by Tim Waggoner
They weren’t Shadow Watch officers. No way I could ever forget that pair, especially the pirate. Pirates are hot. Besides, there was something almost familiar about him, although I couldn’t put my finger on it right then.
I could tell they were bonded, though. Like the saying goes, it takes one to know one. I could feel the bond between them, and I knew Jinx could too. I had no reason to think the pirate and his monster-dog were heading for us, other than a tightening in my gut that told me they were. But over the years, I’ve learned to trust my instincts on this job, and they were telling me that trouble was heading our way.
But before I could even start to think what to do about it, Shocktooth released a bellowing roar and charged.
I jammed my M-blade into Quietus’ side. He wasn’t human, and I knew a single strike from the weapon wouldn’t kill him – as long as I didn’t hit any vital organs – but it would seriously hamper him. It wasn’t that I had any objection to killing him if necessary. I’m not bloodthirsty, but I am pragmatic. But I wanted him alive for questioning. I wanted to know why he’d been killing people in my town.
Jinx’s reflexes are inhumanly fast. As I slipped my blade into Quietus’ side, Jinx released his grip on the assassin’s arm and rushed forward to meet Shocktooth’s attack. The crowd that had gathered to watch let out a cheer – well, more a series of guttural cries and high-pitched shrieks, really – at seeing the promise of violence fulfilled at last.
Without Jinx to support him on the other side, Quietus slumped to his left, his body pulling free of my blade. Instead of blood, tendrils of black mist coiled forth from the wound. Quietus fell to one knee and clapped a hand over the injury, as if the black mist was the equivalent of blood and he intended to prevent his life from escaping. It was possible. There’s no telling with Incubi.
Shocktooth opened her maw wide and lunged at Jinx, miniature bolts of blue-white lightning arcing from her teeth. Jinx was ready, though. He raised his right hand in a blur of motion and slapped his palm onto the crocodile’s tongue. Bright light burst forth from Shocktooth’s mouth, accompanied by a loud fwoom! She flew backward a dozen feet, hit the concrete sidewalk, and slid several more feet before finally coming to a stop. Smoke curled upward from her mouth, and the smell of burned flesh filled the air.
Grinning, Jinx turned to show me his hand and the scorched joy buzzer in the burned flesh of his palm. It looked painful as hell, but if it bothered Jinx at all, he gave no sign.
“Go on,” he urged. “Say it!”
I smiled. “How shocking.”
He let out one of his crazed hyena laughs, but it was interrupted by an ear-splitting growl. I still held the M-blade, and I spun around, already knowing what I’d see. The monster-dog bounded across the street toward me, jaws stretched wide, foam-flecked tongue lolling out the side of its mouth. Its pirate master ran at its side, his sword drawn. The weapon’s blade was rapier thin, but its swirling, multicolored hue shocked me as thoroughly as Jinx’s joy buzzer. Pirate-Boy carried a sword formed from Maelstrom energy.
As far as I knew, only M-gineers were capable of creating such objects, and every M-gineer in Nod worked for the Shadow Watch. But there he was, carrying a weapon – you’ll pardon the seeming double entendre, I hope – much bigger than any I’d seen before. Hell, from what I understood, an M-object that large should’ve been inherently unstable. I almost wished Neil could’ve been here to see it. Almost.
At first I thought the gigantic hound was going to attack me, and I braced myself and tried not to think about how much I really could’ve used a fully charged trancer right then. But before the beast reached me, it leaped into the air, soared over my head, and slammed into Jinx. Jinx is no delicate flower, but the creature’s mass combined with the force of its leap knocked my partner backward. Jinx smashed into the building behind us. Breath whooshed from his lungs, accompanied by cracking sounds like multiple gunshots as a number of his bones broke from the impact. He fell face-first to the sidewalk and lay there. The demon dog stepped toward him, growling softly, and I spun around, ready to dash forward and sink my M-blade into the beast’s scale-covered haunch. But before I could, Pirate-Boy reached me and swung his sword in a broad, sweeping arc designed to separate my head from my body.
Maelstrom energy doesn’t have the same disruptive effect on humans as it does Incubi, but objects formed from it are incredibly strong and can hold a razor-sharp edge. I had no trouble believing my attacker could behead me as easily as slicing through a sheet of paper. So, hoping Jinx would recover before the demon dog could do more than take a couple mouthfuls of clown flesh, I raised my M-blade to block Pirate-Boy’s sword, crouching slightly as I did so in order to get my head out of his sword’s path.
His blade might’ve looked thin, but it hit mine with the force of Cuthbert Senior and Junior combined. The impact sent a jolt of pain jangling through my hand, along my arm, and into my shoulder, and I felt my fingers go numb. I managed to keep hold of my weapon, though, and despite the pain, I didn’t think anything was broken. And if it was, I didn’t have time to worry about it.
Still blocking the sword with my blade, I pivoted left and kicked at Pirate-Boy with my right foot. I was aiming for his knee, but he turned to the side and took the blow on his inner thigh. I’d put a lot of power into that kick, so even if I hadn’t shattered his kneecap as I’d hoped, I knew I’d landed a solid blow. I meant to follow up the kick with a blade strike at his midsection, but he moved back several steps to get out of my knife range and give himself some room to get into a better fighting position.
Pirate-Boy was fast, and more importantly, smart. It was exactly what I would’ve done in his place. I considered hurling the M-blade at him, but my knife-throwing skills are a bit spotty. Despite how massive the sword had felt when it struck my blade, Pirate-Boy swung it as if it weighed nothing. Given the ease with which he could wield his sword, there was a good chance that he’d be able to deflect a hurled M-blade with that weapon of his. So knife throwing was out.
The crowd of violence-hungry onlookers stepped back to make more room for us. They might’ve wanted to watch the fight, but that didn’t mean they wanted to take part.
I risked a fast glance in Jinx’s direction and saw that my partner was back on his feet and battling the demon dog with a pair of cast-iron chickens (so much more deadly than the rubber variety). Jinx had a chicken in each hand, and he wielded them like the heavy clubs they were. The metal struck the dog with sickening dull thumps, but although the creature let out a pained whine with each blow, it appeared the impacts weren’t causing any serious damage. I wasn’t surprised. Some Incubi are so tough, it would take a bazooka strike to make them do more than blink, and it looked like the mutant pooch was as tough as they came.
Jinx didn’t seem disturbed by the inefficiency of his blows. Or for that matter, by his shredded clothes or torn skin beneath. He was giggling with mad delight, as if he were having the time of his life. The worse things become, the happier he is. He was bleeding from the wounds the demon dog had given him, but he was already healing. He had to be careful, though. As strong and fast as the beast was, it might be capable of inflicting more damage than Jinx’s Incubus physiology could heal – and then he’d be in real trouble.
Thinking of Jinx healing reminded me of Shocktooth. I turned my gaze toward the spot where she’d landed after Jinx short-circuited her, but she was gone. I’d hoped she’d taken advantage of the confusion to leave, but I doubted we’d be that lucky.
Quietus still knelt on one knee, hand pressed to his side. I was surprised that he hadn’t tried to escape, even wounded as he was. Maybe I’d hurt him worse than I’d thought. Or maybe there was more going on here than it looked like.
Pirate-Boy had got himself together and now advanced for another attack. He ran toward me, sword held high, and I knew at once that something was wrong. No way would the skilled, confident fighter I’d faced a moment ago make such a clumsy advance. I could kill him half a do
zen ways without working up a sweat. It had to be a–
Before I could think the word distraction, I heard a loud smacking sound. I turned in time to see Jinx flying toward me. Behind him, the demon dog finished spinning its hindquarters around, and I realized the beast had struck my partner with its powerful tail. Jinx collided with me and we went down in a tangle of arms and legs, and the last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was Shocktooth running forward and scooping up Quietus in her muscular arms.
After that, everything went black.
THREE
“So to sum up, you failed to stop Quietus from taking another life, you damaged a well-known Chicago landmark, and once in Nod, you were attacked by an Incubus you’d previously captured – one who somehow managed to free herself from her negator collar – and during the altercation, you lost Quietus.”
Sanderson stopped pacing around the office, turned, and fixed us with an icy stare.
“Would you say that’s a fair assessment?” he concluded.
“You forgot the guy in the pirate outfit and his giant dog,” Jinx said.
His clothes were still shredded from where the demon dog had clawed him, but the flesh underneath had healed for the most part. Some faint scars remained, testament to how seriously the beast had wounded him. I’m sure Sanderson noticed – no detail, however small, escaped him – but he made no acknowledgment of Jinx’s injuries. I was certain he understood their serious implications. Whatever Pirate-Boy and Demon-Dog were, they were hardly ordinary street toughs.
I didn’t think it was possible, but Sanderson’s gaze grew even colder. “Thank you, Mr Jinx.”
Jinx grinned. “Happy to help.”
If we’d been alone, I’d have swatted Jinx on the arm for being a smartass. But I didn’t want to start squabbling with my partner in front of the boss – especially when he was giving us a dressing-down. It would only make him angrier. I had to content myself with gritting my teeth and shooting Jinx a dark look, which of course he blithely ignored.
“Not to nitpick,” I said, “but the Bean came to life because of an Incursion. We had no control over that.”
Commander Sanderson was a tall, slender black man in his sixties, with short white hair and a full, neatly trimmed beard that still had a few flecks of pepper amidst the salt. He was dressed, as always, in a sharp, expensive-looking dark blue suit and highly polished black shoes. His tie had an image of the Maelstrom on it, and if you watched long enough, you’d see the multicolored swirls of energy slowly move. Some say he’s human, some say he’s an Incubus of one kind or another, and some say he’s a different sort of being altogether – perhaps even the legendary Sandman himself. To me, he was more like an ill-tempered school principal, and it seemed that Jinx and I spent far too much time in his office being scolded.
His office was Spartan to the point of utter sterility. The walls, ceiling, and floor were white, and the reflected illumination from the fluorescent lights made the entire room seem to glow. I always felt like I needed to wear sunglasses when I was there, and I usually left with a mild headache. There were no pictures or art on the walls, only the dream catcher symbol of the Shadow Watch behind his desk, fashioned from gleaming chrome.
He had no office furniture, save for his desk and chair, and the two chairs that sat in front of it. They were all of modern design: uncomfortable glass, chrome, and plastic monstrosities. His only piece of office equipment was a tablet computer that rested on the desk’s glass tabletop. The screen swirled with Maelstrom colors, but I didn’t know if the image was simply a screensaver or if the computer was actually linked to the Maelstrom itself. I’d never gotten around to asking and now certainly didn’t seem like the time.
Sanderson looked at us for another moment before releasing a weary sigh. He then returned to his desk, sat, and placed his hands on the table, fingers interlaced. I knew from experience that gesture was not a positive sign. Nevertheless, when he spoke again, his tone was calm, his manner relaxed.
“Incursions are rare, but not unheard of. The two of you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He paused, then added, “Which is something you seem to have a particular talent for.”
“There’ve been a dozen Incursions over the last couple months in Chicago,” I said. “That doesn’t sound so rare to me.” Incursions are times when the dimensional barrier between Earth and the Maelstrom grows thin, allowing M-energy to leak through and wreak havoc with reality.
“All of which have been minor for the most part,” Sanderson said.
“Until today,” Jinx said.
“Until today,” he agreed. “But the M-gineering department will be looking into that. As for the other matters at hand, we have all available officers in the city searching for Quietus, and I’ve relayed your report about the masked man’s sword to M-gineering. I’ve never heard of an M-blade that large – not one that was stable, anyway. Perhaps they’ll be able to determine something about the man’s identity by investigating from that angle.”
Emboldened by Sanderson’s calmer manner, I said, “Jinx and I can hit the streets and start asking around about Pirate-Boy… uh, I mean the masked man. A sword like that wouldn’t go unnoticed.”
“Neither would a big-ass killer dog,” Jinx added.
“I don’t think that would be a wise move, Ms Hawthorne.” Sanderson’s voice betrayed no hint of emotion, but I recognized his remark for the rebuke it was.
“I know we could’ve handled the whole situation better,” I began, struggling to keep my emotions on a tight rein. “But there was no way we could’ve anticipated the Incursion. And as for our encounter with Shocktooth, it had to be a setup of some kind. She was obviously working with the masked man. She took us off guard with her initial confrontation, and then the man and his Incubus attacked, allowing her to scoop up Quietus and carry him away.”
Even though I hadn’t remained unconscious for long, by the time I’d come to, Quietus, Shocktooth, Pirate-Boy, and the demon dog were gone. Jinx had been stunned by the impact when he struck me, but he hadn’t blacked out. Even so, he hadn’t seen which direction they’d gone in. After calling in a report to the Rookery on my wisper, Jinx and I had attempted to question witnesses, but – surprise, surprise – they all claimed they hadn’t seen anything.
Sanderson looked at Jinx. “Do you concur with your partner’s assessment?”
Jinx was slumped in his chair, staring up at the ceiling while he blew spit bubbles. His gaze shifted to Sanderson.
“Sure. Whatever she says.”
Sanderson sighed again, more heavily this time.
“So, you’re suggesting that despite the fact that there’s no way to track officers on Earth from Nod, and no way to predict the precise location of the Door they’ll enter through, that somehow Shocktooth and this mystery man knew exactly where you would enter Nod, and they arranged to be there waiting for you in order to free Quietus?”
I didn’t know what to say to that, but fortunately, Jinx did.
“Why not?” he said, still staring up at the ceiling. “The pirate had a stable M-sword, something no one’s ever been able to make before. That’s one impossible thing. What’s one more?”
Sanderson considered this point for a moment. I smiled at Jinx to let him know I was both impressed and grateful. In response, he stuck his index finger up his nose and began digging around.
A faint expression of disgust crossed Sanderson’s face, and he did his best to ignore Jinx’s nasal excavation.
“And who do you surmise possesses the capability of obtaining information across dimensions?” Sanderson asked.
I thought for a moment, then gave the only answer that came to me. “The Lords of Misrule.”
Sanderson looked at me as if I were crazy, which didn’t bother me. But when Jinx did so as well, I knew I better explain myself fast before Sanderson sent me upstairs to Somnocology for a complete psych eval.
“The Lords have been around as long as the Shadow Watch, ri
ght? Isn’t it possible that they’ve made some technological advancements that we haven’t? What about the masked man’s sword? We don’t have anything like it, do we?”
Sanderson considered this. “The Lords of Misrule were once our equal in power, it’s true, but their organization has fallen into decline over the last century. These days, they’re mostly involved with cross-world smuggling and the illegal drug trade. The time when they plotted to rule both Nod and Earth is long past.” He dismissed the matter with a shake of his head. “I think it far more likely that your encounter with Shocktooth was a random one. At first, she may have simply wished to settle accounts with you, but we’ve had a bounty out on Quietus for some time. When she recognized that it was him you had in custody, she realized that if the Shadow Watch was willing to pay for him, others would too. And quite handsomely. She saw an opportunity and took it. Simple as that.”
“And the masked man?” I asked.
“Same thing. He recognized Quietus and thought he’d cut himself in for a share of the profit by helping Shocktooth. That, or he simply hates officers and thought he’d have some fun fighting with them. Either way, it adds up to a second random encounter, one that further complicated the situation. That’s all.”
I wasn’t so sure, but I’d already stated my case, and since I didn’t want to rile Sanderson up again, I decided to let the matter rest. For now.
I changed the subject. “So why don’t you want Jinx and I looking for Quietus? Is it some kind of punishment?”
“No, but consider what a mess the two of you have made of things, you ought to be punished. I have a different concern.” He paused and his eyes narrowed as he regarded me. “Tell me, Ms Hawthorne… Audra. Are you getting enough rest?”
Jinx – finger in his other nostril now – let out a loud guffaw. “He called you by your first name! You’re in real trouble now, Mommy!”
“Fuck off,” I muttered out of the side of my mouth without taking my gaze off Sanderson.