The Truth About Night

by Amanda Arista

  I stepped back and plastered myself against the wall while Rafe leaned forward and listened. I had never seen such a dark look cross his face. “Whimpering and boot steps. But they’re faint.”

  “Are they ours?” I whispered.

  “I didn’t know.”

  My jaw locked. I was right. I mean, it happened fairly often, but how many times was it because one of your sources happened to be your dead father’s journal detailing how he’d battled Demons?

  “You can’t burst into a dark building with god knows what inside?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going to burst in there. I’ve got super-secret weapons, remember?”

  I pulled out the camera from my bag and clicked on the Deep UV lens from Ethan’s stash. I carefully tiptoed out from the side of the building, then walked a little away from the front. I snapped a few pictures of the street and looked at the images on the screen. Nothing glowed.

  I snapped a few more of the building itself. Nothing there. I snapped a few through the broken window and sure enough. “Bingo.”

  There was a symbol above the door on the inside. I focused in on it and snapped a few more for Rafe to interpret.

  Rafe reached out for the camera. He studied the glowing images on the screen. “Protection spell.”

  I pulled out Ethan’s medallion. “I can pass through that Protection spell, break it from the inside to let the pack in. If I run into anyone, I’ve played the wrong person at the wrong time a million ways.”

  Rafe frowned. “Is that really how you get some of your stories? That’s practically dishonest.”

  “And I’m still kicking.”

  “I’m not just going to let you walk in the front door. We’ve confirmed that there are sigils on the door. I’m texting Levi.”

  “We need to break the protection spells or Levi can’t get in at all.” I leaned over and kissed Rafe quickly. “Please. Rafe. Now let me do what I was born to do.”

  And then I ran along the side of the building. I peeked around the corner as my phone buzzed eleven.

  This was like every other story I had done, every other evil I had hunted down. And though I was armed with little more than my sharp wit and a Taser, I knew I had to do this; I was supposed to be doing this. I wasn’t nervous. My hands weren’t trembling. I was Merci Lanard.

  Still, I was glad Rafe was right outside with ears sharp enough to hear me scream.

  I couldn’t feel the protection spell as I turned the handle of the old door, not particularly surprised that it was unlocked. The hinges protested as I shoved the large door open enough to fit through. The space was dark, save for some streetlights bouncing around the open rafters. Unfinished office space. Eight-foot drywall turned part of the open flooring into a maze, not reaching up to the ceiling. Light glowed behind one of the walls.

  And it smelled. Not like trash, but more like rot. Rafe mentioned that evil smelled like gym socks. And this place smelled faintly of a junior high locker room. I tried to figure out how I was going to get up above the door when a shadow passed across the glow of light from the corner.

  My heart skipped a beat. And then I put on my Totally Lost girl voice.

  “Hello?” I called out.

  A man, or a figure that looked like a man, came around a drywall corner. I couldn’t see him clearly in the space, just the shine of the light off his bald head.

  “Oh, hi!” I greeted before I pasted on a smile. It was always good to start with a smile.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I am totally lost and I saw your lights on.” I pointed to the far corner with the soft glow. I kept my smile through the taste of rotten SPAM on mealy bread.

  “Who are you?”

  I needed him to get about three feet closer so my Charm could catch him. “Seriously, just totally lost. These downtown streets are all one way.” I pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket and walked toward him. “These directions are crap.”

  He snorted and walked toward me, reaching out for the paper. Above the black dry-fit shirt, he had a black rose tattooed on his neck. The Flower Boys? The Demon had been recruiting muscle from other gangs for his wet work. Just like Benny said.

  That’s all it took for me to get him close enough to catch his eyes. The sizzle rose between my shoulders and I shoved the Charm at him with all my might. It slammed into him and I clamped down hard on his beady little brain. “What are you doing here?”

  “Waiting.”

  “Waiting for whom?”

  “For our Master.”

  Crap. I gulped and blinked in disbelief. That was too easy. Was evil really this stupid?

  The man looked away from me and shook his head. “What the hell? Wait. It’s you.”

  I turned to run for the door. Evil might have been stupid, but it was fast. The man caught me around the waist and slammed me to the ground. My head banged against the concrete and I saw white lights again.

  His hot hands grabbed my face and turned it into the light from the street. “You’re the girl.”

  That night flashed behind my eyes again, how the meaty hands grabbed me and held me down. It wasn’t going to happen again. His fingers closed around my throat.

  With one hand pulling at his fingers, the other reached into my coat pocket and fingered the Taser. This was going to hurt.

  I flicked on the charger, then pulled it from my coat. I pulled the trigger as I rammed it into the side of his neck.

  His cries of pain echoed out only moments before my own as the current passed through the both of us. The electricity seared through my body as I lost control of the small weapon and it clattered to the floor.

  He fell away from me on to the floor and it took me a moment to recover from the short burst. I rolled to my stomach and pushed up from the floor, getting my knees under me. I wasn’t sure my feet were quite ready to hold me, but it wasn’t like I had a choice. I needed to get out to the street.

  “He wants you,” the man growled from the floor, four feet from me, panting and holding his chest.

  “I’ve already got a special someone.” I scrambled to my feet just as he jumped to his.

  I ran for the door, but the man was faster again.

  He shoved me to the floor as he beat me to the door, slamming it and shutting off most of the light from the street.

  My knees cracked against the cement and I skidded a few feet. My palms turned to fire as the roof rash was reignited.

  Quickly, I pushed myself up to my feet, wiping my palms against my coat. He was blocking my only exit from this place and Rafe’s only entrance.

  I needed time to come up with another plan. Levi had said eleven fifteen he’d be ready. I stalled him like I stalled most people. “Did you really think I’m dumb enough to come alone?”

  “Dumb enough to bring a Taser to a demon fight.”

  I gave him a small chuckle. “Got me there.”

  I backed up and scanned the place. Drywall, some left over supplies. Nothing as handy as a two by four with nails sticking out of it. Nothing that really looked like it could hurt this wall of a man.

  “I remember you. From that night.”

  This was one of the Shadow Men. They hadn’t really been this talkative before. “Big things come in small packages.”

  “Your mutt went down pretty easy. Nothing I couldn’t handle.” A silver blade appeared in his hand, a viscous jagged thing with teeth that I could see from where I stood, as if it collected the little light in the big space. “I like doing things the old-fashion way.”

  I clutched my fist so tightly I felt like I had a fireball in my hands. This was the man who killed Ethan. This was the son of a bitch who ripped through his throat.

  Now is not the time to be stupid, Merci.

  My own voice echoed in my head. They will pay. I was surer of it now than I had ever been, but that could have been the concussion talking. The knife was just a show, just a threat. Mentioning Ethan was just thug intimidation, probably why the Demon h
ad recruited him in the first place.

  I needed to play this smart. He might have that knife, but I had my words. I needed to keep him talking until Levi and the rest of the pack showed up. It was as simple as that.

  “So the tattoo? Your big boss man stole you from The Flower Boys. Do Demons have better dental?”

  “Master has promised we will be gods after this.”

  “What’s a little murder when he’s going to give you your own turf, right?”

  “And more.”

  I nearly felt sorry for this servant. No doubt he’d been marked like Benny and no doubt he would probably die like Benny. But maybe I could stop that too.

  We circled each other and I looked for a way to break the protection spell at the door to let Rafe in. I saw movement in the window where we’d been listening. Rafe was here, I still had back up.

  Which I needed because two more men the size of refrigerators walked out into the dark space. Shoulders as wide as a doorframe sauntered up to join their brethren. Seriously, where was the Demon finding his minions, the Eagles defensive line?

  Flower Boy grunted. “It’s her.”

  I licked my lips. Nope. No getting out of this one. No running or fighting or Tasering myself to freedom. I held my hands out and up so they could see that I wasn’t going for my weapon, just my wits.

  They circled around me and I turned slowly assessing them, trying not to feel like a steak in the middle of a dog fight. I wasn’t sure that I needed the Charm, I just needed them to hear me. Because I had a really stupid idea. But for a good reason this time. Not because of some tunnel vision for a story. I wasn’t chasing a byline. But because of Emily, and Cleo, and the Thompsons and for all the families of all those missing people.

  “Listen, you want in with the big man, right? And he’s probably not too happy about losing me the last time, right?”

  The first man clenched the knife in his fist, but started to spin it like an informant spins a coffee cup. He was listening.

  “So why can’t we be civil about all this? He wants me. I’m here. He doesn’t need all those hostages.”

  They seemed to be listening.

  “So why don’t you just let everyone go and I’ll come with you willingly? No need to bruise the merchandise.”

  I kept scanning the place just above their heads as I turned. The windows. The windows didn’t have protection sigils on them, only the door. There were seven other possible entrances to this floor alone and that didn’t include the sewers. Rafe was small. His wolf form could probably fit between the bars on the outside. Back-up could get in even though I hadn’t broken the protection spell. Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier?

  Or right - penchant for self-destruction.

  “Get her.”

  All three pounced on me and I was grabbed three different directions by hands. I was shuffled across the space and then pulled down a narrow stairwell, my feet barely tapping against every third step.

  I was being pulled down into a roughhewn basement because the center stone had to be buried at the center of the spell.

  Suddenly, I was airborne until I hit iron bars. This time, I landed on something soft and warm that also let out a cry.

  A person. I landed on a person as I heard the clang of a door closing. I’d been in lockdown enough times to know a jail cell when I heard it.

  I rolled off and squinted through the dim light. I gasped. “Rutherford?”

  “Lanard,” he growled through a bruised mouth and bloody teeth.

  The floor of our cell was an unfinished cement and the light filtered through from poorly placed work lamps, flooding the open space with harsh yellow lamps. It was not the posh evil lair I was expecting for an operation poised to take over the city. But then again, I had made them reorient their plans at the last minute.

  “Man, you move fast.” I whispered as I gained my bearings. Iron cell. Several other shadowy cells with several people. “Any backup on the way?”

  Rutherford only glared at me and pulled at his vest under his uniform shirt. “No. Just me. Following that gut instinct of yours.”

  “It’s going to be okay. I have back up this time.”

  I carefully stood, testing my ankles and shoulders to see what I could still use. Everything still seemed to be in working order and they hadn’t taken my messenger bag. At least this cell didn’t have the communal toilet I was used to.

  “Merci?”

  The familiar voice was like a cool drink of spring water on a hot day. Emily rose from a crowd of bodies in the next cell over. I darted over to her. She curled her hands over mine on the smooth bars between our cells and managed a smile through her bruised jaw.

  “Why are you here? You know he wants you, right? This is all a trap?”

  I nodded. “I made a promise.”

  “To Ethan?’

  “No. To you. I said I’d hold the guy that killed Ethan while you punched him.”

  Emily squeezed my hands. “Cleo and the kids are okay, but …”

  “Levi is right behind us,” I whispered. “Rafe is waiting for him.”

  There was a general ruckus that drew both our attentions.

  Four huge guys were dragging Rafe across the rough basement floor. They dropped him at the feet of a man whose back was to me, but even in the dim light I could make out his blond hair and well-cut suit.

  I flew to the front of the cell and shook the metal bars as hard as I could. Rafe was supposed to wait. This wasn’t part of the plan. He was supposed to be safe upstairs while I did the stupid things.

  “Hello, Merci.”

  I knew the voice. I knew it because it reverberated in my head, not just in the space between me and the man who turned slowly.

  He started toward me, his black eyes shallow and his gold Rolex gleaming. This was Jeffrey Cartwright. He was every stereotypical construction-front mobster ever portrayed on film.

  His slender frame moved with grace but I could see his clavicle, his hollowed cheeks. Blood was crusted in his crow’s feet as he smiled at me with more teeth than he should have.

  Correction: this wasn’t Cartwright. This was the Demon in his meat suit and it was sucking the life out of this body too. This was what was after me. For a moment, I was glad for the blood in my mouth, masking the taste of bile.

  “I’m so glad you came.”

  “Didn’t want to miss the big show.”

  He cocked his head. “How does all that sarcasm work with the truth you carry with you?”

  I shrugged. “Never really had a problem.”

  Cartwright was at the bars now and I could smell it inside him. He smelled like a load of laundry left in the washer, like a moist, dank hole of darkness. My stomach churned with the rejuvenated images of what had crawled out of the black hole in the warehouse.

  “If you can’t bring the reporter to you, you can always find a way to get the reporter to come to you willingly. You people are like taxis, just needed to give a little whistle. Figured kidnapping some pack members would get your attention since you seem to have a soft spot for Shifters.”

  He hiked a thumb over his shoulder at Rafe, who was still struggling against the four men. “He’s just the icing on the cake.”

  “What are you going to do?” I prodded.

  “Let you watch while I completely possess lover boy there. Shouldn’t take too long.”

  I fought reaching through the bars and tearing at his face. It wasn’t my style. I’d looked guys like this in the eye before. I’d get my answers. “Why?”

  He slammed himself against the bars and I stumbled back. Rutherford caught me.

  “Because I need you broken, empty. I’m burning through these bodies. Even this body can’t hold me for too much longer. But yours,” he grinned as he looked me up and down. “Your blood is strong enough to hold this much power.”

  I pushed away from Rutherford and squared my shoulders and turned on the Charm. It sizzled around me like electric armor in the rain. Do what I do bes
t? Piss people off with the truth until they make mistakes. “Fine, but you do know there is an entire pack of Shifters on their way, right? Fueled by a Den Mother. So you’d better hurry up with whatever you needed to do.”

  He waved off the threat. “Doesn’t concern me. They won’t be able to get through my barrier spell.”

  “Like I didn’t get through your barrier spell? Like Rafe didn’t?”

  “It only keeps out the goodie two shoes. You’re already like us, Merci. And lover boy here’s got a stain on his soul so big you can see it from space.”

  I didn’t feel the twist of a lie within my stomach. I knew it was true. I knew Rafe carried his sin with him; it was why we fit so brilliantly together. The Lilin and the lost wolf. It was why we were going to win.

  I just didn’t quite know how yet.

  The Demon walked away and barked some orders. They dragged Rafe across the floor and strapped him to a chair. I didn’t want to turn away from him, from those teal eyes as they bore into me.

  Rutherford pulled me to the back corner of the cell. “Can you get him over here again?” he whispered to me.

  “What?” I snapped as I tried to peer over the Julie’s broad shoulders, not wanting to break my connection with Rafe.

  “Cartwright. The Demon. I can work a spell that might weaken him, but I need him close.”

  My neck popped with how fast I snapped my attention to Rutherford. “What?”

  Rutherford poked at the pendant bouncing against my shirt. “Who do you think crafted that for Ethan?”

  He pulled out the silver coin he was always nervously weaving between his fingers and held it out to me. Even in the dim light, I could make out the Old Speak carved into the medallion, the runes very similar to what I wore around my neck.

  I nearly laughed. “You’re a Warlock?”

  I let the information soak into my brain. Rutherford? My informant from the police department was in on all this? He had to be the person Ethan had been going to for his magical accoutrements. And he’d said I wasn’t the only one trying to save the city. Had Rutherford been waging his own war?

  My first instinct was to punch him. So I did. His upper arm was firmer than I expected and my knuckles cracked against him.