by Kris Greene
“You ain’t the only game in town,” she said in a voice that sounded like she had too many teeth in her mouth. “Now.” She moved slowly towards him, with her body seeming to bulk up as she went. “Let’s talk about that whore’s position you offered me earlier.”
Five minutes later De Mona came out of the alley at the end she hadn’t been able to see due to the man’s spell. Her hands were stained with something too black to be considered blood, which soaked into the sack. The item inside momentarily pulsed and then went still again. She shook off the haze that was trying to settle over her brain and cursed her parcel. In the short time she had been in possession of the thing, it had cost her everything and everyone she’d known. Redfeather had been the name on her dying father’s lips, and she intended to find him at all costs.
The pain in Sam’s gut was so intense that he found it hard to walk straight. His blond Mohawk was dingy and wilted, and there was no luster left in his normally crisp blue eyes. The seemingly endless river of snot running from his nose had begun to cake around his nostrils and just above his top lip, but appearances were the least of his concerns at that moment. If he didn’t get a fix soon, he doubted that he’d make it through the night.
Sam had stopped at the mouth of an alley to catch his breath when he heard what sounded like a faint moaning. He tried to peek into the alley, but the darkness was too thick. He was about to keep walking when he heard the voice.
“Help,” it called weakly.
“Who’s there?” Sam called back.
“Please, help me.”
Sam leaned farther into the alley to see if he could get a better look and something grabbed hold of his neck. He grabbed at it, but his hands passed right through the tendril of darkness. The grip was so intense that he could neither scream nor move. All he could do was whimper as the darkness invaded every hole in his body.
CHAPTER TWO
“And that, in short, was the rise and fall of the Spanish colonization of the Americas,” Professor Garland was saying while the bored students of his history class listened. He was a bear of a man, with a salt-and-pepper mane of messy hair. “Now.” He turned his Coke-bottle glasses on the students. “Who can tell me the names of three of the last four Spanish colonies to be occupied by the United States after the Spanish-American War ended?” The room was silent. “Come now; we’ve only been talking about this over the last week since over sixty percent of you flunked my exam. I’m sure someone can name me three?” He looked around the room, and save for the young man sitting closest to the window no one would meet his gaze. “All right then, I’ll choose.” His eyes swept over his students and landed on a pretty blonde who was playing with her BlackBerry. “Ms. Reynolds!” His deep voice startled her so bad that she dropped the device. “We’re waiting.”
Katie looked around dumbly because she had no idea what exactly Professor Garland was waiting for. She was more interested in her Facebook page than what he was saying. “I’m sorry?” she said sheepishly.
“You certainly are, Ms. Reynolds; it’s only a pity that you have to be so on my time,” he said in disgust. It was common for Professor Garland to go into one of his famous rants on a student he felt was slacking off. These rants were legendary throughout all the universities he’d ever taught at, even rumored to have reduced men to tears, and from the look on his face he was about to let Katie have it.
“Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, not necessarily in that order,” a meek voice called from the corner. All eyes turned to see who would be stupid enough to put themselves in Professor Garland’s crosshairs when he was working himself up to a rant. Gabriel adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and looked around trying to figure out why everyone was starting at him. He was a very attractive young man, with sandblasted brown skin and shoulder-length black hair that he never seemed to comb, but as attractive as he was, Gabriel was about as much fun as Professor Garland’s course. Gabriel was the quiet kid who sat in the corner, staring out the window and never saying more than a word or two in class unless it was to Katie Reynolds, and even then his tone was always hushed. He’d sounded confident when he spoke up on behalf of Katie but with Professor Garland’s eye boring into him he wanted to shrink into invisibility.
“Correct, Mr. Redfeather, but I don’t recall presenting that question to you,” Professor Garland said.
“Technically you were. See, you first posed the question to anyone who could answer it. I just chose not to answer at that moment.” Gabriel smiled dumbly as the class erupted with laughter. The only reason he even replied was to keep from vomiting in front of the entire class.
“Okay, Mr. Wiseass.” Professor Garland picked up a thick textbook and flipped through it until he found the section he was looking for. “Since you’re so versed in the subject, let me ask you this: when Columbus failed to gain the support of the king of Portugal whom did he—”
“The monarchs of Castile and Aragon, they financed his little adventure because they wanted a quicker route to reach the traders in Asia,” Gabriel said triumphantly as the class backed him with a chorus of cheers. Katie blew him a kiss, which he caught in his palm. This only pissed Professor Garland off more.
“I’ll see the two of you after class.” Professor Garland slammed the textbook on the table.
Professor Garland spent the better part of twenty minutes chewing out Gabriel and Katie for their little display of defiance in his class. Garland was a man who didn’t take well to usurpers, as he called them. He was so upset that Gabriel thought one of the massive veins in his forehead was going to explode. When he’d finally dismissed them, Gabriel looked like he was going to fall apart and Katie could barely suppress the giggle that was rattling around in her gut.
“You were awesome in there,” Katie said to Gabriel while they were walking through the hall.
“He seemed pretty pissed off; I thought he was going to have a heart attack in there,” Gabriel said, fumbling with his glasses. The arm was loose, so they kept sliding down his nose.
“I wish. If old man Garland falls over dead, then maybe we won’t have to take the final exam,” Katie said half-jokingly. “Dude, I thought I was going to shit myself when he asked me about the Mexican-American War.”
“Spanish-American,” he corrected her.
“Whatever.” She waved her hand dismissively. “I wouldn’t know one from the other, which is why I know I’m going to fail that exam and end up back here for summer classes.”
“Katie, have you ever considered studying?” he asked seriously.
“Ew, studying is for geeks.” She covered her mouth when she realized she’d offended him. “No offense, Gabe, it’s just that I can’t manage to sit still long enough to get through half of that garbage.”
“It’s not garbage, Katie; it’s the required material for the class.” He adjusted the large stack of books he was carrying. No sooner had he gotten them into a comfortable position than a hulking young man bumped him and knocked all the books on the floor.
“Watch where you’re going, nerd,” the young man said over his shoulder, never breaking his stride.
“Oh, why don’t you grow up?” Katie called after the young man. “Are you okay?” She bent down to help Gabriel pick up the books.
“Yeah, I’m cool,” he lied. He was more angry that he’d let Katie see what happened than at the actual offense. While she was helping him pick up the books a strand of her hair brushed his face. He inhaled deeply of her scent. He loved the way Katie smelled. She had a naturally sweet scent, like a flower, mixed with whatever she used in her hair. It was a smell that he would always carry in his memory. Again Gabriel found his mind wondering, What if . . . ?
“Gabriel, you’ve gotta learn to stand up for yourself,” she told him, placing the last textbook atop the pile. “With all these books you carry around I’d bet you’re as strong as an ox.” She pinched his biceps playfully and found that his arm felt like coiled steel.
“I do stan
d, when I believe in the cause,” he told her.
“What can be a better cause than keeping people from picking on you?”
“The greatest battles are fought with our heads and our hearts,” Gabriel said as if he was imparting some great wisdom to her.
“Well, your heart can’t keep from getting your head cracked.” She knocked on his forehead softly. He was still giving her that blank-puppy look of his, so she let it alone. “Getting back to what I was saying, I know that nothing short of a miracle is going to get me over the hump in Professor Garland’s history class.”
“Then you’d better get yourself over to the church and start praying,” Gabriel said, continuing down the hall.
“Hold on, Gabe.” She caught up to him. “I was kind of hoping—”
“No, Katie,” he cut her off.
“You didn’t even let me finish.”
“Doesn’t matter; the answer is still no.”
“Gabe, I just need a little help.” She stroked his cheek.
The heat from her body and the heady scent of her perfume brought a tingling sensation below his waist. Katie was a beautiful girl. She stood a hair over five-three and had sandy blond hair. Gabriel had often fantasized about what it would be like to be with her, even just once, but he knew they would never be more than friends.
“Nothing doing, Katie.” He shook the fog from his mind. “The last time you got me to help you with something I ended up doing the paper for you while you talked on the phone.”
“That is so untrue. I helped out.”
“Katie, handing me a textbook doesn’t count as help,” he informed her.
“Gabriel, I need this. If I don’t pass this class I’ll have to stay here for the summer and take it again. My parents are treating me to Rio and I don’t want to miss out. Please?”
Gabriel looked into her pleading blue eyes and felt his heart flutter. Katie was a spoiled rich girl from the Howard Beach section of Queens. As the daughter of two renowned surgeons, she was afforded the best that life had to offer. Most of the other students frowned on her and the other girls in her privileged circle, but in his two years at the university Gabriel had learned a different side of her. Katie was really just a girl trying to crawl out from under her parents’ shadows and find her own place in the world. It was the child-like innocence, beneath the shallow exterior, that had drawn Gabriel to her and forged the bond between them.
“Okay,” he conceded. “I’ll help you out this one last time, Katie.”
“Oh, thank you!” she squealed, kissing him on the cheek. “You’re the best, Gabe.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He blushed. “I’ve got some research to do at the library, so meet me there around ten.”
“Tonight? Gabe, it’s Friday. Can’t we meet earlier?”
“No, we can’t. I told you, I’ve got research to do.”
“You and your research.” She pouted. “I don’t see why anyone would give a shit about languages that no one uses anymore anyhow.”
“Well, I give a shit. Those are my terms, Katie. You can show or not; it’s up to you.”
“All right, you big wet blanket. But you’re still the best friend a girl could ever have!”
“Whatever,” he said, trying to hide the smirk on his face. Gabriel looked around to see if anyone was watching, and when he was satisfied that they were alone he decided to finally make a move on Katie. “Listen, I was wondering if you—” Katie’s ringing BlackBerry cut his question short. She answered the phone and was immediately engrossed in what the person on the other end of the line had to say. Katie finger-waved good-bye and walked off down the hall, chatting away on her phone.
“. . . wanted to catch a movie this weekend,” he said to the space where she had been standing.
CHAPTER THREE
During the day Hunter College’s massive library was usually bustling with students, but at night it was a ghost town. It was rare for students to be in the building after dark and nearly unheard of for a Friday night. This didn’t apply to Gabriel Redfeather. The library was one of his favorite places, especially at night. He had worked out an arrangement with the custodian to tutor his daughter in exchange for the use of the library after hours. During the wee hours, Gabriel could do his research in peace.
Gabriel was a certified genius. He had numerous scholarship offers to universities all over the country and abroad, but he chose to attend Hunter. His major was history, but his love was linguistic studies. It was something Gabriel had become interested in as a child, and it had followed him into young adulthood. Hunter wasn’t the best school in New York, but it was a respectable university with a slightly smaller campus than some of the others in the city, which suited him. Besides that, attending Hunter allowed him to stay close to home to help his aging grandfather.
Settling into one of the rickety wooden chairs, Gabriel thumbed through a book on South American cultures. Currently he was researching a long-forgotten tribe that was said to inhabit the hills of Argentina. Gabriel pored through photos of wall markings and was scribbling onto a notepad, trying to decipher the language, when the lights flickered and died.
“Shit,” he cursed. The room was completely dark, save for a sliver of light coming from the adjoining hallway. When he stood to look for a light switch, he heard footsteps. “Who’s there?” There was no answer.
Gabriel felt his way along the tables and chairs until he found a bookshelf. Placing his back to it, he scanned the darkness for the intruder. The only light was the slither seeping under the door from the hall. Gabriel caught something break the beam and disappear behind the quantum physics shelves. His heart began to quicken. He rubbed his palms against his jeans, in an attempt to remove the film of sweat that coated them. He looked around for a weapon but doubted that the Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary would do him much good, despite its massive size.
Craning his neck, he made one last attempt. “All right, this isn’t funny. For the last time, who’s in here?” In response to his question, a shadow darted at him. Time suddenly moved at a crawl. The blur of darkness slowed and he was able to make out the shape of a man. Gabriel grabbed a handful of clothing and twisted his body in the direction the blur was moving. The momentum of the lunge propelled the shape over Gabriel’s head and sent it crashing into the table where he had been studying. Not bothering to identify his attacker, Gabriel made a mad dash for the exit. When he got within feet of it, the room was flooded with light.
It took his eyes a while to refocus, but when they did, he made out the shape of a man standing in the doorway. Gabriel spun around to make for the second exit and froze. Lying on his back near the overturned table was Gabriel’s good friend Carter.
“What the hell, Gabe!” Carter said, still lying on his back. Carter was a six-two junior, who played shooting guard on the basketball team. He had a kind heart but was deadly in a fight. A year and a half prior, Carter was about to flunk off the team when Gabriel helped him to pull his grades up. They had been friends ever since.
“This fool put you on your ass, C.,” the young man said standing near the light switch. Vince also played on the basketball team, but he and Gabriel weren’t friends. Vince was amongst the number of students who often ridiculed Gabriel for his bookish nature.
“Carter, what the hell is wrong with you?” Gabriel asked, helping him to his feet.
“Damn, kid. I was just coming in here to play a prank on you, and I get tossed into a bookshelf. I’m the fastest guy in the division, and you dodged me. How the hell did you do that?” He rubbed the knot that was rising under his tapered Afro.
This was a question Gabriel honestly couldn’t answer. Ever since he was a child he had always had keen reflexes. He was always quicker and more agile than most kids his age. It wasn’t something he could explain; he just was. This was part of what had made him such an asset in his late parents’ carnival show.
“Carter, how’d you let this nerd do that to you?” Vince asked, strolling over.
/> “Watch your mouth, Vince,” Carter warned. “I’m the only one who can give Gabe shit.”
“It’s cool, man,” Gabriel said, casting a glare at Vince. “What’re you two jokers up to?” He turned his attention back to Carter.
“I came by to ask if you wanted to hang out tonight. A bunch of us are going down to this spot in the Village called Six-Six-Six or something like that.”
“Yeah, Carter’s mom is away for the weekend, so orgy at his place,” Vince added.
“Man, why don’t you shut the hell up?” Carter snapped. “Yeah, Mom Dukes is gone, so we got somewhere to slide if we get lucky, you wit’ it?”
“I can’t,” Gabriel said, picking up the books Carter had knocked over. “I’ve gotta study and Katie needs my help with a project she’s got coming up.”
Carter and Vince shared a look. “Gabe, Katie left with Molly and June about fifteen minutes ago. Guess she took a rain check on your little date.” Vince placed a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder and had it knocked away.
“Knock it off, Vince,” Carter snapped at him. “Gabe, it’s Friday, man. Those dead guys will still be here on Monday. Just come out for a little while.”
Once again, Katie had set him up to be the patsy. It amazed him how she would be able to barhop and be in the library studying simultaneously. Those pleading eyes and angelic face did him in every time. He looked over at the pile of scattered books and decided he would think of himself this night.
“All right already, just let me clean up around here and lock up.” He glanced at his watch, which read: 9:52. “I’ll meet you guys there at quarter to eleven.”
“That’s my dawg.” Carter slapped him on the back. “For a minute you were beginning to scare me. You keep poking around with these dead guys and you’re gonna find yourself in a Kelly Armstrong novel,” he joked.
