The Night Beat, From the Necropolis Enforcement Files (18 page)

“No. Well, yes, but not in the way you probably think. And,” I added to the glare that was starting to radiate out of her eyes, “not because I think you’re stupid. Because you’ve been undead about a day and I just doubt Indoctrination taught you about what possession by a major evil minion does to a human.”

Ken put his hand against the wall and concentrated. “It’s not giving off any evil resonance.”

“And yet, it should,” Edgar said. “A manifestation of the size you dealt with should leave resonance for days. Which means it’s got a spell on it.”

“So, what do you figure?” Ralph asked me.

“The incantation provided Abaddon with a portal. He came through into The Pleasure Palace. For whatever reason, he didn’t take a possession there. Isn’t that odd?”

Edgar shook his head. “It makes sense. The clientele are the Prince’s servants. They want a strong army. Better to take an innocent, ensure one less for our side.”

“Okay, so he picks up the poor girl unlucky enough to score a john from our little den of iniquity. He drains her life source and drops her back on her street corner.” A thought occurred. “Cindy, did you know her well enough to know who her pimp was?”

“Yeah. Same pimp as the other two girls we just, ah, talked to. She worked that side of the block, though, so I didn’t see her much.”

“How well connected to Tomio is this pimp?” Jack asked.

Sexy Cindy shrugged. “I dunno. Tomio knew everyone.”

“Which was why he was the perfect choice for infiltration,” Martin said. Black Angel Two nodded. Not that I felt we needed angelic confirmation because it seemed obvious Tomio had been hand-selected for evil quality.

“I go back to the question of what our plan is,” Monty said. “Figuring things out is nice. Doing something about it is better.”

“Thank you, oh fount of wisdom and experience.” I considered our options. Splitting up seemed like it was going to be in order. We clearly needed to investigate The Pleasure Palace, we needed to track down all the potential relatives of the dead, keeping an eye on the folks in the hospital was going to be a given, and finding out what was up with Tomio had to be a good idea.

It dawned on me that it was probably past time to check on Amanda and Maurice. I dialed up Amanda on my wrist-com. No answer. Okay, no reason to panic. Called Maurice. No answer. Called the Count. “Have you heard from Amanda or Maurice? Recently, I mean?”

There must have been something in my tone of voice that told the Count that now wasn’t the time to chide or complain. “No. I’ll try now.” It was quiet for a few long seconds. “No answer from either one. Black Angel One just came back on duty, sending them to intercept.”

“Good. Please tell them to be careful and fast.”

“Just out of curiosity, what do you think has befallen them?”

“I think they’re fighting Abaddon and Apollyon.” Or they were dead. I decided not to mention that possibility, because it was all too possible and I didn’t want to think about it.

“I see. Black Angel One advised. May I suggest that Black Angel Two be ready to assist?”

My conversation with the Count had everyone’s attention. Well, it would save time. “You may.” Miriam and Magdalena both nodded, but made no move to leave. “However, until Black Angel One either doesn’t respond or calls for backup, Black Angel Two plans to stay with our teams.”

“Teams?” the Count asked politely.

I brought him up to speed quickly. “So we’re going to have to split up into several teams to tackle everything.” I refrained from adding “unless we have to go save Amanda and Maurice” because that would mean Black Angels One and Two were in need of assistance, and that was never a sign of good times ahead.

“I see.” The Count was quiet for a few moments. “Carry on.”

Somehow, I’d expected something more from him than that. “Uh, okay. Will do.” My wrist-com went dead.

Ralph was the first one to speak. Well, first he did the canine throat-clear, but right after that, he spoke. “Did that seem…odd to anyone else?”

“Very much,” Monty said. As the being with us who’d known the Count the longest, this held a lot of stressful weight.

I looked around. Everyone was nodding in agreement, even Jack, Freddy and Sexy Cindy. “So, what’re we thinking? The Count’s got a lot on his mind or we’ve got an infiltration and he’s trying to give us a hint?”

“Oh, I’d go with infiltration,” Monty replied. “It’s always a favorite.”

“Who could infiltrate that place?” Jack asked.

I thought about it. Sexy Cindy had made the point that Jack and I could be considered part of the group who were part of Slimy’s attack. And the stronger minions had serious skills. We probably did have eighteen doppelgängers walking about. They just were now unlikely to all be Tomio copies.

“I have a sinking suspicion, Jack, that you and I not only could infiltrate, but did.”

“Great.” At least he didn’t sound freaked out. “How do you fight a doppelgänger?”

“You don’t touch yours, for starters,” Edgar said. “Touching your own duplicate is dangerous at best and normally permanently fatal.”

“Oh. Good.” Jack shook his head. “What kills them?”

“Same things that kill us. That’s the one positive.”

“Yeah, I’m feeling the positive in the situation.” Jack sighed. “So, you and I have to engage the doppelgängers, right?”

“How do you figure that?” Ken asked him.

I answered. “We’re the only ones who can be sure we’re really us.”

“Good point. What’ll the rest of us be doing?” Ken looked ready to fly off and fight something.

“You’ll be dividing up into teams to handle all the other issues we’ve got.”

“You know, they’re doing a very good job of dividing us,” Martin said.

“And potentially conquering, yeah, I know.” The base of my tail wanted a word. “However, what they may be doing is trying to get us away from here, right here. Meaning we want to stay here and continue investigating The Pleasure Palace.”

“Shouldn’t you and Jack be the ones to do that?” Ken asked. “You’re the only two who we could laughingly say have a reason to go in that isn’t related to the undead world.”

As always, Ken had a point. A good point.

H.P., Monty and Edgar were all nodding, as were the angels. “So, Ken’s right, as per usual. So, how do we stop the likely doppelgängers at Enforcement?”

Gretel raised her paw. “Send me, Hansel and Ralph. No matter what they look like, the dupes don’t smell right. Close, but not close enough.”

This was true. “Okay, let’s make that happen.” The three of them did an intense scratch and sniff on me and Jack, minimal scratch, maximum sniff. Then they took off.

“Think they’ll be okay?” Jack asked me.

“Probably better than we’ll be.”

“Comforting. Remind me to make sure that, should we have kids, you leave the nurturing parts to me.”

Chapter 28

I left Ken in charge of group divisions. He could do it as well as me, and I wanted to get into The Pleasure Palace and out again as soon as possible. However, Jack and I didn’t go alone. I insisted on taking Freddy and Sexy Cindy with us.

They weren’t thrilled, at least if their grumbling as we walked out of the alley was any indication. “Okay,” I snapped once we were in front of the bridal shop. “Want to tell me why you don’t want this assignment?”

“I told you, I don’t like that place,” Sexy Cindy whined.

“Hell’s no fun, either, but some of us have to venture there on assignment. I’ll wager there’s not a lot of fun being had at Enforcement HQ right now, but you didn’t hear that team whining about it.”

“We’re dead,” Freddy snapped. “And you want to take us in with you to someplace we never went anyway.”

“You’re undead. It’s different and, by now, you both know it. Besides, I don’t care if you never went there before -- you’re going in there now to give me and Jack a believable reason to follow you.”

“How are we going to be believable?” Sexy Cindy asked. “We’re undead.”

“You don’t look it,” Jack said. “I can’t tell the difference between what you looked like alive and now. Your brain’s working better, but if no one in there knows you, Cindy, they won’t notice you’re not acting like a moron all the time. Same with Freddy. You haven’t been undead long enough to have that gray-around-the-edges look H.P. has. You look better than you have in years, but you still look like a bum.”

“Uh, Jack? Maybe we’ll leave the nurturing of potential young to me after all.”

Freddy sighed. “No, he’s got a point. The Indoctrination people --”

“Beings. We’re beings. Of everyone with us now, Jack is the only person.”

“Got it. You teach at the University on your off days?” Freddy asked with far more sarcasm than I thought necessary.

“No. It’s just a big deal, okay? At least half of us were people, at one time, and we’re not any more. We’re beings. Only living humans get to be called people.” It bothered me that it still bothered me, after all these years, but it did. I’d been a person, and I wasn’t any more. I moved my mind off the past quickly. “So, anyway, you two need to wander in and look like you’re trying to get away from the cops. We’ll be pretty much right behind you.”

“What have we done to get you interested in us?” Sexy Cindy asked, sounding a little less sulky.

“We’re asking questions about Anthony Tomio,” Jack replied. “You don’t know anything, but you don’t want to be questioned, either.”

They both nodded, looking unhappy. “Those expressions are good. Add in some fear, too. You know, just figure that if you can’t manage to do this one little assignment you’ll probably get to work with us a lot…and we’re both really hard on rookies.”

“Wow, this unlife’s so great,” Freddy said. “We both feel really lucky.”

“We should,” Sexy Cindy said in a low voice. “You saw the others.”

He sighed and took her arm. “You’re right. We’ll head off and do our act, such as it is. Just don’t wait too long to come after us. Cindy’s not the only one who never wanted to go into that place.”

Jack and I watched them hustle off. “What’s our plan once we get in there?” he asked when they were far enough away they couldn’t hear.

“I think this falls under the ‘wing it’ line of attack. We know this is Evil Headquarters, for this part of town, at least. That something’s going on is a given. What or who we’re going to find in there is the issue. I just have no guess.”

We started off after our “quarries”. “You think Abaddon and Apollyon are in there?”

“Yahweh protect us if they are.” I meant that, and ensured I said it in a way Yahweh would recognize as prayerful, not flippant.

“I second that. So, do bullets actually work on the undead?”

“Some of us, yeah. I’d bring in our real weaponry, but I think it’ll be spotted the moment we cross the threshold. Gotta assume Evil HQ has some serious weapons detectors on their entryways.”

“So we packed the trunk full for no reason?”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll end up using it. Just not at this exact moment.”

“Okay, so you want us acting like we would have two days ago, right?”

“Right. Human cops, hunting a perp, following clues.”

“Think they’ll fall for it?”

“Well, I’m sure some of them know who I am or will be able to tell I’m a werewolf. But who knows? Most of life and unlife’s a crapshoot, when you get down to it.”

“The undead gamble?”

“You have no idea. Unlife is long, and even the most dedicated like to take a night off. Gambling with undeads is a little different, though. If we ever catch a break in this case, I’ll take you to one of my favorites, The Crypt.”

“Looking forward to it.” He stopped us before the corner, pulled me into a doorway, and kissed me. He was a great kisser, and my butt was doing its thing in a matter of seconds. He stroked my face as he pulled slowly away. “I never thought I’d have a chance with you.”

“I felt the same way.” I had to admit, Slimy had been a precursor to the major evil, but he’d certainly given my love life a huge assist.

He sighed and stepped away. “Back to work.”

I nodded and we headed off. Turned the corner, walked briskly up the street, making sure to look very undercover cop-like. Rounded the next corner. No sign of Freddy or Sexy Cindy. This street was almost like an alley. The street our favorite alley led off of was a main street, well traveled in the day. This one, however, while running parallel to the bigger one, was infrequently used. I wondered now if the humans were being affected by The Pleasure Palace in some way, sort of psychically driven away. Maybe. We’d probably know soon enough.