Christian made an exasperated noise. " Lieutenant Martinez is obviously under great stress. Most officers, including myself, probably dream about briefings." His eyes hardened to steel. "As for you and Fausta, you'll both have nightmares once we determine the punishment for your actions tonight."
Chapter 19
I gave up trying to draw the sword, and readied my fists for a fight. Gray emotionless eyes regarded me. The golem tilted his—its—head ever so slightly to the right.
"Has this entity offended you?" it said.
"What's wrong with him?" Katie asked, staring at the gray hue of the golem's skin. "Did Maximus do something to the poor man?"
Words finally came to my tongue. "You're a golem. A gray man."
It held its hands out, inspecting them as if for the first time. "This entity—I—am gray. Is it wrong to be this color?"
My adrenaline rush faded. Either this gray man meant me no harm, or it was playing nice until I let my guard down. I'd fought these things before and knew I could take them one-on-one. Still, I wasn't about to turn my back on the thing. Positioning myself behind one of the tables, I nodded a head at the pile of bodies. "What did Maximus do to those people?"
The golem approached the pile and knelt, taking a limp hand in his. "They are also gray."
Tearing my eyes off the golem, I soaked in details I'd missed earlier. Some bodies in the pile wore gray suits. Some were without clothing. Without exception, they were all gray.
"Whoa, that's sick," Katie said, kneeling next to one of the bodies. Part of the skull hung open, revealing shiny metal inside.
I snatched Katie away from the golem. "Don't go near him."
The gray man stood and faced me. "I cannot harm you, Justin. You preserved my existence; therefore, I am bound to your service."
"Bound to my service? Like a slave?"
"I am required to follow your directives."
"What if I told you to jump off a cliff?"
The golem paused to regard me for a moment with its gray eyes. "How tall is this cliff?"
"I don't know." I shrugged. "Like a thousand feet tall."
"Would there be obstructions such as rocks or other debris at the bottom, or would there be deep water?"
"Jagged rocks."
Again, the gray man seemed to ponder the question. "The probability that such a jump would end this entity's—my—existence would likely result in declining such an order."
I couldn't help it. I burst into laughter.
"Are you expressing merriment or pain?" it asked.
I stifled another bout of laughter and took a deep breath. "I was laughing."
"You are amused at the proposition of my demise from a long fall?"
"No, no, no. It's how you refused that made me laugh." This thing was just too bizarre to destroy. It might be lying, but for now, I could put it to use. If we ran into any vampires, I might need a helping hand. "What happened to the other golems?"
"Such information is not inside me. I recall our group approaching this place and entering, but nothing more. Another entity—person—stood over me after an indeterminate period of blackout. It said, 'This one might work.' Another person replied with, 'It had better. It's the last one.'"
Judging from the pile of ten or more bodies, I guessed Maximus might have been trying to reprogram the golems for his own uses. Something odd occurred to me about the pile of inanimate bodies. Golems usually broke down into gray sludge when they died. Whether that was a normal thing or something their creator built in, I didn't know. These gray men had somehow remained whole, maybe because of Maximus's tampering.
Katie knelt again and looked inside the panel on one of the golem's heads. "Ooh, look at this."
I squatted beside her. A light flickered like a candle in a gentle breeze from within the cavity. I peered inside the door. The compartment was rounded and about the size of a tennis ball. A tiny globe of wavering light hovered within, equidistant from the sides. Tiny threads of energy sparked against the metallic surface inside.
"So that's what makes them tick," I said. "I guess it explains why they die if their heads are cut off."
"I have a light within me?" said a voice inches from my ear.
I jerked upright and backed away.
The gray man tilted his head at me. "I apologize if I startled you."
Taking a deep breath, I shook my head. "Guess it'll take some getting used to, having you around." I gestured at the spark. "If your comrade is any indication, yeah, you