21 Shades of Night, page 171
“Sorry,” the girl said.
“Watch where you’re going, kid,” Marge said, the scowl on her face softening.
A balding man hustled to them from one of the food lines. His beefy hand reached out and yanked the girl away from Marge. His jowls wiggled as he spun the girl to face him. The man’s face glowed red and his eyes protruded from his face.
“I told you not to run off.” He punctuated each word with a shake.
The girl’s eyes filled with tears. “Sorry, Daddy.”
“Get off of her.” Marge shoved him in the shoulder.
“Mind your own damn business,” the man snarled.
“I’ll mind what the fuck I want to. Don’t treat your daughter like that.”
The man loomed over Marge, his face turning a deeper red, almost purple. She didn’t seem impressed with his size. She tilted her chin up, waiting for him to make a move.
I looked to Adrian and raised an eyebrow. He waved his hand at me as if to say “all yours.” Great. Once again, I would have to get between Marge and a fight.
“Why don’t you take your nosy ass on,” the man said. “What I do with my family is my right.”
“The hell it is. Maybe you should feel what you dish out.”
Marge stepped back, going into her stance. Her eyes were narrowed, and the smile I’d seen earlier came to her face. The man raised his fist. I moved up next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. Behind the man, Nancy was approaching fast.
“Is there a problem here?” she asked.
The man turned to her, dropping his fist. His shoulders hunched, and he dug his hands into his pockets. The redness drained from his face.
“No problem, Officer,” he said.
“It looks like a problem. It looks like the two of you are disturbing these people who are trying to enjoy the carnival.”
He pointed a finger at Marge. “It’s her—”
“Lloyd, am I going to have to call Deb to pick up your daughter so I can take you to the station?”
The man grabbed his daughter’s hand and dragged her behind him towards the Ferris wheel. Marge took a step in that direction, but I grabbed her arm and shook my head. I met her glare with one of my own. Didn’t she understand we had bigger problems to worry about? She was spoiling for a fight.
Charlotte came up to Nancy with Tres and Esais trailing behind her. Her lips pursed together, and her eyes narrowed. “I thought we agreed no policing on your day off.”
Nancy waved her hand at Marge and me. “I wouldn’t, but they were disturbing the peace.”
“That ass was hurting his daughter,” Marge said. “And you just let him go.”
Nancy rubbed the back of her neck. “Unfortunately, we don’t have any evidence that he’s actually hurt her, so there’s not much we can do.” And that doesn’t excuse you from trying to start a fight.”
“Anyone here saw what he did to her. Whatever, this town is just fucked.”
She stalked off in the opposite direction of the man towards the exit of the carnival. She’d probably double back after the biker.
“Your friend’s got a real problem,” Nancy said.
“She’s not the only one,” I said. “You didn’t even question that man.”
“I know him. I don’t know you.”
“And you know there are rumors,” Charlotte said. “He used to be the nicest guy, except for the last month.”
“Perhaps you should look into it, Officer,” Esais said. “If the rumors are true, you will have prevented that girl from being hurt further.”
Nancy gritted her teeth. “How about you strangers stop talking about things you know nothing about?”
“My, you seem to be a bigger attraction than anything I have to offer here,” a woman’s voice rang from behind us. “Perhaps I should hire you.”
The owner of the voice stood with her arms crossed. Her mahogany hair flowed down her back in waves with golden rings braided into it. Multi-colored scarves made up her skirt, and she wore an off-the-shoulder blouse. Malantha looked every bit the part of a fake gypsy fortune-teller.
Her demon form was altogether different. Black smoke swirled inside a crystal ball. In the center, a pair of eyes with crimson irises gazed out at me. My chest tightened as they stared into my soul.
My hand twitched, but I kept it at my side. I’d left my sundang in Adrian’s car anyway. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled at me before moving her gaze over the others. She paused on each of the brothers and flashed me a look with a raised eyebrow. Esais stiffened beside me.
“And you are?” I asked.
Nancy waved her arm toward Malantha. “Briana is in charge of the carnival.”
“Interesting place you have here,” I said.
Esais took a step forward to introduce himself.
“Don’t touch her,” I thought to him.
He stepped back, moving in front of Tres. ”This is her?”
She looked at Esais’s protective position. “What lovely men. Are they yours?”
“Yes,” I said.
Adrian snorted behind me. Charlotte looked at Tres in confusion. He took her hand.
“Oh, but you two are together?” Malantha asked Tres and Charlotte.
I dug my fingernails into my palm, resisting every urge to go after her. There would be no explaining it to Nancy and Charlotte. “Do you ask personal questions of all your customers?” “I am a fortune-teller. You have an interesting accent. European?”
I nodded. She knew that already. This was just another game for her.
“Where are you from?”
“I have traveled all over,” I said.
“Have you visited Prague?”
My last stop before coming to America. I’d been searching for another hunter she’d targeted last year. I remember slipping through the broken window of the safe house. The stench of blood and decay had wafted through from the back rooms. The body of another hunter had been rotting in the house for days. I’d been too late again. That seemed to be my story with Malantha. She seemed to make it her mission to wipe out the hunters from around the world and used her powers to take many by surprise. Thanks to her, we were a dying profession.
“It stinks there,” I said.
“I hear it’s lovely in the spring,” Malantha said.
“Plenty of danger.”
Her smile widened. “There is danger everywhere.”
Tres cleared his throat. “A fact we all know too well.”
Malantha chuckled and pulled out a deck of cards from the sash at her waist. She shuffled them with both hands as she peered at each one of us. A wave of dizziness shot through me. The yellow sickness drifted off the cards.
“I hope you enjoy yourselves. And if you ever want to run away, just let me know.” She held a card out to Charlotte. “A small fortune for you. Perhaps it’s a bit of romance.”
I reached up to knock Charlotte’s hand away, but Nancy moved faster. She snatched the card from Malantha and stared at it. It shook in her grip before she dropped it with a gasp. It fluttered to the ground, landing face up. The Devil. She shook her head and walked off, her aura turning from the pumpkin color of distrust to a deep charcoal. Small spots of yellow clung to the outer edges and began to eat their way in.
“Where are you going?” Charlotte called after her.
“Well, I suppose she didn’t like what she saw,” Malantha said to Charlotte. To me, she said, “I look forward to our future meeting.”
“I’m sure it will be more entertaining than this one,” I said.
She winked at me and spun on her heel, slipping through the crowd with ease. I balled my hands into fists. Was I so little a threat to her she could turn her back on me?
Charlotte looked to Tres, biting her lip. “I should go after Nancy.”
“I can come with you,” he said.
“No, I need to handle this.” She kissed him on the cheek and left.
“I believe we are finished here,” Adrian said. “Unless you would like to chase her down now.”
“Too many people,” I said. “Besides, we lost the element of surprise. She knows who you are now.”
I glanced back to the ground and blinked with a chill running down my spine. Feet kicked up old wrappers and plastic cups, but the card had disappeared.
Chapter 12
I LEANED AGAINST the wall of the brick church across the street from the carnival grounds with a small duffle bag resting by my feet. The sun had sunk hours ago, and the lights of the Ferris wheel and other rides lit the night. The families had exited through the gates, laughing and holding their prizes as they headed home for the night. The crickets were the only things that remained to keep me company.
I sighed and crossed my arms. This was going to be a long night. I doubted Malantha would even leave her fake little wagon, much less leave through the front gate, especially since she knew I was out here. With less people around, I could take a look at the outside, though. John stepped out of the gloom of the night and under the street lamp with a smile lighting his face. I stood and gave him a smile of my own.
“You don’t plan on staying out here all night, do you?” he asked. “She probably knows you are here.”
I shrugged. “Most likely, but I need to scout around.”
“So you called me because you wanted some company?”
I chuckled and jabbed him with my shoulder, playfully. “Yes, and I wanted to know if you’d gotten any information on that gang.”
He shoved his hand in his pockets. ”Walk with me?”
He held out the crook of his arm. I gave one last glance to the gates of the carnival before grabbing my bag and slipping my arm through his. As we strolled down the empty sidewalk, I let the world fade to the gray of the Eclipse.
Once again, the buildings were replaced by much older ones. The yellow cloud of madness swirled above the carnival, its murk obscuring what lay inside. I peered up into the sky, in search of its twin. A small pinprick of pain formed in the inner corners of my eyes. I could only keep this up for so long, but I wanted to find where the other funnel led. If I found it, I would find Ose.
“So, have you learned anything?” I asked as I studied the sky.
“A little,” he said. “The D-boyz are big in New Orleans. They apparently sell themselves out as supernatural muscle.”
“I think Marge mentioned chasing them from there. How many are actually demons?”
“I think it’s just their big wigs,” he said. “From what I hear, it’s pretty cutthroat. They’re trying to stab each other in the back so they can get some recognition.”
I shook my head. “Of course. I’m sure the demons perpetuate that. It gets them souls faster.”
“Yeah, well, they get plenty of extra strength. They are better than normal humans.” He took my hand in his and gave it a small squeeze.
I stopped and smiled. “Are you worried about me?”
He brushed my cheek with his thumb, and I shivered at the warmth it gave. “Maybe a little. There are a lot of demons here.”
“This place was probably dead before Ose showed up.” I started walking again, pulling him along with me. “You don’t need to worry. I’ve handled people like the D-boyz before.”
He sighed. “Yeah, but I always worry about you. Especially now, with Ose. Maybe one day, one of them will get lucky and find a way to permanently get rid of you.”
My laugh echoed through the night. “I doubt that can happen. Allegra may have cursed me, but it’s powered by the Throne of Lust. The only two that can break that would be those higher on the totem pole. Pride or Greed.”
“Ose was once from Greed,” John said in a quiet voice. “What if he has the power? Or what if someone actually killed Allegra? It’s her that holds the connection, right?”
I shook my head. “Yeah, if she’s the conduit. If she dies, the curse ends, but I think I would know if that happened.”
“Just be careful, all right?” John stopped again and pulled me close. “I mean, Ose can drive people crazy. I don’t want to lose you, any part of you.”
His heat radiated all around me, making this hot night steamy. I stepped back and took a deep breath to calm my swiftly beating heart. “You won’t lose me. Though, I’m not sure where some of this is coming from.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve been feeling lately that you mean more to me than just a good friend.”
I sighed. “John, you know that can’t happen. It never turns out well.”
He gave a sad half-smile. “Does that mean you’ve just given up, because you’ve had a few bad incidents?”
“Yeah, I have. Anyone I get emotionally involved with ends up dead. That tends to turn a girl off of relationships.”
“They just needed to know what came with it.”
“Dimitri was a hunter.”
“And he didn’t die because of you.”
“No, but he almost did.” I shook my head. “Let’s talk about something else.”
He sighed. “Fine. What else do you want to talk about?”
“Did you learn anything else about Marge?”
The yellow funnel drew closer as the buildings began to fall away to trees and a few sparse houses. We were nearing the woods that surrounded the town. The crossing between the street and the two lane highway was mostly empty and only illuminated by the street lamps. The cone floated up the right like a great mustard beacon in the night.
“Well, she had a good bit of money. Family was rich,” he said.
“OK, so?”
“Her dad died under mysterious circumstances a few years ago. The family covered it up, but there were a lot of rumors going around about it in our little circles.”
“Any word on the demon that did it?”
John shook his head. “No one’s coming up and claiming it. Though they say it was someone in Wrath.”
“And I take it the D-boyz work for Wrath?”
“You got it, sweetheart. “ He grinned. “So, I guess this Marge chick is out to renig on her deal.”
I shook my head. “I’m not so sure. She seemed pretty pissed. Then again, that may just be her standard personality.”
“Maybe they screwed her over somehow. It’s not like they’re known for being completely up and up with their deals.”
“True. Too bad Marge won’t talk about it.”
“You just need to gain her trust. You know, use that winning personality of yours.”
“It’s not that winning. The Van Helsings don’t really trust me. At least not all of them.”
“How many is not all of them?’
I smirked at him. “OK, one. Adrian.”
“The criminal?” He snorted. “You got the better two. Why does it make a difference if he doesn’t?”
I shrugged. “I guess I just want Dimitri’s descendants to like me.”
“I think you put entirely too much emotion into that family. Give him time. If he doesn’t come around, he’s just an ass.”
I chuckled and shook my head and pointed in the air. “What’s over there?”
He looked over with narrowed eyes. “I think that’s the Mental Institution.”
I blinked. “There’s an asylum in this town? I didn’t think it was that big.”
He shrugged. “It’s been around since the turn of the century. It’s one of those creepy ones, though I think the current head tried to modernize it a bit.”
“Makes sense.” I turned to head in that direction.
“He chuckled. “You take me to all the great places.”
The street lights were our only guide as we walked along the deserted sidewalk. To our left, the darkness of the woods loomed, filled with the cricking of insects and the croaks of the frogs. I shivered and sped my steps. It felt as if something was watching us from inside the forest, yet my sight didn’t pick anything up but more shadows. I came upon the edge of a brick wall that loomed over us by at least ten feet. I metal rail lined the top of it.
“May I present the Hampton Mental Institute,” John said. “It’s a medium security kind of place. No criminally insane.”
“You really know a lot about this town.”
He stuck his hands in his pockets, a small smile coming to his face. “A good reporter always does his homework.”
I peered up into the sky. Beyond the gate, the yellow conduit hovered in the air, like a great whirlwind, sucking away the sanity in the area. “Looks like this is the place.”
“You think Ose’s here?”
“Something’s here. And this would make sense. Let’s go take a look.”
I walked along the wall, looking for some sort of way up and over. The gate and driveway was a few meters away. Beyond that, the wall extended towards the woods. Maybe there was a tree close enough to let me cross over.
John caught up to me with a small huff. “You’re not actually thinking of going in there now, are you?”
“Why not? We need to scout around.”
“But are you equipped?”
I pointed to the bag I carried. “I have my sword. Maybe I’ll get lucky and take care of Ose tonight.”
Two figures loomed up ahead of us. I put an arm out in front of John and stepped in front of him. Ose hadn’t left his place unguarded.
Chapter 13
I SLID MY bag off of my shoulder and reached behind me to unzip it. One of the shadows advanced on us, and I could see the reddish lines in the corona of their aura. My hand wrapped around the hilt of my sundang.
“If you’re looking for a beat down, I’ll be happy to give it to you,” a woman’s voice rang with a familiar Cajun lilt.
The tension in my shoulders relaxed. “What are you doing here, Marge?”
Her shadow deflated and stepped closer into the light. “Oh, it’s just you.”
I tilted my head and nodded to the figure behind her. “Who’s with you?”
“The least useless one,” she said. “If what he says he can do is true.”
“It was more than you were able to do.” Adrian stepped up beside Marge. He studied me for a long moment before letting his gaze rest on John behind me. “Out for a romantic stroll?”
