The Black Merchant

by Shannon Reber

  I ran to that touchpad in the door and opened the same program they had used to create a portal in the floor. I had no idea how a piece of technology could do that. All that mattered was to get Deegan through it and to lock that particular door behind him.

  I got into that system quickly, my fingers flying over the screen. I had recognized the word ostium from Emma’s catechism. It was Latin for ‘door’. I hoped I was right.

  The moment the touchpad began to glow, showing the fact it was doing whatever it did to open portals, that was when Deegan found me. His burned, blistered eyes looked hazy like he might be as blinded as I had hoped.

  It seemed he didn’t need the ability to see in order to find me. He roared again and fire shot from the back of his throat.

  I ran. There was nothing I could do against that power. He had all the advantages. All I could do was try to lead him toward the portal I’d opened.

  Something hit me hard and I toppled to the ground. I turned to find that it was one of Deegan’s wings. Fire again billowed from him although I was able to get out of the way.

  Before I could get entirely out of his way, Deegan had grabbed hold of my arm and lifted me up. With the heat radiating off him, it was clear he intended to burn me to a crisp. I only had one option at that point.

  I took the salt that was left in the vile and shoved it straight into his gaping mouth.

  Deegan’s roar shook the building as he dropped me to the ground, clutching at his throat. Before he could turn me to ash with one blast of his magical fire, I shoved him hard enough to make him stumble . . . right into the portal.

  He roared and screamed as his feet penetrated that other realm, his damaged eyes fixed on me. “You will die screaming,” he swore.

  I ran to the touchpad on the wall and hit the button to close that portal. There was a sickening sound of flesh being torn and a roar of pain and fury from that beast before the brewery went silent. As still as death. I had killed Deegan.

  I turned slowly to look and bile filled my throat. His legs had been severed when the portal had closed, leaving his torso and wings in this realm. The smell of rotten eggs was mixed with the metallic scent of blood and flames.

  Tears filled my eyes at the horror of it. I turned away. Deegan was gone. I had killed Deegan. I had to be certain that Roy didn’t die as well.

  Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I ran into that cage-room. Kevin/Duane had begun to sit up, cradling his hand to his chest. I pretended he wasn’t there.

  I ran over and crouched down next to Roy, laying my hand on his shoulder. I could see both the alien-like figure that was his true form, as well as the dog he used as his glamour. Both were beautiful. Both were good. Roy had to be alright. He had to be.

  A popping sound filled the air and a glowing white figure appeared in front of me. In one of her hands, she held what looked like a jar containing a cloudy, red substance. In her other hand, she held a sword.

  I blinked, trying to understand what I saw. A Valkyrie. Holy worm-ridden blue screen. I was looking at an actual Valkyrie.

  She bowed her head slightly and gestured toward that jar thing. “Madison Meyer, we are in your debt. Because of your actions, the lives of many have been saved and the souls of others will be transported to paradise.” She raised the jar. “This one called Deegan will go to the underworld,” she said fiercely.

  I swallowed hard, my breaths coming out in quick gasps. “Please, don’t take Roy. He is an amazingly brave creature. He is the only reason I was able to get down here to get the girls out.”

  The Valkyrie gave me a smile that was simultaneously breathtaking and horrifying. “Balroydenhauvre will not come to Valhalla this day. He is an honor to his people and will be honored along with you and your team this evening by my own people. Be well, Madison Meyer. Know that you are an honor to the humans.”

  I blushed and turned my eyes down, relieved to see Roy’s eyes open, fixed on the Valkyrie. “What about the other girls, though? I didn’t recognize any of the girls that ran out of here.”

  The Valkyrie hung her head slightly and swallowed like a lump had risen in her throat. “The other girls were sold. I was able to break free of my captor and to free all but one of the girls. Nona Zuerst was taken to paradise.”

  Tears again streamed down my cheeks as what she’d said fully registered in my brain. “You were captured as well?” I asked, baffled about how that kind of thing could even happen to a powerful creature like her.

  She drew herself up to her full and quite impressive height, her glow even more staggering. “The incubus who purchased me is in the underworld and will suffer for an eternity for all the crimes he has committed against women. I am Aldora. My sisters and I will make certain these monsters pay for their crimes.” She motioned with her sword toward Kevin. “That one is mine.”

  I glanced at the man before I gave a slow shake of my head. “Aldora, will you let me keep him here? There are crimes in the living world he needs to pay for before you take him to the underworld.”

  She considered me for a little bit before she gave a brusque nod to me. “If that is your wish, Madison Meyer,” she said, then turned her eyes toward the door. “Come,” she said in a commanding tone.

  I looked in the direction she had spoken and my heart fluttered. Ian, Spencer, Simms, Erkens, Bukowski, and a bunch of cops and FBI guys all stood in that doorway, watching us with wide eyes. My heart rate picked up at the sight of Ian. He was there. He stood next to Spencer. Maybe everything really could be okay.

  The whole group shuffled their way forward nervously other than Spencer, who walked in like it was any ordinary thing to see a Valkyrie. Aldora looked at him for a long moment before she raised her hand. “My sisters wish to speak with you, Exiler. Will you come with me as I take these souls to the underworld?” she asked him, something respectful in her tone.

  Spencer bowed his head in his own respectful gesture. He didn’t speak. All he did was lay his hand on Aldora’s arm and wait.

  She turned to look at me one last time before she gave me a resplendent smile. “Madison Meyer should be honored by the humans as well. We all owe her much,” she said and all of a sudden she and Spencer vanished into a blaze of white light.

  I gaped at that spot for a few moments before I remembered how badly injured Roy was. “Please tell me there’s a medic around,” I said, my hand still on Roy’s shoulder.

  Simms walked over, his eyes damp as he looked down at his partner. He leaned down and picked Roy up, moving toward the door. He stopped and looked at me, a small smile on his lips. “The Valkyrie was right, Madison. You were amazing. Thank you,” he said, rushing off before I could say anything in response.

  TWENTY-THREE

  I sighed in satisfaction as the beep sounded out, indicating the system was properly installed. Because I had written the algorithm that had turned Safe*Zone into the top security system in the world, they were all too happy to give me their best system for Erkens’ office. If that didn’t keep guys like Kevin/Duane out, nothing would.

  I shivered a little when the door opened behind me. I had been shocked to realize when I’d come out of that half-realm, that three months had passed. I had missed Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, even Ian’s twentieth birthday. I still wasn’t used to the cold, even after a few days.

  A hand ran its way down my arm and I turned, smiling at the sight of Ian. In the months I’d been in that half-realm, a lot of things had changed. Ian had changed a lot more than I would have thought possible. He and Spencer had come to an understanding. They couldn’t be called friends. They were more of reluctant allies.

  Another change that I was getting used to was how Ian looked at me. It was like he finally saw me as an adult, not only his little sister’s best friend.

  Ian looked from me to the flashing red light on the wall, his brows raised in question. “I wondered if you’d do it yourself,” he said in a quiet voice.

  I walked over to one of the newly cleaned
off chairs and sat down, leaning back to look at the wall behind the desk. “I read the text you sent me,” I said, my cheeks warming.

  Ian blew out a long breath and leaned against the wall, his eyes fixed on the floor where the new runes of protection had been concealed under an area rug. “I thought about that every day you were gone, Mads. I had no idea if you’d gotten my text and were too mad at me to answer or if something horrible had happened to you and you never even got it.”

  I turned my head to look at him, a little startled to see those bold eyes of his fixed on me. “You were kind of an error code the last time we really talked,” I said with a tiny smile, hoping to see his expression lighten as well.

  It didn’t. He continued to stare at me like he was memorizing every detail of my face.

  “Ian, come here,” I said and motioned to the chair next to mine.

  He straightened up and moved in a slow, methodical way over to that chair. He continued to look at me, even though he kept his distance from me.

  When he sat in that chair, I stood up and stepped over to sit down on his knee. I rested my hand on his cheek and leaned in to touch my lips to his brow. “If the offer is still open, I’d like to be your girlfriend. I’d like to know what you and I make of each other now that we’re both adults. I’ve known you my whole life, Ian Gregory. You promised me that we’d always be friends. I’d like to see if we can be both.”

  Ian closed his eyes, his arms moving slowly up to wrap around me. “Maddie, I don’t deserve somebody like you. You were right. I was a complete—”

  I touched my fingers to his lips. “You know me pretty well, Ian. I am the only one who’s allowed to call you a 404. You say it, we’re at war,” I said quietly and leaned in so my mouth touched his ear. “Do you still want to go out with me, Ian?” I asked him quietly.

  “Yeah, Mads. More than anything.”

  “Then ask me,” I said with a small smile.

  He pulled me back and looked hard into my eyes. “Maddie, will you go out with me?” he asked and despite the fact he knew my answer already, he looked nervous.

  I leaned in and touched my lips to his in a soft kiss. “I’d love to,” I whispered against his lips.

  He traced his fingers over the chain of the necklace, his eyes still fixed on mine. “I ordered this for you the night you first saw the demon at Hope House. I’m so glad you were wearing it.”

  I gaped at him. Oh. It should have been obvious. Erkens had given me the package probably because Ian had it delivered to Erkens’ office. I should have known. Why would Erkens give me a necklace?

  “Was the vial of salt from you too?”

  “Um, yeah.”

  I leaned in and kissed him more deeply. “You saved my life, Ian. I wouldn’t have survived without those things. Thank you,” I whispered, pleased when he pulled me closer and kissed me in a way that made the world around us disappear.

  At that precise moment, the door of the office opened. Erkens and Spencer walked in together, both of them coming to an abrupt stop at the sight of us.

  I rose from Ian’s lap and grinned at Spencer. “Okay, it’s time for you to fill us in on your connection to a Valkyrie. That was amazing,” I said, a little startled to see that his skin held a slight glow like Aldora’s magic had rubbed off on him a little.

  The ability to see through glamours had almost left my system. There were only a few small things that I could still see which normal humans couldn’t. I wasn’t sure if that glow was because of LJ’s gift to me or if everybody could see it.

  Spencer walked over and sat down in the chair next to Ian’s as Erkens moved to sit behind his desk like usual. Since there was nowhere else to sit, I plopped myself on Ian’s knee, pleased when he began to play with my hair.

  Spencer smirked at us for a second. “About time,” he commented and went on before we could say anything. “You know I’m an exiler,” he said, waiting for us to respond.

  We all nodded.

  “It turns out that exilers and Valkyries have similar job descriptions. I was trained when I was a teenager about the rules for exiling and calling souls out of purgatory. It turns out, the guy who trained me left out a few details. There are records we’re required to keep. If I exile a soul or summon one, it has to be reported to the Valkyrie’s . . . high council is the best way I can think of to describe them.”

  Ian’s hand froze on my hair. “Summon souls?” he asked in a quiet voice, a mix of hope and fear written in his tone.

  Spencer sighed and shook his head. “I can’t call Emma back, Ian. I’m sorry. Her body is gone. If I do, she’ll be a woman in white again. Your sister is gone.”

  Ian smoothed his hand down my hair as he entwined the fingers of his other hand with mine. “The Emma we knew has been gone for a couple of years. The monster you exiled wasn’t my sister. Not really.”

  Spencer looked a little startled by Ian’s words. After a few long seconds, he cleared his throat. “Yeah,” he said simply, then looked at me. “When I was seventeen, a wraith killed LJ. I sent his soul to Valhalla. It was the first time I’d ever used that power. The fact they sent him to help you is a serious compliment to you.”

  I rested against Ian and closed my eyes. “LJ was the first guy in the high school to treat me like a human being. He was my friend. I can’t believe I didn’t know anything had happened to him,” I said sadly, snuggling in when Ian wrapped his arms around me.

  Spencer sighed deeply. “He was my best friend. He died in that brewery around five years ago. There was no way I’d be able to explain to people that a wraith had killed him, so I started telling people he’d moved away. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.” He cleared his throat and shrugged a little. “Anyway, the Valkyries said I had to let them know if a soul is exiled or called back. That’s all.”

  I blew out a breath as I contemplated that before turning my eyes on Erkens. “What’s going on with the cops, Erkens?” I asked, unsure how the humans who had said he was crazy would react to the sight of the cut in half winged demon they’d encountered, or the Valkyrie they’d seen. I had a feeling things were going to be getting a lot more complicated in our lives.

  Erkens scowled and leaned back in his chair, his arms folded over his belly. “The cops are acting like children. A few of them are die-hard non-believers, so they have themselves convinced it’s a hoax. A few are curious. Most of them are pretending nothing happened.”

  “What about Bukowski?” I asked, sure that was the strongest vote in Erkens’ mind since they had been partners for years.

  He scowled even more deeply. “Joel Bukowski seems to think that because he fathered my granddaughter, his opinion should hold a lot more sway over me than it does. The fact he has stopped telling my granddaughter that her grandpa is a crazy man is nice but it doesn’t make me want to give the man a bear-hug.”

  I snickered, enjoying the image that brought into my mind. “Oh come on, Erkens. You are totally a hugger. It’s just buried deep down,” I teased, delighted by the glower he shot at me.

  A knock sounded on the door of the office after a few more minutes of conversation, so I rose from Ian’s lap and walked over. Tears filled my eyes when I opened the door to find Simms and Roy both standing there.

  I knelt down and wrapped my arms around Roy’s neck, sniffling happily into his fur. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I’m so sorry you got hurt when you were fighting that thing. Thank you, Roy. Thank you so—”

  Roy withdrew from me and leaned in to touch his nose to mine. After a moment, he lolled out his tongue and slid it all the way up my cheek.

  I laughed as I wiped his slime off me. “That’s disgusting, dog-breath,” I said and rose, beckoning Simms into the office. “Careful, Roy. Right inside the door is the only place you can stand without getting trapped or hurt by the salt.”

  Simms stepped into the office and gave me a one-armed hug. “We won’t stay long anyway. I need to buy dog-breath a burger.”

  I chuc
kled, eager to hear what he’d have to report.

  Simms inclined his head in greeting to the guys and then looked at me. “Hadley Novak, Esther Colbert, the girls that the Valkyrie rescued, and the other five girls that you freed have all testified to both the police and to realm enforcement. Both sets of trials will probably take years.”

  My eyes bugged. “Whoa. Hold on. Realm Enforcement? I’ve never heard that one before,” I said, wondering what other things I’d find out about the world while working for Erkens.

  Simms glanced at Roy before he lowered his brows. “They’ll fill you in when they’re ready. They’re what they sound like, though. They’re the cops of those who go from world to world.”

  Okay, so my mind had officially been blown. I would be doing some research on that particular branch of law enforcement as soon as my brain was capable.

  Simms smirked at me and put his hand under my chin to close my mouth. “What I was saying, though . . . Duane Orm will face charges under both of the names he’s used and in both the human and supernatural court systems. He won’t see the light of day ever again.”

  An explosive sigh of relief escaped me. I had been worried he might find a way to manipulate people into believing he was an innocent bystander like he’d implied. It was SO good to know that he would pay for all he’d done.

  “What about Raven?” I asked, still unsure what to make of her.

  Simms frowned, rubbing at a bandage on his wrist where so far as I knew, she had bitten him. “From what I’ve been able to find out, Raven Forbindelse was engaged to this guy and he dumped her. When he started dating another woman, Raven made a deal with Deegan Hefferman to bring the woman in. She was Raven’s first sale on the sex trafficking market. That was how she got into the business. She’s facing life in prison along with the other guys who were brought in.”

  I shuddered at the thought. “I don’t understand,” I said and leaned against the wall with my eyes closed. “Deegan was my friend. I know he was. How could I miss something so glaring? He was a monster and I never even suspected.”