Imperium (Caulborn) (22 page)

I gave myself a shake and looked past him rather than at him, so that I could stay focused on the conversation. “However,” he continued, “I am willing to forgive this transgression if you do a favor for me.” Willing. There’s another one you need lips for. And a tongue.

I blinked. “What sort of favor?” I asked.

“The world has changed much over the years,” he said. “People have developed new technologies, new medicines that extend life. I have no quarrel with that, for everyone comes to me eventually. However, there have been many people in this area who should have died recently and have not. There is a facility nearby called the Hope Clinic which seems to be the link between those people. I need you to investigate this for me and stop whatever is happening.”

Whoa. Whatever Leevan was doing was so bad that Death himself wanted it stopped.

“You will determine the cause of these unnatural extensions of life and put an end to it.”

I tried to keep my face smooth. “I suppose I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“No. And I will have your oath on it.”

“Now, that’s not necessary,” I said, raising my hands.

“It is. Your word, or I will bring you early. Since you have willingly delayed a spirit yourself, I have the right.” He tapped his scythe for emphasis.

Damn. Damn. Damn. I took a deep breath and forced the words out. “I promise that I will find who is responsible for these unethical treatments and stop them.” Another tightening in my chest. Shit. Death nodded to me and stood. I did likewise, and the mists faded. We were back in the alley.

“I leave you to your task, Vincent Corinthos.” He faded away like a ghost.

Another form appeared at the mouth of the alley. “You’re a busy man, aren’t you, Vinnie?” Orcus grinned. “C’mon. You know the drill.” We went back to Orcus’ book and I signed a second page. Orcus thumped the book shut and shook his head at me. “Kid, you really gotta learn to keep your mouth shut. I like you, and I know you got good intentions, but the road to this place is paved with them.” The little hole opened above the book again, giving me a view of the damned gods within.

“Orcus,” I said, not really sure how to ask. “The promise I made to Megan. If she pulls through, is that promised fulfilled?”

Orcus removed a pair of thick black reading glasses from his inside suit coat pocket and perched them on the end of his nose. He turned back to the page I’d mentioned and tapped it a couple times. After a few moments, he said, “Well, kiddo, I don’t think so. There’s nothing here about context or time. It says you promised that she’d be fine. That could be interpreted as you’ll always make sure she’s fine.”

“Forever?” I asked. “But Megan’s mortal, she’ll die sometime. Will you think I welched on my promise when that happens?”

Orcus removed his glasses and sighed. “That’s why I say you gotta learn to keep your mouth shut, kid. A promise like that is binding and eternal. The only way out of it is if she releases you from it.” The book snapped shut with a crack. Well, that was a relief; at least there was a way out. We shifted back to Boston and Orcus vanished.

I sighed and began the walk back to the Caulborn offices. I checked my watch. It was just past three. The city moved around me; people, cars, lives, and I didn’t notice any of it. I felt wronged for being held accountable for Megan’s condition, and I hated myself for feeling that way. She was my partner, I was supposed to watch out for her.

It was quarter past four when I got back to the office. I headed straight to the medical wing and was shocked to see Megan up and about. She was back in her street clothes, her skin had returned to its normal hue, and her eyes were as bright as ever.

“Wow,” I said. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

She grinned. “Thanks. I feel much better.” Doc Ryan and Mrs. Rita came in. They nodded at me, and the Doc began reviewing some charts with Megan. I gently put my hand on Mrs. Rita’s shoulder.

“How’d she recover from that so quickly? A few hours ago she was in agony. I thought she’d be out for weeks.”

Mrs. Rita rubbed her chin. “That sort of magic was intended to kill undead,” she said. “Roses are toxic to vampires, you know. If that flower had burrowed into a vampire, it would have torn the vampire apart from the inside out. But it didn’t know what to do with a living body. So it worked its way through Megan’s system and though it caused her pain, did no permanent damage.” She shook her head. “Such magic is very advanced, but its execution was almost amateurish.”

“It looked like it worked pretty well to me,” I said.

She frowned at me. “That’s not what I meant, Vincent. Think about it. You create a flower that’s capable of killing a vampire. Wouldn’t you want to ensure that it only animated when a vampire picked it up? Otherwise, it’s a waste of magic. Whoever created that flower is new to this, and for that we should be thankful.”

I started to nod my agreement, then hesitated. I had picked up the flower and nothing happened to me. But when I gave it to Megan… “Would the flower work on a Strigoi Viu, if there was such a thing?”

Mrs. Rita paused. “Now there’s something I hadn’t considered,” she said. “That might make sense, yes. The flower would sense the latent vampirism in a Strigoi Viu, but since Megan hasn’t died and become a vampire yet, the flower’s magic was ineffective.” Her eyes widened. “So there’s a chance that we’ve just found a way to determine which Caulborn are destined to be afflicted with vampirism.”

“Wait a sec, Mrs. Rita. Strigoi Viu are just a myth. No Caulborn has ever become one.”

Mrs. Rita fixed me with a hard stare. “No Caulborn agent has ever become one, Vincent. But do you honestly think that every child born with a caul is recruited? No, Strigoi Viu are extremely rare, but they’re as real as you and me. I will speak with Megan about this privately later. Joseph,” she called to Doc Ryan. “I need to speak with you about something.”

The two of them put their heads together as Megan joined me. “I’m fit for duty.” She grinned. “Let’s go catch some bad guys.”

I couldn’t meet her eyes. For starters, I was ashamed that I’d let her get hurt. Second, I now knew she was condemned to become an undead. Third, part of me wanted to ask her to release me from that promise I’d made. But how did you even bring something like that up?

Instead, I said. “I need some time to put a few things in order. Meet me in my office in thirty?” She nodded and I went upstairs to talk to Galahad. After telling him about Miguel, I went back to my office and closed the door. I wanted to forget about Miguel for a while. I shut my eyes and opened my mind to my followers. They were stronger now, the rebuilding was going well, and they felt safe behind Aegeon. Their faith flowed into me, and my batteries recharged. Only a handful of prayer requests had come in, and I tended to these as best as I could.

That done, I logged onto my computer. I did some searching on what the Hope Clinic did. Going by the materials on their website, the clinic had only opened a few months ago, and specialized in helping people who didn’t have insurance or had fallen on hard times. Dr. Leevan had recently been recognized with an outstanding citizen award for the work she was doing. As I skimmed the data, Megan poked her head in. “Is now okay?”

“Yeah,” I said as I gestured her in. “I’m doing some research on our favorite doctor.”

Megan’s nose wrinkled as she looked at the photo of Leevan. “I just don’t like her,” she said. “I take it we need to go back there?” As I nodded, Gearstripper scampered into the room.

“Hiya, Vinnie, Megan,” he said as he climbed up on my desk chair. He had a canvas pouch slung over his shoulder. “I finished that special project for you, Vinnie,” he said as he handed the bag over to me. I opened the bag and pulled out a modified shock baton. It was about as long as my forearm and heavier than it looked; I could see why Gears was breathing hard.

“It has a variable rate of discharge,” Gears said. He scooted up close and pointed to a dial on the base of the handle. “The higher you turn this, the more juice it puts out. At the lower settings, it’ll be enough to stun your average human. Medium level will handle shape shifters and maximum strength should disable just about anything.” He looked at me pointedly. “You only get one or two zaps at max power, so don’t go that high unless you really need to.”

“This is terrific. Thanks, Gears.” I’d asked Gears to build something that could incapacitate all manner of adversaries, but not a gun. Guns are great, but I’m a lousy shot. Now if my faith reserves ran out, I’d have more to fall back on than just my switchblade. Gears looked at me expectantly. “Oh, right.” I reached into my desk drawer and pulled out a box of Violet Crumble bars. Gears took the box and tore it open, ripping into one of the candy bars. Chocolate and bits of honeycomb crumbled down his coveralls as he bit into it. A sublime smile spread across his face. He sighed contentedly.

“That’s the stuff,” he said when he was done chewing. “A pleasure doing business with you, Vinnie.” Gears grabbed the box up and scampered out of the room.

“Do you always pay him in candy?” Megan asked.

“Nah. Sometimes he wants macadamia nuts.”

She smiled and gestured back to the monitor with Leevan’s picture. “What’s our next move? Do we get a fake warrant, or do you have contacts with the local police?”

“Galahad tries to avoid involving the local authorities whenever possible,” I said. “He’s worried that they’ll get hurt, given the things we deal with.”

“A fake warrant, then.”

“No,” I said. “We’ll do this one under the radar. We’ll go back tonight and check the place out for ourselves.”

“B&E?” Megan asked.

“Yep.”

Her dimple deepened. “I really like working with you, Vincent Corinthos.”

Chapter 20

To: Robert Maxwell
Given more time, the ZN233 virus should make a suitable biochemical weapon. This presents a lucrative opportunity. Many nations and organizations would love a weapon like this, and would pay significant sums of money for it. I have taken the liberty of beginning the process to create weapon grade ZN233, and will notify you when the first batch is complete.
-Email message recovered from Kira Leevan’s computer

We waited until just after 10 p.m. before we went back to the clinic. We were both dressed in dark clothes, complete with gloves and rubber soled boots. The B&E uniform, as I liked to call it, was bullet proof, warm, and blended perfectly into shadows.

We parked in the lot across from the clinic and made our way to the rear entrance. A security camera pointed down at the door. Megan looked at me. “Hack the camera?” she asked. “Video loop or something like that?”

I shook my head. I reached out with the Urisk’s faith and called to some pigeons that were roosting nearby. They lurched into the sky, perched directly atop the camera and spread their tail feathers over the lens. Megan gave me a look of wonder and we hurried up to the door. She gestured at a numeric keypad affixed next to the door. “They’re not messing around with their security. It’s going to take some time to bypass this.”

I smiled at her and placed my hands on the door. There was a click, and it swung open. “After you.”

She gaped at me, but ducked inside. I followed, and the door clicked shut behind us. “How did you do that?” Megan asked.

“It’s a talent I inherited from my father,” I said as I pulled out my flashlight. “I can open things. Doors, locks, windows. If it’s meant to be opened, it will open for me.”

Megan’s eyes were wide. “But what about the alarms? Won’t the security systems detect that the door was opened?”

Ah, now there was an excellent question. “Nope. Nothing to worry about there.” Megan raised her eyebrows at me. “When I Open a door like that, it tricks any sensors or electronic equipment into thinking the door is still shut. No one will ever know we were here.”

“Well, that certainly makes B&E easier,” Megan said as she shone her flashlight around. The hallway we were in was dimly lit. Only every third or fourth overhead light was on. That was good; the clinic was shut down for the night.

We moved quietly down the corridor and came into the lobby we’d been in earlier in the afternoon. The receptionist’s desk was empty, and the phones were blinking, indicating they were forwarding their calls. I relaxed a little. This might be easier than I thought.

We stepped through another set of doors into a dimly lit corridor. There were three doors on our right, and a pair of double doors on our left. The left room was labeled ‘Patient Treatment.’ The rooms on the right were offices, and Leevan’s was the last one. We crept down the hallway, listening carefully in case someone had stayed late. But Leevan’s office was dark like the others, and the door’s lock couldn’t stand up to my powers.

I shut the door behind us and flicked on the office’s light. Megan whistled as she surveyed the room. There were detailed sketches of skeletal and circulatory systems hanging on every wall. Not the generic kind you see in biology class, either. These were intricate, almost delicate, and had been hand drawn. Leevan’s signature was in the bottom corner of each sketch. There were tiny glass skeletons on shelves, and what looked like clay sculptures of lungs and hearts.

“Okay,” Megan said. “This is just creepy.” I opened a closet and shone my light in.

“It just got creepier,” I said. Megan moved over and looked at where the beam of my flashlight was pointing. There in the corner was a brain in a jar filled with liquid. “Millie von Hassen, I presume.”

“Or Keri Greene,” Megan put in. “What is she doing with that?” she asked, a look of disgust on her face.

“No idea, but since she had it ripped from someone’s head, I’d say it can’t be good.”

A computer sat on Leevan’s desk, the monitor displaying a screensaver of Da Vinci’s Virtuvian Man. I jiggled the mouse and was greeted with a message asking me for a password. “How are you at hacking?” I asked Megan.

She shook her head. “Not good at all. Computers really aren’t my thing.” I nodded and pulled a CD out of my coat pocket. I flipped the case open with one hand and popped the computer’s optical drive open with the other. I put the disk in, closed the drive tray, and then shut the computer off. I looked at my watch.