Bad Blood, page 1
part #7 of Jack Dahlish Series
Copyright © 2022 Tim Rangnow
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-952412-23-3
Cover design: 100Covers.com
Published By: Vagabond Publishing
Printed in the United States of America
BAD BLOOD
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-TWO
On The Boil
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BAD BLOOD
ONE
I glanced at Annie and Nyk, getting a nod from each as I gripped my batons tightly. They were already glowing with blue flames as I lifted a boot and drew on the power of the coin to add strength to my kick. The heavy door splintered and flew open to slam against the wall.
Annie darted through the opening, staying low as she raised her handgun to sweep the small foyer of the penthouse suite. “Clear,” she said in a near whisper as Nyk and I followed her in.
The big guy held a shotgun in each hand, and the head of his giant sledgehammer was gleaming over his shoulder where it was strapped to his back. He moved with cat-like silence to stand beside one of the doors leading out of the room, while Annie crossed to the other.
I stopped in the middle of the foyer and scanned the room. It was filled with Nox essence, and the air stank with the rotten garbage smell of ogres and the foul body odor smell ghouls gave off to my attuned senses. The essence trails were thick through both doorways, but the ghoul’s trail led through the opening beside Annie. That was the enemy I most worried about creeping up behind us.
Nyk nodded for us to go forward when I signaled my intent. He would stay there to make sure no one tried to rush us from behind. Annie lifted a hand to motion for me to stand at her back, and then she dropped into a crouch and moved quickly through the door.
We entered a wide sitting room, with several couches and a handful of chairs set up in a rough U shape facing the wall of windows that looked out over Central Park. I peeled off to one side while Annie went the other way. The smell of the ghoul was so strong in the back of my nose that I was almost gagging on it, and yet there was no sign of the creature in the room.
Annie glanced at me, one eyebrow raised questioningly. There was only one other way out of the room, through a closed door on the opposite wall from where we’d entered. I lifted a hand to my ear as I spoke in a hoarse whisper. “Please tell me you found schematics.”
“Almost there,” Monica said. I could hear her fingers tapping on the keyboard of one of the laptops she was using back in our rented brownstone. She was never happy when we left her behind for a mission like this, but I felt better knowing she was safe. There had been very little free time to spend training her in the several months since we arrived in New York City.
Annie stepped silently across the room to get within a few feet of the closed door. She was hearing the conversation in her earpiece, as was Nyk. I’d had Von set up the system for us the first weekend after we arrived, before he had to return to San Antonio and his college courses. The encrypted communications routed through an app on each of our phones, which we always kept close.
“Found it,” Monica said, and I could hear the grin of triumph in her voice. “Okay, right inside the door you’ll enter a small foyer –”
“We’re past that,” I said quietly, interrupting her. “Annie and I went through the door on the right, and we’re in a big sitting room. There’s another door on the opposite wall, and I need to know what’s behind it.”
The teenager hummed in my ear for a second. “Oh! It’s marked as a butler’s pantry, and the kitchen is just beyond that. Did you know the penthouse comes with a private chef? That is so cool.”
I ignored the question as I looked at Annie to make sure she heard the information. By that time, both of us were positioned near the door. I motioned with my hand, letting her know I’d go through first and she should follow.
“…even an option to have a butler available 24/7 to assist the occupants with any needs,” Monica continued, gushing over the amenities provided to the ultra-rich who paid out in the mid-five-figures per night to stay in the supersized suite.
“Later,” Nyk rumbled, and her chatter ceased instantly. I’d been pleasantly surprised at how much of the girl’s old bubbly personality was starting to emerge, but quickly learned that she’d begun to think of me like a close friend instead of the team leader that I was. Nyk was the one who could command obedience with the simplest look or a single word.
Annie tapped her hand against my leg, and I reached out to turn the knob. I pushed the door wide, moving through it as quickly as I could to clear the path for her to follow.
The pantry was dark, with the fire covering my batons and the light streaming in from the bright room at our backs providing the only illumination. It was a narrow space, filled from floor to ceiling with shelves and cabinets. I glanced at them only long enough to know they were too shallow for anyone to hide inside, then dismissed the expensive tableware and linens that I could see.
There was an arched opening only a few feet ahead, and I could see gleaming appliances and white marble countertops. The entire kitchen was filled with a greenish fog, and the smell of the ghoul’s essence was so strong I was staring to fear it would be stuck in my nose for weeks. In a moment of selfish irritation, I wished the others had to endure it when we raided these Rosu hideouts.
“Ghoul,” I whispered, bending as close to Annie’s ear as I could get. “He’s in the kitchen, I’m sure of it.”
“Only one?”
I focused on the essence that filled the room. I’d learned to read them better than I ever could before, but this one was too concentrated to know anything for sure. I could only shrug in response. She snorted a laugh, kissed my cheek, and then entered the kitchen. I smiled at her kiss as I followed, going left as she went right.
The kitchen was lit only by under-cabinet lighting. With the flames on my batons, I could see well enough to traverse the room, but the shadows were deep in corners and nooks. Most of space was taken up by a giant island that separated a wall of cabinets and appliances from an oval table with four chairs.
As Annie went toward the table, I circled the kitchen island to pass by a refrigerator large enough to stash half a dozen bodies and a stove that both Hansel and Gretel could have set up house in. The cabinets were large and deep, and I started opening doors to look inside. Pots, pans, and serving dishes of all sizes greeted me in each one.
Wood cracked as something hit a wall, and I heard Annie release a grunt. Whirling, I found that the ghoul had been hiding in the shadows under the table. As soon as she had her back turned, it had tossed aside a chair and leapt at her. The ghoul had its arms wrapped around her chest as it tried to take a bite out of her neck.
I roared wordlessly, leaping onto the island and taking the few steps needed to cross the expanse. Annie was trying to raise her gun to fire at the creature on her back, but the ghoul’s hold on her upper arms kept her from getting the range of motion she needed. She screamed as sharp teeth began to pierce her tender flesh.
My batons slammed against the ghoul’s back as I flipped forward off the island. The blue fire that lined my weapons burned the Nox’s skin, leaving black streaks where the batons made impact. The ghoul pulled back from Annie’s neck to turn its malevolent gaze in my direction. I took several steps back, silently egging it on to attack me instead.
“Get this thing off me, Dahlish.” Annie stumbled under the weight of it, slamming against the large island and flopping forward.
“I’m trying,” I said. The ghoul was turning away from me, drawn to the easier prey that it already had wrapped up. The creatures were born with a ravening hunger for flesh that never abated, making them hated and despised even amongst other Nox. The fact that the Rosu twins kept one seemingly as a pet was just another example of how twisted they were.
I darted forward, slamming a baton against the ghoul’s shoulder. The creature barked loudly in protest, and its grip loosened just enough for Annie to yank her arm free. She was finally able to get her gun up, and the roar as she pulled the trigger was enough to set my ears ringing.
Her shot missed the ghoul, but it jerked away from the sound. It dropped to the floor, hopping on hands and feet like an oversized spider until it was close enough to leap at me. I kept my hands at my side, fighting the instinctual desire to raise my weapons in defense, and let it wrap long arms and legs around my torso. The ghoul’s jaws opened wide, and I was assaulted by the rotted meat stench of its breath on top of the foul odor of the essences. I only smiled back at the creature.
There was uncertainty in those black eyes, which shifted to fear only a second before both of our bodies were engulfed in the blue flames as I channeled Chaos energy through the coin. My body was unharmed, but the ghoul burned like paper. It released a pained yelp only seconds before the air was filled with dark ash that flared blue before it disappeared completely.
Annie caught me as I staggered. Using that much of the power that flowed through the coin I wore around my neck ate up a lot of my energy. The short hours of sleep for days on end weren’t helping, either. I had been driving myself and everyone else hard since we arrived in New York, trying to track down the siblings who had kidnapped my old friend Ollie Williams and fled San Antonio after their attempt to ambush me failed.
“Nyk, the ghoul is down.” I glanced around the kitchen, noting the only other door was open and led into a dark nook where trash could be dropped through a chute. There was also a small service elevator there, which I’m guessing the private chef had to use when they came to prepare meals. “I’ve seen essences of at least one or two ogres, so be careful.”
“We’re heading back to the foyer now,” Annie added, wincing as she pressed a hand against the bite mark on her neck. There was a trickle of blood, but it didn’t look like the ghoul had managed to do much more than break skin. We would just need to get her pumped with antibiotics as soon as we were back at our brownstone, to fight the nasty infection I felt sure was already setting in. Ghoul mouths were nasty at the best of times, and this one had smelled like it’d been feasting on rotting corpses not too long ago.
We made it through the pantry and into the sitting room without an acknowledgement from Nyk. A glance at Annie told me she was thinking the same thing I was. She raised her gun, hurrying toward the door into the foyer. I made it to the door ahead of her and held up a hand to keep her back as I peered around the edge of the doorway.
Nyk was struggling against two large brutes, each several inches shorter than his seven feet, but just as wide and muscular. My bounty hunter friend had an ogre ancestor, and his large size and massive muscles were a gift of those genes coming to the fore after skipping a couple of generations. He was a human, with little of the Nox blood flowing through is veins, but there was more to him than met the eye.
The ogres were a match for him physically, and it was awe-inspiring to see him straining against their grip as each of them held an arm out to his side. The shotguns were still tightly gripped in his hands but pointing up at the ceiling. The ogres were taking turns punching boulder-sized fists into his stomach.
Nyk’s eyes found mine, and I almost laughed aloud to see the excitement shining in them. Aside from the occasional troll, there had been few Nox that had been able to match his strength since we arrived in New York. I think he’d been getting a little bored.
“You take the one on the left,” Annie whispered.
I shook my head. “Wait. Nyk has this.”
“Are you crazy? Those things are beating the crap out of him.”
“They certainly think they are,” I said with a laugh.
Another fist slammed into Nyk’s stomach, and I saw the first flicker of pain on his face. I raised a hand, palm up, asking him if he wanted help. He only shook his head slightly, shifted his gaze to Annie, and winked. She sniffed, and I turned to see a smile spreading across her face.
The next ogre pulled an arm back for a punch. Nyk dropped the shotguns as he did so, and they clattered on the floor loudly. The ogres, even dumber than trolls, stared down at the weapons with blank expressions as they tried to figure out what had happened. Using that distraction, Nyk managed to pull an arm free, and he slammed his fist into the chest of the ogre that had been about to hit him. There was a loud crack that sounded like a tree branch snapping in a storm, and the hulking creature flew across the foyer.
The ogre landed near where Annie and I stood, sliding across the shiny marble tiles until his head cracked against the doorframe. Glazed eyes stared up at us, unfocused and unseeing.
“Would you mind?” Annie asked me, smiling sweetly over the prone Nox.
“Of course not. What sort of gentleman would I be if I didn’t let the lady have her fun?”
“That’s why I like you, Dahlish. You’re a giver.” She blew a kiss toward me as she lifted her gun in the other hand. It went off with a loud bang, and the ogre at our feet was out of the fight. Permanently.
Nyk grappled with the other creature, grinning as they fought to get an upper hand over each other. The ogre was snorting and huffing as he strained against Nyk’s hold, and there were so many muscles on display that I was starting to feel a little inadequate. Annie rolled her eyes as she shoved past them to duck through the doorway Nyk had been guarding. “Hurry it up, big guy.”
I started to go after her, but the ogre pushed Nyk back a few steps until they blocked the opening. “What does it look like?” I asked.
There was silence from the earpiece for a few seconds, then a long sigh. “We’re clear,” Annie said. “A couple of empty bedrooms and bathrooms, and not much else. That ogre is the last little surprise waiting for us.”
“See,” Monica said. “I told you I could have gone along this time.”
I ignored her as I turned my attention back to the fight playing out in front of me. Nyk shot a glance over to me, and I rolled my hand in the air to tell him to hurry it up. It was obvious the Rosus had cleared out before we arrived yet again, and I was eager to get to work on a new lead.
Nyk dipped his shoulder, letting the ogre get in close. The creature roared in victory, a sound that soon turned into a yelp as Nyk shifted his grip and lifted him from the ground. Even I couldn’t help but watch in stupefied amazement as my friend of so many years raised the hulking ogre over his head. Nyk’s muscles were straining against his shirt, and I heard the material rip as he flexed and threw the ogre across the room.
The ogre slammed into the wall over his fallen companion and slumped down to sit in stunned silence. Nyk bent to pick up the shotguns he dropped, then crossed the room to raise both of them. He pulled the triggers simultaneously, and I had to cover my ears against the deafening blast of the dual shots in the small room. If building security hadn’t already been alerted, they would be now.
Annie stood in the doorway, looking as shocked as I felt. I shook it off and reached out to grab her hand. “Let’s get moving before a swarm of cops shows up.”
“What about them?” Nyk asked, waving one of his shotguns toward the bodies of the ogres. “Shouldn’t you do your fire and ash thing?”
I shook my head. The ogres were physically similar enough to humans not to raise any uncomfortable questions. “Let the Rosus hear about it. I want them to know what’s going to happen when we finally track them down.”
TWO
A s we walked through the door of the brownstone, I dropped my batons into the faded leather umbrella stand just inside. My frustration was on full display as I yanked my arms from the sleeves of my gray herringbone coat and tossed it over a coat hook. I wanted to slam the door, but Nyk was the last one through with his overly gentle treatment of objects that could easily break if he used his full strength.
“What was that?” I asked. “The seventh place we’ve raided where a source claimed the Rosus were hiding?”
“Sixth.” Nyk said.
I stopped my angry pacing as the others divested themselves of their gear. “Six? Are you sure?”
“That warehouse in Queens doesn’t count,” Annie said. “Remember? The guy who sent us over there had a beef with his supplier, and the idiot thought he could use us to get revenge.”
I growled in frustration as it flooded back. We had wasted a week on surveillance and planning for that raid. If there hadn’t been a couple of Nox working for the drug dealer, I probably would have been tipped off that it wasn’t connected to the Circle in any way. Instead, we barged in and put down a dozen guards before we realized what was happening.
“Don’t worry, Jack, we’ll find them eventually.” Nyk put a large hand on my shoulder. “Goldie is looking for them, too.”
