by David Jobe
Lanton followed. “I do. Let me give her a call.” Lanton pulled out his cell phone and began getting the phone to dial. As he did, he followed Grimm up a set of stairs to the second floor of the apartment building. As they stepped into a well-furnished front room, he got Carrie Anne’s voicemail. He hung up and frowned at Grimm. “That’s odd. She usually answers during regular hours, no matter what is going on.”
Grimm nodded. “I am telling you, man. Something hinky is going on.”
Lanton chuckled. “Is that your professional opinion, Velma?”
Grimm chuckled and nodded his head. “Screw you. Come take a look at the body.” He led the way down to a bedroom at the end of a small hallway. “Place belongs to a well-to-do model. Came home to find this guy lurking in her bedroom. She pulled a gun on him and popped him.”
“Why call me then?”
Grimm chuckled again, “She says he appeared out of thin air.”
“Another teleporter like the freeway kid?”
Grimm shook his head. “She says she heard him long before he appeared. I’m thinking invisibility. Or that mind altering stuff.” He waved his hands as if trying to weave a spell.
“Mind altering?” Lanton waited just beyond the doorway, as Grimm’s beefy bulk blocked his entrance.
“Oh, sorry.” He noticed his obstructing and stepped to the side. “And yeah. I heard about a guy who wasn’t invisible, but could make it so you didn’t notice he was there.”
Lanton raised a brow. “This a real person, or just one of those stories?”
“Real,” Grimm said. “Seems he decided to knock over his local drug dealer. Thing is, his powers worked just fine on everyone except the video camera. Guy watched it later, saw who swiped all his stuff. Shot the fool down in the street before he even knew he needed to use his powers.”
Lanton whistled through his teeth again. “Too bad these powers don’t come with instruction books, right?”
“Or extra brain cells.”
Lanton stepped into the room and as his gaze hit the body, he felt that wave of nausea that told him his own power had been activated. He watched as a very lovely woman disrobed in reverse, shaking as she did. Then he saw her scoop up a gun. She turned to point it at the empty air above the body. Then the body rose, but not as Lanton had imagined it. With a gun that big, the round would have pushed the thin man backward, making him topple onto his back. Instead, the man rose from laying down to kneeling, then to standing. The hole in the wall behind him mended as the gun the woman had been holding swallowed the bullet. She saw her stealthily conceal the gun in her dresser without taking her eyes off the man. After a few heartbeats, the man vanished.
Grimm broke through his vision. “You alright, man? You look kind of queasy.”
Lanton nodded. “You didn’t move the body.” It wasn’t a question. He could see it lying where he had fallen. He could now also see a figure standing at the far side of the room. He didn’t have to peer at the thing to know what it would be. A demon stood in the corner, smiling with a lopsided grin at him. Something about him seemed different than the last time he had seen it. He peered for a moment and it dawned on him. The first time he had seen the demon, it had been a sort of campy version. Like a 90’s rock band version, standing on stage and rocking out with a Les Paul. This one had moved away from campy to what Lanton could only think of as a more real looking version, not that he had seen any real demons. The bright red skin had been muted and seemed to hold the feeling of scales from this distance. The hair on its legs looked less shag carpet and more actual black goat’s fur. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what happened when the demon looked really real. He chuckled at the thought. “Really real.”
“What?” After a brief pause and a sideways glance. “No. We didn’t move him. Our medical examiner gets seriously pissed if we move the body before he can take a look at it.”
“She didn’t shoot him.”
“What’s that now?”
Lanton moved to stand by the body. He pointed at the bed where the hand cannon still rested, a yellow number card sitting next to it. “Gun that big would leave an exit wound at least the size of a half dollar.” He pointed at the body. “Not a blem-“ He stopped, noticing the amount of acne on the kid’s back. “No exit wound.” He pointed at the wall where you could see the bullet had ended up. “No blood splatter on the wall. A thru and thru would leave some misting at the very least. Nothing. She missed him completely.”
Grimm tapped his chubby jaw. “Yet we have ourselves a corpse.” He waved a hand at the dead man. “You think she scared him to death? Maybe all the blood was in the wrong place when his heart skipped a beat?”
Lanton shook his head, rolling his eyes. “I remember there was a kid up in Detroit that dropped dead of a something or other on the basketball court. Turns out he had just exerted himself too much, and his head or his heart couldn’t take it. I’m not sure which. Either way, I bet when either of or examiners open this one up, they will find a bum ticker or noodle.”
Grimm gave him a golfer clap. “Well, good job, Perry Mason, but I still have a corpse that needs moved. That poor girl needs to be able to come home.”
Lanton nodded, pulling out his phone again. He moved back to the front room, having no desire to look at the body of the demon smiling at him in the corner. He took a sip of his coffee while he worked to punch in the numbers on his phone. “How you liking the new position?”
Grimm shrugged. “Same shit, different division.”
“You have any interest in joining my division?”
Grimm choked on the sip of coffee he had just taken. “The Altered Crime whatsyacallit? That sounds like an extra helping of no thanks.”
Lanton chuckled. “Pay is better. Could probably afford some real dress shoes.” He gestured at Grimm’s shoes again.
“Not sure my boss would be keen, considering I just moved here a few months ago.”
“Say yes, and let me worry about it.” This time a long sip of coffee as hold music drifted out of his phone.
“Sure.” Grimm stared at his shoes.
Lanton placed the phone back to his ear, smiling. After a few minutes, a female’s voice answered. He spoke with authority, saying what he needed. He paused for a second, placing his hand over the mouthpiece of his phone. “What’s your captain’s name again?”
“Kidd.”
Lanton snorted. “No joke?”
“No, why?”
“You are so young and unaware.” Lanton chuckled and returned to his phone. After a short conversation, he hung up. “Meat wagon is on its way. I’m overriding the need for a medical examiner.”
Grimm breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” His phone began to ring. “Hello? Yes. What? No, sir. Yes, sir. Is Captain Kidd someone famous, sir? No, sir, I am not trying to be funny. Understood sir.”
Lanton watched it all with a smirk. When Grimm hung up he took a sip of coffee, arching his brow.
Grimm looked at his phone for a moment. Perhaps wondering if he should dial the operator and get him out of the Matrix. “I’ve been reassigned to you, effective immediately.”
“Welcome aboard, ya scurvy dog.” Lanton chuckled.
“Damn, man. You’ve got some serious pull now.”
Lanton shook his head. “It’s not that. This city is bleeding to death, and they’ve decided you are the tampon they are going to stick in one of the bullet wounds.”
“That is both uninspiring and surprisingly graphic.”
Lanton laughed. “No weak bellies at sea, ya bilge rat.”
Grimm frowned at him. “What’s with the sudden pir-“ He froze mid-word.
To Lanton, it reminded him of when he watched a movie and someone hit pause. The man stood there, gesturing with mouth open and eyes in that weird way you get when you talk. He had begun to wonder if whatever had happened had only effected Grimm when he noticed a cat in the kitchen leaping from table to counter, caught mid-air. There it floated, unmoving.
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nbsp; Lanton went to say something when the sound of something metallic slamming caught his attention. From outside he heard a weird clicking noise that sent shivers up his spine. The clicking moved inside the building, then began to move up the stairs toward the open door. Lanton thought about calling out, but something in his gut told him to remain as still as possible. He moved to a position that he thought he could hold for a long period of time that looked natural. He tried to make it look as if he had been caught listening to Grimm.
It came around the corner with a fluidity that made Lanton’s skin crawl. The thing had somewhat humanoid proportions. To Lanton, it looked like a large gray hound that had been built upside down. At first blush, the thing looked like it might have been made of fake gray rubber like they used in alien hoaxes. Lanton wasn’t sure if the thing wore a weird suit, or that was its skin. As it slinked across the front room, angling closer to Lanton, he started to notice coarse black hair all along the things grotesque legs. The hind legs were beefier, much like you would see on a horse. Only at the knees, the leg divided into two parts, twisting down into four different misshapen hooves. The front legs, or arms, as Lanton wasn’t sure the thing wasn’t just walking on its hands, was malformed in the same way. Thick upper arms divided into two sections at the elbows twisting into gnarled claws. It was these claws that clicked on the tile as it moved. Its large head resembled that of a hairless, bear, but twisted upside down. Two big round black eyes blinked below a snarling mouth. What was left of the nose looked like it had been bashed with some form of weapon, leaving a wet gash in the center of its face.
It looked around the room for a few moments, regarding each living thing in turn before turning its massive head. “Safe.” The word fell from its upside down mouth like verbal drool.
Another smaller version of the same monstrosity slinked into the room, peering around from behind the larger one. Besides the size difference, Lanton noticed that this one had some metal clasp around one of its foremost front wrists. Wires led from it into the gray skin just below the elbow, where Lanton could see them continue just under the skin into the things thick neck. “Sure?”
“Hurry,” the larger one said.
With that, the smaller creature sprinted to the back room, head swiveling back and forth at anything and everything. After a few tense moments, it returned. In front of it floated the body of the dead man as if held aloft by unseen hands. It held the wrist with the metal device out before it, pointing it at the floating corpse. Still, its head tried its best to see as much of the room as it could with every step. Once it got into the room, it moved toward the open door.
They were stealing the corpse.
The small one stopped abruptly. Its bulbous eyes swiveled to stare at Lanton.
Inwardly, Lanton began to freak out. Had he done something to reveal that he was not frozen like the rest of the room? He hadn’t decided if they had frozen time or just the living creatures in the room. Perhaps it wasn’t just the room. Perhaps in rooms all through the apartment people were frozen mid-action.
The corpse of the once invisible man dropped to the ground with a solid thump.
“Get.” The large one demanded, one curling and uncurling claw gesturing to the body.
The small one skittered across the room, not coming at Lanton directly, but around the side, to clamor to the top of a Lazy Boy, its head half a foot away from Lanton’s hand. “Smoke.” The small one appeared to gesture at Lanton’s coffee.
Steam drifted up from the small hole in the lip.
“Get.” The larger one issued a growl that sounded like angry bumblebees.
“Smoke.” The smaller one repeated. It skittered over so it was staring at Grimm’s coffee. “No smoke.”
“In hurry.” The larger one had not moved from its spot.
Again the smaller one skittered back to look at Lanton’s hand. “Smoke.” Then it rotated it’s freakish head slowly so that it looked at Lanton. He could see the tendon’s in the things neck bulge as it rotated to an odd angle to stare at him with all black eyes. It gave a shrill whine and darted across the room, slipping behind both the larger one and the body. “Breathes.” The noise it made sounded much like a dog that had been kicked too many times.
This time the larger one moved. It lumbered over, moving to stand on the chair, but thought better when it began to topple. Stepping back so the chair righted itself, it stared at Lanton. “Get,” it said again.
The smaller one pointed its wrist at the body, still whimpering. Once more the corpse rose into the air like a magic trick performed in the grand halls of Las Vegas. The smaller one escorted the floating body out the door, moving much quicker than it had before.
The whole time the larger one watched Lanton as if waiting for one move to give him away. The shoulder’s on the huge creature bunched and flexed as if the thing prepared to pounce. From below came the strange metallic noise again. The large one leaned close, giving a short snort. The foul odor of rancid meat and something like copper filled Lanton’s nose. Then it bound off out the door and down the steps.
“Rat jokes,” Grimm finished.
Behind him, the cat landed safely on the counter top.
“Jesus, man. What is that smell?”
Lanton let out a long breath and staggered back to lean against the wall. “Oh man.” No other words formed in Lanton’s mind. His heartbeat pounded in his ears.
“You okay? You don’t look very good.” Grimm leaned in. “That smell coming from you?” He stepped back. “Let me get you a glass of water or something.” He moved away, slipping around the corner to head to either the kitchen or the bathroom.
Lanton rested his hands on his knees as he leaned over. He tried to focus his mind to control his breathing. He had never been so afraid in his life. He knew now, without a shadow of a doubt that he had signed on for far more than he had ever expected.
Grimm yelled from somewhere near the back of the apartment. “WHERE THE FUCK IS THE DEAD GUY?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Hot Dogs and Gun Powder
Natasha Serafima had decided early on that she was destined to be someone’s lackey. While others would find this mindset troubling, it made a great deal of sense. Though she could not remember the book, she remembered reading about a wizard who had been counsel to a great king. As the book went on, you learned that the king had been nothing more than a puppet in the hands of the wizard. The true power had been in the shadows, while the king became the lightening rod for any ill will the choices of the wizard might make. In the end, the king died a horrid death, and when the new king arose to power, they chose the wizard as their counsel. The cycle renewed.
“The king is dead. Long live the king.” Delta smiled at her reflection in the bus window as downtown streets slipped by beyond.
“Pardon?” A young man leaned in, a slow smile spreading across handsome lips.
Delta smiled and wondered what this young man might think of her if he knew the truth. That Delta was one of six entities that had come from the woman Natasha Serafima. That she was the fourth in line and had already died on an overpass not even a month passed. She gave him a coy smile on her thin lips. To her, she looked near starved, but to men, she had the frail thin beauty that most sought after. “Just thinking about how the more things change, the more they stay the same.” She gave a bubbling laugh and laid a slender hand on his muscular shoulder.
“Don’t I know it?” His eye’s twitched toward the hand, his smile broadening.
Delta doubted that he knew it. She doubted that this young man had known much strife in his life. Doubted that he had been betrayed as many times as Delta and henchwomen sisters. Doubted that he had been killed in horrible ways, only to rise again. “Where you headed?”
He gave a pursed expression that made the struggling blonde mustache stand out in disheveled directions. “I have to go to the courthouse. Gotta pay a fine.”
Delta smiled and nodded. “We all have to pay to be fine, honey.” S
he gave another bubbly laugh, but let it fall short as she worked on making her eyes glaze over. Couldn’t play it too smart. Too smart and the boys go running, her momma had always said. And if that wasn’t the gospel, she would never know Jesus. “Oh dearie. I think I missed my stop.” She rose, sliding over the young man with her long pink dress that had been cut on the side enough to peek at slender legs in stockings. It was all second-hand clothes, but they were nice nonetheless.
“Shame.” The young man fumbled between leaning in and leaning back, his charm failing as the timetable was upset. “Sure you won’t accompany me to the courthouse? Might be you are good luck.”
Delta gave a smile that showed near perfect teeth. “Honey. The kind of luck I bring the devil don’t want.” She gave him a wink and made for the front of the bus. Once again, she admired herself in the reflection of the glass. Hair done up right, soft blond curls falling around her narrow face. She had even added a pink bow over a French braid. Beta had mocked her choices, spending money they didn’t have on such frivolities, but Delta would have none of it.
Today had to be perfect.
Delta slipped off the bus, landing with skill on heels she had bought that very morning. The midmorning sun kissed her face as strangers wandered by with collars up and mist rising from between the flaps. She walked with a slow pace past cars that still had frost around the edges and steam rose in billowing clouds from the steel grates over the sidewalk. She was headed to the courthouse too, but she did not want the young man to serve as a distraction for what had to happen. She stopped at a hot dog vendor who had been rubbing his hands together and eyeing his phone, a single bud in one ear. She opened a tan leather wallet and found the face of the young bus rider staring back at her. “Oh, Jeremy. I fear your trip to the courthouse will just be the start of your bad day.” She fished out a couple of dollars and handed them to the vendor. “Two with the kitchen sink.”
The vendor said nothing, but his wandering eyes hinted at a question.
“It’s my cheat day,” she explained. “Whatcha watching?” She tried for a pretty smile, but she could tell her gluttony had turned the man’s attention sour.