Mortal, a weak aura of something—wait, wow, what was going on with Jeff’s face?

  Beneath the bandage was something… rotten.

  What is that? Alexander urgently asked Rota.

  As best as I can tell, it’s… death.

  Alexander did not like how shaken Rota sounded.

  “You silenced me!” Jeff accused.

  “You’re a genius, fuck face,” Alexander replied dryly. “Got anything else to share with the class?”

  “Oh, I know who you are now. The smartass conduit.” Jeff snorted and dropped his hands. “Wow, you’re just adorable. Did Gronoch take you shopping at Hot Topic if you were a good boy?”

  “Wow, you’re hilarious, fuck face.”

  How does he know about Gronoch?

  Who cares? Alexander thought back and spoke out loud to Jeff. “How about you go ahead and confess to killing everybody, huh?”

  “Killing who exactly?” Jeff shrugged. “You’re gonna have to be more specific.”

  “Uh, hello. All the everlasting people you butchered for your little ritual to dial up Salgumel.”

  “Me?” Jeff laughed. “You idiots. I just paid for the parts.”

  Alexander paused. Rota?

  As far as I can tell, he’s telling the truth. I don’t understand—

  “Now, if you’ll kindly fuck off, I’m gonna go find what you’ve done with my damn vessel. Him I might have to kill, but I haven’t yet, so why don’t you let me go do that, and then you can try to kill me back, hmm?”

  “Yeah, no. Sorry, fuck face.” Alexander took another drag and leaned back, catching himself on part of Rota’s side as it solidified to brace him. “You’re staying here and hanging out with me while we wait for Stoker to come have a chat with you. You can plead your crazy shit out with him.”

  “Stoker?” Jeff laughed again. “Right. Of course he would send someone like you to come find me. To cover his ass.”

  “I know you’re baiting me into asking you more stupid shit while you’re trying to think of a way to get out of here.” Alexander narrowed his eyes. “But we got some time to kill and you’re definitely not escaping… so what the fuck are you talking about?”

  “He didn’t tell you?” Jeff snorted. “The book. The grimoire that has the ritual in it for summoning Salgumel with the conbusitae vessel? I bought it from Stoker.”

  Oh dear.

  Wait, wait, wait. Alexander kept his face calm even as his thoughts ran wild. Stoker didn’t know he sold a book to a crazy fuckin’ cultist?

  Perhaps he sold the book to him for another reason?

  “I can see the wheels in your little brain over there just a turnin’ away.” Jeff smirked. “Trust me. Stoker knew exactly what he was giving me.”

  “He probably didn’t think a fuck face like you could get the parts.” Alexander flicked the ashes off his cigarette and arched one brow. “So, how did you do that, fuck face?”

  “You’re asking all the wrong questions.” Jeff chuckled, and he reached up to the bandage on his face as if to adjust it. He turned away to hide whatever it was he was doing from Alexander’s view.

  Rota? Alexander stood.

  On it. Rota lumbered over to peer around the other side.

  “You should be wondering about whose side of the war you want to be on when the time comes and Salgumel arises,” Jeff continued as he dropped some strips of medical tape on the ground. “Like, hmm, do I wanna side with the stupid mortals who are all going to be wasted to make way for the new world? Or do I wanna be with the faithful and actually be spared?”

  “Hard pass.” Alexander tossed away his cigarette, burning away the filter into ash. Rota?

  He’s taking off the bandage, Rota replied. It’s, wow, all right, it’s quite awful. It’s a big nasty rotten handprint burned into his flesh, and he’s pulling something… out of the hole.

  Gross. What?

  A healing totem? A very old one, very ancient… I don’t understand why he’s taking it out.

  “Too bad.” Jeff turned to face Alexander again and gave him a full view of the terrible injury. It was indeed a handprint burned into his cheek, and the glint of his teeth was visible through the wound. “We could have used you. You know, it’s what you were made for after all.”

  “Fuck you.” Alexander lit up another cigarette with a scowl.

  Alexander, Rota warned.

  Yes. I know I need to quit—

  Alexander. Rota was nearly frantic. Look. The hole.

  Alexander puffed and tilted his head. Huh… is it…?

  It is.

  It’s getting bigger? Alexander watched in horror as the seeping black rot of the wound worked across Jeff’s face, eating his skin as it went.

  He was howling and sobbing in pain, but he let it go on and on, and the necrosis devoured his flesh right to the bone. It was horrific, disgusting, and Alexander didn’t understand why Jeff was doing this—at least, not until it spread over his brow.

  “The ward!” Alexander leaped forward, but he wasn’t fast enough.

  The sickness, whatever it was, ate right through the silencing ward as easily as the skin beneath it, and Jeff shouted an incantation that created a thick shield all around him.

  Alexander snarled and focused Rota’s magic on breaking it apart, snapping, “Oh, real cute. Just let your face cooties eat up the ward!”

  Panting from obvious exertion, Jeff had dropped to a knee and popped the totem back into his cheek. The decay receded until it was but a handprint again, and he leered up at them smugly, his teeth gleaming between his lips and the nasty hole in his cheek. “You don’t even know what this is, do you?”

  “Your fuckin’ fucked-up face?” Alexander could sense a weakness in the shield, and he raised his hands to channel even more of Rota’s magic there.

  “I have been touched by the first child of Great Azaethoth,” Jeff declared. “I carry his power. You may stop me from performing this ritual, but if I find him? Then nothing else matters.”

  That made Alexander pause.

  There was no way that was true. It couldn’t be.

  “Just remember, conduit. You coulda been on the winning side.” Jeff winked. “Too bad, huh?”

  “Fuck you, you’re not going anywhere!” Alexander hissed as Jeff added another layer to the shield, preventing him from breaking through. Rota! The spell Stoker cast at the theater?

  Yes?

  Can we cast that, but in reverse?

  Oh! Of course! Rota understood what Alexander wanted to do immediately and showed him the words for the new spell, weaving them in and out through the bond so it could be cast quickly.

  Try as he might, now Jeff wouldn’t be able to teleport out, though someone could still teleport into this world.

  Alexander kept working at the shield, and he very much enjoyed the surprised and equally horrified look on Jeff’s face when he realized he couldn’t leave. “Problem, fuck face?”

  “This isn’t going to stop me!” Jeff snarled.

  “What are you gonna do? Rot the spell away with your face hole?” Alexander snorted. “How about you tell me where the Fountain is at, hmm? Maybe who was doing your everlasting grocery shopping for you?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Were you expecting me to monologue and explain all the details of my nefarious plans?” Jeff scowled and rolled his eyes. “No, I don’t think so. All you need to know is that I am going to find a way to awaken Salgumel, and you can’t stop me!”

  “Or I could just kill you now. Choices!” Alexander finally broke the shield and sent in Rota’s tentacles, stabbing them through Jeff’s chest and stomach to curl around his vital organs and squeeze.

  Gurgling, Jeff clawed weakly at the invisible appendages, and he went to both knees in agony. “Ah… ah, gods!”

  “Now. let’s try this again.” Alexander smirked. “Where is the Fountain, huh? Tell me where it is right—”

  Jeff lurched forward despite the obvious pain he was in, whispering a spell and pushing Alexander back.

  Alexander didn’t understand what was happening, and he gasped as he felt one of the binding marks on his arm break. He backed away, tearing at his sleeve to find pooling blood. Another one broke and tore a scream from his lips because the shattered mark had been somewhere inside his chest. “Oh, you bastard!”

  Alexander! No! Rota cried. The bindings! I can feel them. They’re all weakening. They’re going to break!

  “You’re not so tough,” Jeff sneered. “And you’re not the only one who can reverse engineer a spell. Just like you switched the teleportation ward to stop me from leaving, I switched up my healing totem’s magic to heal your wounds… including scars like those pretty little marks.”

  Alexander, no! Rota wrapped his tentacles all around Alexander, trying to stop the healing magic from working to no avail.

  “Rota… I….” Alexander screamed as another mark broke and healed, leaving behind a gaping welt, and he could feel Rota slipping.

  “Now.” Jeff stood and dusted himself off. “There may be some side effects. Was never very good at healing spells. Maybe you’ll figure out how to stop it before one of the marks on your heart or some other vital organ breaks, maybe you won’t. Good luck.” He raised his arms, twisting his fingers and casting a spell to tear down the teleportation ward.

  Alexander barely noticed. He was too busy trying to find the healing magic working against him and stop it, but the pain was excruciating. It was beyond even the anguish of when the marks were put into his skin, and he groaned, watching in horror as he coughed up a splatter of blood.

  “Farewell, conduit.” Jeff smirked. “I don’t think we’ll be seeing each other again.”

  “Oh… no… you don’t….” Alexander focused the great reservoir of Rota’s power and reached out to grab a hold of Jeff’s leg as he went into the portal he’d just opened.

  Jeff vanished. His bloody leg remained.

  That was a small comfort when Alexander was coughing up more blood and his entire body was on fire, another broken mark making him scream. “Rota… how… how do we stop it?”

  I don’t know! It’s not offensive magic! There is no targeting to break! Rota held Alexander against him, making himself solid so he could embrace him. My love, I don’t know what to do—

  “What now?” A loud pop of a portal had Alexander’s attention, and he saw Ollie rushing toward him. “Oh, Ollie… what are you….”

  “Saving you!” Ollie dropped beside him, his eyes glimmering with tears as he took in the bloody mess. “I felt you! Through the bond! Magical sex bond! I just, I just followed it, my starsight did its weird-ass thing, and I’m here! What is happening? Wait, oh crap, and whose leg is that?”

  “Might be… dying….” Alexander gritted his teeth and shuddered. “Fuckin… Je-fahfah….”

  Jeff cast some sort of healing magic on Alexander, and it’s destroying the binding marks. If any of the marks on Alexander’s vital organs break—

  “Shit! That fucker! God, I really do not like him!” Ollie held Alexander close, his hands turning red with blood as he felt over the wounds. “I’m thinking! I’m trying to think!”

  “Now would be a great time… to use that starsight….” Alexander laughed weakly, but the sound was stolen when he howled in pain from another broken mark. “Fuck! Rota… I… I’m losing you.”

  Alexander, my love. No. No, no, no. No, you don’t. Hold on. Ollie, please, do something!

  “I’m trying! I’m fuckin’ trying!” Ollie hollered. “I’m….” His eyes glazed over as if he was suddenly in a trance, and he reared back and slapped Alexander across the face.

  “The fuck!” Alexander growled. To his surprise, the stinging of his cheek was now the only pain he felt. The marks were creeping back into his flesh, and he could actually see each one reappearing as if nothing ever happened.

  Ollie blinked and refocused. “Oh! Shit. What happened?”

  You slapped Alexander, and that…. Rota seemed equally confused. That somehow stopped the spell?

  “Cool! Why are they all silver-looking now?”

  Hmmm. It must be something you did when you cast. There is an additional line next to the arrow now as well, you see. I’ve never seen a marking—

  “Come on.” Alexander got to his feet with a groan, scanning the world around them and scowling. “I wanna go find that Jeff asshole right now.”

  “Hey!” Ollie stood and pulled Alexander into a big hug. “Can we, like, enjoy the fact you’re still alive for at least two seconds, please?”

  Alexander didn’t want to dwell on what had just happened, especially knowing what could have gone down if Ollie hadn’t found them. “Woo. Yes. I’m alive. Thank you. Happy?”

  “Always.” Ollie grinned.

  “Wait, hey, what did you do with Will?”

  “I left Will with Marbles.” Ollie frowned. “He was still kind of out of it? Like, I couldn’t get him to wake up all the way. Marbles said he would try. He was super cranky. Jackie and the other guys had to go meet with Stoker.”

  Ah, so that’s why we probably couldn’t get into the theater. Stoker probably locked everything down to have the meeting.

  “Whatever.” Alexander sighed. “Can we chase down Jeff now, please?”

  “Four more seconds of hugging and then yes.”

  “Fine.” Alexander didn’t mind the hug as much as he suddenly had the urge to sneeze. He pushed away, blinking at a dusty residue on Ollie’s shirt. “What is that?”

  “Oh, people.”

  What?

  “What?” Alexander echoed. Surely that had to be another mistake.

  “Marbles just got o-fahfah work.” Ollie rubbed the front of his shirt. “He said he had some accident with the processor thingie and it spilled all over him, and then we hugged, which he hated, but it was more of me hugging him, and it got real awkward—”

  “What the fuck does he do?”

  “He works at the funeral home. At the crematory.”

  “At the….” Alexander frowned, and the realization crashed into him like a freight train. “Oh. No.”

  “It’s totally fine. He said it would wash out—”

  “No!” Alexander shouted. “The residue on the bodies? The burned residue?”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s him. It’s fuckin’ cremated remains. The killer is fuckin’ Marbles!”

  Chapter 14.

  OH, BY the gods. Rota gasped. Something burned! The residue on the victims! Could it actually have been cremated remains?

  “Marbles couldn’t have done this!” Ollie protested. “He’s, he’s one of the everlasting! You really think he’d do that to his own people?”

  “People are assholes,” Alexander said flatly. “Everlasting or not. Nothing would surprise me.”

  “But….” Ollie seemed lost. “It’s Marbles. I know him.”

  “Come on.” Alexander grabbed Ollie’s hand. “If I’m wrong, then we have nothing to worry about. It’ll be another dead end. No big deal. But if I’m right, you just left Jeff’s last ingredient with his co-conspirator.”

  “Oh, well, fuck.”

  “Let’s go.” Alexander glanced up. “Rota?”

  Yes. Absolutely. Asking for permission does not feel appropriate when a life may be at stake!

  Alexander quickly opened a portal to take them to Dead to Rites. They arrived outside the front door and startled a man coming out with their sudden appearance.

  “Hi!” Ollie waved.

  The man stared. “Uh… hi?”

  Ignoring them both, Alexander pushed by and marched forward into the bar. “Come on, Ollie!”

  “In the back!” Ollie stepped around him to lead the way. “The door behind the bar by the shrine thingie.”

  There were a half dozen or so patrons present, and none of them seemed pleased to see unfamiliar faces. Alexander ignored them on his way to the bar, finding a young woman standing there pouring a beer.

  When Alexander tried to walk around the bar to get to the door, he found himself being struck by a small blast of fire magic. He quickly deflected it with a wave of his hand before it could singe his coat, and he turned to glare at the woman.

  “Y-you can’t go back there!” she cried. “That’s private! Ollie, what are you guys doing?”

  “I wouldn’t try to stop him.” Ollie shook his head. “He didn’t get to eat his dinner, and he’s had a piña colada. I don’t know what he might do.”

  The woman’s jaw dropped. “Wha…?”

  “I don’t know either.” Alexander shrugged. “Permission to open the door, Rota?”

  The woman was more confused.

  Yes, yes, go ahead, my love. Quickly now.

  “I’m trying to be better, okay?” Alexander sent Rota’s tentacles to open the door. It had a simple magical lock on it, wouldn’t take long to break—

  Alexander! Behind you!

  Alexander threw up a shield right as a bottle came flying at him, followed by a blast of ice, and he glanced over his shoulder to scoff at the men who had thrown them. “Uh, excuse you.”

  “I dunno who you think are,” the smaller of the two men growled, “but we—”

  “May I have permission to violently shake that man?” Alexander asked.

  The man scoffed. “Fuckin’ excuse me?”

  My love, I’m afraid asking me for permission every time you want to cast a spell is becoming a bit tedious, and this is a very urgent situation. How about you ask me when it’s a particularly large amount of magic, hmm?

  “Okay, fine.” Alexander grabbed the man around his middle with Rota’s tentacles, slammed him into the ceiling with a loud crack, and let him drop to the floor in a heap.

  The bar was deathly silent, and no one moved.

  “Good, we’re all done now? Thanks.” Alexander snorted and went back to opening the lock.

  “Was that really necessary?” Ollie asked in a hurried whisper.

  “He’s alive.” Alexander broke the lock and opened the door with a wave of his hand. “Let’s go already.”

  The door led into a hallway stacked with cases of beer and spirits. There was an emergency exit at one end and two more doors at the other.

 

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