Minutes to Midnight

by Phaedra Weldon

  I held out my hands. "So how would this red head know about the Faerie Blood?"

  Mike snapped his fingers. "The cemetery. Darren, the night we were attacked by the Zombies—Lamias—you said you thought you were bitten by a vampire."

  " 'Sshh…just relax, Guardian. It's not your time to die. I haven't even started with you yet.' " I repeated it verbatim. "That's what the voice said before I blacked out.

  Raven's eyes went dark and her features shifted enough to warn me Nyx was in the front. When she spoke I heard the duel voices. "And you felt a bite at your neck?"

  "Yes."

  "If you weren't weak and hadn't already lost blood, I would suggest I take a sip myself just to find that memory."

  I put my hand to my neck. Yeah…I was a little happy I wasn't a healthy snack. Last time she took a sip I woke up on my back.

  Mike rubbed his eyes. "We have to come at this logically I think. The blonde Revenant apparently wants this Coyote Flame built to the Peripheral. Why? Savannah would become ground zero for all kinds of shit coming through. Neither the Angels or the Demons want this since they don't even talk about the Peripheral. So why did this other Revenant—if she is a Revenant—give Jack Klinsky the knowledge to actually hold Dags and then tell him he can astrally cut the Grimoire out?"

  Illy spoke up. Her voice caught everyone's attention because she'd been sitting there quietly the whole time turning pages in the BBOE. "Two camps. Or it sounds like two camps to me."

  All eyes turned to Illy. I tilted my head toward my left shoulder and looked at her. "You mean they're working against one another?"

  "In a manner of speaking. You've got one that wants to free the Peripheral World, and the other wants the book destroyed. So…think back to where these two camps would come from."

  I stared at the table as I mentally went back over everything I'd learned from Jason, Nona and Manuel. "It's not the Abysmal or the Ethereal. I mean Dark or Light. They don't want the Peripheral free and they don't want the book destroyed."

  "Logically," Illy said. "I'd start looking at the Peripheral World. I think the thing or Revenant you're looking for is from there. Why else would they want it free and open?"

  Raven frowned and her eyes were no longer black, but brown. Her voice was her own again as well. "But this is a Revenant…which means it's a First Born. As far as I can remember there weren't any of Samael's children in the Peripheral. Not before it was created, not after and not when it was sealed by the Council."

  I was happy I knew what Council she was talking about, thanks to the BBOE. "Not a lot of things in the Peripheral can escape there without overshadowing, because once in this world they'll turn to ash, like the Faerie, or they'll cease to exist, right?"

  Raven nodded. "That's common knowledge to anyone that remembers the 'Pheral."

  "Then maybe this is a different kind of Revenant. Same principle your kind use, Nyx. But a very different kind of bond?" I searched her face. "Maybe this is why this Revenant seems sort of…crazy?"

  Mike pushed his chair back. "I don't like the way this is starting to sound. You're saying we've got another kind of vampire out there—only this one's from the 'Pheral."

  "It could be." Raven looked at him. "Anything is possible. And if it did escape by bonding with a human and there are more of its kind in the 'Pheral, then it could want such a door to open. Centuries of being locked in a ruined world could drive anyone mad."

  I held up a hand. "So we have a theory on the Revenant—but what about the woman that told Kinsky about the Faerie blood?"

  No one spoke up. Great.

  Mike stood. "I say we head to the cemetery. Take a look around and see if the Lamias come back. If they do we know the Ghoul's there. We take the Ghoul and find the Revenant." He looked at Illy. "Any more mutilated bodies?"

  She got out of her chair and pulled her phone from her bag. A few swipes of her finger. "No…not since the last one the police didn't release. Your vampire hasn't sent out its Renfields to kill anyone else yet for the Chatham Square."

  I grinned at her. Vampires and Renfields. I liked that. "And if that doesn't work, we find Thomas and hall ass back to the Peripheral through the Cairn? We have to get to Stella, guys. She's been in there over a week." I hoped the time thing worked in her favor, since time there ran quicker than here. For us it was a week, but hopefully for her it would be less than a day.

  I stood up and pushed my chair back. "Let's go."

  Mike looked as if his patience was gone. "Dags, I'd feel better if you stayed here and got some sleep."

  "I'm not going to sleep if you don't take me. Besides, you need me as bait, right?" I yawned. "I'll just take a quick nap in the car."

  Mike rubbed his face. "All right. Illy, you stay here, man the post in case we come back hot. The rest of you, let's go."

  Before I left the living room, Illy grabbed my arms and hugged me tight. I returned the hug, harder and full of need. I forgot how much I craved human contact. I'd felt isolated for so long.

  "Come on. We have work to do." Raven grabbed her bag and moved to the living room.

  "Hey, you got a sandwich in that bag of holding?"

  A NEW BODY

  The moment we got in the car, I went out in the back seat. Nap time!

  Hero, yes I am.

  So when I woke up, I was a little confused and disoriented. The car wasn't moving and I didn't sense anyone around. I was alone. I was stiff and cold and cramped as I unfolded myself in the back of Raven's Mercedes. Someone had covered me in a blanket and removed my shoes. Did they hide them? I wasn't about to let the lack of shoes deter me from following them. And what was up with that? Leaving me by myself in the back of a car in a cemetery? Especially after all that talk about crazy Revenants.

  Once again silently thanking Raven for finding my phone and wallet in Klinsky's house, I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and stared blearily at the face. I freaked. It was after ten?! Seriously? So…where were they?

  That question took on a much more ominous tone when I remembered that Bonaventure closed at 4:30.

  We were way beyond that.

  I took a long look at the cemetery around the car. I'd been asleep when we drove in so I wasn't sure where the car was. I spotted the large Celtic cross I'd smacked that night while dodging Lamias so I knew we were close to the cemetery's official entrance.

  My boots were shoved under the front passenger seat. I pulled them on before I grabbed my phone again and looked for any messages from Mike. Nothing, though I had a few missed calls from a number that didn't look familiar. I touched the screen and pressed the dial symbol for Mike's number as I got out of the car. I could hear the hiss of traffic along Liberty Avenue nearby, but other than that, nothing.

  I left him a brief message and hung up. Looking around the inside of the car, I didn't see a flashlight. And though I could use the flashlight app on my phone, I didn't want to run the battery down. I'd had enough sleep for a good recharge, so making a light shouldn't actually tax the juice. And besides, the noises my stomach was making should frighten anything away.

  Standing in the dark under a starry sky, I held out my left hand. "Immaru."

  A firefly appeared inches above my palm and grew into a small glowing sun the size of a chicken egg. It didn't give off any heat and it wouldn't burn anything it touched. I blew on it and tiny wings moved it to a place above my head. It would stay there and light the path. I could also douse it with a single word as well if I heard something. It would be better to not have a light—that way anything bent on doing me harm would see me. But there were too many clouds over the moon and I couldn't see a damn thing. And besides…wasn't I supposed to be the bait to lure the Lamias?

  I felt like a walking beacon of I'm right here! as I walked with the light hanging over me. I retraced my path to the last place I'd fought the Lamias, figuring that's where Mike would have taken Raven.

  Was I nervous? Yes. Scared? Terrified. Mike and Raven left me in the car and never cam
e back, and I couldn't think of any reason they'd have stayed in the cemetery this long unless something happened.

  All kinds of horrible images played out in my head of what I was going to find. And a mutilated or half-eaten Mike was the worst. I wasn't as worried about Raven. She was a Revenant, and they don't go down easy. Mike was just human. And he'd been a friend when I really didn't think I had any left. So if I got him killed looking into shit that was all my doing, I wasn't going to forgive myself easily.

  My little sun illuminated stone angels and cast shadows of crosses on the path. I moved around the back toward the shore where we first encountered the zombies.

  "Mike?" I hissed, and felt stupid for doing it. But I didn't have people-dar. I couldn't see or sense warm bodies like a thermal imager. I was pretty sure I was close by, if not standing in the middle of, where the zombies dragged me before I blasted them. The little sun positioned itself in the best possible way to avoid shadows. They were still there, though, just beyond the perimeter of the light. I stood in front of a plot with several large headstones. To the right stood a five-foot-high cross, its thick white concrete glowing beneath the tiny sun. To the right was a slab protecting a grave. The engraved lettering was so weatherworn I couldn't make it out.

  Just behind that stood a monolithic archway built of two Roman columns and a half circle to top it off. The concrete was worn with streaks and a bit of mildew and algae. The air within the arch wavered. Not real obvious, and if I hadn't have been trying to see the statue on the other side of the monument through the arch, I probably wouldn't have noticed it.

  I wasn't real sure, but I'd have bet my ass I was looking at a gate of some kind. Not a Cairn, or a Coyote Flame, but a door between this World and another one. But which?

  With the sword held up in my hands a spell on the tip of my tongue ready to blast even a squirrel out of my way if it said "Boo," I took the few steps from the slab to the arch and saw one of Raven's boots. There was no mistaking it. I'd admired the way they'd hugged her calves when she changed out of her gi. I moved it with the sword tip. That's when I noticed the bones, bits and pieces of what looked like flesh, and a lot of brown streaks and smudges that was probably blood.

  What turned my stomach and made my hackles rise (yes, I have hackles) was that under my small sun the blood looked fresh enough to possibly be—

  A branch snapped behind me, just outside the circle of light overhead. How cliché was that? I didn't have time to wonder as a tall figure stepped into the light. The angle of the small sun overhead cast deep, dark, long shadows on the features of the man as he moved to the other edge of the slab. He looked maybe thirty? Light blue work shirt with white cuffs, expensively cut pants, no shoes, and no tie. He didn't have much of a neck because someone had taken a nasty bite out of it. His skin was bone white, much like a corpse. He had a long steel pipe in one hand and he stood very still, smacking it rhythmically against his other hand.

  Zombie.

  No…Lamia.

  I turned and held the sword out in front of me, the spell for fire on the tip of my tongue. Hopefully the shadows hid how fast my knees were knocking. "Where are Raven and Mike? Did you kill them?" I didn't really expect him to answer.

  When he did actually speak, my heart dropped into my toes. "No, I didn't kill them, Guardian. They followed me home." He smiled, showing blackening gums. "I showed them a good time."

  I knew that voice. It was like Officer Jones's voice. I re-steadied my feet, the arch behind me. "So you found a new body, Rippin' Ja—. Have to commend you on discovering reverse evolution."

  "You're good at spotting me now. I'm assuming that Revenant bitch told you what I am."

  "Yep. And for my first wish, I'd like Mike, Raven, and Stella returned."

  "Doesn't work that way, Guardian. I don't grant wishes. You pay for them."

  I glanced back at the arch and the wavering air between the columns. "So…Djins can create a gate between worlds?" It was just a guess on my part.

  The zombie nodded and I was a little afraid he was gonna nod his head right off. "In a manner of speaking."

  "So how come you never made one and got out of the Peripheral?"

  He growled…sort of. "We can't make them there—only here. It's why the Seraphim and Phantasm locked us in the Peripheral. Ours is a power they cannot control."

  Well, that explained how he'd brought me into the Peripheral in that alley. "So tell me…if you can create that kind of gate, why wouldn't the one who hired you just use your power to make a permanent one?"

  "Because it doesn't work that way. Our gates can't be made permanent, and they can't be controlled by any other creature but the Djin who made them." He stopped and what was left of the muscles and flesh over his eyes narrowed. "Damn you, Guardian! You made me tell a truth!"

  Bully for me? "So your employer wants a gate she can control herself."

  "You're getting there." He swung the pipe around and I took a step back. I wasn't exactly in the best position to carry out a fight in such a visually small place. The cross to my right wasn't big enough to hide behind, and I didn't want to go through that gate.

  Gabriel's threat rang in my ears. If you so much as put another foot into that place, I will hurt her…

  And that was something I couldn't let happen. Ever.

  I couldn't just sneak in there to pull Stella and the others out. That damned Cherubim had known I'd been in there before; she would know if I went back in again. So I had to think through a different plan.

  "Why does your employer want me?"

  "Can't tell you that. Won't tell you that."

  "All right. Fair enough. What's the price for getting my own wish fulfilled?"

  The question appeared to confuse him. "You can't. One job at a time."

  "So if you had me, then you'd be done with this one?"

  "Yes. But you'd have to be in chains. That was part of the hire."

  Chains? Again? I thought back to the handcuffs he'd wanted me to put on before. "Steel chains?"

  "Not anymore. They're iron now."

  Shit. So Ripp'n Ja— 's employer did know about the Faerie Blood. I still wasn't sure those bars in Jack's basement had had any influence on my inability to focus while behind them, but I didn't want to take a chance either.

  But I still wanted to know why. Why would a Revenant—any kind of Revenant—want me?

  "And the price for the hire?"

  "My name, Guardian, you have to know my—"

  I made a huge guess. "Rippin' Jack."

  The zombie slash Djin stopped swinging the pipe around. In fact, he went as solid as a stone for a few beats. I took that opportunity to move around the arch and stand behind it. That way we were looking at each other between the two columns. I didn't know how long he'd be rebooting—'cause that's what it looked like he was doing—but I wanted to be out of pipe-swinging range.

  In hindsight, though…I should have blasted him. Shot the Djin right out of the zombie's body.

  Dammit.

  That's why I needed Mike back. He was so much better at thinking on his feet. My thoughts always got tangled around my tongue.

  The zombie abruptly moved again, and when he didn't see me right away, he made a full turn. "Guardian!"

  Wait… maybe he couldn't see me. I hadn't read everything in the Big Book of Everything about Djins, but I wondered how much of their host controlled their physical senses. Ole Rippin' Jack was in a dying, decaying body. So, maybe he couldn't see me as well. And if the light was out… I lifted my hand and whispered, "Etu."

  The light winked out.

  "Guardian!" Now he was pissed, and started swinging that pipe at everything. He took off the top of the cross and then pulverized a short palm-tree-looking plant.

  I crouched down and started to move back out of the way just as a hand slapped over my mouth from behind and arms of steel pinned my own to my side. I struggled as they dragged me into a nearby shadow.

  This really wasn't my day.
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br />   STONE GHOUL

  There are a lot of things I remember about my childhood. But the most poignant memory, the one that changed the course of my life, was burying myself in the hollow of an old oak I used to call Grandmama. There are certain points of that memory that are sharper than others. The feel of the moss growing inside that trunk, soft and spongy. The feel of the bark as it scraped my arm (I still have a scar). And the overwhelming feeling of helplessness when the tree folded in and swallowed me alive.

  That was the feeling I identified with the most as whatever held me pulled me under a bush and dragged me into an open mausoleum.

  I heard my captor breathing, and felt breasts heave against my back where she held me against her, a hand still over my mouth, her other arm around my chest and arms. "Mooareooh?"

  "Oh, sorry." She removed her hand and let me go. The mausoleum was small, no more than a ten-by-ten. Two walls for coffins on either side, times two each. That left a long, narrow space between the two.

  I bumped her as I tried to move away. "I said, who are you?" I couldn't make out anything more than a shadow in the mausoleum. And something smelled awful. "Let me make a little light."

  "No!" She hissed and a hand grabbed at my wrist. I might be able to see but apparently she could see me just fine. "No light or it'll see us."

  She had a death grip on me and I tried to pull back. She was freak'n strong. "Ow…can you let go? I don't think he can see that great while in that body."

  The pressure on my wrist released but she didn't let go. "So you know what it is. You know it's not a real Lamia?"

  "It's a Lamia possessed by something else." I pulled at my arm. "Can you let go and please tell me who you are?" Whatever I was smelling was getting worse. It reminded me of raw meat left in a trash can overnight, or the alley behind a restaurant. "I'll ask again; Who are you?"

  She didn't let go. "I'm…I used to work for the Society of Ishmael. You and I met once…but it I doubt you'd remember me."