Free Hellhound (A Deadtown Novel) by Nancy Holzner Page B

thought struck me. “But we don’t know whether any of the other witnesses were possessed by the Morfran when it left Malone’s body. Were there other injuries?”
    “They got banged around some, but nothing like Skibinsky’s fracture. On the other hand, they’re . . . you know, zombies.”
    I did know, of course. Because zombies don’t heal, every zombie in Deadtown carries around cuts and scrapes, or worse. If the Morfran could possess a zombie by entering through an open wound, there wasn’t a single zombie in Boston who was safe.

8
    BACK AT THE CHECKPOINT, I WAS ASTONISHED WHEN I presented my receipt and actually got my weapons back. Two daggers, a pistol, and two magazines of bronze bullets. I couldn’t believe it.
    “You’ve got connections now.” Daniel smiled, but grimness touched his expression. “I’ll make sure the clearance list specifies you’re allowed to bring Hellforged through. Tonight proved we need it.”
    “Good.” I didn’t need an argument each time I went through the checkpoint. Especially with my demon mark springing to life at the slightest provocation. “How much paperwork will that take?”
    “It shouldn’t be too bad. At sunrise they’re going to lower the restriction level from Code Red to Code Yellow. But I want to make sure you and Hellforged have clearance at all levels.”
    Code Red meant that all paranormals were confined to Deadtown, no exceptions. Or so I’d thought until Daniel actually got me through. Code Yellow lifted restrictions on all non–previously deceased, so any paranormal who wasn’t a zombie could come and go. In between was Code Orange, which gave clearance to certain Deadtown residents on a preapproved list. Kane was on the Code Orange list. Normally I wasn’t, but my new Code Red clearance would trickle down through the other colors. Cool.
    “Hampson’s calling it yellow?” I was surprised. “Even after another Morfran possession tonight?”
    “It’s not entirely up to Hampson. As commissioner, he makes the initial call, but the guy hates paranormals so much he’d keep it at red all the time. There’s pressure on him not to overdo it. The mayor’s office, for example.” Mayor Milliken’s daughter had been caught in the zombie plague and now lived on my block. “And businesses that employ werewolves don’t like their staff to miss too much work. Some of those companies have a lot of pull.”
    Nice to see we monsters occasionally had somebody on our side.
    “Of course,” Daniel continued, “Foster’s probably singing a song to Hampson right now about what happened tonight. So you’re right—Hampson might try to keep the code level where it is, or go down half a step to orange. But so far no word of that has come through. I think it’ll drop to yellow.”
    With another promise to get official approval for me to carry Hellforged into Boston, Daniel said good night. Between the checkpoints, the New Combat Zone was strangely quiet. Nobody lingered on the street. Buildings were dark. Boards covered the windows smashed in this morning’s riot. The only place open was Creature Comforts. I paused, wondering if I should stop in. I wanted to see how Axel was doing. Plus Juliet was probably there, along with half the vampires of Deadtown, hunting among the humans who visit the bar to mingle with the monsters. Even if word of the riot scared casual thrill-seekers away, there’d be a good supply of vampire junkies offering themselves up for dinner.
    I wasn’t in the mood to watch vampires flirt with their prey. I needed to figure out what was going on with the Morfran. And to do that, I had to go home and spend some time with
The Book of Utter Darkness
. A shudder went through me, and I almost ran to Axel’s front door to yank it open, greet some friends, have a drink, engage in mindless conversation. Anything to avoid that damn book.
    But the Morfran’s reemergence meant fate was pushing onward. And only the book could show me the