Mark approached as Luke walked away. "What's happened to our two psychics?"
"They're going after the thing behind all this."
Mark stopped and thrust his hands into his jacket pocket. "You do know Benton wants this woman caught and behind bars."
"You and I know that no jail will ever hold this thing."
"Maybe." Mark studied him for a moment, expression giving little away. "We found a fingerprint match for that dead guy you had me check out at the morgue."
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Apparently he died 25 years ago. The coroner's report suggests he died much the same way as that old man we found at the farmhouse in Rogue River."
So it wasn't just any old dead the soul sucker was raising, but her ex-lovers. The poor bastards weren't even allowed peace in death. "She's been killing a lot longer than that, my friend."
"That won't matter to Benton."
"I don't care if it matters to Benton. The only thing I care about is stopping the killing."
Mark nodded and glanced over his shoulder. "Benton's headed this way. If you have any intention of going back to help those ladies, I'd leave now."
By the time he got there, over an hour would have passed. Anything could have happened. "Thanks partner."
As the captain made his way past the ambulances and toward Ethan, he quickly climbed into his car. He caught a glimpse of Benton's familiar red face.
"Goddamn it Morgan, get your ass back here!"
Ethan closed the door on Benton's shout, thrust the car into gear and sped away. And prayed to the moon that he got there before the change hit him.
Prayed that he had something — someone — to go back to.
Chapter Seventeen
Kat thrust the last of her weapons into the specially designed tool belt around her waist then tossed the empty backpack on top of her grandmother's. Gwen stood in front of the concealed entrance, murmuring softly as she undid the soul sucker's magic. Kat cast another look around the cavern. So far, it had been almost too easy. The zombies she'd stacked on top of each other still slept and would continue to do so for another four or five hours, thanks to the extra sleep bombs they'd released. She'd tossed a couple more down the tunnel, just in case, but Gwen had been certain nothing else waited down there.
But something did wait behind the stone wall in front of them.
She couldn't tell what it was. It wasn't the soul sucker, but it had the same sense of evil. Gwen waved her hand and stepped back. The stone shimmered briefly then faded away, revealing the darkness of another tunnel.
Kat flicked on her flashlight. Whoever — whatever — was down there in that darkness had to know they were near, so she couldn't see the point in feeling their way through the ink any longer.
"The air stinks," Gwen commented.
Stink wasn't a strong enough word. It smelled as if a hundred dead men were disintegrating down there. "I'll go first."
Kat edged into the tunnel. The floor sloped downward, heading deep into the heart of the mountain, and the darkness was so intense it felt like a living thing. Slime hung from the ceiling in long tendrils that brushed wet fingers across the top of her head as she moved forward, and in the distance it seemed to glow luminously. She swept the flashlight's beam up and down the walls, wondering why the air was becoming more and more humid when the rocks were so wet and cold.
Water dripped somewhere ahead, a steady rhythm that almost sounded like a heartbeat. Though she could still feel the evil, there was no sound of movement, no sense of anything else. Only that steady beat.
They walked on, their footsteps echoing across the stillness. The beam of her flashlight was almost moon bright against the darkness, but it didn't seem to penetrate more than a few feet ahead. The smell of meat long gone rancid got stronger, clogging her throat, invading her pores, until it felt like every breath was poison, and she was certain she'd throw up.
"Put on your mask," Gwen advised. "It helps a little."
She did, and it did. "Any idea what that smell is?"
"No. It's not zombie, that's for sure."
Any zombie that smelled this bad would be losing pieces of itself as it walked.