Death Touched Box Set: Urban Fantasy Romance

Chapter 9

9

The three comrades stepped up to the glass and looked in. The room was round with a domed ceiling and walls made of whitewashed brick. There were no windows and the single door stood to their left. On the white walls were painted hexagrams, dozens of them of various sizes and paint colors.

In the center of the circular room stood a man of thirty. He faced the wall to their right with a blank expression and empty eyes. The man was a little below average height with oily long hair that hung to his shoulders. His pudgy stomach was covered by a t-shirt with the hash tag symbol followed by the word ‘nerd.’ Baggy sweatpants denoted a closeted lifestyle. His feet were covered by muddy socks and worn sneakers.

Nena leaned back and furrowed her brow. “This is a Death Shadow?”

At her question the young man turned his full face toward them. She gasped as she beheld the other side of his face, the side of bone and shadow. His flesh was gone, revealing his eternally-grinning skull. The eye socket held only a burning ember of light in its depths. His hair was a tangled mass of writhing shadows that wriggled down to his shoulder.

The creature turned its body to completely face them and revealed that his clothes twisted into a robe as black as the blackest night. His hand that peeked out from the end of the sleeve was only bones joined together by the shadows.

He was a contradiction, half alive and half dead.

“Oh my god. . .” she whispered.

“Not a pleasant sight, is it?” Romero commented as he joined them at the glass.

Jack leaned forward to catch his attention. “Where did you find it?”

“Wandering the sewers near the downtown district. At that time he had most of his body, but you can see what four days will do to someone that’s been corrupted by one of those things,” Romero told him. He reached into his pocket and drew out a wallet. “We found this on him.”

Jack took the wallet and opened the flap. Inside was an ID card that revealed his name to be William Opfer. He glanced at the police captain. “Did you find out anything else about him?”

“His sister and mom are looking for him, but other than that, no,” Romero revealed.

Jack returned his attention to the solitary creature that watched them. He sighed as he drew off his coat. “I guess we’d better get in there and get this over with.”

Romero arched an eyebrow. “I admit that thing’s strong, it ripped the arms off several of my men, but does it need both of you to destroy it?”

Jack shook his head. “We’re not going to destroy it just yet. Something with that much human flesh left might have some clues to figuring out how this happened.”

The chief narrowed his eyes. “Prying into others is illegal.”

A crooked, empty smile slipped onto Jack’s lips. “I don’t like doing this any more than you like the idea, but we don’t have any choice. Besides-” he half-turned toward the glass and studied the pentagrams, “-once that thing finishes its transformation those spells won’t keep it contained, and then you’ll have Kinder on your hands.” Romero frowned, but moved over to the door to use his eye to unlock the knob.

Jack turned his attention to Nena. “You might want to leave. This isn’t going to be pretty.”

Nena wrapped her arms around her shivering body, but shook her head. The creature’s eyes seemed to be watching her. “I’d rather stay, but what’s ‘Kinder?’”

“Kinder are the children of the corrupted Death Shadows, those it touches,” Jack explained. He tossed the coat to Romero who caught it. “Take care of that for me.”

The chief frowned, but draped the overcoat over one arm as Jack and Peter stepped through the door. The creature turned its head toward them and watched as the pair stopped side-by-side some ten feet from it.

Romero sidled up to Nena who looked up into his tense face. “What are they going to do that’s illegal?”

“He’s going to look into its memories by invading its mind,” he explained

Her eyes widened and she returned her attention to the room. Peter used one hand to pry open the top of the bag around his neck. He dumped the contents on the floor in front of him. Nena leaned forward and furrowed her brow. There were thirteen small pieces of a gray metal object lying at his feet.

“What are those?” she wondered.

“Parts of a broken silver cross, though why he uses something that’s dangerous to him as well as others is beyond me,” Romero told her.

Nena frowned. “Dangerous to-”

Her words were cut short when a sweet melody struck her ears. The sound came from Peter’s pursed lips and were as gentle as the song of a cheerful bird. Nena’s eyes widened as the bits of silver cross floated above the floor and stopped at chest height in front of him.

The creature backed up and hissed at him. Peter gave a sharp, commanding whistle and the pieces short forward. They slammed into the creature’s hands, feet, legs, arms and torso, with the last being in the middle of its forehead. The creature gave a great cry as the embedded objects dragged it across the room and pinned it to the far right wall. It writhed and thrashed as small plumes of smoke rose from the small penetration holes.

“Good god. . .” Nena whispered.

Romero pursed his lips. “God has nothing to do with either of these guys.”

Jack strode across the room and stopped before the writhing creature. He lifted one gloved hand and paused. Nena swore she saw his eyes flicker over to the glass before he returned his full attention to the monster.

He removed his glove and revealed a completely transparent hand. The outline of a human hand was there and a faint bluish tinge in the interior, but Nena could see through it. Jack’s brown eyes changed to a glowing blue as he tucked the glow into his pocket and raised his arm. He clenched his teeth as his hand slipped into the creature’s forehead.

The creature’s eyes widened and its body stiffened. The thing’s mouth opened and a horrible scream of agony erupted from its throat. The sound reverberated around the room and penetrated through the glass. Nena clapped her hands over her ears, but she felt the thing’s cry sink into her bones as it thrashed against Jack’s penetrating hold.

The creature turned its face so she could see the remains of its human features. Tears streamed down his normal eye as he looked straight at her. She felt a tug inside her as he turned away and let out another terrible cry.

Nena took a step forward and shook her head. “No. You have to stop,” she whispered.

Romero set a hand on her shoulder. “What is it?”

The creature writhed and thrashed. Cracks began to appear in the wall behind it. Its cries grew louder and more terrible.

Nena shook off Romero’s hand and slammed her fists against the glass. “Stop it! Can’t you see you’re hurting him?”

The creature’s gaze returned to her, but this time it was the eye of the Death Shadow that stared at her. Nena froze and her eyes widened as the thing’s remaining lips curled back in a hideous grin. The cracks behind it widened until pieces of the wall broke loose. Jack jumped back to avoid being struck.

The creature whipped its head to and fro. It worked loose the piece of silver from its forehead. It reared back and let loose a hideous roar. A deep shadow exploded behind it, creating a halo of writhing shadows. The human side was swallowed by the black halo, but soon released. Its human form was gone and now the thing was completely bones and robes.

Jack whipped his head to the glass. “Get her out of here, Romero!”

Romero slammed on a button on the wall to the left of the glass. “What’s going on?”

Jack glared at the glass. “Just get-”

“Jack!” Peter yelled.

The creature drew backward into the darkness and disappeared. The silver pieces clattered to the ground. Jack hurried over to Peter as he whistled. The silver floated over to him and hovered at his side.

Jack frowned as he swept his eyes over the room. “What happened, Pete?”

Peter turned his head to the left. “It is making use of the shadows between the bricks to travel around the room.”

Nena heard something and looked to her right. She let out a shriek as a dark portal appeared in the wall and the creature emerged. Romero pulled her behind him and drew his gun. He fired off several shots, but they went through the creature and struck the wall.

“Nena!” Jack shouted as he rushed past Peter and slammed the door open. He pulled out his own gun with his gloved hand and fired off a shot. The thing tilted to one side so that the bullet struck its temple. It let out a terrible hissing cry before it drew back into the shadows.

Jack grabbed Nena’s arm and whipped his head to Romero. “Evacuate the Terminal!”

Romero frowned. “Are you insane?”

“Evacuate this place or you’re going to have a lot more trouble!” he snapped. The chief pursed his lips, but rushed out of the room. Jack turned his attention to Nena. “Are you-” He noticed her eyes were cast downward at his transparent hand. Jack hurriedly drew out his glove and yanked it. “Nena, we have to-”

There was a sharp whistle and bits of silver flew over their heads and lodged themselves into the burgeoning blackness above them. Jack shoved Nena down to the floor and looked up. The Death Shadow pushed against the silver and stretched out one of its skeletal hands toward them. Its red eyes were ever on Nena. Peter whistled again and more of his cross embedded themselves into its shadowed body. The creature screeched and shrank back into itself before the shadowy portal disappeared.

The bits of silver clattered to the floor. Peter thrust one hand toward them and opened his fingers. The silver pieces flew off the floor and into the bag that hung from his neck.

Jack pulled Nena to her feet and whipped his head to his partner. “We have to get Nena out of here.”

Peter frowned. “The creature is a danger to everyone within-”

“It’s after her!” Jack snapped as he pulled her toward the door. “If we get her out of here it might follow us!”

Nena jerked her head up to Jack’s tense face. “Me? Why?”

He shook his head as they hurried down the hall. “I don’t know, but we need to-” a scream erupted from a cell to their right. Jack didn’t slow their pace, but he did look over his shoulder at Peter. “Infection rate?”

Peter glanced at the right-hand wall and furrowed his brow. “Every other cell, perhaps more.”

“Infection?” Nena repeated.

“Just run!”

They sprinted down the dank corridor as the cries crew louder. The group climbed the winding stairs and were met at the top by Romero and a half dozen of his zombie officers. Draped over the chief’s arm was Jack’s overcoat. He looked past them down the steps and frowned. “What the hell is going on down there?”

“Trouble,” Jack told him as he released Nena and dug into his overcoat pocket. He drew out a small bullet box that he slammed into Romero’s free hand. “Here’s an early Christmas gift. Don’t waste them.”

“But what is going on?” Romero growled.

“The infection rate is increasing,” Peter announced.

Romero’s eyes widened as he looked from Peter to Jack. “Infection? You mean-” Jack nodded.

“Yeah. Your cells are about to be a lot emptier after your men shoot your ‘guests’ in the center of their foreheads, and they’ll be a lot more than that if you don’t let us through.”

He grabbed Nena and shoved his way through the crowds. They reached the main room of the precinct when one of the female officers let out a shriek and pointed at the left-hand wall. A dark oozing portal opened and the hooded Death Shadow emerged. It raised its head and its red eyes fell on Nena. Her blood ran cold beneath the hatred of that gaze.

“Get out of here!” Jack shouted as shots erupted behind them.

“They’ve broken out of the cells!” someone yelled.

“Then shoot them!” Romero snapped.

A firefight erupted at their rear as the Death Shadow lunged across the room. Its wide robe brushed against one of the slower officers and all the gray skin it touched changed to black. He screamed as he tried to rip his arm off, but the darkness spread too quickly and soon enveloped all his flesh. The officer’s glassy eyes changed to a bright red color. When they fell on Nena the former zombie growled at her and shuffled toward them.

Jack pulled Nena behind him as she shook her head. “What happened to him?”

Jack raised his gun and fired a single shot. The bullet hit the infected zombie in the forehead. It had enough time to cry out before its body turned to ashes. Jack grabbed Nena’s hand and tugged her toward the front doors. “It’s not just the living that can become Kinder. Now let’s get out of here before we join him.”