Darkly - Episode #16

FBI & Dark Magic

Want to start at the beginning? You can find the 1st Episode HERE.

For a Darkly Table of Contents, click here.

Recap: An unwanted arrival at Ward Six puts everyone in jeopardy and scrambling for cover.

Now… onto Darkly Episode #16.

You were born under a dark star.

My mother’s haunting words came back to me as I stared across the entry to the monster who’d bypassed Ward Six’s security. Why would I think of that now? I’d never known what it meant, but looking at the darkness facing me must have triggered it.

“He’s not Wilkes,” I repeated, softer this time.

Fake Wilkes shrugged off his coat and pulled a dagger from one of two leather sheaths crisscrossed over his chest—the leather strappy thing Amanda Collins remembered Omega wearing. With no effort at all, Fake Wilkes stabbed Alec in the stomach. He collapsed on the floor, coffee mugs shattering.

The impostor noticed Nina and me. He waved the bloody knife in a gruesome hello. For added mirth, he wiped the blade clean on his right pant leg. Fake Wilkes ripped off the latex skullcap that made him appear bald. He fluffed out his brown hair, and I instantly recognized him.

“He was at the bar.” It was the out-of-place agent who’d been with Wilkes’s crew. The clueless one who’d hung near the back of the group. Same hair, hooded eyes. Alert. Uneasy. I’d been sorry for him.

Nina started forward, grabbing her head. “The Mall,” she mumbled. “Dead. We’re dead.”

Get out of there! Dante’s warning made me grab Nina’s arm. She fought me, lost in what I assumed was a vision—Omega’s horrible Mall vision. It sure sounded like his nightmare.

“Nina!” I shouted.

Desperate to escape the visual trap, her arms stretched outward, clawing at something that wasn’t physically in front of her.

“Nina!” I begged, but she never had a chance to answer.

The intruder also had a gun. He raised it, aimed, and fired. Nina fell into me, hit in the chest. I grabbed her with both arms and pulled her back toward the control room. Gil rushed out of his office at the same time, just as the elevator binged its arrival, flooding the entry with too many targets. Omega—because he had to be Omega—smirked, pleased perhaps that he’d lured all the agents to one spot? I could only guess, but the delay allowed Gil to assess the situation.

We were too far apart for him to reach me, and even farther away from Alec, but Gil was near the elevator, and the other agents were walking blindly into the attack.

“Hide!” Gil shouted at me, charging for the elevator.

I continued to pull Nina toward the control room, telling myself to stop for nothing.

Bullets zipped past me.

I flinched and briefly released Nina. Cursing, I got her under the armpits and didn’t look up. The elevator door had triggered Omega’s gunfire, and the first round found a target. I heard the body fall. As I turned into the control room, I saw Carter face down just outside the elevator. A stunned Lopez bent to help him, but Gil collided with the agent, sending them both into the elevator cab. The door shut. A hail of bullets peppered the metal.

I got Nina inside the control room, slamming the door shut and engaging the lock. And I’d bragged about never needing it.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Slaughter asked from the interrogation room. The intercom was still open. “Were those firecrackers? Huh? Hey, is anyone there?”

I ignored him, tending to Nina. It didn’t look good.

“Kinley!” Omega yelled my name from the hallway. And darkness danced around my senses. He could attack both ways simultaneously?

Shit! Dante’s helpless curse jerked me back into the physical world.

“Kinley!” It was a harsh whisper. Omega was on the other side of the control room door.

His proximity gave me the chills. My great-grandmother would have referred to the feeling as ‘walking over your grave,’ but this was far worse. Omega used Wilkes’s identity to enter Ward Six. The system had announced Wilkes, and entry required a fingerprint and retinal scan. I wouldn’t believe Wilkes gave them up willingly. At the end of our phone call, he apologized to me. Had he been saying goodbye? Had he known what was going to happen? Was he Omega’s first male victim?

He wants you. Dante’s shock mirrored mine because careful thought and planning went into a Ward Six siege.

Nina coughed up blood. I cradled her in my arms. The bullet had hit something vital. I couldn’t stop the bleeding.

“Nina, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I watched her eyes flutter open, but she was fading fast.

“Is… it him?” she asked, barely audible.

I nodded, afraid my voice would crack with emotion if I tried to speak.

“He found... us.” Nina’s last words were tainted with surprise.

She deserved better, but I had to leave her on the floor. My thoughts went to Alec. He could still be alive. I gently laid Nina on the ground and then stood up. I looked around the room. A cell phone or the intercom… some way to communicate with Gil, see if he and the others were alright. My eyes fell on Nina. We were far from alright.

Is Gil on your level? I silently asked Dante.

Yes.

Nina’s dead. I told him, not sure if he’d pass on the information.

I bent over, finding it hard to breathe. How had it all gone so wrong so fast? Damn. I stood straight.

Focus! Dante ordered.

The intrusion helped, until I noticed the interrogation room lights were off. I went to the control panel. “Mr. Slaughter?” I spoke into the microphone and flicked the lights back on.

Omega stood behind the table, looking straight at me.

I jumped back.

He couldn’t see me, of course. I knew he couldn’t see me. But he stared right at me.

Get to me! Dante’s panic hit me hard.

Omega had a gun, and only the two-way glass separated us. It wasn’t bulletproof. Not that he seemed to be in a hurry. He looked down, and I realized Mr. Slaughter was nowhere to be seen. Omega pointed the gun at the floor. Fired. Blood splattered up. He shifted his gaze from the ground to me.

“Sorry for the mess.”

Redness oozed into my vision, and I got a flash of the desolate hallway at the Mall. Lying on the floor—Nina. She raised an arm out to me, whimpering. The tortured black-cloaked figure bent over her. He gently stroked her head with wicked claws, making her scream.

“Nina,” I whispered, horrified to find her trapped in the Hellish vision. Omega’s vision. Was she still alive?

The creature laughed, but I heard Omega’s raw voice from the interrogation room. “So naive.”

I fought to escape the vision, but I only managed to feel the two-way mirror. I raised both hands to the smooth surface. Heart beating faster, palms sweaty, racing me toward a full-on panic attack. How could I escape him this time?

Sweetheart, you’re stronger. Dante’s encouragement pushed away my inner doubt, pulling me back from the brink. An unstable place, to be sure, as the darkness lingered. Inevitable. The vision had me. I couldn’t shake it, couldn’t fight Omega on this level for long.

Reaching out to the tech and Ward Six, I knew of only one way to defeat the darkness.

No! Dante hated the idea, picking up on my thought.

Not that it mattered. I only had one chance, and I took it.

Dante’s cell had silenced the entity that lived within. I didn’t know how, and Gil sidestepped an explanation, but I knew the power existed. Reaching out to the tech, I asked them to extend that magic suppression to the whole facility.

A query came back, and I pushed it aside. Yes, my request had consequences, but if they didn’t flood all of Ward Six with the Magic Squasher, for lack of a better label, I’d be lost to them in minutes.

Fear trembled along our connection, fueling my hope. They’d get it done if they could.

A hollow tap rattled the glass beneath my hands. Omega released some of my sight. The tunnel vision made my hands look big. They were still on the two-way mirror, framing Omega through my fingers. I let them drop.

Omega shook his head at me. “Full of surprises.” Gravel tainted his voice, low and threatening.

I had to remind myself that he couldn’t see me, even if he was looking right at me. I quickly stepped to the right. His eyes didn’t shift. I relaxed. Big mistake, his eyes slanted right at me, and the darkness came back. He seeped along with it… into my mind… taking control of all my senses.

Now, now, now! I pleaded with the tech as the pressure in my head grew. Crushing. I sank to the floor, unable to fight him off.

Laughter echoed around me, inside me, digging under my skin. Omega felt me weaken.

Sweetheart! Dante felt it, too, furious that we’d reached this point again and desperate to help.

A shudder racked Ward Six with a whoosh of energy. It might have been an earthquake. I knew better. The pressure thrummed my spine.

One breath.

Two.

My heart started beating again, at least it felt like it had stopped and then restarted. Along with a pulse came vision. It returned with a throbbing headache, but the room looked normal. Except for Nina. She hadn’t moved.

The oddest thing of all… the inner silence.

Dante? My mind questioned, but he was gone. It had worked. That line, which led to him and the tech, was vacant. Not severed but lost.

Another tap against the two-way mirror.

I stood to face the menace. Omega appeared gutted. I had to think he’d never been shut off from his magic before.

“You’re nothing now,” I said, knowing he couldn’t see or hear me through the mirror. I went to my desk, but turned, sensing movement.

Omega raised his gun and fired it at the two-way mirror.

I ducked, covering my head, as glass shattered.

Omega charged forward, climbing through the broken window, screeching my name, feral, as he entered the control room. I pushed a chair between us, but I didn’t need to bother. He wanted to savor the moment.

Panting, Omega kept his distance. “Kinley.” He overpronounced my name, letting the last part trail out in an eerie singsong way. “Kin… leeee.” Talking to him was my only defensive choice; after all, he still had the gun and two knives that I could see strapped to his body. I raised my hands and gave him one clap. He deserved it. “Impressive, coming through the two-way like that. Did you get cut? She asked, hopefully.”

He chuckled at my joke. “Remember me?”

“The D.C. bar and that other place,” I cringed. “What’s your thing with Malls? Mommy leave you in one?”

“Easy pickings.” Another chuckle. “But thanks to you, as I discovered, one less. You saved my last girl. Wilkes told me. I know, he should have protected you, but I made it very hard. He spilled his guts. Literally.”

Revenge flushed his features. I had to be the next victim on his list. He would expect me to break down, cry, and beg for my life. Well… fuck that.

Omega waited, face scrunching up at my blank, emotionless stare. No tears. No fear. Perhaps it was new for him.

“If you come with me, Kinley, I won’t kill the rest of them.”

I considered the offer, buying time. How far could I bluff him? Out of the building? To the parking lot? Until he marked me with the Omega symbol?

“Can I see your forearms?” I asked. The question threw him. “Amanda Collins—the last girl—she said you had a Greek tattoo. Just curious.”

He pushed both sleeves up to his elbows and showed off two tattoos—alpha and omega. He seemed proud.

“I’d ask you what it all means, but we both know it’s bullshit.”

“Kinley, Kinley, Kinley,” he chanted, putting a lot of effort into looking happy. It was a shit-eating smile. Fake. Threatening. “You should ask all your questions. While you can.”

The interest in my unexpected attitude was waning, which meant I was running out of diversions.

“Don’t you have questions?” I asked, turning the tables. “How’s it feel to lose all your magic?”

“Temporary.” His nose twitched. “Like your life.”

Shit.

Even without magic, my body mass was no match for his—or his weapons. I had to fight another way, but reaching along the Gray left me heartsick. The help wouldn’t come from that area.

BRZST!

The facility intercom squawked to life, and I swear Omega jumped. The electronic voice announced, “Technological Specialist Alec Perez. Egress granted.”

Omega howled, ran to the door, fumbled with the handle, and wrenched the door open. The lock easily released from the inside, so it had to be nerves or adrenaline. He recovered, firing as he rushed into the hallway.

I ran after him. “Alec!” I screamed a warning, getting into the corridor just in time to see Alec fall.

The Plexiglas entry closed; at least it tried to shut. Alec was on the other side, the one away from Omega, but his foot was caught. It kept the two pieces of the clear bulletproof door from closing. He was stuck. The door could not shut completely, leaving a gap.

Alec put his hand on the Plexi. He had to get free. He was right up against the barrier, trying to get some leverage and yank his foot out.

Omega closed the distance, pulling crude Ninja stars from the leather straps crisscrossed over his chest. One of them flew through the gap in the Plexiglas. The next star hit the sole of Alec’s shoe. The instant pain made him jerk his foot in a different direction. The shoe came off. His foot slipped inside. The shoe fell on my side, and the door shut.

Alec fell back. The Plexi shut, and the red lasers ignited. I froze. If they cut through him… I turned away.

Omega crashed into the Plexiglas, banging it with his hands, but it held firm. He looked down at Alec, seething.

Alec sat up, several feet back from the lasers. He must have slid past the red death.

“Oh, well done,” I sighed.

Alec blew the serial killer a kiss.

Omega could only glare and curse. His only consolation: multiple Ninja stars were stuck in Alec’s arm and leg. Recovering from the loss, Omega backed away.

Alec looked past him, however, and winked at me.

I’d made it to the stairwell door, taking the opportunity Alec gave me, but I needed my badge to open it. Heaven knew where that was, but I didn’t need it. The door clicked open.

Thank you, Ward Six! Our connection might be severed, but the technology still had my back.

Omega turned. “No!” His rage grew as he rushed for me, grabbing the knife strapped to his thigh.

I slipped inside the stairwell, pushing the door shut faster than its hinges allowed. I leaned into it, feeling it lock into place. On the other side of the door, Omega screamed in frustration, pounding on the solid metal door.

Footsteps sounded below, running up the stairs, fast. I braced for another attack. “Kinley!” Gil slowed when he saw me, relieved to find me alive. “Are you hurt?”

I looked down at my hands. They were covered in blood, and my top looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. “Nina.” Without another word, I went to him, gingerly inspecting his arm. “You’re shot.” I made a little sound of surprise when I saw his left side had also been hit. “Twice.”

“I noticed.” He pulled me to him with his good arm. I looked up and we kissed. For a second, nothing else mattered. He was okay, mostly, and so was I. The rest of it, well, we’d face that together.

I pulled away first. “Nina’s dead. As well as our former suspect, Mr. Slaughter. I don’t know about Sullivan, but Alec is hurt. He’s stuck between the exit and the entrance. We can’t leave him there. He’s got a terrible stomach wound.”

“We’ll get him out,” Gil promised.

“What about protocol?” I knew our orders would be to secure Omega first. FBI personnel came second.

Gil considered his options. “Screw protocol.”