"Let's go say hi,” Ben said, walking that direction.
* * * *
"Locked,” Cory said, after trying the door.
"So what? Open it."
Cory shrugged and wrapped his fingers around the handle. He wrenched with all his strength and felt the lock give. And the hinge give. He twisted his body away and sent the door flying into the street, where it cart-wheeled several yards before smashing to pieces against a solid wall on the other side. “Oops."
"Looks like you're a bit stronger than Jason,” Ben said with a smirk. “I couldn't have done that. And, as we've already seen, he's no stronger than I am."
"Follow me.” Cory walked through the doorway into darkness so thick it seemed to breathe. “This is a Power,” he whispered to Ben as he felt him step through beside him. The darkness was so complete it was like being swallowed by the leviathan. “This darkness isn't natural."
"No kidding?” Ben whispered back. “We just walked through a wall of dark. It's like the inside of a tomb in here."
"Whispering isn't going to do you any good. You—Ben, isn't it?—your heartbeat is like a drum pounding in my ears. I know exactly where you are."
Cory wished he could say the same. But her voice seemed to emanate from the very light-swallowing gloom surrounding them. As a vampire, she had no heartbeat. He couldn't find her. At least, not with my normal five senses. He reached out with the ability he'd found her with in the first place.
It came like a radar blip on a blank screen. There! He was moving before his mind completely registered his intent. He crashed into something soft, something that gave the smallest of cries and tried to strike at him.
He caught the arm and flung her away from him. She flew through the air and crashed into something that shattered beneath her. She shrieked in pain and range and leaped back to her feet, rushing at him without a moment's hesitation.
He pivoted away from her lunge, warned by that esoteric sense at the last instant. He snatched her arm as she rushed by, spinning and hurling her in yet another direction with every ounce of his strength. He heard her strike. Hard. The darkness vanished as if it had never been. The light seemed to explode through the room as the overheads came to life.
She clawed her way out of one of the interior walls and fell heavily to the floor. With her innocently lovely features face contorted in pain, she pushed herself to her feet against the remains of one of the concession counters. She reached up and brushed her blond bangs away from her eyes.
He lunged for her, felt the air pressure tug at his clothing like small curious fingers. Though he had no real combat training, he knew enough about throwing a punch. And he put everything he had into it.
His knuckles impacted the side of her jaw hard enough that he felt the bone shatter beneath them. The force carried through at truly amazing velocities. He watched in combined horror and fascination as her head spun completely around and tear loose from the rest of her body. It rocketed across the room and shattered against a back wall, giving it a liberal coat of both blood and gray matter.
"Fuck!"
Ben's eyes were the size of Frisbees. “Holy ... You killed her."
"Yeah, I got that,” Cory snarled. “Damn! I didn't mean to ... I just ... fuck.” He let his voice drop to a whisper with that last curse. “She was a victim as much as any of these people,” he grated, squeezing his eyes shut and choking down the urge to scream.
He felt Ben's hand on his shoulder. “You don't know your own strength."
"No shit?” His words tasted bitter in his own mouth. “C'mon. Let's see if that freed those people from her influence.” He didn't want to think about it right now. He turned away, deliberately avoiding looking at the headless corpse at his feet, or the bloodied wall in the back. “I need some fresh air."
Eleven
Sunday night—later still.
They stood and watched in silence as the trucks pulled away, the tools clattering all the way down the road. “Zombies don't pack things very carefully, do they?” Ben observed matter-of-factly.
Cory didn't say anything. He sank down on the curb, feet in the gutter, head in his hands. Ben leaned down, laid a cool hand on his shoulder. “You couldn't help it,” he said.
The vampire shook his head angrily. “I should've done something ... something else..."
"We gotta follow them, don't we?” Ben asked.
Cory's gaze swept upward, meeting Ben's blue stare. “Yeah ... you're right. Let's move."
He left the werewolf behind before he realized it, catching up and throwing himself up and into the bed of the rear-most truck. He dropped into a crouch behind a wheelbarrow as the truck took the next corner. He didn't know if these living zombies would react to his presence, but he wasn't about to take the chance.
The convoy trundled out of town down the Sisters Highway.
* * * *
Rachel snarled wordlessly at the nurse as she dug her legs into her slacks. She stood, wavering a little, and buttoned the waistband. She brushed her hair back and pulled her blouse on. “Where are my shoes?"
"You can't leave,” the nurse objected. “The doctor said—"
"Don't give a crap what the doctor said,” she sneered. “I'm out of here. Where are my freakin’ shoes? I'll walk out of here barefoot if I have to."
"That cupboard over there,” he said, pointing dismissively to the corner of the room. He'd done his duty in warning her. “The doctor thought if you couldn't find them, you'd be less likely to leave."
"Guess he was wrong."
She snatched her shoes out of the cupboard, made sure her socks were tucked away inside them, and hurriedly finished dressing. She snagged her jacket off the back of a chair and pulled it on. “Tell the doctor I'm going to miss him."
"Oh, you're a funny lady,” the nurse replied with a smirk. “I hear you're a regular stand-up."
"Smart mouth is going to get you in trouble some time,” Rachel growled in response. “Have a nice night."
* * * *
The cool wind snatched at her hair as she stood on the edge of the parking lot, scanning for her car. She couldn't remember where she'd parked, and there were enough cars out there it wasn't immediately obvious. She swept her gaze across the lot and froze. Bink's ‘96 Monte Carlo turned off the main street and crept slowly toward her.
He pulled up to the curb, leaned over, and rolled the passenger window down. “Rachel. Get in. Bigby's missing. His Camaro is sitting by the side of the road, engine running. I got a couple of uniforms covering it for now."
He shoved the door open and she slid in. “When was his car found?"
"About an hour ago. I don't know what he was doing out there past Cline Falls, but a Fish and Game officer called it in. He'd been following the river looking for a couple of deer poachers working the area."
"Good thing he was,” she murmured. “It could've been days before anyone thought to mention the car sitting out there. Especially once it ran out of gas."
"I had the same thought,” he admitted. “Lucky."
"Only if we can find him,” she muttered, turning to stare out the window.
* * * *
Cory hurled himself from the back of the truck and hit the ground rolling. He dodged behind a stand of sagebrush and peeked around at the line of trucks backed up against the canyon wall. What the hell?
The zombies were climbing out and retrieving the tools, the only sound the crunching of their feet on the ground beneath their feet. He reached out, felt his dogs prowling nearby. As he left town they'd drawn together and followed. Not that they'd do him any good. He didn't plan on confronting any of these poor creatures.
He watched as they finished unloading and began taking their wares toward the cliff face. One by one they vanished into a depression in the wall. A cave? He waited until they'd all entered and followed.
* * * *
Unlike the human zombies, his tread made no sound on the earth. He slipped up silently, sending his awareness down the
hole. What are they doing down there?
He slid his foot into the cave and tried to spin, but his reaction came too late. A jackhammer smashed into his ribcage with enough force to pick him up and send him tumbling through the air. He landed hard, skidding across the broken earth and stone. He came up, spitting soil from his mouth.
He recognized the woman standing there. Deborah Shine. The squat woman grinned at him, lacing her fingers together and stretching her arms out until her knuckles cracked. “Well, hello, Cory. How's your mother doing?"
"Not bad,” he answered. “You?"
"Can't complain. I can't let you go in there, you know?"
"Why not?"
"She told me not to,” Shine replied. “That means I don't have a lot of choice in the matter. She didn't tell me to kill you, so your best bet is to turn around and hightail it out of here."
"Not going to happen,” he told her, shaking his head. “What's going on in there, anyway? You guys digging a hole to China?"
"I can't help you, Cory. Just get out of here."
"Uh-uh."
Out of the darkness came a snarling four-footed beast the size of a large pony. Shine gave an involuntary shriek and tried to duck out of the way. Too late. One shoulder caught her a glancing blow, hurling her into the rock face behind her. As she rebounded it spun, hind end sweeping her off her feet. As she crashed heavily onto the ground it whirled again, gleaming white fangs clashing together mere inches from her face.
"You mi’ jus’ wan’ oo lay there,” the werewolf told her, his words nearly mangled beyond recognition by the shape of his throat.
She seemed to understand perfectly. She froze in place, eyes widening as werewolf drool oozed slowly onto her neck from the wolf's open jaws.
Cory smiled, folding his arms and staring down at her. “I'm willing to bet he could bite your head right off,” he said coolly. “You want to bet he can't?"
She shook her head. Carefully.
He didn't want her dead. Not if he could figure out any way around it. Too many innocents had died already. But the bitch had her number, any way you cut it. They couldn't trust her at their back. “Thanks for the help,” he told Ben. “Never thought you'd get here."
He got a cold-eyed glare in response.
Cory shrugged. So be ungracious, dog-breath. See if I care. “I don't know what to do with her,” he told him. “Unless you want to sit on her ‘til dawn, we're out of luck."
The werewolf growled, a deep, guttural sound that raised the hairs on the back of his neck.
"No. We're not going to kill her."
A whine.
"Shit. Okay, here's what we're going to do. We're going to get into one of those trucks with her and take her back into town. At least I know where this place is now. I can come back tomorrow night."
Ben stepped back as Cory reached down and lifted her to her feet. “Don't try anything. You won't succeed."
"I'm bound to obey her,” Shine said, almost pleadingly.
"Bound strongly enough to throw your life away for nothing?"
She shook her head.
"Then get the hell in that truck over there. Ben, you be the sheepdog, okay?"
That earned him another icy glare, but Ben did so with only a low grumble. Shine climbed into the passenger side, followed by several hundred pounds of irritated werewolf. Cory climbed into the driver's side. The keys were still in the ignition, as he suspected they would be. Unless specifically told to, he'd thought it unlikely the zombies would take the keys with them.
Ben squeezed in next to Shine, black lips curled back from gleaming fangs.
"Close the door,” Cory commanded.
She reached around the werewolf and pulled the door shut. He cranked the key and woke the diesel engine slumbering under the hood. Fifteen minutes later they were on the road, heading into town.
He thumbed the window control. The cab of the truck was growing stuffy as hell. Not to mention that a werewolf in close quarters smelled nothing like a bouquet of roses. Or anything else more pleasant than an unwashed canine.
And his breath? Absolutely horrid.
It wasn't that long of a drive, but it felt interminable. By the time they reached his house, Cory wanted nothing more than to throw himself into the embrace of the cold, clean air outside.
He still wasn't sure what he was going to do with her. Ben couldn't stay in wolf form forever, and he couldn't see turning her over to the cops. I'll have to trust Jason and Gina to tend to her. Jason he wasn't quite certain of, but he suspected Gina could hold her own against just about anyone. It probably wouldn't hurt that she and Shine were already familiar with one another.
"How long can you hold that shape?” he asked Ben, who replied with another of those trademark glares. This one seemed to say "How the hell am I supposed to know, idiot?"
That's right. This is only the third time he's shifted shape. Or is it the fourth? Either way he probably hadn't had the chance to test its longevity. “Too bad.” He glanced at his watch. “Crap! I almost forgot the rendezvous. It's in five minutes.” He slammed his foot down on the gas and the machine roared through the outskirt of town, skidding into the hospital parking lot only a couple minutes late.
Gina and Jason stood in the shadows just left of the Emergency entrance, their pale faces reflecting the headlights strangely as he pulled past them. He turned swiftly into one of the parking spaces and turned off the engine.
"Get out,” he told her. She reached past Ben again and opened the door. The werewolf jumped to the pavement and watched her vigilantly as she climbed out past him. Cory swung out of his own side and crossed in front of the truck.
Gina appeared at his side. “That's Deb Shine,” she said.
He jumped. “Shit! Don't do that!” Damn, the woman was fast. He wasn't sure how'd she'd picked up that particular talent. He'd gained his ability to communicate with dogs, she'd gained incredible speed, and that woman at the theater had gained the ability to somehow cast darkness. Yet Jason, near as he could tell, had gained no special talent at all. How does that work?
He didn't know, and there wasn't anyone he could ask. Dave was long gone—to California, or Mexico. Could he contact the one he'd mentioned in Washington State?
Gina grinned at his discomfiture. “Didn't scare you, did I?"
"I'm a vampire,” he answered. “I don't get scared."
"Whatever you say,” she replied tartly. “So what's up with her?"
"She's a vampire, too. Made by the bitch herself. You know her?"
"She's a cop."
"She was a cop,” he told her. “Now she's one of her creatures. She doesn't have any choice but to obey the bitch's commands ... some type of blood-slave, I guess."
"Blood-slave? How did she do that?"
Jason trotted up. “What's going on? The other side of town was quiet as a tomb. Even more than normal."
"Not surprised. Half the town's somewhere in the desert off the Sisters Highway in a big black hole in the ground.” He told them what they'd seen, about his battle at the theater, and the confrontation with Shine outside the cave.
"What do you think they're after?” Gina asked, frowning.
He shook his head. “Your guess is as good as mine."
"How is she controlling all those people?” Jason asked him. “It's ... scary."
"Yeah. It is. We need to get to her ... to stop her. I'm going to go in and talk to my mom, tell her what we saw. Help Ben watch Shine. I'm not sure how much longer he can stay in wolf shape.
"She can't be any stronger than either of you, but she might have some singular talent of her own—like my talking to dogs, or your incredible speed."
She gave a quick nod of assent. “We'll keep an eye on her."
* * * *
The admissions nurse looked at him with something akin to disbelief. “She's gone. Got up and left on her own."
"What? She got better that fast?"
"I don't know about that. But she was pretty damned deter
mined to leave."
"Her car's still in the parking lot. She couldn't have gone far."
The nurse shrugged. “All I know is that she left under her own power."
* * * *
"She's gone,” he told the others back in the parking lot. He glanced at his watch. “Three-twenty. We've only got a couple hours before dawn. Not enough to look for her.” He frowned and reached into his pocket, digging out a couple of quarters. “I'll be right back. I'm going to call her cell."
* * * *
Binks said nothing for several minutes. She leaned back in her seat, drowsing. She hadn't had near enough sleep lately. Big surprise. She'd be getting less now that Bigby had gone missing. It seemed impossible that anything could have gotten to the Big Bean.
Something about her partner's demeanor was nibbling at her. Binks seemed nervous. Hardly unusual, considering the circumstances.
He pulled off the main road on the other side of the Deschutes, and reached into a breast pocket and pulled out a pepperoni stick. He didn't say anything as he chomped at the piece of peppered meat but the interior of the car took on a distinctly unpleasant air. Rachel rolled down her window and resisted the urge to stick her head out. She hated the smell of pepperoni. It would also make his breath stink, she thought with an inward sigh.
About three miles down the road they came upon Bigby's rig, still sitting there idling. Binks pulled up behind it and turned off the car. Rachel climbed out, walked up to the driver's door—still hanging part-way open, she noted—and made a quick scan of the interior. “Where are the uniforms?” she asked Binks, hearing his shoes on the gravel behind her.
"Not here,” he said in a strangled voice. She glanced over her shoulder, instantly concerned.
He stood there with his sidearm in his hand, pointing at her. His hand shook slightly. She tried to focus on his face in the darkness and found it swimming into view with amazing clarity. His eyes were wide—his breathing rapid, his face flushed.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
"What I'm told,” he said shakily.
"My God, Binks, why?"
"She's winning,” he said. “She's taking this town and there's not a damn thing we can do to stop her. So I joined the other team. She's offering me immortality—how can I turn that down?"
Of Man and Monster Page 14