Page 54 of Reaper
“The city, of course.”Luke’s expression was unreadable, but it seemed like there might have actually been a hint of pride on his face.“For some reason, you have appointed yourself the protector of this city, and of all the denizens herein, be they human or supernatural.You discovered something that you considered a threat to those citizens, and you were obligated to neutralize said threat.Not from any onus put upon you by an official, or even unofficial source, but from your own sense of duty.You are an honorable man, Quincy Harker, no matter what you may think about yourself.And when someone threatens those under your protection, you do what honorable men must do—you fight.”
I turned back to my gear, holstering my pistol and double-checking that I had a couple spare magazines in my back pockets for the Glock.“You’re right,” I said without looking at my uncle, perhaps the most famous monster in history to have never been elected to public office.“I do feel like the people of this city are my responsibility, and I do feel like they need to be protected from things like the Colosseum.If it was a straight fight, that would be one thing.People who chose to fight and could choose to leave—I got no problem with that.But Mort put his thumb on the scale.Nobody was getting paid but the house, and that’s not fair.So yeah, he was taking advantage of people I promised to protect.And now I gotta go kick his ass.”
“No, babe,” Becks said, coming out of our bedroom in all black tactical gear, complete with a custom chainmail shirt made of ceramic links for lighter weight, woven tight enough to stop all but the tiniest of fangs or claws.She fastened a choker of the same material around her neck, slipped a pair of fingerless gloves on her hands, and gave me a cockeyed grin.“This is my city, too.I might not be a cop anymore, but Charlotte’s as much mine to protect as it is yours.We’regonna go kick his ass.”
* * *
Only problem with our plan was that Mort knew we were coming.Or he’d been cowering behind a wall of monster meat ever since we’d shut down the arena, which I doubted.Way easier to have someone keep an eye on the parking garage of my building and call him when we left looking like we were ready to storm the castle, as it were.The parking lot was full when we arrived, except for one spot right up front with a sign that read “Reserved for The Reaper.”
“I think he’s expecting us,” I said as Becks pulled the Suburban into the empty spot.I wanted to drive, but ever since one road trip where I blasted the soundtrack toHamiltonfor six straight hours, I lost my driving and therefore my radio privileges, even on in-town trips.Mort’s bar was only a few miles from my building, but she was taking no chances on me forcing her to listen to show tunes for even a moment.
“Yeah, looks like it,” she replied.“You still wanna do this, or you want to wait until Glory and Faustus get back?Or maybe until Luke can come with?”
Truth be told, Luke could have accompanied us on this run.He doesn’t get significantly weaker in the daytime, and although his idea of a sunburn looks more like a Roman Candle than a little pink skin, we’ve found workarounds before.I just wanted to do this one on my own.I would have left Becks behind if I thought there was a snowball’s chance in hell she would have stayed home.This felt personal, and I wanted to be the one to end it.Luke had played the cavalry for me once already on this case.I didn’t want to get used to him bailing me out, any more than I already was.
“Nah, let’s do this.What’s a bar full of demons and monsters just waiting for a chance to gnaw on our bone marrow?”I said with a bravado I didn’t really feel.
“For us?Just another Tuesday,” Becks said, opening the door and sliding out of the SUV.I followed, then paused as she grabbed a twelve-gauge from the back seat.She looked at me.“You okay?I know you liked Mort.”
“As much as a guy with ‘Demon Hunter’ on his business card can like a demon, I guess.My bigger worry is what meat suit he’s borrowed this time.I can’t kill him if he’s hijacked an innocent.”
“I don’t think cutting a deal with a demon to let them borrow your body qualifies you as innocent in anybody’s book, Harker,” she replied.
“Yeah, but there’s guilty, and there’s deserves to have your ticket punched guilty,” I said.“But there’s only one way to find out.Got my six?”I asked.
“Always.”
So we crossed the crowded parking lot to the door, which was unusually untended.Mort normally had a guard of some sort floating around, but this time there was nothing.No door man, no bouncer, just an unlocked metal door.I took that as an invitation, and not feeling particularly welcome, drew my Glock and stepped inside.
41
The bar was packed, something I’d never seen during daylight hours, and every head swung around as I stepped inside.None of them were smiling, unless you count the few that had bloodthirsty grins plastered across their faces.
Maybe you should wait outside, babe,I sent to Becks.
Maybe you should go fuck yourself.My vocabulary was obviously rubbing off on her.
I’m just saying that you’re completely human, and these monsters aren’t going to be very discriminating about who they kill in order to get to me.
Then I guess it’s a good thing I brought the big gun, isn’t it?And she had.Becks carried a modified GForce GFY-1 semiautomatic bullpup shotgun with a ten-round magazine.The DHS armorers had reinforced the barrel to handle the exotic loads we used, including the Dragon’s Breath rounds we both preferred for vampires.I noted a couple extra ten-round mags on her tactical vest, along with her Glock and three or four spare magazines for that.My girl came loaded for bear.
I did, too, just less in the conventional weaponry department.I had my pistol, and a few extra magazines, all loaded with alternating silver and cold iron rounds.And I had a pair of silver-edged daggers strapped to my belt, plus a backup gun on one ankle.But most of my power wasn’t going to be in bullets and blades; it was going to be in fists and fireballs.So I had a new pendant hanging around my neck, with a big chunk of labradorite hanging from it.The iridescent colors of the stone swirled around like a wild mosaic, spinning from one end of the spectrum to another.
I’d spent a week when we got back from our “vacation” to Manteo pouring magical energy into the stone, figuring out how to use the rock as a focus for power that I could draw upon when my own reserves ran out.I’d also gotten my tattoos redone, but I had to empty those out in the Colosseum, so that backup power source was done until my next trip to see James, my tattoo artist in Atlanta.Hopefully the labradorite was as mystically powerful as the books said it was, because I figured I was going to need all the juice I could draw on for this one.
“Hello, Mort,” I said.“Looks like you’ve been expecting my visit.”
Mort stood behind the bar, no longer wearing the Indian woman’s body he’d been inhabiting the last time I saw him.Now he was in a completely unexpected vehicle—a vampire.I’d never seen Mort hitchhike a para before, and kinda assumed he couldn’t do it, although I guess there was no reason he couldn’t.But a vampire?A demon inhabiting a monster that already had a sliver of the demon Skyffrax inside it?This was new to me.
Mort was about six feet tall in this incarnation, with long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, a chiseled jaw, and blue eyes that would make any reasonable person think he was the model for Keifer Sutherland’s character inThe Lost Boys.He even had on the long jacket, but he didn’t have the trademark grin that featured in so many of the younger Sutherland’s roles.“Yeah, Pete called as soon as you let him go.That was sweet of you, ya know?Not killing him.Didn’t matter, of course.He knew too much, and he blabbed about my business to the enemy, so I handled him.”
Mort reached down behind the bar and hauled up Pete’s corpse, obviously drained.Mort held him by the hair and waggled the body at me.“This is what happens to people that help you, Harker.They end up dead.Just like Christy.Just like my baby girl, you sorry fuck.”
“Is that what this is about?”I asked.“After all this time,nowyou’re coming after me for getting Christy killed?Come the fuck on, Mort!You know I didn’t kill her.You know I felt terrible about her dying, and you know I killed the motherfucker that murdered her!What the fuck more do I need to do?”
“You can’t do anything, Harker.You can’t do anything but kill.I thought I’d forgiven you, but then I found out it wasn’t Smith that killed my daughter, and it wasn’t Orobas.It was you, Harker.You cut off my daughter’s head so that fucker could help bring Orobas into this world, all so you could be the big hero and send him back to Hell!”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”I was honestly confused.Mort’s daughter, the cambion named Christy that I thought was just his badass bartender, had been murdered by an asshole using the original pseudonym “John Smith” in order to bring the demon Orobas to our world and give him permanent residence here.Mort had been with me when we confronted Smith and Orobas, and he knew exactly what went down.
