The Night Beat, From the Necropolis Enforcement Files (24 page)

“I suppose so. Why?”

Lucky Jude, no hurting from me coming. “We have major minions in this realm and you have to ask?”

He grinned and put his hands on my head. “Okay, don’t hurt me. I don’t do this often, but you’re probably right to take the precaution.” He put his forehead to mine. I felt a flutter inside my head that lasted for a few long moments. “All done.”

“Good. This way, if I do have to face him, no one else will realize I’m concerned about it.” Or read any other thoughts about Lucifer I might have.

“No one but the two of us can access your thoughts about him now. Well, other than Yahweh.” Jude patted my back. “When the time comes, if it comes, you’ll do what’s right, Victoria. That’s why you’re so important. You always make the right choice.”

“I don’t think so.”

“I do.” He nodded towards the back of the room. “And so does he.”

“So it was the right choice to break up with you?”

Jude chuckled as he opened the door. “I meant in terms of the greater fight. In terms of your personal life, sorry, you screw up just like all the rest of us.”

“Dang.”

Chapter 35

I felt funny back on the sidewalk. A big chunk of my early undead life was tied to Jude and it was unsettling to realize my present undead life was now wrapped up with him again.

Happily, Jack looked a little calmer. “You get any other insights into my impending doom?”

“Don’t buy long.”

He laughed. “Good to know. Where to next?”

“No idea.” I decided my wrist-com hadn’t gotten enough work recently. I tried HQ, hoping I was going to hear good news. “Agent W-W-One-Eight-One-Niner reporting in.”

Nothing.

I tried Hansel and Gretel. Nada. Tried Ralph. Got static.

“Things suck at Headquarters.”

“Great.” Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “Should we head over there?”

“Let’s check in on everyone else.” Just to give optimism a go, I tried to raise Amanda and Maurice. Then Ken. Then Monty. I quickly raced through the entire extended team. No one was answering. “Okay, before I totally freak out, we need to go back into the Salvation Center.” I didn’t wait to see if they were following, I ran through the door.

Jude was waiting for me. “I think it’s intentional interference, not that everyone’s dusted or worse.”

“Great. Any way we can tell for certain?”

He coughed. “Yeah. They’re all alive.”

I didn’t have to ask who was providing this reassurance. Of course, I was the only one.

“You mind expanding on that?” Jack asked.

“Yes, I do. Some things do require faith. Or the acceptance that the short answer is all you’re going to get.” Jude didn’t seem too upset, but he didn’t seem overly amused, either.

Jack and Freddy both started to argue, but Sexy Cindy cocked her head and stared at Jude. Then she looked around the Salvation Center. “Guys? I think we can take it at face value.” She looked at me. “If it’s good enough for you.”

“It is.” Interestingly, Jack and Freddy both quieted down. “Jude, any suggestions for our next steps? Any help would be appreciated.”

He got a faraway look, which I knew meant he was listening to someone talking inside his head. I also knew full well who that someone was. Well, said someone did have a direct line to Yahweh, and that was good enough for me.

Jude came back to the rest of us. “Go to Necropolis Enforcement.”

“Why? Just curious and all.”

He shrugged. “I think everyone else is heading there.”

“So, either things are wicked bad at HQ, or everyone’s heading back to home base to report and regroup.” I stared at Jude. He didn’t indicate which answer was the right one. “Thanks, you’re a great guy.”

Jude grinned. “You used to think so, yeah.” He shrugged. “You know the rules, you don’t get a lot of freebies when you don’t need them.”

I made the exasperation sound. “Fine, great. Heading off. Hopefully to a happy team reunion, not to a pre-Armageddon party.”

We left again, but this time we headed for the car. It was a relief to move away from the convergence chasm, I had to admit. I didn’t want to have to visit this block again for a long time, if ever. Pity the base of my tail said we’d be back, and a lot sooner than I wanted.

Jack handed me our bag of goodies and I tossed it into the trunk, Sexy Cindy and Freddy piled into the back, Jack took the wheel, and I grabbed the radio. “Darlene, Detectives Wolfe and Wagner checking in.”

“How nice of you to remember us back at Headquarters, Detective.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Things were at least semi-normal somewhere. “We’ve been following leads. Anything going on we should know about?”

“It’s very quiet. Chief feels it’s too quiet.”

“Oh. Good. Where in the silence would you like us to go?”

“Nowhere in particular. We’d just like it if you’d check in more than once every few days.”

“Hilarious. We’ll do our best to keep the regular cards and letters flowing. Over and out.” I hung up and looked at Jack. “This is getting weirder by the minute.”

“I agree. I mean, we’ve had quiet nights -- I think maybe a whole dozen in the time we’ve been partnered -- but quiet right now? Seems unlikely.”

“Well, let’s get to Enforcement Headquarters and see what fun awaits us there. I’m sure we’ll have time later to rock the bad guys on the human plane.”

Jack drove back to OLOC. This time we used the church’s parking lot because I had the special parking tag and now wasn’t afraid to use it.

“Really? Necropolis Enforcement can legally use a handicapped hanger and no one complains?” Jack sounded ready to give me a ticket.

“It says ‘Differently Abled’ and we pay a lot of money for these. I’d like to mention that we aren’t using the real handicapped spots. We’re using the Differently Abled spots. As in, the ones we’ve paid for.”

“Huh.” He sounded like he was going to run this by the Chief when we got back to Prosaic City P.D. I got the impression his fur was still ruffled over meeting Jude.

We poured out. Before we left the car, though, I had everyone take a small weapon of some kind, just in case. I didn’t think it was a good idea for us to waltz into Our Lady of Compassion toting multi-round crossbows, but a can of Evil Fairy Repellent and a miniature single-shot crossbow were a lot easier to hide.

Cruised through OLOC and into the Proper. Jack didn’t seem to have any trouble with the slide. I figured I’d let him go through the next time without my holding onto him, just to see how it went.

Moving sidewalks were working just fine, no one we passed seemed panicked or like they were trying to pass furtive signals. Nor did anyone look or act possessed. It was just a typical night in the Proper -- beings out, many working, some having a good time, some hustling about their business, some strolling. Normal.

I spotted what looked like some University students taking classes outdoors, as well as a group of younger undeads clearly on an outing to the hospital. That was considered a big deal for the young ones. Why, I could never figure out -- I wasn’t wild about visiting hospitals, though I was a big fan of their work -- but apparently the little undeads had to pass tests and get perfect attendance and citizenship marks before they got to go. Strangely enough, there were always enough young ones who’d made the cut that groups ran at least weekly, sometimes more often.

“What are little kids -- ah,
beings
doing out this time of night?” Jack asked.

“Uh, they’re little vampires and ghosts and such. They’re night creatures.”

“Oh.” Jack looked embarrassed. “That was a stupid question.”

“My teachers used to say there were no stupid questions,” Sexy Cindy offered. “Of course, they also said there was no such thing as ghosts and vampires and werewolves. So I guess they didn’t know much.”

“Thanks.” Jack shot her a dirty look. “I have another question.”

“Go ahead.”

“How do they handle being kids forever?”

“Oh. They don’t. Naturally born undeads age, ah, naturally until adulthood for their particular race. After that, it’s onto the slow but steady wins the eternity race thing.”

He shrugged. “If you say so. So, what’s the plan?”

“Go in, see what’s going on.” I shrugged. “If it’s bad, we’ll know.”

“How so?” Freddy asked.

“Well, if it’s not obvious so that we can all just see or hear the bad going on, then I sort of figure either Jack or Cindy will be affected by it.”

“I love being the team mine canary. It’s almost as emasculating as being around Black Angel Two.”

Sexy Cindy snorted. “Yeah? Well, being Spot the Evil Girl ain’t no great shakes, either.”

“Boy, do you two always complain this much or are Freddy and I just getting the special treatment?”

Freddy chuckled. “Some people bicker when they’re nervous.”

“I’m not nervous,” Jack snapped. “I’m annoyed and a little tense.”

“I’m with the big guy,” Sexy Cindy said. “Annoyed and tense.”

“I’m resisting the urge to spin and shout ‘boo!’ at the two of you. Relax. It’s either very bad or it’s going to be business as usual.” I sounded very reassuring, calm and cool. I was glad we had to take courses in that in order to move up in Enforcement ranks. Because, in reality, I was as nervous as Jack and Sexy Cindy were, and I was pretty sure Freddy wasn’t as calm as he was pretending, either.

So, in this great state of mind, snipping and snapping at each other’s tails all the way, we reached the entrance to Necropolis Enforcement.

“Everyone, weapons at the ready. If I attack, follow me. If I run like a bat out of Hell, follow me. If we’re attacked and they don’t call off when they know it’s us, shoot to kill. If I’m shot down, grab me and run for OLOC.”

“Don’t I feel all safe
now
?” Sexy Cindy muttered.

“Why don’t you think they’ll shoot one of the rest of us first?” Jack asked.

I took a deep breath and shifted into full werewolf form. I was still on two legs, gun in one paw, single-shot mini-bow in the other. The beauty of an undead life was years and years in which to practice things that were awkward or downright close to impossible. Claws and paws or no, I was going to shoot first, bite second, and ask questions whenever I got around to it.

“Because I’m the strongest and scariest of the four of us, and the hardest to dust. What would
you
aim for?”

Jack sighed. “Gotcha.”

“Oh, and don’t forget, I’m gonna be hiding behind her, and so is Freddy if he has any sense at all,” Sexy Cindy tossed out. “So, they won’t
have
us to aim for.”

“I feel the love.”

“Hey, I’m the evil spotter, not the evil sniffer.”

“Hilarious. When this particular situation is over, remind me to lift my leg in your general direction.”

Jack shook his head. “Shall I get the door, Cujo?”

I gave him as dirty a look as it was possible to give. “Oh, please, Prince Charming.”

Jack grinned, gun at the ready. He stood to the side, grabbed the door handle, and pulled it open.

Chapter 36