Banshee Screams

by Clay Griffith

  Then again, maybe he could.

  Debbi gave him an irritated look. She checked his drip. She had put in enough painkillers to stop a chanouk. Why wasn't he asleep yet?

  "I wasn't.," she began.

  "Stow it. Just get...this tub...moving."

  She rose to her feet. "Go to sleep, Ross. You're gonna need all the strength you can muster once Doc Dazy has a go at you."

  She wouldn't have believed it possible, but Ross actually managed to pale a bit beneath his sun burnt cheeks. Okay, that was cruel, she thought, but it did have the desired affect. Ross laid his head back and closed his eyes.

  "You play dirty, Dallas. I like it," he spoke softly, letting the drugs finally do their work. His breath evened out and his features relaxed as he fell asleep.

  "I learned from the best." Debbi rested a hand briefly on his shoulder and let a relieved smile play across her lips.

  She rose and settled herself into the pilot's seat, her hands quickly going through the barest of pre-checks before firing up the Stallion. She saw Little Joe standing outside the front window, watching her curiously. She regarded the chanouk sadly.

  "Sorry, old boy. Orders."

  The chanouk gave a snort, turned around, and padded back the way it came.

  It was probably for the best, Debbi thought. Miss Etta would have had a fit.

  For that matter, so would McDuff.

  She fired the engines and gave the Stallion its head, pushing as much speed out of it as she could as she barreled for home.

  Chapter 21

  "You failed me, Nicolai."

  Coltrane sat in the shadows on his black tannis throne. He wore a long robe with the hood that obscured his face.

  "The Colonial Rangers intervened," Nicolai said. "The Reapers were outgunned."

  Coltrane made a deep, unhappy rumbling sound. "Didn't I tell you it was important I have those guns? There should have been no chance of being outgunned. You should have sent our best troops. You should have seen to it personally!"

  Nicolai was distracted by the strange sculpture behind Coltrane's throne. It was a column of skulls, both human and anouk. But the skulls moved. They twisted, their mouths slowly opening and closing, giving the impression of great anguish.

  "Well?" Coltrane boomed. "Explain yourself!"

  Nicolai's full attention snapped back. "I have other uses for my best troops!" he shouted in response. "I am trying to conquer a planet! It keeps me relatively busy."

  Coltrane rose, full of menace. His words grew increasingly loud. "You need to do exactly what I say and you will have your precious state! Your vision is so small, Nicolai! You can't conceive of the odds I'm playing for!"

  Nicolai took a wary step back and moved his hand near his holstered gun.

  A large shape leaped from behind the throne and landed heavily in the empty floor between Coltrane and Nicolai. It was tall, loose-limbed, and hunched. It was smooth-skinned, dark gray with black streaks. Its skin was covered in short, stiff bristles that moved in waves like wind through a field of wheat when its muscles quivered. Its head was large and arched forward, with a snarling snout full of jagged teeth and large ears that flicked forward and back. Its eyes were large, piercing, and black as pitch. They fixed on Nicolai with hungry fury. It crouched and prepared to strike.

  "No!" Coltrane yelled.

  The thing regarded Coltrane over its shoulder. He motioned it aside. It turned back to Nicolai briefly with a snarl, and then it stalked off into the shadows where it squatted and breathed loudly.

  Coltrane said, "I should've warned you about my pet. It's very protective."

  Nicolai said nothing. He was frozen in place.

  Coltrane returned to his throne. His tone was suddenly light. "Well, what's done is done. The black guns are no doubt in Temptation. We will get them when you seize the town."

  "I will use our best troops for that."

  "Oh no. You won't need troops at all. Take a few bodyguards just to insure the Rangers don't try to capture you."

  Nicolai stared wide-eyed at his former mentor. "I beg your pardon?"

  "I told you, Temptation will welcome you. Just as other towns are beginning to welcome you. I have one more card to play and then you will appear outside the gates and offer yourself as their savior. It should be a few days. Go and conquer some other towns in the meantime. To amuse yourself. I'll call you when I'm ready."

  Coltrane raised misshapen, webbed fingers that used to belong to a human hand and motioned Nicolai out. Even the sight of Coltrane's horrible transformation couldn't override the young revolutionary's rage at being summarily dismissed. He glared openly at Coltrane. He was spoiling for a bitter debate over leadership of the Reapers. But that panting creature in the corner reminded Nicolai that he couldn't win an argument played out here. It would be better to make use of whatever powers Coltrane might have in order to seize Temptation and then quickly turn against that rotting revenant on the throne and destroy him.

  Nicolai turned and left the throne room. He fled the disturbing, ancient anouk city where Coltrane lived and returned to the comforting political debauchery of the Bunker, his headquarters at nearby Domburg Ruins.

  "Your plan is faltering, Coltrane."

  "Not at all, Avernus. If any aspect of it has been a failure, it was Tekkeng's part. And even that sad contribution has borne some fruit."

  Coltrane leaned back on his throne and threw one leg casually over the arm. He sensed impatience in his mentor that he had never seen before. It was troubling, not because he cared for Avernus in a personal way, but because Coltrane had always taken him to be a figure of great power. And figures of great power shouldn't worry.

  Perhaps, Coltrane suddenly thought with glee, Avernus's power was not that much greater than my own.

  Avernus didn't even pause in his stride. "I could smash you like an insect and make another just like you without missing a meal. I am one of the thirteen Fallen who hold the fate of this reality in our hands. You continue to live only at my pleasure. Do not tax my good will."

  Coltrane was startled by his mentor's awareness, but quickly recovered. He used techniques that he had been taught by this very master to cloud his mind to outsiders. Then he allowed himself the luxury of cursing his sloppiness.

  "I was afraid you weren't ready," Avernus said. "Your transformation is premature. You have fallen into old human habits of inelegant directness. It's making you careless. We can't afford missteps."

  Coltrane waved a flippant hand. "You chose me as your weapon. You must have some belief that I know what I'm doing."

  "Your confidence is misplaced. You attracted me because you did well as a Reaper thug. But now you are playing with the power to make and unmake worlds. Do you remember the Earth?"

  "Yes," Coltrane answered warily.

  "It is now a smoking hulk."

  "The Earth destroyed? You never told me." Coltrane was stunned. He was so distant from his home world he no longer had strong memories of it. In fact, as he became less human, Earth meant nothing to him but a potential source of power in the future, once Banshee was under his control. But he was staggered by the thought that he was associated with beings powerful enough to destroy the enormous civilizations of Earth. Immediately, he began to consider the potential advantage of double-crossing the Fallen who stood in front of him. He quickly suppressed the thoughts for fear of discovery.

  Coltrane regained his bravado. "I'm not afraid. With me at your side, you and I will corrupt this planet. Then the intrigues of the other Fallen will no longer matter."

  Avernus said, "Let me worry about the machinations of the Fallen. Your attention must be on more immediate concerns."

  Coltrane grinned. "My thoughts exactly. A final plague for the people of Temptation. A particularly nasty little item that should drive them into a pit of horror that only silver-tongued Nicolai can pull them out of. Temptation will be ours for the taking."

  "Beware, Coltrane. Your increasing distance from the human con
dition is forcing you to underestimate them. Particularly the Colonial Rangers. They have a sense of purpose that you don't fully appreciate. And they have the black guns now, again thanks to your failure."

  "They don't even know what the guns do. Everything is working perfectly. You felt the fear pouring out of Temptation when their dead began to rise. It was delicious, wasn't it?"

  "Yes. Indeed it was. But there must be more."

  "You'll have it. We wasted time with Tekkeng's ridiculous scheme with the worhul. And that failed because he worked through pathetic, unpredictable humans. Mental domination creates weak tools because only the weak can be dominated. So now Tekkeng's painstakingly crafted mind grafts only allow him to see the inside of a Temptation jail cell." Coltrane laughed out loud.

  "I have mental powers," the Fallen said flatly.

  "Yes. But you didn't use them to forge me. That is why you have a strong weapon." Coltrane watched his mentor's face for signs of insult, but it was hard to read the blank stare of a syker.

  "Tekkeng is unhappy," Avernus said. "He is unsatisfied with his role in our triumvirate."

  "Tekkeng is always unhappy. It's inbred to his wretched species."

  "Give him something."

  Coltrane snorted with contempt. "I already allow him to speak through me. Do you know how disgusting that is? What more do I need to give to him? Let him earn his rewards like the rest of us."

  "Don't take him for granted," Avernus warned. "Tekkeng is a great resource for me. He will be invaluable in helping avoid conflict with the other Skinnies until the time comes when I can eliminate them all. So do as I say and keep him happy. Placate him."

  "Very well. I'll find some bauble for him to play with."

  The tall man walked to the door. His receding steps made no sound. "Sitting on a throne doesn't make you a king. If you fail me, I will descend on you with a ferocity you can't imagine."

  Coltrane sank back onto his throne and watched Avernus melt away into the darkness.

  Coltrane stretched out his legs. He relished the feeling of his throne despite Avernus's warning. He imagined the chamber crowded with supplicants seeking his merciless justice. His creature scuttled across the floor on all fours, all bony knees and elbows. It crouched next to Coltrane who reached out and laid his hand on the beast's broad head. At least he had one subject who lived and died by his word.

  Soon he would have a world full of them.

  Chapter 22

  A stroll through the streets of Temptation in the late afternoon sunshine was particularly satisfying to Debbi on this day. Only twelve hours had passed since she and Ross had returned from the Red River Valley. Yet the young Ranger felt incredibly alive after such a wild adventure.

  She had to admit to a small trace of guilt at feeling so fit when her commanding officer had not come through the escapade nearly as well. Of course, he didn't have the benefit of anouk healing.

  She found herself whistling a small little tune that her mother used to sing to her when she was a child, one she hadn't thought about for years. It spoke of home and family. In a way, it spoke of her feelings toward Temptation. She was beginning to belong. Debbi's spirit was soaring this afternoon and her body language shouted it to the world.

  The bedraggled people of Temptation didn't feel quite so carefree, and their annoyed glares made that perfectly clear. But Debbi didn't care, not right now anyway. She had gotten a message from Doc Dazy that Ross was awake and asking for her.

  It took her less time than usual to get to the infirmary. She pushed through the door, rearranging the paperwork bundled in her arms, and made her way to where the Doctor had stashed Ross. She met the Doctor in the hall. He had his nose buried in an old medical journal and wasn't really paying attention to where he was going.

  "Hiya, Doc. How is he?"

  Stopping short, Dazy reluctantly raised his head and lifted a single exasperated eyebrow. "According to him, he's perfectly fine, ignoring the fact that he has two cracked ribs and eighty-five stitches. He continues to curse my impeccable bedside manner, my intricate needlework, and my noble heritage."

  Debbi smiled. "So you asked me here to run interference. Gee, thanks."

  "Well, I was hoping you could distract him while I slip a mickey in his IV."

  The scary thing was, Debbi knew he was serious. She listened while Dazy continued ranting.

  "He actually brandished his gun at me when I offered him a painkiller. Why did you leave it with him?" He scowled at Debbi, tucking the book beneath his arm.

  Debbi shrugged. "He seemed to be resting easier with it in his hand."

  "Good God! Are you mad?"

  Debbi flashed the devil's own smile. "It's not loaded, Doc."

  Dazy pulled back in surprise and then adopted an infuriated frown. "Why that no good, scheming excuse for a lawman!" Dazy shoved up the sleeves of his lab coat and made to move past Debbi, but she stopped him with a gentle hand.

  "Now, now. He's harmless." She lied. Ross was never harmless, laid up or otherwise.

  Dazy backed down, blowing more bluff than bluster anyway. He poked a finger in Debbi's shoulder. "He's all yours then. If he tries to get out of bed again, you can deal with him."

  "Sure, Doc. Where is he?"

  "Room ten. I isolated him from the other patients. I didn't want him getting them riled too."

  "Well, I doubt he'd be the one to tell them that you are keeping numerous, bloodthirsty zombies just down the hall."

  The Doctor's face flushed with eager anticipation. "True, true. Speaking of which, I need to get back to my experiments. Stay as long as you like. Keep him occupied."

  "No problem. Have fun."

  "Oh, I will."

  The scary thing was, he was serious about that too.

  Suppressing a shudder, she backtracked to room ten. Knocking once, she entered. Ross was lying in bed. His chest was swathed in white bandages and a matching one was wrapped thickly around his upper arm. His face glowed pink and glistened under a layer of translucent lubrication designed to keep the sunburned skin from drying out.

  "Dallas!" Ross struggled to sit up in bed, his face grimacing with the effort. His injured arm braced his chest, the other strained to hoist him higher.

  "You're looking better." Debbi settled herself in a metal chair beside the bed.

  He gave up on his futile efforts and sank back onto his pillow. A veil of sweat already bathed his face. He hurt all over and it pissed him off. He raked her with a steely glare.

  "You look fit," he snarled, unable to keep his frustration from leaking out.

  Debbi fought a smile. "I do, don't I? Go figure." She crossed her legs and leaned casually back in the chair, holding the paperwork in her lap with a hand.

  A grunt was the response.

  "How's Doc treating you?" she asked.

  "Like one of his damn zombie toys. He needs a refresher course in social etiquette."

  Debbi wisely refrained from mentioning that it wouldn't hurt Ross to take the same class. There was no sense setting him off further.

  "I want you to send someone out to the Asylum," Ross said. "See if they're missing any inmates."

  Debbi sighed. It didn't take long for him to get down to business. "I'll send Tsukino."

  Ross nodded. "Those people in the straightjackets had to come from somewhere. Lupinz Sanitarium is the only institution around here." He closed his eyes wearily and then opened them again, fighting his body's demand for rest. There was too much to do. Lying helplessly around in bed wasn't going to get it done. "Who's the director out there?"

  "Um, I believe that would be Dr. Lupinz." Debbi couldn't help the smile that spread over her face.

  Ross glowered. "It's the medication. Just go talk to him."

  Debbi decided to distract Ross away from work. "You still haven't told me how you managed to survive falling off a cliff when you were out cold."

  Ross carefully drew in a deep breath and scratched at his beard. "Maybe cause I wasn't out cold. I was
dazed, but not unconscious. My brain finally kicked in as me and that big cat went over the edge and I reached out. I was damn lucky to have gotten snagged in some vines on the way down. The creature wasn't so lucky." He rubbed gingerly at his thigh. Debbi could see the swell of a thick bandage around that as well. He shifted ever so slightly in a vain attempt to get comfortable before he continued. "I hung there for a while, but by the time my senses returned, it was quiet. It took hours just to crawl back up to the ledge. When I did, you were gone. Vanished." He looked at the ceiling with dark-rimmed, haunted eyes.

  Debbi was silent, surprised at Ross's reaction. She thought the only thing he cared about was Temptation.

  "I tried to get back to.," she began, but Ross held up a hand.

  "I know you did, Dallas. I don't question that." He pinned her with a sincere stare. "I'm just glad...I'm just glad it worked out, for both of us." His face abruptly hardened. "And now, I want you to get me the hell out of here before that lunatic returns."

  Debbi was caught unawares at the sudden change in track, and she laughed at the desperation clearly present in a man who had stared down a hungry chanouk.

  "I don't like being laughed at," was his annoyed response.

  Debbi shook her head. "No, sir, of course not. But truth be told, I can't help you on that front."

  "Why the hell not?" He raised his shoulders off the bed to glare at her again.

  Undaunted, Debbi straightened in the chair and started ticking off her fingers. "First, you're weaker than a kitten right now and we certainly don't need you underfoot. Second, Doc enjoys your company too much and I wouldn't want to deprive the man, and third." She let her expression devolve into something akin to evil. "You didn't let me keep Little Joe."

  "Who?"

  "My chanouk."

  "Oh merciful heaven, you named it." His head collapsed back on his pillow in dismay.

  She just grinned, relishing her upper hand.

  Debbi gathered her files and scooted the chair closer to the bed. "Stew and I did some brainstorming and I think we came up with a damn good idea on how to get rid of that monster under the churchyard. The creature is definitely attuned to vibrations in the ground. They weren't able to keep it contained in the churchyard. It went through all the dead in the St. Calixtus cemetery, and without any more sacrificial snacks, it got hungry and went hunting. Just like Peck said it would. Aside from those who died in the churchyard, we've lost three people so far. And had a helluva lot of near misses. The way I figure it, in order to get the worm out into the open, we need bait."