Division Zero: Lex De Mortuis Read Free Page A

but…”
    She went up the stairs.
    “I know you too well.” Dorian chuckled at her before he pointed at Fowler. “You stay here, don’t do anything. You’ve been exposed to him for too long, he could drain you to boost himself.”
    Fowler gulped.

    Billowy darkness shrouded the walls and ceiling in the upstairs corridor. Orange-pink light leaked in from an open door caddy-corner to the master bedroom. Kirsten advanced with caution, tuning out the residual manifestations of screams, gunshots, and explosions. The smoke clinging to the walls receded from her advance, as if afraid.
    “Sounds like a damn war is going on.”
    Dorian chuckled. “Imprints from the DEA raid, I bet.”
    Kirsten leaned against the wall, edging up to the first door. “What is DEA?”
    “Was. Special branch of law enforcement tasked with combatting illegal drugs.” Dorian took a position in front of the door, as if to rush through after she opened it.
    She scrunched her face. “Really? They actually cared enough about people getting high to have special cops for them? Old government had too much money, I guess.”
    “Well, we still go after Lace labs.”
    “Good point, but that stuff is more poison than recreation.”
    She nudged the bedroom door open. Maia’s bed lay open and abandoned, stuffed animals and datapads lay scattered about the floor. Dorian advanced to the outside window, squinting at the glare of bar lights. Kirsten went for the closet, remembering the child’s memory, but whirled at the sound of a waterfall behind her.
    Thick smoke surged forward, rushing in under the door and slamming it. Kirsten backpedaled, gaze locked on the cloud of darkness gathering in the upper corner of the room. Inky wisps of vapor built and rolled in on themselves, darkening into a thick mass from which extended a pair of phantasmal arms. Wisps of shadow burst from the ends, traced in the shape of claws. A flash of ice came over her, as if a frozen hand clutched her heart and squeezed. The closet door flew open; inside, her mother’s visage appeared. The apparitional woman screeched and flew at her, expanding, wailing. Kirsten tripped over a plush rabbit and landed seated on the bed. Dorian held his head, a dire stare shot in Kirsten’s direction.
    She raised her arm across her face, shuddering as the huge, vaporous head washed over her.
    A male voice rasped from the dark. “Hey, kiddo, you still hungry?”
    Heavy clouds of smoke exuded from the closet, lapping at the rug as if it was the edge of a portal to another world. A vagrant leaned out of the black, waving a dented octagonal can with a pull-strip opening like he was teasing a hungry dog.
    “Come on, sweetie. I know you want more. You can pay for it the same way you did the last.” He grinned, reaching into his pants.
    Kirsten clutched at her chest, struggling to overpower the touch trying to freeze her heart. She remembered his face, she remembered his stink, and she remembered him being much larger. He did not scare her. The sight of him brought only anger.
    Dorian fell to one knee, shaking his head and screaming as he clawed at the rug. He looked as if he could kill someone without a care. Shadow tendrils emerged from the floor and wall, seeping into his essence. He lurched to the right, incoherent rage boiling out of his mouth as he plunged his hands through the side of a wardrobe cabinet. He wrenched it about and hurled it at Kirsten. At the instant of release, a part of Dorian came back to the surface, hanging on and changing the trajectory just enough to miss. Kirsten rolled off the comforgel pad, skidding to the floor amid a rain of child’s clothing.
    With a tortured moan, Dorian fell into the wall, punching at it. “Get out of my head…”
    Hollow spots appeared at the top of the floating shadow where eyes should have been. Kirsten stood, pulling a tiny dress off her head and flinging it to the side. Scintillating white light formed around her hand and unfurled to its full