The Better Part of Darkness

fingers flexed on the steering wheel, and I had to consciously stop myself from squeezing so tight. I should’ve made an appointment with Andy on the way out of the lab, but it hadn’t felt right. I kept thinking of Llyran—I didn’t want to be Titus Mott’s latest lab rat.

In my line of work I was privy to all manner of supernatural beings and experts. Maybe I could find someone neutral, someone who could be objective, someone powerful and knowledgeable enough to know exactly what my problem was. A few names floated around in my head as I hit the blinker to turn onto my street. Unfortunately, I’d pissed off most of them enough times that they’d probably shut the door in my face.

A group of people blocked the street up ahead directly in front of my house. There were bright lights, a camera van, and people with signs. Immediately I hit the lights and pulled the Tahoe to the curb. A couple of my neighbors were walking to or from the scene. A few patrol cars blocked the street and officers were trying to keep order. This couldn’t be good. I turned up my scanner and listened.

Someone had thrown a brick through my window.

The police had been called. Then the media.

Now the jinn, with CPP support, were picketing my house.

This was total bullshit. I got out of the car, tugged on my jacket, flipped the collar, and walked casually toward my house, somewhat hidden by the darkness and the row of cars parked along the street across from the house. With every step my anger grew. I loved our little bungalow, and those assholes were trampling all over the lawn, in the flower beds, and some soon-to-be-hurting jerk-off had broken my front window. I stopped behind a parked car, careful not to draw attention from the two jinn stationed near the house. They were looking, hoping I’d show up, hoping, I realized, to issue a summons from Grigori Tennin. Great. Couldn’t they have waited until morning, at least?

A line of officers pushed some of the more irate picketers off my lawn and onto the sidewalk. They were mostly jinn elders and females, goblins, imps, and human sympathizers.

A CPP representative was giving an interview in front of my house. Otorius. The reporter was a human from Channel Two News.

“This kind of police brutality cannot be tolerated. We have rights. We are legal citizens. This incident was nothing but discrimination. Detective Madigan killed three members of our society. She beat two of them to death. The CPP is demanding she be held in custody until an internal investigation is complete.”

I slinked back into the shadows, wanting nothing more than to wring Otorius’s neck. This reeked of political agenda. The nobles saw an opportunity and they’d jumped. Damned if I’d be a scapegoat, and I certainly hadn’t done anything wrong.

As I went to head back to the car, a strong hand gripped my arm and pulled me into the shadows of a live oak. “Goddammit, Madigan, have you lost your fucking mind coming here?”

A sigh of relief tore through me. I released my hand from the gun under my jacket, and swallowed down my shock. “Chief.”

“If they see you here, it’s going to be a bloodbath for one.”

My eyes adjusted to the darkness. He was dressed in street clothes and a black leather jacket, his hands shoved into the pockets, looking for all the world like a retired heavyweight world champ you would not want to mess with. One who was presently glaring at me with a full-blown frown set in his wide face. I knew him well enough, though, to know the glare really meant worry.

He pulled me farther under the canopy of oak limbs and Spanish moss, his dark eyes darting to the crowd and then back to me. “I’m getting pressure to bring you in, Charlie. The head of the CPP has been calling my cell for the last two hours.”

“I don’t understand. How—”

“Someone had a video phone in Underground. Your little smackdown with the jinn is all over the news.”

I leaned forward, trying to keep my voice down. “They attacked me. One of them killed Auggie.”

“I know, but the footage. It’s brutal, Charlie. It’s all over the Internet, too. And it doesn’t show them attacking you.”

My cheeks went hot. Indignation swelled my chest. “No. Of course it doesn’t. They’re setting me up.”

“Listen,” he said, pausing as his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He glanced at the display. “I can buy you a couple of days; try to find some witnesses who can prove the jinn attacked first. But you gotta lay low until this thing is resolved. The CPP will drag this out until the very end.”

“Yeah, and in the meantime they’re going to paint their entire race as victims of prejudice and abuse.”

“This is all just politics. Give it a few days and they’ll find something else to keep them in the spotlight.”

My fists clenched hard. That this was happening to me … Me! I shook my head, staring across the baseball field. I wasn’t a bad officer. I’d never taken a bribe, looked the other way, or committed unwarranted abuse against any criminal or suspect in my custody.

“Watch your back, Charlie. Grigori Tennin will issue a summons. Two of the jinn you killed were local tribesmen.”

“I know. So much for their whole law-abiding citizen routine.”

“Yeah, and if you can’t pay their death price, poof. No body. No evidence. No crime. That’s how they work, and the last thing I want is to find out you’ve gone missing ’cause we both know you don’t have the cash or the clout to pay off a blood debt like this.”

“Gee, thanks.”

If a tribe member was injured or killed and the offender couldn’t reimburse the tribe with what Grigori Tennin decided was a fair trade or price, a blood debt was issued. So far, the ITF had been unable to find any evidence of foul play other than word on the street and missing persons reports. We did the best we could, but it was impossible to pin a crime on anyone when there was no evidence, despite the fact that we all knew the jinn still kept to their warlike ways, and each tribe was territorial and unforgiving.

Atlanta’s jinn population answered to Grigori Tennin, and it had been that way since the tribe was established here. Most big cities had several tribes, but Atlanta had one. One that was absolute. No jinn made Atlanta home without Tennin’s approval.

Like I didn’t have enough to deal with already. Now I had to worry about being pulled off the street in order to answer to Grigori, not to mention retribution from the rogues, vigilantes, and sympathizers out there, no doubt whipped into a frenzy after all the media attention.

The chief’s big hand squeezed my shoulder. “I know,” he said quietly. “Like I said, lay low. Stay away from the house and let me handle the CPP. You did nothing wrong, Charlie. I know that. The department knows that.” He grabbed my hand and curled my fingers over a set of car keys. “Go to my house and take my nephew’s car. It’s the red one. He’s doing a semester in South Africa right now. You leave your car. I’ll drive it to the station tomorrow. Make sure no one follows you. And for God’s sake, stay away from the hospital and Amanda Mott. And you might as well stay away from Hank, too. Tennin will probably have someone on him.”

I nodded, squeezing the keys until they bit into my palm. My voice caught. “Thanks, Chief.”

“Just don’t attract any angry jinn and that’ll be thanks enough.”

He hunched his wide shoulders and walked down the sidewalk away from my house and away from the direction of my car. I headed the other way, making sure to keep my steps slow and unhurried. My heart pounded. All I could think was that someone had seen me, and was following. I had to get to the car and get to Bryn’s as soon as possible.

In the chief’s driveway, I slipped inside the sporty red Mustang GT, turned the ignition, leaving the lights off, and backed out into the street, hoping I hadn’t woken his wife, Anne-Marie. I shoved the car in gear and headed for Underground.

The parking on Alabama Street had thinned out, allowing me to find a spot near the entrance to Underground. The bars and clubs closed at 4A.M. If my luck held, the only people passing by would be inebriated stragglers and tired waitstaff. Too tired or drunk to notice me or care.

Hopefully, no one would think to look for me here, a few stores up from the scene of the crime. Bad thing was I’d probably be more recognized down here by the off-worlders than in the ’burbs. But I didn’t know where else to go. It was late. I couldn’t think straight and had to find a safe place to rest and regroup.

And I desperately needed to see Emma. Just to kiss her while she slept, tuck the covers more securely