Grave Creatures Read online

  Warren slowly turned to look at me.

  “Wow. Thanks, Chief.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  Chapter 21

  “Skeletons?” said Zack as I sat in front of the Directors.

  Imagine having to meet with your boss every day to be grilled about stuff you didn’t have enough information on. That’s what this felt like. I knew a little more, sure, but not enough. Besides, shouldn’t these guys know more about this than me?

  “Yes, sir,” I replied. “Skeletons. Honestly not sure why he went with them. Maybe just as a test? They were surprisingly ineffective. In fact, Officer Lloyd had quite a good time knocking them down and ripping their limbs off.”

  “The wizard?” said Silver.

  I nodded. “We couldn’t believe it either. I guess he felt like he could finally contribute in some way beyond lengthy spells and diagrams.” I then laughed a bit to myself. “Kind of felt bad for Portman and his crew. They were having a hell of a time matching up limbs with bodies.”

  EQK was the only one who found that humorous.

  “Do you have any further information on the necromancer?” O asked.

  “The only thing we know is that he’s a lot more advanced than we’d originally thought.” I adjusted in my seat. “He’s been adding spells to his spells.”

  “Meaning?”

  “He’s talking about triggers, Silver,” explained O.

  “Ah, well that clears it up. Thanks, O.”

  EQK giggled again.

  Ever since I’d become chief and had to start reporting to these guys, I’d noticed the tension between them. I guess it was normal for the different factions to be at odds with each other. The pixies were the worst, no matter what the fairy tales said. They antagonized everyone. Turbo was an exception to that rule. He was a decent little dude. EQK, however, fit the douche-stereotype in the supernatural community perfectly. Personally, I loved the way the pixies acted because they were funny as hell, but they were responsible for a lot of angst between the rest of the factions. They were always starting trouble.

  “What I’m talking about, Silver,” O said with a growl that even Zack could appreciate, “is an embedded spell that gets triggered by something else. Typically tampering or magic.”

  “Something like a landmine?” asked Zack.

  “That’s the general idea of it,” O replied.

  “Ah yes,” Silver said at length. “I remember those now. Beastly things back in the war.”

  “Indeed.” O had said with a sigh. It was clear that he’d seen these types of tricks before, too. “What exactly has the necromancer been doing, Mr. Dex?”

  “Raising the dead, dumbass,” replied EQK before I could respond, effectively proving my point about pixies. “Don’t you ever pay attention in these meetings?”

  “Watch yourself, EQK,” Zack said, coming to O’s defense.

  “Oh, go mark a tree.”

  I snorted and then coughed to try and cover my mirth. While I found EQK more my speed amongst the Directors, the rest of them were still my bosses.

  “Okay, so Shitfaced Fred put in a trigger on the first line to knock Officer Benchley out.”

  “Who?” asked Silver scooting forward for just a moment.

  I frowned. “Officer Benchley, sir.”

  “No, who is Shitfaced Fred?”

  “Oh, uh…” Damn it. “That’s what we’re calling the necromancer.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he was drunk and…” I trailed off, feeling like an idiot. “Let’s just call him Fred.”

  “Okay.”

  I caught a glimpse of his face but it disappeared an instant later. I hated that. It’s like waking up from a dream that you can’t remember, even though it was so vivid you can’t believe it wasn’t real.

  “Anyway, in his last attack he had configured a box that caused my mages to incessantly cast spells, draining them.” I recalled the sight of all that firepower flying from their hands. “Fred nearly took out three of my officers with that.”

  “A box?” said Zack.

  “Yes, sir. It was covered in runes.”

  “Interesting,” O said as he tapped the table. “I’m assuming there was a standard explosive attached as well?”

  I lifted my eyebrows at that.

  “There was. How did you know that?”

  “I saw them during the war.”

  “Yes,” agreed Silver.

  He had to have been referring to the supernatural war in the early 1900s. I’d read stories about it and heard some firsthand accounts from folks like Serena and Griff. My other officers hadn’t been born yet. Apparently it was an all out battle for supremacy in the factions. According to historical records, it was started by the vampires, but they swear to this day that the werewolves had taken the first bite. Many lives were lost during that war, including a lot of normals, and there were some pretty nasty spells, weaponry, and devices built as well. War brought out the deviousness in people, that was for certain.

  “Fortunately, I’d gotten rid of the box before it obliterated Officer Lloyd.” The Directors said nothing. I didn’t know if they didn’t care about the wellbeing of my individual officers or if they were all deep in thought regarding the memory of the war. “Anyway, we’re still learning what we can about this mage so we can stop him. If you have any information that may help, I’m all ears.”

  “I’ll send details to your mages regarding the boxes I saw during the battles,” offered O. “It won’t be comprehensive because a lot of the old magic was never understood. But it should at least give them a way to protect themselves.”

  “You should also have your wizard do research on amulets,” suggested Silver. “We had rune necklaces that helped block the effects of those bombs. It wasn’t one hundred percent, but it was better than nothing.”

  “Thank you, sirs,” I said, not expecting any additional feedback from the other two.

  I was wrong.

  Zack piped up and added, “You could also have Officer Logan change into her werewolf form and sniff the area.”

  “Seriously?” said EQK with a laugh. “You’re suggesting bomb-sniffing dogs now?”

  “We smell with the best of them.”

  “No arguing that,” EQK agreed, very likely meaning something far different than what Zack had heard.

  “Thank you.”

  “Right,” said EQK. “Anyway, the smartest thing you can do is get your pixie tech to create a detection device. Runes, schematics, and bomb-sniffing dogs are all cute, but everyone who isn’t a complete moron knows that technology is the way to go.”

  “That’s not true,” said O.

  “Completely false,” argued Silver.

  “An utter fabrication,” growled Zack.

  There was a slight pause, followed by EQK saying, “I rest my case.”

  Chapter 22

  As soon as I left the meeting with the Directors, Rachel swung by my office to say there was another bit of fun going on.

  “Which cemetery?”

  “None. They’re actually on the old strip.”

  “Shit.”

  I took the steps in a single leap and headed for the door. A quick glance back at the offices told me the rest of the agents were already on their way.

  “Here,” Rachel said, handing me a pair of fancy sunglasses as we got in the car.

  “It’s the middle of the night.”

  “Turbo made them,” she explained. “They’re to replace the bulky zombie spotters he’d built earlier.”

  I slipped them on and noticed that it didn’t darken things at all. If anything it made the night light up a fair bit. How Turbo had managed to do that while still keeping the lenses so darkly tinted was a mystery I’d likely never ask about. I wouldn’t understand his answer anyway. It made me wonder what other little goodies he could build for us.

  “That pixie is something else,” I said while peeling out and getting down the road. “It didn’t even take him until morn
ing.”

  “Yep.”

  Engineers were an interesting breed. If they told you they could complete something in a week, it’d take a month; if they said it’d take a month—and they were dramatic about it—it’d take a week; and if they were noncommittal, then you’d likely never get it at all.

  “How far behind are we on the others?” I asked as we got on the main strip.

  “They left just as I was coming to your office. We should be right on them.”

  I pressed the accelerator a little harder.

  “Hey gang,” I said through the connector, “let’s not engage with the zombies until we’re all in place, understand?”

  They acknowledged.

  None of us had any clue what the necromancer had in store for us, but he’d been getting trickier with each encounter and I saw no point in engaging without first having a plan.

  I closed off the broadcast and just spoke to Rachel. “Now that Fred has decided to finally tackle introducing the dead to the living, we’re going to have a shit storm on our hands.”

  “Yep.” Rachel was cracking her knuckles. Most people did this as a stress reliever, Rachel did it as a way to signal she was ready for a fight. “I’ve already tasked Lydia with getting The Spin down here on this one.”

  That thought made me shudder.

  It was quite amazing to me how I could stand toe-to-toe with a werewolf who was hellbent on biting me in two, but I was not fond of facing a confrontation against a five-foot-two normal by the name of Paula Rose. She was a spitfire. If she’d been born a dragon, there’d only be one difference in what she was as a normal…she’d be able to fly.

  I gulped.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” said Rachel, “and let me just say…better you than me.”

  “Yeah.”

  We parked at the Downtown Grand, where everyone had agreed to meet. It was far enough away from Freemont to give us a quiet entrance. Plus, it gave us time to plan.

  We padded over toward the old strip because that’s where the reports had come in from. This made sense seeing that it was one of the more populated areas this time of night.

  “Obviously we can’t just start shooting these things,” I pointed out to the crew while checking to make sure Boomy was fully loaded. “Well, I guess we can, but you know what I’m saying.”

  “What do you suggest, Chief?”

  “Not sure, Chuck.” I tucked Boomy back into his holster. “Anyone have any ideas?”

  “Use our small guns,” Felicia started, “get in close, and knock a few rounds into them. Then drag them off. Let The Spin handle damage control. That’s their job.”

  “Ian’s afraid of Paula,” Rachel pointed out with a nod at me.

  Felicia nodded. “Ah, right.”

  “I am not,” I said with a frown. Then I shrugged. “Okay, maybe a little, but that has no bearing on this. We’re cops and our job is to protect the people, so we do what we have to do.”

  I paused and scanned the area to see if I could spot any of the zombies with my new shades. The crowd wasn’t too congested tonight but so far I saw nothing.

  “Anyone see any of them?”

  “Nothing here,” said Jasmine. The rest of the crew didn’t see anything either. “When we do spot them,” she continued, “we could put together a gripping spell and pull them out of the main area.”

  “A what?”

  “It’s a solid idea, actually,” said Griff, ignoring my question. “We would have to couple it with a sense of compelling, too.”

  “True,” said Jasmine.

  “Anyone want to explain to the non-mages what the hell you’re talking about?” I asked.

  Rachel spun me around. “Think of it like putting handcuffs on a person, except with magic.”

  “I like it already.”

  “Freak.” She grunted. “Anyway, it’s great to lock them down, but it doesn’t mean they’ll come along and jump in the back of the squad car…metaphorically speaking. To get the person to comply with following you, just tack on that compelling spell and you’re all set.”

  “Ah,” I replied with a nod. “I get it. The handcuff one works, but you don’t need that second one.”

  “Why not?” asked Griff.

  “They’re already interested in ripping me limb from limb, remember?”

  “He’s got a point there,” stated Jasmine.

  We kept scanning the area, but nothing turned up. Maybe it was a false report? Just a helpful super who had been on edge lately with all of the activity going on. It’d happened before, back during the werewolf craze before I’d made it to the rank of chief. There’d been so many wolf attacks in my rookie year that people were calling in to report stray poodles and yapping chihuahuas. I think the entire PPD slept for a week when that fiasco finally ended.

  “Uh,” said Felicia while pointing up. “I think I’ve found them.”

  There they were.

  Two zombies.

  They were riding the damn zip lines!

  Chapter 23

  The zip line allowed people to put on a harness and fly above everyone else on Freemont Street.

  I sent Chuck, Griff, and Serena to the launching tower while the rest of us bolted down to the receiving platform. We probably wouldn’t arrive in time to meet them at the landing spot, but since it would take a little time for the zombies to get the safety gear off, we could at least meet them on their way out.

  “Keep an eye out for Fred,” I commanded through the connector, “and don’t take any chances with weird magic shit. We already know the guy is doing his best to find our weak spots. Let’s not give him anything to work with.” That’s when I glanced around and the blood drained from my face. “Where’s Warren?”

  “He stayed back at base,” Serena replied through the connector. “He wanted to keep studying those runes that Fred put on that box.”

  “Okay, good.” I sighed heavily and then opened a channel back to base. “Lydia, could you please have Warren work with Turbo on building us some amulets or something to help protect us against these weird wizard bombs?”

  “What wizard bombs, honey pie?”

  “He should know, babe,” I answered, throwing her a little of the Ian charm. “Silver and O had some information about them.”

  “I just pulled up a few thousand articles on them myself,” she replied. “I believe Warren will have his hands full dealing with this, puddin’.”

  “Well, that’s his job. Thanks, Lydia.”

  We disconnected just as my crew got to the end of the zip line, over by North Main. The zombies were slowly working their way down the steps. If I were in as bad shape as those guys, I’d have taken the elevator.

  “Magic ready?” I asked Jasmine and Rachel. They nodded. “Okay, everyone fan out. I’m going to back away so as not to draw their attention yet. I seem to be enough of a compelling spell all by myself.”

  I moved backward while keeping my eye on the two dead guys who were struggling down the steps. We could have dropped them right there if there weren’t other people around. As it was, we needed to be somewhat chilled about this.

  Right as I crested the corner of the Golden Gate, I bumped into someone and the word “flashes” went through my mind.

  Everything stopped.

  Everything.

  Sounds, people, cars…nothing was moving.

  Suddenly the world went dark and I found myself grabbing for the wall in order to maintain my balance.

  At first I thought that maybe Fred had cast a spell on me, but something told me that wasn’t it. The word “flashes” was bouncing around in my head. I gripped the wall. No, this didn’t come from Fred. It came from that guy I’d talked to at the Three Angry Wives bar a couple weeks back. Gabe. He mentioned that the demon-powered mage we’d fought before was just one in the line of bad things to come. He then said he would be able to help me. After that, he disappeared into the night, but not until after using that word ‘flashes’ in such a way that it st
uck with me. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt it.

  The darkness began to fade and sounds were reintroduced, but they weren’t sounds of a lively night in downtown Vegas. They were the sounds of battle.

  I was looking through someone else’s eyes. I could see what he saw, smell the scent in the air, feel the touch of the rifle he was holding. Even his fear was gripping my brain as if it were my own. Fortunately, I had enough self-awareness to realize that this wasn’t me. It wasn’t my body. Hell, it wasn’t even my era. This was definitely the past. A dreary, lonesome, terrifying past. And it was nowhere near Vegas either. In fact, I had no idea where the hell we were.

  As this soldier, whoever he was, crept along, I could see figures clomping around in front of him.

  Zombies.

  So this vision was a tie-in to my current situation.

  The soldier kept moving until he was situated on the top of a small mound. It was covered in bushes, giving him enough cover to do whatever he intended. My hope was that he was just hiding. They weren’t looking in his direction and he appeared to be doing everything he could to avoid them.

  Nope.

  He attached a scope to his rifle and leveled it, scanning the area until his sights settled on his target.

  It was Shitfaced Fred. He was younger, sure, but I rarely forgot a face—Directors notwithstanding. If he took out Fred here that would be that. Could that be what this “flashes” thing was all about? Killing a guy in a vision? That would kick ass.

  Unfortunately, the soldier didn’t fire.

  Instead, he moved the scope a little further to the left until he spotted another wizard.

  This one was also hunched over, looking like a grim old man who’d had one too many whiskeys. What was it with wizards and booze? You’d think they used it as a power source or something. That thought made me want to grin, but this wasn’t the time.

  The soldier lowered the scope away from the wizard’s head until it was focused in on a small box that was being cradled in the old man’s hands. It wasn’t one of those exploding type of boxes that we’d seen the other night. This one was silver with black etching. There were runes all over it. I tried to study and commit them to memory, just in case.