Part 12 (1/2)

Chapter Six.

They agreed to split the distance and meet Awan at a restaurant in a truck stop off I-15 in North Las Vegas. Awan was already waiting at a table when they arrived.

He looks a little more dressed up than last time, Deem thought. Maybe he's trying to impress me. Or Winn.

They related the events of the past day. Awan listened with interest.

”They often make little treasure piles,” Awan said. ”It's the bird in them. But I've never heard of using banker's boxes. That seems a little a.n.a.l.”

”He's a banker in Hurricane,” Deem said. ”His day job. Maybe it's just what he knows.”

”Does it weaken him,” Winn asked, ”since we took the boxes for Deem and her aunt?”

”No,” Awan said. ”It'll just make him more determined. He'll try to get more hair and objects. Once they fix on you, they don't stop.”

”Great,” Deem said. ”So I just p.i.s.sed him off.”

”Probably,” Awan said.

”Well, I can stand watch tonight,” Deem said. ”And my friends found an object like your grandfather's, so that should be here tomorrow. Once we use it, we'll be permanently protected from him?”

”Supposedly,” Awan said. ”I never saw the thing myself. It was stolen from my grandfather before I was born. But his writings say it's a permanent protection.”

”Well, that should solve it, then,” Deem said.

”Have you decided if you're going to take down the shaman who created him?” Winn asked Awan.

Awan smiled at Winn. ”I don't think I have the resources,” he said. ”I've taken down rotten belly shaman before, and they're tough. Everything I've heard about this guy, he scared the tribe so bad they exiled him. And he's unique; he's figured out how to manipulate the mutations to spin out these skinrunners quickly. It'd take some research and then a lot of firepower I don't have.”

”How does he find candidates?” Deem asked. ”Does he recruit them?”

”It's all word of mouth,” Awan said. ”Becoming a skinrunner means you don't die, at least not in a normal lifespan. So it attracts people who want to live forever, who aren't afraid to lose their souls in the process. There's plenty of people who fit that criteria. Once they've changed, they tell other people. So it kind of sells itself. The shaman charges them a ton of money to transform them.”

”He had a tub of body parts in a refrigerator in his garage,” Winn said. ”If there's a lot of these skinrunners being made, where are they getting all the bodies for corpse poison?”

”No child grave anywhere near here is safe,” Awan said, ”even ones going back decades. They're only after the bones. And then there are abductions, which happen routinely.”

”Horrible,” Deem said.

”I wish I could take him on,” Awan said, ”but right now I'm trying to stop a group of extortionists who use Callers to scare innocent people into paying protection money.”

”Maybe we could help you?” Winn said. ”Pay you back for you helping us.”

”It's dangerous work,” Awan said. ”Do you have much experience with Callers?”

Deem smiled. ”We do,” she said.

”So you know how they are,” Awan said. ”There's this half-gifted guy in my town, and his brother. They figured out how to manipulate some Callers. They started picking normal people in town to target. They'd go to their house and demand protection money. If they didn't get it, Callers would show up that night and scare the s.h.i.+t out of the family. Then the brothers would come around again the next day and tell them the hauntings would continue until they paid up. It's been going on for weeks now. They're preying on poor families who have little in the first place, demanding thousands of dollars, and getting it. Some people approached me about putting a stop to it.”

”Sounds interesting,” Deem said. ”You know the brothers?”

”Oh yeah,” Awan said. ”Everybody knows them.”

”Well,” Winn said, ”Callers get wrapped up in a lot of things, but the one thing it usually comes down to is blood. They must be paying the Callers somehow.”

”That's what I haven't cracked yet,” Awan said. ”I haven't been able to locate the Callers to find out what the agreement is. I suspect you're right; the brothers are supplying them blood, probably by killing dogs and cats. If I could find the Callers, I could try making them a better deal, but I don't relish the thought of hauling carca.s.ses from the slaughterhouse out to them on an ongoing basis. But I can't find them to make an offer anyway. So I'm taking a different approach, going after the brothers instead.”

”How are you going to do that?” Deem asked, intrigued.

”I found something in my father's journals, something that might work if I can get the ingredients I need.”

”What is it?” Deem asked.

”Blood souring,” Awan said. ”Ever heard of it?”

”No,” Deem said.

”Once I do it to the brothers,” Awan said, ”the blood of any animal they touch will be tainted. Most cave spirits will reject an offering that's been soured. The Callers will stop doing business with the brothers if the cave spirits won't accept the corpses they're trading.”

”What do you have to do to the brothers?” Winn asked.

”That's the hard part,” Awan said. ”I use this object my father gave me. It looks like a little thimble. You fill it full of the ingredients, then you place it upside down on the skin, right over a kidney. The stuff inside the thimble is drawn through the skin and into the organ. It permanently infects their blood, makes it go sour. They turn yellow and need dialysis for the rest of their lives. And any animal they touch, a little of the infection pa.s.ses through the skin to the animal. It doesn't make the animal sick, but it sours their blood just enough that a cave spirit will reject it.”

”What if they figure it out and work around it?” Winn asked. ”Have someone else handle the animals?”

”Then I'd sour them, too,” Awan said. ”But I don't think they're that smart. They're both big and stupid, and the brighter of the two, he's the one I called half-gifted, he can barely enter the River. They're both high most of the time. I think if the Callers stop helping them, they'd drop the extortion tactics and return to being the b.u.ms they are. Plus they'll have the dialysis to contend with. Fair payback for the grief they've caused and the money they've stolen.”

”What help do you need?” Winn asked.

”I'm missing two ingredients,” Awan said. ”One I haven't been able to locate, and the other will take a trip to get.”

”What are they?” Deem asked.

”Alocutis and ghost chalk,” Awan said. ”Have you heard of them?”

”I know of them,” Deem said. ”I have a couple of people I could try, see if they have any.”

”You won't be able to get the kind of ghost chalk I need from friends,” Awan said. ”It has to be harvested from a specific kind of ghost north of here. Hence the trip.”

”Have you ever made ghost chalk?” Winn asked Deem.

”No, but isn't it just ghost matter that you condense and bake down?” she asked.

”Essentially,” Awan said. ”It takes a while. There's no problem making the chalk if we can get the matter. The hard part, according to my father, is that it's gotta come from ghosts at the Broken Hills mine.”