Reaper whispered in an admonishing way, “Really?”
“What?” I said over my shoulder. “I’d do it.”
“I’ve no doubt of that, but is it really necessary to speak in such a fashion?”
Who was he to judge my methods?
“Fuck you,” I said seriously.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Gallien hadn’t replied to my request, which meant we had to enter the building.
We slowly made our way just inside the door, where we found Gallien waiting for us. He was standing about halfway to the back of the open space, his arms crossed. He was also wearing that same grin he’d held before.
“Where did you get an Empiric?” I questioned, my gun pointed at his head.
“I found it lying in the grass,” Gallien replied with a sneer. “Seems lucky since I needed to defend myself against you two clowns.” He looked over at Reaper. “Nice glowing eyes, by the way. If you’re going to do this line of work, you should probably invest in some shades.”
“See?” I said, glancing over at my new partner. “Now, Gallien, we never took a single shot at you. Besides, using that type of firepower up here is going to land you in jail for a solid twenty years, which will be tacked on to the ten you’re already looking at for escaping.” I scanned the area but couldn’t see past him. The windows near the back of the tall ceiling were streaming in a nice dose of moonlight, but everything under about ten feet was pitch black. It wasn’t so much an absence of light, but more like the light was being consumed. “Now, if you come along nicely, I may convince myself that the Empiric was just an unfortunate mistake on your part,” I said as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. “If you don’t, then you’ll get the full rap at your trial.”
“Let’s not forget the young lady he bit,” Reaper noted.
“Valid point,” I said with a nod and then turned back to Gallien and shrugged. “I kind of have to bring that up, I’m afraid.”
“It’s a shame that the Empiric didn’t destroy you two idiots.” He was too damn calm. It put me on edge, and I was already on edge, so now I was on the edge of being on the edge. “As for the girl, I was hungry.”
Reaper and I took another couple of steps closer. I was keeping my gun trained on Gallien.
“Come on,” I said, motioning for him to break out of the shadows. “I’d hate to have to drop a Death Nail in you.”
That wasn’t true at all. I was rather hoping he’d go to pull a weapon. He was the kind who didn’t give two shits about anything or anyone. The world was his to manipulate and punish. In a nutshell, he was a downright douche-canoe.
But my rent was due and I needed a full commission. A dead perp only got me twenty-five percent. I wanted the full bounty.
He glanced down at my gun and looked back at me. Then, he smiled and took a step deeper into the shadows.
He disappeared.
Just as I was about to fire the weapon at the location where he’d been standing, three goons stepped out from different areas of the shadowed wall.
“These are some friends of mine,” Gallien called out from a location that was clearly nowhere near where he’d just been. I tried to place it, but the reverb in the room was making it impossible. “They’re part of my old gang, and their job is to tie up any inconveniences for me.”
The three vampires all held guns of their own.
I was fast but not that fast.
“Have fun,” Gallien said from the shadows.
“I don’t see how that’s possible,” I called back.
Gallien chuckled. “I was talking to my friends.”
“Oh, right.”
Chapter 4
My initial reaction was to dive off to my left and start firing, but I had a feeling Reaper wasn’t quite as adept as I was with this sort of thing.
I didn’t want to tap around on my wrist in front of these guys so I slowed my mind as I worked to connect with my tattoo. It wasn’t as easy for me as it was for others. This was entirely my fault since I hate sitting around learning shit, but it was at times like these when I wished I’d had more patience.
I already knew they were vampires since I had the ability to see supernaturals for what they were. That little skill was how I ended up in this job in the first place, and it was also the reason my parents were killed when I was five. Let’s just say that being a normal and having the unique ability to spot supernaturals could put you on the hit list of any super who was up to no good.
Fortunately, I only needed a quick read on their names and records. I looked at each of their faces carefully so that the system could use their visual for a search.
Gunter Stills had gone missing many years ago and was presumed dead because his mark had stopped functioning. Phillip Jameson and Haley Rivers were the same.
Interesting.
“Reap,” I said through the connector, which was the device implanted in the brain of every PPD officer so that we could communicate without the need for words and without having to carry around a cell phone, “ever been in a firefight before?”
“No,” he answered aloud.
Everyone looked at him.
“Sorry,” he said, this time through the connector. “I’m still not used to this thing. Pecker has only recently been able to update my tattoo to use a version of the connector that works for me.”
“It’s not in your head?”
“No.” Again, it was said out loud. “Sorry, no.”
“Why do you keep saying, ‘No?’” asked Haley.
“He does that when he starts getting angry,” I said quickly. Then I connected to him again and said, “Turn up your eyebeams.”
Fortunately, he didn’t question me this time. He just did it.
The three vampires backed away slightly, but I sensed their trigger fingers were even itchier than they’d been before.
“I’m going to count to three,” I said, “when I hit three, you hit the ground, understand?”
I saw his mouth move, but he then replied affirmatively through the connector.
Progress.
“One…two...three!”
I fired off a round as Reaper hit the ground.
It was a perfectly aimed Death Nail that should have hit Phillip in the chest, broken into a flurry of pieces and rattled his insides with mayhem until he died.
Unfortunately, the Nail stopped in mid-air and fell to the ground with a cling-clang.
Gunter was grinning from ear to ear as I frowned at the three vampires.
“You must think us stupid, Officer Shaw,” he stated.
“Well, yeah,” I agreed, “but I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
His grin faded.
“Kill her,” said Gunter.
I dived toward a box that was off to my left as the bullets began to fly.
There was no chance for me to worry about Reaper at the moment. He was on his own. It wasn’t a biggie, though. He’d been able to withstand the power of an Empiric while lying on the damn thing. I doubted standard bullets would do much more than sting a little. Now, if they were using breaker bullets or Death Nails, that’d be diff—
A thud sounded and I looked up to see a Death Nail sticking out of the side of the box.
“Son of a bitch,” I said through the connector. “These bastards have Nails. You might want to get the hell out of here, Reaper.”
“I’m safely shielded,” he replied in a calm voice.
“Oh, well, thanks for thinking about protecting your partner. Truly appreciate the sentiment.”
“You dived away before I had the opportunity, I’m afraid.” I glanced in his direction as he casually walked toward me. “There. You’re safe now.”
I peeked around the box and saw Death Nails bouncing off the shield and littering the floor.
I stood up, feeling rather pompous indeed. While I hated to admit it, it was nice to have a partner who could put up a shield. That was a luxury I’d never had before.
/> “Well, Gunter, Phillip, and Haley,” I said, holstering my gun, “it seems that we are at a stalemate.”
“How do you know our names?” asked Phillip.
“Don’t be a fool,” Haley spat while giving Phillip a glare. “They’re Retrievers.”
“I know that, Haley, but we’re supposed to be untrackable.”
“And you are,” I said before Haley could reply, “but you should have changed your appearances, too, or at least have worn masks.”
“Damn it,” said Phillip.
Gunter was the only one who appeared nonplussed at the fact that I knew who they were. He merely kept his cold stare connected to my eyes as he casually snapped his fingers.
That liquid darkness faded away, revealing a metallic cylinder that I’d seen once before.
It was a Shredder, also known as a Mama Empiric. Basically, you take a bunch of Empirics and put them in one big-ass silver casing.
They go boom.
Big boom.
“Is that what I think it is?” asked Reaper, using his outside voice.
“Yep,” I said, “and I don’t think your shield is going to protect us against that.”
“Agreed.”
Gunter, Haley, and Phillip backed away toward a door that sat behind the Shredder.
“Goodbye, Officer Shaw,” said Gunter coldly. “I do hope you end up in Hell.”
“Actually…” Reaper began, but I grabbed him by the arm and started running toward the water.
We jumped in a split-second before the world erupted in flames.
Chapter 5
We were soaked and I was annoyed. I hated getting bested, and tonight it’d happened to me twice.
The building was still burning as we climbed out of the water. I stood and stared at the place. This entire thing felt like a setup. But why?
“Is it just me,” mused Reaper as he emptied the water from his hat, “or did this feel like they were planning to destroy us?”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” I answered, surprised that we were on the same wavelength, especially with him being new to the beat. “I doubt it had anything to do with you, though.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because you don’t know any of these guys.”
“You do?”
“Not directly, but I’ve been a Retriever for quite some time. When you throw enough perps in jail, your name gets around.”
“I suppose that makes sense.”
What I was trying to figure out was why they’d go out of their way to kill me. That made no sense seeing that all it would accomplish was to bring a magnifying glass on them.
Maybe that’s precisely what they wanted?
“By the way,” I said, unable to keep my trap shut, “would it have killed you to launch a fireball or two at them during the fight?”
“I can’t cast one while holding up a shield,” he answered.
I wanted to gripe about that, but there wasn’t much I could say. Even mages had this issue and they were meant to do magic. Reaper was just a reaper with special tech.
“We need to go back in there,” I said, walking toward the burning building.
“Why?”
“Because they’re planning something big, that’s why. Put up your shield thing so we don’t burn.”
He did so as the sound of sirens filled the air. Firetrucks were on the way, meaning we only had a couple of minutes before we had to be gone.
I scanned the debris, looking for anything that might clue us in on what Gallien Cross had in mind. The only thing I noticed were the charred remains of a few bodies.
They were normals.
“Four vampires, four bodies,” I stated. “That means they’re building up strength.”
“I only see three bodies,” Reaper said while looking around.
“I’m including the one you put in stasis, Reap.”
“Ah, right.”
The flashing of red and white lights filled the scene as the rumble of big engines and the sound of sirens bounced off the walls.
It was time to go.
“We have to…” I stopped as I spotted something in the corner.
Two runes sat side by side. I could read most runes, but there were some that got a little too complex for me. I couldn’t create runes. Well, I suppose I could draw something up, but without the magic in my veins it wouldn’t be anything more than a fancy design coming from my fingers.
I pushed the debris out of the way and saw them in their entirety.
“What is it?”
“Veiling rune,” I said, pointing at the first one, which explained the absence of light when we’d walked into the place earlier. “That’s how they were hiding everything.” Then I pointed at the second one, even though Reaper was likely just seeing a blank space on the wall. “And that’s a shield.”
“Interesting.”
“More than you know.” I sighed. “It means they have a wizard or a mage on their side.”
It was more likely a wizard since mages tended not to dabble in runes that much, but there was one way to find out. Runes were unique, having their own fingerprint, as it were. If I could get a visual of the thing, I could have Pecker run a trace on it. While my eyes worked fine at identifying faces along with my tattoo, it didn’t work that way with runes, and I couldn’t exactly take a snapshot of the thing because film wouldn’t pick it up.
“I don’t suppose you have any ideas on how to grab a picture of this?” I said as the sound of voices and pounding feet got closer.
Reaper shook his head. “I can’t even see them.”
“Damn.”
There was nothing around I could use to draw him a sketch. Not that there was time. We had to get out of here before any of the firefighters saw us.
With a groan, I took one last look at the runes and then signaled Reaper that it was time to go.
We both activated our tattoos and transported back into the Netherworld.
Chapter 6
“Where’s Gallien?” Chief Carter urged, staring us down as we stepped off the transport platform.
Carter was your average, run-of-the-mill cop. He was a mage who was quite old, having gray hair with a matching mustache and beard. He stood around five foot eight and was a bit saggy in the middle. Imagine a short Gandalf, or maybe Santa Claus, and you’ll get the idea of it. Nice-enough guy, but he had a tendency of getting edgy when things weren’t going his way.
“He skipped out on us,” I answered, “after first trying to blow us up with an Empiric, rip us apart with Death Nails, and then shred us with…well, a Shredder.”
Carter’s eyes went wide at my words.
“That’s exactly how I felt, Chief,” I said with an empathetic nod. “Also, they had a couple of runes in the warehouse. One was a veiling rune and the other was a shield.”
“So they have a wizard helping them,” he uttered.
“Or a mage,” I pointed out, though I knew he’d already thought of that possibility.
We stepped aside as a couple of cops escorted a partially morphed werewolf past us.
The Netherworld PPD was built like any police station you might find in the Overworld. There were desks strewn about in the vast room, each covered in paperwork and coffee stains. Regular cops wore standard green outfits, detectives had on a shirt and tie, and Retrievers typically wore trench coats and hats. Standard cops tended to look down on the Retriever units, thinking our job too “easy” and unworthy of the badge. I always laughed at their attitudes. One day in our shoes and they’d be shitting themselves.
I glanced over at one of the primary screens that hung on the wall. It was about the only thing of technical significance in the main officers’ area, other than our ancient computers and data pads. You’d think we’d have floating screens and such, but that kind of tech was reserved for people way above our pay grade.
I did a quick scan of the feeds for anything unusual. There were a couple of supernaturals who were due b
ack within the next couple of days, but no one else was listed as overdue or missing.
“Okay, you two,” Carter said with a grunt as he’d clearly finished up his thoughts, “get settled and then meet me in my office in an hour for a debriefing.”
He then held me back as Reaper headed down the aisle toward what I presumed was his desk.
“How’d he do?”
“Well, he didn’t have a gun, he jumped on an Empiric, and his eyes aren’t exactly what you’d call stealth material.”
Carter rubbed his chin. “Hmmm.”
I couldn’t completely throw Reaper under the bus here, though. The fact was that he had effectively saved me from the fun of getting pummeled with Death Nails.
“To be fair,” I admitted with some effort, “he did put a normal in stasis before she died. He also got a shield around me before the vampires riddled my flesh with bullets.”
“That’s good,” Carter replied after a moment. “So you think he’ll work out as your new partner, then. Excellent.”
I blinked a few times as he started walking away.
“I never said that, Chief,” I called out after him. “He’s got a lot to learn and you know I’m not fond of babysitting.”
“You’ll do your best, I’m sure.”
As he turned into his office, I couldn’t help but wish I’d thrown Reaper under the bus.
“Damn it.”
I moved down the center aisle that separated the large space, headed for my station.
All desks were out in the open, lined up in rows, with no privacy whatsoever. It meant everyone was always in everyone else’s business.
“What’s the matter, Piper,” teased Officer Brazen, one of the bigger assholes on the squad, “couldn’t catch a simple vampire?”
He was big, out of shape, had a greasy beard, and his shirts were always spotted with some form of gravy or another. Seeing that he was a werebear, it made sense that he’d be somewhat sloppy, but there was such a thing as a dry cleaner.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
Blood Crossed: A Piper & Payne Supernatural Novel, #1 (Netherworld Paranormal Police Department) Page 2
