The Arrivals

Chapter 32

Jack was relieved that Katherine wasn’t waiting for him in the hall. He’d hoped that Edgar would convince her to stay here, but he hadn’t actually expected it. Even when she was exhausted, Katherine was far from cooperative when she set her mind to anything. Feeling too much like he’d be sneaking out—and that she’d follow on her own—he stopped at Francis’ room and went inside.

Neither Edgar nor Katherine was there, and Francis seemed to be sleeping soundly. Styrr stood, not quite leaning against the wall but near it, watching Francis. The bloedzuiger acknowledged Jack with an almost imperceptible nod.

“How is Francis?” Jack asked.

“Recovering.” Styrr smiled. “He is in a healing sleep. I will stay here with him and guard Katherine.”

“Where is she?”

“She has gone to her mate. He was vexed that she wanted to travel. They argued, but she is now acquiescing to his logic.”

“They argued here?”

“No,” Styrr said. “In another room. My hearing is more acute than yours. I would hear if she were in danger. I can guard her and this one”—he gestured to Francis—“without being in the room where she is.”

Jack nodded, as if the idea of hearing whatever Katherine was doing in another room wasn’t unsettling. He considering telling Styrr not to mention his “acute hearing” to her, but bloedzuigers didn’t lie outright, so Katherine would find out sooner or later. “Right,” Jack said. “I’m going to head out then. If she returns . . .”

“I’ll tell her you’ve gone.”

Once the small party of Arrivals had reached the privacy of the desert, Jack told Melody and Hector, “It looks like Soanes is working with Ajani, the brethren, or both.”

“Why?” Hector asked.

Melody sighed and ran a hand over the short-barreled shotgun she carried like an infant in arms. “We’ll ask him.”

Jack almost felt bad for the governor, but then he thought of Mary, who was dead, and Francis, who was blind. If the governor had been working with the monks or Ajani, he’d need to answer for that—and Jack wouldn’t be feeling too much guilt over unleashing Melody to get those answers. He tried to live a righteous life, but doing the right thing sometimes included a few ugly moments.

It was hard to tell whether it was because of Melody’s enthusiasm for the potential violence ahead, the lingering Verrot in their systems, or Jack’s own eagerness to understand what was going on, but they traveled to Covenant at a remarkable speed. By the time they’d reached the governor’s offices, Jack’s temper was no more in control than it had been when he’d stood in the desert with Katherine and Garuda.

Although Jack had been there a few days prior, he didn’t recognize the man who waited inside the reception area. On some level, Jack wondered if he was more comfortable with bloedzuigers than with humans, but it wasn’t all humans that he found unnerving. Ajani and Governor Soanes were on the list of those he found unsettling; Garuda was on a very short list of beings he trusted.

The man, a person of both miner and human heritage by the looks of him, scurried over to Jack and held out his hands. “Mr. Reed.”

For a moment, Jack looked at him in confusion. He didn’t remember any custom that involved shaking both hands, nor did he have a coat or hat to hand the man. He didn’t extend his hands, and the man, who seemed to be some kind of assistant of the governor, stood there at a loss for a moment.

After an awkward pause, the man said, “This is not a good time.”

Jack weighed his words for a moment. “It’ll have to be.”

“I’m sorry, but the governor is indisposed.” The assistant moved to stand between them and the door to the governor’s office. In his hand, he clutched a key ring with oversize brass keys. “You can’t go in.”

“That’s not a very wise plan,” Melody murmured in a voice that Jack knew meant that she was moving into whatever less stable place she went to mentally when the prospect of violence was upon them. Hector, usually the only voice of reason she would hear once she was in her zone, didn’t speak to caution her. He simply withdrew one of his knives and smiled. Every member of the team had strengths, but when it came to coercion, Hector and Melody were well matched. Hector’s silent intimidation complemented Melody’s obvious madness.

A loud crash sounded inside the office, and Jack stepped forward. “Open it.”

The assistant shook his head. “It would be more unwise to open that door, Mr. Reed. I won’t do it.”

Hector and Melody came to stand behind Jack, one on either side of him. “I like bad ideas,” Melody murmured gleefully. She lifted the short-barreled shotgun. “Can I open it?”

Hector said nothing.

“I’m not necessarily here to kill him,” Jack reminded her.

Melody sighed, and the gun barrel dipped. Then she lifted it and aimed at the assistant. “What about him?”

Jack met the assistant’s gaze. “Depends on whether he’s going to try to stop us.”

“I warned you,” the man said, but instead of trying to stop them, he handed Jack the key ring and walked past the Arrivals without another word.

“That didn’t sound promising,” Hector took the keys from Jack’s hand and walked to the door. He slid the key into the lock and turned it. In his other hand, he held a knife at the ready. “Muzzles up, kiddies, he said as he yanked the door open. He stepped to the side as he did so, giving Jack and Melody a clear shot into the room.

Jack stopped short at the sight that greeted them, trying to make sense of the contents of the room. It looked like the governor had redecorated. The walls were partially coated in what looked like fresh red paint; after the split second of shock, Jack’s mind filled in the correct interpretation. Not paint, but blood. A monk stood beside the governor’s chair, which had been turned so that its back was to the door. In the chair, the remains of Governor Soanes slumped to the side.

As Jack’s mind finally allowed him to process the sight and scent of the room, he realized that the governor was long dead. Viscera hung all around the room like some sort of macabre party decoration, and the unpleasant scent of violent death permeated the air. Whether or not the governor had been working for the enemy—and if so, why—wasn’t something that he would be able to answer.

“Demon-filled,” Hector said, not taking his gaze off the possessed monk.

“He ate the governor,” Melody added in what Jack could only describe as a petulant voice. “Damn it! I had plans.”

She emptied both barrels. The blast went through his chair and through the governor’s body, but the demon-possessed monk simply stared at them. Melody’s shots didn’t hurt the demon inside, and monks never reclaimed their bodies once they allowed possession. Demons wore the bodies until they were bored or the bodies were too broken—unless the bodies were anchored. Then the demons could be injured or killed.

Jack withdrew the pistol on his right. The rounds in it were filled with salt and small bits of brass. They weren’t as effective as spellwork, but they could anchor the demon to the body.

“Open fire,” Jack said levelly.

Hector had switched to a handful of throwing knives with brass bands that he’d had made for such occasions, and Melody packed her own shells with “a little bit of this and that” so she could use her preferred gun against most of the Wasteland monsters.

As Melody fired, Hector released two knives in quick succession.

The demon-possessed monk moved more like the thing inside of it than like a human, darting serpent-quick and leaping agilely to avoid their attack. It seemed more interested in evading them than in attacking, which wasn’t all too surprising. It had a body and had obviously already completed the job of silencing the governor. Once it was free of them, it could go enjoy having a physical form.

Melody drew a pistol from her hip and emptied all six rounds.

Hector launched several more knives.

The creature shrieked twice as both knives and bullets hit it, but with so much blood covering it, there was no clear indication of where it had been hit. If they could anchor the demon to the body with brass, they could permanently kill the demon. If not, they could hopefully at least destroy the monk’s body.

As they all tried to anticipate which way things would go, the monk evaded most of their shots. The sight of the bleeding monk darting around and contorting his body into improbable positions to avoid their bullets and knifes was odd. So far they were successfully stopping it from escaping, but that only lasted a few moments. The creature knocked Melody onto her back, leaving a bloody handprint on her chest, and fled.

Hector rushed after it.

Jack reached a hand down to Melody, who scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could and raced after the monk too. As they burst out of the building, Jack saw Hector rounding a corner.

“Melody!” Jack pointed.

The three Arrivals followed the creature and saw it scurry up the side of a building, leaving dark handprints as it went. Hector grabbed a window ledge and continued pursuit. Still on the ground, Melody broke the barrel and reloaded. Jack scanned the rooftops.

After several moments Hector dropped back to the ground, and Melody lowered the gun.

“It’s gone,” Jack said. Free-ranging demons were fast enough to be a mile away by now, and a strong enough monastic host and a possession-experienced demon wouldn’t be much slower.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Hector said.

“Fucking demons,” Melody grumbled.