Page 51 of Into the Fire

“Clearly Vedmak didn’t want anyone in here,” Donnelly observed, as though what had just transpired was normal. “But were the zombies the real prize, or is there something else he valued? And if it was that important, why store it here where he couldn’t access it if he needed to leave in a hurry?”

Simon suspected hubris, that Vedmak couldn’t imagine being forced to flee, but he didn’t say so. Instead, he guarded the doorway and kept a watchful eye on the remains of the zombies while Donnelly examined the crates and boxes Vedmak had left behind.

“Some of this is carnival odds and ends, nothing important or magical,” Donnelly said after he had made a circuit of the small room. “There are a few items we need to take with us that have power, but nothing likely to be related to your situation. The items are warded, but I can’t leave them here.” He moved two small boxes outside the door.

“And the rest?” Simon looked doubtfully at the remains of the zombies.

“Purifying fire will take care of it nicely,” Donnelly replied.

“We can’t just burn down the whole building,” Simon countered.

“Of course not, dear boy. Never intended to. I can limit the conflagration to this unit, without damaging the others. Tell the owner there was a short in the switch.” Donnelly gave him a cheeky grin, and Simon could tell that the other man was enjoying this, despite the danger.

Simon carefully moved the two boxes far from the doorway and remained on guard.

Donnelly stayed behind, murmuring under his breath as he backed out of the unit. His hands began to glow, and then flames erupted from his palms, catching quickly in the wooden and cardboard crates and burning through the downed zombies with frightening speed.

Simon braced for fire alarms and sprinklers, as well as a cloud of noxious smoke, but nothing happened. As quickly as the fire began, it ended, leaving the interior of the unit a blackened shell. There was no remnant of the zombies’ bodies or any of the discarded crates.

“Done.” Donnelly dusted off his hands. “No harm to the other tenants, no smoke damage, and after a good scrub and a coat or two of paint, it’ll be just like new without any magical residue.”

Simon felt a sense of awe mixed with a natural wariness of an extremely strong supernatural power beneath Donnelly’s jovial exterior. He resolved to work through his thoughts later, after they had left the storage building behind them.

“Good job back there,” Donnelly told him as they put the two boxes into the trunk of his car. “Especially if you haven’t been around my kind of magic often. It takes some getting used to.”

That’s an understatement.

“Thanks.” Simon didn’t exactly feel afraid of Donnelly’s power as much as he had a deep, instinctual respect for an apex predator.

“You asked about Operation Specter Cipher.” Donnelly shut the trunk.

“I think it’s mixed up in all this, somehow,” Simon replied. “At the very least, there’s a link because it also worked out of the same hotel.”

Donnelly nodded. No one else was around, and the fire in the unit didn’t seem to have attracted attention.

“I wasn’t involved with Specter Cipher, but I heard through channels. It was a military psy-ops project trying to see if ghosts could be persuaded to carry messages or serve as spies. That had limited success, so they brought in a necromancer to see if the dead were more willing to help,” Donnelly replied.

“And were they?” Simon found himself holding his breath.

“What I heard was that the project shut down abruptly. That’s the official word. The unofficial word is that the ghosts and the undead killed the witches and psychics. You won’t find that in the records, but I trust my source implicitly,” Donnelly said.

Relief washed over Simon that at least in this case, the military hadn’t been able to co-opt supernatural creatures for their own ends.

“There’s something else I’d like to show you, if you can spare a little more time,” Simon said. “Did Cassidy tell you about the Ocean Visions Hotel? I’ve been in touch with her about the problem we’re dealing with there.”

Donnelly nodded. “Yes. It’s an interesting situation, and I’ll be glad to be of help if there’s a way I can assist.”

“Follow me; that way, you can head back to Charleston from there.” Simon took the lead, and Donnelly’s car followed closely. The short drive gave Simon a few more minutes to sort through his reaction and come to grips with the fight at the storage unit.

Zombies. Vic is going to be so jealous.

Vic loved zombie movies, and Simon thought they had seen all of them, twice. He also knew that while Vic would be enthralled at the confirmation of real walking dead, he would be appalled that Simon had been in danger.

When I’m done having a quiet little panic attack, I’m sure it will become a treasured memory.

They parked a block away from the Ocean Visions, which still had street space cordoned off from the fire damage.

“Well, well,” Donnelly mused as they got closer. “It’s been a long time since I’ve sensed a landvaettir.” He used the same name that Rowan had told Simon. “Very ancient, strong, and they tend to have a nasty temper.” He met Simon’s gaze. “They can’t be killed, but they can be bound, which you likely already know. The binding keeping it contained isn’t strong enough to hold for long. Gabriella’s work, I assume?”