The Better Part of Darkness (22 page)

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.”

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.”

Rex slung me an exasperated glower. “Not
stole
.” He stepped into the room, scanning every detail. I knew he was experiencing Will’s memories of this place, but as Rex, he was seeing it for the first time. As if on an afterthought, he turned back to Bryn, studying her just as intently as he had the surroundings. “William bargained to win back Little Miss Sunshine here. Don’t ask me why.”

“Go to hell,” I responded with the most withering glare I could muster.

Bryn’s face paled. Her hand fluttered to her neck as tears filled her eyes and fell over the rims. Her voice was barely a whisper as the cruel understanding dawned on her. “Emma.”

I didn’t have to answer. She understood. The tears trailed silently down her cheeks. Her chest rose and fell as though she had trouble breathing. She put her head in her hands and doubled over, rocking and mumbling the words, “Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God …”

Watching her fall apart was cracking my own self-control, and I couldn’t lose it, not now, not when Emma needed me the most. I went to reach for Bryn to shake her out of her shock and grief, but right before I touched her, she lifted her head, sat straighter, and sniffed. The grim copper gleam that came into her eyes startled even me. “I need to make a call.” She staggered to her feet and went into the kitchen.

Gently, I touched Hank’s shoulder. “Hank? Can you hear me?” He shrank away. Swollen eyelids slit open. He turned away from me. “Hank?”

“Leave me alone, Charlie,” he rasped out, his voice barely a whisper, but loud enough for me to hear true pain, and what sounded like blame.

“Hank. I didn’t leave you alone. Carreg was there to help. I had to get back to Em. You heard what Mynogan said.”

“Yeah, Carreg the Almighty wasn’t quick enough to stop this.” He lifted his neck. Both ends of his voice modifier had been fused together. Despair lodged in his throat. “It won’t come off.” And I knew what that meant. His greatest asset, his greatest power, was gone.

Stunned, I dropped back, my rear end landing on the carpet and my stomach folding into tight knots. The utter desolation in Hank’s eyes left me cold and despondent. And when he turned his back on me, I felt a keen sense of loss. I went to pull him over, to try and explain, but his eyes were closed and his breathing slower. He’d passed out.

Bryn came back into the room. Determination seeped from every pore. Still in shock, I stood, not knowing what to do next.

A knock sounded at the door, but the buzzer hadn’t gone off. I grabbed my gun, flicked the safety, and trained it on the door, but Bryn came up beside me, one hand on my shoulder and the other stilling my hand. “Reinforcements,” she said. “He won’t appear inside, but the landing I’ve allowed.”

With a deep, fortifying breath, she walked to the door and opened it. A tall male dressed in black leather pants and a dark green silk tunic that fell to mid-thigh stepped inside at her invitation.

A gorgeous, creative green aura swirled around him. The fact that I was now identifying auras before the actual person should have come as a surprise. But the figure in the doorway pretty much trumped that.

The reinforcement grinned at me. “Detective.”

I shot a questioning glance Bryn’s way. She leaned in, bumping my shoulder with her own. “You can trust him. I wouldn’t have called him otherwise. I might not like him, but I’d trust him with my life.”

Aaron turned to me, ignoring Bryn’s remark. “I hear you’ve made an enemy of an Abaddon elder, among others.”

“Yeah,” Rex cut in, “she’s pretty good at that. You should’ve seen what she did to—”

“Rex!”

“What?” he asked innocently, plopping down into Bryn’s love seat.

Aaron chuckled. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Does Mynogan have any weaknesses?” I asked. “Anything you can tell me will help.”

Before Aaron could reply, the buzzer rang again.

Zara’s voice came through the speaker. “Hank asked me to call her,” Bryn told me as she went to the intercom. The fact that he’d called on Zara the Crush and not me burned on so many levels.

“It’s like a tri-world convention,” Rex muttered, fiddling with a glass orb on the side table near the chair.

Irritated more than I’d ever seen her, Bryn darted over and grabbed the red orb from him. “Don’t touch my stuff.”

I let Zara in. She gave me a quick nod before hurrying to Hank, kneeling down, and gently pulling him over. It took several seconds of soft coaxing for her to wake him. They mumbled together, foreheads touching. The pang of jealousy that went through me made me turn away. And then she gasped when she saw his modifier. Aaron leaned over to see.

“How do we get this off, Aaron?” Zara asked over her shoulder, her hand stroking Hank’s arm.

Aaron peered closer. “The metal is a fusion of Charbydon typanum and steel. You can’t cut it or weaken it by heat.”

“What about cold?” I asked.

“Possibly.”

“But how would you do it without hurting him? It’s so close to the skin.” This from Bryn.

“Maybe Carreg will know,” I said to myself.

Aaron’s head whipped around. “You know Carreg? The Astarot noble?”

I shrugged. Slowly, thoughtfully, Aaron nodded. “If he’s on your side, it won’t hurt. If he’s not, you’re up against two of the most powerful beings from Charbydon.”

“He’s on our side.” Unsure of it myself, I had to believe in some kind of an edge right now.

“Yeah, well, they’re not the only powerful beings around,” Hank rasped out, his feverish eyes burning into mine over Zara’s shoulder.

Suddenly I was front and center. All eyes turned to me in question. Only I understood Hank’s meaning. Carreg had said because of my DNA manipulation, I was now one of the most powerful humans on Earth. Either Hank had overheard, or Mynogan had filled him in after I’d abandoned him.

My gaze traveled over them. Hank. Zara. Rex. Aaron. And Bryn. Bryn, who wanted so badly for me to open up, to be like we used to be before Connor died. She gave me an encouraging nod, an outpouring of support and love, and something broke in me. I dipped my head, wanting to hug her, but now was not the time. I had a waiting audience. And a child waiting for her mother. Everything I did or said from here on out would bring me one step closer to her. So I told them everything I knew.

“When I died in the hospital eight months ago, Titus Mott saved me. But he did so with the help of Mynogan.” I drew in a deep breath, feeling violated by what they’d done and hating say the words out loud. “They injected me with his genes and genes from an Adonai priestess. Somehow, they mingled with mine. And … well … here I am, screwed up in the head when I close my eyes, but otherwise the same old Charlie.” I had to believe that. I
was
the same old Charlie.

Mouths dropped open. Even Bryn hadn’t expected this. Rex laughed. Zara let out a low whistle.

“DNA manipulation …” Aaron linked his hands behind his back, his sharp features becoming philosophical. “I suppose it’s possible. But
both
Charbydon and Elysian powers? There’s no way they can co-exist.”

I opened my arms and then let them fall against my thighs. “Yeah, that’s me,” I muttered. “Charlie the Freak.” Annoyance rippled through me. Not only did I hate talking about myself, but the betrayal at being an unwitting lab rat really pissed me off. But then, I wouldn’t be here, living, if not for them. “It works on some of those who already have the genes of both worlds in the family tree.” I glanced at Bryn. “Which would explain how some members of our family are gifted.”

“Could be,” Aaron began, rubbing his chin and pacing slowly across the room. “There was a period long ago in Earth’s early history when cohabitation between races took place. You humans refer to it in your Bible. The fall of the angels and the birth of the Nephilim. But even then the number of normal offspring living to adulthood was extremely low. The Nephilim were usually stillborn, severely abnormal, or they went mad from so much power in their blood.”

“It’s where many believe the psychic humans got their abilities,” Zara offered, tucking her perfect honey-red locks behind her ear, her hand possessively on Hank’s.

Aaron turned and stared at me. “You’re our secret weapon.”

“Okay, number one, there is no
our
except for me and Rex over there, and two, this power comes and goes. It wars with the other. I have no clue how to use it. Look,” I said, grabbing my jacket, tired of being the anomaly on display, “the only thing that matters is getting Emma back. They won’t hurt her until they have what they want, which is me. And don’t ask me why. But I’m not going to sit around and wait. The longer she’s with them, the more memories she’ll have of this, memories she doesn’t need.”

Hank struggled to sit up. “They have Em? I thought she was with Will—” Then he saw Rex. Understanding paled his tanned skin to white. He lost his strength and fell back into the cushions with a string of mumbled curses.
Now
he understood what we were up against.

I knew he felt as angry and vengeful as I did, and now that the voice-mod was stuck on his neck—well, I’ve known my fair share of men—if I had to guess, he was feeling pretty useless right now. He sat up with Zara’s help, his body healing courtesy of his Elysian blood. Bryn handed her the herbal tea and Zara helped him to drink.

“I’ve a fully loaded Nitro-gun,” he said after a sip, “and more where that one came from.”

“And I can get into Veritas,” Zara piped up. “Find out where Mynogan lives, the businesses and real estate he owns. They have to be holding your daughter somewhere, right?”

Bryn stepped next to the couch. “I can fight.”

Aaron fell in beside her. “So can I. And I can train you in the meantime, Charlie; help you to control your power. They won’t be expecting that.”

Rex sighed heavily and didn’t bother rising from the love seat. “And I suppose I can take a beating as good as anyone else.”

My chest constricted.

“Charlie,” Bryn prompted with a hopeful look in her brown eyes.

I could only nod, humbled by the people in this room who would fight for Emma, some who didn’t even know her. And those who did; I knew they’d give up their lives for her.

“I don’t mean to interrupt this Hallmark moment, people,” Rex said, “but has anyone wondered why?”

“Why what?” Zara asked.

“Why Charlie? They turned her into Wonder Woman, took her kid, and for what? Guys like Mynogan, they’re like Scooby-Doo villains; they always have a master plan.”

I leaned against the foyer table. Guess Will could’ve done worse. Instead of contracting with an evil son-of-a-bitch, he got a smart-ass comedian with a love of theater. Joy. But Rex was right. There was a bigger picture here, one we weren’t seeing. Otorius had all but said the same.

Aaron cleared his throat. “I might be able to help with the
why,
but first I need to be sure. The library at the mages’ league should shed some light on things.”

I itched to do something, anything other than sitting here and talking about how to get my daughter back. “Fine. I’ll go with you,” I told Aaron. “Zara, you and Hank get into Veritas. Bryn and Rex, pool your powers. You can divine, right?” I asked her, remembering her mentioning it before. She nodded. “Good, use a map, see if you can figure out where they’re keeping Emma. If you find the area, Zara and Hank’s real estate info should be able to pinpoint a location.”

Heads nodded.

“Good.” I turned to Aaron. “Let’s go.”

When we reached the landing outside of Bryn’s door, he grabbed my hand before I could protest and said, “Relax, we’re taking a shortcut.”

The floor dropped out from under me; at the same moment my body changed from the physical to pure energy.
What the hell?

I couldn’t gasp or feel my heart racing, though it felt like those things were happening. I tried to squeeze Aaron’s hand, to hold on, suddenly terrified I’d be swept away and dispersed into the air. But no sooner than I decided to panic, I became whole again, Aaron’s hand still in mine.

“It’s simply an issue of manipulating matter and energy,” he said.

I doubted it was as
simple
as that. I dropped his hand, feeling the weight of my body more heavily than before. And then I slugged him in the shoulder. “Next time, try giving me a little warning, k?”

His emerald eyes crinkled at the corners, his lips twisting into an amused smile as he rubbed the spot.

“So, what are you then, a Master?” I asked, knowing not every warlock or mage could do what he just did.

He laughed. “I was. That was two hundred years ago. I’m a Magnus now.”

Holy cow.
Thank you, Bryn.
Having a Magnus on our side was a huge bonus. I gave him an impressed nod, then looked around the room.

We stood in the center of a large pentagram, the outline set into a hardwood floor with a deep brown wooden inlay. Two tall windows shrouded by gold brocade curtains and the expensive wallpaper made me feel small and out of place. An altar with ritual paraphernalia sat against the left wall, and shelves full of books, herb pots, and specimen jars lined the right wall.
Yeah. Totally out of place.

We were definitely in the headquarters of the Atlanta League of Mages. “Nice place,” I said, looking up at the ceiling as Aaron guided me to the door. The entire room was framed with thick, ornate crown molding. A vaulted ceiling supported a massive wrought-iron chandelier, and the entire room smelled of sage.

“When we bought the mansion, it was about two hundred years in need of repair—just a skeleton, but with good bones. Now,” he glanced around the room, “it has been brought back to its former glory.”

The revival of the old Mordecai House had been headline news when the League bought it a few years back. In its heyday it was the biggest antebellum mansion in Atlanta. Now it was home to the mages. And the décor fit. High and lofty, with a scholarly touch.

I kept pace next to Aaron as we headed down a wide hallway planked with old restored hardwoods. Voices drifted from closed doors, but otherwise the atmosphere was respectful and hushed. “You know why Mynogan wants me, why he’s done this to me,” I stated as we descended a grand old curving staircase to the first floor.

“I have some idea, but I want to check the scrolls to make certain. It all fits, though. The timing. Your body’s ability to incorporate the genes …”

With a whisper, two massive double doors opened, inviting us into the most beautiful library I’d ever seen. Floor-to-ceiling bookcases. Two levels with an ornate wooden spiral staircase leading to the second level, where a small walkway framed by an iron railing went all the way around the room. Supple leather couches sat opposite each other, and there were sev eral matching chairs tucked into corners. On one side of the room, there were study tables and a large map table, and, on the other side, an enormous stone fireplace held court.

Loving the smell of books and leather, I inhaled deeply as Aaron walked to a section protected by leaded glass. His body blocked the case from my view. All I could see were his wide shoulders encased in the green silk and his dark head, which bowed in concentration. He spoke a series of incantations in a low hum of a voice. A thrill went through me as I responded to the energy, the magic in the room. I was waking up to a whole other world that existed in tandem with the one I knew so well. I had so much to learn, and the realization left me a little overwhelmed and highly impatient.

Two clicks sounded as the latches to the case released. Aaron turned his body slightly, and I watched him carefully remove a burnished, ancient-looking scroll tied with leather strings. He took it to the map table and unrolled it with surgical precision, and then I helped to weigh the corners down with cold brass paperweights forged to look like dragons.

A musty scent mushroomed into the air, but it wasn’t like the smell of old paper or books. “Ugh. What
is
that?” I fanned the air over the scroll.

“Skin.”

“Skin!”

If it bothered him, he didn’t let on. Instead, he peered at the ancient wedge-shaped lines pressed into the skin with black ink, which looked very similar to the cuneiform writing of the ancient Sumerians.