Sin Eater (41 page)

Jasper crumpled to his knees with a sob that was far too loud, rocking back and forth until he came to a stop with his forehead resting on the carpeting.

No one moved. No one said anything. He was sure they were shutting the door, locking him out while his apparent psychosis sorted itself out …

A hand touched his shoulder, then flattened on his back and slid across to the opposite shoulder. The simple gesture was so divinely comforting it made him ache between the halves of his miserable rib cage, and then there was a slight squeeze.

“Jasper, I don’t understand it, but you better come inside and tell me what’s going on. Because Claudia’s not answering her phone or her cell. I need to know if you can help us find her.”

Iola’s voice was close to his ear, and her trust made him feel like a real shit heel, but he nodded anyway and got to his feet, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand.

She let him
into the apartment, and the man Jasper didn’t know pointed to a kitchen chair that was in the middle of the square of linoleum that denoted the difference between the living room and the kitchenette. Jasper sat immediately, and he approved of how this guy made sure to stand between him and Iola.

“Should we call the police?” The guy asked in a low voice, and immediately Jasper shook his head.

“No,” Iola answered at the same time. “Let’s see what he has to say, then we’ll decide what to do.”

“The cops can’t help,” Jasper added. “This is … this is exorcist bullshit I’m talking about.”

The guy straightened his posture at the curse word, but Iola patted his arm and sat on one of the dining room chairs, across the table and the room from him. “Just talk, Jasper.”

“If Claudia’s missing, I think I know who has her. And we’re going to need some kind of … supernatural help. Because while I’m sure I’m not
totally
losing my mind … if I say this out loud it will seem nuts, even to me.”

“Just tell us,” the new guy said, and without hesitation, Jasper started talking.

He told them about meeting Essum, about how the guy could talk to him in his head, even when Jasper couldn’t
see
him. He told them about the murders he’d seen Charlie commit, confirming with Iola that it was indeed the same guy that kept coming after Claudia. He told them that Essum had wanted him to grab Claudia to trap some guy named Voro, who Jasper never met. And after spewing out a few theories about how he felt like he was healing people as he forgave people’s trespasses, he concluded by saying that he had helped Charlie turn himself in earlier that evening. And he also added that if Claudia was missing, it was most likely Essum that had her.

There was an awkward pause, and Jasper raised his eyes for the first time since he’d started talking, expecting the other man in the room to haul off and sock him one. Instead the guy was looking down at Iola, who was peering up at him in confusion.

Finally Iola broke the silence. “Is it weird that I find myself believing him?”

The guy smiled at Iola so sweetly that Jasper had to look away. He felt the sting of tears again.

“If you trust him, I trust him.”

Iola leveled those green eyes back on Jasper. “I trust him. But he knows he’s done wrong, and he’ll have to answer for it when this is done.”

The guy rubbed circles on Iola’s back, then looked at Jasper himself. The dude had insanely blue eyes, crystal clear, with permanent crinkles in the corners. Jasper even smiled a bit in response at how open and trusting the guy was.

He would do anything to help this guy and make him proud. He’d even follow the guy
into battle, down a well, anywhere the guy led.

Where the hell was
that
coming from?

“Jasper, if this guy … entity … being … or
whatever
… has Claudia. Where would they be? I mean, did you always hear or see him in the same place?”

Jasper bit his lip, trying to think. If Essum was hoping to draw people to him, with Claudia as the bait, where
would
he take her? Somewhere that Essum hoped people would assume them to be.

“I don’t know. I was staying at a hotel with Charlie for a while, but … actually, I haven’t been to my place in a few days. I wonder …” Jasper’s heart stopped. That’s how he knew he was right. “They’re at my place. I …. I feel it.”

Voro had been getting to his feet to answer Claudia’s phone when it rang, but he never got to the table where the handset was making all that racket.

He dropped to the ground, pulling at the collar of his shirt, feeling like it was shrinking around his neck. But it wasn’t, it was perfectly in place.

There was a nasty ringing, buzzing, interference-type sound echoing around in his coconut, and it was causing him a very sharp pain between the eyes.

What the hell was this?

As soon as he heard the voice, he remembered. He knew what this sound, this feeling meant. His physical form was about to be momentarily scrambled, misted away so that someone could talk to him.

Someone awfully important in the great scheme of things.

The misting felt like a tickle, and as soon as it started he was gone on the air, nothing but ether. There was no “here,” he was asleep in the dark, listening to a radio with his eyes closed. There was nothing else to steal his attention. The air was neither hot nor cold, windy or still. There really was nothing until …

Voro
, the voice vibrated between his cells.
You have to get rid of Essum.

He gave no reply, but obviously he was in agreement.

The guy you don’t know, the one you can’t figure out. He has to do it. He has to wait until Essum is solid, and smite him down. Take off his head. With steel. It should slide through him like butter, no matter how sharp the blade.

Essum waited, but nothing else was added.
Then what?
he tried, hoping for an answer.

Of course, there wasn’t one.

He came to on the floor of Claudia’s living room, sucking carpet fibers into his mouth at a rapid pace. Holy shit, that was sure hard on the body. The in and out of it was so abrupt, he wouldn’t have been sure it had even happened if he didn’t feel like he’d been hit by a train.

He r
ose up on one arm, muscles protesting like they were actually sore from lactic acid buildup or something. He hadn’t really been in pain for a long time … he’d gotten used to not feeling …
anything
.

So … The Boss was on to Essum after all. And the heads’ up about who should be doing the smiting was interesting, to say the least. Usually his kind was left to figure it out on his own.

That must mean Essum’s plan was actually feasible. The bugger had an actually functioning hypothesis. So that was what was making The Boss jumpy.

He stared at the carpet for a while longer, waiting for the discombobulated feeling to pass. He had to find Essum
now
. Claudia needed him
now
.

Iola was leaving her apartment
now
.

He hefted himself on to his feet unsteadily, and stumbled to the door. He peeked through the fish-eye in the door, and saw Iola’s boyfriend leaving first. The guy was shrugging on a light jacket, nodding to something being said behind him. Next came another guy, pretty gangly, not as tall as the Doc, dark eyes, dark hair that fell kind of limply on his forehead like it needed a wash. Unremarkable in almost every way. Voro let his eyes flick behind this inconsequential man to Iola, then the guy drew his attention back.

This guy he’d seen. In the middle of a nightmare transmission from Claudia, alone in her motel room as she was beating the living shit out of this fellow. This guy …
Jasper …
was staring at the peephole like he must have known Voro was there. He almost irrationally took a step backwards, but instead he frowned and studied the guy closer.

The guy was just … wrong. And as he continued to stare at Claudia’s door, Voro was getting the scratch, big time.

What the fuck was this guy?

Almost in response the guy gave a cold smirk, and Voro would have
sworn
that just for a minute those brown eyes flashed blood red.

Iola had the strangest sensation that none of what had happened over the last twenty-four hours was actually real. Following Vinnie out of her apartment building with Jasper trailing behind her was one of the most surreal moments of her life.

Of course there’s a force of uncompromising evil holding Claudia hostage somewhere. What else could it be? And of course she felt like this was all just conjecture leading up to the lambs being brought to slaughter. But why not go along and see if it’s all true?

To say she had a foreboding feeling would have been one hell of an understatement. And yet as Jasper had spoken … she couldn’t ignore the sense that it was all true. It was all going to be fine.

Her own mind was telling her to trust Jasper, and go along with him. He meant her no harm. He wanted to help.

As long as Vinnie was there, with Jasper, Iola knew nothing bad could happen.

At the curb next to Vinnie’s car, Jasper climbed in the
back and Iola got in the passenger seat. Jasper sat behind her, and she got the impression he did that so Vinnie could keep an eye on him in the rear view. There was real tension inside that sports car as Vinnie pulled a U-turn and headed towards Jasper’s apartment, with Jasper providing the directions in a thin voice from the backseat.

As they pulled
into the parking lot of Jasper’s apartment complex, Iola’s sense of impending evil intensified about three-fold. Jasper pointed out a visitor parking spot that was open, and Iola bit her lip to keep from yelling out that they should just get the hell out of here.

She had to force her legs to get out of the perceived safety of Vinnie’s car.

Now they followed Jasper, and he led them to the complex marked “Building D.” He unlocked the door and started for the elevators, not looking up, his head slung down as though he didn’t want to look at anything. He wanted everything to be over with.

In the elevator everyone was silent again. That was when Iola realized no one had said anything since they’d left her place, other than Jasper’s directions to Vinnie.

The elevator doors slid open, and Iola wanted to scream to cut the silence, to do away with the tension. Instead they all stepped on to the burgundy hallway carpet and Jasper led them to a the fourth door on the right.

Things were getting more and more
wrong
by the second. Her skin was crawling, she wanted to turn and run more than she had ever wanted anything in her entire life. The hair on the back of her neck was trying to head the opposite way for Christ’s sake. Vinnie touched her arm, as though he knew what she wanted. She felt the strength return to her backbone.

Claudia
, she reminded herself.
We need to make sure Claudia is okay.

Jasper stopped at a door so suddenly Iola nearly plowed him over. He had his keys ready, and with a steadying breath he slid the key home and turned the knob, pausing almost unnoticeably before pushing the door open.

Showtime
.

The hallway leading
into the living room was dark, but Iola immediately knew that Claudia was there. She could hear uneven breathing, slight sobbing, and it was coming from somewhere straight ahead.

The men sandwiched her, with Jasper leading the way and Vinnie right behind her. He walked
into the dim living room like it was a demilitarized zone; prone to landmines.

The second she saw Claudia, all logic flew out of Iola’s head. Her beautiful friend was drenched in sweat, sitting rigid in a chair as though tied to it. The only movement was the rise and fall of Claudia’s chest. Iola ran to her side, dropping to her knees and trying to free Claudia from ropes that didn’t exist.

“What … what’s going on? She’s not tied up,” Iola was mumbling, pulling on Claudia’s arm. It didn’t move in the slightest, and Claudia’s eyes remained closed, her brows drawn in a look of anguish.

“He gets in their heads.” Jasper’s voice remained hollow. “With the suggestion of his mind you believe you’re trapped in whatever he projects. He has her convinced that she’s bound. So, she will not move until it’s broken.”

“How do we break it?”

Silence. Iola turned to Jasper.

“How can we break it?” She repeated, and Jasper finally met her gaze with fresh tears in his eyes.

“He’s here,” Jasper whispered, his voice catching. “Oh God, Iola, I’m so sorry.”

Voro lost no time at all convincing a man on the street
to give up keys to his brand new truck, and took off after the good doctor’s sports car, staying a safe distance back. He knew well the area of town they headed for: on its outskirts lived some of his best customers.

When the car pulled to a stop outside an apartment building he drove past, circled around and
came to a stop behind the doc’s Audi. The other three had already disappeared inside, and as he waited in the cab with Willie Nelson croaking from the stereo Voro scanned the building.

Claudia was there, but her brain was clouded; not unlike a coma patient. It was closed off to his influences, like a security alarm had been rigged to her. If he tried to break her free, the person that had overcome her would be alerted.

Fucking Essum
.

He turned the truck off, taking the keys with him. An old lady
who was exiting the building with reusable grocery bags allowed him to pass behind her into the building through the security door without him having to pull any mental acrobatics, and he followed the signature scent of Iola up to the fourth floor.

The voices came through the thick apartment door all m
uddled, but all he could get from inside was Claudia’s beacon. The doctor was giving off a slightly concerned vibe, but it wasn’t that strong. And again the third guy was giving him nothing at all.

Just like Iola
.

Voro paused with his hand on the door. The guy was a bank vault to him, so that had to mean he was in the same league as Iola.
This Jasper fucker was definitely his
decipio
, there could be no doubt.

He backed away from the door. Sure, he wanted to help Claudia. And the plan to trump Essum’s coup and make off with Iola for himself was tempting, but standing here knowing that the playing field was tilting towards him was … well, that was a whole new reality, wasn’t it?

He rested his forehead on the door, listening for voices. He could hear Claudia’s cries, muffled like she was gagged. Of course she wasn’t, Essum wasn’t even in solid form. He couldn’t touch things or people … only suggest it through control over all the sensory receptors, like he had apparently done to Claudia.

Voro could have released her easily, but if Essum wasn’t here he would show up pretty damn quick when the alarm went off. A tight knot was pressing in Voro’s stomach. He couldn’t
help Claudia. Not yet, anyway. He had to plan his actions first.

The knob turned in his hand, and he was able to get
into the apartment without making a sound. As the door snicked shut he placed one silent footfall in front of the last until he stood in the living room.

Claudia was in a chair, all right. Her body was clenched tightly, he
r muscles constricting painfully against her will, propping her up and holding her arms and legs in place through sheer will. But otherwise the room was empty.

Wait … where’d the doc get to –

The sharp crack on the back of the head was a total surprise, and while it didn’t hurt right away Voro knew that when he woke up it was going to ache like a bitch.

Iola covered her mouth as she gave a surprised cry, and Damien’s large form crumpled to the carpet. Vinnie stepped out from behind him, holding a frying pan that seemed to still be ringing.

“Holy shit,” she added as they both stared down at the man on the floor. He was breathing but definitely down for the count.

Jasper and Iola both stood up from their hiding place behind the sofa, and Vinnie put the frying pan down with distaste. He clearly had something against concussing people.

“What do we do?” Jasper asked after a moment of silence, and Vinnie met his gaze unwaveringly.

“Get some ropes, ties, anything that’ll hold him.”

Iola was surprised by the tone of Vinnie’s voice. It was so matter-of-fact. He noticed the look she gave him and gave her his charming grin.

“Don’t be scared. I promise: everything’s gonna be fine.”

“I don’t understand. How do we know he’s dangerous?” Iola was thoroughly confused.

“He is,” Jasper confirmed, then left to run the errand.

Iola studied the man on the floor, wondering what had brought Damien to them. He had obviously followed them. Jasper said he was dangerous, and she knew she believed that without question. He was terribly dangerous, that must have been part of the draw. She didn’t know it until just then.

Iola looked to Vinnie, hoping for answers. Vinnie shrugged weakly. “I’ve got to go with Jasper on this one. What choice do we have?”