, Gears. I’ll catch you later.” Gears disappeared into the air vents, and I went into my office. I pulled out my cell phone and called Petra. “Hey, babe, what do you say we have Gears and Megan over for dinner tonight?”

“I had a feeling you might say that,” she said. “I’ve been cooking all day, so just bring them over.”

“Love you,” I said.

“Love you more,” she said back. We hung up and I put my phone away. It had been a rough couple of days. I closed my eyes and put my head on my desk. When I opened my eyes, the world was pitch-black, and Orcus was standing over me. I jolted in spite of myself.

“A little warning would’ve been nice, Orcus.”

He waved a thick-fingered hand dismissively. “Nice perhaps, but seeing your reaction was so much more fun.” He made an exaggerated surprised face, stretching his mouth and his eyes as wide as they’d go. “That’s what you looked like.” He made the face again. “Just like that, priceless.” He laughed to himself for a moment, then cleared his throat.