V.J. Chambers - Jason&Azazel Apocalypse 01 (10 page)

Kieran and Carol were both on their feet.

“What did you do to her?” Carol demanded. Guy whimpered in her arms. Carol went to her girlfriend and touched her face. “Are you okay?”

Nancy took the baby from Carol, grinning. “I’m fine. I’m fine. That was crazy! What was that?”

“I don’t know,” I said. What was I supposed to say? I think you channeled Jason’s crazy mother and then had a vision where you predicted the way I would kill Jason?

We left not too long after that. I don’t think any of us were much in the mood for visiting after Nancy’s outburst. Kieran tried to talk to me about whether it was a good idea to leave the baby there or not, but I was preoccupied. I said the baby would be fine. We were right to leave him there. I also insisted we just go straight back to the OF encampment. I believed Nancy’s dream.

Jason had the Key of Asher. It wasn’t lying around outside, lost in a scuffle. Jason had it.

Kieran tried to engage me in conversation. He wanted to know why Nancy’s outburst had freaked me out so much. He wanted to know about my grandmother. I didn’t want to talk about any of it.

All I could think about was what Nancy had said. She’d envisioned me killing Jason. When I’d met Jason, people had wanted me to kill him, but I’d refused. Now Jason was hiding out, cutting off people’s fingers and making threats. She’d echoed the words Michaela had said to me all those years ago. Was it possible that Jason really was going to become the monster she’d envisioned?

A long time ago, I would have argued against it until I was hoarse. Back then, I didn’t believe there was darkness inside Jason. Now, with everything I’d seen, I wasn’t sure anymore. Maybe I should have killed him when I had the chance.

The OF encampment was in a tizzy when we arrived. Kieran and I had trouble finding Hallam and Marlena. No one seemed to be able to talk to us. People were outside the church, standing in groups of two or three, frantically talking to each other. Several of the women were crying.

Kieran grasped the shoulder of one of the guys outside, wrenching him from his conversation.

“What’s going on?” he asked him.

It was Gus. He looked past Kieran at me. “Everything’s falling apart,” he said. “Headquarters won’t let us do anything.” He glared at me. “Why won’t you stop this?”

“Where are Hallam and Marlena?” I asked, but Gus had already gone back to his conversation.

Kieran and I went into the church, dropping off what supplies we’d gathered in the sanctuary.

We searched each room, calling for Hallam and Marlena. Finally, we found them in Hallam’s office. There was another bloody bundle on Hallam’s desk. I went to it. There were more fingers.

More toes.

I gulped and stepped away.

Kieran stayed behind me, peering down at the gory pieces. I watched Marlena, sitting dejectedly on a folding chair, while Hallam glared out one of the windows. Both of them looked beaten and tired.

“This is insane,” said Kieran. “Did you really report this to Headquarters?”

No one said anything.

“Well, should I get on the radio myself?” Kieran asked.

Hallam turned away from the window. His voice was like ice. “Did you find your magic book?”

“No,” I said. But I was pretty sure I knew where it was. And I was going to get it. The body parts were just a good excuse.

“We found some food,” Kieran said. “We dropped it off in the sanctuary. Did you radio headquarters or not?”

“They told us to stand down,” said Marlena. She was staring at the floor.

“They’re well-armed,” Kieran admitted. “Still, I don’t get the impression Jason’s just going to stop at cutting off fingers.”

“The bundle came with a note,” Hallam said. He handed it to me. The paper was stained with blood. It was Jason’s handwriting. It said, “Still think I shouldn’t drag it out, Hallam?”

Kieran reached for the paper. I handed it to him.

“I don’t get it,” I said to Hallam.

“The night with the girls. In the sorority house,” said Hallam. “I said something to him like that.

He was explaining to them why we were doing what we were doing, and I said, ‘Don’t drag it out.’ I meant for him to just go ahead and kill them quickly.”

Kieran still looked confused. As briefly as possible, I explained to him that Hallam had helped train Jason for the Sons. His father, Edgar Weem, had been a twisted man who thought Jason needed the ability to kill. He’d lied to Hallam and Jason and told them they were taking down a brothel, when in fact it had only been innocent sorority girls. Hallam and Jason had killed them all.

“This is all my fault,” Hallam said. “I turned him into this monster.”

“The Sons did it,” I said. “And you’re not a monster, Hallam. You choose not to behave like he does. Jason has a choice too.”

“He’s going to kill them,” said Hallam. “Don’t you think the note implies he’s going to kill them?”

I considered. Jason might be bluffing. He knew that Hallam would react emotionally to the note.

He might be trying to trick us. But I wasn’t sure if I cared. Jason might be twisted and a criminal genius, but he wasn’t infallible. He was out of control. Maybe I did need to just find him sitting down and reach inside his head…

But that didn’t make any sense. I couldn’t kill people with my mind. I could influence their decisions or plant triggers, but I couldn’t just kill them.

“We’re going after them,” I said.

Hallam and Marlena both looked at me, a bit of hope in each of their eyes.

“We have orders from Headquarters,” said Kieran.

I shrugged. “The OF doesn’t know what’s going on here.”

“Wait,” said Kieran. “You said that the group here was no match for Jason. He’s got an entire town in there.”

“She’s going to use her powers, aren’t you?” asked Hallam, sounding triumphant.

“No,” I said, “I’m not.” I walked out of Hallam’s office and into the room with the stockpiled weapons. We had a good bit of ammunition and enough guns to arm everyone in camp.

“Why not?” Hallam called after me. The three of them appeared in the doorway.

Because I hated using magic. But that argument wasn’t winning me any points these days, was it? “Kieran and I ran into two of the townspeople out there. Jason’s spun some ridiculous lie to them that across the river the government’s turned into a fascist state or something. They’re just people. They’re misguided. I’m not going to hurt them.”

I turned to look at the guns again, thinking fast. If we stormed in there, all of us at once, we’d create quite a spectacle. No. “How long would you estimate Jason’s been here?” I asked.

Hallam and Marlena gave each other quizzical looks.

“Not long before we showed up,” said Marlena. “Maybe a month or two?”

“So, he won’t have had time to really train all the people he’s found,” I said. “Right?”

“Absolutely not,” said Hallam.

“Okay, then, so Jason is good at what he does, but Hallam was trained by the Sons too. I was trained by Jason. Marlena, you’ve always been a badass. And I’ve worked with Kieran. He can hold his own.” Although I had to admit that Kieran and I had never really been in a real fight before, I thought he’d be okay.

“Just the four of us?” said Marlena.

I nodded. “We can sneak in.”

She agreed. “Right, exactly. The objective is only to get the prisoners and get out, not to take on the entire camp.”

Furthermore, I thought the grimoire was in the camp. I could find a way to sneak off and find it.

“No,” said Kieran. “No, we’d be violating orders directly. We were told to sit tight and wait it out.”

“Wait until he kills them?” asked Hallam. “I don’t think so.”

Right. I wanted that damned grimoire.

“When?” said Hallam.

I thought about it. “Tonight,” I said. The sooner the better.

* * *

way too much ground for the four of us to cover. We had no idea where Jason was keeping the prisoners. Hallam suggested we put off the actual raid until the following night, and that he and Kieran go in and scout it out.

Neither Marlena or I were having that. We weren’t getting left behind. Furthermore, I pointed out that we had a better chance of trying to get in once undetected than in trying to get in twice.

Instead, Kieran and I watched from a distance and saw that there was a guard placed at the gates to the park. They seemed to change up the guard every four hours or so. At twilight, the guard changed. We were all in place.

The trees were tall and dark in the vague light. The sky was turning purple in the west, over the river. Columbus-Belmont State Park looked practically untouched by the power outage. Its signs still stood proud by the entry roads, proclaiming its name. Kieran and I had been able to see a little bit of the campgrounds from where we’d watched earlier. There were RVs and tents set up.

It looked, for all anyone would be able to tell, like a typical spring for the park. Lots of campers around the camping loop, all there to enjoy the serene beauty of unspoiled nature.

Hallam and Kieran looked at me anxiously. Marlena was calmly watching the guard.

“What if this doesn’t work?” Hallam asked me, whispering furiously.

“It will work,” I said. If it didn’t work, I’d make it work.

As soon as we were certain the changing of the guard was done and that the departing guard was out of earshot, we took off for the gate, moving quickly but quietly.

The guard was lounging against the Columbus-Belmont State Park sign, his hands in his pockets.

He was whistling.

We crouched in the shadows behind him. I nodded to Hallam and Kieran. “Now,” I said.

The two darted forward, tackling the guard. He went down with a thud. Hallam covered his mouth so he couldn’t cry out. Kieran secured his hands behind his back. They propped him up so that I could approach.

I put a gun under the guy’s chin. “Hi,” I said. “I’m gonna get my guy to move his hand. You’re not gonna make any noise. That clear? Nod if you understand.”

The guard’s eyes were wide. He shifted his gaze between all of us, but he nodded. He was young, like the kids Kieran and I had seen earlier. Too young. I kind of hated being so harsh with him. It reminded me too much of the way I’d been forced to act when Jason and I were on the run. I didn’t want to be this cold, callous woman, but it was worth it if I could find the grimoire and make this stop once and for all.

I inclined my head at Hallam. He moved his hand.

The kid yelled. “Help, there are invaders—”

I shot him in the arm. I didn’t think twice about it. I just did it. I would have shot his face off, but then he wouldn’t have been much good to us. The violent reflexes I had just kicked in like that sometimes. It was disturbing, but I didn’t have time to worry about it right now. I had a mission to accomplish.

The kid screamed, a piercing shriek.

“Shut up,” I told him, my gun back under his chin. “That was a warning. Now call out and tell anyone who might have heard you that that was a false alarm.”

The kid’s voice shook. “Sorry!” he yelled. “False alarm.”

“Tell them you’re fine,” I said.

“I’m fine!” he yelled. He looked down at his arm. Blood was seeping through his jacket. He whimpered.

“Worried about your arm, aren’t you?” I asked him.

He nodded.

“Well, the sooner you help us out, the sooner you can ask someone to bandage it up for you,” I said. “Take us to the prisoners.”

“Prisoners?”

“Your boss has been carving them up and sending us souvenirs. Now where are they?”

The guard whimpered again. “The lookout house. All the way back by the river. But you’ll never be able to get to them. There are at least six guys guarding them. None of the people from town are supposed to know about them.”

I stepped back. “Get him up,” I told Kieran.

Kieran wrenched the guy to his feet. The guard didn’t want to stand on his own, so I put the gun back on his head.

“You will show us where they are, or I will kill you. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” squeaked the guard, who suddenly seemed able to put weight on his feet.

Kieran patted the guard down. He found a gun and a knife. We took both of them. I stood behind the guard, my gun on the back of his neck. Kieran and Hallam flanked me, their guns at the ready. Marlena brought up the rear.

“You lead,” I told the guard. “And don’t think about leading us right to someone who’s going to shoot us. I guarantee you I’m fast enough to blow you away before they take me down.” I leaned close, whispering in his ear. “Besides, you’re my human shield.”

“Please,” said the guard, “they’re guarding them. I can’t take you without them seeing—”

“You get us close,” I snapped.

He started walking. His limbs were stiff. We walked along the road, away from the camping entrance, further and further into the woods. I could hear the crickets again, and if I looked up, I could see thousands of bright stars. The stars were so much brighter these days. I’d never realized how much electric lights blotted out the sky. It was a gorgeous night.

We came in sight of a flag pole, obviously another entrance to the park. The guard veered off the road then and led us into the woods. He tramped over the leaves and branches, making a lot of noise.

I told him to tread more carefully.

He started sobbing. Maybe I was pushing the kid a little too far. I didn’t really want to hurt him. I just wanted him to take us where we wanted to go. Still, I wasn’t sure what we should do with him once we were done with him. He could run off and get Jason. Then what would we do?

Also, I really wanted a chance to look for that grimoire. How was I going to manage that?

The guard took us through the woods in a round about way, but eventually we reached a clearing. He stopped and pointed through the trees at a gazebo-shaped structure that stood on the edge of the river bank. It was round, with a pointed roof. The foundation was made of stone.

There was a large stone chimney jutting out of the top of the building. Was this one of those things left over from the civil war? Had the soldiers stood in it, looking out over the river watching for the enemy’s approach? Was there a chimney so they could have a fire in the winter? Wouldn’t the smoke have tipped off the enemy to their location?