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He nodded—once—and seemed to vanish right before our eyes. Actual y, it wasn’t like a light going out, or like he’d turned invisible, but more a slow fade til he was translucent. Then he just went poof in a quiet way and was gone.
“I’d like to know more about the Stradolan,” Morio said. “I can’t find any mention of them in any of the books.”
“You won’t, either.” Smoky shook his head. “The Stradolan inhabit the Netherworlds, and they partner with the black dragons to create a unified team. My guess is that somewhere, a linked pair fel in love or lust or something, and boom, Shade was born. His mother would have to be the dragon, though, and his father the Stradolan, or he wouldn’t walk in physical form at al .”
We al turned to him. “Why did you never tel us this before?” Camil e frowned and smacked him on the arm.
He arched his eyebrow. “No one seemed particularly interested.”
“I think Delilah wil be,” I said.
“He’s probably told her. I’m pleasantly surprised by how honorable he’s turned out to be. Of course, as you know, we dragons are a cagey lot, so I advise keeping watch on him for a while.
He’s probably listening to every word we say, by the way.” Smoky let out a long huff. “I suggest we get in there if you hope to rescue the humans in one piece.”
I’d been hoping Shade would come back first, armed with information, but Smoky had a point.
The longer we waited, the more dangerous the situation was becoming. “Okay, let’s head in.
Shade wil find us.”
I swung toward the building, motioning for Vanzir to move up front with me. Morio and Camil e were next, with Tril ian and Smoky taking up the back. We were about to head in when Chase came running over.
“Okay, I’ve got some info for you. Place used to be a diner, but before that it was a smal tavern and card room. Real hole in the wal , and a hangout for thugs. This was back in the 1940s. The owner, one Randy Smith, found out his wife was leaving him for his brother and that they’d been having sex in the basement while he was out running errands. Randy didn’t let on he knew, just sneaked back to the bar when one of his buddies gave him the heads-up they were both here, and he caught them. Guy went apeshit. Tied and gagged them both, then closed the bar early, after which he returned to the basement, where he made his wife watch while he bludgeoned his brother to death.”
I had a nasty feeling the tale didn’t end there.
“He had something extra special planned for his wife. Left her tied up, rubbed some of his brother’s blood on her, then brought in a pack of rats and set them loose. They swarmed her and ate her alive.” He grimaced. “Yugi saw the photos of what was left. Not pretty.”
“So, we have at least two angry spirits.” One spirit—trouble. Two—a hornet’s nest.
“Not so fast,” Chase said. “I’m not done yet. The guy then kil ed himself by rigging a sawed-off shotgun to shoot his brains out. Nobody found them for three days. Bar was sold to an older mom-and-pop pair who turned it into a diner. Couple who’d been together forty years, happy as clams.”
“Why does my gut tel me this is going to get worse?” Camil e said.
“Because it does.” Chase consulted his notebook. “Within a year, the old guy went nuts and pushed his wife down the basement stairs. She hit her head and died. He must have realized what he’d just done, because he cal ed the cops to turn himself in. By the time they got here, he’d hanged himself right over her fal en body.”
“Is that the end of the body count?” I glanced at his face.
He shook his head, his expression grim. “No. The diner sold twice more and there were five more unexplained deaths. No more couples, but odd accidents that never ful y added up. Never enough evidence to cal them homicide. The building was last vacated in 1981 and has stood empty ever since.”
We stared at each other. So, a mob of angry spirits. Violence to the point of nausea. Camil e bit her lip and glanced over at the building.
“Are there things . . . remember the goshanti devil on the land where Harold Young’s house stood? The land Carter now owns? Remember how it was created by the souls of al the murdered women?”
Morio slowly nodded. “I see what you’re getting at, and yes, there are demonic entities—astral beasties—that can be formed by an excess of violence al within a smal area. Whether we’re dealing with something like that here, I don’t know. But we’d better keep it in mind.” He looked at me. “Do you think our serial vamp is hanging out here?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so, but you never know. For one thing, if these ghosts can kil vampires like Roman said, it’s not a safe place for any of us. For another, I just have a feeling the whole area is tainted and our vampire is just one cog in the spooky wheel.”
“I suppose we’d better go in.” Camil e turned to Chase. “You stay here—the fewer targets we have the better. Have your men keep a tight rein on that little congregation out there.” She nodded to the shouting mob just beyond the barricades. “The last thing we need is for them to interfere.”
“She’s right,” I said, looking at the detective. “The damage could be a whole lot worse if they got through.”
“Gotcha.” He motioned to one of the nearby officers and whispered to him. The guy looked half-elf, but it was hard to say for sure. Whatever his heritage, he nodded and headed back to the crowd control cops.
Chase cleared his throat and shoved his hands into his pockets, stamping from one foot to the other as snow fluttered down to chil the silent world. “I’ve told them to use tear gas if necessary, and I’ve cal ed for more backup. But you’d better get moving. Things like this can turn ugly real y fast, and they don’t seem to realize that a group of ghosts can be as dangerous as a bunch of armed robbers holding hostages in a bank.”
I motioned to the others. “Let’s go see what we’re dealing with.” Leading the way with Vanzir by my side, we headed into Spook Central, ready for a fight.
