Minutes to Midnight (19 page)

Crap. I think I just taught him the art of
the deal.

"So, what I propose is that you put those on
and I take you in so you can see me free your friends. And once
they're in the Cairn, our deal is finished."

I realized I'd screwed up. I don't know why
I thought I'd avoid going into the Peripheral but I had. I knew
when I stepped over that threshold Gabriel would know it. And she
would hurt Zoë. I didn't want this. I so didn't want any of
this.

"I need to make a phone call," I said as I
neared the columns where Ripp'n Jack stood.

"You think you can call for help?"

"No, I'm calling someone to make sure you
get them through the Cairn to the other side. I'm making it a part
of my deal with you. If they don't walk out of there alive and
healthy, you have to spend an eternity in Queen Maab's
dungeons."

I didn't really think me tacking that on at
the end would hold. But it did. I could see it in his rotting face.
His jaw worked back and forth—I could see his tongue through the
open skin. Finally he nodded. "Fine. That's part of the deal. They
will be alive and healthy."

Even as I dialed the number I worried about
the way the deal was worded and tried to come up with a loop hole
he might worm through. But, regardless, I had no intention of
staying in the Peripheral. If he screwed me over, I'd make it my
life's work to hunt him down and lock him in a four in by four inch
box until the end of the world.

And the scary part was…I already knew the
spell to do that.

The beep came on Jason's voice mail. "Jason,
it's Dags. Look, do me a favor and check on Zoë for me, okay? Just
make sure nothing happens to her for the next few days. I'll call
and explain when I can." I disconnected and dialed another number.
After voicemail picked up, I left a quick message and shoved the
phone back into my pocket.

When I looked around, Ripp'n Jack wasn't
there. I approached the arch and stood in front of it. I took in a
deep breath and started forward as I heard Rippin' Jack burp
directly behind me just before I felt the bite of iron chains loop
around my neck.

FRESH MEAT

The transition into the Peripheral this time
wasn't as smooth and dramatic as it had been that morning in the
alley between the two pubs when I faced Ripp'n Jack's first
host.

What really made this little trip even less
graceful was my less-than-agile fall forward when my feet tangled
in the chains manacled to my ankles. That, and Rippin' Jack pushed
me. When my shoulder smacked painfully against something hard and
cold and not the dirt and grass of Bonaventure, I took a look
around. We were long gone from the cemetery. We weren't even in the
haunted woods from before. A regal hallway of slick obsidian-black
stone stretched out in front of me, and then behind us. I got a
good look at the shimmering gate we came through as my captor
pulled me up by the chain fastened to the collar around my
neck.

"Guardian's not so graceful, is he?"

Truth was, the moment the chains touched my
skin my energy level plummeted. It was like being in that cage in
Jack's basement all over again. I'd really thought I felt bad
because of the drug he'd used. Now I knew it was the iron. Iron did
this to Faeries…not me! I wasn't a Faerie! What in the hell had
Brendi done to me by making me taste that foul bitch's blood?

"Not when he's trussed up like a
Thanksgiving turkey," I muttered as he righted me and I found my
feet again.

The collar had a long chain
he kept hold of. My wrists were bound in manacles behind me with a
short chain between them, and my ankles were similarly treated. The
chain connecting them was maybe twice as long as the one between my
wrists, but still not long enough for me to make a run for it.
Thus, the
trip
into
the 'Pheral.

My knees were shaking as he shoved me
forward a bit, his hand still wrapped around the chain at my neck.
Muscles ached. I just wanted to lay down and not walk. I'd tried
twice to burn the sucker, but even though the spell came to me, and
I said the word, no fire ignited. I tried several different
spells.

Nothing.

"The Queen's already warded the iron against
you, Guardian. Nice try."

The place was huge and reminded me of a
palace. A big, black, dark, evil, villain palace, but still…a
palace. Arched doorways, gold handles on black doors, and knights
in opaque black armor who stood at attention against the walls
every few yards as we walked down the corridor. I wondered if Mike,
Raven and Stella were in this place, maybe locked in a room or a
dungeon. As we neared a double set of big, gold, ornate doors at
the end of the hall, my heart thundered in my chest and the only
thing I could hear was the roar of blood in my ears.

I didn't see the two black knights flanking
the doors until they moved to open them. A cool breeze brushed
against my cheek and fluttered the hair on my forehead as I took a
look inside.

It was empty, except for Mike and Raven. The
two hung by their wrists from heavy chains fastened to the ceiling.
I guessed there was about an inch between their feet and the floor,
just enough for their weight to pull painfully on their
shoulders.

"Darren?" Raven said. Her voice quivered and
she moved a little. Revenant or not, the demon inside of her was
still married to the physical body. If Diane hurt, then Nyx hurt as
well.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mike tried
jerking at his chains and managed to bounce a bit. I figured that
had to hurt. "Why didn't you stay in the car? Now you've gone and
got yourself captured."

"Oh like you and super bad over there did so
good on your own?" I turned to look up at Rippin' Jack. The
monochromatic light of this place actually made him look a lot
better. "Where's Stella?"

He laughed and yanked on the chain, tugging
me into the empty room. Other than the Raven and Mike hanging
decorations, there wasn't a stick of furniture visible anywhere in
the room. Nothing like the hallway we just paraded down. The walls
were all smooth obsidian-black like the floor. The only light came
from a single glowing ball about twenty feet in the air. It looked
just like the one I make, only bigger.

As we neared the room's center a post became
visible. It was about waist high, made of the same dark material as
everything else except the huge gold ring on the top. My heart
dropped into my boots when Rippin' Jack locked the chain from my
collar to the gold ring. "Delivered."

"To whom?" I said and my voice echoed across
the walls. The glowing sun was directly above me. "Whom are you
delivering me to?"

"I'm afraid that's not for me to tell. But
now with this hire completed, all I have to do is finish your hire
and then I'll be free. And I can't wait to get back into the
Material World again. It's been soooo long since I held a warrior's
sword in my hand. Ah, but today it's not a sword, is it? It's a
gun. All kinds of guns. Your friend Mike, he has a lot of guns,
doesn't he?" He smiled, or rather, tried to with what was left of
his lips. I could see his rotting gums and yellowed teeth quite
nicely. "Tough guy look, lots of weapons, and money. I can have
women again. Lots of women."

Letting a Djin into the
Material World wasn't the ideal end to this. And me being chained
to a post in a castle made of stone wasn't how I'd planned on this
going—oh, this was just not my day. "You have to complete my hire,
Rippin' Jack. That means freeing Mike, Raven
and
Stella from the
Peripheral."

He took a dramatic step back and gestured to
me with a Vanna White flourish. "As you can see, I am good at what
I do." He looked at me. "I see you thinking, Guardian. Still
wondering who wanted you like this. What I can tell you, before I
leave you, is that my employer wants you in isolation. What you
carry inside of you is a danger to everything. A danger to life's
existence. I for one, as a Djin, could care less how much power you
have. My purpose is to serve, and when I'm not serving someone or
something else, I serve myself. I want to experience the physical
again, and so it's in my best interest you're kept away from the
other Worlds. Alone."

The tall, rotting Lamia snapped his fingers.
Raven and Mike fell on their knees with solid thuds. The chains,
gone.

Abruptly, Rippin' Jack stopped in his
tracks. He grabbed hold of his neck, made a lot of gross gurgling
sounds, then dropped to the floor with a thud. What happened? Had
the body finally collapsed? I didn't see how that was possible. The
Ghoul blood and all. Re-animation.

A black, silky smoke oozed out around him.
It rolled on the floor like dry ice and then folded away from me,
swirling until it created a tall column of smoke. That smoke moved
into the shape of a man, but it never fully formed, looking more
like a black version of a very famous gold trophy.

Then, to my horror, the smoke dove at Mike
and engulfed him.

"No!" My scream echoed off the walls and
burned my throat.

Raven cried out as well but she was having
trouble righting herself. I had no idea how long the two of them
had hung like chandeliers. I would guess her shoulders and arms
were too sore to move.

The smoke disappeared but Mike's body
snapped into a fetal curl. He screamed and I tried to go to him. I
yelled as many spells as the book would give me, all of them
focused on the Djin inside of him.

Nothing worked.

"Fight him…" Raven said as she tried to
crawl to him. "Don't let him win."

Abruptly Mike sat up and stared at the floor
between his bent knees. His head twitched to the right, then the
left, as if he were trying to remove a creak in his neck. Then he
looked at me…and smiled.

His eyes were yellow. Gold. Inhuman.

"Oh yes…" Mike said as he jumped up to his
feet. He did a few jumping jacks, then a few quick pushups. "Oh
yes! This is what I was looking for. Just the body to do a bit of
cruising around in."

"No…." I pulled at the manacles keeping my
hands behind me. I tried calling the sword but nothing happened. I
couldn't use a spell. I was helpless. "Damn you Ripp'n Jack… let
him go!"

The Djin crossed the space between us and
hit me with a right cross. I spun with the impact and dropped to
the ground. Stars filled my world for a few seconds before I could
hear or see. I tasted blood, smelled blood. I teetered on the edge
of conscious and unconscious oblivion.

"Darren!" Raven's voice cut through the fog.
"Don't give up. Please."

I lay on my side, watching as the Djin
grabbed Raven and pulled her to her feet. He half carried her to
the door and paused to look at me. "I'll fulfill my bargain. I'm
good at my word. Mike and Raven will come out of that Cairn healthy
and they'll stay that way."

I pushed myself up and tried to form words.
Blood trickled from my nose over my lip and into my mouth. I spat
it out on the floor. "…Stella…."

"Oh right. Her. Look, after the first fail,
I let her go. She's not here. In fact, I'm not sure where she is.
So, since she wasn't here when you made the deal, she's not part of
it. Enjoy your solitude."

"No!" Raven tried to grab at the door as it
slid closed.

And then I was alone with a rotting
body.

It took a bit of time for me to stand. My
head, my jaw, my nose…it all hurt. My ears rang as well. I'd always
wondered what it was like to be on the receiving end of one of
Mike's strikes. Curiosity…satisfied.

When I could walk without falling down, I
tested the perimeter of my chain, shuffling around. In all
directions I was kept three feet from the walls. I noticed the door
he'd brought me through was gone as well. It'd either vanished or
it was somehow hidden on this side. Not decorated in gold.

When I finished my walk around the pole—it
took longer than usual because the ankle chain was seriously
shortening my stride—I stared idly at the zombie body. At first I
didn't see the danger.

Then it twitched.

It wasn't going to just rot; the thing was a
zombie with Ghoul blood animating it….

And I was caged, fresh meat.

Oh…
shit
…

TWO GO iN, ONE COME OUT