Page 125 of Darkness

“Son of a bitch!” Leary shrieked, swinging his gun up to aim at Morrisey.

Morrisey pushed Farren behind him. He’d wonder later why Leary sat at his desk armed. With little thought and a slapping motion, Morrisey whipped the gun from Leary’s hand. It fell to the floor with a dull thud. Wow! If only he’d possessed such abilities during his time as a beat cop.

But how had Morrisey known he could?

Leary glared at Morrisey, then the gun, then the air between them. “How did you… How did…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Farren replied, stepping from behind Morrisey. Good, because Morrisey couldn’t form words at the moment. “This Asher you’ve spoken to is not the travelers’ leader. He’s out for himself, not the people. Don’t deal with the asshole. Most travelers only want peace. They don’t want war.”

Leary fixed his glower on Morrisey. “And what about you? What do you want?”

Morrisey pulled in a deep, calming breath. So many things he wanted. Mostly a good stiff drink, a smoke, and a day spent chilling on his couch. He had about a zillion episodes of Survivor to catch up on. He settled for “What’s best for everyone.”

“You’re one of them,” Leary growled.

Enough of this “us” and “them” bullshit. All the anger, fear, and uncertainty of the past few days rolled into a ball of rage. For once, Leary’s wasn’t the loudest voice in the room. “I’m one of us. I stand for anyone who wants to live a law-abiding life, regardless of where they came from. We’re all in human bodies, so we’re all human now.” The sooner people got facts through their heads, the sooner they could stop the bad guys and get back to the business of living.

“What about materializing in my office and slapping a gun from my hand without making a connection?”

Strange how Leary didn’t seem as freaked out as Morrisey might have been. Then again, someone had already betrayed the secret, hadn’t they? “I have talents others don’t. Aren’t you lucky I choose to use them for good?” Morrisey narrowed his eyes. “As long as I’m allowed to. Wouldn’t you rather stand with us than against us?” Threatening the boss? Why, yes, indeed. It felt damned good, actually.

“What about this Asher?”

“He tricked me once before I knew how to use my gifts. It won’t happen again. Has he asked to meet?” Like hell would Morrisey admit to being the jerkoff’s half-brother.

Leary paused before answering, shifting his gaze between Farren and Morrisey. “He has.”

“Where and when?” The guard Morrisey assigned to watch the mansion hadn’t seen any movement there.

“He demands a meeting with the president and a formal surrender.”

So Asher planned to go on with his plan for world domination. Maybe he’d not needed Morrisey after all. Maybe he just wanted to ensure Morrisey didn’t play on the opposing team.

The anger pouring off Leary would’ve made a good meal for someone not picky about what they ate. How easy it would be for Asher and his followers to body snatch the country’s top officials. Then what? Or he could take a more direct approach.

Morrisey considered the options. What would a power-hungry dipshit like Asher do? First, he’d send the country into a panic. How best could he accomplish this? Kill the leaders. Then he’d start his war and emerge as some kind of savior. Or present Morrisey as one. “I can’t let that happen.”

Leary’s face purpled before he bellowed. “You can’t?” The surge of his anger was a near-palpable wave. How easy to take the anger, use it to shore up Morrisey’s abilities. But no. That would be madness.

Farren voiced Morrisey’s fears. “He could easily kill the president and anyone else to strike fear into human hearts, or he could simply take his body. We can’t allow it. If he succeeds, he’ll put every traveler’s life in danger. There can be no war. Neither side will survive.”

“How do I know you’re any better than him?” Leary’s anger turned to suspicion, his glower focusing on Morrisey. How had Morrisey lived his whole life without the added advantage of knowing precisely what opponents felt? He’d turned into a human—or not-so-human—lie detector.

“Because he’ll feed on the carnage. I’d rather feed on positive emotions, like a winning Braves game.”

“How long have you fed on emotions? Have you known you could do this all the time?” Leary tapped out a beat on his desk with an ink pen.

“Why tell you? You’ll believe whatever you want to. But Asher is the one who kidnapped me. Something he did heightened all those abilities that started when I got attacked in the alley. Then I visited Domus, but I won’t get into details right now. But know this. Not only are humans in danger, but travelers too, and without us, you won’t even be able to tell the difference—until a normally peaceful man takes a machete to his neighbors.”

Morrisey let the thought hang, watching emotions playing over Leary’s face and matching them to the corresponding energy released into the ether.

Oh, the self-control Farren showed in not feeding on emotions all these years.

Leary didn’t reply, merely sat with his arms crossed and a muscle twitching in his jaw.

Morrisey growled, “You know about us. Farren saved you. Worked with you for ten fucking years. If we were bent on taking on humanity, don’t you think we’d have used the element of surprise and done so long ago?”

Teleportation, telekinesis. If not direct mind-reading, then close. What other talents did travelers possess that could either be a help or a hindrance to the new partnership they must build with humans?

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