“And you should have known I wasn’t going to listen,” he answered. Then, pulling a pair of cuffs out from behind his back, he looked to Merry. “Don’t make me drag you out of here in these.”
“You made me a promise!” she yelled, her eyes glazed over with tears as she pushed at me.
“I promised you we’d try,” I said, trying to stay as calm as possible given the situation. “And we did. I can’t help that we got caught.”
“Then run,” she said, disgust clear and heavy on her voice. “Run away like a little baby bitch, but I’m not. I’m staying right here until I find Amber’s father.”
Shaking my head, I decided not even to go into the fact that, not only was Amber’s father not here, but Merry wouldn’t be able to find the transport if she stayed here and looked for it for a flat century. Only people who had been to the camp could get back to it. And I was the only one of us that fit that bill. But, I didn’t mention any of that, mostly because there was a much better reason that continuing with this was a crappy idea.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, Merry,” I said, injecting some compassion into my voice, surprised at how easily it came. “We needed the element of surprise. We needed to get in there without them knowing. That was the only way this was ever going to work.” I tightened my hand around her arm. “We don’t have that anymore. I’m sorry, but we don’t. You have to let this go.”
“Let this go?” she asked, blinking back some of the biggest tears I had ever seen. “Don’t you mean let my daughter go?”
“Merry, I-”
A shadow settled over us, darkening the store.
I winced, my eyes widening and my body tensing.
It was insane. No one else in the entire store, save for Merry and Andy, noticed it; a huge blackness settling over all of us.
It was too late. It was happening.
“What on earth…” Andy asked, his voice trailing off.
“We’ve gotta move,” I said, no longer giving Merry the luxury of not listening to me.
I pulled her hard, moving toward the back of the store.
“You’re going the wrong way!” Andy yelled, following behind us.
“I wish that was the case,” I answered. “But they’ve already identified me. They’ve unleashed The Black. It’ll follow us, follow us to the end of the earth.” I swallowed hard and settled on one harsh but inescapable truth. “We don’t have a choice anymore. We just don’t.”
“What the hell is The Black?” Merry asked. She wasn’t fighting me anymore, and not just because I was going the direction she wanted me to.
I felt her heart racing through her palm. I saw the sweat glean across her forehead. She might have told me she didn’t care about dying, and maybe she even believed it at the time. But there’s a thing in humans, in all living things actually. It drives us to save ourselves, to keep harm and danger at a safe distance, and when those things aren’t at a safe distance, to run like hell to make up the difference.
“The shadow you’re seeing; it’s called The Black. Think of it like a Romani guard dog.” I pulled hard to the right, taking Merry along with me to the brightest spot in this store that I could find.
Ridiculously, the customers here still didn’t know anything was wrong, other than the trio of lunatics running in circles around the boys’ sleepwear section, of course.
“It’s unleashed. It locks on to a victim, and then it never stops. Not ever,” I said.
“But it’s just a shadow,” Andy said, pulling up the rear.
I took another hard right. The Black was moving, dipping and ducking as it tried to cut us off. And that meant that the light, the safe places, they were moving too.
It was like a real life game of Frogger, and I was trying my best not to let any of us go splat.
“A shadow with teeth,” I answered, spinning as The Black settled in front of me. “It settles on its victims. It covers them up, drenches them in pitch black.”
“Then what?” Merry asked, and I could tell that she was trying hard to keep the fear out of her voice.
“I don’t know. No one’s ever been heard of after that.”
“M-my God,” she stammered. “I’ve always been afraid of the dark.”
“Right,” I said. “Well, now you have a good reason.”
In the corner of my eye, I saw mall security enter the store. I couldn’t deal with that right now. If I stopped — even for a second, it would descend on us. And that would be all she wrote.
I only had one shot, and it wasn’t exactly a good one.
I was going to have to find the transport spot. I was going to have to pin down the frequency and pull the three of us through it; which would likely land us in front of an army of angry gypsies. But hey, even that would be better than getting eaten alive by living darkness.
But, it wouldn’t be that easy.
The frequencies were countless, too many to remember even.
So, how was I supposed to pick the right one? It would be like trying to pinpoint a single drumbeat in a month long marching band session.
I needed to use my brain. Which, as anyone who had even had a passing relationship with me during any of the centuries that started with the number 1 could tell you, wasn’t exactly my strong suit.
Still, I was going to have to figure it out. Andy and Merry’s lives depended on it. So did Amber’s. And, while I wouldn’t be killed by whatever happened to me inside this twisty turny shadow, I was pretty confident that I wouldn’t exactly want to be alive afterwards.
“What do we know about gypsies?” I asked, turning again.
“I know that you told us not to call them that!” Merry said, being jerked around as I darted through the store.
I heard the mall guards scream at us, telling us to stop.
Of course, none of us complied.
“We’re a little past pleasantries at this point. Don’t you think?” I answered. “No, I want to know what we know about them, about the way they think, about the things they do.”
“They’re freaking lunatics!” Andy said. The bigger of the two guards grabbed for him. Andy repaid him with a face full of elbow.
And just like that, he could add an assault charge to his colorful backstory. “They want everybody to think they move around, all big and bad. But the truth is, they just sit there, hidden in one place, watching the world like some sick voyeurs.”
And there it was. I didn’t need to know the frequency anymore, because Andy had just told me exactly where the transport was.
“Where are the changing rooms?” I asked.
“What?” Merry asked, her entire body shaking.
“Hiding behind doors, watching people. The transport has to be in the changing rooms,” I said.
“Sick sons of bitches,” Andy muttered.
That was when I saw them, tucked in the west corner, like some hidden gem.
I focus in on them, barely escaping The Black’s latest attempt to encompass us.
The energy pulled at me as I found it. No sooner had I locked in on that, that the bright green swarm of power revealed itself to me.
There, in the furthest of the dressing rooms sat the transport to Romani country.
“Are you sure?” Merry asked, and then I remembered she couldn’t see it.
She had never seen it. Neither had Andy. They were going to need to be connected to me if they wanted to get in.
“Grab my hand!” I yelled at Andy.
Like when he was a kid, he complied without question. I darted toward the dressing room.
But, so did The Black.
The living shadow knew where we were going, and the damn thing was settling right on top of it.
No matter. It would never stop looking for us. The only place in the world we’d be safe from it was also the only place in the world it couldn’t go. The gypsies would never let something like The Black exist in its own world.
We were going to have to run right through it, run right into that world
. That was the only way we’d ever be free.
Unfortunately, Merry and Andy could see it.
“Uncle C!” Andy bellowed. “What are you doing?”
“Just hold on tight!” I commanded as I pulled them right to it, right into The Black.
We hit it at full speed, headfirst into a predator so fierce that nothing living had ever seen the other side of it.
And neither would we.
I knew there was no chance of us making all the way through The Black.
Luckily, it had settled around the transport, and that glowing green energy provided a light in the utter darkness.
We ran toward it, the insides of The Black swirling around us with all the force and speed of a gale force hurricane.
Debris, hard and warm, slammed into us. I had to hold on to the others tightly. If I let go of either of them, if they lost the connection with me, they’d never be able to pass through the transport.
And then they’d belong to The Black.
“Now!” I yelled as we came face to face with the transport.
They didn’t hear me, of course. The howl of The Black was too deafening, too horrible.
Still, they followed me like they didn’t have a choice. Which was more true than not.
I leapt toward the transport, and they followed, each of them throwing themselves into the air behind me.
I felt a whoosh of cold air and then complete stillness.
I opened my eyes to find that I was lying on the ground. Neither Merry nor Andy were holding on to me now.
I panicked, darting upward.
They were right there though, lying on damp grass on either side of me.
My heart slowed to a more reasonable pace.
And then I remembered where we were.
“Get up,” I said, surprised at how weak my voice was now.
We were in a rolling field. It was dawn, much earlier (or later) than it had been just an instant ago.
Off in the distance sat the Romani village.
Even here, even in this hidden place, it was surrounded with shrouding magic.
I could see it though; not the details or even the form. But I could see where those things would be, if I could see them.
And I knew we needed to get moving.
Andy stood first, helping Merry up.
She had blood on her cheek. She had been cut, most likely by the flying debris.
The sight of it caused my stomach to knot up.
“We have to go now,” I said, swallowing bile down. “They know we’re here. They’ll be coming for us, and we need to make sure they don’t find us.”
“Don’t find us?” Merry asked. “I thought the entire point of this was to get in touch with them.”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “But on our own terms. I told you before, I hold some sway here. You said it yourself. I’m like John Wayne or Abe Lincoln. I need to present myself to them, let them know we came here for the right reas-”
“Enough!” A loud voice boomed through the air.
My entire body tightened as I saw it.
More shrouding magic shimmered through the air, and right in front of us, appeared an entire army.
The Romani stood, a hundred strong. They had militarized since last I saw them; covered in armor with spears in their hands.
One in the back, straddled on a horse, shouted at the rest.
It was his voice, his booming voice, which led them.
“Take them!” he yelled. “And be rough with the murderer!” He pointed to me, his face full of anger and disgust. “He can handle it.”
My jaw set.
Merry leaned closer in.
“Got any ideas, Mr. Lincoln?”
19
They weren’t as rough when handling me as they could be. That didn’t surprise me though. Countless lifetimes had taught me that the threat of getting whatever you give seven times over greatly reduces the risk of me getting my ass kicked.
That didn’t stop them from huddling the three of us up like criminals, tying our hands together, and putting us in the dead center of a moving (and angry) crowd.
Part of me was more than a little worried. Not for myself, of course. They couldn’t kill me and they knew better than to try. But if Merry broke down, if she so much as mentioned the fact that she had a half Romani love child floating out there somewhere, it would change our situation in the most abrupt and dangerous way imaginable.
And it wasn’t like I could warn her.
These guys were all around us, pushing us toward the shapeless blob of a hidden city that they called home.
And she wasn’t Andy. I hadn’t formed that speechless back and forth with her. I couldn’t shoot her a look and feel confident that she knew exactly what it meant.
I was just going to have to hope that she remembered enough about what we talked about and valued her own personal safety more than she’d let on.
Otherwise, we were going to be fighting much earlier and much harder than I had either anticipated or hoped.
“Who’s running this place now?” I asked, looking to my left, where a large man with a red beard and a sour look on his face kept pace with me. “Is it still the O’Leary line? “
I knew the O’Learys. I had broken bread with them, shared secrets with them, even bedded a couple of the more comely female members of the clan.
Those guys would have been dust by now, of course. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be remembered. And maybe, setting aside that whole ‘grab the murderer’ thing, one or more of them would have heard a story about me that painted me as something other than an immortal mercenary, an un-killable troublemaker with a loud mouth and penchant for trouble.
I felt a sharp poke in my back.
Or not.
“No questions,” a man marching behind me said.
“I notice that you kept that little love tap on the light side. That’s a smart move, given that you’ll be getting it back and then some.”
He poked me again. Harder.
“I said no questions, lad. And if yer thinking that that little mark of yours is going to do anything other than piss me off, you’re looking at the wrong gypsy.”
The Irish accent in his voice wasn’t nearly as strong as it had been in his forefathers. Ceremony notwithstanding, these guys had lost more than a little of their history along the way. Then again, who hadn’t?
“First off, that wasn’t a question. More like a pointed comment. Secondly, I’m not actually looking at you, given that you’re behind me. And third, I was pretty sure you guys didn’t like the ‘g’ word. Or is that the kind of thing that’s only okay if you say it about yourself?”
He hit me hard, sending me falling to my knees.
Pain ran through my back and I gritted my teeth.
But that was okay. That was what I needed.
“Will you keep your goddamn mouth shut now?” Andy said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet.
“In just a minute,” I said, looking back at the man behind me.
He sneered, but only for a second. Because, not even a second after I got to my feet, that guy flew to the ground, crashing hard against it, face first.
I heard his nose crack as he landed and didn’t even try to suppress the grin that sprouted on my face.
“That’s what happens,” I said flatly, looking around at the army surrounding us. “You hurt one of my people, I will not stop until I either kill you or I make you hurt me. And I promise, I won’t stop with a broken nose.” My eyes darted from Andy, to Merry, and back to the crowd. “Don’t forget it.”
I turned and started moving again.
“There,” I said. “Now I’ll shut my goddamn mouth.”
As we neared the shapeless shielding energy, I remembered just how little I wanted to come here. Gypsies had never been my thing. Even back in the day, when I was much wilder and more merciless than my current self would lead anyone to believe, I couldn’t stand them.
They had always been nasty
things, creatures who thought that — because they lived outside of the world — the laws of that world shouldn’t apply to them.
Usually, that didn’t bother me. Rules and regulations, I always left that to the Big Guy. It was above my pay grade. But there were instances — like this one — when what I wanted and what they wanted either clashed or merged.
Even when we were working together, I hated them. Con men who always thought they were one step ahead of me.
And the worst part was, they were usually right.
I did as Andy asked and kept my words to a minimum as we passed through the shielding energy.
Though we were still being pushed around at spear point like a trio of criminals from the Dark Ages, my little threat and show of power had done the trick.
They were keeping a safe distance.
I hadn’t been to gypsy country in a long while which, to me, translated into over 200 years.
Still, I couldn’t have prepared myself for the way the joint had changed if I had been away a thousand.
As the energy wafted around us and then dissipated, I found myself in what looked to be the most upper crust neighborhood on the entire planet.
Mansion after mansion lined the freshly laid concrete of the main street. The lawns were impeccably kept with ornate shrubbery and fountains that epitomized the height of decadence.
What happened to the simple tents they used to live in? What happened to the unkempt leaves and greenery that I used to find so charming?
No wonder they wanted to keep this place hidden. If anybody ever saw it, Robin Leech would be on the first jet to wherever the hell we were right now.
“Gypsies live in the Hamptons?” Merry asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.
One of our armed walking companions shot her a look. Still, he didn’t dare approach her.
“Don’t call them that,” I whispered, reminding her of the whole ‘g-word etiquette’. This bunch might be slow to physically harm us. But at the end of the day, we were still asking them for a favor.
Coming off as ignorant or indifferent wouldn’t help in that matter.
As we crossed through the main street, I noticed how eerily empty it was. There was nary a soul out today. Perhaps, that was another change in Romani culture that I was going to have to get used to. Or, perhaps it was indicator that something else was going on.
Mark of Cain (Immortal Mercenary Book 1) Page 13