No More Devils_A Visit to Superstition Bay by Benjamin LaMore

Author:Benjamin LaMore [LaMore, Benjamin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-23T22:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

The first body lays in the middle of the Reese driveway.

Geographically, the road is only about five hundred feet away from the gate, but the driveway itself banks and turns through the heavy woods for three quarters of a mile. I’ve seen the pattern before. The winding road makes it impossible for a heavy vehicle to drive straight up to the house, so it’s impossible for anyone who wants to charge the gate to gain any kind of momentum. We’ve barely passed the first turn when I pull the truck jarringly off the path, stopping with the passenger side quarter panel only inches away from a scrubby pine tree. He doesn’t need to ask me why I did it.

The body is sprawled facedown carelessly across the middle of the road, perfectly captured by the headlights. It’s a man, wearing the Reese goon uniform of black slacks and shirt, this time with a lightweight black jacket. Hollett and I reach him at the same time, but I let him turn the body over.

I never got his name, but he’s one of the bookends who rode with us over to the school. His jacket is unmarred but there’s a black glaze on his shirt, glistening in the moonlight. The shirt makes a sickeningly wet sound as Hollett peels it away from the body.

No bite, but the cause of death is obvious. His chest has been ruptured like an overripe grape. Short of a medieval war hammer I can’t imagine what could have caused such catastrophic damage to a human body.

Hollett turns his light and starts looking through the nearby trees.

“What are you looking for?” I ask.

“Scott,” he says. “Michael’s partner.”

I join the search, but it only takes a moment for us to reach the same conclusion. It’s a lost cause. Hollett surely knew that Scott had some innate magical ability. Michael here didn’t. They’re both dead. Everything else is just details.

I check my phone, hoping that Lisa would have sent me a message. In a better world it would have told me that Jamie had figured the kiovores out. In my world, I have no new messages.

“The fight’s up ahead of us, Hollett.”

“I know that.” He takes Michael under his shoulders and hauls him off the road, depositing him under a tree with more care than I’d have taken, then we race back to the truck. It’s a matter of seconds for us to reach the gate, and if Hollett had his way we would have sped through it without a second thought. Too bad for him, I’m driving.

I slew the Raptor sideways, sliding it next to my Jeep. I leap out and freeze, momentarily struck by the sight of the Reese house.

The central hub’s vast glass front has been shattered in half a dozen places, body-sized holes punching through the armored plate glass like plastic wrap. Most of the holes are floor level, but some of them are higher up. I’d guess the highest is between fifteen and twenty feet off the ground.

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