Free Sacrifices by Jamie Schultz Page B

purely academic. Why the questions now?
    â€œYour prisoners. One of them said the name,” Karyn ventured.
    â€œSeveral, in fact. We thought it might be a general use or a stand-in for another word. Fact is, we didn’t know what to think, but I’ve been trying to get up to speed.”
    â€œWhat did they say?”
    A pause, probably while Elliot considered whether to tell her anything. “Threats, mostly.”
    â€œYou know they’re chock-full of demons, right?”
    â€œI don’t know that. This is the twenty-first century. We tend to be extremely careful about calling aberrant behavior demonic possession when it might simply be mental illness.”
    â€œSeriously? Under
these
circumstances?”
    â€œNone of them appear to have any history with the occult, that I can turn up, let alone the kind of lengthy history that results in end-stage possession . . .” Elliot spoke quickly and precisely, dressed it all up with technical-sounding jargon, but a note of uncertainty clung to her voice like a parasite, sucking the life out of it.
    â€œIf they aren’t doing magic tricks yet, they’re going to start.”
    â€œThey’ve started,” Elliot said, and now fatigue piled on top of the uncertainty in her voice. Karyn wondered if she was frightened. She ought to be. “There are several facts here that don’t fit the normal pattern, but that’s the one that concerns me. A man melted a steel lock to slag last night, and nobody has any idea how. Well, that’s not true—I know of a few ways to do it, but I don’t know how this man could possibly have managed any of them.”
    â€œI do,” Karyn said. “It’s not going to be just him, either. We need to figure out how to fix these guys.”
    â€œIf I concede, for the moment, that these men are infested with demons, I still don’t know how that’s possible, nor how to get rid of them.”
    â€œYou can’t exorcise them?”
    â€œThere are dozens of documented approaches to that problem, and as far as I can tell they are all completely worthless. Most of them do nothing at all. A handful kill the host, which at least gives the exorcist the opportunity to claim that the soul is free, not that anybody could contradict him at that point.” She cleared her throat. “I don’t believe for a minute that you really need me to fix those men, or that you even care what happens to them. What is really going on here?”
    Karyn searched her mind for an explanation that would hold up to more than a moment’s scrutiny, but she came up with nothing before Elliot continued.
    â€œIt’s you, isn’t it?” Elliot asked. “You were at the old prison, and now you’re in the same boat as these guys.”
    â€œNo. Definitely not.”
    Whether something in her voice gave it away or whether Elliot was sharper than Karyn gave her credit for, Elliot jumped straight to the answer. “It’s Anna, then.” She didn’t even have the good grace to frame it as a question.
    â€œI don’t—”
    Elliot cut her off. “How bad is she?”
    â€œIt’s . . . under control. She’s leaving the magic alone, which we think keeps it from progressing as quickly.”
    â€œI don’t know whether to believe that. I can’t help you if you won’t be straight with me.”
    Karyn’s fingers tightened on the chair. “I can’t trust you without some documentation.”
    â€œIf that’s the level of trust we have, this won’t go very far. You know that.”
    Man, she was relentless. Every angle, over and over. The hell of it was, Karyn
did
need her help. “Give me something. A show of good faith.”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œTell me what
you
know about Belial,” Karyn said.
    â€œThat’s . . . a name to conjure by, as the saying goes.” There was a