Kelly Gay: The Better Part of Darkness

“What?” Hank and I said in unison.

“Yeah, and you two nutcases are coming with me.”

A quick glance at Hank told me he was as stunned as I was. And we were both hesitant to ask where.

“All right, I’ll ask,” Hank finally said. “Going where?”

“The fifth floor.” At our confused faces, he laughed. “Yeah, I know. There is no name for where we’re going. Just a floor. The fifth in ITF Building One.”

“But the fifth floor is the clerical floor. There’s nothing up there but accountants, bookkeepers, and records clerks.” What the hell was the chief talking about?

“Have you ever been up there, either of you?” We both shook our heads. “Well, there you go. Look, we’ve been given a chance by the higher-ups to keep our heads above water after this fiasco. We answer to no one but them, and as far as the ITF is concerned, they’re on a need-to-know basis.”

“So, what, we’re classified now?” A laugh escaped me.

“To the rest of the world, pretty much. To the assholes and criminals on the street, we’re gonna be their worst nightmare.”

A slow grin split Hank’s face. “I’m liking the sound of this.”

I liked it, too, but then my sane voice interrupted. I couldn’t do this anymore. I’d almost died twice in one year. There was my daughter to consider here. I shook my head and let out a deep sigh. “I can’t do it, Chief. I can’t.”

The chief’s pupils dilated to hard points. “You don’t have a choice, Madigan. It’s either prison or this. You tell me which one is better for your kid.” I felt as if the breath had been kicked out of me. “Look, I know how you’re feeling right now. I know why you don’t want to do this anymore. But damn it, Charlie, the higher-ups aren’t doing this to be nice. They want you and Hank, and they’ll use any leverage they’ve got. Look at it this way,” he said, sitting back. “You can heal yourself now. You got more protection than any off-worlder I know. You bled out almost entirely. Hell, you didn’t even need a transfusion when you got to the hospital.”

That shocked me. “I didn’t?” A creepy sensation crawled up my spine, and all I could see was blood in my vision and the taste of it in my mouth.

I’d kept Mynogan’s blood. Oh, God, I was going to be sick.

Hank was beside me, hand on my back. “Breathe through it,” he said gently. “Deep breaths.”

I put my head toward my knees as waves of nausea rolled through me.

“He’s not in you, Charlie. Your body used what it could to keep you alive, but you had enough of your own blood in you to recoup it as you healed.”

It sounded like a theory to me, not fact, but I had to give props to Hank for trying. “So what kind of job are we talking?” I asked, easing back onto the pillows and not wanting to think about blood.

“Well, let’s just say the ITF has cases that need to be handled outside the normal confines of the law. That’s where we come in. You answer to me. I answer to a contact in Washington. And you two have already proven you’ll go above and beyond. The head honchos have been looking for a new team to work Atlanta for months. I know it’s not fair, Charlie, but it’s all we got, and I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

The chief stood, signaling the end of this little meeting. “As soon as you’re recovered, we’ll get to work. The CPP may be disbanded, but Mynogan had a loyal following. And we still have a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to ash and Tennin’s involvement. It’s not over.” He opened the door and sighed. “And apparently we have an escaped Adonai serial killer on the loose.”

For some reason that didn’t surprise me. Just add it to the other things on the list: nailing Grigori Tennin, getting Will’s soul back, fixing Hank’s voice-mod problem, ridding myself of this power inside of me, having a heart-to-heart with my daughter because there was no way I could keep lying to her … And now Llyran had escaped.

Just a day in the life, I thought ruefully.

After the chief left, Hank sat on the edge of the hospital bed and, like me, took a long moment to ponder the chief’s words. Finally he straightened his back, dragged his fingers through his hair, and turned his gaze to me. “So, are we doing this, then?”

What choice did we have?

Going off the grid, having no one to answer to but the chief, being the worst nightmare to criminals who deserved it … I gave him a shrug, feeling a small smile tug the corners of my mouth. “What the hell.”

It was fitting that my first view of the darkness I’d brought to Atlanta would be seen with Hank at my side. I’d kept the hospital curtains drawn, hadn’t asked about it, and had basically avoided the issue until the last possible minute. And now it couldn’t be avoided; I had to leave the hospital. Of course, leaving in a wheelchair wasn’t exactly my style, but I cooperated because, quite frankly, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stand once I saw the damage I’d done.

Maybe sitting down was the best thing for everybody.

“Aaron said it won’t last,” Hank said quietly as he pushed me through the elevator door and into the hallway that led to the main lobby. “You made it out of the circle before your last drop was spilled and your life force gone. He’s not sure how long, but the League seems to think the darkness shouldn’t spread too far or last forever.” He paused, and I heard a small sigh. “I won’t lie to you, Charlie, it’s been hell trying to calm the fear and panic once it reached the city. The ITF has managed to keep your name out of the media so far, but you should know … some people in the department blame you. Others think you’re a hero.”

Joy. “And you?”

“I think you’re out of your mind, as usual.”

I laughed even though my hands clenched and unclenched the armrests. “Thanks.” And then he turned the corner.

My heart hammered quick and hard against my rib cage.

I could see it through the main lobby’s wall of glass. My mouth went dry, too dry even to swallow. The front doors slid open, and we glided past a florist, through another set of glass doors, and then we were out.

Outside. In the dark. At 11A.M.

The blue sky and sunlight had been replaced by an undulating, churning mass of gray. It was not the complete darkness of night, more like the darkness of a total eclipse or a very nasty thunderstorm with the darkest damn thunderclouds you ever saw. Occasionally a bright flash, similar to heat lightning, would illuminate the darkness, but it was the only light from above. It moved and seethed like a living entity, an entity built on my blood. My gut twisted.

“Excuse me,” a voice interrupted my horror. I glanced over my shoulder as the florist we’d passed approached. “The lady at the front pointed you out,” he said to both of us and then switched his gaze to me. “You’re Charlie Madigan, right?”

“Yeah?”

“These are for you.”

He stuck them out, but Hank snagged the flowers with an unamused glare that made the guy dip his head and then hurry to his van.

Once he was driving away, Hank handed me the flowers. They were lilies. Bloodred. I secured the vase between my thighs and picked out the note card, feeling a sudden pang of apprehension.

Charlie,

I like what you’ve done with the place.

My vision distorted. Hank’s voice drifted away as he asked me who the flowers were from, but I couldn’t answer because I couldn’t breathe.

Panic blasted through me like an arctic wind, then doubled back to blanket me. It was the panic of the trapped, of that precise moment when you realize that you can’t move, can’t breathe, can’t do anything physical at all. You can only think and feel the drumming of your heart and the intense surge of adrenaline as it races through your system.