by Skye Knizley
“Dammit,” Levac muttered.
He pulled out his phone and started walking.
“Police emergency, this is Michelle.”
“Agent Levac, FBI. I’ve got a body at 1327 Elm Street, tenth floor, apartment H, bathroom. Send a coroner and the crime scene team,” Levac said.
He punched the button for the elevator as if it had offended him.
“Officers and technicians will meet you on scene—”
“I won’t be here. I’ve got a monster to arrest.”
He stepped inside the elevator and pocketed his phone. The doors were closing when Sable stuck her arm in them. They rebounded off her jacket and she stepped inside.
“Breaking protocol, Rupe?” she asked.
“You were right. We should have arrested him. But it doesn’t make sense, why offer her as an alibi and then kill her a few minutes later? He had to know we would be back.”
Sable leaned against the elevator wall and crossed her ankles. “Because the monsters are arrogant bastards. Smarter, faster, stronger, all that kind of thing. They aren’t human and think they are better than us.”
Levac shook his head. “There is more to this.”
The elevator opened and he stepped out, again retrieving his phone. He punched speed-dial and waited.
“This is Agent King’s office, Agent Daniels speaking,” Daniels said.
“Get King,” Levac said.
“I beg your pardon? King is resting,” Daniels said.
Sable snatched the phone out of Levac’s hand. “This is Tempeste. Get his ass up, we’ve got questions. Don’t make me come out there, Silver.”
There was a pause, then, “As you wish, Sable.”
Levac took his phone back and climbed into the passenger side of the Land Rover. Sable joined him behind the wheel and the engine rumbled to life.
“This had better be important Probationary Agent Levac,” King said.
Levac ignored the implied threat. “I need the details on this case. I’ve got two bodies, no motive and no weapon. You know more than you’ve told me, so read me in.”
“It’s above your clearance level,” King said.
“It isn’t above mine, Abraham, and we need to know what this is about. So spill it!” Sable yelled.
King took a ragged breath. “The ship, the Crescent Star that Saylor designed, it vanished in the ‘70s.”
“Right, we already know that,” Levac said.
“What you don’t know is it reappeared a few days ago. Two teams were sent aboard to investigate how that is possible,” King said.
“What about us? Why are we investigating Saylor’s death?” Levac asked.
“When the ship vanished in ’71 I did an analysis of the plans and found a variety of anomalies, particularly in the design of the lower decks. I also found that a variety of magikally reactive metals were used in the construction, metals used in altars and places of great evil. When the ship was declared gone, the investigation was shelved,” King said.
“And now that she is back, the investigation is on. So why investigate the death of Saylor and Sandoval?” Sable asked.
“I believe the key to stopping that ship lies in the murder of Demarcus Saylor. Find the killer and we find the solution. A team onboard was only part of the mission. It is a moot point, however. I’ve lost contact with the team onboard. I set an airstrike to destroy her by dawn.”
“You what? King, Raven is alive! You can’t just blow her up!” Sable snapped.
King coughed at length, then returned to the phone. “How do you know she is alive?”
Sable met Levac’s eyes. “Because I know. She’s my sister and I feel her. She’s out there, you have to give her more time!”
“I’m sorry, Sable. I cannot allow that ship to make port, if I am right about her, the damage would be catastrophic. That ship sinks by sunrise,” King said. “Finish your investigation, find out why Saylor was killed and perhaps Raven and Aspen will not die for nothing.”
The call ended and Levac threw the phone at the dash in frustration. “I can’t believe him!”
“Relax Rupe, he’s doing his job. And Raven isn’t dead yet,” Sable said.
“Are you, the Queen of Anger issues telling me to be calm?” Levac asked.
Sable’s eyes glowed in the dark, the angry slits of a master vampire. “I’m just as angry as you are. But I understand his reasoning, there is a bigger picture, here.”
Sable put the Land Rover in gear and pulled into the street. Levac took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Fine. Where are we going?”
“Pace. He knows more than he’s saying. If we can solve this thing, maybe we can keep my sister from becoming another casualty of this job,” Sable replied.
“I thought you didn’t care what happened to Raven,” Levac said.
Sable looked genuinely astonished. “I never said that! She’s my sister. Besides…”
Levac looked at her. “Besides, what?”
“I’m beginning to understand better what Mom did, and why.”
II
The North Atlantic, Aboard Crescent Star, Unknown
The Crescent Star’s maintenance corridors were cramped, dark and stale, lit only by Kane’s tactical light and the occasional red safety bulb flickering on and off. Raven led the way through the winding tunnels, her senses stretched to the max. Though they were barely below the waterline it felt as if they were far beneath the surface in one of the deepest pits of hell stalked by the devil himself. They reached an intersection marked in a coding system Raven didn’t understand, but she could smell diesel fuel coming from their left. She waited until Kane and Aspen were close behind her then started down the next corridor. They descended a short set of stairs, rounded a corner and walked into a rectangular chamber that didn’t belong on any cruise ship. The metal decking had been neatly pulled up and was now nowhere to be seen. Below was a Satanic pentagram, with one point longer than the others. It was made of some sort of red and black stone that reflected light and made it look as if it was shimmering from the inside with red light. In the middle of the chamber was an inverted cross made of black, riveted metal, like the girders of the ship. Each point of the cross held a metal shackle that could easily have restrained the strongest of men and, judging by the bloodstains, likely had.
Raven stepped into the room and lit a pair of flares that she tossed into the corners to provide more light.
“What in the name of all that is Holy is this?” Kane asked.
Raven glanced at him then back at the cross. “I’ve seen similar designs at crime scenes, but nothing this elaborate. This took planning and time. Asp?”
Aspen looked like she wanted to be sick. “Yes, love?”
“I was going to ask what you thought this was, what’s wrong?”
Aspen moved into the room. She was hugging herself and staring at the cross as if it might bite her. “I feel cold, I can feel the darkness in this room. The black magik in here is powerful and very, very old.”
Raven holstered her pistol and touched Aspen’s hand. “Are you okay? Do we need to go back?”
Aspen smiled and Raven could see she was fighting her fear. “No. It will be okay, let’s just treat it like a crime scene, huh? I think it is important.”
Raven wasn’t convinced that Aspen was okay, she could tell that Aspen was not only fighting whatever was around them, there was something else. The strange room was effecting her in a much deeper way than she was willing to admit. But Aspen wasn’t to be dissuaded from completing their mission.
Raven kissed her cheek then looked back at the floor. “This looks like the same stone that Strohm’s altar in The Dark was made out of,” she said.
Aspen cocked her head and looked at it with narrowed eyes. “It isn’t all the same stone. It’s a mix of black moonstone, onyx and tour
maline. I’ve never seen those stones in such large pieces.”
“What is the significance?” Kane asked.
Aspen hugged herself tighter, as if she were standing in a freezing gale. “They’re all stones powerful in magik, good for both channeling and holding generated forces.”
Raven dropped to one knee and looked at the stone more closely, almost touching it before pulling her hand back. It looked almost as if it was alive, responding to her presence. “So the red lightning is…”
“Magik. Yes. These stones are part of a powerful spell, even more powerful than the one used to try and bring Strohm back,” Aspen said.
Kane looked surprised. “I beg your pardon? Someone tried to bring Strohm back from the dead?”
Raven didn’t look up. “Yeah, my brother Xavier was his biggest fan and thought he should have another shot at the title.”
“Was?”
Raven raised her head, her expression neutral. “I cut his head off with my mother’s sword.”
“Fascinating. None of this is in your file.”
Raven stood and moved toward the iron cross. There was something that was calling to her, something familiar and it wasn’t the scent of blood. “I didn’t know I had one.”
Kane followed her, a look of curiosity on his face. “Indeed, you do. It was required reading for all upper level agents when you were brought on. But there was no mention of fratricide or bringing back your sire. What happened to Strohm, if I may ask?”
“I left his skull pinned to his altar with a sword,” Raven replied absently.
She sniffed at the blood and made a face. “Some of this is old, but a lot of it is fresh. Real fresh, no more than a few hours since it was shed.”
“I think I know why,” Aspen said.
Raven looked where she was looking and saw Lila Norman, or what had once been her body. Raven had seen her around the office a few times, she’d been a competent if unimaginative agent. Now, she was nothing but walking meat. Her skin was the color of old paper and her eyes were as white as milk. Her wrists, neck and thighs had been cut and bone showed within the wounds when she moved. She walked forward; as she did her mouth opened and the words, “Salve, Raven Storm, suscipiat ad infernum” echoed through the chamber in a voice like nails on a chalkboard.
“Great. It knows my name. Why do they always know my name? Am I wearing a nametag?” Raven asked.
Kane’s frown deepened. “Yes. It says Storm on your vest.”
Raven glanced at him in annoyance. “Sarcasm, Kane. It was sarcasm.”
Kane nodded slowly. “Ah. My grandchildren have tried it on me. I’ve never seen the point, to be honest.”
“I bet you’re a lot of fun at parties,” Raven groused.
Lila stepped closer, moving at a slow walking pace. “Novissima hora est : non obstare hiemem!”
Raven drew her pistol and put herself between Aspen and Lila. “Any clue what she’s saying?”
Kane raised his sword into a guard position. “Miss Kincaid is correct, it is a bastardized form of Latin. Something about Hades and the end of the world.”
“Again? It’s the third time this year.”
Lila moved forward and opened her mouth again.
“Oh, shut up!” Raven snapped.
She squeezed the trigger and put a bullet through the Lila-thing’s left eye. The ‘special round did its work and the back of her head exploded outward, along with what was left of her brain. The impact knocked her off her feet and she landed on her back atop the strange tiles.
Aspen moved and knelt beside the corpse. “It’s hard to tell how long she’s been dead, but she died from exsanguination. At least, Lila did. The wounds are deep, but not deep enough to kill. She would have died in agony, but quickly.”
Kane joined her and thumbed back her eyelids to see the milk-white eyes beneath. “That is not all, Miss Kincaid.”
Aspen sucked her lower lip and looked at Raven. “Her soul.”
Raven looked down at the body. The white-eyed stare was making her feel anxious. “What about it?”
“She doesn’t have one. At least, I don’t think so. It’s the only thing I know that leaves the eyes white like that. Even most naturally blind people don’t have eyes like that.”
“So…something took her soul out of her eyes?”
Kane closed Lila’s eyes and muttered a prayer, then looked back at Raven. “The eyes are the windows to the soul. It is not just a saying, Raven Storm. It is a fact.”
“Marvelous. A soul-sucking thing that knows my name. I’m sure that’s a good sign.”
Kane opened his mouth to say something and Aspen shook her head.
“Ah. More sarcasm,” Kane said.
Aspen nodded once and went back to her examination. “I can’t tell you much else, Ray. There is no lividity, none of the stages of Rigor…”
She trailed off when she looked at the back of Lila’s neck. Raven bent to look at what she was distracted by. It was a burn, or brand, in a strange shape that made her eyes water, and it was fresh enough that she could still detect the sickening aroma of scorched flesh.
“That was done when she was still alive,” she said.
“Yes. She would have had to be for it to work. It’s a glyph of transposession.”
“Asp, try to remember I know almost nothing about magik and need that translated into English, okay?” Raven asked.
Aspen smiled and kissed her cheek. “You need to study up, lover. It’s a symbol that allows someone else to control a body whose soul has been removed.”
“The empty shells, the bodies, are called carrionettes, though the last I’d heard about must have been almost three hundred years ago,” Kane said.
Aspen gently lowered Lila’s head back to the floor. “Yeah, it’s very old, very evil magik. Taking a soul is bad enough, riding around in a corpse? Eww. Where does that get fun?”
Raven helped Aspen to stand. “It probably doesn’t unless you’re some kind of psychopath, Asp. But how is a soul stolen? I mean, according to vampire lore the soul flees the body within hours of death. It’s why it is so important to finish the Embrace before the next dawn, otherwise a soulless vampire is raised and they make Strohm look like a summer picnic.”
It was Kane who answered. “The soul is taken at the precise moment of death and contained in a vessel, like a cup of holy water or a crystal…”
He trailed off and looked at the floor.
Raven followed his gaze and realization dawned. “The floor. That’s what the flickering light is. The souls of the people that were on this ship.”
Aspen nodded miserably. “I had a feeling. Whoever, whatever, did this, it trapped their souls and is using them for something. Something unspeakable.”
“Fine. How do we stop it?”
“I don’t know,” Aspen said. “I’ve never even heard of anything like this.”
“Then we figure it out. What happens if we let King blow the ship? Will it free the souls?” Raven asked.
Kane’s expression didn’t change. He looked like a thin, sad Buddha. “I fear not. If the vessel is destroyed, the souls may be, as well.”
“Not necessarily. I might be able to work a spell that reverses this one when the time comes. Then the souls would go wherever they were going to begin with,” Aspen said.
“Aspen, I know that look. There is a down side,” Raven said.
Aspen paced to the far side of the room, where another tunnel led deeper into the bowels of the ship. “It would mean dropping my shield and letting that thing in. And it wants you, Raven.”
Kane folded his arms. “It is too risky. This ship is a—” He waved his arms vaguely. “A preternatural bomb. This much evil, this many souls, if this magik is unleashed on the city, it will be devastating. The ship must be stopped, no matter the cost.”
Raven crossed the room and looked up at Kane. “I’m all for doing the job, Kane. It’s what I do. But there are close to a thousand souls trapped here. Those are people, innocent people, and if we can get them out, then we have a duty to do it. We took an oath to serve and protect.”
“The greater good—”
“Stuff it, Kane.”
Raven walked away from him. “Aspen, what do you need?”
Aspen chewed her thumb nail in thought. “I think I have most of the components in my pack. So just some fresh air and a place to work.”
“Kane can take you to the upper decks, then. I’ll keep going to the engine room and stop this thing,” Raven said.
“I cannot allow that. You cannot do it alone, even you are not strong enough,” Kane said.
Raven turned on him. “I didn’t ask your opinion, Kane. I found you and the rest of the team unprotected, I’ll make it.”
He hefted his sword and looked as if he wanted to argue. Raven rested her hands on her hips, within easy reach of her pistol.
“What are you going to do, Kane? Kill me? Because that makes sense. One of us can’t go it alone so let’s eliminate one of our number,” Raven said.
Kane lowered his blade and looked away. “Raven Storm, see reason. If you fail, millions could die.”
“You’re forgetting something,” Aspen said.
Kane cocked his head so that his grey hair fell over his eyes. “And that is?”
“If we fail, King blows the ship in a matter of hours.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Chicago, Illinois, 1501 57th Street, 1:00 a.m.
The lights were out in Nevermore Books, but a glow in the upstairs window let Levac know that someone, at least, was still awake. Not that it mattered, he would have happily kicked the entire city out of the bed if it would help. Sable opened the door to the stairs and Levac followed her into the narrow foyer. A corridor stretched ahead, crossing the full length of the building to a door and staircase on the opposite side. Another door presumably opened into the bookstore, providing entrance and exit for employees.