Bloodshedder let out a yip, and Jinx groaned. “You found one? All right, you win.”
Bloodshedder wagged her tail in victory as she bounded forward, tongue lolling out the side of her mouth. I had to admit, she was kind of cute in a terrifying way. She ran to a hut, sniffed at the simple wooden door, snorted, then ran around to the side. We followed, and although we only had Espial’s light to see by, the outline of a Door was clearly visible in the outer wall. It was a modern door, with a chrome frame and square panes of glass. Nothing was visible behind the glass, only darkness, as if the panes were coated with thick layers of black paint. The Door had a vertical metal handle.
Jinx looked at Bloodshedder. “Better leave this to someone with opposable thumbs.” He stuck his tongue out at her, then stepped forward, took hold of the anachronistic handle, and opened the Door to reveal black Nothingness.
Jinx grinned at me and made a sweeping gesture to the open doorway and the darkness that lay beyond. “After you, Audra.”
Not
Mommy.
Despite my discomfort at traveling between dimensions, I returned Jinx’s smile.
“Thank you, good sir.”
I took a deep breath and stepped through the doorway. I experienced the same sensations I always do – the long period of floating in a lightless limbo, the dizziness, the nausea… And I heard the same eerie whispers. Only now, I thought I was able to make out what they were saying. It sounded like
Hurry, hurry, hurry…
And then I stepped through another Door and into the Chicago night. A breeze was blowing – big surprise – and I could smell Lake Michigan. As the others came through behind me, I tried to get my bearings. Narrow streets, small buildings, fast food joints, convenience stores… I recognized this area. We weren’t that far from the Lincoln Park Zoo.
The Door – which Russell closed after he stepped through – was set into the outer wall of a souvenir shop, the kind of place where tourists can buy replicas of the Sears Tower, and Bears and Cubs T-shirts and hats. I checked the time with my wisper and saw it was almost 1.30 in the morning. The sidewalks were empty, which is good when you’re traveling with a six-and-a-half-foot clown, a guy in a pirate outfit, and a huge demonic canine.
“So, what’s the plan?” Russell asked. “You want Bloodshedder to try and track Sanderson?”
She looked at Russell and whined.
“I know it’s a long shot,” he said. “But your sense of smell is stronger than any Earth dog. If we criss-cross the city long enough, there’s a chance you might pick up his trail.”
I shook my head. “They’ve taken him to Perchance to Dream. Where else could they go?”
“Anywhere on Earth or Nod,” Jinx said.
I scowled at him.
“What? It’s true, isn’t it?”
“Technically,” I allowed. “But the Lords of Misrule wouldn’t have abducted Sanderson unless they had a use for him. If they just wanted him out of the way, they could’ve killed him, just like they did Damon and Eklips.”
“Maybe,” Russell said. “But what if you’re wrong? If we hightail it to Perchance to Dream and Sanderson isn’t there, all we’ll do is alert the Lords that we’re on to them, and wherever Sanderson really is, they’ll move him. We might lose our only chance to get him back. I say we let Bloodshedder take a shot at finding him.”
I knew what Russell proposed was logical, but I couldn’t stop thinking about those voices in the void, whispering for me to hurry, hurry.
“That would take too long. I can’t explain it, but I’ve got a gut feeling that whatever move we’re going to make, we have to make it fast.”
Russell started to protest, but before he could get a word out, Jinx stepped close and put an arm around my shoulders.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my years of working with Audra, it’s to pay attention when her gut starts talking. It makes the most interesting sounds. Squishy, rumbly, gurgly sounds mostly, but every once in a while, it makes these cute little high-pitched noises that sound like whale song. It’s really quite–”
I elbowed him in the ribs, cutting him off.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
I lifted my wisper to my mouth and spoke a command. “Search for phone number. Name: Connie Desposito.” I hadn’t had time to program any numbers into my new wisper, but I knew her name was in the Shadow Watch database that lists all registered Incubi and Ideators on Earth.
A soft chime sounded, indicating her number had been found.
“Call,” I said. She picked up after the second ring.
“Yeah?”
“Hey, Connie. It’s Audra. Jinx and I need a ride. It’s an emergency. Big time.”
There was a second’s hesitation, but then she said, “No problem. Where are you?”
I checked the nearest street sign, told her our location, and she said, “Be there in a few minutes.”
I thanked her and lowered my wrist. The wisper, sensing the movement, disconnected.
“Before she gets here, there’s something we need to take care of,” I said. “Jinx and I experienced two Incursions in a row, almost as if they were targeted on us. I think they were. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
“
Targeted
Incursions?” Russell said. “How is that possible?”
“Your people have better toys than the Shadow Watch,” I said. “Maybe the Lords have better than both.” I smiled. “
And
I have a theory. Jinx was struck by a number of Quietus’ dark shards when he attacked us last night. What if one of those shards did more than just cut Jinx? What if it
implanted
something inside him?”
“Without even buying me dinner first?” Jinx said. “How rude!”
“Like some kind of targeting device?” Russell asked. He thought for a moment. “Yeah, I suppose that’s possible.”
I turned to Jinx. “Strip.”
His features twisted into an exaggerated expression of horror. “Audra! You’re my partner, and I respect you immensely, but you are in a very real sense my creator. I appreciate your… uh, interest. I can’t blame you. After all, I
am
one hundred percent, grade-A, prime clown beefcake. But I don’t think a relationship of an, er, intimate nature between us would be appropriate. In other words –
eew!
”
“You’re not funny,” I said. “Now take your clothes off. For the First Dreamer’s sake, most of the time I have trouble convincing you to keep your damn clothes
on
.”
Jinx removed his jacket, tie, shirt, pants, and shoes, until his lean but well-muscled chalk-white body was revealed. Not counting the bits still concealed by his Bozo the Clown boxers.
“Now
there’s
a sight I could’ve gone to my grave without seeing,” Russell said.
Jinx’s lips curled away from teeth suddenly grown sharp. “I can arrange your trip to the afterlife any time you want.”
Bloodshedder started growling.
I held Jinx’s clothes, and I made sure to keep my hands away from his pockets. I didn’t want to risk any of his murderous novelty items taking my fingers off.
“Knock it off, you three. Bloodshedder, give Jinx a good all-over sniff and see if you can find any foreign objects in his body.”
“I had Chinese the other day,” Jinx said. “Does that count?”
Bloodshedder glanced at Russell, and he nodded. Looking none too happy about it, Bloodshedder padded over to Jinx and began sniffing him.
“Careful there, Lassie!” Jinx said. “You and I barely know one another!”
Bloodshedder snorted to show she didn’t think he was funny either, and continued with her work. After a few moments, she jumped up, put her front paws on Jinx’s shoulder, and with a swift, savage motion she bit a hunk of flesh out of Jinx’s chest. Jinx shouted a word that’s probably frowned upon even in nightmare clown society, and clapped a hand to the wound to stop the bleeding.
Bloodshedder – who’d once again lived up to her name – jumped down and spat a gore-smeared piece of clown meat onto the sidewalk. Then she grimaced.
“Sorry,” Jinx said. “It’s the chalky aftertaste.”
Russell and I knelt down, and I drew my new M-blade and prodded the flesh. I saw a small metallic sphere the size of a BB embedded in the meat. I pried it loose with the tip of my blade and then took hold of it between my thumb and forefinger. It was slick with blood, so I cleaned it on Jinx’s pants.
I looked at Jinx then. “You need a bandage?”
He removed his hand from his wound. His fingers were bloody, but his chest wound was already sealing itself.
“I’m good,” he said. He then glared at Bloodshedder. “Better watch out. Next time, I’ll bite
you.
” He once again flashed a mouthful of sharp teeth.
Unimpressed, Bloodshedder yawned.
I tossed Jinx’s clothes to him. By this point, his body had reabsorbed the blood on his hand, and he was able to handle his clothing without staining it. He started to get dressed while Russell and I examined the tiny sphere.
“Looks awfully small to be a targeting device,” Russell said.
“If the Lords can create Incursions at will – including during the day – then they should be able to handle a bit of miniaturization,” I said.
“Point taken.”
Jinx dressed quickly. Since whatever clothes Night Jinx wears become a part of his substance in ways I’ve never understood, they practically flowed onto him. He then stepped over and examined the sphere.
“You want me to smash it?” he asked.
“No. If we do that, the Lords might know we found and removed it.”
“We can’t just toss it into a Dumpster or the sewer,” Russell said. “If it also functions as a tracking device, the Lords will get suspicious if it looks like Jinx is remaining in one place the rest of the night.”
“No worries,” Jinx said. He reached into his pants pocket, rummaged around for a couple seconds and then pulled out a white rat. Well, most of its fur was white. On its head were blue and red markings that matched the color design of Jinx’s face. Jinx made some squeaking sounds to the rat, and the rat answered him back in kind. Jinx then took the sphere and held it out to the rodent. The rat swallowed it, and then Jinx knelt and placed the animal on the sidewalk.
As he straightened, he said, “Try not to poop it out too soon, Itchy. Clench if you have to.”
The rat squeaked once more and then scurried into a nearby alley.
Russell looked at me, and I shrugged.
“You have to admit, he’s not boring,” I said.
Jinx grinned.
Connie arrived soon after that, and Russell, Jinx, and I climbed into the Deathmobile, which was in its hearse Aspect. Russell and Jinx sat in the back, and I sat in the front next to Connie. Bloodshedder remained on the sidewalk.
“She’ll be able to get to where we’re going faster on her own,” Russell said.
“We’re going to Wet Dreams,” I told her.
Bloodshedder yipped once, and then turned and bounded off down the sidewalk, moving like a shadow, swift and silent.
I closed the passenger door and looked at Connie. “Let’s go.”
“You got it, Audra.” She put the hearse in gear, and the Deathmobile glided away from the curb.
“You said this was an emergency?” she asked.
“It sure as hell is.”
She grinned. “Then you three better buckle up.”
We quickly did as Connie suggested. She then reached out, patted the dashboard, and spoke a single word. “Engage.”
The Deathmobile’s engine rumbled, the sound building in volume and intensity, and then we were thrown back against the seats as the unearthly vehicle surged forward like a rocket.
“Hope you guys can handle some extra Gs!” Connie shouted over the engine’s roar.
I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth, and did my best to hold onto consciousness as the Deathmobile hurtled through the streets of Chicago.
The Deathmobile decelerated as we approached Wet Dreams, which I was very grateful for. If the hearse had slammed on the brakes, I probably would’ve gone flying through the windshield, seatbelt or not. When the vehicle stopped, I told Connie to wait for us.
“And keep the engine running,” I said.
Connie looked at me. “You weren’t kidding when you said this was an emergency, were you?”
“Nope.”
She nodded. “We’ll be waiting.”
Jinx, Russell, and I started toward Wet Dreams’ entrance, but before we reached it, a pair of figures stepped out of the alley. One was an emaciated bald man in jeans and a leather jacket, a smoldering cigarette in his mouth. His face was little more than a flesh-covered skull, and his eyes were a glowing fiery orange. Instead of fingers, he had cigarettes for digits, each one lit, smoke curling from the burning tips. The other figure, a female, wore a tank top and shorts, and her blond hair looked frizzed out as if she’d been subjected to an electric shock. There were dark circles around her eyes, and her lips were a harsh, cruel red. But her most striking feature was her legs. They were impossibly long and multi-jointed, like those of some hideously mutated insect.
The male flexed his cigarette fingers and flames sprouted from the tips, but no matter how much they burned, his fingers didn’t decrease in length. The female flicked her wrists and from nowhere a pair of curved steel daggers appeared in her hands.
The male smiled, and when he opened his mouth to speak, gray smoke wafted forth.
“We were hoping you’d stop by tonight,” Cancer Jack said, his voice crackling like burning paper.
Lizzie Longlegs smiled sweetly as her bizarrely angled legs quivered in excitement. “Payback’s a bitch, and so am I,” she said.
I grinned at them. “I’m so glad to see you two!”
Jack and Lizzie glanced at each other, then turned back to look at us.
“Um, you realize we’re here to kick your asses, right?” Lizzie said.