Chapter Fifteen
Regge saving the bad guys really sucks
Abraham’s panel van smelled like cleaning supplies and barbeque potato chips. I internally raged against the mob guy and his stupid ideas as we rode toward my flat. If he hadn’t kidnapped Anu, things would have been fine.
I gave a brief thought to poor Nigel, whose spirit might be lost somewhere in the hotel, but my head was consumed with Hunter. What would happen now? Pery’s silence was a welcome relief.
“Could you wait a moment for me?” I asked as he pulled up to my building. At his nod, I dove out of the car. Would Anu’s spirit be trapped inside Hunter’s body for a lifetime? Maybe we could revive the old guy somehow. He was a necromancer after all. My thoughts raced as I took the stairs two at a time.
Ziggy and Hunter were drinking tea on the couch. The cozy scene lifted my spirits. It vanished as Hunter’s eyes turned to me. They held the cold, disinterested stare of the necromancer. Anu’s body was gone, but his spirit was alive within Hunter.
“Well?” Not-Hunter’s voice gave me chills. Cobb stood in the kitchen, a spatula in his hand as he tended scrambled eggs on the stove.
We’d deliberately left him out of our quest to Eskridge’s place. As part of our little underworld group, both Cobb and Ziggy often helped, but they were honor bound to follow the laws of the land.
I steadied my voice. “Anu’s body is downstairs with Pery.” I sighed. “I’m sorry. We were too late.”
Anu remained cold and calculating. “Never mind the body. It was dying anyway. The tablet is what is important. Did your people find it?”
I shook my head. “Eskridge wanted you to bring his boss back to life. He was the man who died summoning the demon. The boss, not Julian.”
He sat back, drinking his tea with the daintiness of a Victorian noble. “All these years and the stupidity of the human race never ceases to amaze me. The fool opened a door to the Ether. A guard slipped through. I dispatched him.”
“A guard? Julian said it was a demon who killed both his boss and a woman.”
Not-Hunter frowned. “You have seen much in your youth, boy, but there is far more you haven’t seen. Be glad of that. The Ether is guarded by creatures designed for that purpose. They are strong but not particularly bright. The witch should have known better. She used the human’s energy to fuel the ritual. It was an unfortunate decision.”
Ziggy’s mouth dropped open. “A man died. Two people died.”
His frozen tone and blank expression shifted toward her. “I did not ask them to attempt such a thing. There was a disturbance in the energy of my home, so I restored it.”
He’d seemed more empathetic when Nigel translated his words. I realized that any softness or kindness we’d been privy to had been Nigel, not the necromancer.
I focused on Ziggy. “When Julian learned what Anu was—what he could do—he hatched a plan to bring Ramon Castenada back. He’ll be blamed for Ramon’s death by the… criminal manager?”
“Crime boss,” she said.
“None of this helps,” Anu said. I longed for Hunter’s teasing tone, his run-on sentences.
Cobb served up eggs and toast. I was tired, upset, and forlorn, but I ate like a starving man. Cobb’s phone rang as he took plates to the kitchen. “It’s Abraham.” He put the call on speaker.
Abraham’s voice came across the room, sounding a bit rushed. “I’ve got the disk and Eskridge; he’s badly wounded. Can you meet us at the hotel? It’s closer.”
Not-Hunter nodded. “We need to be there anyway for the ritual. The energy is flat here.”Helooked flat here. Hunter’s normal energy and exuberance was absent—truly an old man in a young man’s body.
I scowled at him. “A ritual. Why is everything a bloody ritual? Strange ingredients, chanting and smelly candles, every damn time.”
“Welcome to our world,” Cobb muttered.
Ziggy rose. “Let’s go. I have a med kit in the car.”
We headed out, scrambling into the SUV. Pery roused as he saw us.
“What do you want us to do with the body?” he said, jerking a thumb toward the very back of the vehicle. Ziggy and I looked at Hunter’s figure between us.
“Our traditions called for a pyre at dawn,” the necromancer said.
“Fitting. But I don’t think that would be allowed here.” I didn’t much care. All my focus was getting Anu out of Hunter’s body, and at this point, I had no real idea how we were going to do that.
