Pound of Flesh_An Urban Fantasy Novel

by J. A. Cipriano

  “No they’re not,” Renee said matter-of-factly, fiddling with my mother’s necklace.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, peering curiously at her. “The entire building went down. There’s no way anyone inside could have survived that.”

  “I agree,” Renee smiled. “Which is why it’s a good thing no one was inside.” Her fingers went back to the necklace. “As soon as this thing changed colors, we all knew something was coming. Gary told me it was smart to stay inside. He said it was the safest place for us, but that wouldn’t help anybody outside the apartment. So I called in a bomb threat. The entire block was evacuated.”

  A weight the size of a mountain range lifted off my shoulders. No one had died. I wasn’t responsible for anything. Nothing at all. “God, you’re brilliant,” I said before I could stop myself.

  I couldn’t help but notice the blush of red that crept into her cheeks as she answered. “I have my moments.”

  “And so does she,” I said, pointing to the witch and changing the subject. “You saved everyone, Edith.”

  “Ester,” Gary corrected me. “And she didn’t.” He shrugged. “She didn’t do anything, actually. Unless you count cursing really loudly and telling us how she’d have been better off if she’d, what was it that you said, never seen our ugly faces.”

  “Well, it’s true,” Ester said, crossing her arms over her chest and letting her face take on a sour expression.

  “I don’t get it,” I answered, looking from the witch to the imp and back again. “That was magic that saved me back there. Gary, you’re not capable of it. So, if Ester didn’t do it then who did?”

  “Not who,” Renee said, still toying with the necklace I’d given her. “What. It was this. Minutes before that thing came to destroy the building, it starting glowing green and shot out this giant bubble, scooping us all up into it. It would have been cool if it wasn’t so damned terrifying.”

  “Some of us think it was both,” Gary grinned, looking up at me.

  “Really?” I asked, unable to keep a grin from showing up across my lips.

  “Don’t act like that,” Renee said, pushing me with both hands. “You put something around my neck that has the power to do God knows what, and you didn’t even think you needed to tell me?” She shook her head. “What’s stopping this thing from killing me?”

  “No,” I balked, stepping backward just a little. “You don’t need to worry about that. She would never, I mean it’s not a--”

  “She?” Renee asked, her eyes moving down to the bobble still hanging near her breasts. “Roy, what the hell is this thing?”

  My throat tightened as she asked, like it knew I was about to spill the beans and wanted me to at least think about it for a minute. But how could I? Renee was right. It was hanging around her neck, for Christ’s sake. The least I could do was tell her the truth.

  Or so I thought anyway.

  “It’s just a goddamned piece of jewelry! Don’t be so nosy!” Gary yelled, balling his claws up into fists and standing what little ground he took up.

  “Gary, it’s okay,” I said, resigned.

  “Seriously?” he asked, looking from Renee to me and shaking his head. “You sure about that, Roy Boy?”

  “Yeah,” I answered, not taking my eyes off Renee. “Yeah. I’m sure.”

  I offered her my hand, and when she took it, I guided her a little further up the shoulder, far enough away that Ester wouldn’t be able to hear us over the whirl of passing motorists.

  “I don’t tell this to anybody,” I said, letting go of her hand even though it felt really, really nice. Then, not having anything to do with my hands, I stuffed them into my pockets. “And by anybody, I mean anybody. Only Gary knows, and that’s just because he was there when I got it. So, I hope you get how big of a deal me telling you this is.”

  “That’s a lot of overture,” she answered, her eyebrows creasing in the middle. “The Hope diamond better be in this thing after the show you just put on.”

  “Not exactly,” I shuffled. “I told you about my mother, right? About how she was a witch, a really powerful witch who got it on with a demon and pissed off her entire coven?”

  She nodded. “You said she died giving birth to you.”

  “Right,” I shook my head. “She did. But, before that, the elders in her coven wanted to make her suffer. Demons are like the worst enemies a warlock can have. They’re literally bred to destroy each other. That’s why my particular genomic mashup is sort of ironic.”

  “And dying wasn’t enough?” Renee asked, peering deep into my eyes and following my story completely. It would have almost been nice if what I was about to say next wasn’t so damned tragic.

  “No,” I answered, shaking my head. “You see, death isn’t the end. Not for anybody, but certainly not for witches and warlocks. So, knowing that, they figured my mother would go to one of two places after she died. Either she’d go to the good place, and what sort of punishment is that? Or, she’d go a little further down south, and where she’d just run into dear old dad. And, if the elders in her coven hated the idea of her being happy for all eternity, they really hated the idea of it happening with the demon she defiled herself with.”

  Renee balked. “Doesn’t seem like there’s much they can do about that.”

  I grinned. It was a sad grin, but it was a grin, nonetheless. “You would think that, but you’d be wrong. They figured if they could transfer my mother’s soul into an object at the time of her death, then they could trap her between planes. Where she was would be in their control. And they could make her suffer.” My eyes misted over. “So they put her in a stone. And then they put that stone on a string and wrapped it around her neck. Her corpse was buried with it and, for years, my mother was trapped in that thing, under the earth, in the darkness.” I coughed, looking away for just a moment so she couldn’t see just how close I was to tearing up. “But I found it. I found her and dug it up. I took that damned stone and kept it with me. The magic is too strong for me to break through, but until I find a way, I decided to keep her with me. At least she wouldn’t be in the dark. At least she’d be with somebody who cared.”

  Renee’s eyes got as big as saucers. “So you…?”

  “Kept it,” I answered. “Wore it around my neck, wore her around my neck, close to my heart. She kept me safe when she could.” I swallowed hard again. “Until I found someone who needed her just a bit more.”

  Renee’s hand fluttered back to the stone on the necklace, touching it much more gently now.

  “This?” she stammered. “This is your mother?”

  “I know it’s a little soon for you to meet my parent,” I sighed, shrugging and trying to break the tension. “I just thought that--”

  A loud scream pierced through the night.

  I spun to see Ester lying on the ground, clutching at her head. I ran toward her, with Renee quick to follow.

  “What is it?” I asked, dropping down in front of her.

  The witch looked up at me. “It’s Fulton,” she said, breathing heavy, hands twisted in her hair. “He sends messages to his people this way, and I guess I’m still on the mailing list.”

  “What does the message say?” I asked, feeling a bout of instinctive defensive energy bubble up in me.

  “He’s calling for an all-out manhunt. Every supernatural in the city is being offered favors and wishes beyond their wildest dreams. All they have to do is bring her in by midnight tonight.” She pointed one shaking finger at Renee.

  A manhunt? Every supernatural in the city? They’re all going to be looking for her. Every vampire, witch, demon, fallen angel, and anything that goes bump in the night will be fighting each other for the chance to grab Renee up and take her to this bastard?

  My entire body locked up in tension. I was about to address it, but Gary beat me to it, summing things up perfectly when he croaked, “Well, we’re fucked.”

  21

  Cars whizzed by us on the freeway, each o
f them probably looking at the motley crew on the shoulder and wondering how they came to be. We all looked frazzled. We all looked worn and defeated. Because we were.

  But I was looking at those cars and seeing something else entirely. Since Ester had gotten the mystical call to action from Fulton, everyone was a potential enemy. Each vehicle as it roared down the highway had the potential to carry someone who, for one reason or another, wanted to procure a favor from the most powerful being in the city. It was a free-for-all. Or it would be soon enough.

  I had to stop it.

  Looking over at Renee, I noticed something strange. Where I was feeling more panic than sense, given the situation we now found ourselves in, her eyes seemed clear and unburdened. Sure, her hair was a mess of frazzled curls on her head and the tattered nature of her clothes spoke to both them and her having seen better days, there was a collected nature about her that impressed me as much as it concerned me.

  Did she not understand what was going on here?

  “We need to get moving,” I said, swallowing hard and moving closer to her.

  I stopped and raised my right hand, beckoning for Gary to come toward me. He jumped on my arm and traveling until he reached his perch on my shoulder.

  “Ester,” I said quietly.

  “I know. She smells like onions and feet. It’s gross,” he answered.

  “No,” I answered, making sure not to make eye contact with her and tip her off that we were talking about her. “I don’t know her, and I sure as hell can’t trust her, not with a bounty on Renee’s head. One move, and you sink those fangs of yours into something vital. You feel me?”

  Gary blinked his spider eyes and grinned at me a little, like a kid who had just been given leave to dive head first into the cookie jar before dinner. “I feel you, Roy Boy.”

  He leapt off my shoulder and started back toward the witch as I walked closer to Renee.

  Her dark eyes slid over to meet mine, but the rest of her remained unflinching. “I’m not sure that’s our best move,” she said, even and slow, as though she had someone on the stand and was sizing him up.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, feeling my hands tighten along with my chest.

  She shook her head. “I’ve tried a lot of cases, Roy. Put a lot of criminals behind bars and recounted a lot of tragedies to broken families and mourning friends. In all those stories I heard, all those tales of people with their backs against the wall, I’ve never heard of an instance where running has helped anything.” Her gaze fell to the ground. “Not once.”

  “Is that a joke?” I balked as a surge of indignation rose up in me like lava in an about-to-blow volcano. “You’ve never heard of it? Have you ever dealt with something like this, Renee?”

  “Have you?” she challenged me, her eyebrows darting up into her forehead. “Do you even know what kind of monster Fulton is?”

  “I’m going to figure it out,” I answered, trying to keep the combativeness out of my voice. She was mad, and I couldn’t blame her. She had been through Hell and hadn’t even agreed to open that door in the first place. Still, I couldn’t let her current agitation cause her to make mistakes in the future. Including this one.

  “When?” she asked, bridging the small gap between us, her brown eyes darting up at me. Hot rage smoldered in them. “Because you’ve been saying that for a while now, and things just keep getting worse. Aren’t you supposed to be a detective, for God’s sake? Or is that just part of your disguise too?”

  “I don’t have a disguise, Renee,” I answered. The muscles in my jaw clenched, but I was still trying my damnedest to stay calm. “I am a detective. I’m also Roy Morgan. Anything else I am is strictly between me and whoever I decide to share it with.” I took a deep breath and tapped my foot against the grainy asphalt. “I’m going to figure all of this out. I promise you.”

  She blinked hard, her lips reducing in a thin line of dark red lipstick. “Before my brother ends up dead? Can you promise me that?”

  Goddamn. My heart sank a little. I didn’t want to have this conversation. I didn’t want to pop the balloon of hope floating around in Renee’s chest right now, but it was time to be realistic. It was time to do what needed to be done and face the probable truth. Especially if running from that truth meant doing something against your own best interest.

  Still, it wouldn’t be easy.

  I sighed loudly, letting my shoulders slump and my entire body deflate. Extending my hand to her, I retracted it when it became clear she wasn’t going to take it.

  “Don’t,” she said flatly, obviously aware of what I was going to tell her.

  “Renee,” I said, biting my lower lip and trying not to sound condescending.

  “Don’t!” she warned, throwing her palm up in front of her and telling me to stop.

  But, as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t stop. For her sake, I couldn’t.

  “He’s probably dead, Renee,” I finally said, rubbing my palm against my pants to stifle the urge to offer it to her again. “We both know he’s probably dead already.”

  “No,” she answered quickly, stepping away from me and shaking her head. “No. We do not know that. Do you have evidence to support that? Because, without evidence, you can’t make a case for it.”

  My heart sank the rest of the way as I continued, moving toward her even as she was walking away. “I don’t need to make a case, Renee. I’m sorry. God knows I am, but we have to be reasonable here.”

  “I am being reasonable, you son-of-a-bitch!” she yelled, turning back at me. “If this Fulton person still has my brother, then maybe he wants me enough to trade him.”

  “It’s a woman,” I answered, realizing I had forgotten to impart that particular tidbit during all the commotion. Not that it seemed terribly important now.

  “Whatever,” she said, shaking her head. Her eyes filled with tears as she continued. “He might do that, Roy. He might trade Nicky for me.” She stopped for a beat, gathering herself. “I’d give my life for his if that’s what it took. I’ve thought about it. I won’t even hesitate.”

  “I know you would, sweetheart,” I answered, settling in front of her, unsure of what to do with myself. Should I hug her? Should I pat her on the shoulder? Should I do nothing at all? I decided on the latter as I continued. “But that’s what I’m afraid of. That kind of thinking will get you killed if you’re not careful.”

  “Honestly, Roy,” she answered, breathing so deep and so loud, I started to understand just how tired she was. And not in her body, but in her soul. “I just don’t care about that anymore. Sometimes you have to make a plea deal.”

  “Stop that,” I answered, hurt prickling in my chest. Sure, she wanted to save her brother, and it was even kind of valiant that she was willing to sacrifice herself to do it. But wasn’t it also selfish? It might have been ridiculous, but I had done so much for her, risked so much for this venture, didn’t I deserve to at least be considered? “I won’t have you crapping all over your own name, even if you use legal jargon to do it.”

  “That’s not what I was doing,” she answered defiantly, her tone cresting upward. She was being defensive, which made me feel like I needed to go at her even harder.

  “Isn’t it?” I asked, moving closer and leveling a pointed finger at her chest. “You want to throw yourself on some sword on the off chance the monster under your bed might give you your brother back. Why? Not to save him. You already know he’s dead.”

  “I don’t!” she screamed back at me. Her eyebrows knitted together and her face twisted in a mask that held so much pain I could hardly look at it without wanting to cry.

  “You do!” I silenced her, my heart fluttering angrily “But it’s not about that. It’s not about actually saving him. It’s about knowing that you did everything you could, even to the point of death, to bring him back.”

  “And what’s so wrong with that?” she asked, her voice cracking.

  “Life’s not all about platitudes. You
can’t sacrifice yourself because you think it’s the right thing to do. Because then you’ll be gone, Renee. The world will still suck, and you’ll just be gone,” I answered harshly, not giving her even a hint of a break. She wasn’t going to justify killing herself on my watch. “That’s what’s so wrong about it.”

  “Guys!” Gary’s voice boomed from behind me.

  “In a minute!” I snarled, all of my concentration firmly planted in front of me. “You think your death wouldn’t affect anybody?” I asked, biting my bottom lip. “What about the people you help?”

  “Guys!” Gary yelled again. Only this time he sounded even more frantic.

  I ignored him.

  “What about the city you’re leaving behind? What about the people who care about you?” I asked expectantly. Including, maybe, me.

  “None of those are left,” she answered solemnly, and I deflated like a balloon.

  Something fluttered deep in my chest. “I wouldn’t go betting on that just yet,” I said almost bitterly.

  “Guys!” Gary screamed, a new urgency in his voice. “I really need your attention.”

  “What?!” I asked, cursing under my breath and turning toward him.

  Gary floated upside down in a sea of green energy. Behind him, Ester was powered up, her body shimmering emerald, the ends of her black dress floating in the air. A remorseful look plastered her pale and sullen face.

  “Fulton will forgive me,” she said, her voice thick and crackling with energy. “If I bring the girl, I’ll be forgiven. I’ll be safe. Sorry.” She lifted a hand as the green energy spread out toward us at the speed of a freight train. “But I don’t have a choice.”

  22

  Green energy flowed around Ester like that demented disgusting slobber thing from Ghostbusters. She was going to turn us over. She didn’t even seem particularly angry. She was calm.

  In the few minutes since receiving Fulton’s offer, she had thought this through. This was her best option as far as she was concerned, anyway. That meant she was solvent. I wasn’t going to be able to change her mind. At least, not without kicking her ass first.