Realm Walker (18 page)

Chapter Nineteen

The vampires provided the portal that Michael and Juliana used to travel to Fourth Street. People hovered about in a large crowd, barely room for air between them. She was surprised there were so many. Normally, the Agency kept their scenes quiet and if they couldn’t, they tried to dissipate the observers as quickly as possible. Their arrival went largely unnoticed as everyone stood gawking at the church across the street.

She assumed it was the church anyway. She couldn’t see through the press of people in front of her but the steeple towered over them. There was no way she could get through the crowd without drawing attention to herself so she might as well use her position to her advantage. Making sure her badge was visible, she stepped forward and tapped the man directly in front of her on the shoulder. He turned, frowning down at her.

“Excuse me.”

He started to say something and then her badge caught his eye. He nodded his head once before stepping to the side. His large hand landed on the shoulder of the lady in front of him. Again and again, the motion repeated until they finally stepped clear of the crowd.

Juliana put her hand over her mouth as she took in the scene before her.
Oh
,
Thomas.
What have you done?
Even as she thought the words, she knew they weren’t fair. The demon did this, not Thomas. Not really.

Usually when someone reported a crucifixion, they meant someone had been killed and strapped to a cross. Not this time. A vampire she didn’t recognize hung suspended on the life-sized cross. Metal spikes impaled both wrists and one ran through both feet. An extra nail ran straight through his heart and into the wood beneath. She wondered how long it had taken him to bleed out and die.

“Eric,” Michael breathed from beside her, his eyes locked on the cross. She’d almost forgotten he was there.

“Who?”

His eyes shifted to her only briefly before finding their way back to the victim. “He’s a lackey. An errand boy Thomas put here years ago to keep an eye on you.”

He’d done a good job because she couldn’t recall ever seeing him before. She’d talk to Thomas about siccing a stalker on her later. She ran her gaze over the body again. “How old is he?”

Michael frowned. “Two hundred, give or take. Why?”

“He’s still here.” Vampires converted to their real age when they died. When their blood drained away, it took the power of the blood magic with it. At two hundred, there should have been nothing but dust and bones left. That meant magic. Probably a stasis spell keeping the body on display and from deteriorating in death. She looked around the area, noting the location of the agents before sliding her glasses on. Relief coursed through her when her gift fired up without any difficulty. Sometimes it could be days before she got full usage back when she overtaxed herself. She took another look at the corpse.

The black of the demon’s magic mixed with Thomas’s lavender in a spell that coated the victim. She crossed the street. Several agents noted her approach but none of them came near. She stopped at the foot of the cross, took a deep breath and ran her eyes up the length of him.

It wasn’t as bad like this, with the wounds hidden beneath the sheen of the spell. Made it easy to ignore the very dead vampire beneath. She reached out a hand to touch the spell, sometimes contact helped her figure out the magic. Nothing.

As she pulled her hand away, she watched the colors stretch from the vampire to her. The spell clung to her. She jerked backward and the magic followed, stuck to her skin. As soon as Eric was free of it, he exploded in a shower of dust like he should have done the moment he died.

She barely noticed, her attention fixated on the spell that still coated her skin. She held her hand away from her body, staring at it with wide eyes. Her lungs ached reminding her to breathe. Panicked gasps provided much needed air, but did nothing to calm her down. The color began to fade from her vision. She hoped the magic was dissipating as opposed to being absorbed by her body.

Someone cleared their throat beside her. She kept her eyes locked on her hand, waiting for the last of the signature to disappear.

“Norris?” Ben. Great, just what she needed.

“Hold on.” He could damn well wait until she got rid of the demon magic. Finally, the last of it faded away. She shut down her gift and turned to face her boss. She kept the glasses on. This conversation would go easier if he couldn’t see her eyes. They were too expressive.

“Okay there?” he asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” she asked, her voice innocent.

He blinked at her. After a moment he shook his head. “Forget it. What are you doing here?”

She glanced at the cross and raised an eyebrow. “Guess.”

“Don’t be a smartass. Who told you about it? The Agency ordered you to be kept out of it.” He shoved his hands in his pockets as he said the last. She couldn’t tell if he was angry because she knew or because the Agency didn’t want her to.

She narrowed her eyes. “How exactly did you propose to do that? It’s a crucifixion. We don’t live in a communist state. Seems like evening news material to me.”

“Don’t give me that, Juliana. You’re not here out of curiosity and we both know it. You can’t help him.”

“He’s demon-ridden. I told Jeremiah. I know he passed it along. What are you going to do about it?” She preferred Ben when he stayed behind his desk where he belonged. Out in the real world, he pissed her off.

He glanced around as if suddenly aware they might be overheard. He grabbed her arm and moved her farther away from the crowd. Probably didn’t want to cause a panic. Rumors of demon-ridden vampires would do that. “Jeremiah told me, but I don’t believe it. You’re too close to this. Besides, it doesn’t matter if he’s demon-ridden or turned, the result’s the same. The kill order stands. How did you find out anyway?”

“I had a conversation with him on the phone. And I’ve got a witness in the End.” She knew how it sounded; she wasn’t an idiot. But she had to try.

“Probably some doped out scum sucker who wouldn’t know a host from his own mother. I’ve told you before about the reliability of your witnesses. Have you seen Kendrick with your own eyes?”

She pursed her lips, thought briefly about lying then sighed. “No.”

“Then there’s no way you could know for sure that he’s demon-ridden. You’re guessing.” His smug tone was the final straw. He was going to believe what he wanted no matter what she said. She might not have seen Thomas, but she’d seen the spell.

“I am not guessing, Ben.”

“Listen to me. I let you get away with a lot because you’re good at your job and I like you. But you are not going to interfere.” He poked a finger in her chest. “If you see him, you will kill him on sight just like every other employee of the Agency. That’s an order.”

Her jaw ached from the pressure of her grinding teeth. There had to be something she could say that would get through to him. “What about the fact the demon is powerful enough to ride a corpse and will just jump to a new host?”

“We don’t have anyone’s word on that but yours either,” he snapped.

“And the Director of the Gathering and however many other mages were watching.”

“James Piper would say anything to protect his brother-in-law and the rest of them would say whatever he told them to.” The quickness of the response told her he’d already thought this out. That he would have an answer for every argument.

She twisted her neck to the side trying to loosen up the knots. “So in other words, you’re ignoring the fact this demon isn’t like any we’ve ever faced. You’re just going to follow procedure to the letter, screw the consequences. Nice use of your authority there, boss.”

He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward on his toes crowding her space. “If you aren’t willing to terminate, Norris, you’re of no use to me. Go home and stay the hell out of my way.”

He kept his eyes locked with hers for a moment then turned and walked away without once looking back.

Michael laid his hand on her shoulder, a slight stirring of the air the only warning before his sudden appearance. “Great boss you’ve got there, Jules. You okay?”

“Yeah,” she lied. There wasn’t anything about this that was okay. Her boss had turned into an overbearing jerk who no longer seemed to be on her side. And the Agency intended to hunt Thomas down and eliminate him. They wouldn’t stop until they’d succeeded.

“And now?” Michael asked.

She glanced at him. “We hope we find him first.”

* * *

“Another dead end,” she said to Michael as she slid back into the car. They’d been chasing leads from the Agency and the vamps all day. Either Thomas and his demon had toured the entire town or people were calling in every sighting of a dark-headed vamp with a bad attitude. Dark and brooding were vampire stereotypes for a reason. The description matched half the population and they’d spent the past four hours hunting them all down.

Michael had taken to waiting in the car while she ran in and looked things over. After all, she only had to sniff the air to know whether they dealt with a demon or not. He turned the car on and made a u-turn.

“Where are we headed now?” she asked.

“Catalina called. Someone saw Thomas entering an office building not far from here. She claims this source is more reliable than the others.”

“It’d be hard for them to be any less reliable. We’ve turned up nothing so far.” She shifted her gaze to the world outside the window. Every minute that passed made it more likely that someone else would find him first. That they’d be too late, that he would die. Then the demon would find a new host and they’d be right back where they started. Only she’d care a lot less about the outcome.

They pulled up in front of a rundown office building that skirted the line between downtown and the End. She fired up her gift as she stepped out of the car. Pain flared and throbbed behind her eyes. She’d scanned every place they investigated to make sure the call wasn’t a setup. As soon as she ascertained nothing lay in wait for them, she shut the gift down. The pain receded but didn’t leave completely. She was in serious need of an aspirin, but at least it still worked.

She entered a rather nondescript lobby with peeling paint, cracked floors and the large potted plants that were standard issue in offices all over town. She doubted any of the others boasted a body sprawled in front of the elevator bank, though. A deep breath filled her nose with the scent of cinder and ashes. Finally.

She signaled to Michael and he grabbed a rifle out of the trunk before hurrying in. She flipped the deadbolt behind him. It wouldn’t do any good if someone really wanted in as they could just break the glass, but it would slow the less criminally inclined.

Michael immediately crossed the floor to kneel by the prone form. “He’s alive.” A jolt of surprise accompanied his words. There wasn’t a single reason for the demon to incapacitate instead of kill. Especially given the bloody trail it had left behind so far.

“Drag him over there so he won’t be visible from the door. The longer it takes the Agency to come sniffing around the better.”

For once, he did as she asked without arguing, propping the body against the wall behind a plant. She drew her sword and strode across the floor as she sniffed the air. Passing the elevators, she headed for the stairs. The smell faded. Of course, the cursed thing would take the elevator, making it harder to track. Gods forbid anything just be simple.

One of the elevators dinged as it reached the lobby. They pressed their backs against the two thin sections of wall between the doors so they could cover all three elevators. The door between them slid open. Nothing or no one came out. It started to close and she stopped it with her hand. She peered around the corner. The car was empty.

She glanced at Michael and shrugged before stepping into the elevator. He followed. Her hand hovered over the panel trying to decide which button to press. There were too many options and not enough time. They rocked on their feet as they jerked into motion.

“Did you press a button?” he asked.

“Nope.” She moved to stand beside him at the back of the car, shifting her grip on the sword. The motion kept her focused on the here and now, kept her brain from imagining a million different scenarios of how this could all turn sour. The bell dinged on each floor marking their slow progression upward. When they reached the seventh floor, they came to a stop. The door opened to reveal a dimly lit room filled with rows of cubicles. Every shadow, every crevice was a new place for the demon to hide. Super.

She sniffed the air as they stepped out of the elevator. The odor was strong. Their prey was here or had been until recently. Michael tapped her arm and gestured behind her. The doors of the other two elevators had been jammed open making those units inoperable. Theirs had obviously been sent for them. Great. She immediately took another look around but saw nothing. Taking a cue from the demon, she took a moment to jam open the door on their unit as well. If anyone else wanted up, they were going to have to take the stairs.

She signaled to Michael that he should go left. He nodded once and headed in that direction. She tried to ignore the blood pulsing through her veins, her heart pounding in her chest. She looked down the length of the first row of cubicles on her side. The toe of a woman’s dress shoe was just visible past one of the walls. Making her way toward the shoe and the person wearing it, she looked in the cubes on either side of her as she hurried down the aisle.

The woman lay sprawled in her chair, arms and head thrown backward. Her chest moved up and down as she breathed. If her skirt were any shorter, Juliana would have had a lot more of a show than she wanted. Leaving the woman, Juliana continued down the aisle. Two more victims were in that row. One slumped over a keyboard and the other lay on the floor beside her. Both alive.

Like the man in the lobby, none of them had any visible injuries but something had knocked them out. Given that there wasn’t a mass of bodies clogging the exits, she suspected there’d been no warning. That they’d all passed out at once. She flashed her gift on only long enough to see the sheen of a spell laid across them. She left it alone for now as it kept them out of her way while she hunted the demon. That’s all she cared about.