The Night Beat, From the Necropolis Enforcement Files (30 page)

Jerry exploded into dust. One moment I was staring at a ripped up junkie deader. The next there was a layer of rust-colored dust floating over his grave.

On the plus side, the ground stopped moving. On the negative side, the dust swirled up from the ground. The angels flipped their collective wings out and around themselves. They were protected, but the four of us weren’t. Jerry’s dust could infect us, based on who was likely controlling it.

I had to figure Abaddon and Apollyon were with Jerry’s parents and the others, meaning we were likely dealing with the Adversary. I had to get the others out of here. Well, no time like the present for the learning of new skills.

“Cindy, grab Freddy and Jack and fly out of here.”

“Excuse me?” She sounded like I’d asked her to grow another head.

“You can fly. You haven’t been trained yet, but you can, it’s a succubus trait.” I watched the dust float around the angels. It wasn’t sticking to them, but we weren’t likely to be that lucky. “Grab them and fly away.”

“I can’t.”

I turned and did a full on werewolf growl-snarl-howl combination that said I was going to eat her and anyone else nearby. “DO IT!”

Werewolves can be very scary, and I’d ensured that I’d looked and sounded as much like Queen Bitch as possible. Sexy Cindy gave a little shriek, grabbed the others, and leaped into the air away from me. Her flying left a lot to be desired -- she was about a foot off the ground, no more, and wobbling like it was her first time on rollerblades. However, she was carrying the other two and they were getting away, and that’s what mattered.

I turned back to watch Jerry’s dust. It circled the angels, gave up, and headed towards me. Normally when someone got dusted they went into the earth or sea or wherever. It didn’t matter if their motes were floating around, they were rendered null and void. In this case, I knew better.

That the dust was animated meant it was under the Adversary’s control. Due to what had been in Jerry’s body, the dust would be deadly to me. I couldn’t breathe or swallow it, and I had a good guess that letting it land on me wasn’t going to be all fun and frolic either.

I readied myself to jump and dodge, but was interrupted by Freddy dropping down in front of me. “Come on, you dirty little bastard,” he shouted at the dust. “Pathetic mamma’s boy can’t even die right!”

Apparently the dust still had some of Jerry in it, because it veered right towards Freddy. Before I could react he opened his mouth and the dust flew into him, every single mote. Then he pulled a flask out of his hip pocket, took a long drink, and burped.

He turned around, grinning, and winked at me. “A little dry.”

“What did you do? We have to get you to medical right away.”

He took another swig and wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve. “Nope. Little zombie trick H.P. and Edgar filled me in on. Zombies can’t do the dusting, but we can indeed do the clean up.”

“Huh?” I had nothing better to offer. Two hundred years plus undead and this was a new one to me. Sexy Cindy and Jack landed, to use the term loosely. After they picked themselves up from the ground, I tried again. “What are you talking about?”

“Only matters in times like these, when you have an infected deader. I hadn’t understood what the others were talking about the other day, but once I saw what was happening, it became clear. Zombies are able to ingest carrier dust because we can ingest pretty much anything, other than certain kinds of salt, with no problem. Then we neutralize it with holy water.” He waved the flask.

“What the hell is carrier dust?” Jack asked. I was glad he did, since I didn’t have any idea. But I had a good guess.

“Jerry had something deadly to Victoria in him,” Freddy explained. “Meaning his dust was deadly to her. So, he’s infected, or a carrier of disease.” He chuckled. “And I’m the vaccine.” I was a good guesser. I was also happy I looked forward to learning new things daily, because this was a doozy. I wondered what else I didn’t know, even after all this time.

“Thank the Gods and Monsters.” Jack shrugged at my look. “Hey, not like you own the saying.”

I shook my head. “True. Freddy, you sure you’re okay?”

“Feel fine. If I start to feel evil, I’ll let you know.” He grinned again. “Nice to be useful to the team for once.”

“You’ve been useful before.” I hugged him. “Thank you.”

“Any time, Zombie Fred’s got your back.”

We went to the angels, who had de-cloaked. “You guys okay?”

They nodded. “What about you?” Cain asked. “You were the target.”

“Yeah, she was.” Jack sounded angry. “Why didn’t you do anything to protect her?”

I put my paw on his arm. “I’m sure Jerry had unholy water in him. That’s not exactly nectar to an angel. Besides, of the six of us, I’m more expendable than they are.” Jack started to argue but I put my paw up. “This is a war. We have military titles, remember? For a reason.”

Jack still looked like he was going to argue, but my wrist-com went off. “Vic, it’s Ralph. Status?”

“All fine here, I think. How’s the hospital gang?”

“Well, I’m released. I’m the only one, though.”

I resisted the urge to growl and curse. “How long for the others?”

He heaved a sigh. “At best, at least a good part of the day. Clyde had more damage than he was showing. He needs full rewrapping. The Count has to have a complete transfusion. Hansel and Gretel had to be knocked out to get treated. Those four won’t be out until tonight, maybe tomorrow. You want me to go on?”

“Not really, but I think I’d better know. Amanda, Maurice and Ken?”

“Okay, but they all have to sleep in their coffins.”

“Oh, that’s not good.”

“Why not?” Jack asked. “They’re vampires. Don’t they always sleep in coffins?”

Ralph’s low growl came through my wrist-com. He was touchy about humans buying into all the negative undead myths. I answered quickly. “No, that’s a myth, in a sense. They need to sleep in their coffins, in some dirt from the ground where they died, only when they’re close to becoming dusted.” My throat felt tight. “Ralph, are the others just as bad?”

“Yeah. The doctors told me they’d barely finished fixing up Black Angel Two and Martin when the rest of us hit the floor. They’re worried about them, by the way.”

There was nothing for it. “Ralph, we’re at the cemetery. Get here as fast as you can.”

“On it, W-W-One-Six-One-Two over and out!”

“Why are you bringing him back?” Jack asked. “He’s recovering, too. And he drives you nuts.”

“We need him. Most of our team’s down.” I looked at Martin. “How badly are the three of you still hurt?”

“We were released from the hospital, Victoria,” Martin said reassuringly.

“Uh huh. Ralph may indeed drive me crazy but I know when he’s trying to pass a message along. The hospital didn’t want to release you, did they?”

Martin tried doing the shrug and twinkle thing, but I didn’t buy it. I looked at Black Angel One. “And what Ralph was really trying to share was that you two didn’t get treated at all.”

Cain and Abel tried to look innocent, which, considering they were angels and all, they should’ve been able to do well. Only, angels have real issues in regard to lying -- one of the reasons they weren’t a talkative group -- it’s easier not to answer than to tell an untruth. Not that they couldn’t lie, it just took a lot of effort and most of them considered that skill not worth the work.

“That’s why you couldn’t hold me and why neither one of you could catch me when I fell. You’re both hurt.” I looked at the graves. “It’s why the five of you were having so much trouble keeping them in the ground, and why Jerry got free.” I stared at the graves some more. “The Adversary knows he hurt you and he also knows you weren’t fully or even partly healed. Jerry got out and he was dusted before he could tell us too much. But…why did the Adversary stop trying to raise the deaders?”

Miriam spun and did her raising spell. The ground moved and boiled, but nothing came up. Magdalena touched the moving earth of each grave. She shook her head. “There are no bodies in here any more.”

I hit my wrist-com. “Monty, how’re you doing?”

“Not really well. Put it this way, it’s a good thing they have my arms stacked next to each other, or I couldn’t have answered you.”

“Ugh. I don’t want to know. I need an All Dirt Corps Alert. We need to know if any of our favorite recently raised deaders are anywhere around, on any plane, but most likely Undead or Human. Jerry the Junkie was dusted by the Adversary, but the others have disappeared.”

“Not good. Okay, I’ll alert the troops. Where will you be?”

I considered. “What day is it?”

“Pardon?” Monty sounded as shocked as those around me looked.

“Day. What day is it? I haven’t gotten a lot of sleep, or food, in the past I don’t remember how many hours now, and I’m not sure. Day of the week. Surely someone over there knows.”

“It’s Sunday.” Monty sounded confused. “Why does that matter?”

“You asked me where we were headed. And it matters because now I know.”

“And,” Monty said, like he was speaking to a crazy person with a loaded gun, “just where is that?”

“The Little Church of the Country.”

Chapter 44

Ralph arrived as I announced our destination. He hit a full stop and a salute. “Ready, Major.”

I tried not to sigh. “Ralph, we don’t have time for the formality.” Based on the glare he shot at Jack, I figured Ralph was going for the full on military bearing in an attempt to outshine Jack.

“Fine.” Ralph put his paw down but his body language was Ready For Action. At least he was eager. “Why the Little Church of the Country as our destination?”

“Jerry the Junkie was a little too involved and in the know. His father’s a preacher of some kind, and his family lives in the Estates. There are only a few men or women of the cloth who can afford to live that well.”

“Television evangelists,” Freddy supplied.

“Yep. And we have a couple who live in the Estates. One in particular.”

“The Right Reverend Gerald Johnson,” Jack said. “Called Jeremiah Johnson by most of his flock. Okay, I can see it, and I’ll just bet our favorite dusted junkie was named for his father.”

“I’d give it pretty even odds. Johnson controls a flock that consists of most of Prosaic City’s wealthy and also lures the poor and lower middle class.” The Little Church was also a total misnomer. It was huge and glorious -- lots of glass, gold and silver plate, and reflective paint, along with many more spires than one normally needed for a house of worship -- built on one of the hills in the Estates, so you could see it for miles.

“So, that would mean, since it’s Sunday morning, they’ve got a packed house and all the bodies they need, right?” Sexy Cindy ventured.

“That’s my current guess.” The base of my tail felt that Sexy Cindy was a keeper. I checked out the angels. “Much as I’d love to have aerial backup, I want the five of you back to the hospital. Monty, if they don’t show up within fifteen minutes, I want an All Being Alert on Black Angel One, Black Angel Two, and Martin. Brought in for extreme stubbornness.”

He chuckled. “You got it. I’ll alert the hospital staff that their errant patients will be returning.” My wrist-com went dead.

Martin shook his head. “You need us.”

“Yeah, I need you alive and well. Go get fixed up. If it’s that bad, I’m sure you’ll know.”

“I’m sure.” Martin sighed and nodded. “Let’s do as Victoria asks. The sooner we go, the sooner we’ll be released.” They all nodded to us and flew off. Slowly.

I turned back to the others. “Okay, we need a car.”

“Why not use your detective car?” Sexy Cindy asked.

“I have no idea where it is.” This was true.

“At Our Lady of Compassion,” Jack said. “Illegally parked.”

Oh, right. “Legally parked, and get over it. Too far away, and besides, we need a nicer car.”

“Why?” Freddy asked, as he looked around the cemetery. “I see no cars here.”

I sniffed and saw Ralph’s ears perk up. “There will be cars here shortly, and we need a decent one because we’re about to infiltrate the church where all the money goes. We need to fit in.”