City of Ghosts - Stacia Kane 7 стр.

You know, caffeine can mess with your energy, Lauren said. Its best to stay away from artificial stimulants.

It was probably the funniest thing anyone had said to her in weeks. Ill keep that in mind.

Im just saying, if you want to advance in the Church you should use every advantage, and one of them is keeping your power as sharp as possible. You dont want to

Yeah, thanks. So where did they findthem?

Laurens raised eyebrows told Chess exactly what she thought of the change of subject, but she accepted it. There. Come on.

Together they crossed the street, the heels of Chesss boots as silent as she could make them on the broken slabs of cement. The road itself looked like a patchwork quilt: squares of dirt, sections filled with dirty gravel, here and there a foot or two of blacktop.

It looked empty, and every alarm bell in Chesss head started ringing faintly. Downside streets were never empty, especially not at night. Like tall grass concealing a predator, it was when they were still and silent that they were at their most dangerous. Ready to strike. She knew there had to be at least a dozen pairs of eyes on her back at that very moment, at least a dozen hands reaching into pockets and belts and hairdos in search of weapons.

Laurens car was probably loaded with wards, safe as it would be inside the Church itself, but the womens tattoos were designed to protect them from ghosts and magic, not from Downsiders out to make their illegal livings.

She hadnt worried about that stuff in a while. Usually if she was out at night she was with Terrible, and nobody dared fuck with Terrible; hell, nobody dared even look at Terrible for more than a few respectful seconds. Even if she wasnt with him physically, everybody knew who she was, or rather, they knew who she was with; everyone knew Downsides Churchwitch worked for Bump.

But Terrible hated her, and she had no idea if Bump knew what shed done. What shed been doing. Stupid was one word for people who thought they could get away with betraying Bump. The other word was dead.

She had a funny feeling both those words would end up being accurate if they didnt get out of there quickly. The whole area felt off, even with the speed turning her blood into river rapids in her veins. Speed tended to mask her reactions to ghosts, but not usually to magic in general, and this corner vibed like a just-struck bell.

You feeling anything? she asked softly as they hit the patchy grass at the edge of the lot.

Hmm. A little. Lauren didnt bother to lower her own voice; it sounded like the first bird chirping at dawn. Chess cringed, tried to glance around without being too obvious about it. Still nothing, no movement. This was not good.

Dead grass whispered warnings against their shoes as they trod across it, heading for the inside corner. Rickety buildings leaned over it, ready to topple; they formed a ramshackle archway, a frame of sorts. Chess knew without being told that this was where the bodythe body partshad been found.

Still the presence of magic set her head buzzing, a little high that she would have enjoyed if she hadnt been half-numb with fear. This wasnt her neighborhood. She didnt know it. Inside those buildings could live a few families scratching out livings working the pipe rooms or at the slaughterhouse or crematorium, or picking pockets in better parts of town. People who kept themselves to themselves.

Or they could be half-mad hallucinating Nipheads with dead nerves and deader eyes. Or worse. No way to tell until they were right on top of her, and then it would be too late.

She shook her head, watched Lauren trot into the shadows in the corner with barely a pause. Either the Black Squad were a bunch of crazy-tough motherfuckers, or Lauren Abrams was dumb as dirt. Chess knew which theory she preferred.

She shook her head, watched Lauren trot into the shadows in the corner with barely a pause. Either the Black Squad were a bunch of crazy-tough motherfuckers, or Lauren Abrams was dumb as dirt. Chess knew which theory she preferred.

It was here. Lauren made a circle with her hand, waving it over an area about a foot square. Well, that was all the space that had been needed. It hadnt been laid-out corpses in those photos. More of a  pile, really.

Lauren pulled a heavy silver flashlight out of the backpack slung over her shoulder and switched it on. The patch of ground flew into colorless focus, cast spiky shadows against the crooked boards of the wall behind.

Shit. Chess had two choices. Go stick her hand in what was certain to be a raging pool of nasty energy floating above the lit-up spot, or look like a total pussy. And given those options, touching horrible death energy sounded positively appealing.

Tingles ran up her hands, slipping over the new scars on her wrists. In the stark light from the flash the patterns beneath her skin were black; they shifted and curled with the spots energy, and she felt it like fingernails tickling her.

Darkness lurked there too, a slow chuckle beneath the surface. But not like she would have expected, not at all. This didnt feel like death magic, or even really like serious black magic. It felt like the kind of curse Church students tried out on one another: forgetfulness or clumsiness spells, charms to temporarily confuse the tongue so the bespelled victim couldnt speak clearly. Spells that wore off in ten or fifteen minutes. Harmless shit.

But piles of bloody body parts, carved with Lamaru symbols  That was not harmless. Nothing the Lamaru did was harmless.

So what the fuck was going on?

Lauren seemed to feel it too, the wrongness of it. That doesnt make any sense, she said. Even if they committed the murder elsewhere and just left the parts here, the energy would be darker.

Are you sure it was here that they found it?

This is where they told me. Its in the pictures too, so its got to

Every hair on Chesss body jumped to attention. Shed just started to spin around when red light splashed across them, across the walls, turning Laurens hair into a river of blood around her face.

The circle stood in the middle of the intersection, deep red fire, swirled with icy-hot black energy. Chesss stomach jerked. It was darkness in that circle, darkness and misery and despair, and whatever was inside would deliver more of it the second it was unleashed. She knew it. Knew it even before the squealing started.

A pig. Not from the slaughterhouse, but closer, right on top of them, right across the street.

The Lamaru had been waiting for them. How the fuck had they known?

Laurens eyes widened; the whites gleamed red around black pupils the size of BBs. Chess only caught a glimpse of them, of the other womans terrified face, before she dropped to her knees and ripped her bag open. Running to the car and getting the fuck out of there was tempting, but she couldnt consider it. Didnt consider it. There were people in those empty building shells, people hiding and watching, and if she was right about what was going on behind that wall of evil, shed be condemning every one of them to a messy death, and she had more than enough on her miserable conscience as it was without adding that.

She also had graveyard dirt. Good. Wolfsbane, she always had that, and for the last few months shed carried melidia as well. Iron filings shed picked up to replenish her supplyexcellent. She glanced at Lauren and unwilling respect tickled in her chest. The other woman was in motion, setting up a small firedish, lighting a long wooden match off a striking strip on her shoe. Clever, that.

Lauren! Lauren, what have you got? She had to yell; the squealing had intensified. Not just one pigone sow, if she was right, oh shit please let her not be right. More than one.

Lauren opened her right hand; three brownish leaves rested in her palm, next to a sprig of mistletoe. Spiritweed. Excellent. Theyd need all the help they could get.

Chanting male voices rolled across the lot, slithered along Chesss skin and set her tattoos tingling and itching. She grabbed her chalk, sketched a couple of protection sigils on her forehead; they burned the second she finished them.

Her skull she grabbed last, then hesitated. They couldnt cast a circle, not unless they wanted to close the blaze inside it, and that would take too long and bring them too close. But without one, the psychopomps could escape, and that would be almost as bad as whatever was about to burst out of that fire ring; a psychopomp without control would snatch the first soul it found, and that was murder.

Laurens eyes met hers. Clearly shed had the same thought. I guess well just have to wing it.

Chess started to reply, but a wave of energy tore the words from her mouth, tore the ground from beneath her feet. Her elbow slammed into the dirt; her shout was lost in the wild crescendo of squeals, the final triumphant shout of the men. Thick, pulsing darkness throbbed around her, so heavy her ears popped from the pressure.

Silence fell. Dead silence, a vacuum. She flipped over, started to push herself to her feet, her eyes full of the circle before her. Wind pushed her hair off her shoulders and face; her entire body waited, like standing on the edge of a cliff and taking the first step off. The relentless beat of her heart thundered in her ears; her body throbbed, a drumbeat in her soul against the reverberating emptiness around her.

Wraiths exploded from the ring of fire. 

Chapter Five

With their filmy black bodies came the return of sound. The moment of hesitation was gone. Chess had a sick feeling it was the last semi-peaceful moment shed be experiencing for some time.

Wraiths. A witchs freed living soul, joined with one of the restless undead. A ghost cranked on living energy, strengthened by magic, its living partner giving it the ability to do what astrally projected spirits could do: fly.

Shed never even seen one, much less fought one. The secret of their creation was closely guarded, the rituals neededlike the sacrifice of black sowsextremely difficult to perform. It was worse than shed imagined. They swooped and dove above her, absorbing the red light, their slim bodies fluttering in the breeze their flight created.

Beside her Lauren moved. Chess glanced over and saw her on her knees, pulling a wad of silk from her bag. Inert silk, the type used to hold psychopomp skulls. But why? Unlike regular ghostsunlike psychopompswraiths werent earthbound; theyd have to touch the ground for a psychopomp dog to be useful, and Chess wasnt entirely sure what good it would do anyway. What would happen to the living souls when the dead ones were taken to the City? Would they die?