The Better Part of Darkness

He shoved the beloved bill into his pocket, stopping between two storefronts, edging back into the shadows. “Well, I can tell you this. What you’ve been seeing over the past week is only the beginning, Charlie Madigan, only the beginning.” He gave a nervous laugh.

His black pupils dilated and the dingy yellow surrounding them flashed as he glanced anywhere but at me. “And that’s about all I can tell you.” He opened his coat, hands shaking, and changed the subject. “You wanna buy a spell? For you, I give you half price.” Vials of colored liquids and powders hung from small hooks beneath his coat. “Love, sex, happiness, wealth, I got it all right here, see. How about beauty? I got that, too.” He paled. “Oh, I mean, not that you need it. Fuck. No, you don’t need it. I just meant …” Sweat beaded his thin upper lip and ran down the bony sides of his face.

“I know what you meant,” I said, stepping closer to him. “What the hell has got you spooked, Auggie? Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

He stepped back, his eyes bulging and the yellow flashing again as they darted around. “No, not this time. No. Sorry. No can do.”

I grabbed his wool coat by the collar. The vials clinked against each other like wind chimes in a sudden breeze. “Auggie, two people have died. There are over twenty in the hospital right now.” My voice dropped. “I have a sixteen-year-old kid lying comatose on a goddamn bathroom floor. A kid. You want that on your conscience? You want to obstruct the law? ’Cause I can promise you you’ll be on the next transport back to Charbydon if you don’t.”

“How about a holding cell?” He gave another nervous laugh. “Charbydon … it’s too dark there now, not even an inch of moonlight.” He gulped. “I can’t, Charlie. I can’t tell you more.”

All I could think about was Emma, the promise I had made, and Amanda, the young girl I’d come to care about. “I swear to God,” I forced out between tight lips, “don’t make me beat it out of you, Auggie.” I wasn’t serious in my threat, but the urge was there. Stronger than it had ever been before.

A wave of dizziness rolled over me, followed by a sudden rush of bloodlust, ballooning, pushing against my chest, wanting to escape. I blinked hard, shocked. God, it hurt. I couldn’t catch my breath.

Steady, Charlie. It was getting harder and harder to control my emotions lately. Maybe because I hadn’t slept through the night since I’d recovered from dying.

I dropped my hold on Auggie’s coat, stumbled back, and leaned down, both hands on my knees, trying to regroup and settle myself, trying to breathe.

“You ain’t right,” Auggie said softly. “You ain’t right at all. You ever think what happened to you may have —”

Fire shot through me. My eyes snapped open, and I grabbed him by the throat and propelled him into the brick wall, lifting him clear off his feet. “Not. Another. Word.” My nostrils flared. My voice sounded different. Strength flowed through me—so great that I knew if I wanted, I could snap his neck without effort or shove him clean through the brick wall. Part of me wanted that.

What the hell? No. Calm down.

“Start talking, Auggie, ’cause I don’t know … how long I can … hold out.”

He nodded rapidly. I let him slide down the wall until his feet touched the concrete. My hold on his throat lessened, but just enough to allow him to speak. I was shaking hard and confused beyond belief. But getting information was all that mattered right now. I’d figure the rest out later.

“They’re calling it ash.”

“I know that. What else? What is it?”

“It comes from some kind of flower in Charbydon, that’s all I know.”

“Who’s dealing it?”

“Just some guys. Dealers, I guess. They’re testing it out, giving it to junkies, other dealers … If you overdose, it does the same thing on the eyes, no matter who you are or where you’re from.”

I squeezed harder. Auggie’s eyes bulged. “Who? I need a name, a place.”

His body stilled, and his terrified gaze froze over my left shoulder. “Oh, fuck.” The color drained from his face, leaving him a washed-out shade of seasick green.

I followed his gaze to see three jinn warriors striding toward us. They were tall, built like linebackers, and wore heavy black sunglasses to shield their sensitive eyes. Their dark gray skin, like soot from a fireplace, was as smooth as polished marble. Their mouths were grim, and they walked with purpose. For thousands of years they held a position of honor in Charbydon as bodyguards to the nobles. Damn.

Auggie began to shake. I released him and took a step back, my hand going to my Nitro-gun.

They stopped in front of us, all of them at least six-four and as menacing as a pack of hungry jackals.

“Hey, fellas,” Auggie said in broken falsetto, “just let me finish with the lady here.” He turned to me, his desperation almost tangible in the air between us. “What was that you wanted, ma’am? A love spell, right?” The vials rattled from his trembling as he opened the coat. He didn’t give me a vial, but slipped a pack of matches into my hand. “There you go.”

I met his gaze and it pleaded with me, seeming glassier than before. “Off you go.” He gave a nervous chuckle, trying to feign a genial tone for the benefit of the jinn, and then he leaned down and whispered, “Run, Charlie Madigan. Run.”

For as long as I’d known Auggie, he’d been selfish and greedy, but always reliable. Mutely, I shook my head at him. No way would I leave him to these guys, especially after he’d just tried to protect me. I shoved the matches in my pocket and turned as the three stepped closer.

“Get lost, brougá,” the one in the leather jacket spat.

I sneered back, not appreciating being called the equivalent of a disease-infested whore.

Obviously the one in leather was the leader of this three-ring gang. The other two wore parkas. The jinn were severely hot-natured—even in the notorious heat of an Atlanta summer they wore sweatshirts. That was why a Nitro-gun worked so well. It could stun them into submission, freeze their flesh, and stop their blood flow, and eventually the heart, in one Level-5 blast, but that was a shoot-to-kill-only setting, not something an officer would typically use on the street to detain criminals.

“I’m not done with the spellmonger,” I told the one who’d spoken. “Why don’t you come back later?”

The ringleader made a step toward me. Without thought, I withdrew the gun from the holster under my arm and pointed it straight at his chest; at the same time my other hand held out my badge. A glow built in his violet irises. It meant only one thing.

Attack.

With my thumb, I moved the nitro level up. This jinn was a big one, and I had the distinct feeling he’d fight until his last breath and do his best to take me with him.

“ITF, huh?” A slow, even grin spread across his dark face. He flexed his big, beefy fingers. “I’m going to like breaking you in two. Human bones, they snap like twigs.”

Auggie cursed behind me as the situation exploded.

One of the jinn was on him in a flash. I got one round off against the jinn directly in front of me before the third struck a massive blow against my chest with the palm of his hand. It lifted me off my feet and sent me flying into the brick wall.

The sudden impact knocked the wind out of me. A bright flash of pain sliced through my skull and back.

Dear God.

My gun and badge clattered to the sidewalk. I slid down the wall to my feet, crouching down like some animal, one hand on the pavement as a surge of blinding anger, anger so powerful and excruciating, erupted through me, stinging a path all the way to my fingers and toes. It was hot and cold. I couldn’t contain it, whatever it was. But it erased the pain, so I welcomed it.

A loud hum vibrated from my core. I straightened as the jinn marched toward me with a leer. Calm settled over me, confidence swelled my chest. I wanted to fight, to get down and dirty and give this joker a big ole lesson in southern manners. I had no doubt from Auggie’s reaction that they had supplied the ash. The same substance that had killed, that had put Amanda, and numerous others, in the hospital.

My gaze darted to my weapon directly between me and the asshole jinn.

He paused. I smiled sarcastically.

The sane part of me screamed. What the hell was I doing? Dive for the gun! But