Geist (20 page)

"If he shows up—promise you'll tell us." 

"Yeah..." I looked at their faces. "Why? What's wrong?" 

It was Alice that answered. "Because we still don't know what its allegiance is, if it even has one, Zoë. Just because it helped you doesn't mean it's your friend or that it's not trying to use you to get to what it wants. And we don't even know what that really is. Up until now Geist was only a legend in the Outer Planes. So if it shows up—" 

I put up my hand and noted the gold and red armor, shiny and new, that encased my fingers. "I know. I got it. And I promise." 

Joe placed the same hand on the keypad that he'd opened the door with. A brief flash and the door popped open. I couldn't remember ever seeing him use this much magic at one time. 

Alice ducked back through and I joined her, going incorporeal enough to slip through the door. We were in the bend of an L-shaped corridor. Stepping out of the door I faced a long corridor, to my left was another door and to my right was the second corridor which looked like it made a sharp left. 

Zach moved just ahead of us and pointed to the corridor in front of us. "Seven doors down on the right is a storage closet—mostly where the backup drives are kept. In there you'll find the duct."

"Where are you going?" I blurted out. 

He grinned as he handed Joe the iPad. "I'm heading back to make sure that exit stays open and no one impedes your escape, Zoë. And to give Manuel some help if he needs it. Your
Grimoire
is very important and we don't want anything to happen to it." 

"Dags," I said. "His name is Dags." 

Zach winked, patted Joe on the shoulder and headed back down the escape route. 

Joe looked at us—me, Alice and Daniel. "Okay, let's go. Alice, you move out ahead and make sure there isn't anything down there that won't show up on this schematic. Zoë, you stay behind me and make sure nothing bites my ass." 

I grinned and moved into position. 

Alice vanished into something almost glass-like and zoomed on ahead. To a normal person she probably looked like one of those things you always see out of the corner of your eyes but you're never sure about? Joe followed behind and I watched his ass. 

Literally. 

Well...it was a nice one! 

We got to the storage closet and again Joe used his magic to open the lock. Alice was already inside. It wasn't a big closet—but it really wasn't small either. To me when you say closet, I'm thinking like a coffin. This thing had a metal shelf in it with towers of what looked like computers stacked up. There were the regular accoutrements—like brooms, a mop and roller bucket, cleaners, bleach, and to the right near the floor, a good sized vent. 

Joe handed Daniel the iPad and removed a screw driver from his utility belt. Guess magic couldn't
un
screw. Once he had the dust covered vent set to the side he pulled out a flashlight and shined it down. "Daniel—does that schematic say where to go from here?" 

"Yeah," Daniel touched the surface and double tapped a few times. "Got it. We're going to go straight ahead, take the second branch to the left, then the first one to the right and that will get us to the viewing room." 

Viewing room. I'd spent a lot of time there reading the Dioscuri myself—trying to find out what was happening to me at the time—especially when I discovered I no longer needed to go out of body to go Wraith but could do it still clothed in my skin. I remember it being a boring room, with lots of sealed drawers in the wall, temperature controlled and sort of...drab. 

The chairs were uncomfortable too. 

"Alice, you stay here and make sure this exit stays open. Zoë, you go on ahead of Daniel and I." 

Got it. I'd already memorized the directions. Second on the left, first right and straight on till morning. Roger chief. I went incorporeal—which of course made me much lighter—and then zoomed on down the silver duct. It didn't take long to get there—to a light shining through the vents connected to the duct. I peered through the slats. 

Yep. There was the room. 

But it wasn't empty. 

Two guys were lounging in chairs at the center table. They were dressed in fatigues, boots and had some serious guns on their shoulders. Looked like they were playing...
Go Fish
? 

I moved back to Joe and Daniel. They'd just turned down the first right when I held up my hands and appeared to them. I told them what I saw and Daniel pulled up the iPad. "They're not showing up." 

"Which means they're Powers." Joe wiped the sweat from his forehead and I realized there was probably heat coming through these ducts. It was October and cold outside. Crap. That had to suck. "And you saw two?" 

I nodded. "I could just sneak in and grab the stuff." 

"And carry it out how?" Daniel said. "You'd have to go incorporeal to gain speed, right? You can't hold on to solid objects like that." 

True. I'd had that problem transporting Tim's rock— "Where's Tim?" I looked at Joe. "And Steve? I haven't seen them at all." 

"They're still in the house, Zoë," Joe said. "They can't leave remember? Now focus for me?" He looked a little frustrated, and I was pretty sure it was the heat. "Daniel, do we know if tranqs work on Powers?" 

"I'm not sure. Once they're converted I'm not sure how much of their human functions remain? Tranqs are sedatives. So what worked for a normal man," he shook his head. "Who knows for a Power?" 

Joe reached behind him in the cramped space and pulled up a rifle. "Well we're going to need to find out. We can't have them raising any alarms or we're screwed." He nodded to me. "Lead on but stay invisible." 

I did as he said and met up with them at the vent. Luckily it was on the ground and not in the air. And we were just behind a row of metal shelves with more computers on them though it was a tight space. 

I sieved through and stood up in plain view. No response. The two of them continued to talk and play cards. The closer I got I could see the tattoos on their faces. Markings that made them Raziel's. 

Ducking back down behind the shelves I went corporeal and turned my sword into a screw driver; slowly unscrewing the vent from the room side. Then just as slowly I set it to the side before I went incorporeal again. Joe stepped out first and knelt down behind the shelves. 

"Okay...let's test this out." 

"And if it doesn't have any effect?" Daniel said as he crawled out next to me. 

Joe glanced back at us. "Then be ready to kick Power ass—and whatever happens—do not let them call for backup." 

-33-

Revenants

Joe fired on the closer of the two. The rifle's hiss was the only sound as the dart traveled through the space in the shelves and struck the guy in the ass. 

Nice shoot'n Tex. 

The only thing visible was the red pom-pom sticking out of the guy's left butt cheek. 

The victim jumped up as if he'd been bit—and he had in a way—then his eyes fluttered and he collapsed backward. 

The remaining guard jumped up and knelt beside his buddy as Joe reloaded the rifle. But he wasn't going to get it done fast enough. This guy had spotted the pom pom and was going for his radio. 

No time!

I called up the sword again and charged forward as fast as I could will myself, becoming deadly visible to him just before I ran the sword into his chest, through his heart, and then severed his spine. I knew where I'd hit because I could actually feel where the sword went. Like it was a part of me.

And it was. 

Blood pooled out of the guy's mouth as he slid to his left and lay on the floor. 

Really dead this time. 

Daniel and Joe were beside me as I stood. 

"Wow...anger issues, Zoë?" Joe quipped. He turned and stepped over the dead guy and went right to the larger file drawer containing Domas' work. 

I was a little surprised—the drawer looked like it'd gone through a tiny war of its own. The outside of the metal was dented and scraped, and the edges looked like someone had taken a pry-bar to it. 

"Looks like someone's been trying to get in," Daniel said as he came up behind me. 

Joe looked back at us and grinned. "They don't know the code." Wiggling his eyebrows up and down—I expected to see a twinkle in his eye—he put his right hand on the center of the drawer. Abruptly a red pentagram formed around his hand and raised the metal up to form a dial. Joe grabbed the center of the star and turned it like a combination lock. I had to smile at the ingeniousness of Rhonda and her use of magic. 

Abruptly the door opened with a hiss. Joe went up on his toes and reached inside. He pulled out a small diary about the size of a cop's note pad and slipped it into his utility belt. He pushed the door closed and spun the pentagram. 

"That's it? The whole thing's on that notepad?" 

"But is it really a notepad?" Daniel said from behind me with a chuckle. 

That's when I heard the click of a weapon being readied. I spun around in time to see the guy Joe shot spring up like a daisy and aim his rifle at Daniel's back. If he fired that gun at this close range the bullet would go
through
Daniel and
into
Joe. I was pretty sure Daniel would survive because of Inanna (no guarantees) but I was pretty sure Joe would not. Regardless of all of his magic he was human. And he was precious to me. 

I had to think fast. The guy was in mid air, leaping at the back of Daniel just as Daniel was looking at me. He'd realized something was wrong in the way I was moving. Yet for me everything ground down to slow motion like a John Woo movie. 

You have two options.

"Geist—not now!" 

There is no time to aim your sword around Daniel and strike the Power. Every second is crucial and if the bullet strikes Joe he
will
die. 

But I was already thinking ahead of him.
"I have to go
through
—" 

Yes. I will help to minimize collateral damage. 

What?!

Geist was part of me again, filling me with power and precision. I could see the beautiful creature possessing Daniel, and I could see the monstrosity enveloping the Power as it urged its puppet on to kill. 

"Forgive me!" I cried out as I aimed my sword and ran it
through
Daniel. I felt his eyes on me as the Geist's power elongated the blade out of Daniel's back and pierced the chest of the Power in mid-leap. 

Geist vanished. I was bent on one knee, my hand clutching the hilt of the sword. I'd thrust up from the floor to catch the thing mid-air. It'd pierced Daniel through his left side. Behind him hung the Power, dead. I heard the gun clatter to the floor, and then the drip of blood on the tile. 

"Daniel!" Joe cried out. 

I dissolved the blade and moved up to catch Daniel as he fell forward and down. I wrapped my arms around his chest, under his arms. All I could think was
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry... 

No. It couldn't be helped. But we have to get out of here...and he'll need blood. Quickly. He's still too young. 

Again Morgan spoke to me, and though I'd heard the edge in her voice-the disapproval- she'd kept a level head. I balanced him on his feet for a second as I ducked under him and threw him over my shoulder in a fireman's carry. I turned to see Joe staring at me. I didn't like the look in his eyes. "We have to go. Now!" 

He pulled the tiny mic to his mouth. "Shadows in the hall, moving to the light. Wounded bird. I repeat, wounded bird." 

That's when I realized Joe wasn't speaking English. I mean I understood him, but I also realized the words weren't familiar. I didn't know what they were.

I hurried with Daniel to the vent opening and Daniel stirred as I laid him on the ground. "I can...I can crawl," he said in a low voice. 

I looked into his beautiful eyes and nodded. "I'm sooo sorry, baby." 

He grinned at me and reached up to touch my chin. "You called me baby again." 

Joe came between us to pull Daniel through the duct opening. 

It was slower going with Daniel loosing blood. He was going to need more blood.

It's worse than that
, Morgan's voice came to me again.
Because he's young...he could...frenzy.
 

Frenzy? 

"What does that mean?" I said aloud. 

Too late I realized what it meant. 

And so did Joe. 

-34-

Frenzy

I never knew Revenants could be overcome by hunger. I'd never seen it. In fact—if I thought about it—all the Revenants I knew were over a hundred years old. Their time of frenzy was long past. 

But Daniel was only a couple months. A baby. His body was still adjusting. Changing. Doing whatever it was that Revenants do. 

We were so close to the closet—so close to Alice. Close enough that she felt something was wrong. "Zoë...Daniel's..."

"It's Daniel—I had to—" 

Daniel suddenly doubled up inside the duct. He moved into a fetal position. All I could see were his hips and his shoulders. 

Zoë! Get Joe out of there! 

I wasn't sure
who
that was. It sounded like Mephistopheles and Morgan simultaneously. It didn't matter. Either way I caught the urgency and the fear in their voices. 

I went incorporeal and moved through Daniel to get to Joe and felt—

Intense, overwhelming
hunger
—I'd never experienced
anything
like that. Yeah I'd been starving once and gotten sick and nearly threw up—but that was
nothing
like this! 

And...I could smell...Joe. 

Spicy, sweet, sour, delicious...and I knew it was blood. 

Human blood.

Joe's blood. 

I knew all of this for those few seconds my astral body passed through Daniel's. 

When I landed on the other side I went as solid as I could get and pushed Joe forward. "Move! You smell like a buffet, asshole!" and my voice reverberated down the duct.