Read Online Deadtown by Nancy Holzner - Free Book Online Page B

uncommon for demon victims to commit suicide. Could George have—?” Even as I asked the question, I wondered why Funderburk would kill himself. He’d been in such a terrific, disco-dancing mood.
    Costello shook his head. “He was . . .” He shuddered. “ Cooked . From the inside out. The body looked perfectly normal, even felt cold to the touch like you’d expect in a corpse. But when the paramedics lifted the victim onto the gurney, his mouth fell open. A jet of steam shot out and scalded one of the EMTs. The EMT ended up in the burn unit.” Oh God, I was thinking. This can’t be. Costello didn’t see the expression on my face, because he kept on talking. “Ice-cold skin but, well, boiling inside.”
    The roaring in my ears drowned out his voice, and my vision shrank to a pinprick. Something squeezed all the air out of me, and I couldn’t catch a breath. I closed my eyes and pushed everything away: the detectives, George Funderburk, this whole goddamn conversation. No, I thought. No. Not here. Not that.
    A hand rubbed my back, and something pressed against my lips. A voice drifted down from the ceiling. “Vicky? Are you all right? Do you want to stop?”
    I opened my eyes to see Kane’s face hovering inches from my own. He was trying to get me to take a sip of water. “Drink this.”
    He was too close. They all were. I couldn’t breathe. Damn it, I wanted them all away from me. My arm tingled. It was a warning. I tried to push down the feeling, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t. The tingle intensified to a burn, the heat racing through my veins. And then it hit me like a tsunami—the rage. Pure, white-hot rage. I wanted to crush the cup Kane held to my lips. I wanted to tear apart the goddamn room and everything in it. I wanted to pound and kick those detectives, both of them, and even Kane, over and over, until they were nothing but a bloody pulp on the floor. Smash everything—just smash it. My fists clenched so hard that my nails cut into my palms, drawing blood.
    The sharpness of the pain brought me back a little. I remembered who I was—me, Vicky. I remembered that the others in this room weren’t enemies, weren’t ants to be crushed and flicked away. No. Kane—I knew Kane. Those cops—just humans trying to understand a death. No more deaths, I chanted mentally, no more deaths . And I fought down the urge to destroy; it was like trying to tame a gale-force wind into a gentle breeze. How easy, how satisfying it would be to slaughter them all. No. I had to fight it. Inch by inch, I did. Inch by inch. The burning subsided; drew back gradually until my arm was my own again.
    “I’m okay.” I pushed the cup away, gently, then thought better of it. Putting both my hands around Kane’s to keep the cup from shaking, I took a deep swallow. The water soothed me, and I drank it all.
    When I spoke again, my voice was clear and steady. That surprised me, because I was still quaking inside. “I was wrong, Detective Costello. From what you describe, a demon did murder George Funderburk.”
    “But you said demons don’t kill.”
    “Most don’t. But we’re not talking about an ordinary demon.” I hesitated, not wanting to say the words, as if saying them would make it real. But it was real already. Whatever I might wish for, it was real. “George died of a Hellion attack.”
    Hellion. As I said the word, a tingle teased my arm. I ignored it.
    “Oh, Vicky,” Kane murmured, still rubbing my back. “I’m so sorry.”
    The detectives glanced at each other. Hagopian, her face drained of color, looked bewildered and scared. “What’s a Hellion?”
    “It’s a demon, but nothing like the kind I was telling you about.” I wished I had another cup of water. “Those are personal demons. If you want to get technical, they’re of the genus Inimicus . Hellions are a different class altogether, genus Eversio . They exist to destroy. Usually, they don’t bother with individuals—they’re a lot more