Walking in the Dark

by Donna Augustine

  The door swung open. “Well? What happened?” I asked, while Kane sat there with more patience than I’d ever have.

  Butch reached behind him and raised a hand with a rolled piece of paper. “We’ve got a list.”

  Chapter 28

  We were sitting in a beat-up sedan that must’ve been twenty years old, but blended into the neighborhood perfectly. The age of the car wasn’t the problem. It was the interior. It was so small that I could feel Kane’s heat or how his arm brushed mine every time he shifted. There wasn’t any air left. I couldn’t escape the woodsy scent of him or keep my mind from wandering as I stared. It was ridiculous to be this aware of such simple contact. Ridiculous and agonizing how I’d spent the first two hours of my afternoon while we stared at an ER that was on the list.

  This was the first time I’d seen one before it was blown up. Now I knew how they flew under the radar. The place was a dump. It was a single-story house, though with the large picture windows on either side of the door, it had sort of a commercial feel. If there weren’t blinds on both windows, maybe I could get a better idea. Although the blinds were broken in spots, there wasn’t a big enough gap for me to tell from this far back, especially since it was dark inside and the sun was right overhead.

  This was a source of power? “Are you sure they gave us an accurate list of locations? This place doesn’t appear to be used, or inhabited, or really much of anything.”

  “It doesn’t have to be used,” Kane said. “They’re left empty usually. Less attention drawn that way.”

  He shifted, his arm brushing me again like he knew it agitated me. Although for someone who’d been getting flirty, he didn’t seem to have any interest in kissing me again.

  I caught him looking over at me when he should’ve been looking at the house. “What?”

  “Is that a dwarf shirt?” His voice was a touch lower than his normal baritone.

  “This? Yeah, I think so.” One of my nicest. It was a white shirt with a slightly dipping neckline that happened to look fabulous in a way that didn’t make me appear to be trying. Which I hadn’t, of course. Why would I try to look good to go sit in a car all day? I wore it because it was comfortable. Only reason.

  “What do you think our odds are of seeing him before the place blows?”

  “Fifty/fifty. More if he keeps going in order.”

  Crem might’ve been a resourceful crawler, but he wasn’t the brightest. Who stole a list and then targeted the places from the top down?

  The worst thing about sitting for hours beside Kane was I couldn’t stop the replay of everything that had happened between us. It was like a reel on repeat as I dissected every moment ad nauseam. If I could get some straight answers, perhaps I could get my finger off the replay button. I could figure out what Kane’s deal was and move past it.

  “Since we’ve got some downtime, I’ve got a question for you.”

  He gave me the side eye. “Since when do you warn me you’re going to ask something?”

  I needed to remember not to warn him next time. For now, I’d proceed like I hadn’t. “Let’s say that there was never a chance you would’ve killed me in that alleyway after you had rescued me away from the leprechauns—”

  “Okay, I can go with that theory. I think saving you not minutes prior would be enough to sell it to some skeptics.” He shrugged as if he were partaking in my logical conversation and not steeping his words in sarcasm.

  “As I was saying, if that were the case, why did we stop in the alleyway after? Why didn’t you just bring me back to the Underground?”

  He turned toward me, his eyes saying it all even before he spoke. “You really need me to give you an explanation in order to believe that I wouldn’t have killed you?”

  I used the need to watch the house while he wasn’t as an excuse to not keep eye contact. I didn’t turn to look at him, even as his stare was leveled on me. I was on the verge of asking him if turning the tables was a hobby, but I didn’t want to get side-railed. “You’re the one that made it sound like you would’ve. Not me. And it’s not a hard question if you have a good reason.”

  I could feel his eyes narrowing on me, but he answered. “Fine. I didn’t want to question you too close to the leprechaun territory because I know they’ve got ears on the street. I needed to get you away from the building.”

  “By why not drive right to the Underground? Why stop at the alleyway before we got there?”

  “I wasn’t stopping to question you. I stopped because you were sucking in air as if it were going to be your last breath. Since we’d stopped anyway, figured I’d question you then.”

  “Oh.” I remembered that night clearly. I’d thought over every detail of it, taking it apart and trying to look at it from every side. After we left the leprechauns, we’d hit a pothole the size of the Grand Canyon right before the turn into that alley. It had shot pain through me like a jet pack. I’d thought I was holding it together pretty good until then.

  I’d never connected my gasp of pain with the turn. So he’d pulled over because he knew how bad off I’d been. It checked off another box, but instead of shutting the door on that question, I really couldn’t stop thinking about it. That had been…well, almost sweet. This was not supposed to make me feel like a pile of mush. This was a fact-finding mission.

  “Anything else you’d like to inquire about?” he asked, and luckily he’d gone back to watching his side of the street.

  “No. Definitely not. Absolutely, positively not.”

  He kept his face forward as he said, “Sometimes you are very strange, even for a Shadow Walker.”

  I let out a little hmph, realizing we’d come full circle again. I’d hated him when I’d first met him, then he’d grown on me, then maybe he’d grown on me a bit more.

  And then I’d left. When I came back, it had been even worse than in the beginning. But here we were again, in this strange place, and I didn’t know what I was feeling anymore.

  I might not have known what I was feeling for Kane, but I knew when a wave of magic hit me.

  “He’s in there. I can feel him.”

  “I would’ve seen him go in.”

  “I’m telling you, I can feel the energy.”

  Kane went still beside me, and I knew he’d just gotten a whiff of the magic in the air. I didn’t exactly know what Kane was, but I knew he had some power, probably more than I did.

  Until I’d been shadow kissed, anyway.

  We both got out of the car at the same time.

  Kane stopped. “He’s about to blow it up.”

  I might feel magic before him, but I had no idea about the finer points of it. Kane not only felt it, he felt its purpose. I was going to have to get some pointers on how he pulled that off. “Then we’ve got to stop him.”

  “There’s no time,” he yelled, but I’d already taken off running.

  I took another step and froze as all of a sudden the air seemed to be sucked out of the atmosphere. I knew this feeling. I’d felt it a couple of times before, but I hadn’t known what was coming those times. I did now.

  A burst of flames enveloped the building and shot straight toward me. The heat was spreading over me as I turned to run away. Searing heat rushed over my skin like a blanket as I gulped down burning air. I’d thought I was invincible to these fires, but the crawlers had all wanted to keep me alive before. Crem didn’t need me. Just as I realized I might die here, an arm reached around my waist and pulled me along.

  We crashed onto the ground barely clear of the blast radius. I landed on top of Kane and then was swiftly pulled underneath him until we rolled to a stop. Neither one of us moved other than to look in the direction of where the house had been, my eyes scanning the area as my charred lungs tried to clear out.

  “Wait here.”

  I didn’t have the argument or the will to get off the ground. I knew he was going to check the perimeter of the building and try and spot Crem. I also knew that even if I told him I couldn’t feel
him anymore, he was still going to go check. It was a stubbornness close to my own heart.

  I flopped back onto the grass, not caring how I looked or who saw me. Crem had gotten past both of us while we’d been sitting in wait.

  This meant that we might not catch him until he moved on to his next ER. Or maybe it would take a lot more places?

  A few minutes later, Kane walked back over and reached down a hand to help me up as he said, “He’s gone.”

  I didn’t tell him I’d already known that.

  Sirens sounded in the distance as we made our way back to the car.

  I didn’t say anything until we were driving away. “This might get ugly. He’s collecting power. It might get to the point that we can’t get rid of him at all, and we don’t even know what he wants.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Although on the bright side, Rudy is not going to be happy.” I only laughed a little.

  It was obvious that the entirety of the Underground had heard about yet another explosion. This time, it wasn’t because I read the nonverbal hints. It was staring me in the face. As we walked in, there was a screen that would do an IMAX theatre proud, hanging on the wall over the bar area. The house we’d just left was burning on the screen, adding a glow to the faces turned toward it. All we needed was the heat cranked up and it would’ve felt like we’d stepped into the waiting room of hell.

  Butch, Leon, and Jerry were huddled together in the corner with Flip floating herself around them. They fell in behind Kane and I as we walked up toward the office.

  “Any change?” Kane asked as soon as we were all in the room with the door shut.

  Jerry stepped forward, looking nothing like an amiable beach boy now. “No. He’s been in his room all afternoon.”

  Butch moved toward the Keurig, clearly needing an extra French vanilla today. “I still say he’s connected somehow.”

  Butch started grumbling, but Leon reached below him and opened a cabinet, placing a new case of French vanilla K-cups beside the coffee maker.

  Asher might’ve been sitting in his room all day, but I could read this room. No one believed he had nothing to do with today’s explosion. My doubts about his innocence were growing almost daily.

  I walked into the center of the room as I tapped a finger to my lips. “There might be an easier way to get Crem. Let me take Asher out of here, give him a taste of freedom again, and see if I can warm him up a little.”

  I could see everyone thinking it over until Kane shot it down. “No.”

  And we were back to the days of one-word answers, because God knew how I loved those. “Yes.”

  “This is my call.”

  “I’m the Shadow Walker. I’m the one who has walked beside these creatures. I say yes.”

  “This isn’t shadow walking anymore. This is hunting. You aren’t a hunter.”

  “I might be a better hunter than you.”

  “Now you’re just talking crazy.”

  “Does it never end with them?” Jerry asked.

  “No. It really doesn’t,” Butch. “Probably won’t until they either kill each other or do other things.”

  I looked over at Butch, as he was elbowing Jerry with a smirk on his face. Jerry was about to laugh, but stopped as he saw me staring them both down.

  I turned back to Kane. “We need to exhaust all avenues. You know I’m right.”

  His jaw twitched a few times as we squared off. “If you want to exhaust all avenues, then let’s talk about how we could kill him.”

  “No. You’re not killing him.”

  “And you’re not wasting any more time on his lies.”

  We broke apart like two boxers at the end of a round that neither of them won, each going to our corners to regroup. Everyone else went back to their coffee break, Leon mumbling something about not using up all the creamer.

  I was over by the window when I saw Zee flash into existence at the bottom of the stairs and point toward the back hallway.

  I glanced about the room. Everyone was quiet, deep in their own thoughts or fighting over the last of the sugar. I edged toward the door. “I’m going to go grab a sandwich,” I said softly, not looking to attract too much attention.

  I got a nod and a few grunts.

  I ducked into the back hallway, nearly invisible to the crowd now that there was bigger drama going on.

  Zee was waiting by the door. “What?”

  “I’ve got a surprise.” She grabbed my arm and tugged me out the door with her.

  I climbed in her car, hoping it might be another hairy were-girl looking for some relief.

  “Where are we going? I hope it’s not that dingy building again. I swear I’ve got flea bites.” The place had been much worse on the inside than it had appeared, the carpet insect-ridden.

  The plus side of places like that was no one would come snooping around while we were working. Not that we were doing anything wrong, but this wasn’t something I wanted to broadcast.

  I scratched my legs, feeling suddenly itchy. Capris might’ve been a bad call for today.

  “Nope. Somewhere much better.” She reached out and patted the air in between us. “It’s not prime time, but I felt that we needed to up our game.”

  I felt like I’d swallowed a rubber ball that, after lodging in my throat for a moment, bounced around the walls of my stomach. “Up it how? We’ve only done one spell.”

  We turned the corner, into Bay Village. It was a middle-of-the-road neighborhood that made up for any shortcomings with a lot of character.

  She slowed her car as we approached a building and then stopped right in front. It was a brick-faced two-story building with a pink and white striped awning over the door and window. A green neon sign above read, The Magic Box.

  She got out of the car and waited for me to join her in front. She bent forward, watching me as I didn’t budge. She must’ve seen something that made her decide to change her course and head over toward my door. If I had to guess, it was my puke-green face that tipped her off.

  She swung my door open as I tried to hold it closed. “What are you doing? Get out.”

  I didn’t move. “What is this?”

  She grabbed my hand and started tugging me out of the car. I would’ve resisted, but she was freakishly strong. Must’ve been all that cement.

  “It’s our new place. I wanted you to see it before the adverts go out next week.”

  “Adverts?” I tugged back as she pulled me toward the building. I wasn’t sure if she realized I was still fighting her as she kept moving forward without pause.

  “Yes. To grow the business.”

  “No. No advertising.”

  She stopped at the door and put in a key with a flower decal on it. “I can see how you’d be worried about advertising.”

  Okay, we had a storefront. Maybe that wasn’t the end of the world. It was better than fleas. But she had to be crazy to think of advertising.

  “After your commercial, it makes sense you’d have cold feet.” She patted my shoulder before she opened the door and said, “But I’ll handle it and it’ll be much better, and we won’t show you in it. I thought we should keep your identity a mystery.”

  I followed her into the building. “No, absolutely no advertising.” Although if I wasn’t in it, it might not be too bad.

  “We’ll discuss it later.”

  I stood still inside. Damn, this place was adorable. There were white couches in the front that looked delicate and scrolled, with pink cushions and silver tables. The place made me want to have a tea party. “This is cute. How much is this costing?”

  “I negotiated the first month’s rent for free in exchange for the renovations.”

  “And what did the reno cost?” I didn’t have the money to lose.

  “Not bad. Me and my girls did most of it. You might need to dig around in that head for some eyelash and weight-loss spells when you get a chance, though.”

  So not exactly free, but I could live with that.
>
  She walked over to an interior door. “This will be your domain. You can greet people or stay in there and not be seen at all.”

  I walked over and looked inside. This wasn’t too bad. Actually, it was the nicest little setup I’d ever seen.

  Zee walked over and pointed to the grey velvet lounge. “This is where the client can relax while you work your magic. This is for you, in case you need to rest before or after.” She pointed to a leather armchair in the corner.

  There was a console table against another wall, with a water dispenser sitting on top that had floating lemons, limes, and oranges inside it. The words We make dreams come true were painted in silver on the wall above.

  “This is…” Not too bad really didn’t measure up. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”

  Zee smiled so brightly it was like a blast of sunshine in the place. “Are you ready?”

  I sat down on the lounge and stretched out. “I think I am.”

  Chapter 29

  I was yawning as I got in the car with Kane the next morning. Knowing how close death was hovering near Asher had proved to be a real sleep deterrent. Kane was driving to our next stakeout, but I didn’t bother asking where it was. The location didn’t particularly matter.

  I was yawning again as the Rolling Stones came on the radio and Kane’s mouth formed all the words to “Sympathy for the Devil.” Unholy shit, was that what he was? Everything else seemed to exist, stuff no one even believed in. Lots of people believed in heaven and hell. I held back the question for one moment, thinking he might get insulted by it if he wasn’t. If he was, maybe he’d drag me into the underworld with him for figuring it out.

  I asked anyway, because if that was even the slimmest possibility, how could you not ask? “Are you the devil? Okay, maybe not the devil, but some relation to the underworld, like an imp or something?”

  “Because I like the Rolling Stones?” Each word almost sounded like its own question. “And if you thought I was the devil, what does that say about your standards for working with me?”