His denim-blue eyes, now rimmed with black, met hers. “Study the scene, then. Find out what you can. And if you need to stop, just rest in the SUV until I’m done.”
He squeezed her hand, pressed a hard kiss to her temple, then let her go and headed for the narrow makeshift bridge. She left him to it, because she had no desire to test either her balance or the jerry-rigged structure’s sturdiness.
Swallowing back bile, she slowly walked over to the guards, who’d managed to flee as far as the tree line before succumbing to the onslaught. Maybe if they’d been younger, they’d have made it, but apparently the government hadn’t felt the need to assign prime agents to a spot that hadn’t seen any disturbance for over two decades. These men couldn’t have been far from retirement.
Not a single wedding band between them. Statistically, that seemed a little odd. Or were they not allowed to wear rings on duty?
Their heads had been clawed and chewed from their necks, their empty, white-haired skulls cleaved in two. Classic zombie injuries.
Only…what was that mark on the nearest guard’s arm?
“Max,” she called out. “Come look at this.”
After a minute, he reappeared at her side. “Both the hole in the wall and the bridge show distinct tool marks, so the creatures clearly didn’t break out on their own. Which we already knew, but it was worth confirming.”
“Hmmm.” Crouching by the corpse, she pointed a trembling finger at a small blistered spot on the guard’s elbow. “Is that a burn?”
He hunkered down beside her. “Yes.”
Something smelled…odd. The Edie of last week wouldnever, ever have even imagined what she intended to do next, but that didn’t matter. Squeamishness wouldn’t get in the way of her survival, or possibly the survival of all humans on this continent.
Bending lower, she sniffed the charred wound. “Rotten eggs. Sulfur?”
“Brimstone. Still remarkably strong, given how long these guards have been dead.” He exhaled slowly. “I caught whiffs of it by the wall and on the bridge too. It’s the olfactory marker of demonic violence. Under most circumstances, they smell pleasantly smoky, but when they kill…”
She crawled to the other body. “This guard has a burn near his ear. It’s tiny, but it’s there.”
“Demons prefer to kill by turning their victims inside out.” His thumbnail scratched over his chin as he thought. “It’s their signature move. But whoever murdered these guards didn’t do that, so this scene could easily be mistaken for pure zombie violence, if common human authorities didn’t look closely or recognize the significance of the burn marks. Even the telltale brimstone smell should’ve dissipated hours before now and become detectable only to the strongest vampires, only for a very brief time longer.”
Her brows pinched in thought. “You’re certain the guards were killed at the time of the breach?”
“Yes. They’ve been dead two days.” In response to her skeptical glance, he sighed faintly. “I’ve seen enough corpses to know. Do you want me to explain the signs?”
“No,” she said quickly. “Okay. So if they died two days ago, why is the sulfur smell still strong enough for a normal human nose to detect?”
She wrinkled hers in emphasis, because the rotten-egg reek wasn’t subtle.
His shoulder lifted in that inimitable Gallic shrug. “The demons were dealing with a horde of ravenous zombies they’d just released from captivity. Perhaps the stress heightened their scent. I’m not certain.”
“So you think the witch was right.” When crouching became uncomfortable, she knelt on the dirt instead. Her coveralls were already stained anyway. “Demons loosed the zombies.”
“Maybe.” He was silent for a moment. “If so, surveillance footage should clearly indicate their involvement, unless they bought and wore glamours. The zombies escaped before the power and internet went out.”
“Or the demons could’ve broken the cameras before the breach—without getting caught—or altered the feed somehow.” Her poor brain. It was attempting, with limited success, to wrap around all the possible scenarios that could explain everything they’d seen. “Could they survive entering the compound with the zombies still inside?”
“It would be highly unpleasant for them. Not fatal.”
Something was niggling at the edge of her thoughts, and she couldn’t quite grab hold of whatever it might be…until…yes. That was it.
“If demons did this…” A swing of her arm indicated the death and destruction around them. “They were careless. Even if they glamoured themselves or tampered with the footage from inside the compound, there are burns on the victims. Common human authorities should be able to detect the abnormally strong smell of sulfur. And if they somehow couldn’t, those authorities would typically cooperate with SERC investigators, who woulddefinitelydetect it.”
She didn’t buy that scenario. It didn’t smell right, brimstone be damned. “Are demons known for being reckless and sloppy?”
“No. Quite the opposite.” Max’s fingertip lightly tapped her forehead. “What are you thinking, my Edie?”
“We’re missing something.” She bent over the bodies again, swallowing against renewed nausea. “Give me a minute. I don’t want to disturb the evidence, but…”
She forced herself to study the two guards from head to toe. Or, rather, from neck to toe, with the head inspected separately. Max did the same. And just as she was about to give up and concede that demons had probably caused the breach, all her doubts notwithstanding, she finally noticed the creases. Rings of wrinkles in the fabric covering the victims’ wrists and ankles, as if they’d been bound in those spots.
