Orpheus - Haunting the Dead.pdf - Dice

HAUNTING THE DEAD
ALLEN RAUSCH
girl’s violent movements ceased, and she stood up
straight.
“She’s high,” Perla’s mouth said.
“What do you mean, she’s high?” Eileen asked.
“She’s on some kind of a drug. It’s letting her fight
me. It’s also letting her see us.”
“What is it?”
“The name she has in her head is oceano de color.”
“Ocean of color? What the hell is… wait a minute.
Pigment? She’s on pigment?”
Perla’s head nodded. “That’s not what she calls it.
She calls it oceano de color or just ‘the sacrament.’”
Eileen knew that the black heroin that had recently
begun hitting the streets sometimes gave its users the
ability to project the way Orpheus agents could, but it
also usually retarded the users’ mental functions, making
them frenzied and violent.
That certainly seems to fit, Eileen thought. She had
never heard of pigment giving a user the ability to fight
against possession, though.
“What the hell is going on here?” Eileen muttered.
Then, louder, “Can you get anything else out of her?”
Teo shook Perla’s head. “The Pigment is blocking
me. It’s all I can do to keep control of her body. If I go
rummaging around in her head, she’s liable to kick me
out.”
“Fine,” Eileen said. “Then let’s go see exactly what
she was doing here.” She marched off toward the ruined
church.
Perla’s body lifted first one foot awkwardly, then the
other, and followed the American spirit toward the
large building.
The church was long and narrow, built of enormous
carved blocks of black basalt, piled high to a sloped roof
that sported a high steeple. A large, round window over
the door was webbed with steel lattice that had once
held stained glass. Stepping inside, Eileen noted that
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