Echoes of the Past

Chapter Twenty-Three

I woke up to the soothing sounds of Barry White.

“He’s coming around.”

Barry needed some serious help with his lyrics. No expectations he could ever top “Let’s Get It On”, “He’s Coming Around” sounded like it was a railroad song or about a guy with a serious bend in his crank. He wouldn’t be seeing the top ten with lyrics like that.

“I’m surprised he’s still alive.”

His backup singer needed to be replaced, too. The poor girl sounded as raspy as Froggy from the Little Rascals. The only mood she could evoke was the desire to develop lung cancer.

A jostling at my side sent sparks through my brain. I was suddenly upright, vertigo contemplating upending my guts. My head felt as though I’d been skull-fucked by King Kong. Pressure-a euphemism for icepick stabbing agony-bubbled in my brain and sent daggers of pain through my temples. Even with my eyes closed the lights were too bright. After a few minutes of listening to Barry and his band go back and forth about finding clothes to cover something up, which was a little catchier than the last tune, I dared to open my eyes.

Let me just tell you, a nuclear explosion would have been preferable right then. I screamed and fell back as streams of light seared my eyes. The hint of a shadow fell over me and cold hands were set alongside my cheeks.

“Relax, Frank. Open your mind,” I heard someone say, and shook my head in defiance. The pain that followed the motion set fire to my brain. “It’s me, Frank. Michael. Let me in.”

Too weak to resist beyond what I already had, I gave in. Anything to stop the agony. Seconds later a cold wave washed over me and put out the fire inside my head. My eyes sizzled in their sockets, and then settled as the sharp pains eased and disappeared. I drew in a deep breath and luxuriated in the chilly air that settled in my lungs. The lights faded and darkness flooded in to wash the last of it away. My thoughts scrambled into the shadows like roaches, and things started to make sense again.

Finally able to think, I opened my eyes. Michael Li kneeled beside me. He gave me a warm smile and helped me sit up. “Welcome back, Frank.”

I patted him on the shoulder before he stood and stepped away, allowing me to see the rest of the room. Katon stood there looking like he’d tried to buttsex a wolverine. He looked like a zebra, only with black and red stripes, his dark flesh doing its best to heal the damage inflicted on him.

“You okay,” I asked.

He nodded and gave me a shallow smile. Happy to see him alive and recovering, I glanced around the room for Mihheer. I vaguely remember him being there when Gorath set his cronies on us, but I had no clue what happened after that.

The alien was in the corner. Rahim held him down. In his human form, the wizard looked dapper as he clutched to Mihheer. He even spared me a smile with teeth showing. I didn’t have the heart to tell him about his prospects of being a successful singer.

Mihheer was slumped in Rahim’s hands. He looked unconscious. What was left of his ruined face was a wash of red and protruding gray bone. Yellowish-green fluid seeped from a gaping hole in his head where I could have sworn he had a horn before. A couple of his teeth protruded through his lower lip, and spittle and blood ran to join the mess that pooled in his lap.

“Damn. You guys did a job on him.”

Katon chuckled and looked to Rahim. “I told you he was out of it.”

I glanced back and forth between the two as they shook their heads in something that resembled amusement. “What?” After a moment of laughing at what I presumed was my expense, Katon reached down and lifted my arm. In my hand was Mihheer’s missing horn. I tossed it aside quickly and shook the residual goop from my fingers. I looked back at Mihheer, pointing. “I did that?”

Katon nodded. “That you did.”

I sighed, trying to remember what had happened, but my memories were so jumbled it would take Stephen Hawkings to piece them together into any sort of coherence.

“Scarlett.” My cousin sprang to mind. “Did you find her?”

“Not yet,” Katon answered, seriousness returning. He gestured to Michael. “Since the brute force approach didn’t get us anywhere, I called Rahim and Michael down to help out.”

Mike went over to the alien and knelt down in front of him. “Let’s see what he’s got going on inside there.” He dropped to his ass and crossed his legs, taking slow and deliberate breaths.

I got up, a bit unsteady on my feet, and stumbled over for a better look just as Michael’s eyes shifted. They went from brown to silver in an instant, mercurial in their swirling flow. He rolled his head on his neck and started to mutter. The words were quiet and distorted, nothing making any sense. If I hadn’t seen him do his act before, I would have thought it was just me being out of it. His hands twitched in his lap as though he were signing with Tourette’s.

While I stood there watching, Katon handed me a bundle of clothes. “You mind covering that thing up? You’re freaking me out.” He motioned toward my crotch, drawing my eyes. I realized I was naked and my dick was hanging there more than half-riled. “It was one thing to watch you slaughter werewolves with a full on erection, but this is the part of the date where your pretend you have a little modesty.”

The word was foreign to me, but I slipped the pants on. It was getting a little chilly, anyway. By the time I was dressed, Michael was done. He sucked in a sudden breath and shuddered, his eyes wide and back to being brown. He shook his head and growled as he got to his feet.

“His head is like an abstract painting on crack. Everything is in symbols and sigils and strange shapes that no doubt make up some kind of language, but it’s certainly not one I understand. He doesn’t see things like we do. The only images I can pick out appear to be Asian, if that makes any sense.” He raised his hands in defeat. “All his thoughts are jumbled together, the flickers of bright flowers and Chinese letters mixed in amidst the Giger-like sharpness of the alien sigils and signs. It makes no sense.”

Once again not knowing Mihheer’s language was screwing us. I started to get mad when I remembered the scrap of flesh I had stashed in the God room. “If you had a key that translated some of the symbols, do you think you could work something out?”

Michael shrugged. “It certainly couldn’t hurt. If the symbols are less abstract than their presentation, we might be able to figure something out to help us find Scarlett.”

“If you’ve got something, Frank, let’s get it,” Katon said. His concern for Scarlett was etched clearly across his healing face.

“I’ll be right back,” I told them, waving off Katon’s offer of assistance. “Stick around and make sure the weres don’t come back for their buddy.” I was out the door and down the hall before he could argue.

Still recovering from the double whammy, I wanted a few minutes alone. I felt like I was hung over, and not just from any old party, but from the binge of the century. My head throbbed and my brain sloshed around as if it’d broken free of its mounts. It was hard to walk because my legs were trembling and weak, but I pushed on. This might be the only chance we were gonna get to find Scarlett, so I had to keep going. Despite the psychic trauma, I kept my senses purring away at full throttle. I had vague memories of some of the werewolves managing to get away before I went ballistic, so it was possible I’d run into them, and I really wasn’t feeling up to the rematch.

I moved along as quickly as I could and made it to the God-proof room after what seemed like forever. The first thing I saw was Chatterbox rocking back and forth and looking forlorn.

“Still no contact?” My stomach tightened.

He wobbled his head, the maggots in his eyes sloshing about. If he were capable of tears, he probably would have cried. I felt pretty much the same. Still unable to reach Karra, I was getting worried. It was bad enough not knowing where Scarlett was, but for Karra to be missing was driving me nuts. I wanted to reach out to Longinus to see if she was just giving me the cold shoulder, but we still needed to find Scarlett. She was the priority right now, I told myself.

“Keep trying, CB. I’ll be back to check in.” I collected the skin tablet and book.

Just as I started out of the room, I caught the tiniest flicker of a familiar presence. It was gone before I could I could even process it, but it was enough to give me a general direction of where it came from. Rather than dart out after it, I walked out like I hadn’t noticed anything. Thinking the presence was the person who’d been following me around Hell, I didn’t want to let them know I had spotted them.

I made my way down the corridors, moving in the general direction of where the DRAC guys were holding on to Mihheer, but not directly there. If I needed help, I wanted to be close, but I didn’t want to lead anyone back to the group unless I had to. With all the weres and vamps having a hit out on me, and Gorath aligning himself with them to make my life miserable, I didn’t want to risk dragging Katon into another ambush. Even with Rahim around to even the odds, they didn’t need the grief.

Doing my best to act like nothing was out of the ordinary, I took my time traipsing about the ghetto labyrinth as I looked for a good place to spring an ambush. I kept getting miniscule traces of my tailgater as I moved along. Whoever they were, they were good. They stayed right at the edge of my senses, which kept me from identifying them. The only problem was that it made it clear the person knew me…the old me. Since my power up by Baalth and the tiny boost of Azrael’s essence, my natural range had extended just a bit. The person following me felt they knew the limits of my power and were trying to stay outside of them, but they kept crossing the line. That was why I kept hitting on the familiar essence, but it wasn’t enough for recognition.

A minute later, I ducked behind a building and yanked my new shirt off. I used a fingernail to cut my arm and smeared blood all across the shirt. Certain I was out of sight of my follower, I balled the shirt up and tossed it as hard as I could in the direction I’d been traveling. The sudden burst of movement by my essence would make it look like I was running. It wouldn’t fool anyone long, but tracking a person by their spiritual energies is a bitch, even for those trained in it. My darting back in the direction of the tracker would further confuse the signal. I could only hope it threw them off long enough for me to get a glimpse of them.

It worked.

There was a scuff of boots around the corner followed by a shadow; followed by my fist. The thud of bone on flesh sounded loud in the corridor as the person dropped.

“Damn it, Frank. What the Hell?” I recognized the voice, the sound of it freezing me in place. My shoulders slumped.

Veronica.

There on the floor, dressed in an all-black tracksuit that covered every inch of her skin, there was no mistaking her figure. She was massaging her cheek where I’d punched her, her left eye fluttering. As much as I didn’t want to see her, I sighed and stuck my hand out. “Why are you following me?” She took my hand and I pulled her to her feet.

She rubbed at her face, her feet scuffing at the stone floor. “I, uh…damn, this is going to sound bad.”

“It’s you, Veronica. When doesn’t it?”

She groaned. “I was worried about you.” She looked away.

My brain slipped into overdrive and I felt my crotch begin to warm to the possibilities, but I shook my head to chase away the Technicolor porn film I was envisioning. I certainly didn’t need the hassles that came with Veronica, especially not with Karra around. As much fun as the ex-wife was when it came to sexual adventures, she was an addiction as bad as crack or meth; it only led to trouble and poor hygiene.

“Uh, look, that’s nice and all, but uh-“

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” She growled. “I saw you with that woman earlier.” She snarled, but went on. “Baalth let it slip that you’d had a visit from Lucifer, and I wanted to be sure you were okay.”

Baalth didn’t let anything slip. If Veronica knew it was because Baalth wanted her to know and it served a purpose. The only question was whose? “So, you’re following me because you’re worried, huh?”

She shifted on her feet again. “Well, not just that.”

I laughed and motioned for her to continue.

She swallowed, and it took a moment for her to respond. “Baalth wanted to know what Lucifer told you.”

“Why? Was he afraid Lucifer might spill some grand secret?” I laughed again. “Like maybe that I’m his son and not his nephew?”

Veronica’s eyes shot wide.

“Damn it, you knew! Are you fucking kidding me?” My cheeks went nuclear and I stuffed my hands in my pockets to keep from throttling the life from her.

Her own cheeks turned pink as she stumbled over her words. “I–I-I just…shit, Frank. I just found out myself. Honest.”

I drew in a deep breath and paced in a circle. For all our history, Veronica was a loyal subject to Baalth since he freed her from Hell. She’d have kept the secret to her grave if Baalth had asked her to, but it pissed me off every time I was reminded of her priorities. We hadn’t had the best of marriages, but damn, a secret like me being the son of the Devil isn’t something you keep from your ex. It was just proof of the divide between us. Evil Knievel wouldn’t try to jump that shit.

“Well, Veronica, I’m fine. When Baalth gets back, if he ever does, you can tell him Lucifer didn’t tell me shit.”

She grabbed my arm. “What do you mean, if he gets back?”

I turned and met her eyes. There wasn’t a hint of deceit there. She didn’t know. Shit. This was the second time I’d had to break the bad news, and I didn’t like the job. “Baalth was hurt…hurt bad. He’s gone to Lucifer to see if God can piece him back together.”

Veronica stumbled and I caught her before she could fall. Her moist eyes rolled to meet mine. “He’s gone?”

“He’s a stubborn bastard, you know that. He’ll be fine.” I hoped she couldn’t see the doubt in my eyes. He’d looked like nuked dogshit, and I wasn’t sure he’d make it even halfway there. Then there was the whole thing about God having to be the one to heal him. Baalth had better hope the Big Guy was in a forgiving mood or he needed Baalth for the war effort, otherwise it’d be a long trip for nothing. “Poe on the other hand…” I’d tried to bite that last bit back to keep from piling on, but something deep down inside me didn’t think it was right. While I hated Marcus, he looked like a lost dog when I dropped Poe’s body off. I didn’t have time to help the guy with the DSI showing up, and all. He could use some support, and Veronica would be better at it than me.

“Dead?”

I just nodded. The tears in her eyes broke free and spilled down her cheeks.

“Marcus is gonna need someone, you know?”

Veronica squeezed my arm and pulled away, wiping at her face. “I better go.” She gave me a quick hug that lingered a little long, and then finally pulled away. After a quick peck on the cheek, she started down the hall only to stop after about ten steps. She turned back to me and whispered, “I’m…I’m sorry.”

I waved her apology off. “Don’t worry about it.” She stared at me for a moment, her eyes moist, and then left.

Once she was gone, my senses ringing blank, I went back to where Mihheer was being held. He was still out when I got there.

“You take the scenic route?” Katon asked, holding his hand out.

I passed him the skin key and shrugged. “Ran into trouble.”

Rahim and Katon stiffened but I waved it off. “It was just Veronica. It’s good.”

Katon shook his head and handed Michael the piece of skin. The mentalist took it in a tentative grip and rolled his eyes toward me. “You didn’t say it was written on a chunk of someone’s ass.”

“Asmoday’s, to be specific, but you didn’t ask.”

He grunted and stared at the tablet. “This is going to take some time.” He turned to Rahim. “Can you keep him out for a while?”

Rahim shrugged. “We can at headquarters. Out here, all I can do is imitate Frank and hope it doesn’t kill him.”

“Then let’s take him to DRAC and make sure he’s shut down. I want to find out where his master has taken Scarlett.” Katon’s fists were clenched as he inched closer to Mihheer. He wanted his turn, and only his concern for Scarlett was holding him back.

Rahim saw it, too. “Let’s go. You got everything you need, Frank?”

I thought about it for a second and decided it was best if I didn’t go with them. “You don’t need me there. I want to stir up the cavalry for Scarlett and check in on Karra. Chatterbox still can’t reach her. It’s starting to make me nervous.” I turned to Michael. “Leave a link open, please. I’m gonna need help if I want to make the trip quickly.” He nodded, and I looked at Rahim. “Can I hitch a ride out?”

The wizard nodded, and I told him where I wanted to go. After a round of goodbyes, we went our separate ways.