Tyranus gestured to the boy. “Put it away.”
The child snapped to it immediately, going to the case, his bloody finger still wrapped in the dainty handkerchief. He started to close up the sides, eliciting a reaction from the oracle.
“Wait!” it squeaked. “You promised me more. . . . You promised to quench this unbearable thirst!”
The boy considered the head’s request, turning to gaze at his master for confirmation.
“Close it up, boy,” Pope Tyranus ordered.
“Please,” the oracle begged as the two sides of the case were slowly brought together. “The thirst . . . It hurts so badly. . . .”
The oracle’s pleas fell upon deaf ears as the case was closed, and the latches were refastened.
The sound of muffled cries of sorrow trailed off as the boy carried the box from the room.
• • •
Having already been to the Newport mansion, Remy was able to locate it again.
He opened his wings, allowing Malatesta to emerge, as he wished the feathered appendages away. They had appeared just beyond the elaborate home, on a cliff overlooking a tumultuous sea.
“An impressive way to travel,” Malatesta said, stumbling a bit to one side. Remy grabbed hold of his arm to steady him.
“As long as you know where you’re going it beats public transportation,” he said. “It’s a little disconcerting at first, but you get used to it.”
The Keeper representative shrugged off Remy’s assisting hand, and turned to face the mansion. “Is this it?” he asked.
“That’s it,” Remy answered, and both began walking toward the quiet road that ran in front of the impressive front gate.
“Is the reason a Bone Master wants you and your sorcerer companion dead why I am needed here?” Malatesta asked as they crossed the road, the crash of the turbulent sea upon the cliffs filling the air behind them.
“I believe it is,” Remy said as they reached the heavy wrought iron gate. “So you’re familiar with our attacker . . . this Bone Master? What can you tell me about them?”
Malatesta grabbed hold of the black iron and gave the gate a shake to see if it opened. It didn’t.
“Keeper agents have encountered them from time to time, assassins of a demonic nature. From what we’ve been able to piece together over the centuries, the Masters have somehow genetically engineered an animal that once dead becomes their weapon of choice. They bond with these mysterious animals on a psychic and physical level from childhood, and when coming of age, ceremonially slay the animal, and peel away the flesh to reveal the weapon specifically bred for them.”
Remy called forth his wings once again, grabbing Malatesta and hauling him up and over the gate.
“Thank you,” the Vatican agent said, appearing a little startled by this, smoothing down his shirt, and pulling at the sleeves of his suit jacket.
“The special weapon,” Remy said, walking up the driveway. “It fired what looked to be teeth.”
“Yes,” Malatesta answered, jogging to catch up. “The Keepers found that to be particularly interesting. As I mentioned, the weapon and the master are bound together both spiritually and physically, and the special gun is capable only of using its master’s teeth as ammunition.”
“So I’m guessing these Bone Masters—they have a lot of teeth?”
Malatesta nodded. “Very much like sharks’ teeth; one is removed and another grows in to take its place. We at the Keepers believe that once a Bone Master finally runs out of ammunition—teeth—they, and their weapon, die.”
They were climbing the steps to the double front doors.
“Do you realize how crazy all that sounds?” Remy asked, rapping his knuckles on the door. “And that’s coming from somebody like me.”
The door started to open, one of the blind servants visible on the other side.
“Get away from that door!” a voice boomed from somewhere inside.
The servant jumped back away from the door, and had started to close it again as it was yanked from his grasp. Montagin appeared in the entryway, his eyes burning with an unnatural light.
“Oh, it’s you. What took you so long?” he demanded to know.
“Had to find what I was looking for,” Remy said, pushing his way inside with Malatesta in tow. “And then there was the matter of somebody trying to kill me and the person who I found to take care of our problem.”
Inside the elaborate foyer, Remy saw that the servant still lingered there, waiting.
“Be off with you,” Montagin commanded, and the servant hurried off, hand upon the wall as he felt his way farther into the home.
“Is this that person?” Montagin asked, looking Malatesta up and down.
“No, he’s my substitute,” Remy explained. “Montagin, this is Constantin Malatesta.”
The angel was already on the move toward the study, as Malatesta stood there, hand extended, his offer ignored.
“Hurry this way,” Montagin said.
Remy and the Keeper representative followed.
“So, seeing as an attempt was made on my life,” Remy called after the angel. “Any chance that we might have a leak here?”
Montagin stopped before the study doors.
“No one but you and I has been inside this room since the discovery,” the angel said. “And from what I know about you, Remiel, the idea of somebody trying to kill you doesn’t seem all that uncommon.”
Malatesta looked to Remy.
“He thinks he knows me, but he doesn’t,” Remy said to him.
Montagin unlocked the door, the smell of death wafting out to greet them like an eager puppy.
“I’m guessing that I’m here because someone has died,” Malatesta said, hand going up to his nose.
“Not just someone,” Montagin said as he closed the door tightly behind them.
Remy pointed out the corpse lying on the floor.
“He’s there.”
The Vatican representative slowly approached the large figure lying there, his chest cut open.
“Oh my,” Malatesta said. “Who was he?”
“General Aszrus,” Remy said, staring at the corpse and noticing for the first time that the angel’s wings were visible, crumpled and bent beneath him. “A very important figure in the looming war between the forces of Heaven, and those of the Morningstar.”
Malatesta looked at Remy, his eyes filled with shock and awe.
“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “Hadn’t heard about that had you?”
Malatesta knelt carefully on the rug beside the corpse. “I can’t imagine what would be strong enough to do something like this to something like him.”
“It’s what I intend to find out before the news of his murder starts a war, with humanity stuck smack in the middle.”
“What do you need me to do?” Malatesta asked, his eyes traveling across the angel’s body.
“We need something to keep people out,” Remy stated. “The longer we can keep this secret, the better off we’ll be.”
Montagin was pacing back and forth, long arms folded.
“I don’t know how I let you talk me into this,” the angel grumbled. “It will likely be all for naught.”
“Don’t worry, this will work,” Remy assured him.
“It would probably be easier for me to go to the war council and let them know what’s occurred,” Montagin replied. “We’ll likely end up with the same result anyway, only a little bit sooner.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Remy instructed, moving to stand before the general’s assistant. “There’s far too much at stake. You know as well as I do that the war council is just looking for an excuse to start swinging their swords.”
“What does it matter, Remiel, whether they start swinging now or later?” Montagin asked, on the verge of hysterics.
The sound of someone noisily clearing their throat got them to stop. Remy and Montagin both looked to the man kneeling beside the corpse of the angel general.
“If you two would like me to try to erect some sort of shield to seal this room, I’m going to need some quiet in order to concentrate.”
Montagin sneered. “You’ll have all the quiet you need and then some once the war horns blare, and all life upon this planet is burned to a cinder.”
Malatesta cleared his throat again, his eyes never leaving the angel’s. “Let’s see what I can do to prevent that, shall we?”
It looked as though Montagin might have something more to say, but Remy took him by the arm, dragging him toward the exit.
“Let’s leave him alone to work his magick,” Remy said as he opened the door, and led the ruffled angel out into the hall.
“I don’t even know that person,” Montagin huffed, attempting to go back inside the study.
“You don’t have to,” Remy said. “He’s a Vatican magick user. . . . I think he can handle this.”
“He’s from the Vatican?” Montagin asked as Remy nodded.
“This just keeps getting better and better,” the angel said, bringing a trembling hand to his head.
Remy’s phone began to ring. It was Linda.
“Look, let me get this,” Remy said. “Why don’t you go to the kitchen and see if Bridget will give you something to eat? She was making shepherd’s pie this morning.”
“I love shepherd’s pie,” Montagin said, heading toward the kitchen.
“Hey,” Remy said into the phone.
“How are things?” Linda asked.
“Good,” he answered. He couldn’t bear to think of what might be waiting around the corner, if the news of Aszrus’ death got out. He had seen what a war fought between angels was like, and couldn’t even imagine this world experiencing something so devastating. “Got some things that I’m working on.”
“I was calling to see if you want me to take Marlowe with me, or if you’ll be home?”
“Would you take him, if it isn’t a bother? I’m not sure when I’ll be able to wrap things up, and I don’t want the boy hanging around with his legs crossed.”
“Oh, can’t have that,” she answered with a short laugh.
“Nope.”
“All right, I’ll let you go, then,” Linda said.
“Okay,” he answered, wanting to continue to talk with her, but knowing that the longer he was away from figuring out who, or what, had killed Aszrus . . .
“Give me a call later?” she asked.
“Sure,” he answered. “Tell the boy that I’ll see him later.”
“I will,” she said.
He was about to hang up, when he realized that there was something that he had to say. “Linda?” he called out.
“Yeah?”
“I love you,” he said, and knew that it was completely true.
There was a long pause, and he could just about make out the sound of her breathing.
“Hello?” he asked. “Are you there?”
“I love you, too.”
“Good,” he said.
“Good,” she repeated, and then broke the connection.
CHAPTER NINE
Remy slipped the phone back into his pocket, and was considering heading back inside the study to see how Malatesta was doing, when he noticed one of the female staff members staring blankly ahead from the end of the corridor.
It was as if she was watching him, but he knew that wasn’t the case. Maybe sensing him was more like it.
“Hello,” he called out to her. “Is there something I can do for you?”
She advanced slowly, carefully, her fingertips running along the wall to guide her way.
“He’s gone,” she declared.
Remy was taken aback, but tried not to show it. “Excuse me?”
“The master . . . He’s gone.”
“That’s something you’re going to have to take up with Mr. Montagin,” Remy said, turning toward the door to the study.
“I knew it was only a matter of time,” she said. “Only a matter of time before the sin of the world had its way with him.”
Remy froze for a moment, then slowly approached the woman.
She was younger than she looked initially, straggly blond hair falling down across her face. She smiled, chasing away the years.
“He called himself a creature of God,” she began, her fingernails scratching at irregularities in the wall. “If that’s the case, I wasn’t aware that God was so awful and cruel.”
It wasn’t the first time Remy had heard that servants to the angels were treated less than humanely. Many of the divine creatures considered humanity little more than God’s pets.
Sea Monkeys in an aquarium.
Remy was standing directly in front of the woman now. The fingers that had just been picking at the wall wagged before him.
“Do you fancy yourself a creature of God?” she asked, and he caught a hint of disdain in her tone.
“Aren’t we all?” Remy asked.
The woman laughed, a high-pitched sound that very easily could have been tinged with madness. Serving angels certainly took its toll.
“What’s your name?” Remy asked her.
She considered the question for a moment before answering.
“Marley,” she said, almost in a whisper. “And you’re Mr. Chandler.”
“Remy,” he told her. “Call me Remy.”
Marley smiled again. “All right.”
“Why do you think that something bad has happened to your master, Marley?”
“It was inevitable,” she answered matter-of-factly. “Even the divine will fall when surrounded by so much . . . sin.”
“I don’t understand,” Remy admitted. “What was Aszrus surrounded with?”
Marley remained silent, picking at the wall again.
“Marley, what was your master doing that was so bad?”
Her face twisted up in disgust. “He was no better than the vermin that walk the streets,” she snarled. “He let himself be tempted. And it changed him.”
“Tempted by what?”
“Things, Remy,” she replied. “Are you tempted by things?”
“I don’t really understand what—”
“I’ll show you,” Marley interrupted, reaching out for his hand. She led him down the corridor, abruptly stopping just before the kitchen. She turned toward the wall and pushed on a wooden panel. “Secrets,” she muttered, as part of the wall slid inward with a click.
She led Remy through the tiny opening, closing it behind them and plunging the small hallway into total darkness. Remy altered the configuration of his eyes so that he could see where they were.
A stairway stood directly in front of them. Marley, still holding tightly to his hand, led him up the steps.
“Where are we going, Marley?” Remy asked.
She giggled. “Where the sins are, where he hid them.”
There was another door at the top of the stairs, and Marley paused briefly. She let go of his hand long enough to reach into the pocket of her maid’s uniform to extract a key. Feeling for the lock, she inserted the key and turned it, opening the creaking door.
“I was the only one he allowed inside,” Marley said. “The only one that he would let tidy up.”
She reached for Remy’s hand again, and drew him inside.
“This is where he would come,” she told him. “Where he would spend hours upon hours surrounded by his vices.”
Though he could see perfectly fine, Remy reached out to a table lamp to bring some light into the gloom. The light came on, and to say he was taken aback by what he saw there in the room was an understatement.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said, taking it all in.
Marley stifled a laugh and crossed her arms defiantly in front of her chest.
“These were his prizes,” she said with disdain. “His most cherished possessions.”
The room looked as though it might have belonged to a teenage boy, or maybe a first-year college student. Video game systems sat on the shelves of an elaborate entertainm
ent center; empty plastic cases littered the floor. Aszrus appeared to have been a fan of first-person-shooter games. There were stacks of magazines just about everywhere: magazines about cars, about food, and porn—more porn than anything else, which complemented the plethora of pornographic DVDs stacked haphazardly beside a high-backed leather easy chair in front of a sixty-inch television monitor.
Remy slowly turned in the center of the den, taking it all in. There was a wheeled bar cart not far off, loaded with liquor—all top shelf. A tiny refrigerator hummed beside it.
On the table that held the lamp beside the easy chair, there was an ornate box, and he could only imagine what he would find inside. Remy reached out, carefully removing the carved lid. The inside of the case was compartmentalized: loose pot on one side, with rolling papers in another section beside it. In another section was what looked to be cocaine, and beside that what he guessed to be heroin. There was a hypodermic in its own thin section beside it.
From what he could see, every human vice was represented in some degree here. Remy had heard of angels becoming obsessed with the ways of the Earth; hell, even he had been accused of it, but he would never imagine an angel of Aszrus’ stature falling so hard.
“He loved this . . . stuff more than those who would give their lives for him,” Marley said. Lurching suddenly to one side, toward the small table beside the chair, she shoved the box of illicit drugs and the lamp to the floor. The room was again plunged into darkness. “And then not even this would do; he had to go even farther from us, outside the home to find whatever it was he was searching for.”
“Where outside the house?” Remy asked, taking advantage of a potential opportunity.
She was breathing heavily now, the fear of repercussions for her actions weighing upon her. It looked as though she was thinking that perhaps she’d gone too far.
“What was he doing outside the house?” Remy pressed.
Marley carefully squatted down, attempting to clean up after herself, her fingers carefully picking up the pieces of the shattered lamp.
“It got to be that he barely acknowledged our existence,” she said, quietly. “It was like we weren’t even there anymore, our presence invisible as the car pulled up in front of the house, and he left for the evening, not returning until the early morning hours.”