As I drew closer to Jinx, I realized that Bloodshedder wasn’t hurting him. She was
licking
him, and his shrieks weren’t caused by pain, but laughter.
“That tickles!” he shouted. “Stop it!”
I looked at Russell and he shrugged. “What can I say? She likes blood. It’s part of her name, after all.”
I looked down at Bloodshedder as she cleaned the gore off Jinx’s skin.
“That’s disgusting,” I said.
“Doesn’t your partner do disgusting things sometimes?” Russell asked.
“Last week he made a salami and toenail-clipping sandwich – with extra toenails.”
“I rest my case.”
Still laughing, Jinx managed to extricate himself from Bloodshedder’s hold and stand up. I was shocked to see him pat the demon dog on the head, and shocked again when Bloodshedder wagged her spiked tail a couple times. Incubi. You never know what the hell they’ll do.
“How did you find us?” I asked Russell. “Bloodshedder track us down?”
“Not this time. I figured once you found Jinx, you’d most likely head to the Rookery, to get your hands on new weapons if nothing else.”
“Makes sense.” I nodded at Shocktooth. “So what rock did you find her under?”
Before Russell could answer, Shocktooth said, “The bastard snuck up on me while I was playing a game of mega-roulette at Last Chancers. He stuck me in the shoulder with that sissy-boy sword of his, and then he slapped the negator on me while I was bleeding all over the damn floor! And I had a streak going, too,” she added sullenly.
Last Chancers was the most popular casino in Nod. Located in the Arcade, Last Chancers was known for its extreme – and often fatal – forms of gambling. Mega-roulette was played on a gigantic table that could’ve filled a stadium, and instead of balls, it used down-on-their-luck gamblers – who owed the casino money – as game pieces. They keep the music turned up loud at Last Chancers to cover the screams. It doesn’t help much.
“Gambling away your payment for helping Quietus escape?” I asked.
“What the hell else would I be doing there?” Shocktooth said. “And the worst part was he made me leave my winnings! Lousy bastard.” She sounded as if she might cry. Good thing her electrical powers were negated, or she might’ve short-circuited herself once tears started flowing.
“Tell her what you told me,” Russell said to Shocktooth.
She didn’t respond right away, and Bloodshedder took a step closer to her and began growling. Jinx gripped Cuthbert Junior’s handle tight.
“Let me interrogate her, Audra,” he said. “Pleeeease? I do
so
love a good interrogation!” He grinned. “The messier, the better.”
Shocktooth glared at us all defiantly a moment more, but then the anger seemed to drain out of her. With her powers negated, there was no way she could heal whatever injuries we inflicted on her, at least, not any faster than a human, and she knew it.
“Fine. The Lords of Misrule have me on retainer. They have a lot of people working for them, Incubi
and
humans. They removed the negator collar the Council slapped around my neck after you two busted me.” A little fire returned to her gaze as she looked at Jinx and me. “The Lords contact me whenever they have a job they want me to do. It could be something as simple as delivering a package. Sometimes they want me to lean on someone.” She grinned, displaying her sharp crocodilian teeth. “I’m real good at the rough stuff, you know. Anyway, yesterday I got a call from the Lords – but I never know who it is. Sometimes it’s a guy, sometimes a woman. This time it was a woman. She told me you two had captured Quietus, and she wanted me to help him escape. The fact that I’d get to stomp on you two was a bonus.” She glanced at Russell. “She told me someone else would meet me, and that he’d help make sure Quietus got away. She didn’t tell me he’d actually be a fucking backstabber, though! Literally!”
I looked at Russell. “So the two of you hooked up, found us, and freed Quietus. Which you totally couldn’t have done if Jinx and I hadn’t been so worn out from capturing him in the first place,” I pointed out. “The question is, how did you find us? Did Quietus have some kind of tracing device on him?”
Jinx had been quiet as we talked, but now he said, “They were told where to find us.”
I frowned. “But no one knew where we’d enter Nod.
We
didn’t even know.”
“Jinx is right,” Russell said. “No one told me where to find you, but Shocktooth knew. Or at least she had a good idea. She told me which street we’d most likely find you on.”
We all looked at Shocktooth, Bloodshedder included.
“The woman – I assume the same one – told me where you’d be,” Shocktooth said.
I thought about this for a moment. “Do the Lords have some way of identifying which Doors lead where each night?”
As far as the Shadow Watch knew, the Lords didn’t possess any advanced tech, but after everything Jinx and I had experienced over the last couple days, I knew differently. Hell, whoever Russell really worked for had the capability of making weapons out of pure M-energy in ways the Shadow Watch’s M-gineers could only – pardon the pun – dream about.
Shocktooth shrugged. “How the fuck should I know? I’m just a hired hand.”
I looked at Russell.
“I don’t know much about their tech, either,” he said. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if they can communicate directly between dimensions without having to rely on couriers. I mean, my people can–” He broke off. “Well, let’s just say I know that such communication is possible.”
I looked at Shocktooth. “What happened after you freed Quietus?”
“Not much. We got the negators off him, and he took off. Asshole didn’t even say thanks. Backstabber and I went our separate ways after that. When I got back to my place, I found a stack of yoonies on my kitchen table, same as usual after I finish a job for the Lords. As far as I was concerned, I’d been paid and the job was over.”
I had no idea whether Shocktooth had told us the whole truth. The less humanlike an Incubus is, the more difficult it is for me to read their facial expressions and vocal tones. I thought there was a decent chance she wasn’t lying to us, but I really didn’t know. I figured Jinx and I had learned enough for the time being, though. While we’d been talking, I’d kept an eye on the Rookery’s main gate, hoping to see a pair of guards emerge and take up their accustomed positions. But no one had exited the building the entire time we’d been standing there, and I was rapidly transitioning from nervous to alarmed.
“Let’s go inside,” I said. “We need to report in to Sanderson. And the sooner Shocktooth is behind bars, the better. You’re going to get more than a binding this time,” I told her. “You’re going to get an all-expense-paid trip to Deadlock.”
Shocktooth groaned. Deadlock was often referred to as the Roach Motel, because Incubi went in, but they never came out.
I looked at Russell. “This is your chance to duck out. Sanderson’s going to have a lot of questions for you, and you might not want to answer them.”
He didn’t even pause to think about it. “Bloodshedder and I’ll go with. My cover’s blown with the Lords now anyway, and as for who I really work for…” He did pause now. “Commander Sanderson won’t be surprised.”
I raised an eyebrow, but as usual, Russell didn’t elaborate. I felt like punching him really hard in an especially sensitive area, but I resisted the urge. We had work to do.
Jinx chose that moment to speak to Bloodshedder. “Did you know your initials are BS?”
Bloodshedder growled, Russell grinned, and I sighed.
“Let’s go,” I said.
I knew something was wrong before we were even halfway across the courtyard. The Rookery is usually a quiet place on the outside. Shadow Watch patrol officers are almost always out in the field, whether on Earth or in Nod, and most of the time we receive our orders via wisper. The only times we go into the Rookery are when we’re bringing in a suspect or – as is often the case for Jinx and me – when we’re in trouble and summoned to appear before Sanderson.
But the Shadow Watch has other divisions beside Patrol: Dispatch, Processing, the Armory, and Detention, all located on the ground floor. The upper floors house the Rookery’s Central Administration, Permissions (for passports and licenses), the courtrooms of the Judiciary, Somnocology, M-gineering – and at the very top, the Bower. That’s where the Unwakened eternally slumber, their powerful dreams maintaining Nod’s existence and keeping the Maelstrom’s violent energies at bay. So even though it’s quiet, the Rookery still has the feeling of a place that’s inhabited and alive. But I didn’t feel that now. All I felt was emptiness.
Jinx still held Cuthbert Junior in a one-handed grip, but he now spun the hammer around and took hold of it with both hands. Which told me he also felt something wasn’t right. Russell had grabbed Shocktooth’s arm with one hand, and with his other he drew an M-blade from his belt.
“I made a stop along the way,” he said, as he handed it to me. “Sorry I wasn’t able to score you a new trancer. This was the best I could do.”
It wasn’t a normal M-blade. They’re made from steel blended with threads of Maelstrom energy. The entire blade of this weapon was multicolored, like Russell’s rapier. It was fashioned entirely from M-energy, and I assumed Russell’s “people” had made it. If it was anything like his sword, it would probably deliver a hell of a strike.
“Thanks,” I said.
Russell nodded, then drew his rapier. Bloodshedder began growling softly.
Shocktooth looked at each of us in turn.
“What’s wrong with you people?” she asked. “You’re acting like you’re heading for a fight or something.”
I glanced sideways at her. “Seriously? How the hell have you survived on the streets so long if your instincts are so bad?”
Shocktooth looked puzzled, but she didn’t say anything more, and I was grateful. The last thing I wanted to do was head into danger with her yakking like an idiot. I get enough of that from Jinx.
The Rookery’s main entrance is a large wooden door that wouldn’t have been out of place on a medieval Earth castle. There were torches on either side of the door: horned demonic skulls with huge incisors, wreathed in scarlet flame.
As we drew close to the door, I said, “What’s up, boys?”
The skulls didn’t answer. That was a bad sign. The fireskulls are part of the Rookery’s security system, and if they weren’t working…
“I’ll get the door,” Jinx said.
I can open it myself, but it’s a heavy bastard, so Jinx usually does the honors. I raised my new weapon, ready to slice anyone who tried to attack us. Jinx pulled the door open without a sound. Another bad sign. Incubi are born from humanity’s fears, so they’re theatrical by nature. The door was built to make an ominous creaking sound when opened. But it hadn’t. I was beginning to suspect someone had deactivated the Rookery’s security system.
Bloodshedder sniffed the air, her nostrils flaring wide as she drew in the scents around her. She began to whine, and I went cold at the sound. No one came running out to kill us, though, which was encouraging. I started to tell Jinx to go in slowly, but before I could, he raised Cuthbert Junior over his head and ran into the building, roaring a challenge. Jinx does not do stealthy.
Ah, what the hell?
I thought and dashed in after Jinx. I heard Bloodshedder follow after me, and I assumed Russell brought up the rear, hauling Shocktooth along with him, but I didn’t look back to make sure. The main entrance opens onto a short corridor, which leads to Level One, where the Shadow Watch divisions are located. I ran down the hall at my top speed, ignoring the protests of my sore head and my tired, aching muscles.
Despite its outward appearance, the Rookery is thoroughly modern inside, and the Shadow Watch’s level looks like a standard corporate office. The only anachronistic touch is the stone column in the center of the level which houses the building’s elevators.
The first time you enter the Rookery, it’s actually more than a little disappointing, considering how much more… colorful the rest of Nod is. Normally, it’s a beehive of activity, but now it was deathly quiet. Emphasis on
death.
Bodies of both Incubi and humans were scattered throughout the area. Some still sat at their desks, while others lay on the floor, struck down where they’d stood. Some of the people held trancers or M-blades, while others looked like they’d been trying to flee. Patrol officers or support staff, none had been spared.
The air had a faint sickly-sweet odor to it, like rotting apples. It was nauseating, and my stomach gave a lurch.
“Wow!” Shocktooth said as she gazed upon the bodies. She was obviously thrilled to see so many members of the Shadow Watch dead.
The sight of so many bodies was so overwhelming that I didn’t feel anything at first, not even shock. As a mental defense, I went into professional mode and began logically assessing the scene.
“We need to check for survivors,” I said. My voice was strong, my tone commanding. I sounded calm and confident, but inside I was screaming in despair.
“They’re not dead,” Jinx said.
“We’ll need to split up,” I continued. “Jinx, you take the left side of this level, I’ll take the right, and Russell, you and Bloodshedder take the middle.”
“They’re not dead,” Jinx repeated.
I went on. “If you find a survivor, call out. Any questions?”
Jinx placed Cuthbert Junior on a nearby desk, then pulled a rubber chicken from one of his pockets. With a swift motion, he wacked me in the side of the head with it.
My head started throbbing again, and anger welled up inside me. I pointed my new M-blade at him and took a step forward. “Why the hell did–” And then I realized what Jinx had been trying to tell me.
“They’re not dead?”
“Not even a little,” he said, tucking the rubber chicken away. “They’re sleeping.”