Dark War Page 16

  "I'll show you a reasonable response, you demonic slut! I'll–" Talaith broke off, frowning. The image of her head slowly rotated until she was looking at me.

  "Richter!" She said my name like it was a particularly nasty venereal disease. "I should've known you would be involved in this!"

  "Actually, one of his friends is among the missing magic-users," Varvara said. "Matt came here to find out if I knew anything about his disappearance. Technically, I suppose that means he's on your side."

  "Don't insult me," I muttered.

  Talaith's eyes burned with such hatred that I was glad I was only looking at a mystic projection of her and not the real thing. If she had been here, she'd have likely hit me with a spell so powerful it would've reduced me to an undead smear on the floor.

  "You've been a thorn in my side for far too long, Richter," she said. "First I'm going to deal with Varvara, and when I'm finished with her, I'm coming for you."

  "Don't write checks your ass can't cash, dear," Varvara said.

  Talaith whirled back to face her, snarled, and then the image of her head faded as she broke contact.

  Varvara grinned. "That went well, didn't it?" She grinned at Klamm. "Excellent work, General."

  Klamm bowed his head. "It's my pleasure to serve you, my queen. I'll have my people begin assessing the damage and running simulations to determine what Talaith's next move might be." He glanced sideways at us. "About our visitors… They've seen far too much, my queen. While I understand that you find the zombie amusing, he and his companions should be placed in holding cells where we can keep an eye on them until the current situation with the Arcane is resolved. It would be the…" he paused, searching for the right word. "prudent thing to do."

  Varvara smiled at him. "In case you hadn't noticed, General, I'm not one for making the prudent choice. Where's the fun in that? Matt is far more interesting when he's allowed to roam free, causing his own unique brand of chaos."

  I frowned. "I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult."

  Varvara grinned. "Works either way."

  I couldn't help but smile back. "Guess so." But then I grew serious. "You know Talaith will take the destruction of the Greensward as seriously as if you had attacked Woodhome. Unlike you, Talaith doesn't embrace technology, and she forces her people to live in harmony with nature – whether they like it or not. To her, destroying a forest is the same as destroying a city full of people. Actually, she probably considers it to be worse. And the Greensward isn't just a simple collection of trees, it's her personal forest, the one surrounding her home. Whatever she does next, it'll make the destruction of the bridges pale in comparison."

  Varvara's grin took on a dark edge. "I'm counting on it."

  ELEVEN

  We left Demon's Roost without Scorch. We looked for her among the ranks of demons drilling in the Atrium, but there were too many, and we didn't spot her. Not that she could've come with us even if we had found her. Varvara had ordered her to join the ranks of her demonic army, and Scorch had had no choice but to obey if she didn't wish to incur the Demon Queen's wrath.

  "I hope she'll be all right," Devona said when we were out on the street. Demons patrolled the area, but none of them challenged us. Varvara had likely sent word ahead that we were to be allowed to leave, and while her soldiers might not like it, none of them would dare disobey their queen.

  "She's more than tough enough to take care of herself," I said. Still, if the war between Talaith and Varvara intensified to the point where ground troops were called in, Scorch might find herself in more trouble than she could handle. I didn't say this to Devona, though. I didn't need to. I was sure she was thinking along the same lines.

  "That was a useless trip," Varney said, fingering his ruined cyber-eye. "You didn't learn anything, and I lost my camera. I can't believe I was present when Varvara struck back against Talaith, and I didn't get a single moment of footage!"

  "It wasn't totally wasted," Devona said. "We learned that Varvara had nothing to do with the disappearance of the magic-users."

  "We did?" Shamika said.

  Devona nodded. "Of all the Darklords, Varvara is the most… I suppose honest isn't exactly the right word. Upfront, I guess is what I'm trying to say. She's a lot like a wild animal. She is what she is and does what she does and makes no effort to pretend to be something she's not. If she had kidnapped the magic-users, she wouldn't have denied it. In fact, she'd have gloated about it."

  "And she loves an audience," I added. "As far as she's concerned, there'd be no point in striking against a fellow Darklord if there was no one around to appreciate the brilliance of her plan."

  "But you don't have proof Varvara didn't order the abductions," Varney said.

  "True," I admitted, "but Devona and I know her well enough that I'm willing to bet she didn't. But you're right: since we don't have any evidence that clears her, we can't completely rule her out as a suspect."

  Shamika chimed in then. "That other demon – Klamm – said that maybe Talaith is only pretending magic-users were kidnapped as an excuse to attack Varvara. Do you think he might be right?"

  I shrugged. "Talaith is devious as hell, and she has a history of attempting to attack the other Darklords." That was how I'd originally come to Nekropolis from Earth. Talaith had sent one of her servants to Earth to kidnap humans with strong psychic potential in order to harvest their brains and use them to create a device called the Overmind, which she planned to use against Lord Edrigu. My partner and I had tracked the kidnapper to a portal that led to Nekropolis, and we went through. Eventually we reached Glamere and confronted the kidnapper and Talaith in Woodhome. We destroyed the Overmind, and my partner lost his life in the process, but somehow the release of magical and psychic energies resulted in my being resurrected as a self-willed zombie. I still miss Dale. He was a good man and a good friend – rare qualities, no matter what dimension you're from.

  "If Talaith is responsible, maybe Bogdan will uncover some evidence of it from his contacts," Devona said.

  "Maybe," I allowed, "but Talaith plays things pretty close to the vest. There's a good chance no one but she would know the truth. But who knows? Maybe Bogdan will get lucky."

  I didn't particularly like Bogdan, but he was smart. If anyone in the Sprawl's Arcane community had information relating to the magic-users' kidnapping, I was confident he'd find out – not that I'd ever admit it to him.

  "We did learn one other item of interest," Devona said, reaching out to take my hand. She gave it a squeeze, and I could feel the seam between my hand and wrist weaken, then give way. "Oops!" Devona said. "Sorry about that. Way to spoil a tender moment, huh?"

  My detached hand continued to grip hers, and we stopped walking long enough for her to place my hand against the stump of my wrist. I concentrated, and my hand reattached to my body. Devona let go, and I flexed my fingers to test out the connection. I wasn't sure, but it felt a bit weaker than before. If we didn't find Papa Chatha before too much longer, I'd eventually be unable to hold myself together and I'd end up a pile of disconnected parts, which would make it a wee bit harder for me to stop the war building between Varvara and Talaith.

  I clasped Devona's hand once more. "Now where were we?"

  "We're going to have twins," she said, grinning.

  "Hard to believe, isn't it? Matt Junior and Devona Junior."

  "Maybe we should try to come up with some better names."

  "Maybe we should think about getting married," I said. The words popped out of my mouth before I was aware of it, but once I said them, they felt right. But then something occurred to me and I frowned. "Uh, Darkfolk do get married, right?"

  Devona pulled me down toward her, then stood on her tiptoes and kissed me. When she pulled away, she beamed at me and said, "We can make plans later. Right now we should concentrate on finding Papa Chatha, OK?"

  "All right."

  Varney moaned. "Great! You propose to Devona, and I couldn't film it! My producer is go
ing to put a stake in my heart for sure over this!"

  Shamika smiled at us. "Can I come to your wedding?"

  "Of course, honey," Devona said. "In fact, you can help us plan it if you–"

  We were nearing one of the barriers around Demon's Roost, this one made of a row of vehicles parked end to end across the street, with armed demons standing on the roofs. The air rippled around us, as if distorted by waves of heat rising from the asphalt, and at first I feared that Talaith was already retaliating for the salamanders' fiery destruction of the Greensward. The distortion effect increased, accompanied by a strange disorientation, as if the entire world was slowly tilting to the left. Ghostly images began to appear around us – people thronging the sidewalks, vehicles clogging the street, tall modern office buildings rising into the sky… The people were all human, the vehicles normal cars, trucks, vans and the like, and the buildings lacked any hint of the bizarre that typified the Sprawl's architectural style.

  "What's happening?" Devona shouted. Her voice had a strange hollow quality, as if she was shouting from the other side of a thick wall.

  "I don't know!" I shouted back. The ghost images reminded me of Bonetown, the Dominion of Edrigu, Lord of the Dead. But unlike Bonetown, these phantasms all appeared to be from the same modern time, and none of them possessed any sign of having died in violent ways – their bodies were unmarked, and aside from their transparent quality, they appeared whole and healthy. It was as if we were gazing upon a faint image of an Earth city, an American one, like New York or Chicago.

  Or Cleveland, I thought. My old hometown. Varvara has a mirror in her penthouse – though it hadn't been visible during our latest visit – and it opens onto a park in Cleveland. It was through this mirror that Dale and I had first traveled to Nekropolis. The more I looked at the people and buildings around us, the more convinced I became that I was looking at Cleveland. And what was more, some of the people had begun staring in our direction and pointing, as if they could see us too. Others were looking around them, and I wondered if they were seeing ghostly images of the Sprawl superimposed upon their city.

  And then, just like that, the apparition of Cleveland disappeared, and the world righted itself once more, taking the strange sensation of disorientation with it.

  "What in the Nine Hells just happened?" Devona said, her voice sounding normal once more.

  "Whatever it was, we weren't the only ones who experienced it." I nodded to the demons standing on top of the barrier stretched across the street. They were gazing about in terror, and a couple fired off shots into the air, as if trying to fend off some unseen foe.

  "Let me call my producer," Varney said in a shaken voice. He pulled a hand vox out of his pants pocket and made a call. "Murdock?" he said. "It's Varney. What–" He broke off and listened for a couple moments. "Yes… yes… All right. I'll get right on it." He disconnected and tucked the vox back in his pocket. "My producer said they experienced the same thing at the Eidolon Building, and reporters all over the city are calling in, saying it happened in the other Dominions as well." Varney looked at me. "Murdock wants me to forget about shooting footage of you for now and go find people to interview about what just happened." He sighed. "I didn't want to tell him Varvara destroyed my camera."

  "So you're going to just keep hanging out with us since you can't do what your boss wants?" I asked.

  "I guess so. He's got plenty of other reporters out in the streets to talk to witnesses, and as long as I stay with you, I can still observe what you do. It's better than nothing, you know?"

  It sounded like a lame excuse to me. I had no idea how long it would take to repair or replace Varney's cyber-eye, but as strong as vampires are and as swiftly as they heal, surgery can be performed on them rapidly. Switching out Varney's cyber-eye might well prove no more difficult than changing the spark plugs in a car. So why wasn't he hauling ass back to the Eidolon Building for a repair job right now?

  I was about to confront Varney about it, but Shamika said, "We were on Earth. Just for a few moments, but we were there."

  The enormity of what she said stunned us into silence. When the Darkfolk decided to leave Earth four hundred years ago, they traveled to another dimension where they built the city of Nekropolis. But if what Shamika had said was true, the entire city had been transported to Earth's dimension, if only briefly.

  "Is that even possible?" Varney said.

  "The amount of power it would take is staggering," Devona said. "I'm not sure even a being as powerful as Talaith could do it."

  "Why would she?" I said. "Why would anybody? It's not like the Darkfolk are completely cut off from Earth and dying to get back. They import goods and materials whenever they want, and they can apply for travel visas at each of the Darklords' strongholds."

  "Maybe it was her retaliatory strike against Varvara," Devona suggested. "Perhaps she was trying to exile Varvara by transporting the Sprawl to Earth."

  I thought about this for a moment. "Maybe, but Varney's producer said the entire city was affected, all five Dominions, Glamere included."

  Devona shrugged. "Maybe Talaith screwed up. She wanted to transport only the Sprawl, but the spell accidentally affected the rest of the city."

  "I guess it's possible. But if Talaith was in possession of a spell or magical device that powerful, why didn't she use it in the first place? Why bother with destroying the bridges?"

  "Maybe she didn't want to risk using it until she felt pushed to strike out at Varvara in a big way," Devona said. "And the spell must be an unstable one and not very reliable. After all, it failed, didn't it?" She turned to Shamika. "What do you think?"

  "That seems… logical," the girl said. I had the sense that she might have said more, that she wanted to, but for some reason she remained silent.

  Devona continued. "And the other Darklords – including Father Dis – are probably going nuts right now. Using such a powerful spell was bound to get their attention, and Talaith wouldn't want to drag them into her war with Varvara unless she had to. But the destruction of the Greensward angered her so much that she no longer cared whether she upset the other Lords, so she tried the spell, but it got away from her and failed, thankfully."

  "Maybe." Devona's theorizing sounded good, but like Varney had mentioned earlier, we didn't have any evidence. "If Talaith was responsible for what happened, let's hope she doesn't try it again. Next time she might get it right."

  "That would be awful!" Shamika said.

  "That's putting it mildly," I said. "It would be bad enough if the Darkfolk suddenly found themselves back on Earth. Especially the vampires, if they appeared outside during the daytime. The humans would panic, of course, and there would undoubtedly be fighting and casualties on both sides, but that wouldn't be the worst of it. If people and buildings suddenly occupied the same space… well, I'm not sure what would happen, but I bet the laws of physics would be mighty unhappy with the situation and the end result wouldn't be pretty."

  We reached the car barrier, and the demons on top waved us past without a word. In the middle of the street on the other side of the barrier, people were starting to gather, and they were clearly upset about the ghostly images of Earth that had briefly appeared. Some were talking loudly about what they'd seen and demanding someone in authority do something, while others simply cried or just stared blankly into space, traumatized. The crowd continued to grow as we did our best to make our way through, and while most of them ignored us, a few recognized me and begged me to investigate the strange occurrence and prevent it from happening again. It was a weird feeling knowing that people were looking to me for help – and frustrating too. You save the damn city a couple times, and suddenly everyone expects miracles from you.

  A middle-aged harpy grabbed hold of my left arm with one of her foot claws and held tight to me, while she attempted to explain in tearful detail how awful the vision of Earth had been. I made a few placating noises and tried to pull away, but her grip was so strong that I was afraid
I'd tear my arm off if I pulled too hard. My vox rang then, and I told the harpy that I needed to take the call as it might be important information relating to the case. She let me go, and I answered my vox as Devona, Shamika, Varney, and I continued to push our way through the crowd.

  "Matt? It's Tavi."

  From the sound of his gruff voice and the rapid way he spoke, I knew he was still in his wildform, and I asked him to speak more slowly. Which he did, if only a little.

  "I've been having a devil of a time following Papa Chatha's scent trail. It zigzags all over the Sprawl, and I've been tracking it for hours. I almost lost it when that weird distortion hit, whatever that was. I didn't just see a phantom city – I smelled it, too. Anyway, once the ghost city vanished, I picked up the scent trail again and followed it to the Grotesquerie. That's where I am right now. The trail dead-ends here, Matt. I've had a quick look around, and I can't put my finger on it, but something doesn't feel right here. I–"

  Tavi's voice was cut off by a loud roar, which was immediately followed by an agonized scream, and then silence.

  "Tavi!" I shouted into the vox. "TAVI!"

  No response. The line was dead, and I hoped the same couldn't be said for Tavi.