Magic After Dark: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Margo Bond Collins

  “Run,” I yelled, fingers digging into the soil trapping me to pry free. “Peter, get away from there. Something is coming for you.”

  I screamed and jolted upright, finding myself in bed, back in my apartment. Sweat dripped down the sides of my face, and perspiration glued my hair to my neck.

  “Shit!” Follow-up visions always unsettled me, leaving me feeling as if I’d experienced the event. I pushed my legs over the edge of the mattress and stared out at the morning light streaming through the blinds.

  In the vision, Peter had had a knowing look in his eyes, as if he’d acknowledged the danger but still approached it. And he’d wanted to show me something. But then why had I been locked into the ground?

  And the dark mist… What was that? And why hadn’t anyone else been there? What about his kidnappers?

  Then I remembered the ninjas outside my apartment. Why the hell kidnap me, then dump me in the city? Was it a case of mistaken identity?

  I climbed off the bed, grabbed my phone, and called Ryker, desperate to tell him I was okay, to hear his voice, to make it up to him.

  He answered after one ring. “Robyn, you’re alive! What happened to our get-together last night?”

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I caught up with old friends and time ran away. Can I make it up to you? Dinner at my place?” Guilt was pestering me, and a fire burned in my throat.

  “I was worried, especially with the explosion in the city. It’s a crazy time right now.”

  My heartbeat pounded in my ears… Could Ryker hear it too? “I’m okay, and sorry for worrying you.”

  Ryker said something in the background to someone else, then came back to me. “You just wake up?”

  “Yep. So did you guys catch any of the suspects from the fire? The news is saying it’s the Hood.”

  “Got nothing yet, only the footage.”

  I released a loud exhale, but now with that video and me accidentally blurting out the Hood’s involvement to the Police chief, Dante ought to stay low for a while.

  “But I’ll take you up on the offer tonight.” Ryker’s whisper drew me out of my thoughts, his lowered voice super sexy. “You’ve got to make it up to me… and I’m not talking with food.”

  I laughed out loud. “I love it when you talk dirty.”

  “Don’t you forget it, babe. Okay, got to go, as we’re having a special announcement from the mayor, who’s at the station. Weird enough to make me curious.”

  “Okay, bye.” Must be an important announcement if the mayor was making an appearance at the precinct.

  Ryker hung up.

  I headed into the shower. Dressed and stuffing a piece of toast into my mouth, I flicked on the television to see if they had any further information on the warehouse fire. Only the weather.

  Stepping into my boots, I approached the treasure-box sized trunk at the foot of my bed and opened the wooden lid. After last night’s encounter, I wasn’t leaving the house without added protection. With ninja stars stuffed into my pocket, I tucked a blade into each boot. The glint of a short sword caught my attention at the bottom of the container. I gingerly lifted the dagger, and my chest tightened.

  On the hilt, I ran a thumb over the inscription on my dad’s gift. “To my Firebird. Reach for the sky and never look back.”

  I missed him more each day. I returned the blade to the box and shut the lid. After he and mom had died in a traffic accident, I’d been alone, just me against the world. I’d been seventeen. Dante had taken me into the Hood, given me a family. He’d been twenty-one at the time and already ran the gang—a natural leader and always putting the Traveler people first. That was what had drawn me to him and his loving nature.

  I marched into the living room, grabbing the bike keys and my three marbles from the table. A light tingle raced up my arm, and I put them into my pocket. I never left home without the balls.

  With the remote control in hand, I turned on the TV. The mayor’s face appeared on the screen with the caption “Hood Prime Suspects in Murder Case” along the bottom.

  My stomach sank, and I drove the volume up.

  “This gang of mercenaries is dangerous and not to be approached. The police chief has released a statement saying to call authorities if anyone encounters the Hood.”

  “What the fuck?” I clenched the keys in my fist.

  Video footage played, grainy, as if it were security cameras on the street. Two people dressed in black emerged from a side exit of a warehouse. They scanned both ways, then darted left. The green bands tied around their biceps were in full view. Seconds later, a great explosion tore through the building.

  “Oh, shit!” I’d told Dante to stop with those stupid sashes.

  Mayor Wright wore a smug expression, his hair perfect and hands deep in his long coat. I’d never liked the guy, not since he’d gotten into power with no history of working in politics. What did he know about running a city? And from the first day he’d started, he’d had it in for the Hood, declaring them a menace to society. No doubt he had a personal vendetta, but hell knows why. I switched off the television and headed out. On the ground floor, I locked the front door behind me and spun, bumping into a man.

  My pulse spiked, and I careened backward, hitting the building.

  “Are you all right? I didn’t mean to startle you.” Clive’s eyes were bloodshot, and he grasped a bunched-up plastic bag under his arm. He was the guy who’d hired me to track down the body of his missing boy, Peter, over a week ago, and I still hadn’t gotten any closer to finding evidence.

  “Did something happen?” I asked. “I thought we were meeting later today?” I often meet clients at my apartment for the simple reason that I hadn’t gotten around to renting a small office in the business district.

  “I’m sorry, Robyn, but I won’t keep you long. Please, do you have a moment?” With him staring at me as if I held his future in my hand, how could I say no?

  “Of course; let’s go upstairs.” By the time we reached my apartment, my stomach had locked up. Dread sat on my mind like dried-up mud. Right now, I didn’t know what the vision with Peter from last night meant, let alone feeling qualified to make what would no doubt prove wild speculations with his father.

  “Robyn, forgive me for barging in to see you this morning.”

  Had the police found Peter?

  Clive took my hand and placed the wrapped-up bag in my palm. I touched several small objects through the plastic; something hard lay inside.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  “Two families came to see me yesterday. Each had a child who went missing in the last few months. Both their boys had done training at Little J’s, just like my Peter. Maybe there’s a connection. I’ve begged the police to interrogate the owner of the gymnasium, Jack, again. These kids’ bodies were never found, and the detectives still have the cases open, but with no leads, there’s little they can do.”

  How many more innocents had been taken?

  Clive’s gaze lowered. “Me neither.”

  “So what can I do to help?”

  “I thought I’d share a personal item from each of the two victims with you. It might trigger a vision when you touch them. It’s too late for my kid and theirs, but not for other families. And I want to give my baby a proper farewell. He deserves that.” His brown eyes pooled with tears.

  My throat thickened, and despair engulfed me. But falling apart wouldn’t help anyone. “I’ll do my best. Were these objects on the kids when they went missing?”

  Clive shook his head. “Sort of. The kids had used the personal objects before they vanished, so maybe…” His words trailed off as he wiped his cheeks.

  I didn’t have the heart to tell him my vision didn’t work that well on objects that were not with the victim during the crime. But I couldn’t turn him away. “Leave them with me.”

  Clive didn’t move, staring at me without blinking. “Can’t you do it now?” Hope flickered in his gaze.

  I sighed, hating to m
ake him suffer more. “I need deep meditation to connect, dig through the events, see what I can discover.” I pushed the plastic bag with contents into my handbag and tucked it under an arm. “I promise not to let you down. I’ll contact you straight away.”

  “I’ve got to go pick my little girl from my sister’s, so we’ll talk later. Thank you.”

  “Anytime, you know I’ll help however I can.”

  He nodded and waved as he left my apartment.

  All right, I had a full day ahead. I’d go meditate on the objects in my bag for any insight, then visit Little J’s for major ass-grilling. I refused to believe Jack from Little J’s knew nothing. But first, I needed a mountain-sized, triple-strength coffee to-go.

  The breeze cooled the sweat rolling down my nape. It was only spring, yet I’d swear summer had arrived. It didn’t help that we were in permanent cloud cover, which kept the heat locked in like a damn sauna. I pushed my hair into a ponytail and tied it with a band from my wrist as I strolled through the park. Dry grass crunched underfoot, and I passed the duck pond; no birds glided through the water. I sat on the lawn several feet from the shore and crossed my legs. Digging into the plastic bag, I pulled out the first object: a tiny sports car. Cute. Wrapping the toy in my fist, I shut my eyes and inhaled deeply. The wind sang in my ears, as did the rustling trees nearby. Children’s laughter came from my left, distant and soft. I focused on drawing the energy from the ground.

  A faint spark sizzled up my arm, and in my mind’s eye, I was in a room. Clothes were scattered everywhere and there was a bed in the shape of a race car. With a flick, I stood in the backyard, a Beagle at my feet. Laughter pressed down in my chest, bursting to unleash. I sailed through a shopping center. The next reel of images featured a dozen children training in martial arts at Little J’s. Then I swished to the bedroom again.

  Deeper. I had to reach further. Concentrating, I rubbed my thumb along the roof of the toy vehicle in my palm, the smooth paint finish, imagining a little boy playing with it, his energy drawn into this object.

  I was outside a house during the night, and a sense of euphoria filled me, playfulness, the promise of fun. In front of me, a little boy in blue pajamas ran down a driveway, alone, away from his home, and swung onto the sidewalk.

  I snapped out of the focused state, gasping for air. The boy had run away? That didn’t make sense, as I’d never once felt anger or fear. Had he been sleepwalking and someone had taken him as he’d wandered aimlessly?

  The other items in the bag were a set of woolen gloves. Same… Kid was happy but also attended Little J’s and left home late at night on his own. No wonder the cops couldn’t pin anything on Little J’s. Not when the kids disappeared from their homes.

  I climbed to my feet and hurried toward the parking lot. Each step took me closer to reaching Little J’s, pressure building behind my breastbone. Despite taking Jack’s classes, I’d only spoken to him at the gym. We weren’t that close. But I’d seen his generosity first hand as he offered food and clothes to everyone who came to Little J’s. So what was going on? I was missing a piece of the puzzle.

  Traffic was in gridlock, cars not moving as I rode my bike toward Little J’s in the Lower Corner. I inched forward, moving in between cars at a standstill, weaving several blocks forward, when I spotted a massive demonstration at the next intersection. Great. Police cars barricaded the road while protesters with picketing banners yelled for equality. And it was taking place in front of the left-hand turn leading to the Traveler community.

  A nervous energy skated down my arms, but I pushed it away. I’d been jumpy all morning, and I blamed the damn ninjas from last night. Had they been working under Jack’s orders?

  Once the traffic signal turned green, I rode forward, despite the cop on the corner directing everyone to turn right. I parked in between two cars and climbed off my bike. Sure, it wasn’t my business, but a nagging sensation was worming through my gut. It wouldn’t be the first time protests by locals insisting the Traveler community be moved had taken place–although others argued the opposite. It tended to turn into chaos. Most might have dismissed me after I’d left the Hood, but this was where I’d grown up, and I still kept in touch with a few acquaintances.

  I angled around the corner of a storefront. At first, I struggled to make sense of the scene in front of me. Several cop cars were lined across the sloping street. Beyond that, at least two dozen police wrestled with locals, fighting, shoving them into vans. My head reeled at the brutality. I’d seen protests go astray in the past, but never the authorities beating people.

  In the distance, an elderly man reeled away from a uniformed man twice his size. Next to the cop, a younger guy in uniform was dragging a teenager by the leg across the ground toward a police van.

  A blinding rage rattled through me. What the fuck was going on?

  Chapter 10

  Blinding rage rattled through me, and I tasted its bitterness. In front of me, nearly thirty people tangled in a riot. Police in black uniforms versus Travelers. Fighting. Screaming. Someone breaking a window of a parked vehicle. Protesters yelling behind me. Flashing lights. At the end of the road stood the crest of the Travelers’ residences—trailers and kit-homes. My brain stopped working as if it had shut down.

  A line of police with their transparent shields and full-face visors marched toward a group of locals, herding them toward the vans.

  Two men turned their hoses on the cops’ backs, yelling at them.

  But new instructions were shouted through speakers, the words vibrating in my ears. My fingers curled into fists.

  Weeks ago when I’d passed this place, kids had played in the yards, laughing; now the place I’d once called home resembled a battle zone.

  I spotted a young boy, maybe twelve or thirteen, heading toward the chaos, carrying a baseball bat. Hell. He’d get arrested or maybe shot. I flew down the road, careening around the bedlam, and grabbed the youngster’s arm. “This isn’t your fight. Get out of here—now.” I turned him by the shoulders and nudged him toward the rows of trailers. “Go and hide.”

  He looked back at me, his brow pinched and heavy, as if debating whether or not he should argue his point or swing his bat at me. But when he ran away from me, from the troubles, I released a heavy breath I’d been holding onto.

  “Robyn,” an elderly man cried nearby, and I turned to find him wiping his bloody nose. “I’ll die before I leave my home. Fight alongside us.” He lurched into the crowds, hollering his battle call.

  My gut twisted as bodies shoved against him in the growing masses. Ahead, two travelers held a cop by the arms and punched him in the gut. But another policewoman joined the fight.

  Someone slammed into my back, and two men barreled toward the fight, but they’d get arrested or tasered. What was going on? Who’d started the riots?

  An officer hauled a young girl out of her trailer by an arm. The child gripped the door handle for dear life, wailing for help.

  Venom swelled in my veins. “Hey,” I called out. “Leave them alone.”

  The balding cop spun, his face red, his eyes squinting, allowing enough time for the girl to dive into her home. Baldy squared his shoulders and retrieved a taser from his belt, facing me.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I yelled. The law enforcement was like a mob, mindless and dangerous.

  Something glazed over the man’s eyes, as if he weren’t there with me. But I didn’t wait another second and threw a roundhouse kick, dislodging the weapon from his hand. He dropped it. I had zero intention of harming him. Hell, they had it hard enough and I supported their work, but this was wrong on every level.

  Before the guy could pick up his taser, I booted it out of reach. It skidded underneath a mobile home. I retreated from the encroaching policeman, and someone called him, causing him to return to the commotion.

  It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together… The mayor intended to build a shopping center in this very spot, and Ryker had said the g
uy had been speaking to the precinct that morning. Was this the mayor’s command? Since when did the police act without emotion or care, instead of focusing on the real criminals in this city, the gangs selling drugs, murdering, breaking into peoples’ houses?

  When someone shrieked from somewhere behind the campers, I ran to them. I passed kit-homes decorated with fairy lights, clothes hanging on lines between the trailers. Ahead, a female officer towed a child away from his mother. Fuck knew what was happening, but my pulse was on adrenaline. And I wasn’t sitting back while people were misplaced.

  “Stop,” I called out.

  The moment the cop looked my way, the Traveler female kicked the officer in the shin and snatched her kid back. That was when I recognized the mom’s blue eyes—it was Marianne. Hurtful memories rose through me. She’d been one of the biggest advocates to throw me out of the community when I’d left Dante and the gang. People like her made my return close to impossible.

  “Go inside, lock the doors,” I told her.

  “Thank you, Robyn.” Marianne’s voice squeaked as she escaped with her child around the corner.

  I didn’t regret helping her.

  Footsteps crunched behind me, and when I turned, a punch collided with my collarbone.

  I teetered backward but caught myself. The sting of the hit reverberated through me.

  “Disgusting maggots don’t belong in our city,” the female policewoman spat.

  “Fuck you.” I couldn’t help myself. I should’ve walked way, should’ve ignored her, but I’d seen too much unfairness against the unfortunate. Growing up here, there were times when we’d had our power or water switched off for a week, even though we’d paid for the amenities.

  But assaulting an officer, whether I was in the right or wrong, would land me in jail. And with too much crap already in my life, I couldn’t waste time there.

  I put my hands up to the cop, to show my peace offering. “Look, I have no weapons. I’m not here to fight you. I don’t even live here.”