Broken

Dupe

“OH, GOD,” JAIME WHISPERED BEHIND ME, VOICE MUFFLED as her hand flew to cover her nose and mouth. “What is that smell?”

“Decomposing zombie.”

No wonder Rose had taken so long to get here. Smelling that bad, she’d have to take side streets and alleys all the way.

I peeked out the door. A dark shape emerged from behind a garbage bin, hesitated, then scuttled back behind it. A moment later, she popped out her head again, trying to find Jaime.

“You wait here,” I said, closing the door partway. “When I have her down, I’ll call you.”

Jaime shook her head. “I might not be any help against a powerful sorcerer. But this I can handle.”

“No.”

“Elena, she’s a half-dead zombie. What’s she going to do? Rot on me?”

“You’re right. She’d probably just scratch you. Like she did to Clay.”

Jaime paled, then shook her head. “I still want to help-”

“Stay,” I said. “Please. One less thing for me to worry-”

Something hit the door, whacking it against my palm. An angry squeal set my hairs rising, and I looked down to see a rat’s head through the crack, teeth flashing.

I slammed the door so hard I should have decapitated the rat. But it wouldn’t shut. A throng of rats were throwing themselves at the door, bodies thumping, claws scrabbling on the wood as they climbed on each other, trying to get in.

Another head appeared over the first, then a third, teeth gnashing, squirming and wriggling to squeeze through.

As they shrieked and squealed, the smell of blood drifted through the opening, as if they were so desperate to get inside that they were tearing each other apart.

“They must smell Rose,” I called to Jaime.

The door handle jolted in my hands. It was Jaime, throwing herself backward against the door, trying to help. Yet even her body weight wasn’t enough for me to push it shut-not with rats jammed in the opening.

When I lifted my foot to kick the bottom one out, Jaime grabbed my arm.

“No! Jeremy said-”

“If I don’t touch that one, we’re going to be touching a whole lot more when they break the door down.”

“Switch places.”

I shook my head. “You’re wearing sandals. They’ll gnaw your-”

She grabbed a plank from the floor and brandished it. “Now switch. On my count. Three, two, one.”

I went sideways, throwing my back against the door. Jaime flew into my spot and whacked the head of the top rat. It squealed but kept trying to wriggle through.

“Not taking the hint, are they?” she said through her teeth as she kept hitting.

“They won’t. You’re going to have to-”

She heaved back the plank for a home-run swing. It hit the top rodent with a skull-splitting splat.

“I’m going to feel bad about this in the morning,” she said, taking a swing at the second one.

When the opening was clear, I slammed the door shut. We ran to the back of the building, searching for another way out, but found only boarded windows. As Jaime dragged over a wooden crate, I pried the boards off a window, ignoring the splinters.

“Go,” I said.

“You first.”

I glared at her. “We can’t waste time arguing-”

“Then don’t. Get moving, and I’ll cover you.”

She helped me out the window, then crawled through just as the rats broke down the front door. They didn’t follow-they just wanted inside, away from the unnatural creature coming their way.

We found a building a half block down. Then I persuaded Jaime to stand guard inside while I flushed Rose out.

I don’t think I’d be exaggerating if I said the entire city block reeked of Rose’s rot. Like Jaime, even humans would notice it if they got within fifty feet. Hell, they’d notice if they drove by with the windows rolled up and A/C on. Fortunately, it was past midnight and the streets were empty.

Rose had ducked behind the bin right across the road. I moved behind a bin of my own to look and listen. After a moment, she appeared from a new hiding spot, her face a pale, indistinct oval under her shawl. A slow look around, and she came out.

Rose took a staggering step, then jerked backward. Another stagger, another jerk. Being pulled in two directions? Was Hull trying to summon her too?

That stagger-jerk dance took her to the edge of the sidewalk. Something moved down the alley behind her. I tried picking up the scent on the wind, but Rose’s rot overpowered everything. I stared at the spot where I’d seen the movement. Nothing.

My brain cycled through the possibilities. Too big to be rats. Jeremy or Antonio? They wouldn’t be skulking in shadows.

Could it be Hull? Or the other zombie?

Rose appeared to be Hull’s backup zombie. He’d let her be killed three times. That made sense. Give a nineteenth-century sorcerer two zombie servants, one a male criminal, one a female whore, and which will he let hang out to dry? So, when Jaime summoned Rose, I expected Hull wouldn’t be around to notice-he’d keep as far from her rotting corpse as he could.

But what if I’d guessed wrong?

If Hull or the bowler-hatted man was down that alley, then I might be able to skip a step in my “get Rose to take me to Hull” plan, but I wasn’t ready for it. Not nearly.

I backed up into the building.

“Jaime?” I whispered. “Get upstairs. Watch that alley across the road, where Rose was. If anyone comes out of it-or anyplace else-get down here. I’m bringing Rose inside.”

I looked around. There was a rusted filing cabinet against the wall that was big enough to hide me. I’d just have to remember that if I moved forward, it would be my stomach, not my feet, that could give me away.

I hurried behind the cabinet. After a moment, I picked up the clomp of footsteps, heavy and oddly spaced.

A shadow crossed the door. I pulled back, then tried to peek through the crack between the cabinet and the wall, catching only a sliver of the room.

The streetlight coming through the open front door cast a yellowish glow on the floor. A shadow crossed it, jerking and rocking, as if Rose was still following the steps of her strange dance, pulled between opposing forces.

A low gurgling filled the room, then a muttering, words unintelligible. Fabric rustled as Rose started forward again. A moment later, the hem of a long skirt appeared under an almost-equally long overcoat.

Rose staggered, as if losing the war against balance. She swung her other foot up, boot clomping down. So that was the problem. Balance, not the opposing pull of supernatural powers. Something must have been wrong with her leg-

As her far foot lifted for another step, I stared. Beneath the hem of the long gown, there wasn’t a boot, just something long and white, like a cane. Her lower leg bone, no foot attached, strings of dirty flesh hanging off it. The bone came down to meet the floor. A second’s pause as she struggled to get her balance, rocking forward, then back as she launched her good foot up and over, then rested her weight on it.

Dear God, how much willpower did it take to walk like that? But she had to. She’d been summoned, and had to obey.

When her face turned my way, I nearly gasped, biting my lip at the last second to stifle the sound. Her nose was a blackened cavity above another hole that had been her mouth, her teeth bared in a permanent skull-like grimace, her lips gone. Bloodied bone shone through her chin and cheekbones.

As I tried not to whimper, I told myself I was being ridiculous. I’d seen worse. Bodies torn apart by mutts. But they were dead! my brain screamed. Not walking around, living, breathing, conscious-

I pulled back before she saw me, but I moved too fast, and my elbow clanged against the file cabinet. The sound rang out as loud as a gong.

Rose let out something between a roar and a squeal, and started thumping in my direction. I wheeled out from behind the cabinet, and she flew at me, hands up, hooked into claws-bone claws, most of the flesh gone, half of her fingers missing. I veered out of her path, but she kept coming, lurching and lunging, faster than I would have thought possible.

As I backpedaled, one of those bony claws sheered my way. I acted on instinct, hitting the bottom of her arm with an uppercut. Her arm flew up with the blow, then fell limply to her side. Yet she kept coming, her good arm clawing at me.

As I dodged her blows, her limp arm seemed to be slipping…sliding from the sleeve.

Had I knocked her arm off? With a simple blow? Then how the hell was I going to subdue her? If I threw her down, I was liable to rip her in half.

She kept coming, eyes rolling with rage.

“Rose!” I yelled.

She didn’t stop coming at me, stumping forward, good arm clawing the air. When I called again, her gaze met mine, telling me she was still capable of hearing and processing words.

I let her get less than a foot away, then scampered to the other side of the room, leaving her yowling in rage.

“I can keep this up all night, Rose,” I said. “You can’t get me and you know it.”

She only snarled and flung herself toward me. I sidestepped past her. Just walked. Once across the room, I perched on the side of an old metal desk, as if making myself comfortable.

“I can give you what you want, Rose,” I said.

Her lipless mouth opened. Her words came out garbled, but I could make them out. “Good. Then come ’ere.”

“Still got a sense of humor? Pretty soon it’ll be all you have-”

She lunged. I pulled my foot back, caught her in the stomach and shoved as hard as I dared, knocking her to the floor. She didn’t rest for even a second, just struggled to rise on her good leg. As her body jerked with the effort, her severed arm slid to the floor. Seeing it, she let out a howl of rage and frustration.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” I said. “If you can still think as clearly as I believe you can, you know that was an accident. I have no interest in making things any worse for you than they are. All I want is to get Matthew Hull.”

Her eyes rolled up to mine and I knew she recognized the name. Had there been an inkling of doubt in my mind that he was the controller, it evaporated. She stared up at me, unblinking. She couldn’t blink. She didn’t have any eyelids. I forced my gaze away as my stomach rolled.

“What has he promised you if you catch me?” I asked.

“That it’ll stop,” she mumbled.

“So you can die in peace.”

Her body went rigid. “No. Not-can’t die. I’ll go to ’Ell.” She shuddered. “This is better. Close the gate. No more…it’ll stop.”

“The rotting you mean.”

“It’ll ’eal.”

“Heal? Is that what he told you? Maybe so, but is he planning to regrow all those parts you’ve lost? Your foot? Your lips? Arm? Nose? Eyelids? What you really want is peace, isn’t it? To die and go someplace peaceful, where you’ll be whole again. I can make sure that happens.”

She made a hiccuping noise that, after a moment, I realized was laughter.

“You don’t believe me? I have someone here who can help. The one who summoned you. She can make sure you cross over.”

“And go straight to bleedin’ ’Ell,” she snarled. “After all I’ve done, where else would I go?”

She had a point. Then I remembered Jaime talking earlier about Eve…

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” I said. “I can’t tell you what’s on the other side. No one can. But there’s more redemption than vengeance. I’d say you have a shot at some peace in the next life. Especially if you finish this one doing some good.”

“She’s right,” said a voice behind me. “I don’t know what’s over there either, but I know plenty of spirits who expected to end up someplace far worse than they did.”

Jaime stepped forward. Her gaze lit on Rose and if she felt any revulsion or horror, none of that showed. Not even pity. She just walked over to stand beside me.

“Just lead us to Hull, and we’ll take it from there,” I said. “You’ll be free.”

Rose looked at us with her horrible lidless eyes.

“You don’t still feel some obligation to him, do you? Maybe you did, when you first realized he’d given you a shot at another life, but I hope you don’t forget he ended your first one. You’re a servant. A zombie slave, put in that portal to serve him. And serve him you have, haven’t you? He used you up, and let you die, and die again-and still threw you into our path. Who cared if you fell to pieces? He had a backup. A man. You don’t see him rotting this badly, do you? Did you think that was just luck?”

“Will you kill ’im?” she asked. “The wizard or whatever ’e is?”

“That’s the surest way to close the portal. And something tells me Hull isn’t going to get one of those ‘get out of Hell free’ cards.”

Her face contorted in a hideous smile. “Good.”