Legacy of the Demon (Kara Gillian 8)

Giovanni mutely pushed up and allowed himself to be escorted out. As soon as the front door closed, I dropped my head to the table and groaned.

“When this is over, I want to spend a month in Tahiti.” I looked up at Pellini. “Tahiti still exists, right?”

“Far as I know.”

The walkie-talkie on the counter buzzed. I snagged it and pressed the button. “Go ahead.”

“Detective Knight is at the front gate.” A pause. “He doesn’t look good.”

“Copy that,” I said. “Clear him through. We’re ready for him.”

• • •

Knight was indeed covered in a hideously familiar red, viscous sweat. We wasted no time and got him settled on a futon mattress on the living room floor—well out of the way of foot traffic, since we knew about Pod Phase this time.

I crouched beside him. “I know it doesn’t feel like it,” I said, “but you’re going to be okay. We’ll take care of you.”

He gave me a wan smile. “Thanks.” His smile faded, and his throat worked as he swallowed. “I guess whatever I end up as can’t be worse than what I am right now.”

My heart squeezed at the depth of emotion in his voice. “You’re magnificent now, and you’ll still be magnificent when you come out of this.”

His breath shuddered from him. “I never told you how to camera-fly in the dream-visions. It’s not hard—just a different way of looking at things.”

The red sweat thickened to mucus consistency and oozed to form an ever-thickening layer. “Just rest. You don’t have to—”

“I do!” he said, eyes wide. “Gotta have something good come out of this.” A shiver wracked him. “You’re not you. You’re not the dream person. You’re a drone controlled by you. Separate. From everything. God that description sucks. Float up. But keep connected. Like a balloon on a string. You’ll be able—”

The slime swept over his face, swallowing his last words. I quickly straightened and backed away, unwilling to repeat my experience with Cory, but to my relief the slime undulated for several seconds then seemed to settle.

And now we hoped for the best. “Make sure no one goes near him,” I told Pellini.

“Already put the word out.” He cracked his neck then exhaled gustily. “I’m heading into town to check the rifts and make a supply run. Need anything?”

“Chocolate donuts.”

“I might be able to scare up white bread and chocolate syrup.”

“I’ll take it.”

Chapter 17

I spent the next hour working on the reports for General Starr and had just hit “send” when my phone rang. No number I recognized, but I was used to that. “This is A.C. Gillian.”

“I need you.”

My heart skipped a beat. Mzatal, his voice like cold steel. In the background, I heard shouts and screams.

“Where?”

“Siberia. Ust-Ilimsk. Helori will—” The line went dead.

That was all I needed to know. “Jill! I’m going to Siberia! Ust-Ilimsk. How cold is it there right now?” I ran for the closet, pulled out my rucksack and quickly checked weapons and ammo. I’d learned from hard experience to always have a bag packed and ready to go with necessary items for a variety of scenarios: flashlight, first aid kit, crowd control devices, toiletries, clean underwear and socks, and even a small packet of coffee.

“Off the top of my head, I’d say it’s really, really cold.” Jill stepped out of the dining room, already busy pulling info up on her phone. “Okay, got it. Temp is minus twelve. Ugh. Strip down while I grab your cold weather gear.” She sprinted to my room while I groaned. “How long before the helicopter gets here?”

“No chopper,” I said as I shucked off my jeans and t-shirt. “The demahnk Helori is coming to get me.” At least, I assumed that’s what Mzatal was going to say. “Crap. I’ll have to send him back here to pick up Pellini.” I’d be handicapped without him there to shape the arcane for me. “Isn’t Ust-Ilimsk somewhere near the 1908 Tunguska event?”

“About two hundred miles south of it” she called out from the bedroom. “But it looks like that’s the closest population center of any decent size.” She returned with a bundle under one arm and her eyes still on her phone. “Oh, wait, that minus twelve is Celsius.” She tossed me silk thermals and dumped a clean DIRT uniform at my feet. “It’s ten Fahrenheit.”