Secrets of the Demon

Chapter 33

Ben Moran had made his money in debris removal, or so Crawford reminded us after we’d looked at him like he was insane. One of the reasons Moran had enjoyed such success wasn’t simply because he had trucks to haul debris, but also because he owned a decent-sized tract of land in the north end of the parish which he was able to use as a place to dump said debris. And one of the reasons that the site was so ideal for a landfill was the fact that the ground was mostly clay—which had saved him a great deal of trouble and expense, since the landfill permits required a significant clay barrier to be placed before debris could be dumped.

Unfortunately, the landfill was a shit location as far as tactics went. It was in the middle of dense woods, there was only one road leading to it, and it was surrounded by a high chain-link fence and higher dirt berm. We’d scouted the location as best we could using the Internet, but we knew that the satellite images we found were probably months old. Eventually we grudgingly decided that there was nothing to do but go.

We went in two vehicles—Ryan, Eilahn, and me in one car, and Zack and Crawford in the other. As a concession to tactics we parked beyond the last curve of the road before the landfill, less than a quarter mile from the entrance. This area of the parish was hilly enough that we couldn’t see the landfill from where we were, which we hoped meant that anyone—or anything—at the landfill couldn’t see us either.

I stepped out of the Ryan’s car, then slung the strap of my shotgun over my shoulder. I had it loaded with double-aught buckshot and slugs, and I hoped like hell that I wouldn’t have to use it. I hated firing slugs. The last time I’d been forced to qualify with the shotgun I’d ended up with a bruise the size of a dinner plate on my shoulder that had taken weeks to fade completely.

But I had more faith in the ability of the shotgun to stop a golem than my 9mm. And, since we didn’t have access to grenades or rocket launchers, this was the next best thing for destroying the thing. I hoped.

“Doesn’t smell like a dump,” I remarked to Crawford as he walked up. He’d changed into fatigue pants and boots as well, and he held his shotgun down by his side.

“That’s ’cuz it’s not for regular garbage,” he replied. “Almost entirely for construction debris, and I don’t think it’s used much anymore. Moran made a killing after the last hurricane, when the local governments were desperate to find a place to dump storm debris, but this site’s a bit too remote for regular use.”

“Which makes it the most likely place to store a magic monster,” I said.

Ryan peered up at the berm that blocked our view of the landfill. It was at least twenty feet high and unnervingly steep. “Zack, you’re a nimble little fucker. You wanna reconnoiter?”

The blond agent smiled. “Thought you’d never ask.” A second later he was scrambling up the side of the steep hill, barely disturbing a single clod of dirt. We watched as he edged up to the crest and pulled out a small pair of binoculars. He remained still and silent for a couple of minutes, then scrambled back down.

“I’m not seeing any surveillance cameras,” he reported, brushing dirt from his pants. “Chain-link fence around the perimeter, with the one gate at the road. Gate’s open, and there’s a dark green Lexus SUV parked in front of a small metal building—about a hundred yards beyond the gate. And there ain’t shit for cover between the gate and the building. Lots of low hills of dirt, that’s all.”

“So he’s here then. He’s likely repairing the golem,” I said.

“We have bolt cutters, right?” Crawford asked. Ryan nodded. “Agent Garner and I can work our way around to the left and approach that way,” he continued. “I don’t like the thought of all of us marching up the road.”

“Do it,” Ryan said. “Take a radio.” We were using FBI-issue radios for this since we sure as hell didn’t want to have any chatter related to this on the police channel. The FBI radios looked a lot like walkie-talkies I could buy at Radio Shack, but I wasn’t going to complain.

Zack shouldered his rifle and gave me a significant look that I couldn’t interpret, then he and Crawford and Ryan loped off along the edge of the berm.

I watched them go, feelings the first flutters of nerves begin. There are five of us and we have plenty of fire-power, I reassured myself. We can take out a golem, even if it’s back to full strength.

Then why did I feel like I was overlooking something?

Ryan glanced back at Eilahn and me, then started up the road at a slow jog. I bit back a groan and broke into a run, relieved when he slowed as soon as we rounded the curve and came in sight of the gate. As Zack had reported, the gate stood open. Beyond it was a squat metal building with an SUV parked in front. There were no other vehicles that we could see.

“That’s Ben Moran’s vehicle,” I murmured. A strange frisson of relief swept through me. I’d been right. The lack of tangible proof had caused me more doubt than I’d realized until that moment.

We moved forward cautiously through the gate. As soon as we passed through it I had even more confirmation. “Hold on,” I said in a low voice as a wave of resonance washed over me. “Golem’s definitely here.”

Ryan flicked an acknowledging glance at me, then I heard him mutter low into the radio as he passed the info to Zack.

“Foul,” Eilahn muttered. I glanced at her to see her nose wrinkled as if she smelled something disgusting.

“Have you ever seen one before?” I asked.

She shook her head, keeping her eyes in a constant scan of the area. “It is a different sort of power, but it makes my nose itch.” She didn’t have a gun, since she’d pointed out that she had yet to have any sort of training with such a weapon. Instead she had a goddamn sword strapped to her side. The sword was Zack’s and he insisted it was merely a high-quality costume piece that he used for Renaissance fairs, but there was something about the weapon that made me think that this sword was not only very real, but had also seen actual battle.

The door to the building opened when we were about twenty yards away, and we raised our weapons. Or rather, Ryan and I raised our shotguns, and Eilahn drew her sword.

I expected to see Ben Moran step out.

I was shocked as shit to see Trey step out. What the hell? Is he working with Moran?

Trey didn’t seem very surprised to see us, though he did give Eilahn and her sword a brief “what the fuck?” look before returning his attention to me. He no longer looked harmless. He stood straighter now, more focused, but his smile had a nervous edge to it. We might not have surprised him, but he wasn’t looking forward to this confrontation.

“Keep watch for the golem,” I murmured to Eilahn, probably unnecessarily. I held my shotgun leveled at Trey. “Keep your hands where I can see them,” I called out, “and step forward slowly.”

He lifted his hands slowly and spread them to show that they were empty, though he didn’t move from the doorway. “Detective Gillian, what on earth is going on?” he asked, trying to look puzzled.

“Where’s Ben Moran?” I demanded.

His shoulders twitched in a shrug. “I’m not sure.” Then his smile turned more confident. “Most likely in a stockholder meeting, accepting the appointment to the new board of the bank.”

I scowled, rethinking my theories. “So, he had you do his dirty work?”

Trey cocked his head. “Detective Gillian, what do you think you’re going to do here? Do you have a warrant? I really think you should leave and forget all this.”

“We’re beyond warrants, Trey,” I said, slowly stepping forward. I could feel the resonance grow stronger, like a buzzing in the back of my teeth. I saw a shift of movement behind him, but I couldn’t tell if it was the golem. “You and Moran shouldn’t have sent your creature to try and kill me last night. We’re here to destroy the golem. Maybe then we can talk about warrants and murder charges.”

He shook his head. “I haven’t murdered anyone.”

“Semantics,” I retorted. This was stupid. I didn’t want to get involved in conversation. I simply wanted to get this over with. My hands were beginning to sweat and I had to fight the urge to wipe them on my pants. “Where is the golem?”

He took a slow step forward as I tightened my grip on the shotgun. “Which one?” he said mildly.

Resonance slammed into me as Ryan let out a curse. Shit! My heart began to slam in my chest. That’s what I was overlooking. If he made one, he could make more.

Eilahn give a soft hiss. “Five . . . no, six that I can see. We are flanked.”

I risked a quick glance and confirmed Eilahn’s info for myself. Crude and shambling, they rose out of the dirt piles we’d passed like zombies rising from graves and terrifying me about as much.

I stepped forward and lifted the shotgun, training it on Trey’s chest. “Call them off!” I shouted. “Make them stop, or I’ll fucking drop you right here!” I didn’t know if killing him would make them stop, but it seemed like a fucking good start to me.

He let out a nasty laugh. “But I can’t. I’m not the one controlling them.” He stepped to the side. “Michael? These are the people who are trying to ruin everything.”

My gut tightened as the young man stepped through the doorway, his face contorted into a bewildered anger. Shit!

“Tell your clay men to take them away, Michael,” Trey said, gaze never leaving us. “Take them away so that they can’t take your nice house away.”

“Michael, don’t believe him!” I shouted. “We’re not here to ruin anything. Your uncle and Trey have been killing people with your clay men. You know that’s not right!”

Doubt flickered across Michael’s face. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the shambling advance of the golems slow. Trey gave a sigh. “Now she’s accusing your uncle of being bad, and you know that’s not true. You can’t trust anything she says.” He met my eyes and the look of smug satisfaction in them told me more than any confession could have.

What if that was true? What if Moran wasn’t involved at all? It doesn’t matter right now, I told myself. Get him to stop the golems!

“Michael! You’re not a murderer.” I tried to keep my voice strong and steady, which wasn’t easy considering how scared I was. At least these golems were moving nice and slowly. Maybe it was because he was controlling so many instead of only one. “Trey wants your men to take us away to kill us. He already had one of your men kill Adam and Roger!” Where the hell were Crawford and Zack?

Michael shook his head slowly. “Roger and Adam weren’t nice. They were bad for the band. They were ruining everything. Them and Mr. Vic. They were gonna take our house away, and all our money. They were gonna put me in a home, and I’d never see my sister and uncle again.”

Fuck. I didn’t have time to debate this crap. I turned and fired at the golem on my right while it was still a dozen feet away. The blast from the shotgun took a portion of its right shoulder off, but I felt as if it had taken off a portion of mine as well. I heard a cry of dismay from Michael, even as Ryan unloaded on the golem coming up on his side. I didn’t have time to spare him a glance, but judging by the satisfied “Take that, fucker!” I heard from Ryan I had a feeling his aim had been better than mine.

Eilahn let out a strange piercing battle cry, and out of the corner of my eye I saw her leap toward a golem coming up on our rear, swinging her sword in a broad arc. But my golem was still moving in inexorable advance, as were the other three. I pumped another round into the shotgun and fired again, this time with more success as the creature’s head exploded in a cloud of dirt.

“Nice shooting!” Ryan shouted. I wasn’t about to tell him that I’d been aiming for the middle of the thing’s body.

I took aim at another golem. “Michael, call them off! Think of Lida! What would your sister think if she knew what you were doing?”

My chest tightened at the sound of a feminine laugh. “She’d think he was finally being useful,” I heard Lida call out. I looked with dismay to see Lida step out of the doorway behind Michael and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. But her expression was anything but comforting.

I scowled and snapped my attention back to the approaching golem. “So what’s the deal, Lida? You afraid of losing your comfy lifestyle? You’re on your way to being a big star. Why do you care if your uncle loses his position on the bank board?”

She let out an ugly bark of laughter. “I don’t give a fuck about my uncle, but I do so love his money and influence. I wasn’t going to let it all disappear because he couldn’t keep his stupid mouth shut around his friends. And, besides, I was ready to kill Adam anyway for how much he’d fucked up the band. But Trey knew about Michael’s cool little talent and organized a little damage control.” She cocked her head. “But you knew, somehow. You can speak to the elementals?”

So, I’d been right about the golems actually being earth elementals. But I was wrong about Ben Moran. Later I’d have a small freak-out about how close I came to murdering an innocent man. First I had to get out of this situation intact.

I tried holding the shotgun down by my hip in the hope of giving my throbbing shoulder a break, but instead damn near broke my thumb when I fired at the golem. Plus, I missed. “We know that the attack at the concert was a publicity stunt,” I said, ignoring her question. “That was gutsy to have it throw you in the river. Or stupid.” I raised the hated shotgun to my shoulder and fired again, this time blowing the leg off the thing and dropping it. I was glad to have stopped the thing, even though, once again, I’d been aiming for the middle of its torso. I looked around, near sagging in relief to see that all six of the creatures had been dispatched. My ears rang in the sudden silence after the shooting and my shoulder was so numb I could barely hold the shotgun.

Lida slipped an arm around Trey, looking quite unconcerned that the golems had been destroyed, which didn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling. “The river wasn’t part of the plan,” she replied with a shrug. “Michael fucked that up.”

Her brother’s face crumpled as fury surged through me. But his face lit up again when she put her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t get upset, little brother, you redeemed yourself with Adam and Roger.”

Michael gave her a tentative smile, then looked to me. “They were p-pussies who didn’t have the stomach for the business,” he said as if reciting a script.

I was only paying him the barest of attention. Lida and Trey were too relaxed, too confident. Something else was coming. I kept every sense I had extended, scanning. Eilahn and Ryan could sense it too; we stood with our backs to each other, weapons at the ready.

“So, Lida,” I called out, “how long before you ditch Trey? Now that you’ve wiped out half the band, you can probably get out of your contract and go solo, right? That’s what you’ve always wanted.” I could see doubt flicker across Trey’s face, and I wondered if I was saying something he’d refused to admit to himself. “Trey doesn’t want to be a full-time musician. He wants money and stability. He’s doing this for you because he wants your uncle to get him a nice high-paying white-collar job.”

“Or, for that matter,” I continued, “how long before you get sick of caring for Michael and put him in a home?” I heard Michael’s swift intake of breath and pressed on. “It’s not like you’re going to keep up this pretense of caring for him if you don’t have to, and you’re not going to take him with you when you leave Trey and Beaulac behind. You don’t want him in your band, do you? Not when you have to stop and coddle him every time he gets upset.” I looked her way, seeing the truth of it in her eyes. “Or will you even bother putting him in a home? Once you’ve taken care of us, you won’t need him anymore. In fact you won’t be able to risk him blabbing, will you?”

Trey took a shocked step back from her. Yet another truth he hadn’t wanted to consider.

“Shut up!” Lida screamed. She was losing control and knew it. “Michael, shut them up! Call the rest!”

Confusion warred with misery in the young man’s face. There was a part of him that understood, but he’d been loyal to his sister for too long to want to believe it.

But Trey wasn’t giving up that easily, and apparently had a bigger stick than sibling love. “Detective Gillian, did you know that Michael killed his father?” His tone was conversational, but there was a vicious gleam in his eye. He had to win this now and get rid of us.

Michael gave a strangled cry of horror. “You promised you’d keep it secret!”

Trey’s hands tightened into fists. “Michael, if you don’t take care of these people, they’ll take you to jail and keep you there forever.”

Michael looked at us in sudden terror. “I didn’t mean to! He was teaching me! I lost control! I’m sorry!”

A wave of pity nearly overwhelmed me as I realized how Trey had managed to control the young man. “Michael, don’t believe him,” I said as gently as I could. “You were just a boy, right? It was an accident. We don’t put little boys in jail for accidents.” I felt a vibration under my feet. Not an earthquake, I realized, mouth going dry. But a lot of dirt moving.

“You can’t trust her, Michael,” Trey said, eyes not leaving us. “She wants you to put your men away so that she can arrest you.”

I felt as much as heard a low rumble. Shit. How many more of them are there? “Michael!” I yelled. “You have to stop this! They’re going to kill you as soon as your men have killed us! They won’t need you anymore!”

“See, Michael?” Trey said, turning a comforting smile on the man. “She’ll say anything to get to you. You can’t believe anything she says. I love your sister, so that makes us family, right? And family would never hurt you.”

Michael looked into Trey’s oh-so-earnest face, then nodded and turned back to us.

And an army of golems descended upon us.