The Nekropolis Archives (42 page)

  I don't know how long I wandered, but eventually I found myself in front of my building. I almost expected crazy Carl to come running up to me with his latest bizarre expose, but he was nowhere to be seen. He was probably exhausted and getting some rest, like everyone else in the city. Sometimes I really miss sleeping. When you sleep, you don't have to think. Or remember. Or regret.

  I climbed the steps to the building, entered the lobby, and walked to my apartment door. As I reached for the knob, I saw the door was open and slightly ajar. My cop instincts kicked into high gear, and I silently drew my 9mm and listened. I heard nothing, so I slowly pushed open the door and stepped inside.

  Devona was sitting on the couch. She put down the book she'd been reading and smiled at me. "It's about time you got home."

  I had no idea what to say, but at least I had the presence of mind to holster my gun.

  "By the time I came back through Varvara's mirror and got down to the street, you were already gone. Lazlo was still there, though, and he gave me a ride here." She made a face. "Did you see what he's done to that cab? And I thought it was hideous before! When I got here and discovered you weren't home, I used the mystical lock picks Shrike found for us, and I let myself in."

  I walked over to the couch and sat down next to her. "I know Cleveland isn't exactly the grandest city on Earth, but I have a hard time believing you got tired of it this fast."

  "That's not why I came back. There I was, standing in the park, drinking in all these wonderful new sights, sounds, and smells, when I realized something: I'd forgotten to pay you for helping me find the Dawnstone. If I remember right, the price we settled on was three hundred darkgems."

  I was surprised, and truthfully, a bit insulted. "You don't need to pay me. Dis restored my body, and I'm as good as new. Well, good as a new zombie, anyway. Besides, it's not like I really did anything to help you. We found the Dawnstone, sure, but you ended up losing your job and being cast out from your people."

  "Be that as it may, we made a deal and I intend to honor my part of the bargain. And don't tell me you can't use the money. Dis may have repaired your body with his magic, but you're still a zombie, and you still need preservative spells, right?"

  "Don't worry about that. I've decided to get out of the business of doing favors and start an official private investigation business. A real one, with an office and everything."

  "Good for you! But from what I understand, there are a lot of expenses associated with starting a new business – which is all the more reason to let me pay you. You're going to need the money." She paused. "Of course, I don't have a job at the moment, and I can't go to Father and ask to borrow some darkgems… so it might be a while before I can scrape up what I owe you."

  I couldn't help smiling. "Tell you what, let's put it on your tab, and you can get it to me whenever you can, okay?"

  She smiled back. "Okay." She leaned close and laid her head on my shoulder, and I put my arm around her. It felt so natural, so right, and I would've been content to sit like that for hours. But after a few moments, Devona said, "There's something I've been thinking about trying ever since we left the Wyldwood, Matt."

  "What?"

  "It might be easier if I show you." She sat up, touched her fingertips to my temples, and then closed her eyes.

  I experienced a dizzying lurch, and then I was tumbling through a seemingly endless void. But it did have an end, and when I reached it, the falling sensation ceased and I found myself sitting on the grass by the edge of a pond, with Devona by my side. The sky above was a gentle blue and a light spring breeze was blowing. It was daylight, and for the first time in two years I felt the sun on my face. I looked down at my hands. Instead of gray, the flesh was a healthy pink. I turned to Devona and saw that her skin was no longer pale. We were both dressed the same as we'd been in Nekropolis, except now our clothes were clean and in good repair.

  "What's happening?" I asked. The breeze blew across my skin, and I trembled. "Where are we?"

  Devona placed her fingers on my lips and gently stroked them. The sensation was so intense, I couldn't stop myself from moaning.

  "Home," she said simply.

  Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips against mine. And you know something?

  She was right.

A SHORT STORY

THE MIDNIGHT WATCH

"You're really thinking about doing this, aren't you?"

  Devona didn't answer me right away, and I took that as a bad sign. I knew she heard me. We'd only been together a couple months, but in that time I'd learned that not only was her halfvampire hearing sharp as hell, she rarely missed anything that went on around her. So if she wasn't answering me, it could only mean one of two things: I'd asked the wrong question or she was afraid I wasn't going to like her answer. This time, it turned out to be both.

  We were standing on the sidewalk in front of a squat stone building that put me in mind of a giant toad that had looked a gorgon straight in the eye. Thick tendrils of leech vine covered most of the surface, and the stone that we could see was pitted and cracked. I wouldn't have been surprised if the damned vine was the only thing holding the ancient structure together. The building was located in the Sprawl, not all that far from my apartment… make that
our
apartment. Devona had moved in not long after we met, but I still sometimes had trouble wrapping my undead brain around the concept that I was part of a couple again. I'd been married back on Earth, but that was a while ago. I'd long since divorced and traveled to the other-dimensional city of Nekropolis where I'd died and been resurrected as a self-willed zombie. After that, I figured my dating days were over. I mean, really, would
you
want to go out with someone who's perpetually decaying? But Devona was a broad-minded woman, even for Nekropolis, and I regularly visited my houngan for periodic applications of the preservative spells that prevented me from completely rotting away to dust.

  I was fairly fresh that day, with only a slight grayish-green tinge to my flesh. I wore my usual gray suit and my tie displayed images of Dahli's famous melting clocks draped limply over tree branches. If you looked closely, you could see the fabric hands of the clocks move and hear the soft ticking of gears at work. Devona wore a form-fitting black leather outfit, as she often did, and it looked damned good on her. She was a petite blonde who appeared to be in her twenties, but in truth was in her seventies. She might have been only half vampire, but that was enough to significantly slow down her aging process.

  This was a relatively sedate part of the Sprawl – one of the reasons why I'd chosen to rent an apartment there – but the emphasis was most definitely on
relatively
. The Sprawl is the Dominion of the Demon Queen Varvara, and she believes in absolute freedom. It's rumored that the old Beast Alistair Crowley stole his infamous satanic commandant from her: Do as Thou Wilt. I wouldn't be surprised. If the Sprawl doesn't exist in a state of total anarchy, it'll do until the real thing shows up. But like I said, this neighborhood was quiet enough, with pedestrians going about their business searching for prey or trying to avoid becoming prey – often at the same time – and vehicles of various makes, models, and degrees of sentience rolling, crawling, and scuttling down the street. To the right of the stone toad building was a misfortuneteller's establishment, and on the left was a head shop (new and used, all species, original size and shrunken). Not exactly the most glamorous of neighbors, but they seemed… well, not normal, but harmless enough.

  Devona finally decided to respond to my question. "Not
thinking…"

  A sinking feeling hit me. "Please tell me you haven't bought the place. Sight unseen, no less."

  She shrugged. "All right, I won't tell you."

  I suppressed a sigh. Devona was the half-human daughter of the Darklord Galm, and she'd spent most of her life living in his stronghold and serving as the caretaker of his collection of rare and powerful artifacts. So while she was chronologically older than me by several decades, in terms of actual life experience, she could be a bit naïve at times. And, as I'd been learning over the last couple months, a trifle impulsive.

  "We talked about how it's not a good idea to buy real estate without a thorough inspection first, remember?"

  Devona turned to me, eyes narrowed and lips pursed. I'd seen that expression before. It meant
Stop patronizing me, Matt
. "I remember it quite well, and perhaps you'll recall that my main motivation for purchasing the building was to acquire the name of the business associated with it more than the actual structure itself." She smiled. "Of course, now that we're here, I suppose we should go in and take a look around."

  This time I didn't bother to suppress my sigh. I don't need to breathe, but I have to take in air to talk, and while strictly speaking, I don't have to sigh, sometimes a sigh can communicate more than a dozen well-chosen words.

  "Couldn't you have bought the name by itself?" I didn't ask why she wanted it so badly. That was another discussion we'd already had.

  The Midnight Watch was
the
security firm back in its day
, Devona had said.
Long before your arrival in Nekropolis, Matt. If you wanted something or someone protected, you hired the Watch. Even the Darklords were known to employ its services from time to time. If I'm going to go into business on my own, that kind of name recognition will help get me established. Besides, I was caretaker of Father's collection for many years. I like things with a little history behind them.

  I'd met Devona when she'd hired me to help her recover an artifact that had been stolen from Galm's collection. In the process, we'd not only found the artifact and saved the city from total an nihilation, we'd also fallen in love. Makes for a great first date story, don't you think? Unfortunately, Galm cast out Devona for losing the artifact in the first place – even though another of his children had been responsible for the theft – and so jobless and homeless, she'd moved in with me. She'd been helping me with cases ever since, and I thought we made a good team, professionally as well as personally, but Devona eventually decided she wanted to work for herself.

  Please don't take this the wrong way, Matt,
she'd told me.
I've loved working with you, but I served my father all my adult life… lived in his home, tended his property… I've never had anything of my own. Never had to make my own way in the world. I want to see if I can. I hope you'll understand.

  Of course I did. You don't get to be the only private detective in a city full of monsters, demons, and witches without having a strong independent streak. I told her I loved her and admired her for wanting to start her own business – which was true, though I knew I'd miss her working with me. The mean streets of Nekropolis would seem a little lonelier without her by my side.

  When I asked her what business she wanted to go into, she said,
I was thinking security. A big part of my job for father consisted of overseeing the protections – both magical and mundane – on his collection. I could put that experience to good use in my own security firm. And if I advertise that I used to do security work for a Darklord…

  I had to admit, it sounded like my love had a head for business. If things kept going this way, I might well end up working for her one day.

  Devona turned back to examine the building once more. "I did check into buying the name. When the original owner died, the property defaulted into Varvara's hands, and when I asked her if I could simply purchase the name Midnight Watch, she told me the name went with the property, and I couldn't have one without the other."

  "I don't suppose she gave you a reason."

  Devona looked at me as if I'd just said something incredibly stupid, and on reflection, I didn't blame her. The Demon Queen did what she did solely for her own pleasure.

  "All right, then tell me this: did she smile when she told you that?"

  Devona's face is normally pale – she is half Bloodborn, after all – but it went chalk white as the implications of my question hit her.

  "I was afraid of that." If Varvara finds something amusing, it's usually bad news – especially if what she finds amusing is
you
. "So there's something wrong with the building… probably very wrong. All right, let's go find out what it is."

  I stuck my hands in my jacket pockets and started toward the building's entrance.

  Devona put a hand on my shoulder to stop me, and stop me she did, dead – if you'll pardon the expression – in my tracks. She's petite, but her vampiric heritage gives her greater strength than a human. I couldn't have gone anywhere if I'd wanted to.

  "No, Matt. If it's going to be dangerous…"

  I turned back to look at her. "I appreciate the concern, but this is Nekropolis.
Everything
is dangerous here: the only question is
how
dangerous. Besides, if you really want to set yourself up in business as the revived Midnight Watch, you'll need to use this building, right?"

  "That's very sweet of you."

  She leaned forward and gave me a hard kiss on the lips. Devon knows I can only feel the pressure of her kisses, so she always makes sure there's enough for me to feel. When she pulled back, she gave me a wry smile.

  "And this gallantry of yours has nothing to do with your irritation over the fact that Varvara knew you'd come here with me to check the place out and was amused at the notion of you tangling with whatever lies inside."

  "Not in the goddamned slightest," I said. "C'mon, let's go."

  As we walked toward the door, I warned Devona to stay clear of the leech vines. The bloodsucking vegetation wouldn't bother me – no blood – but Devona had plenty of the red stuff coursing through her veins, and it was half vampire. Leech vine loves vampire blood best of all. It's like the finest of wines to the plant. Me, I find it poetic justice that one of the city's greatest predators has a blood-thirsty nemesis that desires to feed on its liquid life essence, but the vampires don't see it that way. That's why the best leech vine exterminators in the city are Bloodborn.