affect her.
The worst part was, if what she was telling me was true then the world was in serious trouble. Killed by dread fiends and not by my uncle’s hand, Longinus would have retained the powers he’d stolen from Jesus, as well as any other souls he’d collected along the way. While not on par with Baalth-the earthly incarnation of Christ nothing compared to His true self in Heaven-it was still a whole hell of a lot of power in the hands of a guy whose passion, whose entire existence, was predicated on death.
In a few short weeks Reven managed to rack up something neighboring a hundred deaths. I could only imagine what the body count would be if he had Longinus under his control. Things were gonna get bad.
“Do you know where Reven is?”
She shook her head. “I’m unable to find him, his nature impossible to track.” I must have made a sour face because she waggled a finger at me. “I can, however, point you in the direction of his pet, the demon Karra.”
I hadn’t realized Karra was a demon, but it certainly explained a lot. What it didn’t explain though, was why Lilith was sending me off after Karra when she knew where she was and had sufficient power to go after her herself. I was starting to think people wanted me dead.
Baalth had done the same thing earlier. It definitely got my paranoia up and running. It was bad enough being a pawn-I’d accepted that-but I wasn’t looking to be sacrificed for someone’s endgame.
“Not to sound ungrateful for the information or anything, but why leave this to me when you can handle it yourself, or pass it on to Baalth to deal with?”
Her eyes dropped to her lap. “Baalth and I are not on the best of terms these days. Karra’s current location is deep inside Old Town and I dare not go there. It is one thing to skirt the edges, passing through, but it’s entirely something more dangerous to stroll into the heart of his territory. I would not survive such boldness.” She raised her eyes, meeting mine with a steely gaze. “I’d also rather not give him the pleasure of striking down Maximus-he always hated him. It would wound me to my core were he to possess Maximus’s soul.”
I could agree with that sentiment even if I didn’t trust her motives. The last thing we needed was Baalth inheriting Longinus’s magic. He already had far more than enough to screw the pooch in ways I didn’t want to think about.
I did anyway. Bad mind.
“Were it you who brought it all to an end, I believe I could accept that.” She smiled, leaning forward to rest her hands on my legs again. The game was still on. “I’ve grown fond of life since Lucifer’s departure and have no interest in the past returning from the grave to take all that away. I’d be in your debt if you were to handle this.”
Though she talked a good game, her words were hollow, pure manipulation. The only value in what she said was what I could make of it, reading between the lines as to her true motives. It was still better than nothing. “Tell me what you know.”
“My spies have tracked Karra to an abandoned mental institution in northern Old Town called Gailbraith Manor. I imagine you’ll find her there, amidst the memories of the tortured dead.”
Crazy and creepy. Nice. My kind of girl.
My mind flashed back on what I remembered about the asylum. Its basement was said to have been converted into a makeshift morgue when its administrators realized they could make more money harvesting the organs of their patients than caring for them. Caught in the act, the institute was shut down and condemned. Like everything else in Old Town, it had been forgotten, left to rot. It was a great hiding place.
“Is Longinus’s body there as well?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know for certain, though I believe not. My men were unable to get inside without giving themselves away. Capture Karra and she can lead you to him and her master as well.”
If only it were that easy. Karra was vicious with the skills to back it up. I wasn’t looking forward to scrapping with her again. Though somewhere deep inside my head, I couldn’t help think I might not need to. She’d been reluctant to kill me despite knowing I intended to keep coming after her. There was something there I couldn’t understand. Some factor in play I didn’t know about. It nagged at me.
“Anything else I need to know?”
Lilith shook her head.
Conveniently, the limo slowed right then, and drifted off to the side of the road. Just a few blocks from the business area of downtown, it came to a stop. The driver got out and moved around to open the door on my side, letting the bright light of morning in.
“Thank you, Frank.” She motioned toward the door. “I’ll be in touch should I learn anything that might be useful to you.”
Finished with me, she turned away, her eyes facing straight ahead. I climbed out of the car and the driver shut the door behind me with quiet efficiency. Without so much as a glance my way, he got back behind the wheel. Seconds later, they were gone.
Despite all the unknowns piling up in the equation, at least now I had some kind of direction to go in. That was more than I had an hour ago.
Since my coffee run had been interrupted, I headed off to remedy my need for caffeine and to put another call into DRAC to let them know about Longinus. I left out the source of my information, as usual, adding that it was all just speculation at that point, but I wanted to float the possibility. From there, I went home and fixed myself up, showered away the dried blood and nastiness, and took a long nap. After that, I figured I’d head down to the insane asylum.
I had a feeling I was gonna fit in just fine.
Chapter Nine
While not one of my brightest plans, I decided to pay my visit to Karra alone. Since she’d shown a dislike of Baalth, and a willingness to carve his people up like Thanksgiving Day turkeys, I decided not to bring any of them along. I thought about calling in Katon, but I wasn’t sure how she’d react to him.
Even if she didn’t have a predetermined reason to take a shot at him, he’s pretty intimidating. That wasn’t the mood I wanted to set for our meeting. I wasn’t really sure just what kind of a mood I was going for, my crotch having a few ideas of its own, but intimidating wasn’t it.
Down in Old Town again, I skirted around the edges, sticking to the less populated areas as I worked my way to the asylum. It’s not that I was hiding from Baalth, not exactly, but I really didn’t need his unstable ass popping in and making a mess of things. Just starting to get an idea of what was going on, I certainly didn’t need his help to screw things up. I could do that well enough alone.
As I neared Gailbraith Manor, aptly nicknamed the Gray Hell, a cold chill trickled down my spine. Six stories tall and painted in a single swath from foundation to roof in institutional gray, the building stood out from its crumbling neighbors. Tiny windows, little more than the size of a mail-slot, peered from the sides like murder-holes. A ten foot stone wall surrounded the small, barren yard but it had come down in several places. Jumbles of rock and crumbled mortar lay in dusty piles around the perimeter, some strewn into the road. I had a sense that people avoided the area, as even to this day the debris in the street remained untouched.
Not counted among the smart few to stay away, I drew my gun and slipped through a hole in the wall, then made my way across the yard to the front entrance. The wrought iron gate, which once protected the front doors from threats inside and out, lay bent and mangled. Only one hinge held it on. The doors beyond it were missing entirely.
Though I’m not really easy to spook, I had to admit I was having second thoughts. Here I was, walking alone into the hideout of a killer who’d shown she was more than capable of handling her business with ruthless efficiency. I wasn’t sure I could deal with her, let alone anyone else who might be lurking about. I’d come here on a hunch, thinking I had a shot at talking to Karra, at working something out. Now, as I stepped into the musky-aired foyer of the asylum, I wasn’t so sure. To be safe, I let my senses drift out, hoping they’d give me a heads up in case of trouble, though I wasn’t confident it’d help.
Too late to turn back, at least that’s what I kept telling myself, I continued forward. The foyer was nothing more than a reception area. Rusted metal gates running ceiling to floor, sat open, splitting the room in half. On my
