Darkness Shifting: Tides of Darkness Book One

by Sarah Blair

  He licked his lips in response to her question, but kept his head down and stuck to his determined path like he was on a tether. “I have nothing to say.”

  “Are you hungry? I haven’t eaten,” she said.

  “Is tempting offer.” His black eyes flicked past her. She felt Williams at her elbow.

  “Hi, Renny,” Williams said.

  Renny sank back into himself, like the frightened turtles the vendors sold in neon plastic boxes to tourists. “No. No. Busy day today. Thank you, maybe next time.”

  He sped up and dodged around a group of teenagers in matching yellow shirts taking pictures of fish heads on ice.

  “Renny, wait.” She turned and smacked Williams on the arm. “You scared him.”

  “No way. Not my fault he’s a schizo.”

  “Where did he go?” She stood on tiptoe straining to see over the never ending flow of people, but the head of stringy hair didn’t resurface. “You let him get away.”

  “I let him get away?”

  Sidney turned in a slow circle, scanning the crowd.

  “There.” Williams pointed toward a side street and took off down the alley.

  She followed in his wake for half a block before she nearly collided with a woman carrying a basket of cabbages, and had to dodge a delivery truck backing out of an alley.

  By the time she skidded around the corner onto Mott Street, she’d lost sight of Williams, but caught a glimpse of Renny, who disappeared into a store with knock-off handbags hanging in the front window. She chased him through the racks of t-shirts and out through an emergency door in the back.

  “Renny, stop!” She tumbled into the alley after him. He slid on some forgotten take-out containers and slammed into the brick wall, but turned and kept running. Williams yelled from the other end of the alley, already out of breath. She kept up the chase.

  Their informant climbed up a mountain of trash bags then grabbed the bottom rung of a fire-escape ladder. A loud clank reverberated down the alley as the ladder loosened from its holding. It was too late; Sidney was already in midair trying to catch his legs. She lost her balance and grabbed on to the frightened man. The rusty ladder gave way and they tumbled to the ground.

  Luckily, they had a nice squishy pile of trash to land in. One of the black bags tore open, when Renny tried to move his foot out of Sidney’s face. Fish guts and other discarded pieces from the market spilled out onto the pavement. There was no way to avoid rolling in the slimy mess.

  “Thanks a lot, Renny.” She pulled a tentacle out of her hair and scrunched up her face.

  Williams jogged up to them, hand on his side, breathing as if he’d just crossed the finish line of the New York Marathon. He bent at the waist trying to catch his breath and caught a whiff of Sidney instead.

  “This is way worse than that time you were covered in goblin—”

  “Don’t even.” Sidney rolled off of the trash heap. “You swore you’d never bring that up.”

  He shoved his nose into the crook of his arm. “What? So he had kind of a crush on you. It was cute.”

  “It wasn’t cute. He ruined my blue dress.” She held out her hand and he pulled her to her feet.

  “I don’t have to be here for this conversation.” Renny climbed up and tried to sneak off.

  “Not so fast, buster.” Williams caught his jacket.

  “Come on Renny.” Sidney loosened Williams’ grip on him and picked a squiggly tentacle off the already filthy velour. “Wouldn’t you rather eat some food instead of swim in it? How about a nice Reuben?”

  Four

  They chose a deli over on Lafayette.

  It was past the lunch rush so the place was empty except for a family of tourists.

  Sidney and Renny grabbed a table in the back corner, while Williams ordered and paid for the food. The family picked up and headed out in a rush, leaving their empty soda cans and sandwich paper on the table.

  Sidney didn’t want to pressure Renny, so she got up and threw the trash in the can next to the table just for something to do. New Yorkers were efficient, not rude. Williams brought the sandwich back and pulled up a chair from the next table sitting in it backwards, arms propped on the back.

  Their informant dug into the sandwich as if it was his first and last meal put together. Wiggly bits of sauerkraut dangled from the side, reminding her of things she’d picked out of her hair back in the alley.

  “Ever thought about entering the hot dog eating championship?” Williams asked.

  She booted him under the table.

  “What?” Williams rubbed his shin. “You spend a lot of the time in the subway, don’t you? Ever seen any Mole Men down there?”

  Renny stopped chewing for a second before he shook his head and went back to stuff another bite in his mouth. He made it obvious he was only there to eat. It was typical for him to be skittish, but this was extreme even for him.

  “There was a body found last night on the City Hall platform.” Sidney kept her voice low so the barrel of a man trying to listen in from behind the counter couldn’t catch what they were saying. “Know anything about it?”

  Renny kept chewing.

  “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important,” she said.

  “What do you know about werewolves, Ren?” Williams asked.

  Renny stopped chewing. “That is not my name.”

  “He’s just trying to be friendly.” She gave her partner a hard stare.

  “I know nothing about what you ask. No one has seen the werewolves in centuries.” Renny finished his sandwich and took a gulp of soda. “But, I will tell you. There is fear. The darkness is dangerous.”

  “Dangerous how?” she asked.

  “Is not easy to explain. There is something. The darkness whispers.”

  Williams turned his head toward Sidney and mouthed the word, crazy, behind his hand where Renny couldn’t see.

  She made a mental note to punch him in the throat later and turned her attention back to the informant. “Is there anything else you can think of? Maybe something a little more specific?”

  “The monsters are afraid.”

  “What could possibly be bad enough to make the monsters afraid?” Williams asked.

  The man crumpled up his sandwich wrapper into a tiny ball and twisted it in his hands. He looked past Williams for a moment before he turned his attention directly on his face.

  “You are not good enough for her,” Renny said.

  “Wait. What?” Williams asked.

  The anxious man stood up, grabbed his soda can, and tossed his trash in the bin on the way out.

  Williams frowned. “That dude really doesn’t like me.”

  “Wonder why?” Sidney didn’t bother hiding the sarcasm as she watched Renny melt into the crowd. Of all people, she knew what it was like to live in fear of the darkness. She wished there was more she could do for Renny, but whenever she offered more than food or a cup of coffee he tended to disappear even quicker.

  Williams’ cell phone rang before he could form any snide remarks of his own. He answered and motioned that he would take the call outside. Instead of following, she went down the back hall in search of a bathroom.

  A handwritten sign taped to a door read: Customer Only! She took a wild guess and tried it.

  Calling it a closet would be generous. Of all the tricks she’d learned at crime scenes to block out the stench of the dead and decaying, she still couldn’t manage to suppress the overwhelming smell of stale urine.

  She twisted the only knob on the sink. The faucet spit out something closer to the color of weak tea than water.

  “Seriously?” Sidney stared.

  Someone banged on the door. “Lake, you in there?”

  “Hang on,” she called out.

  It was either this or smell like walking calamari all day. She pulled her ponytail holder out of her hair and ducked her head under the water. The shock of the cold on her scalp felt worse than walking through a ghost. Spectral Apparition.
Whatever.

  Gritting her teeth, she scrubbed the fishy bits out of her hair with one hand while she tried to keep the long tendrils from actually touching the sink with the other.

  More banging.

  “Settle down,” Sidney shouted.

  She shut the tap off and wrung out her hair, then dabbed at the other spots on her shirt and jeans. She scrubbed a paper towel over her neck and arms with soap that had been watered down to extend its pitiful life.

  Williams banged again. “Hurry up. Got a situation.”

  She grabbed her jacket and opened the door hard.

  “Ow! What the—oh, Lake. Wow. Oh, man,” he said. His hands shot up to cover a laugh. But not fast enough.

  “Don’t even.” She gave him the evil eye and combed through her hair with her fingers in an attempt to make herself remotely presentable.

  Williams snapped his mouth shut. He pointed to his phone and raised his eyebrows.

  “Okay, who called?”

  “Chief.” Williams waited until they were outside to give details. “There’s a demon in an office building uptown.”

  “Demon? I thought Peters was after a revenant.”

  “Was, yeah.”

  Sidney stopped short. “Was?”

  Williams tugged the sleeve of her jacket, urging her to continue down the sidewalk.

  “Is he okay?” she asked.

  Peters was one of the older agents on the team. He always told the best stories on the nights they spent drinking at the Cowgirl.

  He’d been there. Done that.

  “He’s alive.”

  “What happened?” she insisted. They reached the car and her partner went around to the driver’s side. He stared at her over the roof.

  “He just retired.”

  Five

  “Shit.” Sidney stared at the tangle of cops, firetrucks, ambulances, and buzz of people up ahead. It was like an anthill erupted right in the middle of Madison Avenue. “Did they evacuate the entire building?”

  Her cell phone rang. The caller-ID said it was the chief and she answered, “Almost there.”

  “Traffic’s a mess. I’m stuck below Grand Central,” the chief said. “Get to Peters. Make sure he’s all right. Don’t do anything else until I get there.”

  “Okay.”

  “I mean it, Lake.”

  “It’s fine.” She hung up and directed Williams to the corner. “Stop here. We’ll never get through this.”

  She yanked the parking pass out of the glove box and hung it on the rearview mirror. The tag allowed them to park wherever they needed without getting towed. They got out of the car and pushed through the crowd. It was amazing how far a trench coat and striding with a purpose could get them behind a police line. Sidney found over the few years she’d been with the Agency that people who were scared wouldn’t question someone who looked official. They had to flash their IDs to get through the door of the shiny office building, but the officer waved them in with barely a glance. He was probably glad he wasn’t the one being asked to go inside.

  They found Peters in the empty cafeteria, tucked into a half-moon booth in the back corner, hypnotized by the contents of a styrofoam cup on the table in front of him. His knee bounced like a jackhammer and his brown leather jacket creaked when he scratched his forehead with his thumb. A cloud of cigarette smoke hung in the air above him.

  “Six years I’ve gone without one of these.” He made a disgusted face before he sucked on the cigarette again, then closed his eyes and blew out slowly. Salt-and-pepper hair brushed his collar as he shook his head back and forth.

  Sidney sank into the booth across from him. Williams propped himself against the wall.

  “In all my years,” Peters told them in his Brooklyn accent, “I ain’t never seen one manifest like this.”

  She watched his deeply creased face. He seemed older than his fifty-some-odd years; so different from the chief who was nearly the same age. Decades of tobacco use and seeing things no human could even imagine had taken a visible toll on Peters.

  He glanced around the cafeteria to make sure they were alone. He kept his voice low out of habit, or because he was afraid the demon might overhear.

  “I thought it was a revenant at first. It’s that solid. But it was determined, focused. I realized too late it was a demon. It’s got six board members trapped up on the thirty-seventh floor.”

  She reached out and placed her hand over his, covering an old scar that looked like melted wax, but it was soft as well-worn suede.

  “It’s my fault. I froze up.” He shook his head again and dropped the butt of his cigarette in the dregs of the coffee. He dug in the pack for a new one. “All I could think about was Angi’s graduation next month. She’s got Summa Cum Laude. Can you imagine? A kid of mine that smart?”

  “That’s fantastic.” She extricated the new cigarette from between his fingers and pushed the pack away. “The chief will be here any minute.”

  “No time. If they’re going to have any chance at all you have to move. Now.”

  Sidney tossed a look to Williams. He lifted one shoulder and let it fall. It was an unspoken rule that Peters was second-in-command after the chief. She scooted out of the booth. Sure, Mitch might get angry, but there were six people up there who might end up dead if they didn’t handle it.

  “Take these.” Peters gave her two plastic bottles of water, just like the ones in the cooler next to the cash register.

  “Holy water?” Williams asked.

  He confirmed with a nod. “Might come in handy.”

  “Thanks.” She tucked one in her own pocket and her partner took the other.

  The lobby was classic Madison Avenue, covered in marble and shiny metal with potted palms in the corner to give the illusion of life.

  There was a keycard entry with a turnstile between the main door and the elevators. Williams maneuvered himself over the bars then turned to help Sidney. He held his hand out to nothing but air.

  She glanced at the disabled access gate as it swung closed.

  “Smartass,” he said.

  Sidney found the bank of elevators that led to the thirty-seventh floor and pressed the ‘UP’ button. The doors opened with a muffled sound, and they stepped into the elevator car.

  Polished bronze walls surrounded them on all sides, distorting her image. The early morning was catching up with her, but she couldn’t afford to feel as deflated as the elevator made her look. With a sigh she put her hair up and reached around her neck to pull out the silver cross she always wore. She closed her fist around it, feeling a sense of calm ease the fear that vibrated through her body.

  A smell of rotten eggs drifted into the elevator compartment as they neared their destination.

  Sidney scrunched her nose.

  “She who smelt it.” Williams made a face.

  “Wasn’t me.” She shook her head.

  The doors opened on their floor and the smell of sulfur nearly suffocated her. She tried breathing through her mouth, but then she tasted it and fought the urge to spit.

  The outer office of Fox and Henning Financial had a plain reception desk and a peace lily that was too big to be real. The lights were off in the main lobby, leaving nothing but the red glow of the EXIT sign by the stairwell. The two partners exchanged a look.

  “What do you think?” Williams whispered.

  “Too quiet,” she whispered back, and pointed to an engraved directory on the wall. They found the direction for the board room and headed down the hall to the left. After passing a long line of deserted offices, another arrow labeled on the wall directed them to the right.

  Dead end.

  Two tall doors barred the way in front of them. They gave each other a silent nod. Williams reached up to knock, but Sidney put her hand on his arm.

  She pressed her ear against the wood and listened to the muffled sounds inside, counting at least three different voices. She turned and nodded to let him know this was the right place.

 
“How we gonna do this? Open Sesame?” Williams asked quietly.

  “Too loud,” Sidney whispered.

  “Genie in a Bottle.”

  “We don’t have a flash-bang.”

  “Texas Hold ‘Em?”

  “Fine. But I’m not saying it.”

  “Why do I always—”

  Sidney glared.

  “Fine.”

  She held up three fingers and counted them down. When she made a fist, he put his hand on the doorknob to open it, but jumped back.

  “Sonofabitch.” He hissed and tucked his hand against his chest.

  She pulled out the Holy water. “Let me see.”

  He held out his open palm and she poured the water over his hand. It sounded like water dancing in a skillet of hot oil.

  “Ow, that stings!”

  “Wuss.” She poured a little more over the door handle. There was a more violent sizzle as the cold Holy water broke the power of the curse.

  “Ready?” she asked. Williams shook his hand off, then squeezed his fist open and shut a few times to test it out. The skin was red and blistered, but he nodded that he was ready.

  “Let’s do this.”

  She counted down again and opened the door. Her partner took one step in and one step to the right and yelled, “Reach for the sky!”

  She followed, and took a step to the left, allowing the door to close behind her.

  Sidney blinked a few times until her eyes adjusted to the daylight pouring in through the massive wall of windows. A glossy executive table with high backed leather chairs spaced evenly around it took up the middle of the room. At the opposite end, four middle-aged men raised their hands in the air.

  Two more men were on the floor between the wall of windows and the table. The first was splayed out on his back. His feet were towards the door and he had a significant paunch, so she couldn’t make out his face. The second man, the youngest out of all of them, kneeled over him.

  The demon stood at the table across from the four men.

  Peters was right. It was the most clearly manifested she’d ever seen. It took the form of a walking corpse. The skin had a slight bluish-gray tinge and the texture of foam rubber. It reminded her of an automaton in one of the haunted house attractions that opened around Halloween.