That Cleansing Fire - Part Five
Leaving Olsen on guard, Riley and Cade did a more thorough search of the church, looking for anything that might indicate what had happened to the missing advance team, Bishop, or the church staff.
After an hour of searching, they came up empty-handed.
Which left the body itself and the need for more drastic measures.
Cade bent over and examined the corpse on the altar before him. The priest had clearly been middle-aged; his thinning gray hair and liver spotted skin gave evidence to that. A close look at the shrunken flesh of the right side of his face revealed a large bruise. The black cloth of his shirt and pants was ripped and tattered in certain places, mainly about the arms and lower legs.
Cade removed his gloves and placed them in his pocket. He checked to be certain his men had control of the situation, receiving a nod of confirmation from each of them, and then turned back to face the altar.
It was time to go to work.
There was no way Cade was going to use his Talent on the body itself. The priest had no doubt suffered greatly at the hands of the Ch’iang shih and Cade had no desire to relive any of that experience, not like that. Instead, he was going to take a reading from the surface of the altar itself, in the hopes that it would filter enough of the horror out of the encounter to allow him to understand just what had happened here.
Cade took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the task ahead. Using his Talent was never easy. It physically drained him of energy at an alarming rate, leaving him weak and disoriented for several long minutes afterward. The need to constantly guard against being overwhelmed by another’s thoughts and emotions made it mentally demanding as well. Staying immersed too long in the flow made it difficult for him to regain his own identity, and though he had never tested the theory for obvious reasons, Cade believed that his physical form could be affected by what he was seeing through his Gift as well.
When he was ready, he reached out and laid his palms flat on the altar’s surface.
Hands.
Hands carrying him, perversely caressing him, while others seize hold of his arms and legs and haul him bodily into the air.
Our Father, who art in heaven…
Movement, the whisper of bodies parting to get out of the way, a low murmuring of anticipation filling the air.
He’s dropped onto a hard surface (the altar?) and his limbs are pulled out and away from his body, his captors’ claws clicking against each other as they expose the skin of his wrists and legs.
Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with me…
The cloying scent of rancid meat hangs in the air.
More hands seize his face, forcing his jaws open, the taste of something metallic as an object is shoved into his mouth while gnarled fingers snatch at his tongue.
Pain, terrible pain, as his blood flows freely, filling his mouth…
With a sudden cry Cade snatched his hands away from the altar top, the coppery taste of phantom blood sharp in his mouth. His turned his head and spat on the carpet to clear it.
When he looked up, Riley and Olsen were looking at him expectantly.
“Chiang Shi, all right,” he told them, as he pulled his gloves back on. “A lot of them. And they left us a calling card.” Cade reached out, held the corpse across the forehead with one hand and, with the other, yanked the pieces of duct tape off the corpse’s mouth. The man’s mouth remained locked open, so Cade peered inside and then reached in with two fingers to draw something out.
Cade held the object out for the other men to see.
It was a gold signet ring set with a ruby stone in the shape of a cross. It was identical to the ring that each team member wore on their right hands, the same rings they were given on the night of their initiation into the Order. On the reverse side, directly beneath the stone, were the initials JKB.
“Bishop’s ring,” Cade said.
Riley swore.
Cade handed the ring to him, removed the glove on his right hand and then extended that hand back toward his teammate again.
“You sure you want to do that, boss?” Riley asked.
Cade nodded. “We don’t have any other choice. They obviously want us to know they have Bishop. The ring might be able to tell us if he is still alive, and if he is, where they might be keeping him.”
Shaking his head in resignation, Riley gently dropped the ring into his teammate’s open palm.
This time, Cade’s Talent was a bit more generous.
Pain.
A deep, throbbing pain that pulsed in his left side, right where the vamps had slashed him with his own weapon. He knew he was still bleeding; the wet trickle that marched down his ribcage and under the waistband of his pants clearly told that story. His right wrist hurt as well, where two of the vamps had locked their vile mouths on his flesh before their leader had stopped them from draining him dry.
He was bone-weary, evidence that the two junior vamps had taken a fair amount of life force from him before the stronger one had intervened. Still, he was alive, and while he was he had no doubt that his team would make an effort to rescue him.
Which meant he had to stay that way until they could get to him.
He knew he was in the warehouse district; he’d seen as much when they’d grabbed him at the church. While he’d been unable to determine the exact location of the building to which they had brought him, he had been able to catch a glimpse of the sign out front. “Markhams Slaught..” was all he’d been able to see before they’d dragged him inside.
A quick search of a phone book was all they needed after that.
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