The Better Part of Darkness

lifted his arms. I slid my gaze to the package dangling semi-limp and pink between his legs, and let out a disappointed sigh. “Not very impressive.” I’d always wondered about the sex of off-worlders. But his was pretty much the same as an average human male’s, except Otorius wasn’t circumcised, which made sense.

The female, an intern by the look and age of her, slowly slid her purse off the desk and held it to her chest like a shield. She wore a preppy pink button-down shirt, tight jeans, and her brown hair pulled back with a barrette. “Um, I guess I should be going now.” She edged around the desk; face pale, eyes wide, and so freaking young it made me wince.

“Sorry, sweetheart, you’re not going anywhere. Rex?”

“Yeah,” he said from just beyond my right shoulder.

“Find something to tie her with and then put her in a closet in one of the main rooms. Don’t worry,” I told her, “someone will find you in the morning.”

Her lips trembled, and she started to cry as Rex took her arm. I didn’t feel bad at all. In fact, I was helping her to figure out the important things in life, and sucking Abaddon dick wasn’t one of them. She could thank me later.

Once we were alone, Otorius spat out, “I can’t wait to watch you die, brougá.”

“Oh, enough with the brougá already. Move around the desk.”

I stepped back. Had I not been pissed beyond belief, seeing him shuffling around the desk with his pants around his ankles, his hairy white legs a stark contrast to his black slacks and shiny dress shoes, would’ve been laughable. But as it was, I was ready to kill him.

Leaning my hip on a nearby accent table, I held his fuming stare for a moment. “I’m going to be very clear on what I’m about to say.” I spoke slowly and with enough conviction that he nodded. “Tell me where my daughter is, and your penis stays intact.”

Simple and effective.

Pale dots appeared on his face, slowly replacing the red until he was covered in an ashen pallor. “I don’t know where she is.”

“Do you know what this is, Otorius?” I asked, motioning toward the gun. “It’s a Nitro-gun. It freezes things. Freezes them so badly, they can shatter into a million … little … pieces.”

Rex groaned behind me, and I glanced over to see him moving his hand protectively in front of his—Will’s— crotch. “Damn, that’s brutal. God,” he groaned again, “it hurts just thinking about it. And I thought Abaddon bitches were cruel.”

I gave him a droll look and then turned my attention back to Otorius. “Well?”

“Goddammit, Madigan, I don’t know where your fucking daughter is!” he barked, panic making his voice tremble. His hands dropped a fraction. He wanted nothing more than to cover himself, to protect himself. In an act of defiance and desperate instinct, he did it anyway.

And I fired.

Rex and Otorius screamed at the same time. The beam shot out and froze both of Otorius’s hands. He leapt around the room, screaming in pain, unable to separate one hand from the other and nearly tripping over his trapped ankles.

Adrenaline pumping through me, I moved forward and grabbed him, shoving him face-first onto the desk, his arms over his head, hands still linked, and his bald ass pointing skyward. I stood at his hip and grabbed his neck, holding him down as hard as I could and fighting myself to remain in control. “Tell me!” I shouted. “Tell me where she is right now, or I finish the job!”

“I don’t know!” He sobbed and blubbered against the desk. “I don’t know! I don’t know!”

“Charlie, I think he’s telling the truth,” Will’s voice reached beyond the firestorm in my head. No. That wasn’t Will. It was the swindling, hustler body thief. Rex.

“Shut up,” I snarled, blinking tears back because I knew he was right. Otorius didn’t know where my daughter was.

“Where’s the ash lab?” I asked instead.

“I don’t know, I swear. I only know that the Sangurne N’ashu needs heat and moisture to grow. A hothouse maybe. It takes seven years for one flower to bloom, so it’d have to be an established place. That’s all I know.” I eased my grip on his neck. “You can’t stop him, Charlie. You’re in way over your head, and he’s waited too long for this.”

“For what?” I squeezed harder and he laughed.

“He’d hurt me far worse than you ever could.”

Otorius’s hands finally unlocked, but one was so burnt with frostbite, it had turned completely black. The other hand, which had been under the first, came out in much better shape.

He’d lose the hand.

But it was no more than he deserved. I hauled him off the desk and shoved him at Rex, whose look of horror at seeing a semi-naked male bearing down upon him was actually pretty damn amusing. He caught Otorius, holding the Abaddon representative at arm’s length and shooting me an incredulous scowl. “What the hell do you want me to do with him?”

I sat on the edge of the desk, tired. “I don’t care. Tie him up and put him in the closet with what’s-her- face.”

“Her name is Darlene, and she’s from Michigan,” Rex said frankly. “What about his pants? I’m not pulling them up and he can’t do it with his hands.”

“Then leave them,” I shot back. “Just get him out of my sight.”

Rex rolled his eyes at me and then slowly led Otorius from the room. I’d just made one hell of an enemy, I thought, looking after them.

Emma. Where are you?

The fist squeezing my heart was so great, I set the gun on the desk and then sank down to the floor, hugging my knees and gasping for breath at the same moment tears flooded down my face. I couldn’t control it any longer.

I’d lost her. My little girl.

My hands delved into my hair and I squeezed hard, pulling on the roots as I rocked back and forth. Pressure and heat built in my face and chest. I screamed, a frustrated sound torn from my very soul. My body shuddered as my wail turned to racking sobs.

A body sat down beside me and pulled me into his arms. I knew it wasn’t Will, but it smelled like him and felt like him and spoke soothing words like him. I held on tight, releasing the tears into his shirt, my head tucked under his chin as his hand rubbed my back. “We lost our girl,” I sobbed against him. “We lost our baby.”

“Shhh.” He soothed my hair in long strokes. After a long moment, he said, “I’ve never met a more determined mother than you, Charlie. You’ll find a way. Don’t lose faith now.”

His softly spoken words broke through the grief.

Drawing in a deep breath, I raised my head and looked into the eyes of the man I’d loved for so long, wishing he was there. “I thought you guys were all … bad.”

Rex’s smile was awkward, but flattered. “Common misconception. Not all demon spirits are bad. The Wraiths, running around and possessing humans against their will, making their heads spin around and launch nuclear barf from twelve feet out, kind of gave us all a bad name.” I laughed. “Mostly, we just want to experience life, physical life, that’s all. The last body I was in was an old fart who’d had a heart attack in his forties. I made him the sensation of The Wolf’s Lair Dinner Theater. Starring role six seasons straight. You might have heard of me. James Eblehard.”

I shook my head.

“Yeah, well, I could have made him the greatest actor the world has ever seen, but all he wanted was dinner theater stardom.” He sighed deeply. “It was an utter waste of my talent. Anyway, he told his wife I’d take over when his time came. She asked me to stay and I did. We Revenants care, no matter what you might have heard otherwise.” And then he fixed me with a glare. “But if you tell anybody about this, I’ll have to cut out your tongue.”

I sniffed and eased back. “And if you tell anybody I lost it, I’ll cut off your—”

His hand shot up. “No need to paint a picture! I get it.”