“I hope that was our explosion and not theirs,” Pharah said.
Another explosion sounded, and the lights went off, leaving only the candlelight, which cast long shadows on the walls.
“It may not matter whose they are,” Maria said. Hearing the chinking of keys on cement, she turned toward Catoute, who stomped on something. “What have you got there?”
Catoute shook her head in an innocent manner.
With her revolver aimed away, Maria crossed over the rim of the summoning circle, crouched low, and tapped the calf of Catoute’s outstretched leg. “Step back.”
Catoute removed her foot from a single key.
Shaking her head, Maria reached for the key. “And what did you think you were going to do if you unlocked these bracelets? Run up all those stairs without us catching you?”
“Look out!” Pharah said.
Catoute kicked the gun out of Maria’s hand, and it flew out of the circle and spun across the floor. A hand sank into Maria’s curls and snapped her head back, and she felt the sharp point of a dagger press deep into the left side of her throat.
Catoute pulled Maria up by her hair and rotated her knife hand, pressing the dagger. “I’ve cut more than a few throats in my time. Use any fancy police moves on me, and I’ll shower in your blood.”
Maria felt her lips drawing tight. Son of a bitch!
Catoute glanced around the chamber. “Drop your guns. I’m an old woman with nothing to lose.”
Maria heard the sharp clatter of guns on the floor.
Oh, fuck.
Bloody sword in hand, Malvado ran down the stairs, avoiding the splotches of blood on them. Halfway down, he scooped up Andre’s Glock and sheathed his sword. At last he had slain his sworn enemy.
I should have done it years ago.
At the bottom of the stairs, he stepped over Andre’s bloody body without paying any attention to it and went to the wide door leading into Mambo Catoute’s ceremonial chamber. The door refused to open. Recalling the heavy bolt that locked it, he rushed over to a bookcase leaning against one wall and pulled it forward, revealing a secret passage. He entered the narrow storage room, flipped a light switch, and then closed the bookcase behind him.
The sweet aromas of Catoute’s herbs overwhelmed him. Crossing the room, Malvado stopped at another panel and listened. He heard Catoute’s voice, which reassured him, and pushed the panel and entered the chamber, which was lit by Catoute’s zonbie candles. Five people stood in a half circle with their backs to him. Catoute held a woman by her hair, pressing a dagger against her throat. Not just any woman: Maria Vasquez, the bitch who had caused so much of his trouble.
“We have company,” Maria said in a strangled voice.
Jake stuck one foot in a stirrup and threw his other leg over his horse’s saddle.
“I wish I could take you to New York with me.”
Taking the reins in his hand, he kicked the horse into action and rode toward the Church of the Black Snake. After hearing an explosion and seeing a fireball rise into the sky ahead, he made his horse gallop faster. A second explosion outlined the church in orange light.
When he reached the stone structure, no living soul remained outside. The body parts of soldiers and zonbies were scattered around the road, driveway, and parking lot. He got off the horse, drew his Glock, and ran into the building. His footsteps echoed as he ran along the balcony overlooking a circular cathedral, where dozens of armed zonbies marched through a doorway below.
With his heart pounding, he raced down the cathedral stairs, illuminated by a massive chandelier. By the time he reached the bottom and ran across the dais, the last of the zonbies had disappeared through the doorway. He followed them, stopping only to take in the sight of the blood on the walls and the stairs below.
Zonbies don’t bleed.
Squeezing the butt of his Glock, he hurried down the stairs. At the bottom, he saw the zonbies crowded in a circle. Pushing his way through them, the touch of their arms causing him to shudder, he gazed down at Andre, who lay clutching his stomach in a pool of his own blood. A nasty-looking gash crossed his chest.
With blood trickling from both corners of his mouth, Andre turned to him and spoke in a faint whisper. “Jake …”
Jake kneeled and cradled the man with his stump. “Go ahead.”
“Tell … my … wife …” Andre convulsed and coughed up blood, and when his head fell back he had stopped moving.
Jake laid Andre’s head down and pulled his stump free. He closed his eye for a moment. All of this had been for Edgar, but now Jake had to worry about Maria. Rising, he met the gazes of the dead things standing near him. “Libération de I’île Pavot.”
Maria watched Malvado enter the chamber through a swinging panel. At first she had thought him a zonbie until she registered the gold trim decorating his royal-blue uniform. He held a Glock in one raised hand. Closing the panel with his other hand, he looked at Catoute and Maria. “Stop!”
Pharah, Jorge, and their companions jumped at the sound of Malvado’s booming voice. Jorge stooped to retrieve his weapon.
But Malvado aimed his Glock at him. “Kick that over here.”
Jorge kicked his machine gun across the floor, and Malvado slung it over one shoulder.
Malvado’s words came out in staccato: “I hereby declare this rebellion null and void. Andre Santiago is dead. I killed him myself. You have no leader. What’s going on here?”
Maria felt Catoute nodding.
“You see those candles? I can stop your slaves from tearing us to pieces.”
Malvado studied the candles. “Then you’d better hurry. They’re all over the palace grounds.” He narrowed his eyes.
“Pharah?”
Pharah nodded and Malvado grunted. “Unlock these shackles,” Catoute said. “This woman has the key.”
Malvado strode forward and looked down at the summoning circle. He stared at Maria and she saw his bloodlust. She dropped the key on the floor. Aiming his Glock at her, Malvado stetched one leg into the circle and used his foot to slide the key toward him. He picked it up and entered the circle, positioning himself to see Jorge and the clerics. “Miss Vasquez, you’ve been a thorn in my side all week. I will savor your flesh with my morning coffee.”
The way he enunciated every syllable caused Maria to cringe as much as his words did.
“We need her alive for now,” Catoute said.
Malvado’s lower lip curled. “Don’t forget who’s in charge here.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Malvado unlocked the manacles, which fell to the floor.
Catoute did not move. A low moan rose from within her, a humming sound that became a chant. Maria thought she heard words rooted in Spanish and French, but most of them belonged to a language she didn’t recognize.
As the incantation grew louder, Pharah stepped forward. “What are you—?”
Malvado aimed his gun at her, stopping her in her tracks.
A chill ran through Maria, as if icicles had reopened the scratches on her arms and legs. The candles flickered, and a shadow seemed to fall over the summoning circle. Malvado’s startled expression told her she was not the only one to experience the sensation. Pharah gaped at the floor and Maria looked down. The head of a young black man emerged from the stone like someone rising from water. The man continued to rise, his eyes glowing bright red. Soon his entire naked body stood before her.
He’s beautiful.
“Kalfu,” Malvado said, walking out of the circle.
Maria’s eyes hurt from widening so far. Kalfu!
The Loa approached with a smile. He stood under six feet tall, and if Maria had been standing straight, they might have seen eye to eye. Only because Catoute’s dagger held her head back did the supernatural being look down at her.
Those eyes … so hypnotic.
Kalfu glanced at the other people in the chamber, then returned his attention to Maria. He leaned so close to her that she smelled a strange mixtur
e of odors that his body gave off: oils, cologne … sulfur?
The red glow in his eyes grew more intense. “Helman’s woman.”
He knows Jake!
Kalfu’s pink tongue slid out of his mouth and spilled forward, impossibly long. She felt its slime-covered, sandpapery surface touch her right ankle, then travel up to her thighs, leaving a sticky, wet trail behind it. The tongue rubbed against her crotch, her panties offering little protection from it, then rose to her stomach. She stared at Kalfu’s satisfied expression as his tongue retracted into his mouth. It touched her breasts, slimed her throat, and finally pushed against her lips, forcing its way against her clenched teeth. She twisted her face away, sharp pain telling her Catoute’s dagger had pierced her flesh and drawn blood. Kalfu’s tongue returned to his mouth, and he licked his lips.
An explosion blew the heavy door to pieces, and smoke billowed into the chamber. Maria couldn’t help but recoil at the roar. She heard a multitude of footsteps before a dozen zonbies armed with machine guns stormed inside, most of them with bullet-riddled torsos.
“No!” Malvado’s voice cracked with fear.
A figure entered behind the zonbies, waving a Glock in one hand—his only hand.
Jake.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Jake followed the zonbie brigade into the chamber. As the smoke cleared, he saw Maria standing in her panties and a dirty muscle shirt within a red circle on the floor. Mambo Catoute held a dagger to her throat, and a naked black man, no more than seventeen in appearance, stood before her.
A summoning circle, he thought.
Ernesto Malvado lurked just outside the circle, his features twisted with terror. Pharah, Jorge, and three of Pharah’s followers stood near the circle. Another man lay dead on the floor.
The zonbies swarmed throughout the chamber, waving their guns.
Malvado aimed his Glock at one of the creatures and fired, missing his target.
In unison, the zonbies dropped their weapons on the floor, causing Malvado to blink with confusion. The undead creatures drew their machetes from leather sheathes attached to their belts.
Malvado’s entire face twitched. “No. No!”
The dead men and women advanced on the dictator, who fired at them in a random and desperate pattern.
“Kill my daughter,” Catoute said.
Malvado glanced at the old woman.
“It’s our only chance. Kill her!”
Malvado drew his sword, buried it in the head of the nearest zonbie, and darted past another one. The zonbie with the sword in its head collapsed and ceased moving.
Jake noticed the naked black man watching the soul rise and fade had glowing red eyes.
Kalfu!
Malvado closed in on Pharah.
Her eyes widened. “Father?”
Malvado pressed the barrel of his Glock against Pharah’s forehead and squeezed the trigger. The gunshot roared through the chamber, and Pharah fell to the floor with half her face missing, her white outfit splattered with blood. Her glowing golden soul rose and faded.
The zonbies stopped advancing on Malvado and stood as still as statues.
Catoute shouted in a language Jake didn’t recognize.
The zonbies reacted at the same time, moving in different directions, advancing on Jorge and the others.
Ah, shit! Jake thought. Pharah had been able to tap into Catoute’s spell over the zonbies because they were from the same bloodline. With Pharah dead, Catoute regained control of her army. Jake’s comrades had become his enemies again. Several zonbies surrounded the circle but didn’t enter it.
At least Maria’s safe from the zonbies in there, even if she’s with Kalfu.
“Kill them! Kill them all!” Malvado said.
Seeming to mimic Malvado, Catoute barked orders in the foreign tongue.
A trio of zonbies advanced on Jake with raised machetes. The rotting faces that had seemed pitiful just moments ago now appeared horrific. He raised his Glock and fired at the long-haired male zonbie who had served as de facto spokesperson for the undead army.
A bullet hole appeared in the zonbie’s forehead, opaque yellow liquid spraying out of the wound. The zonbie looked heavenward and collapsed in a heap of dead flesh, his soul rising and fading.
Jake aimed at the second zonbie, his elbow aching, and fired. The gunshot dropped the zonbie, and another glowing soul rose and faded.
A woman screamed, and Jake glanced at Pharah’s bokors. The zonbies near the candles fell on the priest and priestesses there, raising their machetes and swinging them down in powerful arcs. Blood spattered the candles, and the screaming woman fell to the floor. Jake couldn’t see what happened to the remaining man and woman, but he heard their screams. Another three zonbies backed Jorge against a section of candles, some of them toppling to the floor.
The third zonbie, a woman with dark skin and braided hair, advanced on Jake, coming so close to him that he pressed the Glock against her forehead and blew it open, spilling brain juice. She hit the floor hard, and her soul rose and faded.
Jorge had picked up an ATAC. As the man decimated the head of one of his attackers, Jake advanced on the summoning circle. He knew of only one way to turn the tide. When Katrina’s zonbies had taken over the drug trade in New York, Laurel had told him the one sure way to stop them was to kill her. Standing at the edge of the circle, he aimed his Glock past Kalfu—who stood with an amused expression—at Catoute, who ducked her head behind Maria’s.
Damn it.
Jake moved around the circle’s outer perimeter, keeping his Glock trained on Catoute, who moved in direct relation to him, keeping Maria in his line of fire.
Maria’s lower lip quivered, tears filling her eyes.
Two zonbies ran for Jake, whose hand trembled. Maria looked straight into Jake’s eyes, then closed hers. Jake prayed she was giving him permission to take the shot. He heard the zonbies shuffling in his direction. Sweat stung his eye. He squeezed the trigger, erupting Catoute’s skull into fragments as she flew back.
“Jesus!” Clapping her hands over her ears, Maria fell to her knees on the floor.
A gray, cancerous-looking soul rose from the old woman’s motionless body. It reminded Jake of Old Nick’s soul: rotten to the core after a lifetime of evil deeds.
All around the chamber, zonbies staggered and collapsed, like marionettes with their strings cut at the same time. A dozen souls rose at once, and Jake knew that across Pavot Island, some two thousand more were doing the same thing.
“Maria, get out of there!”
Maria looked at him with questioning eyes, and Jake realized the gunshot had deafened her. But she leapt out of the circle anyway. Kalfu snatched her by the hair in midair and swung her back into the perimeter. Crying out, she landed on her knees, facing Jake, her face a mask of pain.
Jorge rose and faced Malvado, blood flowing from a machete wound in his neck. Malvado picked up Jorge’s ATAC from the floor, aimed it at him, and squeezed the trigger. The gun clicked.
“Hel-man,” Kalfu hissed.
Jorge picked up a new weapon: a .38 revolver.
Malvado aimed another ATAC at him and it clicked.
“Let her go,” Jake said to the demon. “You can’t interfere with a positive soul on this plane anyway.”
Jorge aimed the handgun at Malvado, who aimed a third ATAC at him. The empty machine gun clicked.
Kalfu grinned at Jake. “But I’m not on your plane. This circle is a portal linking our dimensions. None of the rules you know apply. I can do whatever I want.”
Shit, Jake thought.
Jorge stepped forward. “You killed Humphrey and my brother.”
Malvado sputtered. “They were enemies of the state.”
“If I killed you now I’d be hailed as a hero. But I have a better idea: it’s your turn to serve as El Miedo’s only prisoner.”
“What do you want?” Jake said to Kalfu.
“I want you.”
Jake’s spirits sank. “
I made a deal with Cain. The slate is wiped clean between me and the Dark Realm.”
“Cain serves his functions in the Realm; I serve mine. You caused the demise of one of my brides.”
Katrina, Jake thought.
“Don’t do it, Jake,” Maria said in a quivering voice. “Let him take me.”
“I don’t have a choice and he knows it. I’ll take responsibility for my actions. You take care of Edgar.” He glared at Kalfu. “I won’t pledge my soul to you, but I will take Maria’s place in that circle.”
Kalfu guffawed. “I don’t care what you pledge. Stand before me and I’ll take what I want.”
Maria shook her head.
“Let her go first,” Jake said.
“I’m not the trusting type,” Kalfu said. “Come to me and I’ll let her go.”
Jake toed the circle. “If I do as you ask, there’s nothing to prevent you from taking us both. Under that scenario, she’s already doomed.”
“Remain stubborn and I’ll enjoy her flesh for eternity. Perhaps I should anyway. You’ll agonize over her fate for the rest of your life and into the afterlife.”
“The same principle applies to you. Perhaps you will torture her spirit forever. But if I ascend to the Realm of Light, you’ll know for eternity that you had a chance to claim my soul and failed. You’ll have her soul, and I will agonize over that. But in the end, I’ll beat you. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about you demons, you’re sore losers.”
“I’m not a demon,” Kalfu said.
“You are a demon. That’s why your energy resides in the Dark Realm. You’re just too vain to admit it.”
“I know all the best Loa!”
“You would say that. You always do. The legends say so. Your reputation is well known in vodou circles.”
Kalfu’s features twisted with anger. “What do you know of me?”
“Your other name is Carrefour, and you control the crossroads.” He gestured at the circle. “Catoute believed she summoned you, but all she really did was ask you to open the crossroads to her. You could have said no if you wanted to.”
Kalfu’s fiery red eyes glowed brighter. “Because I wanted you. It will please my master if I present your head to him on a platter after you struck that deal with Cain.”
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