Into the Void (The Godhunter, Book 10) (19 page)

“It's very quiet,” I looked around the beautiful street we'd traced onto.

It looked like a country lane, with thick bushes along one side and manicured lawns on the other. Each property was well contained though, whether behind a fence, a rock wall, or a large hedge. I bet those who opted for the hedge were wishing they'd chosen something a bit more substantial now.

No one was out, no live people
or
dead ones. It was eerily quiet, no bird song even. I scanned the houses near us and saw nothing out of the ordinary, no broken windows or damage of any kind. There weren't even any cars parked at odd angles. Actually, there weren't any cars at all. I started walking and the others followed me, there was really nothing else to do.

We'd traced into one of the locations noted on the map. It was supposed to be the site of the first emergency call, there was even an address noted, not that it was much help. It was kind of hard to find marked street addresses.

“Don't rich people have mailboxes?” I peered up and down the street. “Ah, here we go,” I said as I found the one we were looking for in the bushes. “Who the hell puts a mailbox in the bushes?” I grumbled as I strode up the long driveway.

The front door was unlocked and barely shut. We wandered in carefully and found more nothing. No one home, no bodies, no blood, nothing. I marched back out of the house without even bothering to go upstairs.

“They must have made a run for it,” I looked over the empty drive. “Let's go a little further down the road.”

We wandered down to another house, this one guarded only by a few well placed trees, and saw a much different story. The front door was wide open and smeared with blood. Windows were broken and there was still a body hanging out of one of them.

“This is more like it,” I went rushing over to the struggling man. “I see dead people. Well, a dead person.”

“
Vervain, wait. Let me see it first.” Azrael ran past me and inspected the person. “The soul is gone,” he nodded. “Shall we see if beheading works on them?”

“
If you go by modern zombie fiction,” Torrent peered at the posterior of the corpse(since the rest was inside the house). “You should stab the brain.”

“
I fail to see how that's going to work,” Fallon went through the open door and we trailed in after him. “Plus, we don't even know if these are zombies.”

“
They're moving around with no soul inside them,” Azrael said dryly. “I give you permission to call them zombies.”

“
Well, there you go, the Angel of Death has given his stamp of approval.” I frowned at the zombie in the window. “Is it just me or is he staring at us?”

The zombie in question was definitely staring at us and when I waved at him, he growled and threw his hands out towards me in a distinctly aggressive motion. We all took a step back. All except Azrael.

“He can't touch you, remember?” Azrael peered at the zombie with interest.

“
Yeah and he shouldn't be able to see us either,” I took a hesitant step forward, “but he doesn't seem to have gotten the memo.”

“
He's dead, Carus,” Az looked up at me like the answer was obvious. “The dead can see me.”

“
Yeah, their souls can,” I glared at the all-seeing zombie. “But you just said he doesn't have his soul so why can he see you?”

“
Dead is dead,” Azrael shrugged. “It's not like I have a zombie manual, so we're just going to have to assume that this is normal.”

“
This
is anything but normal,” I waved my hand at the zombie. “Oh screw this. Az can you make us solid again?”

He nodded and I felt myself return to normal. I sighed and stretched a little, being in Azrael's spiritual state felt weird and kind of muffled, like having water in your ears. I pulled my katana(which I was very glad to have brought with me, since I really didn't want zombie brains on my hands) and sliced its head off.

“Vervain,” Azrael sighed. “We should have studied it a bit more.”

“
Well go ahead,” I nudged the head with my boot so Az could see that it was still active, if not alive per se. “Heh, go ahead, get it? It's a head.”

Darius was the only one who laughed while everyone else groaned.

“I told you,” Torrent came up to stand beside Azrael. “You gotta stab it in the brain.”

“
Why would that work?” Azrael transferred his attention to Torrent.

“
Because it's a virus that affects the brain,” Torrent shrugged.

“
But if its the brain that's reanimating the body,” I lifted a brow at Torrent, “why is the body still moving when its not attached to the brain anymore?” I pointed to the struggling, headless body in the window.

“
That's a very good point,” Torrent went over to the body and poked it with his finger.

“
Don't do that,” I snapped at him.

“
Why not?” He looked surprised.

“
We don't know how this virus is spread,” I gave him a duh face.

“
But I'm immortal,” Torrent's surprise turned to confusion.

“
So were the Froekn who were infected by the mutant rabies,” I huffed. “We don't know what this is yet and even if it doesn't affect us, what if you get some on you and transfer it to Nick?”

“
Nick?” Torrent blinked at me.

“
My cat,” I growled.

“
Vervain,” Kirill cleared his throat. “I don't zink zis virus is transmittable to animals.”

“
We don't know that for certain,” I transferred my annoyance to him.

“
Da, ve do,” Kirill lifted a hand and pointed.

We all looked in the direction he was indicating and I'm embarrassed to admit that I let out a rather girly scream.

“What the fuck is that?” I stared at the thing in the hallway, dread curling in my belly. “It looks like Fizgig from
The Dark Crystal
. Or an Intare hairball.”

“
Hey, don't joke about hairballs,” Darius complained. “They aren't funny.”

The creature in question was a huge ball of frizzy brown fur matted with blood and gore. There were beady black eyes glaring at us and the barest hint of feet peeping out of the bottom of the hairball. Then it made a very high pitched sound, setting my teeth on edge, and bounced forward.

“Oh gods no,” I shook my head in denial. “Tell me it's not what I think it is.”

“
I'm afraid so,” Trevor sighed and went over to the thing. “It's a Pomeranian.”

“
No,” I moaned. “Don't touch it, it's gross.”

“
Vervain, we can't just leave it here,” Trevor looked at me like he knew I'd never abandon an animal in distress... because he knew I'd never abandon an animal in distress. Even a Pomeranian covered in grossness and disguised as a lion hairball.

“
Can't we just put it in a plastic bag or something? You know, like an evidence bag. It'll probably fit into a really big one.” I made a distressed sound as I watched it nestle into Trevor's arms and then look over at me with sad eyes. “Oh crap. Can you go wash him off at least?”

“
I think it's a her,” he considered the ball of gore.

“
How can you tell amongst all that?” I looked it over dubiously.

“
It's wearing a pink crystal collar with the name Princess on the tag,” Trevor held up the round silver disc on the dog collar.

“
Of course,” I rolled my eyes and accidentally kicked the zombie head. “Princess. What a surprise.”

“
Carus,” Az chastised me and put his foot down. Literally, he put it down on the head to stop it from rolling. “Be careful.”

“
I'll just take Princess to the bathroom,” Trevor smirked at me.

“
Oh whatever,” I folded my arms across my chest. “We're not keeping her,” I called after him.

“
Are you seriously arguing over a dog in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?” Fallon looked at me with disbelief.

“
It's not like we're busy,” I waved a hand at Azrael, who was inspecting the head.

“
There's magic here,” Azrael stood up and declared. “Someone imbued a virus with magic and that's what animating these people, not the virus itself. I suspect that destroying the brain will make no difference.”

I lifted a brow and stabbed my katana through the eye of the head. Everyone else in the room groaned. Well, except for Torrent, who just paid closer attention.

“What? It's the easiest path to the brain. Haven't you heard of a lobotomy?” I shook my head at them and then noticed Az nodding. I looked back at the head and sure enough, it was still trying to bite me. “Okay, let's try something else,” I nudged the head out the door with the toe of my boot and then kicked it into the yard. I blew a stream of fire on it until it was ash and miracle of miracles, it stopped moving. “There,” I made a show of dusting my hands, “all done.”

“
Sure, now we just need to let the military know that they have to use napalm to destroy the zombies.” Fallon grimaced. “How can there be an antidote for this?”

“
There isn't,” I gave Fallon a serious look. “No one's coming back from that,” I waved a hand at the animated body in the window. “The only way an antidote would help is if they hadn't died yet.”

“
The virus kills them,” Azrael mused as he pulled the body out of the window and put it next to the pile of ash. “And the magic brings them back. Do you mind?” He waved a hand at the struggling body.

“
Oh, sure,” I blew some fire over it and incinerated it as well. “So you think that the god behind this will just pull back the magic when they get their money?”

“
Hopefully,” Azrael's eyes focused on something down the lane. “But for now, I think we should go.”

I followed his gaze and saw a group of zombies shambling our way.

“Good idea,” I looked toward the house. “Let's go grab my werewolf and his pet monster.”

“Oh!” Persephone squealed in delight. “That is the cutest dog I've ever seen!”

“
Really?” I zeroed in on her.

We'd returned to Pride Palace and called in the rest of the God Squad to help us deal with the zombie situation. I'd insisted that Trevor keep Princess out of Nick's sight because the wrath of cats, especially male cats, can be long and often stinky. So he'd kept the dog with him, on his lap actually, where she seemed to be made to sit.

We were in the newly renovated dining room, which was now more of a hall, on the first floor. I had to have one, all of my friends did. It was large and longer than it was wide, but it wasn't medieval looking at all. The walls were the bare white stone that made up the castle but it was polished, bringing out the veins of gold even more. We had several carved wooden tables set up next to each other, so they seemed to be one long table running the length of the hall, all covered in white cloth. The chairs were carved as well and padded in red velvet, matching the carpet and the draperies at the balcony windows. The balcony, which extended over the moat, had a view of the training field and had seating too but I decided to stay inside and enjoy the fire. So we were all sitting in a big semi-circle in front of it.

The fireplace was across the dining table from the balcony, surrounded by several comfy chairs, couches, and ottomans. There were a few side tables set between the seats, and a framed painting of lions over the mantle. The oil painting was one of mine, a picture of the Intare at rest. I loved the contradiction of their strength lying beneath the fragile looking trees that grew on our land. Kirill was easily spotted off to the side, the only lion with a black pelt. I smiled at the man himself as he set down a cup of coffee for me on the table near my chair. He gave me a conspiratorial wink and sat in the chair on my left.

“You're welcome to have her, if you like,” I said airily to Persephone, garnering a glare from Trevor.

“
I can?” Persephone reached for Princess and the dog jumped into her arms like she knew a sucker when she saw one. “Oh you're precious,” she cooed as Hades rolled his eyes.

“
Bunny-Nose,” he sighed. “That is not a dog, that is a mutated cat. Or a mutated lint ball, I'm not quite sure.”

“
I like her,” Sephy pouted and the dog panted happily at Hades.

“
Her name is Princess,” I offered as I discretely tried to wave away the smell of dog breath that wafted my way.

“
Princess!” Persephone cheered and took a seat across from mine. “I love that name.”

“
Of course you do,” I chuckled.

“
You're a horrible woman,” Hades sent me a nasty look as he sat on the couch beside his wife.

“
I know, but I can live with that, as long as I don't have to live with
that
,” I pointed at the dog. “Coffee?” I gestured to the service laid out on a table between us. “You know I think that dog is perfect for the Underworld.”

“
I do too,” Sephy grinned and Hades continued to glare at me.

“
Well at least she's going to someone who will love her,” Trevor sighed and moved from his seat at the dining table behind us, to sit in a chair on my right. I'd told him that if he was going to have the dog on his lap, he couldn't sit next to me, and the traitor had chosen the dog.

“
Oh, now you come crawling back,”I sent him a nasty look of my own.

“
Vervain, you told me once that if it came down to me or Nick, you would chose Nick,” he lifted his dark brow and swung a muscular arm up to the back of my chair. “
Every
time.”

“
So?” I gave him a bland look.

“
So people in glass houses,” he huffed.

“
Shouldn't sleep naked,” I nodded. “But what does that have to do with Nick?”

“
Bravo,” Pan clapped as he came in. “That's going to be my new motto. Although I fully approve of people sleeping naked, no matter the material their house happens to be made of.”

“
Because you're a disgusting pervert,” Horus walked around him and inspected one of the several display cabinets lined up against the stone walls. “Lovely headdresses, Vervain. I had no idea you collected them.”

“
I like all kinds of adornments but I especially like things you can put on your head,” I laughed. “I'm trying to get a piece from every culture.”

“
Let me know what you need,” Horus sat next to Hades. “You recall I deal in antiques?”

“
No, I totally forgot about that,” I grinned. “Thank you, Horus. I'll go over my collection and see what I'm missing.”

“
Uh hello?” Pan sat down next to Trevor. “You can't just start another conversation while we were in the middle of insulting each other.”

“
We were not in the middle of anything,” Horus lifted his head regally. “I insulted you and you were speechless because you're an idiot. Then I moved on to more intelligent conversation.”

“
You're such an asshole, Horus,” Pan growled.

“
Ah, a very eloquent comeback,” Horus smirked.

“
Okay already,” I laughed and passed Pan a coffee before he started yet another fight with Horus. “Settle down, we have important stuff to talk about.”

“
Then I hope we didn't miss anything,” Thor came in with Brighid and right behind them was the rest of the squad.

Everyone shuffled in with the usual greetings and small talk until we got settled. Coffee was passed out and then we told them the gist of what was going on.

“What do you mean there's a zombie apocalypse but the zombies can't be killed by brain stabbing?” Mrs. E gaped at me.

Okay, maybe they needed more than the gist. So Azrael took over and explained in greater detail. The room got quiet, everyone's faces settling into serious lines. Then I opened my detective book, I mean notebook, and went over the information we'd collected.

“Torrent, do you think you could trace the email?” I looked over at Torrent hopefully.

“
No problem,” he got up. “I'll just pop into the Inter Realm for a look-see.”

“
Thanks, Torr,” I smiled at him as he walked out. “Now does anyone know anything more about this group Cross Fire?”

“
I believe they're one of those insane groups that think it'll be better if we just start over again,” Brighid sighed. “The thing I don't understand is, if you kill everyone, how will we start over? Evolution again? That took forever.”

“
I believe the common denominator among most of these radical groups is that they make no sense,” Teharon added. “They attract desperate and unstable individuals.”

“
We need to find them and we only have till tomorrow to do it,” I said grimly.

“
Not really,” Persephone said distractedly, as she played with her new lap fuzz.

“
Seph?” I caught her attention, “care to expound on that?”

“
Well, if the government pays, which I mean, what choice do they have?” She widened her eyes knowingly at me. “Then this should be settled until they get their real plan in order.”

“
What do you mean
real
plan?” Brahma leaned forward so he could peer around Horus and see Persephone's rare moment of brilliance for himself.

“
Well duh,” she laughed at Brahma. “One-hundred million? A radical group like that doesn't ask for that kind of money so they can escape to Mexico and live out their lives on the beach.”

“
Well damn,” Finn exclaimed, the hint of an Irish accent coming out. “She's right. They need that money for something.”

“
So we have time,” Sephy shrugged. “We'll figure it out, we always do.”

“
Can someone please tell me at what point it was that we were all sucked into a Disney movie?” Horus grimaced.

“
Hey,” Sephy glared at him.

“
I'm afraid he's right,” Trevor shrugged. “This is more along the lines of
Resident Evil
than
The Rescuers
.”

“
Oh I love that movie,” I grinned.

“
Which one?” Horus asked, though he looked like he did so against his better judgment.

“
Both of them actually,” I laughed. “One has a kick-ass heroine with great boots and one has a kick ass heroine with horrible boots but a really big diamond in her teddy bear.”

“
Yes, quality entertainment,” Horus laid the sarcasm on thick.

“
Don't knock Ms. Jovovich,” I wagged a finger at him.

“
Or Disney movies,” Persephone added.

“
Or diamonds,” I kept it going and Sephy didn't fail me.

“
Or teddy bears.”

“
I think that dog may have regressed you a bit,” I looked her over with concern.

“
It's a doggie,” she shrugged, “that's what they do.”

“
Really?” I looked over the panting puffball. “I thought they tore up your shoes and pooped on the rug?”

“
That too,” Hades sighed dramatically. “I really loved my rugs.”

“
Could ve talk about zombies?” Kirill looked over to Az, who was sitting with his head in his hands, evidently waiting for the ridiculousness to end.

“
No,” Azrael looked up and everyone looked over to him in surprise. “I don't think there's much else for us to do. We'll have to wait and see if Torrent finds anything and if not, we hope the government pays up and then we follow the money.”

“
Show. Me. The money,” Sephy lifted Princess and jostled her with each word. Princess yipped excitedly.

“
Ah, so this is what true hell is like,” Hades observed.