The End of the World As I Know It (The Ghosts & Demons Series Book 2) (8 page)

I spun the wheel to fishtail down a side street and I was on my way to Castille again.

The dead woman cleared her throat. “Slow down, girl…You’ll kill us both… Heh, well…not
both
of us.”

As soon as I touched the brakes, the bus slid sideways. To my surprise, if the road conditions are icy enough and if the driver is in a panic, a Honda Odyssey can travel just as fast sideways as it can moving normally. I almost wrecked the bus, but I somehow kept it on the road.

Eldora Clemnan, strapped in and zipped tight, cackled wildly.

I took my foot off the brake and the bus straightened out before I crashed into an oncoming car. The bus was still rocking to a stop as I spun in my seat. I pulled a blessed blade and reached back to pull the body bag’s zipper down. The green velvet parted and Eldora was still there. She looked just as dead as ever.

The chest heaved up slowly and her mouth moved. “Always in such a rush….” The chest heaved up again. “You still imagine you’re the heroine, so righteous and pure.”

There was something about the way she breathed and spoke that made me think of a trumpet player taking breaths before each blast. This wasn’t Eldora speaking. Her body was simply an instrument rather than the origin. Each sentence came out in a long mournful sigh.

“Who am I talking to?” I asked.

“My name…is Key.”

“What are you?”

“You know what I am, girl…better than you know yourself.”

“
What?
Oh. Riddles,” I said. “Great.”

“I am using this…hollow vessel to communicate across… the rift.”

“I didn’t know demons could do this.”

“Some of our earliest explorations of your dimension…were in Haiti.”

“You’re talking zombies, aren’t you?”

“Your word…your tiny understanding.”

“What would you call it, demon?”

“Demons. That is another…of your words….an ugly thing. We are not demons. We are the Ra…of Ra.”

“What do you want?”

“To parlay.”

“To what?” I glanced at my GPS and turned the windshield wipers up to beat harder. At least another five minutes to Castille. I hoped someone from the Choir would be waiting to help me deal with the thing speaking through Eldora’s body. Nothing in my training had prepared me to deal with a zombie.

“Call me Key.”

“I’ll ask you once more, Key, what do you want?”

“Mostly?” A long breath. “Kentucky Fried Chicken.”

“
What?
”

“You say what a lot. I was told you were intelligent, Tam. Was I…misinformed?”

“How about you stop screwing around before I see what holy water does to you?”

“That would break our connection…and we have much to discuss. Slow down.”

“Talk faster.”

The hail eased but the snow and lightning continued. Thunder rolled overhead again and the sudden quiet following the thunderclap made me feel claustrophobic. I never thought I’d converse with a demon, especially on a grisly telephone across the interdimensional rift.

“Humans,” Key said finally.

“I sense a pedantic lecture on the horizon,” I said.

“Humans are always in such a rush. Full of distractions…and urgency. Always hurrying… always late. You imagine you are so important…but you are less than a dust speck that exists for…a brief moment…not only in a vast universe…but you are lost to infinite universes in…the multiverse. And still…you believe you matter.”

“I never pictured demons as being much on multiverse and string theory. All the demons I’ve met have been mindless killing machines.”

“They are soldiers on a…noble quest.”

“I’ve seen your soldiers. There’s nothing noble about demons.”

“Each army in a war must convince itself…of its purity.”

“Your point?”

“You won’t accept it easily.”

“Say it.”

“You…the Choir Invisible…you are the villains in this conflict, Tam. You are…selfish.”

“I’ve seen what your side does.”

“You have seen noble warriors fight…for survival. You have seen…us fighting for our children.”

I turned the wheel too fast and the back of the bus slid sideways. Something crashed against the right rear fender. When I peered through the back window, I saw that I’d knocked over a mailbox.

“Careful. Samantha Biggs will be upset…with you if you damage this vehicle…but don’t worry. She considers…you a friend.”

That shocked me. We knew demon agents could move through to our dimension in small numbers — usually in ones and twos — but why would they know the details of my life?

“What do you want, Key?”

“Surrender.”

“You don’t know me.”

“This request comes…from your father.”

“I have no father.”

“Peter Smythe
is
your father.”

“Like I’m Luke Skywalker and he’s Darth Vader? No. Screw that. Peter Smythe is not my father. Not anymore. Fathers stick around. Good ones don’t betray the human race.”

“He wants you…to be spared. When we break through in…full force…New York will fall.”

“What am I supposed to do? Run home and hide?”

“Precisely. Cooperate and you…and your mother will be spared.”

“You’re asking me to be a traitor.”

“Your father is asking you…to survive.”

I glanced back, forcing myself to drive slow enough to avoid sliding into a bodega. Even though the body was strapped in, I hated that it was behind me.

“Tamara. Ra is…fire and ice. Ours is a dimension of Hell and your dimension…is our heaven. Our homes are threatened…by lava. Imagine…your world threatened by the…eruption of a super volcano. You have been misled. When…Ba’al establishes his reign on Earth, humans and the Ra will live together. We…have culture. Our opera is so sweet…it would make you…cry.”

“I hate opera. All of it makes me cry.”

“We have art. Much of what you call magic is our science. We…have dreams. We must escape our dimension so…those dreams can be brought…to fruition. Your…kind will share your world or perish.”

“You used the words, ‘establishes his reign.’ That’s all I need to know. The answer is no, Key.”

“Are…you
certain
, girl?”

“I will look for you in the field of battle. I’ll be the one with the bloody sword, coming for your throat.”

“Well said…even if I don’t believe your bravado. We are not…so different. Your armies conquer and occupy…just as ours do. Robber barons rule your world. Your politics… disguises the fact that…a few families run everything. Ba’al is a benevolent leader who is trying to save…his people.”

Almost to Castille. I hoped Victor and Manny or Wilmington would be waiting. Maybe Chumele would be ready with the spell to release Rory.
Playful puppies and cute kittens and dancing baby pigs. Playful puppies and cute kittens and dancing baby pigs!

“Always in a rush…always late. Time is so fast…a river flowing past. You try to grab at the current, to cup a moment, but the present…slips into the ago and…away. The future is not here, but it’s coming faster…than you can bear.”

“Is this how you really talk? Or is that bad demon poetry?”

“Demon. Your word. I told you…we are the Ra. It is the nature of opposing…armies to demonize each other. It allows us to commit…unspeakable acts of war.”

I turned the last corner and slammed on the brakes, eyes wide.

The heavy snow turned orange as it fell into fire. Castille lit the night. High flames and blasting heat reached up to melt the snowstorm.

I picked up my phone to call 911. The text screen was still open. Sam had texted
TO FREE RORY, BRING ELDORA TO CASTILLE! SHE’S KEY! VICTOR’S ORDERS!

She’s Key.

Lesson 117: Demons have a sick sense of humor. Yeah, I had no idea, either.

A new text came from Sam just as Eldora’s corpse gave a breathy farewell. “Welcome to Hell…Tamara. Meet me in…Sam’s office.”

In black and white text, the screen lit up: WELCOME TO HELL, TAMARA. MEET ME IN SAM’S OFFICE.

Key had spoken to me through a dead woman, but not through an interdimensional rift. He was lying to me from Sam’s office.

I heard no sirens promising that help was on the way. Hands trembling, I tried calling 911. At first, I dialed 411 instead. I tried again, got a dispatcher and told her to send firefighters and SWAT.

The front of the building was already engulfed in flames and I heard popping sounds. Some of the chemicals in the prep room were very flammable. I wanted to rush to Sam’s office, but there was no way in.
 

I stared at the flames, frozen in firelight. Welcome to Hell.

The dispatcher was talking to me, trying to get me to speak. I brought the phone to my ear. “Are they coming?”

“Yes. What’s your name, ma’am? And why are you asking for SWAT?”

“Tell them ‘shots fired.’ Expect dead bodies.”

“Shots? Dead bodies at a funeral home? Is this a joke?”

“Joke? No. Bad things coming…”

“Ma’am?”

“They’re all coming, right?”

“Yes. EMS are on the way.”

“Sorry. I have to go.” I ended the connection and glanced back at the body of Eldora Clemnan. “Nothing to say?”

The dead woman was appropriately silent.

“I wish you’d shut up like that before.” I slammed the accelerator to the floor and drove as fast as I could around the back of the building.

“You know what, Eldora? I’m suddenly sure of what to do!” I yelled. “
Stupid
sure!”

I spun the wheel so I could back up to the garage. The keypad at the back door wouldn’t work without power, but I had a key to the garage, sort of. I was driving it.

The tires spun beneath me and I lurched hard in my seat as they caught traction on the wet pavement. The rear of the bus crashed through the garage door, crumpling and splitting the sheet metal easily.

Lesson 118: Locks keep out friends and extraordinarily timid and polite burglars. When dealing with most locked doors in an emergency, slamming through with a Honda Odyssey usually works.

I crashed the back bumper into the coach hard. I thought going through the garage door would be more difficult so I used too much speed. However, if I saved Sam’s life, she would forgive me for wrecking the bus and the coach eventually.

Leaping out of the bus, I pulled a sword from the sheath of my umbrella.

The garage filled with smoke quickly. Before I went in the next door, I paused at the industrial sink. My eyes were already watering and I’d be coughing in a moment. I grabbed two n95 masks and ran them under cold water before pulling them both over my face. A wet mask is useless against germs, but against the black smoke ahead, I thought it would buy me another minute or two. I pressed the thin metal strips at the top of the masks trying to seal it as best I could.
 

I touched the door, briefly at first, then longer. It was warm, but not hot.

I threw the door open just as a stiff wind blew in through the wrecked garage door behind me. Red and orange flames leapt high with fresh oxygen.

Dancing flames possess an ethereal beauty, but they didn’t that night.

Welcome to Hell, Tamara.

Kids, don’t try this at home.

Chapter 14

I tried not to run full tilt. I’d seen a good member of the Choir die running into danger and I was determined to be methodical.
 

I found the two Lindas in the office by the back door. Key had decapitated them. The blood spray had hit the ceiling in two crimson fountains. Their bodies were propped in their chairs, right and left shoulders leaning against each other so they wouldn’t fall to the floor. The monster had arranged their bodies carefully (for my benefit, I was sure.) Each woman’s limp hands held a head in her lap. Key had switched the heads so each dead Linda held her friend’s head. Their dead eyes stared at me. I’d had quite enough of that for one day.

Down the hallway, I found Clyde Bonnet, my fellow employee. The man who had trained me in the art of loading a gurney and ferrying the grateful dead for the ungrateful living was still alive, but barely. Five wooden stakes pinned him to the wall. Two had pierced his shoulders. Two had pierced him through the meat of his thighs. The last was stuck through his liver and into the wall. A demon bite had taken a chunk of one cheek so I could see his teeth and gums.

Lesson 119: You’re not dealing with the mean girl clique from high school. Demons don’t stop at mere psychological warfare.

It would take one powerful battle demon to accomplish that feat. A human could manage it, with a lot of help, a sick mind and industrial power tools.

“Clyde?”

He opened one eye. His gaze didn’t find me at first. When he did find me, he shook his head weakly. He’d already lost too much blood. If I tried to pull the wooden stakes out of his body, he’d find the energy to scream, but he’d simply bleed out faster. Clyde was doomed. I could feel the heat of the flames down the hall and they were coming our way fast, feeding on the building.

A fire doubles its size every minute. Still, I heard no sirens. If I left Clyde like this, he’d burn to death before he could bleed out. I did the only thing I could think to do.

“Clyde. I have to go find Sam.”

He shook his head.

“It’s going to be okay, Clyde. You have to trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

He shook his head. He squeezed his eyes tight and I could tell he was trying to speak but the pain shut him down.

“Don’t speak, Clyde. Save your strength.”

But it was too cruel to demand he save his strength for more suffering.

Lesson 120: Keep all your blades sharp, all the way to the tip. The diaphragm is a thick, tough muscle. Get your weight behind the handle for one sure, savage thrust up into the heart. Never hesitate with any cut or thrust or parry you mean to make.

Clyde’s chin dropped to his chest.

Remember what I told you back in Lesson 90? Simple solutions are often the best solutions. I sure hope that’s true.

“Goodbye, Clyde.” I kissed him on his unruined cheek as he sagged, still pinned to the wall like a butterfly to corkboard. He was the first human I killed. I had been so sure that my first murder of a human would be out of passion or anger. I was sure the first human I killed would be my father.