The Man Who Walked in Darkness (Miles Franco #2) (Miles Franco Urban Fantasy) (17 page)

I sighed. “When you’re right, you’re right, Vivian. I’ll talk. One condition.”

She arched an eyebrow. “What?”

“Pretty Boy gets lost.”

Wade scowled and tucked his thumbs into his belt. Vivian shook her head. “I have to tell him everything anyway.”

“Fine,” I said, “but I’m not talking to him directly.”

“You’re being a child,” she said.

“It’s one of my most endearing qualities.”

For a moment, I thought I caught a tiny smile flash across her face. Then it was gone. She studied my face for a few seconds, and it was all I could do to hold her gaze. Then she nodded.

“Detective Reed,” Wade said testily, “can I speak to you for a moment?”

“Of course. How about you go pick us up some takeaways for a late lunch, and we’ll talk then. I’m sure we’re all hungry.”

I wished I had a camera to capture the look on Wade’s face.

Wade didn’t say anything. After a moment, he gave me a sneer that did nothing for his handsome face and walked away.

I grinned at Vivian. But if there’d been a smile there before, it was nowhere to be found now. “Start talking.”

I thought back to how I tailed Zhi. I didn’t know whether to tell Vivian about Mayor White. Truth is, I didn’t know what I’d seen. Still, I had to at least give her an idea what I thought was going on. “This thing’s big. I can feel it. How big exactly, I don’t have the damnedest.”

“Let’s take it from the top,” she said. “Go through it nice and slow.”

“Don’t I even get a ‘please’?”

“No.” There was something dangerous in her eyes. I was beginning to regret getting Wade sent away. He might have been the one holding her leash.

“Look—” I started.

“No, you look. The lab ran a test on your blood sample. It’s what killed the others, all right. You don’t have the same level of crystallization yet, but you’ve only got a couple of days, maximum. You’ve got yourself into a very deep pile of shit, and I don’t know if I’ve got a long enough rope to pull you out. I need you to take this seriously.”

“I—”

“Seriously, Miles. We’re trying to get what we can on AISOR, but it’s a fucking huge company and we don’t have enough to convince a judge to let us knock down the doors. I need your statement telling us exactly what happened and what you’ve found out. And I need you to stop screwing around and turning this whole thing into a legal nightmare. AISOR has lawyers. A lot of lawyers. If you’re stomping through everything, they’re going to tear us to shreds when we try to prosecute.”

Something strange touched my consciousness. A kind of heat, and something that sounded like a drum. No. A heartbeat.

“Vivian—”

“This is the only way you can help your friend. This is the only way you can help yourself.” Her eyes touched the floor for a moment, and then returned to meet my gaze. “I want to be your friend, Miles, I really do. You have a good heart, even if you try to hide it. I want to help you, but…” Her eyes narrowed. “You’re not even listening to me, are you?”

“No,” I said. “Shut up. I’m trying to concentrate on something.”

The heat was growing stronger. The bustle of cops moving around continued, but inside my head, everything melted away. Then there was another sound in my mind, like claws on glass.

Oh, shit.

“Someone’s just opened a Tunnel to Limbus,” I said.

She frowned. “What?”

“It’s close. It’s really close. Vivian, we need to—”

A cacophony of inhuman screams ripped through the office. The windows behind me shook in their frames. Black dread crept like a spider up my spine. Car tires screeched, and then the yelling began. They were outside.

Vivian and a dozen other cops raced to the windows while I twisted in my seat to look outside. The street below looked like a child had kicked over his toys and released his sister’s pet rats into the chaos. Cars were stopped in the streets, abandoned by their drivers. Pedestrians sprinted in every direction, some of them literally running in circles like they were in a cartoon. And everywhere, the creatures attacked.

There were at least ten of them, maybe more. I recognized most of them instantly. They were the same hairy, screeching, fang-filled monsters I’d sicced on Caterina in John Andrews’ mansion. I’d called them spider-dogs at the time, and the name still fit. I watched as a pair of them sank their teeth into a middle-aged woman running down the street. Even as she fell, she never let go of her grocery bags.

But there were two creatures that I didn’t recognize. And they were big. The cyclopean monsters were each the size of an SUV, with enough muscle to feed a neighborhood. Their black fur was streaked with orange across their backs, making them look like a cross between giant apes and hornets. And they looked pissed.

“Everyone outside!” Vivian yelled. The other cops were drawing their weapons, but not her. “Push them back and plug the Tunnel.”

I stood, heart hammering, and pulled my Kemia from my pocket. It was still mostly full. My mind spun up half a dozen attacks to put into action. My limbs seemed to be moving awkwardly, in slow motion.

“No,” Vivian said. “You’re staying here.”

“To hell with that. You need me to fight them. I can find the Tunnel.”

“So can we. We have Tunnelers too, remember? This attack has something to do with you. I’m not letting them draw you out.”

“Your Tunnelers are a bunch of saps,” I said. “They couldn’t turn Coke into Pepsi. People are going to die if you don’t let me help.”

I tried to push past her, but she blocked my way and shoved me back down in my seat. The rest of the cops were already scrambling for the stairs.

“We can handle it.” Her hands touched my shoulders. “No one’s going to die. Please, Miles.” She leaned down close to me. Even through the adrenaline—or maybe because of it—her scent was overwhelming. “Stay here.”

“I—”

Her face was inches from mine. A stray dark hair hung from her forehead to tickle my cheek. I could feel the warmth from her body. “Please, Miles.”

I could hardly breathe. Even the sound of the creatures’ screeching sounded far away. All I could see was her. I tried to speak, but my mouth was dry. “I—”

There was a clicking sound. Something cold wrapped itself around my wrist.

“You didn’t,” I said.

I looked down to find my left wrist handcuffed to the arm of the seat.

“I did,” she said.

I went for my Kemia, and I realized it was no longer in my hand. Vivian took a step back and held up the bottle. I hadn’t even felt her take it.

“Not cool,” I said.

Vivian turned and flagged down a passing uniformed cop. “Collins. Stay here and keep an eye on him.” She pointed to me. “Make sure he doesn’t get free.”

The skinny cop hesitated, glanced at me, and nodded. I glared at him. Goddamn it, I hated cops.

Vivian pocketed the bottle of Kemia and drew her pistol from her shoulder harness. “Back soon.”

“If you get yourself killed, just remember I told you so,” I said.

She turned and ran for the stairs. Outside, the popping of gunfire started to overlay the screeches and screams. Collins, the young cop, crossed his arms and tried to look at me sternly. I would’ve slugged him if he was within arm’s reach.

I spun awkwardly in the seat and craned my neck to look out the window. Both plain-clothes officers and uniforms were battling the creatures, using cars as cover. Some moved in to flank and surround the creatures, while others helped usher the civilians away, firing at any creature that came too close. One of the giant apes overturned a car and slammed its knuckles into the concrete in a scream of fury. The road cracked.

Where the hell was the Tunneler and his Tunnel? I couldn’t pinpoint a location from here, but it couldn’t be more than a couple of blocks away. I had no clue how he—or she, I guess—had managed to herd the creatures here. The monsters from Limbus weren’t known for being tame or timid.
Damn it, Vivian.
She needed me out there.

“Stay still,” Collins said. He had one eye on me and one out the window.

“You’re as bad as Detective Reed. I’m trying to concentrate here.”

I closed my eyes and focused. I really needed to get closer to find the Tunnel, but it was big enough that it was putting out a pretty decent amount of energy. If I could get a general area to point the cops in, that would let them…

Wait a minute. Something wasn’t right. There was definitely a big Limbus Tunnel close by. But there was something else as well. Limbus again, but slightly modified and coming from further away. No, that wasn’t quite true either. It was a different signal, for want of a better word, but mainly it was smaller. Almost like a Pin Hole, but for Limbus. And it was moving closer.

“Hey, Collins,” I said. “You got a gun?”

“Yeah.” He sounded wary.

“You might wanna draw it.”

There was a new screech, bird-like this time. I pulled at the handcuffs, hoping against hope they would give. Christ, what I wouldn’t do for some Kemia.

A shadow blocked the light from outside. Then something huge and winged crashed through the window.

I spun away from the sudden rush of air, throwing my free arm across my face to shield my eyes from the rain of glass. Tiny pricks of pain sprung up along my hand. Far away, I heard Collins swearing and fumbling for his pistol. Then the noise was blocked out by another screech and the whoosh of wings beating against the air.

I wrenched at the handcuffs again. Wind buffeted me. When I could open my eyes, my guts turned to ice. The creature perched in the window with its wings folded. It resembled a giant, four-winged bat. I’d guess that when it was flying, its wingspan would be bigger than two of me lying head to toe. The most obvious deviation from a regular bat was the huge beak and the two pairs of talons it had—one pair it used for standing and the others like low-slung arms. It regarded me with four small, black eyes.

“Shit,” I said.

A gun barked next to me. Collins had finally got his pistol out. He pumped a couple of rounds into the bat-creature. Pink blood spurted from its wounds, making it screech in pain. Collins didn’t notice the other bat swooping in until it was too late.

The second creature came smashing through the next window and slammed into him talon-first. I doubted he even knew what hit him before the bat drove its beak into his head and cracked the bone like it was made of balsa wood. His finger squeezed reflexively on the trigger of his gun, firing one more round before he went still. I swallowed back vomit as the creature’s head jerked up, blood and skin dangling from its beak. Poor fucking kid.

The first bat turned its head to regard me. I could sense something, the same weirdness I’d felt before, but right then I was more concerned with ending up as bird food. I stretched for Collins’ fallen pistol. Out of my reach. I was screwed. At least I’d be saved the long death of my poisoning. That was me, the eternal fucking optimist.

The bat’s beak jerked forward. I closed my eyes and waited for the sharpness to pierce my skull. Claudia’s face flashed in front of me.
I failed her
.

But when the crunch of the bird’s beak came, it wasn’t my head snapped in two. There was suddenly slack in the handcuff chain. I opened my eyes and found the mangled mess of the other bracelet dangling from the chain, no longer attached to the chair. The bird had bit right through it. I was free.

I put my palms on the ground, ignoring the stabbing of shattered glass, and tried to scramble to my feet. But then the creature beat its wings and leaped forward. The weight of the thing knocked the breath from me and drove me back to the ground. Talons dug into my shoulder, so deep I swear I could feel them grinding against bone. I screamed.

The bat dragged me along the floor, then lifted me toward the window frame. My fingers tried in vain to grab at something, anything. I could see over the edge to the street below. Sweat drenched my face, cold in the wind. Below, I caught a glimpse of dead creatures littering the road. A couple of cops looked up at me and the bats perched in the window. I couldn’t decide if I wanted them to try shooting it or not. Maybe friendly fire was better than the alternative.

But before anyone could loose a shot, the bat leaped into the air, dragging me with it. There was a sudden sense of falling. My stomach lurched. The police station disappeared behind me, and then there was nothing between me and a long fall except a flying monster from another world.

As the streets swept by below me, I started to wonder what the hell I’d done to piss off Lady Luck.

SEVENTEEN

I gotta say, heights weren’t my favorite thing in the world. I mean, they usually didn’t cause me much more than an uptick in my heartbeat and a desire to take a step back. But I had my limits, and dangling from the claws of a giant bat-creature a couple hundred feet above the street was one of them.

All my muscles had turned to stone. My stomach was clenched so tight it was at risk of collapsing into a black hole. I tried to shut my eyes, but my eyelids refused to obey. The city continued its horrifying movement below until the pops of gunfire outside the police station faded away and the only sounds were the wind in my ears and the alternating flapping of the creature’s four wings.

The pain in my shoulders had faded to a distant throb. I could barely feel my arms, but that didn’t concern me. Even if I could use them, I was too scared about dislodging myself from the creature’s grasp to go flailing about. I resolved to never set foot in an airplane again if I ever got out of this.

It took me a while to realize the bat was descending again. The other bat—the one that had impaled Collins—was playing wingman, guiding us down. I’d gotten so turned around with adrenaline and fear that I wasn’t sure exactly where I was, but if that light back there was the Bore, we must be headed north, toward the northern industrial district or the airport. Yeah, I could make out the runway off to my ten o’clock.

The creature’s flapping turned into a glide. The ground began to get bigger. My eyes watered against the constant assault of dry air and the first hints of smog. I was sure we were descending too fast, and I wanted a word with the captain.