Page 66 of Darkness

Herbs? Morrisey put better judgment aside long enough for a hearty sniff. Nothing but blood and gore. A traveler had been here, a hungry one. The victim had been tormented before finally breathing their last. But wait! Something was wrong. Holy fuck. Not one body, but two. Morrisey crossed the room to where a woman lay hidden in the drapes. The image of a traveler briefly flitted over her face before disappearing. Had her traveler nature kept her hidden from the cops?

“Farren,” he called, trying to keep his voice calm. “This one’s still alive, but unconscious.” Morrisey wouldn’t show his hand by performing his own reading of her emotions. Besides, Farren might get more information.

Farren joined him, letting out a gasp upon seeing the woman. “I don’t have much time. I’m going to pretend to faint in case anyone is watching. Don’t let anyone near me.” He crouched on his hands and knees, rolling down the wrist of one glove to expose skin, which he touched to a clean spot on the woman’s fingers.

He went limp. Morrisey grabbed him, encircling Farren’s shoulders with his arm. No one paid them any mind. Suddenly, Farren gasped, eyes flying wide. “The perimeter. Quick. Check. No one is to enter this room until I say so. This traveler could still seek another body.”

Farren swayed when Morrisey released him but didn’t fall over. Morrisey shouted, “Out! Everyone out!” exiting the apartment once they’d done so. He stripped off blood-soaked footies and gloves and tossed them into a trash can marked “Hazardous.” “Keep everybody out,” he told the cop by the door.

No one stopped him as he bounded down the stairs, though a few cops nodded in recognition. Hell, even when Morrisey worked for Atlanta PD, he’d not really known anyone there well but Will.

Morrisey stood at the base of the stairs, taking in his surroundings. Though neighbors peeked from windows, no one loitered, except…

A head disappeared behind the building’s edge the moment Morrisey spotted the guy. For a brief second, they’d both frozen.

Morrisey darted around the building. The guy had a good head start. Young, maybe early twenties, medium build, medium brown hair, gray hoodie, blue jeans. An ordinary-looking guy who’d blend into the crowd.

Except for the blood on his clothes. Morrisey hadn't had time to check for the face upon a face thing. The guy kept going through the apartment complex to the back, then easily scaled the chain-link fence.

Morrisey puffed for breath, barely swinging himself over and launching through waist-high broom sage down a gully.

Train tracks sat at the bottom. Before Morrisey could get there, another man stepped from behind a tree. He locked eyes with Morrisey. Evil lurked behind those soulless eyes.

Familiar somehow. Maybe Morrisey had seen him in nightmares.

Hoodie guy stopped as the ominous man approached and placed a hand on hoodie guy’s head.

In the distance, a whistle blew. The chugga-chugga of a train grew closer. Too close. Morrisey ran. If the train got between them, the two suspects could escape, leaving Morrisey with no possibility of reaching them until the train passed.

The man dragged the kid by the arm across the tracks, still keeping one hand on the kid’s head.

Closer, nearly there…

The image of a beast covered the hoodie guy’s face. The man pushed, shoving the kid into the train’s path.

The kid never even screamed.

Chapter Twenty-two

Morrisey gave his statement, collected his notes, and got as far as possible from the apartment building. He found Farren leaning against the car, ashy and pale. "Are you okay?"

“Yeah. Those two were sex workers. It was too late to ask the first victim, but a traveler inhabited the second. At least, if that’s why you alerted me to the second victim.”

“It was.” Ask, what a strange word for temporary possession. “How was she not noticed before?”

"I don't know. Travelers have some strange abilities. Maybe she didn’t want to be found, but in the end, could no longer keep hidden.”

Strange abilities? Like communing with the dying? “What just happened?” Sex workers. Succuba? Should Morrisey try to contact Jessa? Better still, had the time come to tell Farren about her? No. Not after promising not to.

He might have faults, but he at least attempted to be an honorable man.

Outwardly, Farren appeared all cool confidence. Inside? Another matter entirely. But how could Morrisey possibly feel the tangled emotions trapped inside someone else? Even without touching.

The dreams. A connection.

Terrifying.

Morrisey suddenly had an overwhelming urge to take Farren into his arms and offer comfort. He paid attention. The humans they interacted with at work treated Farren with suspicion and contempt, while other travelers kept their distance lest they draw ridicule on themselves.

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