by Devon Monk
I sat across from her, but didn’t have any more answers.
Note to self: start a Hound medical information data bank.
She finished entering my lack of information into her computer, then gave me a sympathetic smile. “You can wait right out there. There’s coffee at the far wall if you’d like some.”
I mumbled my thanks and walked over to the coffee station, pouring myself a cup and then walking woodenly back to one of the banks of lima-bean green chairs in the waiting room. There were several people in the waiting room whom I hadn’t even noticed until now.
I paced for a little while, held the coffee between my hands until it was cold, then finally took a seat near the door. I wasn’t sure whether I was sitting there for a quick escape or whether I was keeping an eye out for monsters.
Either way, it took some time for the adrenaline to wear off, and when it did I realized I was really tired.
My thoughts were jagged and random.
Somewhere out there monsters roamed the street.
Zayvion said he Closed Cody.
Where was Nola?
I was late for class.
Tomi was using dark magic.
She might be dead.
Was Davy going to be okay?
Had taking the time to make that phone call killed him?
What did Jingo Jingo have to do with this?
And what the hell was that spell anyway?
Did Tomi have a disk?
I don’t know how much time passed before Detective Stotts came walking in, wearing a trench, a maroon scarf, and a frown. But he brought two cups of coffee with him.
“Allie.” He sat down next to me and offered me one of the cups.
This was the good coffee from the mom-and-pop shop close to the police station, not the overcooked canned coffee the emergency room provided.
I put down my cold Styrofoam cup and held the larger, warmer cup in my palms. Was it strange that I couldn’t feel the heat against my skin?
“How’s Davy?” he asked quietly.
I shook my head. “They haven’t told me.”
He took a drink, and so did I. The coffee was black, hot, and rich. It felt like heaven going down. And it somehow made the world feel real again.
“Did you go to the park?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Tomi?”
“We couldn’t find her.”
I lowered my head and pressed the coffee cup against my forehead.
“What happened?” he asked.
A sick feeling rolled in my stomach and I put the coffee down because the smell, the heat, was suddenly too much. “Was there anyone . . . else?”
“No. The circle was still there.”
“Did you get rid of it?”
“Not yet.”
I stared at him, confused. Then my brain kicked in. Right. Procedure. He’d have someone Hound it, get photos, take samples, all that before they cleaned it up. It could take days.
I stood. I needed to talk to Zayvion. Or Shamus. Or maybe Maeve. Find out if any of them knew anything about Tomi. Find out if she was hurt, dead. Find out if I needed to get her to the hospital too. “I have to go.”
Stotts stood slowly. He put his hand on my elbow.
“Where?”
“Out. Away. Find out if anyone else, if people, if Hounds know anything.” Wow. I was not thinking straight. Really, all I wanted to do was sit down in a quite room for maybe a century. The idea of losing Davy, when I’d promised Pike I’d take care of him, and that Tomi was probably hurt, maybe dead, made me crazy.
So I did what I usually do when I’m afraid, or worried. I got angry.
“I have people to take care of, okay?” I said.
“I understand that. One of them is in there.” He pointed at the double doors that led to the emergency room.
“And the rest are out there.” I pointed at the door, and turned to storm off.
But the door had already slid aside. And through it walked the Hounds Jack and Bea and Sid.
“We heard about Davy,” Bea said, her normally smiling face worried.
“Davy wasn’t working for you, was he, Stotts?” Sid looked like the sort of guy you’d expect to program computers, not Hound. He was dressed in his usual tan slacks, button-down shirt, sensible loafers, and wire-rimmed glasses.
He was smart too. I hadn’t even thought about Stotts using Davy. Stotts was cursed. More Hounds died working for him than for anyone else in the city.
Stotts blinked once. “Yes.”
“What the hell?” I said loud enough that half the emergency room looked over at me. “You asked me to work for you. Not him. Not Davy. Didn’t I answer you fast enough? You had to go out and find someone else to kill?”
“That,” Stotts growled, “is enough. He was already working the job before you and I talked.”
I glared at him. He glared right back at me.
Sid, next to us, just sighed. “It’s done,” he said tiredly. “Neither of you have ground to fight on. Leave it be and let’s move on.”
To my surprise, Stotts backed down. “Do you know if he has family here?” He was all business and police procedure again.
Sid rubbed at the bridge of his nose, then pushed his glasses back in place.
“I don’t know much about his personal life. He never mentioned family. I always thought he lived somewhere out southeast. Thought he went to PCC. But I’m not sure about that either.”
Note to self: once all this settles down, if it settles down, get some kind of basic information on all the Hounds in the city. If nothing else, it will make it easier for the police to notify the next of kin.
Bea spoke up. “So, who’s taking the first shift?” she asked.
“First shift?” I said.
“Waiting to hear if Davy’s going to be okay,” she said. “I’ll stay for a while.”
Jack motioned to one of the empty chairs. “I’ve got some time,” he said. “You and I can take first shift, all right?”
Bea nodded and sat down where I’d just been sitting. Jack exchanged a look with Sid, and I remembered they had buddied for Sid’s job tonight.
“I’ll get someone else,” Sid said.
Jack nodded and settled down next to Bea, his elbows on his knees as he started a mundane conversation about what kinds of corpses she’d been sniffing lately.
“I need to know what you saw, Allie,” Stotts said.
“I didn’t see much,” I said.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Sid interrupted, “I’m going to the coffee shop in the main lobby. Anyone want anything?”
“No,” I said. “Are you staying?”
He shook his head. “Have a job in a few hours. Just a look-see at the library for some shenanigans with the books. Someone thinks a few books have had offensive passages ‘spelled’ out of them.”
“I don’t care if you’re Hounding a newborn. You need a shadow.” I hated sounding like an overprotective mother, but right now, even the library sounded like a death trap.
“I’ll get one,” Sid said. “I have the list. I’ll see who’s available and give him or her a call.”
He headed off to the coffee shop.
I told Stotts what I’d seen. Well, not all of it. I mentioned Davy, Tomi, the knife, the burned circle of ashes, and the shadowy magic. I did not tell him about the nightmare creatures loose on the street. As far as I knew, Stotts did not know about those kinds of things. About the dead walking among us, the Veiled, the Necromorph, the nightmare creatures. As far as I knew, those were the sorts of things, Death magic things, dark magic things, that the Authority worked very hard to keep out of the notice of the rest of the citizenry.
Including the secret magical police department.
Of course, I could be wrong. No one had given me a damn spreadsheet to keep all the secrets straight.
“And that’s it?” he asked as he wrote down the last of my statement on the pad he’d pulled out of his pocket.
“That’s all I remember,” I said.
“Okay.” He put the pad and pen away. “I have some things I need to take care of. Are you going to be okay here?”
“What?”
“I’m beginning to like this buddy system you have worked out. Do you want me to call someone for you? Nola, maybe?”
Wow, and how strange was that? Mr. Police Detective had Nola’s number and was looking after me like I was trying to look after my Hounds.
“Do you know where Nola is?” I asked.
“She said she was going to do some shopping, maybe catch a movie.” He glanced at his watch. “She might be at your apartment now.”
“I’ll give her a call and let her know I’m on my way home.”
“Do you need a ride?”
“No,” I said. “I got it.”
He hesitated for a second, which made sense, since I usually didn’t have a car. But he nodded. “Call me. Anytime. For anything. Okay?”
“I will.” Anything I can tell you about, I thought.
I checked with the nurse on duty but she said they didn’t have an update on Davy yet. This was where a cell phone would really come in handy. Instead I gave her my home phone number and asked her to please call me as soon as they knew anything.
Then I gave my home number to Jack and Bea and made them both write it down. When Sid came strolling back with an energy drink and two sandwiches, I told him my number too.
“I know your home number,” he said around a bite of pastrami. “We’ll call as soon as we know. And if any of us get tired sitting down here, we’ll call someone else to take over.”
“I’ll be back soon,” I said. And I planned on that being the truth. I also planned on hunting down those nightmare creatures and sending them back to wherever they came from.
And to do that, I’d need the help of Mr. Zayvion Jones.
Chapter Fourteen
So here’s something I never thought I’d see. My apartment with three people in it, laughing without my being there.
I tried to open the door, but it was locked. And I was glad about that.
I knocked. Who should open the door (after ample time to look through the peephole to see who was on the other side) but Zayvion.
He opened the door wide and stepped aside with a warm, relaxed smile on his face. “Welcome home,” he said.
My heart caught at the sound of those words on his lips.
“You and I have issues,” I said.
“Apparently,” he said.
Nola and Shamus were laughing in the living room. Something about dogs, and Nola going on about Jupe’s disastrous skunk-hunting expeditions.
“What’s wrong?” Zayvion glanced down the hallway behind me, then shut the door.
And when all I could do was shake my head, he took the three steps necessary and wrapped his arms around me. I should have pushed him away. I was still angry at him for hurting Cody. But he held me, my face tucked into his shoulder, didn’t say anything. Didn’t ask anything. Just afforded me a little time to pull myself together for what I knew I had to do.
Nola walked out of the living room. “Allie? I was just going to pour us all coffee. Do you want a cookie?”
That’s what I smelled—homemade oatmeal cookies.
“No.” I pushed away from Zayvion and smiled for Nola. “It’s been a bad day. I found Davy Silvers—he’s one of the Hounds in the group—hurt over in St. Johns.”
Nola’s face shadowed with concern. “Is he okay? Do we need to take him to the hospital?”
“I already did.” I looked at Zayvion, who watched me with a dark intensity. “There’s blood in your backseat. Sorry.”
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Is he?”
“I don’t know yet. Some of the Hounds are at the hospital, waiting to hear if he’s going to be okay.”
“Should we go down there too?” Nola asked. “How was he hurt? Was it an accident?”
“No. It was magic.”
Zayvion didn’t move, but Shamus, who had been sitting in my living room with his feet on my coffee table, stood up and strolled over.
“Well, it’s been a fine afternoon,” he said to Nola. “And a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Robbins.” He shook Nola’s hand. “But it’s getting late, and I see that you have things needing your attention. I hope we’ll get a chance to see each other again before you head out of town. Maybe catch a pint out at O’Donnel’s.”
“I’d like that,” Nola said.
Shamus turned to me. “Good afternoon, Allie.”
I nodded.
Then he slugged Zayvion in the shoulder. Zayvion didn’t so much as flinch. “See you soon, won’t I?” he asked.
“Of course,” Zayvion said with smooth Zen calm.
I had a feeling they had both just said a lot more to each other than was obvious.
And then Shamus let himself out. I could hear him whistling down the hallway and down the staircase.
Nola was no dummy. Even though she didn’t know a lot about magic, she knew when the mood in the room had suddenly changed.
“Do you two need some time in private to talk?” she asked.
Can I just say that I loved her? Honest. Down to earth. No bullshit Nola. Loved her.
“If you don’t mind,” I said.
“I’ll be back in the bedroom if you need me.” She walked off, and Zayvion and I both stared at each other until we heard the bedroom door shut.
“Tell me why you Closed Cody,” I said.
“Because it’s my job.”
“Don’t,” I warned. “I am so not in the mood.”
He held still a moment, considered me. Finally, “He’s been a part of the Authority for a long time. But he wasn’t Closed. Someone put a hit on him, years ago, when he was turning witness for those magical forgeries he was involved in. We don’t know who did it, but they broke him, his mind. And just a few months ago James used him to work Blood magic, Death magic, dark magic, to kill your father and hurt you. . . .”
Zayvion took a deep breath, looked away. His gaze finally returned to my face. When he spoke, he was very calm. “The Authority approves of Nola looking after him. And Sedra . . . she thinks living away from magic will be the best thing for him. Might even give his mind some time to heal, if it can heal. But before he could be given into Nola’s care, he had to be Closed. The traumas and the memories of how to use magic taken away. So no one can use him again.”
“So you just erased the parts of his life that you didn’t think were good enough? That you didn’t think he could handle? How kind of you to make that decision for him.”
Um, yeah. Sarcasm. I had it.
“I don’t need your approval to do my job,” he said, flat, cold.
We spent a little time glaring at each other.
“Are you going to tell me what happened to Davy?” he asked.
I didn’t know whether the change of subject was a peace offering. But it was common ground, maybe better ground, for both of us.
“I found him half dead in Cathedral Park. Tomi Nowlan, his ex-girlfriend, the Hound, was there with a knife and a burnt circle of ash.”
“The disks,” he said.
I nodded. “She was working dark magic, I think. Shadowed colors in indigo and red. And then things, creatures came out of the circle.”
“She opened a gate.”
“And that’s bad, right?”
He nodded. “The creatures are called the Hungers. They exist only on the other side of magic, in the realms of death.”
“Well, I think they’re setting up a vacation home in Cathedral Park.”
He spared me a brief smile. “I need to go.”
“Are we going to hunt them?” I asked.
“No. We aren’t going to do anything,” he said. “Shamus and I will take care of them. It’s what we’re trained to do.”
“No,” I said. “Hell, no. You are not going after those things alone. I am going with you
. I have to learn how to kill a nightmare sooner or later, right?”
“Allie . . .”
“Consider it on-the-job training.”
“Bad idea.”
“Why? Keeping me in the dark about these things will not keep me safe,” I said. “Not anymore. Not if I’m going to be a part of your world.”
“Nola?” I said over my shoulder.
Zay caught my wrist. “Allie, listen. The disks are involved. The only person out there that we know of who has a disk is the Necromorph. He knows your dad is in your head. And he is willing to kill you.”
“I can handle myself.”
“That’s not my point.”
“Then point,” I said.
“Did you ever think that hurting Davy, involving Tomi, and calling you to the park to watch Tomi release the Hungers might have been planned? Might have been a way for the Necromorph to draw you to him?”
“That’s crazy. If he had wanted me there, why didn’t he show up?”
“I don’t know. Maybe something didn’t go the way he expected it to.”
I thought about Tomi’s shock. How she had seemed really out of it. So much so that even her spell casting had been jerky. Maybe she was the weak link in the Necromorph’s plan.
“He doesn’t want me, Zay,” I said.
“No, he wants your dad. And you’re giving him to him.”
Nola came out of the bedroom. “Did you call me?”
“Yes,” I said. “We’re leaving.”
“Going to tell me what you’re up to?”
“We’re going to go Hound the place where Davy was hurt. I gave a bunch of people my home number. Two men Hounds named Sid and Jack. One woman Hound named Bea. And also the nurse at the ER. I asked that they call me if they hear about Davy, or if they need someone to sit down at emergency, waiting to hear about him. Do you mind handling phone duty?”
“I can do that. But first.” She strode into the living room and then came back. “Take these with you.”
I don’t know what I expected. Maybe a cell phone. Or a gun. Nope. Nola dropped two palm-sized cookies in my hand. Oatmeal chocolate chip, and still warm.
“Come home safe,” she said.
