Resurrection (21 page)

Sadly, that was all I could see now, as well.

I waved her over. “Baalth?”

“He thought it best to let you handle things.” She smiled oddly, but there didn’t seem to be any rancor in her voice.

Before I could say anything else, Rahim called for our attention with an impatient grunt. “Hold on.”

There was a slight tension, which settled over us, as Rahim summoned his energies, the air thick with power. A moment later a breeze built up, swirling around our feet and picking up speed. Within seconds, gale-force winds whirled around us and lifted us off the roof. Surprisingly gentle, we were carried over the edge of the building and deposited on the street, floors below. The winds died the moment we touched down.

Not bothering to wait on us, Rahim strode toward the shambling zombies, loosing red bolts of magical energy. One after another, zombies were burned to ash, searing black, then crumbling into gray puffs of dust.

Veronica and I followed on opposite sides, taking down what few undead he’d missed. There weren’t many.

After about twenty minutes, the streets were cleared of animated corpses. Rahim turned to me. He was out of breath, shaking, though he tried to hide it.

“I must return to my search.” He looked like he needed to return to bed. “Contact me if your informant’s lead pans out. I could stomach a good fishing trip.” He grinned at me, and for an instant, he looked like the big, badass wizard I remembered.

It didn’t last long, though. As he summoned his energies to teleport, the weariness crept back onto his face, his eyes nearly closed. He gave a curt wave of thanks to Veronica and disappeared in wash of energy.

“He doesn’t look so good,” she stated the obvious once he’d gone.

“He’s just a little overworked, is all.” I started to answer honestly, but the cynic in me talked me out of it. Veronica worked for Baalth. It didn’t matter that old grumpy and I had a tentative peace accord. In the end, Baalth was all about himself. His people could only be trusted to do what was best for Baalth. As such, I didn’t see any point in letting the demon know more than he could figure out on his own.

Veronica sighed, no doubt realizing what I was thinking. “I heard you tell the wizard you had a lead on our guys.”

I nodded.

“I’d like to come along.” She stared at me like she expected me to say no.

I thought about it, but I knew I could use the help. Without a doubt, I’d exhausted my ‘get out of death’ cards with Karra. If I screwed up her master’s plans again, she wouldn’t have a choice but to kill me. Shit, I wouldn’t even blame her. Given how fast she was, I might not have a chance to summon Daartan to interrupt my dying. Veronica being there might give me the needed few seconds to pull something good out of my ass, as opposed to what comes out of it normally.

Then there was
that
whole mess. I had no clue what Daartan was getting out of any of this. No longer bound to God’s will, the knight was free to pursue his own agenda. It was possible he was still toeing the party line, but I had no idea of knowing what his motivations really were. He hadn’t hesitated to come after Reven, that’s for sure. And based on how enthusiastically he’d whipped up on me and Katon, I wasn’t expecting a thank you card for my efforts.

“It’ll be dangerous.”

A slight smile graced her lips. “It always is with you.”

Unable to argue, I just shrugged. “Then we’re off to find the three less-than-wise-men.”

Returning to the spot where Lilith and I had come across the ambushing zombies, I plucked the gem from my pocket and crushed it in my hand. It collapsed with a hollow pop, while wisps of frigid, planar cold stung my skin. Opening my hand, palm up, I blew hard on the powdered shards. They leapt like snowflakes into the air, sparkles of shimmering light erupting into life.

Just a few feet away, the whirling sparkles coalesced, growing in intensity, the glow almost blinding. A moment later, the glow dimmed, a shimmering blue portal of mystical energy hovered before us.

I beckoned toward the gateway. “Ladies first.”

Veronica rolled her eyes, drew her blades, and stomped through with a huff.

It wasn’t that I was scared, or anything, I just wanted a good look at her ass.

Though we were headed into Limbo, it sure looked like Heaven from here.

Chapter Eighteen

As I exited the other side of the portal, I bumped into Veronica. She stood there stiff, staring off wide-eyed.

“Limbo?” she asked in a hushed voice. She continued before I could answer. “That explains why I couldn’t track the guys.” She got quiet, perhaps realizing she’d given something away.

I acted like I hadn’t noticed, though I filed the info away, for later use. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been here.” It didn’t look like it’d changed much. Not that I would have expected it to.

Unlike the other planes, which had a defined solidness about them, a sense of realness, Limbo had none of that. Never intended as anything more than a temporary way station for the spirits of the dead awaiting their final judgment, there wasn’t much effort put into its creation. A small portion of it later became the burial ground of the Anti-Christs, but cut off from the rest of Limbo, it might as well have been its own plane of existence.

Dull and dreary, Limbo was a wasteland of shifting gray nothingness. There were no fixed landmarks or structures, no shelters or defining characteristics. It was all the same; one big hazy soup of dull mist. Visibility was limited to about twelve feet, give or take, in every direction. Not that there was anything to see.

The only way to estimate your location was to affix a starting point in the real world and keep track of the distance from there. The system left a lot to be desired. Though in retrospect, given that Limbo wasn’t designed to be visited by the living, any method of navigation was better than none. You sure as shit didn’t want to get trapped here, dead or alive.

I passed the directions Lilith gave me on to Veronica and headed off into the murk, my gun settled in a sweaty hand. She matched my pace, eyes on the fog. There was a wary tenseness in her stride. She expected the worst.

To be honest, so did I; past experiences and all.

I was a little nervous about leaving the portal behind, undefended, but it’s not like I had options. The good thing was, while the doorway would stay put, it couldn’t be used by anyone else until the person who opened it had gone through; me. That meant it’d be there when I got back, if I made it back.

Now, all I had to worry about was what might be waiting for us when we returned to it. The gateway would be a shining lighthouse on a hill to the trapped spirits looking to escape the murky confines of Limbo. That could make for a fun return trip.

No sense worrying about that now, I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind and continued on. Our passage stirred the mist, whiffs of fluttering gray billowing up from beneath our feet. Though we made no noise, the shifting fog would be a spotlight, alerting anyone watching of our presence. It made it hard to relax as I counted off paces, my brain imagining all sorts of unpleasantness waiting for us just out of sight.

Much to my surprise and contrary to the luck exhibited pretty much every other day of my existence, nothing leapt out of the fog as we neared the end of the paces.

That only made me more nervous.

In my life, it wasn’t often things worked out the way they were supposed to. Ever since my uncle left, the deck had been stacked against me. It was some kind of karmic retribution for all the shit I’d gotten away with when he was around, I imagine. Usually, if things went my way, it meant an even bigger pile of crap was waiting to be stepped in around the bend, little, undigested corn bits and all.

Have I mentioned I’m a bit cynical?

Prepared to be disappointed, Veronica and I hit the last twenty feet of the count. Signaling for her to stop a few paces after that, I ejected a cartridge from one my extra clips and hid it in the clouds at my feet. Forged in the blood of an angel
and
demon, the shell contained just enough of a magical trace for me to pick it out with my senses. Distinctive enough to for me to find it again, yet weak enough to not draw too much attention, it’d give me a starting point to backtrack to the portal.

As ready as I could be, I waved Veronica forward and ducked low to take the last few steps all at once. Just as we passed the count, dark lumps started to take shape ahead of us, seemingly huddled on the ground.

Veronica slipped right while I went left, each of us staying close enough to be seen. As we circled, the shapes became easier to see, the effect of the fog lessening with the distance.

There on the ground, in a pile of duct-taped limbs, were Baalth’s men. Apparently unconscious, all three of them sat in a triangle with their backs propped against one another while their heads drooped. The gentle movement of their chests, as they breathed, and the low rumbling of Marcus’s snores, made it clear they were still alive. On one hand, it was kind of a letdown.

While a certain part of me rejoiced at seeing them all trussed-up and vulnerable, just waiting for a bullet to put them out of their misery, a more sensible part reminded me of Baalth’s deal. I was horribly conflicted. For once, they were worth more to me alive than they were dead.

Isn’t life funny?

I growled to myself and scanned the fog. Unable to see anything resembling an obvious trap, as if I would, I reluctantly crept forward. If there was something out there waiting, I was just gonna have to oblige it. Nothing else I could do.

Veronica seemed to agree. She circled the perimeter, urging me on with a nod.

My heart beat a double-bass solo in my chest as I neared the trio. Nothing in their postures made me think they even knew I was there. The steady whistle of their breath never altered, their lowered faces remaining limp and unresponsive. It was eerie. Though bound by shit-ton of tape, I felt uncomfortable being this close to three guys who, at one time or another had all tried to kill me. Given their tied up circumstances, I couldn’t imagine they’d be happy to see me when they regained consciousness.

I veered around to Poe. Of the three, he’d be the least likely to react poorly when I woke him. At least I hoped he would be. I took a second to look him over before I did anythingHe appeared exhausted, his face lined, but none the worse for wear. I didn’t see any wounds or obvious injuries, but that didn’t really mean much. If Karra put them down with her swords, there wouldn’t be much in the way of evidence. All it took was a scratch from her weapons to lay an elephant out. A tiny shiver ran up my spine at the thought.

Chilled by the idea she might be lurking in the fog, pissed off and ready to kick my ass, I stopped hesitating and got on with it.

With the barrel of my gun, I poked Poe in the chest. He awoke with a start, his icy eyes wide. He stiffened under the grip of the tape, then suddenly relaxed as his eyes met mine.

“Mister Trigg?” His face slipped into its normal mask of controlled indifference. “Pardon my impertinence, it’s not that I’m ungrateful, I just can’t picture you in the role of savior.”

“Don’t let it get to you, Poe, I’m on the clock. Baalth wants you boys brought home.”

He nodded, a flicker of relief coloring his face.

I felt a little better as I squatted down and went to work on the tape, nothing having jumped out and bit us yet. Veronica stood watch, just in case.

“What happened?” I asked the mentalist, making small talk while I pried him loose.

Poe stretched his newly freed arms, rubbing at them to return the circulation, while I moved around to release the other two flunkies.

His hands moved to his temples, massaging them. “We’d just reached Old Town when a mass of ghouls ambushed us. We managed to get a call out to Baalth right before we were suddenly attacked from behind by Reven’s enforcer. Caught off guard, I believe we were knocked unconscious, awakening right now, apparently. I don’t recall anything after the ambush.”

“She didn’t use her blades?” Paranoid by nature, my gut tightened into a knot.

“She may have. It all happened so fast, I’m not entirely sure.”

I stopped loosening the tape and turned my head to stare at Poe. He stared back, the dark bags under his eyes made pits of them. His leathery face was calm and cool as he got to his feet. There wasn’t anything in his manner that made me think he was lying, but something felt weird.

I glanced back at McConnell and Marcus and noticed their eyes were underlined in black circles, as well; their faces taught, tight. They looked a hell of a lot better than the last time I’d seen them, but they still looked drained. That’s when the lights clicked on. All their wounds were healed.

“Veronica!” I screeched as I got to my feet and tried to back away.

I didn’t get far.

In a blur of motion that shredded the remaining tape, one of Marcus’s massive fists crashed into the left side of my face. A maelstrom of bright dots exploded in front of my eyes and I felt my legs go rubbery and give way. I hit the ground hard, my head spinning with the impact while sucking in a lungful of smoky nothingness.

You’d figure clouds would be softer and taste a little better.