Specters: A Monster Squad Novel - 8 (30 page)

Kalen pulled her in tighter and returned her kiss. His hands ran up her back and grasped her by the back of the head, holding her in place as he kissed her roughly. His mind raced and his heart broke as his tongue danced with hers.

“Break it up, you two. We still have work to do.” Jack nudged Kalen in the shoulder as he walked by.

Kalen flustered for just a moment and then gave her a lopsided grin. “We shall continue this later.” She turned to leave and he slapped her on the ass, catching another smile and raised brow from her before he himself turned and trotted away.

He quickly approached Jack and pulled him aside. “We must talk.”

16

Mitchell unlocked the handcuffs, releasing Stevens and pushed him down into the chair at Dr. Peter’s workbench. He tossed the cuffs unceremoniously onto the counter and pulled the stack of files to the edge. “You get to explain this crap to our resident expert.”

Stevens stared at the printed sheets he had brought to them and gave Mitchell a wide eyed stare. “It’s not like I designed this stuff, Colonel. I just copied it and…”

“It wasn’t a request,” Mitchell growled through gritted teeth. He spun and pointed a finger at the doc. “If he tries to worm his way out of this, eat him.”

Evan tried to hide the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “If I eat him, who will help me?”

“We’ll nab another CIA spook and twist his knickers until he’s willing to cooperate.”

“Wait…what do you mean, ‘eat me’?” Stevens’ head bounced between Mitchell and Evan.

“He’s our resident vampire.”

Evan extended a hand. “Dr. Evan Peters, at your service.”

Stevens reached out to shake hands then pulled his arm back suddenly. “Good Lord. Your hands are like ice.”

“Comes from being undead, I’m afraid.” Evan smiled and settled in across from him at the table. “Shall we begin?”

“Holy…you weren’t kidding? He wasn’t kidding? You really are a vampire?” Stevens stammered as he stared at the man.

“He wasn’t kidding. I really am a vampire.” Evan opened a file and spun it around to face Mr. Stevens. “Now, shall we start at the beginning?”

Stevens began to shudder and his eyes darted to Mitchell. “You aren’t leaving me here, are you?”

“You’re in good hands.” He nodded to Doctor Peters. “Keep an eye on him, Doc.”

“We’ll be fine.” The two watched Mitchell step down out of the lab and march toward the stairwell. Evan turned back to the files and pushed them slightly forward. “From the top.”

Stevens swallowed hard and eyed him warily. “You wouldn’t really eat me, would you?”

Evan laughed and shook his head. “Good heavens, no.” He watched as Stevens visibly relaxed, his shoulders slumping slightly. “No, I’d simply drain you of all of your blood and then dump your lifeless corpse into the incinerator.”

Stevens’ eyes widened as he stared at the man in horror. “You’re kidding…right?”

“Let’s not test your hypothesis.” He pushed the folder closer once more. “Now…shall we begin?”

*****

Jack stood silently, his jaw clenching and unclenching. His eyes darted around the ruined facility as his mind raced. “You’re sure?”

Kalen nodded solemnly. “I wish I weren’t. But yes.”

Allister approached and fluttered his large feathered wings. “We need to depart soon or we’ll face the daybreak upon our arrival.”

Jack squeezed his eyes shut and pursed his lips. He turned to Allister and motioned him closer. “You and I need to talk. Kalen, gather the troops and have them prepare to return. See if you can find us a portal that’s closer than the one we came in through.”

“Chief Jack, what shall we—”

“Just find us a portal back. We can’t risk Azrael being stone if we have to face her. Again. And I’d much rather do it on familiar ground. Just get the troops ready to return. OPCOM has a clean-up team inbound. They can handle what we leave behind.”

Kalen nodded and turned to leave.

“Should I ask?”

Jack turned and faced the griffin, his face stern. “How many more of those spells do you have up your sleeve?”

Allister glanced down to his taloned feet. “I have no sleeves, Chief Jack.”

“It’s just an expression, my fine feathered friend. Just an expression.” Jack wrapped an arm over the griffin’s neck as best he could and pulled the bird like head in closer. “Listen up. We have a problem.”

Jack led the griffin off to the edge of the debris field, making an effort to appear as though he were discussing the damage to anybody who might observe the pair. He watched as Kalen gathered the troops then went to the edge of the river looking for a boulder large enough for Azrael, Phil, and Allister to travel through. All the while, he explained Kalen’s worst fear to the legendary monster.

“So, is there any way to save her?”

“The girl?” Allister cocked his head to the side as he spoke.

“Of course, the girl, who the hell else would I be asking about?” Jack’s frustration was evident as he spoke.

Allister thought for a moment then shook his mighty head. “No.”

“Come on! There has to be a way.” Jack began to pace as he pleaded with him. “I mean…even Kalen says that she
must
still be inside there. She’s fighting this. Somehow feeding her false information or…phony memories or
something
. Otherwise she couldn’t have tipped him off.”

Allister continued to shake his head. “Even if that is so, in order to destroy the beast, the host most be killed.” He sighed heavily and hung his head. “I am just so sorry that I didn’t foresee this as a possibility. I cast the net that contained them all to this area…but I never thought that she would leave her own vessel for another while her vessel was intact.”

“I wouldn’t have thought it either or I would have made Brooke stay at the base.” Jack ground his teeth as he stared at him. “But there has to be a way. An exorcism or…something.”

Allister shook his head. “The longer she possesses her body, the harder it will be for Brooke to maintain any control. It won’t be long and Lilith will know that we are aware of her.”

“But how do we yank that bitch out without killing Brooke?” Jack had to force himself to keep his voice low.

“That is what I am trying to tell you. We cannot. In order to kill Lilith, we must kill the host while she possesses the body.”

Jack spun on him. “And what’s to keep her from jumping to another body?”

“She can only possess a soulless body, Chief Jack. An undead body. Two souls cannot possess the same…well, they can, but not…Lilith cannot or she will lose who she is.”

“You’re not making sense.”

“When a person is possessed by a demon or a spirit, it is only a
part
of that spirit that possesses it. Usually, the most evil part since that is the portion with the most strength. Lilith wishes to maintain all of who she is, so she will only possess an undead body. If she attempts to possess a body with a soul, she will be stripped of the grand majority of who she is.”

“So we have to…no.” Jack’s eyes widened. “Doc is back at base. He’s a vampire. He’s got no soul.”

“So when we cast the net, it will have to be a tight one. We will have to bind her to the body she is in.”

“And then kill it.”

Allister’s eyes reflected the sadness that Jack felt when he spoke. “Not just kill her, Chief Jack. We must utterly destroy her.”

*****

Mark listened to the coms as Spanky announced an incoming tango and the OPCOM suddenly erupted in activity. He began barking orders over the buzz of activity. “Relay their helmet cams through the approaching drone and get them on the screens! Now!”

“The feed is too weak for satellite, sir. Drone is too far out to act as relay,” one tech reported.

“Boosting gain on the RF antennae,” another responded.

“Repositioning satellite for optimal transmission.”

Tufo stood up in the chair and squeezed the armrests. He felt the metal give under his grip and he could feel his nails elongating as he barked new orders. “Get me those feeds!”

“Coming in now, sir!” The tech pointed to the main screen and a static filled green glow showed what appeared to be a forest scene with a very large person blocking half of the view. “Delta Actual is onscreen!”

“Split the views. I want each helmet cam up and viewable.” Tufo slowly sat back in the chair and his palm brushed the crushed armrests. He glanced down and realized what he had done. He lifted his hands and stared at them in the red light of the OPCOM.

His fingers had thickened, his knuckles nearly doubled in size and the sharpened nails that had sprung from each fingertip now curved back like a bird of prey’s talons. He flexed each hand, expecting excruciating pain and was surprised when there was none.

“Activity, sir!”

Tufo’s attention snapped back to the viewscreen and he watched as a figure burst from the underbrush. He definitely wasn’t expecting the view that filled the widescreen. “What in the hell is that?”

*****

Rufus glanced at his watch for the hundredth time and sighed. The wolves were restless and their anxiety was beginning to wear off on him. He could feel his own nervousness begin to build and he had to force himself to calm down. He slipped down from the empty desk he had been sitting on and paced the office slowly.

Viktor stepped inside and nodded to him. “Your test subject is here.”

“Excellent.” He reached for the case and flipped it open. He pulled the polished stainless steel device from the foam padding and fell into step behind the werewolf.

“My men are securing him now.” Viktor pointed to a concrete column to one side of the underground parking structure and Thorn’s eyes fell upon the vampire struggling against the chains being wrapped around him as the wolves held him in place.

“You are certain he works for the council?”

Viktor nodded solemnly. “A point he made vehemently and numerous times as my men brought him here.”

“And there is no way the council may have followed?”

“Not this time. I fear that their envoy will be quite late arriving wherever it was that he was sent.” Viktor motioned toward the young vampire and Thorn settled the device against his shoulder as he stepped forward.

“I will see you all gutted! I’ll wear your hides for boots!” The vampire struggled against the chains holding him to the concrete column, spittle running down his chin as he bellowed his threats.

Rufus stood in front of the young man and seemed to measure him. “Do you know who I am?”

“Of course I do. You’re a dead man!” The young vampire struggled again, doing his best to free an arm so that he might rip out the other vampire’s throat.

Rufus nodded to the wolves on either side and waited until they stepped back. He flipped the power button on the side and felt the device hum in his hands. A slight blue glow emitted from the vents on the side and for a moment he remembered the explosion at his home on the island.
It has been tested and is safe.

“Your sacrifice may well save numerous innocent lives.”

“Fuck the innocent! I eat the innocent for—”

The young vampire never completed his thought. Rufus squeezed the trigger and a sky blue light erupted from the snubbed barrel of the device. It seemed to only flash along the young vampire’s skin for a moment, but he suddenly and completely turned to ash, the chains falling to the ground where he once stood.

The device still hummed in Rufus’ hand as he continued to stare at the spot where the man had been standing only a moment before. “That was…interesting.”

“A UV weapon of some sort?” Viktor stepped beside him and studied the shiny metal device.

Rufus flipped the power off and shook his head. “
Non.
It is a specialized weapon.” He turned a sad eye to the werewolf standing next to him. “A most dangerous one,
mon ami
. But at least it works.”

“And this weapon will be sufficient to destroy the Council?”

Rufus leaned the device against his shoulder once again and nodded. “
Oui
. We need only have them together.”

“Then what are we waiting for? They should be assembling as we speak.”

Rufus pulled his phone and flipped through his messages. He nodded solemnly as he closed it. “
Oui
. The demon queen has been destroyed. That alone should grant us access to the Council.”

Viktor walked to the Mercedes and held the door open for Rufus. “And if they agree to remove the edict? Will you still destroy them?”

Rufus slid into the rear and laid the weapon next to him in the seat. “If they remove the edict, there will be no need. But we both know that they will not.” He pulled his overcoat on and slipped the device under his arm, attaching the sling to his shoulder before pulling the coat around it.