I didn’t bother to ask how she knew all that. After spending years with her daughter, I’d figured out pretty quick that all succubi were fonts of obscure knowledge. They didn’t just suck away the lives of the men they fed on, they delved inside their heads. Under a succubus’s control, their lovers were pumped for information and gave it up willingly. The succubi then used that knowledge to find their next quality mark, the process repeated ad nauseam. The side effect was an insight into most anything you could think of, necromancer’s minds not withstanding, apparently.
All that still didn’t answer who the trap was being set for, but it really didn’t matter when it came down to the brass tacks of it. Lilith had no intention of going after Baalth’s men. She was setting me up to deal with whatever popped up, staying clear of the conflict no matter how it turned out. It wasn’t the best of tactical situations, but it stopped the floundering I’d been doing since being jumped by the revenants.
Speaking of the ghost-toasties, I thought about telling Lilith they’d made an appearance, but decided against it. She was already playing loose and fast with the facts, so I didn’t see the point in cluing her in. If she already knew Daartan was involved, it wouldn’t change what she was planning. If she didn’t, it sure didn’t hurt to have a surprise readily available, should it be needed.
“We have a deal,” I told her, but her eyes were locked on something behind me. I turned and followed her stare, careful not to let her out of my sight.
There in the shadows between the ruined buildings, lurking as though to avoid being be seen, was a zombie. Lilith’s eyes went wide when we heard a scuffling noise to our left. We spun in tandem to see another zombie leering at us from around the corner.
Perhaps realizing it had been seen, the zombie let loose a wailing moan before shambling forward, which was echoed by others out of sight. Lilith rammed the blue gem into my hand and darted toward the open street.
“3000 east, 200 north, from there,” she called out as she ran, pointing to where I stood.
I stuffed the gem in my pocket and drew my gun as I spied a horde of ambling undead, spilling out of the darkness and maneuvering to cut off Lilith’s retreat. Within seconds, hundreds of corpses flooded the streets, their moans filling the air with a raspy dirge.
They also filled it with funk.
With a pop, I put a bullet into the closest zombie’s head and trailed out after Lilith. Despite the tightness of her jeans, she moved like a sprinter. She was glory in motion. Her long, lithe legs stretched and coiled, her-
Grumbling, I tore my eyes off her ass and shot another zombie that stumbled up on me while I was daydreaming. Unable to keep up with Lilith’s pace, and unwilling to try, I pressed my back to a still-standing wall and eased along it to avoid running into the mass of undead gathered in the ruined streets.
I watched as Lilith drew them off one way, then bolted the opposite, slipping through their loose ranks before disappearing from view. A small chunk of zombies followed, the rest wandering slowly toward the less damaged remains of Old Town. Several passed by me, yet they didn’t so much as spare a glance even though they had to have seen me. It was a weird feeling.
For once, I wasn’t on the menu.
It didn’t feel right.
Not willing to look a gift horse in the ass, I waited until the horde wandered off a ways before I did anything. Then, as quietly as I could, I dug Candy’s cell out and put in a call to DRAC. Afterward, I trailed off behind the zombies, making sure there was plenty of space between us.
I caught up to the corpse party just beyond the ruins, the sounds of screams and breaking glass reaching me a few minutes before. Rather than bust out into the middle of something unpleasant, I crept low and peered around the corner of a building.
What I saw there was chaos.
While Baalth’s outburst had cleared a good chunk of the people out of Old Town, the majority of its residents were too poor, too stubborn, or too intoxicated in some manner to leave. That left a lot of victims still in the zombies’ path.
The undead covered the streets, milling back and forth smashing windows and knocking down doors, chasing whoever was too slow, or too stupid, to get out of the way. Mangled bodies lay on the street, blood pooling beneath them. Unidentifiable pieces lay scattered everywhere, gory landmines of ravaged flesh and bone.
I watched as several zombies tore a man apart, his limbs ripped from their sockets as he shrieked, unable to escape their grasp. It looked like cheesy spaghetti, the tendons and ligaments stretched tight, pulling away from the sockets until they snapped with a wet pop. His screams ended right after, his head drooping to his chest in death or unconsciousness.
I’m sure we were both grateful it was over.
My mind whirled as it took in the carnage. Something had changed. This was unlike any of the previous zombie attacks. There was no order to it, no purpose. It made no sense. It was pure mayhem for the sake of mayhem, nothing else.
Outnumbered, with nowhere near enough bullets to make a stand, I shimmied up a fire escape and took the high ground. While I waited for backup-unsure of who might even show up, just hoping it wasn’t Baalth-I took out a few zombies, here and there, trying to minimize the human casualties. It was a lost cause, but I had to do something.
Up above it all, the screams of the dying ringing in my ears, unsure of who was telling the truth and who was pulling my strings, I knew only one thing with certainty.
For the horror going on below me, I was gonna put a bullet in Reven’s head.
Chapter Seventeen
Rahim arrived in a mood.
It wasn’t a good one.
Without so much as a hello, he came and stood beside me, staring at the mess the zombies were making.
“What set them off?”
“Not sure. I was chatting up a source when they snuck up on us. They went after my informant, but they didn’t seem interested in me, at all. After she got away, they started terrorizing the place.”
“She?”
Whoops. Rahim knew never to trust my judgment when it came to women, so it didn’t surprise me he’d caught my slip.
“Uh, yeah.”
He shook his head, his eyes narrowing into slits as he met my gaze. “Your informant didn’t have anything to do with Katon’s kidnapping?”
“Not that I know of.” I couldn’t lie and give him a definitive no. I really didn’t know, but I didn’t think so. “We were following Li’s psychic impressions of Chatterbox and ended up at the ranch where we were attacked.” I shrugged, his question telling me he still didn’t know Katon’s whereabouts. That made two of us. At least it kept Rahim from getting killed.
He glared at me, his eyes filled with anger and frustration and a whole bunch of worry. “Did your source give you anything of value?”
“Not about Katon.” He appeared to deflate, looking back to the zombies. “She did give me a possible lead on Reven, though. Once I catch that bastard, I’ll be hanging him out for bait, you can be sure of that.”
He nodded and left it at that. “Let’s clean this mess up.”
“Mind some help?” a quiet, feminine voice asked.
Rahim and I spun around in surprised unison. Near the stairwell, a respectable distance away, stood Veronica. She’d gotten sneaky. Her empty hands were held out before her to show she meant no harm.
I could sense the added tension in Rahim at her arrival, see it in his stance, but there wasn’t any in his deep voice. “Certainly.”
He knew about our relationship, saw some of it first hand, and had never approved. He did understand though.
There’s not a man alive, especially one with all his parts working, who couldn’t find a reason to fall in love with Veronica, and the wizard was no different.