Imperium (Caulborn)

by Nicholas Olivo

  “So tell me about this Keri Greene,” Megan said as she slid behind the wheel.

  “As far as we know, she’s the only priestess of an obscure god called Thollan. About four years ago, she got it into her head that Thollan was going to come to the world and scour life from the planet with flames. She was convinced that the only survivors would be the ones that she encased in ice.

  “Greene worked in cryogenics, so she had access to a bunch of freezing technology. She modified it and created a freezing apparatus that was colder and more powerful than any other cryogenic device in the world. She stalked a bunch of people that she thought the world would need after its fiery cleansing; doctors, construction workers, farmers. She froze about seventy people before we caught her.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “Miguel, Kristin, Miguel’s ex-partner, Nathan Singravel, and I confronted her down in a warehouse. She was convinced that the scouring flames would happen that very night, and told us that we were interfering with the will of a god, the usual monologue you might expect. She tried to freeze herself, too, but Nathan stopped her. We held her down until the time had passed, and then she just fell to the ground weeping. When she realized Thollan’s apocalypse wasn’t going to happen, she started the thawing process and surrendered.

  “We took her to Ashgate and she only served a few years of her sentence. She was a model prisoner and was paroled about a year ago.”

  “Ashgate? Isn’t that the local paranormal prison? If she wasn’t paranormal herself, why did she go there?”

  Dang, it was beginning to look like Megan always asked multiple-part questions. “Yes, Ashgate is the local prison. It’s out on one of the islands off the coast. Galahad will probably take you out there personally to introduce you to Warden Garside. As for why Greene went there instead of a normal jail, it’s because of the nature of the situation. We weren’t sure if Thollan would retaliate at the people who had imprisoned his priestess, and wanted the appropriate security measures in place.”

  Megan nodded. “Back to Greene. You think she believes this Thollan is going to try something else?”

  “Maybe. She’s the only person I know who can make things that cold.”

  “So who were the men who kidnapped Miguel? Hired help? Thollan cultists?”

  “Not sure. Greene was charismatic enough that it wouldn’t surprise me if she’d built up a cult. She didn’t the first time around, but this time, who’s to say?”

  We drove to Keri Greene’s townhouse. She was lucky enough to have one of the end units, with a relatively private balcony. Let me tell you, in Boston privacy is something you have to pay through the nose for. In fact, I’m pretty sure you have to sign over one of your kidneys and your firstborn child to get a spot like this one.

  Megan knocked on the front door. It swung open. I hung my head. I had a bad feeling about this. “Keri Greene?” Megan called. “This is Agent Hayes. My partner and I need to speak with you.” There were no sounds coming from inside, not even a TV. “Ms. Greene, we are concerned for your safety and are coming in. If you need help, please let us know where you are.” We walked in. Megan had produced a 9mm and held it ready. I had the Urisk’s faith prepared for a quick telekinetic thrust, and my switchblade was tucked comfortably up my sleeve.

  The front door opened to the living room. The room was furnished in tasteful tans and blues; I’m sure Thad would’ve made some remark about the feng shui of the place. The walls were decorated in a musical motif. There were instruments hung directly on the walls, alongside paintings of sheet music.

  From the living room we could see into the kitchen. We did a quick check there, found nothing, and then headed upstairs. The first room we found was a home office. This room looked like it had been ransacked. Desk drawers were lying on the floor, the closet was open and a myriad of boxes and envelopes were scattered all over the floor. There were papers everywhere. “Wow,” Megan said. “Someone wanted something pretty badly in here.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “And it looks like they got sick of looking.” I pointed at the computer desk. “There’s a monitor and a keyboard, but no computer. Whoever did this must’ve taken it.”

  The next room was the bathroom. I did a quick check of the medicine chest. Cough syrup. Multivitamins. Mouthwash. No prescription drugs or anything out of the ordinary there. Megan had continued on down the hall as I rummaged around in the bathroom.

  “Vincent.” Her voice was unsteady. “Over here.”

  I shot into the room, my knife dropping into my hand. The first thing that struck me was the smell. It was like rancid meat. Megan was leaning against the wall, her face as white as a sheet. She pointed over her shoulder, then she ran from the room with her hand over her mouth like she was going to be sick. The room contained a large dresser, a queen-sized bed and a TV cart with a DVD/TV combo unit. I could see a foot sticking out on the other side of the bed. I hastened over and found Keri Greene’s body. She was lying face-up, and her head was inside the doorway to another bathroom. Just to the left of her head was a wig. At first, I didn’t understand why Megan had reacted so violently, but then I realized the wig was actually the top of Greene’s skull.

  Her head had been cut open and her brain removed.

  Chapter 5

  Begin Coded Transmission

  Like most Caulborn, Corinthos struggled to communicate with Lotholio. When the Urisk was found, he was ill; his head feathers had fallen out and his fingers elongated. Caulborn researchers speculate that this was due to a prolonged absence from the Bright Side. Lotholio was unable to speak human languages, but eventually learned to write. Corinthos himself tutored the creature in English, and displayed an empathy for Lotholio that no one else had. From their scribbled correspondence, Corinthos learned of the danger the Bright Side faced, and devoted much of his free time to helping Lotholio with his mission of securing aid for his home realm.

  At some point, Lotholio began to believe that Corinthos could actually help him. When this happened, Corinthos gained Urisk-like psychic powers and the ability to speak with Lotholio telepathically. It is believed this was the moment when Lotholio began to see Corinthos as something more than human.

  -NS

  End Coded Transmission

  There was blood everywhere in the bathroom. The smell was overpowering and for a moment, I thought I might throw up, too. I pulled out a handkerchief from my coat pocket and held it over my face. It helped a little. Now I was sniffing blood and gore through something that smelled like old leather. It barely took the edge off the scents, but it was enough.

  I focused on the body. Keri was stark naked. There were tiny bite marks along her calves and shoulders. They looked like they’d been made by something with a child-sized mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. The bites were deep, and blood had dried in thick red streaks from each one. A handful of long slashes ran along her shoulders, too.

  “What did this?” Megan asked from the doorway. Her color was still off, but her voice was steadier.

  “No idea,” I said. “Can I borrow your camera?” She nodded and I turned my attention back to the body. Megan crossed over to me and held out a small digital camera. I snapped some pictures and made some notes on a pad while Megan looked around the room. “Okay,” she said. “I haven’t seen signs of forced entry. Do you think she knew who did this?”

  “I don’t think so. I think she was getting out of the shower and got ambushed.”

  Megan gestured to the comforter. “What do you make of these?” There were a series of parallel slashes in it. Three lines, then three more just up and to the left of those, then three more up and to the right of those.

  “Claw marks, maybe?” I took a few pictures. Megan produced a measuring tape and noted the size and length, which I added to my notes.

  “How do you handle corpses out here? Does our office have a diviner? Or someone who can read aura residue?” Megan asked.

  “We’ll tell Doc Ryan about it, and he’ll come out
here with Jake to collect the body and take it back to HQ for analysis. If they can’t find anything, they’ll probably get Mrs. Rita involved. She can do some minor divinations.” Megan nodded. She still looked like she might get sick, but she was keeping it together pretty well. I stared at the body, again hoping my Glimpse might kick in, but nothing.

  We looked around the room and took another pass through the townhouse, but didn’t find anything else. We went back to the office and told Galahad about our gruesome discovery.

  Galahad blessed himself. “I will have Dr. Ryan and Mrs. Rita take whatever actions they see fit.” He rubbed his forehead. “I believe that Miguel's disappearance may be related to the case he was working on. I think it’s best if you take that on as well.” He tapped a series of buttons on the table. A panel on the wall slid away, revealing a large plasma TV.

  “Several of the community have gone missing recently.” When Galahad says community, he means supernatural individuals. The TV screen snapped to life and showed a young woman and a small boy, perhaps seven years old. “This is Justine and Casey Delion. They’re werewolves. No one’s seen them for close to a month.” The screen changed again. This time, a short man with piercing green eyes was displayed. “This is Seamus McElery. He’s a fae. He disappeared about a week after the Delions.” The screen changed again and showed a green figure with oversized ears and glowing orange eyes. “Even the gremlins are disappearing. This is Axlesnapper.”

  Galahad’s voice was grave when he spoke again. “From what we’ve been able to gather, none of these people had anything to do with one another. I’m concerned that something new has moved into town and it’s preying on our community.”

  “So you think that whatever was doing this got wise to Mikey and took him out before he found anything?”

  Galahad nodded at me. “It seems likely. Miguel had been working this case for about a week before he went missing.”

  Megan tilted her head to one side. “That means he’s probably got notes somewhere in the office, things he suspected, what he’d learned so far. We can start with that.”

  Galahad nodded. “It also may be beneficial to speak with the Midnight Clan.”

  “The vampires?” I asked. “Do you think they’re involved with this?”

  Megan frowned. “That doesn’t seem right. I thought I read somewhere that they have a pact they abide by to keep us from wiping them out.”

  Galahad nodded. “That’s true, and no, Vincent, I don’t believe the vampires are behind this. But the Midnight Clan is a powerful political force in the underworld. They see and hear things we don’t. If anything new has moved into Boston, they’ll know about it.” A map appeared on the screen. A red box highlighted the vampire lair. Galahad pressed a few more buttons and we got several street level views of the building.

  “Go back to the map, please.” Megan said. Galahad did. She studied it for a moment. “Is that Mass General Hospital?” she asked, pointing to a building just northeast of the lair.

  I nodded. “Yes, the legal blood they receive comes from the hospital. They don’t like to be far from their food.”

  Galahad turned back to me. “I was hoping you’d speak with the vampires on my behalf and see what they had to say.”

  “Diplomacy isn’t my strong suit, XI. Are you sure you want me to talk to them?”

  Galahad XI grinned. “I admire your honesty, Vincent. But the vampires do not enjoy speaking with me, and they have refused my earlier requests for a meeting. It took me some time to finally convince them to speak with agents on my behalf.”

  He’s not a priest anymore but I’m sure he’s got enough faith to burn every vampire in this city. They’re smart to be scared of him.

  Galahad noticed Megan’s furrowed brow. “Miguel Gomez was the agent in charge of vampire relations,” he explained. “He’s been the Caulborn liaison to them for years, so the vampires were reluctant to meet with anyone other than him.” He gestured to Megan. “Luckily, you have extensive experience with negotiations and diplomacy. The vampires specified two conditions to the meeting.” He held up a finger. “Whoever came couldn’t be clergy, and,” a second finger went up, “no holy artifacts or relics of faith can be brought to the meeting. Those were their exact words.” Galahad gave me a meaningful look, and I couldn’t help but smile.

  “I see,” I said. “And you are nothing if not a man of your word. When is the meet scheduled?”

  Galahad returned the smile. “The meeting’s set for 9 p.m. tonight. The lead vampire is named Tom Bruli. I’ll tell him to expect you.” Galahad stood, and Megan and I did the same. “Megan, Leslie has some additional paperwork for you to complete regarding your transfer. Please tend to that.” Megan nodded and left the room. Galahad stood and watched her go, then turned back to me. He slid a manila folder across the table. “This is a copy of Megan’s personnel file, Vincent. I thought you might want to know a bit about your new partner’s background.”

  I took the folder and flipped it open. “Anything juicy in here I should know?”

  “Only that she’s extremely talented. I believe she’ll make Guardian, perhaps even Care Taker, someday.”

  I whistled softly. “Wow. She’s that good?”

  Galahad nodded. “I think we’re very lucky to get an agent like her, especially at a time like this. And I can’t think of a better person to show her the ropes around here than you.”

  “Aw, shucks, boss, you’re making me blush.” I smiled.

  “You’d best get back to work. Godspeed, Vincent.”

  I left the conference room, headed back to my office and plopped down in my chair. I laid Megan’s file in front of me and took a quick look at the contents. Basic stuff showed up on the first page. Date and place of birth, date granted Caulborn rank, previous assignments. There were a few other tidbits that I took note of. Megan could speak eight languages, three of which aren’t spoken natively on this planet. She had successfully negotiated a peace treaty with the Shreallin people, something that no other Caulborn had been able to do. She was listed as an expert marksman with handguns and several forms of alien weaponry. Wow, that little cutie was dangerous.

  I finished skimming through the file and tucked it in my desk. I did a quick check of my email and voicemail and rearranged a couple of the Star Wars action figures on the bookshelf next to the door. As I repositioned Obi Wan Kenobi, Megan walked in.

  “So, partner.” She smiled. “What’s our first step? Work on enhancing the security tapes? Interrogate Keri Greene’s neighbors?”

  “Actually, Miguel recently requested a piece of equipment that might come in handy,” I said. “Come on.” We walked across the hall and into Miguel’s office. The place had a lived-in feel to it. There were photos of Mikey’s nephews, a football autographed by the 2002 Patriots, and three cases of various flavors of coffee stacked in the corner. An iced tea bottle filled with juice from Mikey’s chewing tobacco sat next to his computer. I grabbed the package I’d brought in earlier, along with Mikey’s makeshift spittoon and we went back into my office.

  “This is a diviner,” I said, holding up the box. “Mikey had asked for it to track down the missing paranormals. Let’s see if it can point us to him.” I opened the box and withdrew a slender glass tube with a bulb on either end. One bulb looked like frosted glass, the other was metal. I handed the device to Megan and pulled out a sheet of instructions in Thad’s handwriting.

  Thad always includes a bunch of information on the history and magic that makes up a particular piece, but right now I wasn’t interested in that. I skimmed it for the operation instructions. “To operate the diviner, first unscrew the metal bulb from the device. Then place a hair, nail or fluid sample in the metal bulb and reattach it. If the sample’s owner is within five hundred miles, the diviner will provide an image of their location, and will indicate how to reach the owner’s location.”

  Megan whistled. “Wow, that’s one powerful device.” She passed it back to me.

  �
�Yeah,” I said as I gently unscrewed the metal bulb. “I think there are only one or two like this in the world.” Megan’s nose wrinkled as I poured the tobacco juice into the bulb and reattached it. As soon as I had, the frosted glass bulb at the top of the rod turned clear, and showed us a fuzzy picture of Miguel. I could see he was lying in a bed, but I couldn’t make out any details beyond that. It was like trying to watch a scrambled cable channel. Then the bulb went dark. I waited for a moment, but nothing happened.

  “Maybe it needs batteries?” Megan asked.

  I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Thad. “Antiquated Treasures, home of your next showpiece,” he answered.

  “Thad, I’m trying to use the device you gave Miguel, and I’m having some trouble.” I explained what I’d done and the results I’d gotten.

  “Sounds like its charge was disrupted,” Thad said. “Could have happened in transit if they carried it through a portal or used a dimensional jumper to deliver it to me. Bring it back to the shop and I’ll start the recharge process.”

  “How long will it take to charge?”

  “That sort of magic is very delicate. The charging process takes at least a week.”

  I stared at the rod in my hand and felt my heart sink. This artifact was the best way to find Miguel and the other paranormals and its batteries were dead. I made an effort not to swear.