A Despair of Demons (Travelers, Book 1) (3 page)

They headed out
of Medical, took the elevator up to three, followed a meandering hallway, and
finally reached the briefing room.

General Mace,
commanding officer of the DEPOT, was already seated at the head of the
conference table. His buzzed salt-and-pepper hair gave him a look of authority
and suited his barrel frame and square jaw. As the team filed in and took
seats, he gave each of them a piercing look. When his gaze landed on Liv, he
said, “Dr. Greenwood. You’ve been conditionally cleared. How do you feel?”

Conditionally? What the hell does that mean?
“I’m fine, sir. Medical said so.”

His gaze
lingered on her for a few seconds before he nodded and turned to Connor. “All
right. Let’s hear it. L-634S.”

Jordan said,
“Liv called it Necropolis.”

Connor glanced
at her. “That’s apt. Okay, Necropolis: World of the Damned.” He launched into
the report. He and Trent had searched to the north, and the most exciting thing
they’d found was a semi-collapsed building emitting a rhythmic tapping noise.
They’d slithered through the debris and dust to find that it was only a wind-driven
whirligig attached to a back wall.

Ben recounted
his search with Gin, which had turned up nothing. Jordan added his and Liv’s
findings of the newspaper and the library.

He said, “I had
time to read more while we were waiting for Liv’s tests. I was initially wrong
about a contagion. It was actually a biological weapon. My guess, although I
haven’t figured out the word they use, is that it was some kind of DNA-targeted
toxin, which killed almost everyone.”

Liv said, “That
would explain why it hit so fast. Even a contagion would be hard pressed to
take out everyone as quickly as evidence suggests it did. So they screwed up
the DNA target?”

Jordan’s mouth
twisted. “I’m only guessing they had a DNA target in the first place. I need a
day or two to finish translating.”

General Mace
nodded, giving his permission.

“What DNA could
we possibly share with demons?” Trent asked.

Even though Liv
wasn’t sure they existed, she didn’t like the thought that humans shared
anything at all with demons. From the uneasy glances that went around the room,
neither did her teammates.

Connor
continued the debrief, telling of his and Liv’s trip to the waterfront.

Liv took over,
describing what she could remember, and Connor helped fill in the holes.

General Mace
asked Connor, “Why didn’t you apprehend this man?”

Connor shook
his head. “He was too far away. When I moved in, I saw him for less than a
second before he Traveled.”

“What I’m really
interested in, sir,” Liv said, “is finding out how he did what he did to me. Some
kind of device? Chemical? There were no abnormalities on either PET or CT scan,
so if it was something physical, the effect had dissipated by the time we got
back. I’ll know more when the lab results are in.”

“Do you have
any theories?”

“I’d prefer to
wait until I see the lab work. I should have results in another hour.” She
gritted her teeth. “If only my new PET scanner had come in! It might have been
fast enough to catch an abnormality.”

Ben grinned.
“Hey, at least you’ll be able to figure it out next time.”

General Mace,
familiar with Ben’s flippant attitude about almost everything, simply sighed. “Hopefully
there won’t be a next time. Anyone have anything to add?”

“What about the
demons?” Trent asked.

“You don’t
really think they exist?” Ben asked. “They’re a story teenage Travelers use to
terrify newbies.”

Trent glowered.
“They exist.”

Liv threw him a
puzzled glance. “You have evidence?”

Trent gave her
a glare and said sullenly, “No.”

What was wrong
with him? Trent was so equable it was often difficult to tell what he thought
about anything. He’d certainly never acted like this.

“All right,”
General Mace said. “You’ll go back Monday to look for the lab. Try to find
proof of demons or this toxin.”

“What about my
experiment, sir?” Liv tried to sound inquiring rather than dismayed. She wanted
to learn how their brains functioned in Travel, but now that Elachai was out
there pushing people’s brains into what should be physiologic impossibilities,
it was more important than ever to get that data.

“Assuming
you’re cleared by Medical, and assuming your equipment arrives, you can conduct
the experiment as scheduled, before you leave.”

“Thank you,
sir.”

“Anything
else?”

He received a
chorus of “No,” and “No, sir.”

“Dismissed.
Have a good weekend.”

General Mace
rose and strode out the door. Liv rose as well and followed her team to the
elevator.

Ben flashed her
a grin as he caught up to her at the elevator. “I’m going up.”

“What?” But she
thought she knew what he meant. Their offices were all on lower floors, but the
cafeteria was on level two.

“Just going to
grab a bite while there’s time,” he said, confirming her suspicion.

“But you’re
done for the day,” Liv protested as he stepped into the elevator.

“Yeah, but I
heard there’s Bavarian cream donuts. Paperwork always goes better with Bavarian
cream donuts. Know what would make you feel better?”

“Not a Bavarian
cream donut.” Normally, Ben’s taunt would have worked. She loved Bavarian cream
as much as he did, but she couldn’t eat a donut without running for two hours
to burn off the calories. Now, her stomach curled up like a hedgehog at the
thought of eating. “I need to go get my results.”

“You know where
I’ll be when they come in.”

And that was as
close as Ben would come to saying that he wanted to know the results and would
sit there worrying over his Bavarian cream donut until she reported to him. He
stepped into the elevator and was gone.

“I’ll be in my
office,” Jordan said from her side.

“I’ve got some
reports to catch up on,” Gin said from behind her.

“Trent and I
will be in the gym,” Connor said, as he raised his eyebrow at Trent.

Trent nodded.

Liv was ashamed
to feel tears welling up. Her whole team was going to wait around to make sure
she was okay. “Thanks y’all.”

Liv hurriedly
swallowed the lump in her throat as the elevator doors opened again and they
all stepped inside. “Connor, did you notice anything weird about Elachai before
he vanished?”

Connor ran a
hand through his close-cropped hair. “You mean other than the fact that his
hair looked like my sixteen-year-old niece’s?”

“Yeah. Other
than that.”

“Nope.” His
eyes searched hers for a moment. “Why?”

“I just
wondered if you could see what he was doing to me.”

Liv felt Jordan
tense beside her.

“If he was
doing something when I ran in, it was from a distance of at least twenty feet.
I heard most of your conversation, and I doubt he ever moved closer.”

Jordan relaxed.

Liv abandoned
all pretense. “But there was no chanting, or hand motion, or device, flashing
lights, anything?”

Connor’s eyes
warmed and a hint of a smile played on his lips. “What do you think he did?
Witchcraft? Voodoo?”

Liv glared. “He
took a chunk of my life right out of my head. That’s not okay with me. I just
want to know how so I might find a way to reverse it.”

Connor held up
his hands in an
I’m innocent
gesture.
“Sorry. I know it sucks Liv, but there was nothing. He was just standing there
talking to you. And then—
poof
.”

She nodded.
She’d figure it out. Somehow.

*
         
*
         
*

Liv knocked on
General Mace’s door.

“Enter.”

“Sir. I just
got my results back.”

“And?”

“As far as I
can tell, Elachai briefly affected my brain chemistry. Several
neurotransmitters were abnormal, along with a couple of enzymes, but I’ve already
been retested. Those results are now normal. Everything else was negative.”

“So how did he
affect you?”

She sighed. “That’s
my question. All I can tell you is what he didn’t do. He didn’t come close
enough to touch me, he didn’t use any sort of detectable chemical, he didn’t
appear to have a device according to Connor. The only thing I can think of is
that he used some sort of hyper-amped, super-fast hypnosis. I just don’t know
how, because Connor didn’t hear anything unusual, and all my brain scans were
normal. Without knowing which part of my brain was affected, the other
information is useless.”

General Mace
nodded. A casual observer might think he wasn’t interested, but Liv knew he was
a very bright man. He actually encouraged thinking among his men, and did quite
a bit of it himself. Which was one of the reasons he worked so well with the
mix of military and civilian scientific personnel at the DEPOT, and helped them
carry out their standing orders to discover and apply new scientific
discoveries, including technology, weapons, and medicine.

“Thank you, Dr.
Greenwood. I’ve spoken with Medical, and you are cleared for active duty. Try
to relax at least once this weekend. That’s an order.”

Liv smiled. “Yes
sir. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Liv headed back
down to her office on twenty-seven. When she walked in, it wasn’t empty.

Her team sat on
her desk, lounged on tables, or leaned against the wall.

“Well?” Jordan
asked when she stopped short.

She ran through
it again for them.

Ben threw an
arm around her. “At least you’re clear.”

“Sure.”

“You’ll figure
it out, Liv.”

Jordan’s solid
faith in her ability calmed her as nothing else had. She smiled. “Okay.”

“Let’s get out
of here.” Connor clapped his hands and motioned them out the door. “You too,
Liv,” he said when she showed signs of staying behind.

She looked
around her tidy office and couldn’t think of anything else she needed to do
tonight. “Okay.”

“It’ll be here
when you get back,” Jordan promised with a smile.

“Come on,” Ben
said as he threw an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go watch a movie.”

“Everybody?”

“Obviously.” Gin
grinned at her from the doorway.

Liv’s heart
melted. She loved movies, but most of her teammates couldn’t stand sitting
still for long. And they were volunteering to, for her.

Liv smiled. “My
house, one hour?”

“We’re there,”
Gin said.

“Thanks, y’all.
I mean it.”

Ben aimed his
finger at her like a gun. “Next time, I hope the scary Traveler just attacks
us.”

Liv laughed. “Yeah,
me too.”

Trent said,
“Watch what you wish for.”

“Come on, Gloomy
Gus,” Connor said as he closed Liv’s door. “Let’s go.”

*
         
*
         
*

Jordan leaned
against Liv’s countertop and crossed his arms in an effort to avoid physical
contact. She was wearing some sort of velvety shirt that clung to every curve,
and since he’d arrived half an hour ago, he’d been fighting the urge to reach
out and feel if it was as soft as it looked.

The team was
gathered in her small kitchen, talking over beers and finger foods, winding
down after their particularly stressful day, and he’d been watching her closely
to make sure she was okay.

She acted like
her normal self. In his scrutiny, though, he apparently forgot the barrier that
normally kept his mind firmly in the
she’s
my partner and we’re friends
zone.

She leaned
around him to answer some joke of Ben’s, brushing his arm, and he felt an
overwhelming urge to put his arm around her, hold her against him. He jammed
his hands in his pockets.

Finally, she
said, “Who’s ready for the movie?”

Gin and Ben
raced for the living room, calling their favorite spots. Connor and Trent
jumped for the couch.

Jordan trailed
Liv, who took the last armchair. Since he refused to participate in the seating
melee, there were never a lot of options. He took his usual place on the floor
and leaned back against her chair, trying not to touch her knee with his
shoulder.

The screen lit,
and he focused on the movie.

He’d thought it
would be easier in the dark, but he hadn’t counted on her perfume. He tried not
to feel her presence next to him, but she shifted in her chair and her sweet
spicy scent hit his nose. He breathed deep and felt himself growing hard.

Great. He tried
to think about baseball, but he wasn’t very interested in sports. Aunt Betty. That
should work.

She shifted her
legs, brushing against him with sensual softness, and he breathed her in again.
The picture of Aunt Betty popped like a soap bubble and he grew hard again. He
wasn’t very good at picturing people he hadn’t seen in years anyway.

He tried to
focus on the explosions on screen, but every time her perfume wafted past his
nose, it sent blood straight to his groin. Thank God he’d worn a long-hemmed
shirt. No one would notice in the dark, but he’d have to get out of here as
soon as the lights went on. Or preferably, before they went on.

The end credits
finally rolled. Although he had no idea what they had just watched, much less
any of the plot twists, he jumped up and said, “Great movie. I’d better get
going. See you guys Monday.”

He escaped out
the door before anyone managed to get to the lights, which suited him just
fine. He’d better get himself under control again before Monday or there would
be some serious problems.

His house was
only a mile from Liv’s, so he got home in minutes. He decided that even though
he’d taken a shower a couple of hours ago, another might be in order— a
cold one.