Part 5 (1/2)
They waited as J.L. left his laptop and tried to raise the aging cleric by a landline.
”Hold it,” Krissy said, standing with her system and rus.h.i.+ng over to Damali. ”Look. Woman eats boyfriend's heart in hotel. Police still looking for the weapon that opened his rib cage. Entrails everywhere. A month earlier, a.s.sailant had tried to file a report and obtain a restraining order, claiming her ex-husband had come back from the dead and beat her. a.s.sailant was subdued and taken into police custody. Defense attorney's seeking insanity plea. a.s.sailant awaits trial in Mississippi facility for the criminally insane.” Krissy shoved the laptop into Damali's hands, seeming both proud of her work and scared.
”Dear G.o.d,” Marjorie whispered.”What's the date on that?” Damali muttered, visually scanning the article and then shoving the laptop back toward Krissy to grab.
”Not quite a month ago,” Krissy said, and then looked at J.L.
For a moment Damali didn't speak. Krissy and J.L. were supposed to be constantly monitoring all the crazy news sources, and had been off the job. What was up with that? What had those two been doing all this time! Scratch the question; her ears were ringing with fury. She let out a slow but impatient breath and tried to keep her focus on the immediate need for information.
Later, she'd address the critical lapse.
”You done good, Kris,” J.L. said, nodding, his gaze holding hers.
”J.L., you mind getting that landline to Father Pat?” Damali said, growing more peevish. They didn't have time for this. When Carlos got back up, she'd knock his a.s.s out cold for leaving her in the middle of this mayhem.
Finally, after fifteen tense minutes, J.L. got through to the senior cleric and everybody almost shouted at once.
”I cannot speak this over the airwaves, but it is why we were all called back to our respective headquarters,” Father Patrick said once the commotion died down. ”Damali, with Marlene, to boost the mental transmission, I have to send this to you directly. All right?”
”Do it,” Damali said, closing her eyes and waiting for Marlene's hand to fill hers. She could feel how weak the elderly man's signal had become, but had to shunt aside that concern about his oddly fatigued condition. Marlene's quiet prayers enveloped them as Father Patrick's message came through in fits and starts.
Look at the news reports online. The tabloids. Mainstream media is not broadcasting this; the world governments are keeping a lid on public panic. Infection is rampant. It pa.s.ses by touch, not bite. One touch. Then that person touches another, and another.
Father Pat, Damali said, alarmed, why didn't you alert us immediately?
Since the appearance of Lilith and the Chairman's abandoned throne, we have been in cloistered conference to keep all information within our clerical units until we knew more. Initially, the sightings seemed like normal demon activity, which all Guardian teams are well versed in and can handle. But our research took us to The Book of the d.a.m.ned.
Something didn't sit right within Damali's gut. If the clerics knew something was up, they should have immediately alerted the Neterus and the Guardian squad. There was more to this, and she could feel the tension in Father Patrick's silence. She took her time responding to his statement.
What is The Book of the d.a.m.ned? Damali could feel the older cleric's lock weakening, his age, the distance, and level of his fatigue wearing him down.
”Okay, nix the question,” she said aloud into the speakerphone, trying to preserve his psychic energy so she could learn more.
Clearly, even in the extremely private mental exchange, he wasn't ready to divulge everything. That really troubled her, and she knew it had to be bad if the old man was even s.h.i.+elding portions of a Neteru-to-Covenant telepathic transmission. Fine. Then she'd pose a more generic question for the sake of the team; her squad needed to know what they were up against without any additional bulls.h.i.+t getting in the way. ”Just tell me what we're looking for.”
We have been in meetings debating the cause, he said in mental fits and sputters, as though his brain needed to rest, and ignoring her attempt to give the team more data to go on. All that we know is these creatures make normal humans begin to manifest demonic behaviors. Regular people who have been infected begin acting like those ent.i.ties from the realms of the undead carrier that touched them. Normal people are becoming cannibals, bearing super strength. Whatever level the infected ent.i.ty came from, and whenever it touches but doesn't kill a living human, that person takes on the demon characteristics from that level.”I don't understand,” Damali said, speaking out loud for the benefit of the team, too annoyed with the Covenant's decision to keep her and her squad in the blind for something as major as this. She felt a sense of betrayal that made her defiant.
I know how you feel, Father Pat said gently, trying to send healing balm into her mind with his thoughts. For instance, exorcisms are on the rise, as possessions mount from incubi- and succubae-like inhabitations. Living people are slithering up the walls of their homes, attacking those closest to them. Deviant behaviors from those realms are epidemic. It seems to have a twenty-eight- to thirty-day gestation period, like the phases of the moon. But the humans infected by these ent.i.ties come out during the daylight hours as well.
How do you know it's only twenty-eight days? Damali shot back, squeezing Marlene's hand.
”Because the normal person drops dead,” Father Patrick said aloud, saving his mental fuel. ”Then they get back up and walk after they're buried. But not only do they sustain every death wound they'd received; they've been eaten by the creatures of the realms their souls have been sent to. When you see them, what they are is unmistakable.”
Shabazz raked his locks as the rest of the team slowly found something to sit down on.
”If we kill the carrier, do the rest of the ones they've touched bite the dust?” Damali waited. This time Marlene gripped her hand more tightly.
”No,” Father Patrick said after a moment. ”It is exponential. You can kill the carrier, but it keeps spreading from the next infected and so on. We are working on a cure as we speak, because for those that haven't died or killed another living soul, there may be hope.”
Damali squeezed Marlene's hands. You've gotta talk to Kamal as soon as possible.
Tears stood in Marlene's eyes, and she released Damali's palms and wrapped her arms around herself to gather composure. It was pure reflex, but the physical break caused further signal dropout between Damali and Father Patrick.
Damali gave Marlene a firm but gentle gaze. I know you're dying, but not now. Hold my hands, we'll finish this. You tell Shabazz straight up that a conversation is necessary-no bulls.h.i.+t. Kamal is a Guardian, and if his men are out there fighting hand-to-hand combat, like they do, they might run into a problem.
Marlene nodded and clasped Damali's hands tightly; her eyes wild, her lips pursed shut. Oh, Jesus...
Breathe, Damali ordered, compa.s.sion making her chest tight. We ain't letting him go out like that. Kamal is one of ours, too. Center, and breathe, so we can talk to Father Pat.
”Everything all right, Mar?” Shabazz asked, standing.
Rider poked his head in the door and glanced at Marlene then Shabazz.
”She's cool,” Damali said. ”But this mess we're hearing ain't no joke. Stand down, big brother, and let us work.”
Shabazz c.o.c.ked his head to the side, gave them both a skeptical glare, but eventually fell back and leaned with a thud against the wall.
Once Marlene finally focused, Damali lit right into Father Pat's mind with hard questions. How do we seal the weak portals to keep more demon food from spilling out?
Kill Lilith, Father Patrick said. As long as she's topside they will leech into the gray zone.
Done. Anybody got a location on her?Not yet. Our most highly trained seers have never been able to find her. Even in the dawn of days, Adam couldn't, nor could Eve. She's very shrewd. Three angels sought her, and they couldn't find her.
The Chairman is after her, so we follow him, then, Damali said. We're pros at finding vamps.
Where is Carlos?
For the first time since the conversation began, Damali hesitated. ”Dead drunk,” she said aloud with enough emphasis that the team members' worried gazes immediately shot toward the porch in unison.
”That's not good,” Father Patrick said over the speakerphone. ”Not at a time like this.”
”You're telling me?” Damali replied, her voice oozing with sarcasm. ”Try irresponsible, stupid, totally...” She closed her eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath.
”What if he accidentally got bitten by one of those things?” Dan offered, defending Carlos. ”Maybe that's why he's out there asleep and n.o.body can get him up, you know? I mean, we've never seen him outta control like this. What if he's really hurt?”
”The d.a.m.ned cannot infect a Neteru,” Father Patrick said bluntly. ”Just like Neterus are impervious to the other demon bites.”
”Oh,” Dan said quietly and looked out the window.
If you know it can't pa.s.s to a Neteru, then you've dealt with this before? Damali waited. The elderly cleric had slipped and told her more than he'd intended. Her tattoo was tingling. She knew what was said next would hold the answer to why the Covenant was being so cagey.
Father Patrick sighed. ”Drop Marlene's hand. Only me and you.”
Damali glanced at Marlene as their hands parted but their gaze held each other's intensely.
Adam went after several Lilith. I'm sure you can understand why, Father Pat said. The Amanthras thought they could claim him through vengeance... given what happened with Lilith, then subsequently, Eve. They allowed one of their d.a.m.ned out of the Amanthra feeding nests to attack him, given that it was too risky for a demon in that era to show themselves topside with the Almighty's wrath still at an all-time high. Remember, these were the old biblical days and forgiveness was nigh. Eden had been breeched.