Page 69 of Darkness

Morrisey let out a self-deprecating chuckle when he really didn’t feel humorous at all. Not in the least. “A decade? You’ve been around for ten years and I just now found out about your kind.” Of course, finding out things meant leaving the house for more than work, food, fucking, and drink, and possibly time spent researching on the internet.

Farren waved a dismissive hand. “A few travelers have existed in Terra for centuries. Most humans are busy with their lives, never worrying about anything that doesn’t directly affect them.”

True enough. “How about Leary?”

“As I mentioned before, Leary met one of my kind right after I crossed over, then the authorities almost committed him for his outrageous claims. Like you, the right people found out and recruited him for the task force. He can sense travelers, but he can’t see them quite like you do.”

“How long has the task force been around? The information I found said twenty years, but that can’t be right by what you just said.” The old saying went if it exists, there’s porn for it. Hell, there weren’t even any internet hits for FAET.

“The task force came into being during the sixties. My realm began collapsing during the early 2000s to the best of my knowledge, and folks fled. Which accounts, in part, for the increase in violent crimes. It became a ‘there goes the neighborhood’ kind of thing for a while. Which is why the FBI needed Magestra. To take out the trash, so to speak.”

“And now?”

“Right before I left Domus, even the deniers started accepting our end was near. Even though it was forbidden, the animalistic species fled out of instinct. The more advanced kinds fled out of self-preservation. I’ve heard of humans taking money from desperate souls to smuggle them into the United States from other countries. It looks like predators from my world are doing the same thing.”

Morrisey snorted. “Surprising it took this long.” Where there was desperation, there were opportunists ready to take advantage.

“The trafficking has likely existed for hundreds of years. We just didn’t know about it. Didn’t want to know about it.”

Morrisey’s thoughts went to Jessa and any information she might provide. If only he could tell Farren about her—one of many secrets he hoped his partner wouldn't discover. He’d have to go out looking for her soon, see if she knew anything about the latest victims. “What happens if I agree to let you poke around in my head?”

“You have to sign paperwork giving me permission first, which is then signed by Leary and myself. We establish an optimum time and make preparations. You know nothing happens without paperwork.”

Damned paperwork. Or computer work these days. “What preparations?”

“First, I’ll steep an herbal tea for three days. Know where I can get bloodwort? Then you have to dance naked around a bonfire.”

Morrisey’s mouth dropped open. He stared at Farren in horror. Dance naked? “What the fuck?” Nobody wanted to see Morrisey’s buck-naked ass gyrating out of tune.

Farren looked at Morrisey and released the first hearty laugh Morrisey had ever heard from him. “I’m kidding, but you should see your face!”

Okay. Yeah, Farren scored a point. Morrisey grumbled, “Asshole.”

Farren sobered. “Actually, it’s better if you have an empty stomach, as I’m told it can make one queasy. If you fight me, you’ll get a killer headache.”

“Like I did the night in the alley.”

Farren pulled the car into the parking lot of the Golden Wok. “Precisely.”

“What happens if an agent from our team gets possessed out in the field? Wouldn’t the traveler gain full access to the gray abyss? I mean, the compound? While in our heads, they’d be able to answer any questions we could, right?”

“That’s where you and I come in.”

“How so?”

“We’ll see the aura of both the traveler and the human, and I really don’t think either of us is in direct danger. Like I said, you’ve got a certain immunity, and so do I.”

“Yeah, but who else can do that? If we’re not around, an asshole could get in and do a lot of damage.”

“We have the highest-paid receptionists and security team in the city. There are reasons for that. They’re sensitive.”

“I’ll be damned. They’re all travelers.” Morrisey recalled the older man with the impressive mustache who growled what could possibly have been “Good morning” every day when Morrisey reported to work. Arianna might be small, but he didn’t doubt for a minute she could hold her own in a fight. What about the guy in the guard shack who checked IDs?

Farren switched off the car’s engine. “Hopefully not on the damned part, but definitely on the travelers. Though it’s been tried, no traveler has managed unauthorized entry yet.”

"You keep track of the travelers you are aware of. Doesn’t that piss them off?” Morrisey unfastened his seat belt but remained in the car for the privacy to continue the conversation.

Farren opened the car door, tossing words over his shoulder with a wry grin. “We’re part of the FBI. We monitor many people, in some shape or form.”

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