The Better Part of Darkness

As if on cue, a far-off high-pitched scream echoed through the night.

“I’ll go check the disturbance on the ward,” the black mage said. “If it’s those damn amateur kids again thinking they can break the ward, I’m going to kill them.”

As the mage stomped across the lawn, the jinn argued over who would go after the hellhound. I glanced over at Hank. We waited, knowing once they separated, taking them down would be easier.

Hank and Zara moved further down the path to intercept the jinn recruited to go after the hound. They could use his amulet to get through, while I stayed put to take down the mage.

He never knew what hit him.

His focus was solely on Aaron and Bryn as he stepped through the ward’s boundary. Just before he called upon his power to knock them out of their trance, I zapped him with my Hefty.

That left two on the patio. After nudging Bryn to bring her and Aaron back to reality, I stood over the mage’s body, reluctant to cut him open. But, all I had to do was think of Emma and I was down on my knees, pulling his sleeve up and slicing his arm with my boot knife. His blood oozed warm from his body, creating a puff of steam in the chilly air. I placed my hands in the trail, wetting them on both sides and scooping some up to rub between my fingers, around my wrists, and up my forearms. Probably should have removed the amulet first, I thought as I dripped blood all over his face trying to remove it from his neck.

When I stood, Bryn and Aaron approached. “Well, here goes nothing,” I said, holding up the amulet in my slick red hand.

They dragged the mage closer to the perimeter of the ward as I hesitated at the edge of the lawn. I turned to them, squeezing the carved amulet in my hand. “As soon as I enter, I’ll toss this back to you and then take out those two.” I motioned toward the remaining two guards standing on the patio. “Make sure you get enough blood on your hands.”

Bryn took a deep breath and nodded.

Maybe I should have smeared more blood on me, I thought, right before I drew in a deep breath and stepped onto the bright lawn. A painful tingle of energy passed over me, and then I was through. Quickly, I tossed the amulet back through the ward and pulled my Nitro-gun, only having a few seconds before the two guards noticed me.

I focused, straightened, then marched purposefully over the grass, the gun held behind my thigh.

The move startled the jinn into what I knew would only be a small window of surprise. But that was all I needed. As I walked toward them, I said, “Your hound is loose,” and then I whipped my gun in front of me and shot twice, once to the left and once to the right. The gun went off silently, the setting on lethal. They dropped with the confused expressions still on their faces.

My pulse pounded, adrenaline rushing through my system and putting me back into my element, doing what I did best. All my years of training had prepared me for this.

Aaron and Bryn ran across the sod and joined me, their hands as bloody as mine.

“Jesus, Charlie,” Bryn breathed, eyeing the dead jinn. “I can’t believe you just walked right up to them like that.”

We all took a moment to wipe the blood from our hands. “Yeah, well,” I echoed her words from earlier, “I have strengths you don’t even know about, too.”

“The jinn would call those grômms,” Aaron said frankly.

True.

I moved toward the French doors and peered around the frame. “It’s the main bath. There are three jinn inside, to your left.”

I turned to Aaron. “Detect any sign of the two nobles?”

“Underground. That’s all I’m getting.”

Hank and Zara ran onto the patio and took cover against the wall. I motioned about the three inside. “Zara and I can handle the three,” Hank said. “The rest of you go underground. Those two nobles should be close to Emma. Once you take them out, she’s ours.”

“Bryn, Aaron, once that happens, get her out of here. The rest of us will destroy the Bleeding Souls.” I took a deep breath. “Everyone ready?”

We ducked inside, Hank and Zara going left and the rest of us heading right around the thick palms and heavy curtains. If we stayed low we should be able to make it down the length of the large pool and to the main entrance.

“What’s the stupid hound done this time?” a jinn voice called from the other side of the pool, thinking the footsteps he was hearing were his brethren returning.

We were almost to the main entrance when chairs scraped over tile. Shots rang out, the guards equipped with human firearms. A piece of the stone wall erupted a few feet behind us and rained pieces down on the tile. I heard the whine of a Nitro-gun. And then a voice, splitting my eardrums, a singular tone, like the blare of a trumpet that shook anything that wasn’t bolted down.

Once we made it into the lobby, we straightened and split up, me going down the left hall and Aaron and Bryn taking the right. Every room was empty and dark. I ran back as Bryn met me in the lobby, out of breath. “It’s this way,” she said.

We raced to a door marked boiler room. I took lead, easing down the steel stairwell, feeling as though each step brought me closer to hell; the heat was intense. One flight down, the stairs ended at another door.

Locked.

Aaron stepped forward, weaved his hands over the lock, and it released. Neat trick. Carefully, we entered a short hallway that opened up into a vast area of large boilers that supplied endless hot water to the baths above. Steam shot out of release valves, adding intense humidity to the air.

We weaved our way through the labyrinth of pipes, boilers, and controls.

I held up my hand as the area opened up into a control center. An Abaddon female sat behind the counter with her feet propped up, reading a magazine. Behind the control station was a pass-through with a downward ramp.

Aaron motioned toward the ramp. I would go on ahead. He and Zara would take care of the female. I nodded and leaned back to let them pass. They had to completely engage her before I ran for the ramp. The last thing I wanted was for her to call for help.

Both mages dipped their chins. The air stirred around them. A fierce emerald glow lit Aaron’s eyes. The gold flecks in Bryn’s irises turned to fire. It was a beautiful, yet scary, sight to see the power gathering within them. I eased backward, taking another direction to the ramp.

The Abaddon shot to her feet, sensing our presence. I hesitated, worried about my sister. No. Bryn could take care of herself. I had to move.

As I positioned myself at the end of a massive pipe, I checked the all clear, just catching a glimpse of Aaron appearing behind the Abaddon as Bryn lifted her hands straight over her head and then brought them down with a circle motion. A shimmering green circle shot toward the Abaddon.

I darted across the empty space, through the pass-through, and then slammed my back against the earthen wall. A door slammed from somewhere below. I couldn’t see what lay below me, so I stuck to the wall and inched my way down the ramp and soon found myself staring at a long chamber, two stories high, with beam-supported earthen walls and a floor of soil and large rocks. Condensation dripped from the ceiling of the cavern. Patches of Bleeding Souls grew from the spaces where the rocks met the soil. There was no artificial light here. None was needed. A soft moonlit glow from the flowers lit the cavernous chamber, and the area was saturated with the scent of honeysuckle and dirt. I swallowed hard, trying not to gag.

Tools lined a portion of one wall, and carts had been placed neatly in a line along one edge of the field.

With a deep breath, I hurried down the chamber, my footsteps completely muted by the dirt. Further in now, the far wall came into view. It rose high enough so that there were open rooms on the ground level, probably for the harvesters, and then a line of rooms over those, with windows that overlooked the field.

A light appeared in the second-story window. I heard footsteps above as I quickly found the stairs leading to the second floor.

The landing was empty. I moved down the hall to check the first closed door. No sooner had I reached for the doorknob than I was thrown forward into the door. Pain flowed through my face as it smacked the wall. The Nitro-