The Better Part of Darkness

Surprised I was able to smile and actually mean it, I stood, grabbing my gun from the desk and sliding it into the holster.

Rex and I left the second floor to the sounds of banging and muffled shouts for help. “God help the poor soul who finds Otorius,” Rex muttered.

“So where to now?” Rex asked when we got into the car.

“You’re cooperating pretty well.” I glanced over, finding it odd, despite what he’d told me in Otorius’s office.

“I told you, I’m a decent guy. I do every possession by the book. Contract says I got to tie up loose ends, then that’s what I’ll do. Besides, I haven’t had this much excitement in eons. Except” —a pointed finger shot up —“when I met Shakespeare in Bankside.” He sighed. “The Globe … now that was theater.”

I started the car and slipped it in first. “We’re going to my sister’s.”

Rex pulled down the visor mirror and inspected his face. “How do I look?” He adjusted the bloodstained shirt, frowning at the big splotches of dark red and the huge area of wetness from my tears. Talk about self-involved. I didn’t need to look in a mirror to know my face was still puffy and splotchy from crying and my hair was sticking out at all angles.

“My sister doesn’t go for your type, trust me.”

He huffed at me. “No need to crush a man’s ego.”

“You’re not a man,” I reminded him. “You’re a parasite who swindled my husband.”

“Oh, look at you now, calling him your husband. He wouldn’t have needed me if you had been open to calling him that before.”

Ouch. “Shut the hell up.”

My cell rang. It was Bryn. “Yeah,” I answered, giving an evil look to Rex.

“Charlie,” she said breathlessly. I stiffened; the panic in her voice was all too clear. “Hank is here.” Her voice choked on tears. “You need to come back.”

“Already on my way.” Hanging up, I cursed under my breath. “Fuck.” What else could go wrong? I tapped the steering wheel, thinking, as I dropped the gear in third and passed a dump truck. “Can you heal others?” I asked Rex.

“Just my host body.”

“Figures.”

Once we parked, I fished in my pocket for Bryn’s cloaking charm, intending to use it at the entrance to Mercy Street. The last thing I needed was to deal with the black mages or any other renegade waiting to ambush me.

Underground was still lit up. People milled about, watching workers set up for a block concert. I pulled Rex closer to the storefronts and rounded the corner to Mercy Street.

“Hold it right there.”

We stopped dead in our tracks, running straight into the barrel of a 9mm as a figure in a black cloak and hood stepped from behind a large potted fern.

Violet and indigo eyes glowed from the darkness inside of the hood. Sian.

Without thinking, I twisted the gun from her hand. “You fucking bitch!” A stunned expression paled her smooth gray skin as I shoved her back into the alley and slammed her against the rough brick wall with one hand braced flat against the middle of her chest and the other holding her own gun to her throat. “Maybe I should just kill you and see how Daddy likes the feeling.”

Confusion creased her brow. “What?”

“The second debt. He tried to kill my husband and my daughter is missing.” I pressed the nozzle deep into her neck. “She’s eleven years old.”

A profound weight settled on my shoulders. I couldn’t keep the tears from rising to my eyes, but I did keep them from spilling over. Music drifted into the alley. The band, tuning their instruments in spurts of funky guitar strokes and sudden drumbeats, accentuated the fact that this entire day had been an insane combination of disbelief, heartbreak, discovery, and loss on a monumental scale. I just wanted to wake up from this nightmare. Sian’s hand came up slowly and pulled the hood off her head.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” she said in a tone saturated with horror and condolence.

“Right.” I waved the gun in front of her nose. “So, what, you just decided to come topside to show me your new toy?”

She swallowed and averted her gaze. “Well, no, I didn’t know what exactly I was going to do, but … despite what my father wants, I can’t work topside. And the only way I could think was to get rid of you or make you bargain with me,” she said lamely.

“Holy shit. You’re a hybrid,” Rex said in awe as it dawned on him.

She blinked back instant tears. “You see? You see why I can’t go out in public? I can’t do it.” Her anxiety and vulnerable state emanated blackness into her purple-and-blue aura.

Her entire demeanor was so different than when I’d first seen her, and she must have seen the thought pass across my face because she said, “I try to be strong in the den, to show my father I am like a jinn … But even there they hate me. So I have to be like stone, like nothing matters.”

“Did you know your father is working with Mynogan?”

“Yes. My father struck a bargain to make the ash. They bring us the Bleeding Souls and we extract the milk and then send it to a lab where it’s made into powder. Father calls their bargain Step Two.”

“Any idea where the flowers are grown or where this lab is? Or where they’d take a child?”

“None. I’m sorry. The lab is run by Cassius Mott, though, if that helps. I don’t know where it is except that it’s in or around Atlanta somewhere.”

Three steps. Mynogan grew the flowers, Grigori extracted them, and Cass turned them street-friendly. But what the hell Mynogan needed me for was still a mystery.

“Next time you decide to go confront somebody,” I said, lifting the gun in front of her face, “you might want to turn off the safety.” I shoved her gun into the back of my jeans and turned to leave.

“But what about the job? I just told you things my father would kill me for! You’re supposed to help me now! I can’t—”

I paused and looked over my shoulder. “Yeah, well, you won’t have to worry about it much longer because Daddy will be dead or in jail.” I resumed walking. “Preferably dead.”

As I passed Rex, I grabbed his bicep to usher him out of the alley. He walked backwards three steps, lifted one hand to his ear, and mouthed the words call me to Sian.

Completely ignoring him, I scanned the open area at the head of the alley. The charm wouldn’t cover Rex, but I was hoping the black mages wouldn’t be on the lookout for Will. The undercover officer had seen Will now a few times, so he shouldn’t give him any trouble at Bryn’s door.

I had to grab Rex’s hand and drag him behind me. He was like a child and easily distracted by the sights and sounds of Underground. It made me wonder how long it had been since he’d found himself in a young body.

Bryn let us in on the first press of the buzzer.

My pulse pounded hard, but not from my run up the stairs. Hank was back, and I prayed it wasn’t as bad as it had sounded over the phone. Rex followed at a leisurely pace, trailing his hand along the wall as he progressed.

Inside, my heart nearly dropped to the floor when I saw Hank lying on the couch, and a tearstained Bryn kneeling at the coffee table, hands shaking as she lit incense and mixed a healing drink of herbs, blessing it under her breath.

I went down on my knees, afraid to touch him. His big body spilled over the cushions, one hand dangling to the floor. Dried blood matted his blond hair. Bruises covered his knuckles and face. My lion had fallen. I bit my lip hard, until the skin popped and a warm drop of blood hit my tongue.

Bryn gasped suddenly and bumped into me in her haste to scramble away, her back hitting the love seat. Over my shoulder I saw Will’s rugged form filling the doorway. Bryn’s wide brown eyes were fixed on him. Then she glanced at me, the gold and copper flecks bright with fear. She swallowed. “That’s not Will.”

“I know. That’s Rex. He stole Will’s body.”