The Black Merchant

by Shannon Reber

  I began telling Simms everything he had missed in our conversation and directed him how to get to the brewery. It was strange as I thought about it, to realize that I had massively underestimated the number of people that had to be involved in that kind of operation.

  The Kevin/Duane guy was one man who probably had a very small job. Who else would be a part of that venture?

  “What are we missing?” I asked aloud, not sure at all how to pin down all of the players.

  Simms glanced at me. “From the information I’ve been able to gather, it seems like this is a multi-dimensional operation. I’d say they have otherworlders either working for them or in charge.”

  “An incubus,” I said quietly and tapped my eye. “I got marked by it at Hope House a couple of nights ago.”

  Simms swore and glanced at Roy. “Is there a way to get that mark off her?” he asked like the dog had the power to answer him.

  Roy tipped his head to the side in an adorable dog pose, his ears drooped in a dejected way.

  Simms swore again. “Incubi feed in odd patterns from what I know. They can go months without feeding off a person’s ch’i then they’ll basically gorge.”

  I shivered with horror at that idea. “There was a woman at Hope House who—”

  “I know about Julie.”

  I swallowed the lump that rose in my throat. “The research I’ve done says that the goal of an incubus is to impregnate. Julie was pregnant and her ex-husband wouldn’t take the baby. He thought she cheated on him because he was sterile and she got pregnant.”

  He rubbed at his chin as we stopped at a red light. “The baby is gone. I checked on him this morning and according to the hospital’s records, the baby was never there. Whoever is working with those people is as good at covering their tracks as you are.”

  I let out a low, frustrated sound. “I found that out myself.” I filled him in on what had happened that morning and on how I had been unable to track the girls’ phones. That was so unusual for me that it was frightening. I had never met anyone with even close to the skill I had with computers.

  Simms narrowed his eyes as he peered at the dog. “A scrambler?” he asked like Roy could answer him or . . . that was when it hit me.

  Simms was a member of the Arcane Unit of the FBI. It wasn’t on the FBI’s records. Erkens had known both of them. Simms had shown up at the office when it had been broken into.

  I turned in my seat to look at the dog. He looked utterly normal like any ordinary pooch. He was some kind of shepherd, Dutch or German shepherd cross. When he had looked into my eyes, he had seemed worried about me or that was the impression I’d gotten.

  “Shapeshifter?” I asked, looking into Roy’s eyes as directly as he had looked into mine.

  Roy stared for a few moments before he lolled his tongue out and raised his paw as though to shake.

  Simms snorted out a little laugh. “Don’t tease the girl, Roy,” he said and winked at me. “Yeah, he’s a shifter. He’s the main reason I’m in this particular line of work.”

  Roy barked and began to snuffle around, apparently teasing me since suddenly he seemed like any ordinary dog.

  Simms rolled his eyes and grinned. “Those burgers we were planning to have for dinner might be off the menu if you don’t knock it off,” he threatened.

  Roy barked again and sat in his original position.

  I smirked at the dog and shrugged. “If that’s how you want to play it, I’m fine with the idea of giving you a belly rub.”

  And the dog actually rolled his eyes. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen in my entire life. He understood. It should have been obvious right away but I hadn’t really thought about it.

  I furrowed my brows in confusion. “So the reason you showed up today was because Erkens found out about you guys and had a file on you? Was that the file that got him all worked up?” I asked, hoping he’d answer.

  Simms shrugged. “I came because I was ordered to come. Yeah, though. Erkens has known about The Arcane for a couple of years.”

  “There’s quite a bit Erkens knows that he keeps to himself,” I complained, giving Simms a ‘please tell me the truth’ kind of look. “I’m guessing you and Roy have a telepathic link?” I asked, having read about such things.

  From what I’d read, shapeshifters were otherworlders who were able to conceal their true identity. The average shifter was only able to take one form, though some could become anything they chose whenever they chose. The emotional bond that those shifters formed with the person who cared for them as they grew gave the two the ability to communicate telepathically.

  If that was true, it explained the questions and statements Simms had made to Roy. It also worried me.

  If Kevin/Duane or even somebody else had broken into Erkens’ office and Simms had been sent in when they’d heard about it, it meant that Erkens must have a file either on the Arcane Unit or on Roy himself, if not both. If the bad guys had gotten the file, Roy was in danger.

  I eyed the dog again. “Please tell me that a shifter has a special affinity for tearing incubus’ to shreds,” I pleaded, wanting to have some kind of advantage.

  Roy stared into my eyes before he bared his teeth as though to show me the advantage he had.

  I smiled and raised my hands, balling them into fists. “You’ve got those, I’ve got these, and I’m guessing Simms has a gun. I’d say we’re set.”

  He leaned forward to sniff at my knuckles, amusement in his doggie gaze.

  I chuckled, nervous when Simms pulled onto a dingy street. The buildings around were covered with graffiti and surrounded by trash. Every one of them looked like it had been neglected and tossed aside by a careless child.

  It made me sad to see how run-down and nasty everything looked. It made me sadder to think it was possible the girls might be held in that kind of place. Then again, maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was a red herring that my mind had made up. Something told me that wasn’t true. I felt it in some weird way.

  I jumped out of the SUV as Simms pulled to a stop in front of the building. It was like I was being pulled toward that place. I had to go inside. There was no choice for me.

  I heard someone speak to me but my mind was too focused on getting inside that building. I felt like a boulder rolling its way down a steep slope. There was no way to stop me. I had to get inside and if anyone got in my way, my momentum would probably smash them.

  My body shuddered in anticipation of . . . wait. No. That was wrong. Very wrong. I had to get ahold of myself.

  Ian’s face flashed through my mind, his Caribbean blue eyes filled by what had looked like admiration. I needed to talk to him. He was the most important thing.

  I reached into my pocket and fumbled for my phone. All my fingers wanted was to reach out for the door in front of me. That door had become the center of my universe.

  Its chipped paint and dented exterior emitted a slight glow. My hand edged toward it. I had to touch it. It was all there was.

  “Madison, don’t!”

  I heard the voice yet it was nothing more than a ringing in my ears. The door called to me. It insisted that I pay attention. The handsome guy with amazing blue eyes was . . . who was that guy, anyway?

  Images floated through my mind without sticking around long enough for me to identify the memories. All I knew was that the blue eyed guy had been in them along with a girl who looked a lot like him.

  “Focus, Madison,” a voice said from my left, one that was even more compelling than the need to touch that door.

  My eyes turned unwillingly in that direction. A transparent figure stood there, his hands held out in front of him in a stopping gesture. He probably should have scared me. I was too focused on the door to care.

  The ghost looked like he was around my age, his translucent eyes fixed on me in a pleading way. I wanted to look away from him. I wanted to rush past him and get inside. Something held me back, though. I had seen the ghost who stood sentinel in front of that door.


  It had been a long time. I couldn’t remember . . . then the memory pulsed in my mind. He had gone to my school.

  I had been in sixth grade, taking AP classes at the high school. Not one person had even acknowledged me. I had been a little desperate for some kind of attention, so had hacked into the school’s mainframe and put a virus on the system. All my virus had done was to bring up a picture of my face with ‘GENIUS’ written across it when someone clicked into the school’s site. No one could figure out how to remove my little virus. I had been forced to do it then had been hauled into the principal’s office to pay for my crimes.

  When I had been waiting to be seen by the principal, another guy had been brought in for fighting. He had been four years older than me and from what I could tell was nothing more than trouble.

  We had been forced to sit in the waiting area until our parents had been contacted. The thing was, that guy had been the first person to be nice to me in the whole high school. Every time he’d seen me after that, he had given me a high five and even spoke to me publicly. He had talked to me like I was a human being rather than the annoying little kid most of them saw me as.

  Being called ‘Little Einstein’ on a daily basis had gotten old very fast. The fact everyone said it while rolling their eyes made things even more difficult. That was why I had chosen to embrace what they said about me and publicly labeled myself as the genius they called me with such derision.

  The ghost in front of me was the guy from the principal’s office. I’d had no idea anything had happened to him. How had he died? When had it happened? Why was he there, guarding that door like an otherworldly watchdog?

  His sad eyes fixed on me in a way that should have made a chill pass up my spine. “Madison, focus,” his echoey voice demanded.

  I wanted to ask him questions. I wanted to know what had happened to him. It was too late to help him but maybe I could bring him some peace.

  “LJ, what happened to you?” I asked, my voice choked with unshed tears.

  He gave me a small smile and gestured toward the heavens. “I was given a place in the halls of Valhalla but was asked to guard the portal between this realm and the one where the slave-traders are holding their victims. If you go in there, you will be playing right into the hands of the Lilin-demon that has marked you.”

  I pressed my lips together and formed my hands into a steeple. “I have to go in there, LJ. Those girls are being held in there. I can’t leave them to be the midnight snack of that demon.”

  He gave me a small smile. “I knew you’d say that,” he said and reached his translucent hand toward me. “I can’t remove the mark the demon put on you. I can make it possible for you to resist his compulsion. I was also given permission to give you the ability to see past the glamour those from other worlds use to hide themselves in the human world.”

  I wasn’t sure what to make of that idea. I did trust him, though. He had been a troubled kid when I knew him. So had I. He had been kind to me when no one else had. I would trust him.

  I held my hand out in front of him, unsure how it would work. I had a bone-deep urge to turn away and run. I couldn’t do that, though. If that door was a portal as I suspected, that was why the missing girls had been so hard to find.

  I would not abandon them in another world to be sold into slavery or used as feed bags for a demon. I would do anything at all to save them.

  LJ’s almost see-through hand passed not through my hand but through my eyes. It was the creepiest feeling I’d ever had. The moment his hand passed through me, everything changed.

  LJ’s figure was the first to metamorphosis. He went from the ghostly figure of the guy I’d known several years before to a guardian spirit with a glowing sword at his waist. He was an amazing sight, both beautiful and powerful. I was in awe.

  I turned my eyes down. “What happened to you, LJ? How did you die?” I asked, a pit having formed in my stomach.

  “It doesn’t matter. What matters is the fact you are walking into a situation that should scare you but doesn’t seem to. Why aren’t you afraid, Madison?”

  I shrugged, turning my eyes to meet his. “Because I’ve seen my best friend turn into a monster. I’ve seen her murder the guy who murdered her. I’ve seen a winged demon and a portal that could have killed me. Walking into a prison is not something that even registers in my mind.”

  “It should,” he said and motioned to Roy and Simms who still stood behind me. “This portal won’t take you to another world. What it is, is a half-realm. It is still a part of the human world so the laws of gravity and air will be the same. What won’t be the same is your perception of time. Time passes in bizarre ways in the half-realm. To you, it may feel like years or minutes. There is no way to know if years or minutes will have passed on this side.”

  And suddenly, everything made sense. That was why none of the girls’ phones could be tracked. They were in that half-realm.

  The ‘scrambler’ that Simms had mentioned to Roy wouldn’t have been necessary. The girls had probably been lured to that place, then their phones would have simply become defunct. That idea made my stomach flutter. Without the technology I was so accustomed to, would I be of any use at all?

  I swallowed hard and pushed down my fear of being unable to save them. “Okay,” I said unaware of what I was getting into.

  He motioned for Roy and Simms to step forward and my hand moved up to cover my mouth. Simms was the same, everything from his ‘seen it all’ expression to his watchful eyes were exactly like they were before. What was different was Roy.

  The dog was gone. What was left in his place was a man or sort of a man anyway. He had a human shape though his skin was a bright blue. It was both one of the most fascinating and hair-raising sights I had ever seen.

  I had imagined Roy as some guy who could change himself into a dog. I’d had no idea he was an alien type figure. I supposed it didn’t matter. All I had to do was adjust to the ability LJ had given me.

  If glamours wouldn’t work on me anymore, that meant I would see the truth of the incubus . . . if I saw him. I didn’t want to, though. It didn’t seem like I had a choice.

  I stuck my hand in the bag I’d slung over my shoulder and took out the canister of demon-mace. We had a job to do. We had to save those girls. Everything else was entirely inconsequential.

  NINETEEN

  My heart raced as we stepped up to the door of the brewery. I had my hand wrapped around the bottle of demon-mace, my eyes fixed on the slight glow the door emitted. I couldn’t let my fear stop me. We were on a mission.

  I glanced at Roy and Simms, grateful that they were there. For some reason, I was also nervous. Something felt wrong, even more than the idea of walking into some ‘half-realm’ I knew nothing about.

  I held up a hand to stop them. “Guys, wait,” I said, fighting the urge to Super Glue my mouth shut. “I think you guys should stay here.”

  Simms shook his head. “Madison, if anybody should stay here, it’s you. You are a civilian. Roy and I have experience with things like this. You don’t.”

  I squared my shoulders and balled my hands into tight fists. “I’m not saying I don’t think you’re capable of dealing with this stuff. I’m saying you should call in backup or something.”

  He smirked at me as he raised his phone. “In total, there’s four humans and four supes in my unit. Everybody has their own assignment. The director is working on getting one of the other teams assigned here to help out. There are other needs in the world, though. As of now, Roy and I are all The Arcane can offer.” He held up his hand as I prepared to speak. “I get that you want to help get these girls home. What I’m saying is that it might be wiser for you to stay out of the half-realm since you’re marked by that demon. You’re presenting yourself to him with a bow on your head if you walk willingly through that portal.”

  I grinned at him and raised the canister of demon-mace. “I’d like to see that thing come anywhere near me,” I said with a
fierce smile, willing to do whatever it took to stop that demon from taking even one more girl.

  Roy took a wary step away from me, his eyes wide.

  Simms flicked his eyes between his friend and my demon-mace, a confused look on his face. “Erkens has gotten creative,” he said and motioned to the pendant around my neck. “Things like that are a good defense but they can also hurt creatures like Roy.”

  I glanced at the dog-man and lowered the canister. “I’ll let you know if I plan to use it and you can run. That work?”

  He stared at me for a few long seconds before he nodded.

  I took in a bracing breath and let it out very slowly. I had to do this. Nerves couldn’t get in my way. I had promised to find both Hadley and Esther and this was the closest I had come.

  I took in another breath, counted to three, and motioned for LJ to open the door for us. We could do this. I had a team. One of them was a paranormal creature with the ability to change his appearance. It was possible he had other abilities as well. I also had the mace which may be able to stop the demon in his tracks. We would be okay. We had to be.

  My ears popped and my head swam as we passed through that door. I had expected for it to feel as horrible as it had that morning when I had been in front of the portal in Cleveland. I had been braced for the pain of it.

  There was no pain at all. It felt like walking through any ordinary door. The moment we were inside, it was clear the place had been glamoured.

  I saw both the glamour and the truth of the space. What it was, was an abandoned brewery where portals had been opened. The glow of magic was different on each side of the building. One side led to my world. The other side led . . . elsewhere.

  I raised my phone, not surprised to find that there was no service. The battery was practically full, though. That was something. If there was any kind of technology in that building, I would find a way to use it to my advantage.

  Simms motioned for me to stay close, his eyes scanning the area. Roy remained by his side, his nose raised like he scented the air. It was nice to see how well those two worked together, how each one watched the other’s back.