by Jenny Allen
Goditha would have recent blood samples. Miriah and Malachi were trying somewhat unsuccessfully to get pregnant, so they would have gone to the lab for a full work up. Maybe Chance could grab their samples while he was there. Whatever this unknown viral infection was, she needed to get to the bottom of it and fast. Talk about inconvenient timing.
“There’s a lab down in the shipyard district called Bellum Sacrum. It’s one of our top security labs. Have the coroner send the samples there with the orders for high level quarantine. Is the body still there?”
Nicci scrolled down the screen. “Looks like they cremated it as soon as the corner found the abnormality, just to be safe.”
“Good. One less thing to worry about.” She had too many as it was. Cohen’s family was looming over them, they had some mystery killers on their trail, and they still hadn’t figured out who tried to turn Cohen and her into Swiss cheese. Now they had some impossible virus in the mix. When it rains, it pours, or in this case it was more like the apocalyptic, water-based punishment of the lord.
“I’ll put in the order. Can you leave the check stubs with me? I’ll start trying to track down the company. Like I said, it could take quite a while. Why don’t you and your pals head home for the night. I’ll call you first thing in the morning with anything I’ve found.”
“Thank you, Nicci and I’m sorry about Cohen and Timothy. Men.”
Nicci chuckled and just shook her head. “Oh don’t apologize. I’ve been a cop long enough to know how they are. Ya just can’t let ‘em get a rise out of you.”
“Easier said than done, especially with Cohen. He has a real talent for finding buttons you didn’t even know you had and hitting them with a nuclear warhead.”
“Fun times! I’m guessing you’ve launched some missiles of your own?” Nicci flashed a conspiratorial smile and nudged Lilith’s arm.
A Cheshire cat grin crossed Lilith’s lips and Nicci started laughing whole heartedly. “I’ve had my fair share.”
Chapter 19
The one drawback to keeping Cohen in the dark about Chance’s departure was the hotel room. Lilith and Timothy stood in the doorway of their room, staring at the single Queen sized bed in the center.
“Well, at least there’s a couch. Beats sleeping on the floor.” Timothy rubbed his clean shaven chin and tossed his duffel on the khaki couch. It was quite stylish but it looked like it had as much padding as a park bench. Under other circumstances she might have done the courteous thing and slept on the couch, but after the last night’s catastrophe, she needed any bit of comfort she could find, even if it was just a 10 year old, cheap, hotel mattress.
“Sorry, Tim. I couldn’t tell Cohen and…” She hesitated not really knowing how to explain or if she even wanted to.
“And Cohen assumed that you and Chance just needed the one?” Tim just finished the sentence for her. “Hey, what you two do is your own business. I just thought you were smarter than that.”
Timothy turned around to see the puzzled and offended look on Lilith’s face. He let out a sigh and rubbed at his thick square jaw again. “Sorry. It’s not my business and not what I’m here for.”
“We are gonna be bunking and working together, so just go ahead and say your piece. I’d rather not have it looming like the 2 ton elephant in the room.” She knew what he was going to say. Chance had a colorful history, he changed girls like he changed boxers, blah, blah, blah. She had no plan to get defensive and try to convince Timothy that he was completely wrong. She just wanted him to get it out of his system.
“Look, Chance spent more time with Gregor than any of us and because of that, spent more time with you. Most of the guys just see him as a player, a different girl each week, but I knew better. I may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but I knew he had his heart set on someone else. Always had.”
Well this was definitely not how she saw the conversation going. Lilith absently sat down on the bed, honestly curious about where this was going.
“He’s never been in a relationship. It’s all a fantasy that he’s been building and building for years. What happens when this case ends? When it’s just the normal day to day?”
Lilith couldn’t help but laugh, not because he was wrong necessarily, but because he was the last person she expected to hear it from. “Sweet Jesus, Tim. Have you been spending all your mornings watching the Steve Harvey Show or is it Oprah?”
“Hey you told me to spit it out so I did. Take it or leave it.” He shrugged his muscular shoulders, refusing to rise to the bait. “Chance doesn’t let many people know it, but he’s a great guy.”
All the humor left her face as she read Timothy’s. Behind everything was something very simple. He was protecting his friend. “I know he is Tim. I’d do anything to keep him safe. As for the rest, they are the same problems everyone faces.”
Tim nodded thoughtfully, apparently satisfied with her answers. “I’m gonna head to the lobby for a bit if you’ll be all right here. I need to make a couple calls.” Everything in his face said he had one important call to make, to a girl. No not a girl, but someone he loved, just in a different way. Mother? Sister? Had to be one of those.
“Of course. I’ll be fine. I have a call to make myself.”
They shared a hesitantly friendly smile before Timothy walked out the door. She never realized that Chance and Timothy were close enough to warrant grilling the new girl. It was sweet and unexpected. A bright moment of normality in the tsunami of chaos that had become her life.
Her burner phone rang, knocking her right out of her thoughts. After a few seconds of wrestling with her pocket, she slid her finger across the screen. She glanced at the number before putting it to her ear, but didn’t recognize it. Of course, she didn’t really recognize any of them. No one memorized phone numbers anymore. That’s what contact lists were for.
“Lily?” The Cajun flecked voice warmed Lilith right down to her toes.
“Were your ears burning?” She couldn’t help but laugh at the coincidence.
“Talking about me, huh?” His tone was hesitant, as if he didn’t know if it was good or bad.
“More like Timothy questioning my intentions.”
“What?” His rich, velvety laughter felt like a plush blanket, even over the crackly speaker of a cheap phone.
“Yeah. I never realized you two were so buddy-buddy.”
“He helps out with the kids at the gym every other weekend. Shared a few beers now and then. So how did Cohen take it? Figured I better make sure you’re ok.” There was a lot more he wanted to say. She could hear it in his voice but he was purposefully trying to keep things light and she definitely appreciated it.
“Oh he was pissed. He’s pouting in his room right now, but at least he didn’t go completely ballistic. You know, I was just about to call you.”
“Oh? Miss me already?” She could hear his grin over the phone.
“Maybe.” There was a seductive tease in her tone that felt so familiar. It was like she’d found her balance again. Ever since that night in Chance’s apartment when Peisinoe made her big debut, she had been off center, uneasy.
“Oh you know you do.” The slight growl in his rich voice made her shiver. She could just talk like this to him all night, but she didn’t have all night. In fact, she didn’t know how long she had before Timothy came back and she needed to tell Chance about Malachi without an audience. “But that’s probably not why you were gonna call. So what’s up?” Another psychic moment.
“I met with Nicci, my new partner. She’s gonna run down some info on those check stubs. The more interesting part of the night though, is what she wanted to share with me. There was an impossible abnormality on Malachi’s autopsy report and I need to check it out. I’m sure that Miriah and Malachi had blood samples at Goditha. While you’re down there could you request them for me? I have to make sure this was just a fluke mistake, because if not…”
“What is it, Cherie?”
Lilith released a sig
h as she tried to keep her mind from railing through the implications. “The ME reported that Malachi had an unknown viral infection.”
“That has to be a mistake, Lily. There’s no way that could be true. I’ll grab the samples for you though, don’t worry.” After a hesitant moment of silence, he continued but his voice wasn’t as confident as it had been a few seconds ago. “So, how are you doing?”
“I’m fine. Well, I mean as fine as I can be under the circumstances. Just be safe and get your ass back here as fast as you can.”
“Call me if you catch a break, okay? Love you, Cher.” The line went dead before she could respond. The words just hung in the air, leaving a smile on her face and panic in her chest.
* * *
A crack of thunder shook the dark room, startling Lilith right out of a deep sleep. She laid there, sightless in the inky blackness, her heart racing impossibly fast. As the blood pounding in her ears started to subside, she heard muffled voices outside the room. She couldn’t imagine Timothy and Cohen hanging out, so who was talking?
Lilith swung her feet off the bed and scooted to the edge. When her toes touched the ground, she jerked back. Why was the floor wet? She squinted her eyes, trying to garner every stray bit of light she could, but with the curtains drawn, it was impossibly dark.
She steeled herself and forced her feet onto the floor and into the cool liquid. As she pushed off the bed and stumbled forward, she realized the liquid was thicker than water and tacky. What the hell?
Dread started to well up in her chest and the familiar coppery scent confirmed her fears. Blood. But who’s blood? Where was Timothy? Was he one of the voices outside? If something had happened to cause this much blood loss, how had it not woken her up? And if the danger had passed, why wouldn’t Timothy wake her up? None of it made any sense.
“Timothy?” She called out nervously. Lilith tensed with a frown on her face, straining to hear some kind of response, but the deathly silence surrounded her broken only by the whispering voices. Lilith’s skin prickled, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck rising. Something was definitely not right.
Lilith inched her way forward, using the hushed voices as a compass, her hands out in front of her waiting to touch the door. Timothy had to be out there. She tried to ignore the soggy carpet squishing between her bare toes. Focus. She couldn’t panic. Not yet.
Her fingertips hit the wall and she started feeling along it for a light switch, a door knob, anything that would help. Her trepidation started to turn frantic as her fingers traversed an apparently smooth, blank wall. Did she get turned around in the dark? Was this an interior wall? If so, the voices could just be her neighbors next door. She knew Cohen didn’t have an adjoining room. He was in the room across the hall, so it couldn’t be him.
Lilith tried to bottle her rising anxiety as she continued to follow the wall. If she could find the corner, she could work her way to the door, but the wall just kept going. The hotel room wasn’t this big. Her heart started beating furiously again, like a rabbit in a cage. She was losing her tenuous control. Where the hell was she?
A screeching cry of pain sounded right over her shoulder and she whirled toward it. Her hands shot out, halfway between a punch and a grasp but only hit air, sending her stumbling forward. She lost her balance and landed palms first on the soggy carpet. Her nostrils filled with the acrid scent of old blood, making her choke.
Lilith’s eyes were wide with blind panic as she started crawling, clawing forward. The feverish mumuring voices surrounded her like a whirlwind, her auburn curls blowing into her face. She couldn’t understand what they were saying but they were getting louder and louder.
Finally she saw the flicker of a light ahead and a huge well of hope sprung in her chest so deep that it brought tears to her eyes. She pushed herself to her feet and ran full out toward it. She blocked out the wet carpet, her blood soaked jeans, the creepy whispering voices. She just needed to reach the light.
A cold hand snatched her ankle and slammed her down to the ground with a brutal force. Lilith’s cheek collided with the wet floor so hard that a blinding pain split through her skull. For a few crucial seconds, she was dazed, fighting the drowsiness. Then everything snapped into clarity and she kicked with all her might. Sharp nails raked over her skin leaving bloody furrows in their wake.
One final kick at the empty air and then Lilith pushed off again like a rocket. She had to get to that light. She slipped and skidded on shaky legs, but finally stumbled into the light. She collapsed against the wall, fighting for breath as her head pounded furiously.
Lilith closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall, drinking in the warmth and safety of the light. The whispers had stopped, nothing grabbed for her. She was okay. Slowly, her pulse began to lower and her panting breaths became less desperate.
Lilith rolled her head toward the light source and hesitantly opened her eyes. It was an ordinary office room in neutral beiges and browns. Something nagged at the back of her mind, but she shoved it down, too engrossed in the relief of escaping the nightmarish darkness.
She stumbled into the room, shielding her sensitive eyes against the harsh fluorescent lights. As soon as she cleared the threshold, the door slammed behind her. Lilith spun and clawed at the plain wooden door, but there was no handle and no matter how hard she shoved, it wouldn’t budge. Alarm bells started ringing down her nerves.
Where was she? How had they gotten past Timothy? Was he dead? Had they drugged her? She didn’t really feel sluggish or dizzy, at least nothing like a tranquilizer hangover. A soft sigh of breath echoed off the walls from the far side of the room. Her eyes darted in its direction but there were tables and chairs obstructing her view.
Hesitantly, she moved toward the sound, hugging the wall as she went. Her eyes were fixed on the spot, knowing she wasn’t going to like what she was about to see, but she still couldn’t look away. She had to know.
One by one the tables moved out of her field of vision until her eyes caught on a form slumped against the wall. That’s when the smell hit her like a punch to the gut. She doubled over, gagging on the smell of rot. Struggling to breathe through her mouth, she forced her eyes back to the body. A thick splatter covered the wall behind it, blood, brain matter and bone fragments.
Horror clenched her entire body in its iron fist as realization dawned on her. No. Her brain refused to accept it, forcing her to look closer, to prove it wasn’t true. The need propelled her forward on shaking legs, closer and closer.
She stared down at her father’s face, pale and jaundice from decomp, the angry bullet hole dark and crusty. A wave of nausea more intense than anything she’d ever felt sent her down to her knees. She coughed and gagged as tears erupted down her cheeks. Farren, the council. They must have found out about Chance. Oh god. Chance!
“Where is he, you emotional bottom-feeders?!?” Lilith screamed at the ceiling with all the rage burning in her gut as she sprung to her feet.
Her only answer was the whir of the air conditioning. To hell with this. Lilith ran for the door opposite from the one she’d entered through and slammed her whole body against it in one desperate move. The door collapsed and she collided violently with the floor. It was dark, but not the inky blackness of the blood soaked room. She could see shapes, more office furniture and a door in the far wall.
She was just about to sprint for it when a painful shriek split through the air, sending her back to her knees. Lilith covered her ears but the melodic shriek just got louder and louder. Please no. She knew that sound. The siren, the chanteur d'âme, as Cohen called her. Her heart plummeted in her chest like a lead weight.
She had to find Chance now, before it was too late. Lilith fought hard against the screams splitting her skull and stumbled further into the dim room. Something grabbed at her ankle, but she just kept moving. The smell of death and decay was so thick that Lilith choked on every painful breath. Another hand on her wrist. It felt wet and slimy against her skin, but s
he ignored it and just kept moving.
There was another door up ahead, she could see its outline. More hands clamped around her legs like iron, nails biting into her skin. She struggled desperately, clawing at the carpet, kicking, just trying to get to that door, but her feet slid in the blood soaked carpet. More hands flipped her onto her back and then Lilith was face to face with her nightmares.
Miriah’s mutilated face loomed overhead, her lidless eyes no more than puss-filled black holes. Her shredded lips moved with gurgled moans that made Lilith’s stomach lurch violently. Her mind reeled and she fought harder against the impossibly strong hands holding her down. Her entire body bucked and fought, pushing every muscle to its limit, but the hands held her tight.
“No. You’re dead!” Lilith squeezed her eyes shut until another moan sounded to the right. Her eyes flew open as her heart pounded louder and louder. Malachi’s decaying face came into view, his hands clawing at her arms.
Before Lilith could release the scream caught in her throat, pain seared up her arm. Something bit her. She tried to jerk her arm away but bony fingers dug into her skin. Hovering over her arm, Alvarez flashed a demonic grin, blood dribbling from his gaping mouth. Lilith watched in horror as her dead partner lowered his mouth back down to her wrist. In slow motion, he bit hard into her flesh, drawing fresh screams from her throat.
It was more than she could take, her brain refused to believe. She forced out a scream with every fiber in her being, kicking, tugging at her arms, bucking like a seizure patient. It had to be a nightmare. This couldn’t be real!
A hand slapped hard against her cheek, making her skin burn with the sudden pain. Lilith’s eyes snapped open to see Timothy pinning her wrists down. He was saying something but she couldn’t hear him. Her blood pounded like thunder in her ears. Her olive eyes searched wildly for the corpses, but all she saw was the hotel room lit by the early morning light.