Kelly Gay - The Better Part of Darkness

“I was trying to help,” he shot back at Mynogan and then faced me. “Trying to find a way to help humans, the police department, be able to defend themselves, to have a fighting chance. Mynogan was our benefactor, said he wanted to remain anonymous, and that was the only reason I lied to you, Charlie. The chief knew. And we agreed only to try it on someone who wouldn’t live otherwise.”

The shock of what he was saying hit me full force. I hadn’t expected this. Bewildered, I shook my head, trying to shake the fuzz of astonishment away. My body was almost healed. Already I was learning about my power and how to use it. I could be calm about this. I had to be calm if I was to live through this. “So you injected me with something.”

“Gene therapy,” Mott said.

“More precisely, DNA from both worlds,” Mynogan cut in. “Charbydon and Elysia. My DNA. And a sample stolen from an Adonai priestess.”

A laugh blurted from my lips, sounding demented and lost. This kept getter better and better. I was probably unconscious from the hit against the wall. All this was just a dream, a really twisted fucking dream. I wanted to sit down.

Mott hurried to explain. “You were dying, Charlie. I had the knowledge to save you. Well, I didn’t know if their DNA would bond with yours, but it did. It failed on the others we tried.”

“It worked with you because you have the old blood—diluted, but it’s there,” Carreg explained. “All humans of limited power have it. It’s where their power comes from. Sometime, long ago in your lineage, a Charbydon mated with one of your human ancestors. As did an Elysian. It had to have happened thousands of years ago and spaced widely apart for your family to survive and evolve normally with the infusion of both races’ genes. By now the blood is so weak that many in your family tree have no powers at all.”

“Then why didn’t you just give the injection to any human with power?”

“We tried. Seems it only works with a very select few. And usually they die within a few months. We still don’t know why,” Mott answered, ashamed.

As their words sunk in, my skin crawled. Mynogan’s DNA was in my body. Bile rose to my throat and the urge to retch spasmed through my gut. I nearly did and had to hold my stomach to stop it. Spilled alcohol from broken bottles on the floor stung the insides of my nose and throat.

I had the power of good and evil in me. Now it all made sense. The nightmare. The war inside of me. Mott had saved me, but inside they’d nearly torn me apart. I knew suddenly, with sickening realization, it was that internal war that had killed the others. They’d been ripped apart. From the inside out.

You’re now one of the most powerful humans in the world, Detective. More powerful than most Elysians and Charbydons.

I stared hard at Carreg, but saw nothing in his aura but a swirling midnight blue and his usual marble expression. Why was he helping me?

“You have a choice,” Mynogan offered, drawing my attention. “Use what we gave you to help or die along with your family.” He said it so simply and matter-of-factly.

“What do you want me to do?”

“We created you so you could create a world for us to live in. Here, on Earth. You simply need to come when we call on you.”

“Go to hell.”

Mynogan shook his head and laughed, perfect white teeth flashing, as though I was an unruly child. But this was no father gazing lovingly on his child; this was a being whose very air held the assurance of brutality and follow-through. There were no lines this male would not cross. No guilt or hesitation in bringing death.

“Laugh at this, you bastard!” Hank’s voice sounded behind Mynogan right before he blasted the Abaddon lord with nitro.

The astonishment that crossed Mynogan’s impeccable features was so worth any payback. The jinn surged over glass and furniture to get to Hank. “Charlie!” A Nitro-gun sailed through the air. I leapt up to catch it and immediately began firing at the jinn.

“Get down!” I yelled to Titus, firing as he dove under a table. The jinn knocked over a metal lab cabinet, shielding Mynogan and Carreg, firing bullets over the top as Hank took position across from me behind the corner wall. There was too much debris and distance to get to him, so I ducked behind a wide medical refrigerator.

“It’s about time you got here!” I shouted above the gunfire.

“You might want to run, Charlie,” he yelled back. “Unless you want to hear my voice!”

He was taking off the voice modifier. Relief flowed over me. About time.

A loud boom and a crack of white blinded me. I screamed and fell to my rear, seeing black spots float behind my eyelids. My eardrums rang.

It felt like minutes had passed.

Using the side of the fridge, I pulled myself to my knees, blinking away the spots and trying to focus.

The lab warbled into view. The entire corner where Hank had taken cover was gone. A sinking panic gripped my throat. Oh, God. “Hank!”

I started across the room, but was pulled down by Carreg, who had somehow made it across the floor. He was on his stomach, one hand wrapped around my ankle. “Stay down,” he hissed, his face cast in shadows and light from the swinging bulb overhead. My struggles only produced an impatient frown. “I’ll take care of your partner. You need to get out of here.”

“What?” Bullets dinged the refrigerator once more, sending metal sparks shooting through the smoke-filled air like fireworks. I fired back and then ducked down again. “I’m not leaving him!”

Carreg yanked me close, his nose nearly touching mine. Strong fingers dug into my arms. Stark intensity flashed like lightning in his glower and made me pause. “I said I’d watch out for him. This is nothing compared to the fight you’re going to face. You stay and there’ll be no one to hide your family. And get some goddamn training. You’re gonna need it.” He shoved me hard toward the door.

I fell on my hip. My hair spilled over my face as I turned back to Carreg.

How could I leave my partner? It went against everything I believed, everything I was. Carreg rolled his eyes to the ceiling, his mouth set in a strained pose of displeasure. “Give me your hand.” He waited, challenging. If I didn’t do something soon, the jinn were going to be on top of us. Rising up, I fired a few more rounds to keep them at bay and then I slapped my palm into Carreg’s, returning his displeased expression.

“You can trust me,” I heard him say as images flooded my mind. His grip held me still and tight, squeezing the hand bones and tendons together. It was like fast-forwarding a movie. Images of him and Mynogan. Meetings and conversations. Thoughts and emotions. So quickly they flashed, I had a difficult time putting them into my short-term memory.

The one thing I did realize—he wasn’t involved with ash or my DNA manipulation. He’d been just as shocked as I had, but he’d hidden it well. Carreg had been working with Mott to find a way to revive the Charbydon moon, not create a permanent home here on Earth. His political agenda was simply to live and work alongside the rest of us. And it was sincere. He’d been as betrayed by Mynogan as Mott had. He was telling me the truth. He’d protect Hank. He also sent me images of exactly what Mynogan was capable of doing if I didn’t get my ass out of there and back to Emma, Bryn, and Will.

He released my hand, and it burned. “Go.”

After one hesitant look, when it briefly occurred to me that Carreg could be feeding me false images, I bolted for the door, my family in the forefront of my mind. I would have beaten Hank senseless if our roles were reversed and he hadn’t gone to save them.