Greg sat back down. “You can have it, I have a bunch. Pete’s lived here forever, and been mayor for the last, I don’t know, seven years? I’ve met the man. A stiff breeze would blow him over, and there’s not a mean-spirited bone in his body. I seriously think you have the wrong guy.”
“No. That’s him, I recognize the face. He’s older than the last time I saw him, and it’s been awhile, but I’ll never forget him.” A vivid memory popped into my head of Piotr walking between two hanging bodies, pushing them aside like heavy hanging curtains. His face frozen in self-righteous anger and his hands stained pink with scrubbed off blood. I could remember every detail as if I were still there.
Greg sat back down at the table. “How long is awhile?”
“The last time I saw Piotr it was 1945, in Warsaw.”
Greg froze. There’s a look that people get when they suddenly discover that they’re trapped in a room with an actual crazy person. You can see their eyes go batshit, while disconnected smiles solidify on their faces.
“I’m not crazy, I’m just older than I look.”
He raised his hands and made patting motions in the air. “Of course, Abe! I never said you were crazy. I wouldn’t do that.”
Anne stifled a laugh, which I did my best to ignore. “Look. You believe that your friends and neighbors are being mind controlled by freaky tentacle-faced worms that live inside them, right? You’ve seen that?”
“Well … yes, but that’s different.”
“No, it isn’t. I got caught up in the last operation that your mayor was running, and this is what happened to me. I haven’t aged a day since. It’s the truth. And frankly, it’s not that weird compared to the other stuff you’ve seen.”
His eyes flicked to the ceiling and back to me so fast I almost didn’t see it. “I guess I have to give you that. I mean, why the hell wouldn’t an immortal guy show up here out of the blue to help me fight body snatching worm people? Why the fuck not?” He sniggered, and then laughed, and then roared, slapping his hand on his leg over and over.
“I mean, shit, at this point you could have swooped in on a fucking dinosaur and things wouldn’t be any weirder!”
He laughed until he had a coughing fit. Now it was my turn to get the crazy person heebee-jeebies. He stopped and wiped his eyes. “Sorry, sorry.” He giggled one more time. “Oh, that felt good. I can’t remember the last time I had a good laugh like that. You’re right, of course. If you say you’re immortal, and you’ve been fighting Saint Peter since the forties, then who am I to say different? I’m just glad you’re here. We even have something of an advantage, since Peter doesn’t know you’re here.”
“About that. Even if he doesn’t know I’m here tonight, he knows I’m coming. After all, he’s spent the last couple of weeks leading me here by the nose.”
Anne and Greg blurted out, “What?” at the same time.
I turned to Anne. “Think about it. When Dominic took the pieces from us at the hospital, he was away clean. The only reason we were able to track him down was because Peter ordered Dominic to leave some goons behind. He knew damn well those guys weren’t a real threat.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Yeah, three guys with guns were totally no threat.”
I shrugged modestly. “And you remember what happened to them, right? Their real purpose was to lay a trail to Dominic, who Piotr conveniently failed to kill after receiving the altar pieces from him. Which, of course, gave us the final to Belmont.” A thought struck me. “Greg, you said this has been going on for a year now?”
“Or longer. I only got wind of it a year ago. Who knows how many people went missing before that?”
“That’s what I thought. So if he’s been operating under the radar for a year or more, why would he expose himself now?”
Anne got it first. “Because he’s ready. Whatever he’s been setting up all this time is done, and he needs the last parts to make it happen. And if you’re right about drawing you here even after he has the altar pieces, then he must need you to make it work.”
“That’s my guess. Only I don’t think he’s completely ready yet. If he were, he would have had an army of bags lurking around the hotel and all the restaurants to grab me the second I showed up. Hell, the bag in the diner would have grabbed me, come to that. No, he’s not finished, but he will be soon enough that he wants me close at hand.”
Anne said, “You obviously took some power or something from that blood pit. Maybe he needs it back to finish what he started?”
“Why, when he’s been making another pit for at least a year? Why not just use that?”
Greg used his coffee cup like a gavel on the thin table. “Hold up. Blood pit? Power you stole? Clue me in, here.”
So, for the next hour, Anne and I filled Greg in on the whole mess, starting with the war and ending up with our arrival into town. It finally sank in, as I was telling the tale. The past that I had been running from all these years was finally catching up to me.
Piotr was no longer years and miles away. He was here, in this very town, right now, and it didn’t matter how cute his nickname was, or how harmless he looked on his campaign button. There was something in him, something driving him, that was beyond sanity or good or evil. He was wrong. Twisted out of step in a way that made the hair on your neck instinctively rise.
I didn’t know what Piotr was planning for me or this town, but I was terrified of it.
31
There were no unoccupied bedrooms in the small house, so Greg made us a pallet of sleeping bags and blankets on the living room floor. By the time we had unloaded our duffel bags from the car and gotten settled in, the rest of the house was asleep. Soft darkness made the impromptu bed cozy and snug, with the white noise of the ceiling fan overhead adding to the pleasant sense of isolation. Anne leaned her head against my chest, warming me.
“Abe?”
“Yeah?”
“We’re going to beat this Peter guy, and we’re going to make it out of here alive. All of us.”
“Even Chuck? Because if you’re trying to cheer me up, you’re doing it wrong.”
“Yes, even Chuck. I saw the way you looked back in the kitchen. I don’t know if Greg noticed, but I could tell you were afraid. I just wanted to say that you don’t have to be. We’re going to be fine.”
I gave her hand a squeeze and lied. “I’m not worried. Piotr’s an old man now. We’re going to kick his ass.” The words were ashes in my mouth. Even though he was old on the outside, whatever was driving him from the inside didn’t care about age. It didn’t slow down or weaken or lose focus. It just burned. “How’s your nose doing? Can you warn me if something gets close tonight?”
“I think so. This place still reeks, but I’m sure I can work through it now.”
“Okay.” I closed my eyes and tried to put tomorrow out of my thoughts. “Night.”
She stayed close, pressed against my side. “Night.”
We slept like that until morning noises from the kitchen woke me. Anne was curled up on her side facing away from me, so I slipped out of the covers and grabbed a quick shower. When I got back, she was still asleep.
I knelt down and gently shook her. She didn’t wake. I walked around to the other side and pushed her hair out of her face. Her features were pinched and her lips were twitching, like she was almost speaking. The bones in her neck stood out and she was rigid. As sensitive as she was, I should have realized that sleeping this close to Piotr’s operation would affect her. Fear made my heart race.
“Anne. Anne! Wake up!” I shook her again, this time harder. Her eyelids scrunched down tighter as though she were trying to shut me out. I put my hands on each side of her head and put my forehead to hers. “Anne, it’s Abe. I’m right here. Wake up.”
“Abe.” It was a faint whisper.
“It’s me. Time to wake up.”
