Short Fiction- Dark Angel pt. 1

Author's note:
Because this story is 42 pages long, for the purposes of not breaking browsers, I'm segmenting the story out.
|  pt. 1  |  pt. 2  |  pt. 3  |  pt. 4  |

Dark Angel

-Morgana Lugus Investigations-

When I was walking into my office in the morning, I already felt like there was something big on the way.

From the moment I’d woken up, I’d been filled from head to toe with a disturbing amount of tension, as though my body were already gearing up for a fight.

Playing hide and seek with monsters from a young age had taught me to listen to those instincts.

My usually repressed brogue, I was sure, would be in full force from the stress.

So when there came a knock on my door, I was resigned already.

“Morgana, someone’s here to see you,” a soft, wispy voice announced from the other side.

“Bring’m in,” I sighed.

The door slipped open, and my stomach gave a little flip as he stepped through.

The man was only about one or two inches taller than my somewhat miniscule height, and just like me, heavy black leather had a way of making up for the difference.

He, too, looked ready for a fight, seeming like walking stress from the second he passed the threshold.

No words passed as he sat in the chair across from me, his shaggy, rust-red hair seeming to absorb the florescent light around us and glow like a crown of fire around his skull.

His eyes flickered between grey and red, which didn’t instill me with confidence.

The fact that he was analyzing me silently, in an exact mirror to my own stare, caused me to straighten fully in my chair.

“Do I meet yer expectations, mister…?”

“Maxwell. Collin Maxwell. And honestly, ya’ seem a bit on the… fluffy bunny… side, for the reputation I’ve heard, Miz Lugus,” he stated, eyes still taking me in.

I had the distinct impression that he was looking through me as much as at me.

“I’d hope so. People might get a bit edgy, otherwise. Helps get clients when they don’t know what they’re hirin’. Speakin’ of, what kin I do fer you?”

“I’d rather not have any help, if I could help it. But there’s things happening that’re a bit too much for just me and my friend to handle. Mikhail insisted that I come to you,” he sighed. “Said you were my best option.”

“Erm… okay… I don’t know any Mikhail. No Russians, actually, now that I’m thinkin’ on it. What kinda’ trouble, exactly, are ya’ in?”

“Nothing illegal on our end, assuming that’d concern you, miss ex-APD,” he retorted flippantly.

I smirked at that, letting a little bit of my magic shine through my eyes.

“Focus more on the ex in that, Mr. Maxwell. And since yer that defensive, I’ll go ahead an’ assume the trouble is less ‘n clandestine.”

“You could say that. I suppose if Mick vouches for you, I should at least give you a heads up for what’s comin’, if nothing else,” he sighed. “I run a club for Umbramundus clients only, up by MU-”

“You’re the owner of the Black Zodiac?” I cut in, unable to hide the surprise.

Only one club that I knew of existed like that, at least that side of the equator.

“You know it, then?”

“Ya’ could say that. Had ta’ chase a few idiots that thought they could get away in there. What the hell kinda’ trouble could a neutral zone have? No, better question, who’d be suicidal enough ta’ bring that kinder heat down on ‘emselves?”

Neutral zones were places where supernaturals of all varieties could go to settle disputes with much less chance of explosive, gory violence breaking out.

They weren’t a common thing, by any means, since most that would need them preferred to just go at each other until someone’s dead, but the carnage was always much smaller where one of the zones existed.

Having one in Arkham, the biggest epicenter of supernatural population in the entire U.S., made sense.

Especially given the three large-scale gangs that ran most of the show.

Thinking about the implications made me shiver.

Ugly wouldn’t cover it if the neutral zone wasn’t here.

If it was in any kind of danger, I’d go in pro bono, if necessary, just so the streets didn’t get covered in possibly literal rivers of blood.

I hated it when my instincts were right, and they’d been right on the nose that day.

“Looks like Mick wasn’t totally off the mark. You’re pretty well-informed, aren’t you?” he mused.

“What’s happening?”

“Some thugs’ve been showing up ‘round the Zodiac lately. At first, it wasn’t really a problem. They scared easy. But then, whoever’s footin’ the bill started sending bigger problems our way, an’ they can’t get it through their skulls to back the hell off. We’ve had fires, food poisoning, and a few other things happening, but again, not really a huge issue.”

“But…?”

“But the other day, we had a slew of customers hospitalized because someone slipped bloody silver nitrate into the mixing pot.”

Silver being one of the few things in existence that could injure, and even kill, all things supernatural, I couldn’t contain the wince that horrific thought caused.

Anyone in the Zodiac that had actually ingested the shite and lived had something watching over them.

“That’s nasty.”

“Yeah, no joke. And the bastards’ve been gettin’ even bolder, lately. Coming with more people to back them, and makin’ bigger messes. Their persistence is admirable, but it’s startin’ to piss me off.”

“Okay… If they’re that replaceable, I’m not sure how much of a help I could be at gettin’ rid of these guys.”

“I know. I told Mikhail that, too,” he grumbled. “Patchin’ this won’t fix the problem, and someone’s paying for these guys to run me out.”

“So yer here… why?” I pressed.

“I don’t know who’s behind it. Mick thinks you can find out. Probably some fekin’ demon,” he growled.

That piqued my curiosity.

“And why would demons be out for you?”

He tensed, and I wondered just how off my suspicion was.

“If yer playin’ with those, runnin’ a neutral zone might not be the best job fer ya’.”

The sudden bark of laughter, and the air turning bitter with his resentment, were both surprising.

“Not a chance! C’mon, now, that’s pretty dim. Why on Earth would demons want to bring the chaos of gettin’ rid of a neutral zone,” he mocked.

“No need to be an asshole. Not every demon’s out for world domination,” I scoffed. “Some are the more personal, rip yer heart out from your chest kinder monster. If ya’ want my help, it’d be nice if ya’ had somethin’ other than guesswork ta’ go on.”

That shut him up, and his eyes narrowed as he reevaluated me.

After several silent moments, he gave a nod, as if he’d just confirmed something I wasn’t privy to.

“Well, then, you do have a bit of a spark, don’t ya’? Demons are as good a guess as any, and if ya’ need a reason why they’d be comin’ for me, specifically, it’d be because my bastard of a da’ was one of ‘em, and they think I killed ‘im.”

“I feel like we should be talkin’ this all over a pint, we’ve got so much brogue in here,” I quipped.

He seemed unimpressed with the observation, though the muscles around his mouth ticked for just a second to suggest otherwise.

“If I’m gettin’ this all right, you’re a Nephilim?”

“Unfortunately. Will that be a problem?” he asked, seeming to tense for a fight.

Considering a very recent near-death I’d had with a demonic soul trader, the question was one I had to stop and really consider.

Even before the supernatural and natural universes had merged, and the humans had come to know of the unspeakable monsters from the Lower Realms they knew as demons, they’d been a vicious virus.

They’d gotten really hot and bothered by the idea of expanding their territory as soon as the realities crashed together, and mating with the humans had been one of their many tactics.

Except, thankfully, it’d taken the demons a few dozen centuries to piece together that they couldn’t get more full-blooded demons, and sired the Nephilim, instead.

I hadn’t met a Nephilim borne from fallen angels that could stand their father, to date, so the plan had clearly not worked out so well for them.

Much like demigods and other half-humans with magic in the blood, they usually had a lot of power to throw around, too.

If Mr. Maxwell was having trouble, I wasn’t entirely sure how much my half-Fae self could do for him.

“Long as yer not an idiot an’ try ta’ stick a knife in my back, yer golden by me,” I finally answered. “The Zodiac’s important, an’ I’ll help ya’ keep it goin’. Danu knows, I don’t need the APD comin’ ta’ me askin’ fer help even more than they already do.”

“Sounds fair. So, I’ve showed you mine, now tell me something. You’re not just a witch. What’m I dealing with here?” he asked with a strange light behind his gaze.

Apparently, the concept of personal questions wasn’t one he understood.

“Been a witch since I was little. Pa’s side was one of the first to go through when we had the Crash. My ma’ is… well, let’s just say I’m a Fae, but not entirely, an’ leave it at tha’, fer now, yeah?”

“Alright. How much is your consultation fee?”

His eyes bugged out of his skull at the number I gave.

“That’s a hefty as hell price. I looked into you, a bit, after he pointed me your way, and you’d need to meet every bit of your reputation to earn that. Do you?”

“That depends. Where’d you hear about me? I try to keep a low profile, in my line of work, when possible, Mr. Maxwell, so you shouldn’t know much.”

“People in this town talk, especially among the full-bloods. Worse than old biddies,” he scoffed.

Leaning back, he let his aura expand until my whole room was coated in a very pale gold light.

As soon as he noticed it, he winced and reined it back in.

Evidently, he wasn’t as contained as I would’ve thought.

“Word has it you recently took on a bloody Ifrit, in an asylum no less! And ya’ came out with a freed vessel, to boot.”

I had, until that point, thought I was more subtle, and intimidating where it counted.

Having every monster on either side of the divide knowing my name, and what I could do, would be way too bad for my health to revel in the infamy.

Going by the complete lack of question in his statement, I’d also been holding less of my energy in than I should’ve been.

“Word does travel, doesn’t it? It wasn’t as fun as it sounds, I assure ya’.”

Mention of the recent fight sent a spasm through my arm before I could stop it.

Getting punched through a brick wall had left that, and a number of other fun happenings, in my body even after I’d been healed.

Most people who came face-to-face with that kind of horror usually didn’t come out with their soul intact, much less with a live body.

In a certain light, I could use it for bragging rights, in the right circles.

Evidently, those circles included beings both big and small from the Umbramundus, the realm where a majority of Earth’s horrors had originated.

“So you are worth a bit, then, yeah? Well, alright, then. I’ll pay your fee, Miz Lugus, but I’d better get results.”

Nodding, I pushed thoughts of my recent near-death away and pulled out a legal pad.

“Alright. Can ya’ describe any of the men that’ve been comin’ around?”

Just as he was about to answer, the air pressure in the room shifted.

Tension sent the hairs on the nape of my neck to a full stand, and my internal alarms screamed bloody murder.

An actual sound, a very distinct buzz, soon joined them.

“Jess, down!” I screamed.

I could only hope my assistant and long-time best friend heard me through the thick wooden door, if she hadn’t already felt it coming.

Collin and I both dove to the ground, as though we’d choreographed it, right before the magic exploded in my office.

A loud bang sounded, echoing through the room.

Suddenly, having nothing personal in my office besides a picture of me and Jessica paid off.

The air became heavy, and my desk gave a loud crunch.

Our chairs, so recently occupied, gave similar, though more metallic, sounds before their frames suddenly bent inwards.

If we’d still been sitting by that point, our spines would’ve been turned to dust.

My desk took the full force of the attack surprisingly well, with only a spider-web-like fracture along the top to show for it.

I got the impression that Jessica might’ve given my furniture a bit of magical protection, with how little the magic had scratched it.

The atmosphere in the room grew heavier by the second, as though the attack wouldn’t be satisfied until it crushed us to pulp.

“Any suggestions, Lugus? I’m of a mind that it’ll keep goin’ until we’re not among the living,” he growled.

“You, too? Give me a second, I’m working on it.”

As I talked, I dragged the bottom drawer from the cabinet at my side.

Rooting around while keeping flat to the floor was difficult, but I finally managed to find a small, glass vial.

Grinning, I popped its lid.

A second later, bright silver powder was in the air, and cast an eerie glow around the room.

"Iarraim arm o draíochta a caitheadh an taint ó mo fearainn, agus ar ais ar a mháistir!"

With a clap of thunder, the pressure vanished.

At the same time, the powder became a single, long arc of blinding white fire, which vanished the second later.

I was already out the door by the time Collin had forced himself up, and had cleared the exterior door before he’d managed to clear his head and follow me.

Down the road, a black van was pulling away with a loud screech, and I gave a curse.

“Well, that was interestin’,” Collin sighed. “Quite the bindin’.”

“Careful, now. Ya’ almost sound impressed. They followed ya’ here, an’ they’ll be back. Fer you or me, I doubt it’ll matter.”

With a huff, I headed back inside to really look at the front of the office.

Paper and scraps of wood were scattered everywhere.

A solid chunk of iron was the only thing completely unmarked.

Jessica Tanaka was sitting in her desk, her hair mussed and a slight red mark fading on her cheek, but looking completely unfazed.

“You alright?”

She ran a hand through her hair, and the room went through a flash freeze.

The cold vanished just as quickly as it had shown up, and her hair was now in a very neat, but soaked, curtain down her back.

“Came through the front, first. I was just about to give you the warning when you shouted.”

Collin came back inside around then, and his attention was grabbed by the inch-thick sheet of ice coating the doorframe.

“Naiad?”

“Oh, please. Way too boring.”

“Don’t let Missy hear you say that.”

Her tanned skin, made of a skin tone you wouldn’t expect in a snow woman, flushed.

“Yeah, I’ll pass on that. Anyway, I’m a yuki-onna, actually,” Jessica huffed as she wrung her hair out.

Collin blinked at that, seeming the picture of confusion.

“Uh…”

“Japanese snow woman. Reputed for killing people lost in snowstorms,” I explained.

“I swear, a few kinky relatives, and you never live it down,” the Asian woman scoffed.

“As the woman says. You could relate, I’m sure, Mr. Maxwell. Me, too, actually.”

Jess snorted in response, before she pushed to her feet.

She raised a hand, and icy wind swept through the air.

All of the papers rushed up and landed right in her hand, in a large stack.

“Efficient. So, you’re the muscles, but what does she do?” Collin asked.

“I’m good with research, networking, recordkeeping, general red tape bull-”

“She does all the things my ADHD makes me incapable of doin’,” I supplied.

With a nod, he passed by her and went back into my office.

“We’ve got an interesting one,” Jessica quipped when we were alone.

“Isn’t it always?”

Heading after Collin, I started scrawling on the pad I’d just managed to get out before our interruption.

“Alright, Maxwell, here’s a list of things I’m going to need. Since your club’s also a bar, I figure ya’ve got plenty of herbs in stock. If there’s anythin’ ya’ don’t have, yer fee will cover the cost. I’ll come to the Zodiac tomorrow, and I’ll see what I can do ‘bout findin’ the source of yer problems. We’ll go from there.”

He eyes the list, eyebrows quirking in surprise as he smirked.

“Onions, garlic, an’ candles are fine. But clover? Really? I thought for sure you’d be trying to cook up something to locate the source of my problems, not hope they go away,” he stated, seeming less impressed than moments before.

But the fact that he knew what all of it was for at all told me that he was more competent than I’d been thinking, at least where magic was involved.

“If anyone needs luck, it’ll be people tryin’ ta’ bait thugs throwing chaotic magic around.”

“Fair enough. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Alright, then. I suppose I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, then, Miz Lugus,” he said before making his way out.

Jessica was in my office nearly the second the front door closed.

“What do we have?”

“He’s the Black Zodiac’s owner.”

She turned to stare after him, and let out a low whistle.

“Really? I always figured there’d be someone more… disarming… owning a neutral zone, and all,” she mused.

“Me, too. Someone’s lookin’ ta’ shut it down. Hopefully, I can handle it.”

“You’ll be fine,” she scoffed with a wave of her hand.

“Jackasses just bombed my office. I might need you ta’ keep me in check.”

“Uh-uh. Lexi’ll kill me if I go on the field with you again, after the last time.”

Smirking, I leaned over my desk and poked her.

“You do everythin’ Alex says? I’ve got some cream, if yer welts from tha’ whip act up.”

“Funny. I think I’ll happily leave any aftercare to her, thanks.”

I fell silent, which amused her enough to bring a peal of musical laughter out of my friend.

“While we’re on that subject, your wanting me to be out there with you doesn’t have anything to do with being worried you’ll get distracted, right?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” I retorted, though my growing blush said otherwise.

“Your aura going supernova says otherwise. He seemed pretty eager to pay the full fee, too. You’d think someone who negotiates down gang leaders would be a bit better with the silver tongue, unless he had something else on his mind,” she pressed.

“I’m nothing if not professional. I can handle it just fine.”

“Oh, I’m sure. He helps keep the peace around here, plays to your thing for leather, and he’s got a wee bit a’ tha’ Celt in ‘im,” she mocked, affecting my accent at its heaviest with disturbing ease. “Definitely not going to be a distraction.”

“Shit up,” I groaned. “I don’t get it on with clients.”

“At least until the job’s over,” she agreed.

“Til’ ever. It’d give me a bad reputation.”

“Uh-huh…”

It’s amazing, how much skepticism she could put in two syllables, and I felt like my face was on fire by that point.

“If I say I’m sorry for mockin’ yer total state of bein’ whipped, will ya’ shut it?” I asked hopefully.

She merely giggled in response, making the blush grow even warmer.

Somehow, she remained every bit as skilled at doing that to me as she had when we’d been kids, and it wasn’t an easy feat, by any means.

That she may have possibly been 100% dead-on didn’t help.

“Alright. Enough. Serious fer a minute. I’m going ta’ need some charms.”

Her smirk vanished, and she straightened up.

“I can write up some sutras. You really think it’ll come to that?”

“They got past the wards here, with an offensive spell. They might be stupid as a sea spud, but they’re able ta’ throw around some serious weight to their spells. If it comes down to it, I want everythin’ I can get. Think I’ll be takin’ the old bird along, too.”

“Damn. Sounds like a whole lot of don’t wanna’ be there, for me,” she mused.

With a nod, she left the office, probably in search of untouched paper that could hold her special kind of magic.

I really hoped I wouldn’t need it…