ONE
I parked the Hearse across the street and focused on the enormous creature crouched in the grassy promenade near the Hudson River.
“I have eyes on the target,” I said as I exited the vehicle. “Hard to miss, really.”
“Just to reiterate, the bounty calls for retrieval, not extermination,” she said. “Hello?”
Lily, my handler, was a stickler for precision and efficiency. She was also a royal pain in my ass and went out of her way to demonstrate how much of one she could be.
She was also the most dangerous assassin I knew.
Besides me, that is.
“I heard you,” I answered, keeping my eyes on the mountainous mass of muscle and menace across the street from where I stood. “You realize I’m looking at an ogre? Easily four hundred pounds of angry rage, looking for something to pound into a memory?”
“The Guild asked for you specifically on this job,” she said. “Consider this an opportunity for redemption.”
“This is payback,” I said. “They want this ogre to give me a good crushing for what happened last time.”
“You did put several of their agents in Haven,” she said, “for an extended stay, I might add.”
“I told them I work alone,” I replied, keeping my focus on the ogre. “What part of alone is hard to understand?”
“It’s possible they are harboring some ill will towards you.”
“I regret nothing—that last job nearly killed me,” I said, checking to make sure I had the oversized neutralizing manacles with me. “You sure these cuffs are going to work?”
“They’re rated up to trollgres,” she replied. “An ogre doesn’t pose the same kind of threat. You just need to get them on the ogre. They’ll do the rest.”
“Oh just get them on, that’s all?”
“They work better if locked around the target in question,” she deadpanned. “Although, they are fairly heavy—maybe you can throw them at the ogre. Not as effective, but guaranteed to get its attention.”
“Hilarious, thanks for the suggestion.”
“I aim to please,” she answered. “Maybe if you ask it nicely, it will agree to surrender peacefully.”
“Easy to suggest from the comfort of the office,” I said. “You want to come try putting these cuffs on an ogre?”
“I left field work long ago,” she said. “Hazardous for long term health. If you move fast, you can get them on before it knows what happened.”
“Excellent idea,” I said. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Going dark now.”
“Be careful, M,” she said. “Neutralize, incapacitate, and call it in. Don’t get dead.”
“Got it, I’ll call you on the other side,” I said, tapping the subdermal commlink on my left temple. “Time to say hi to tall, dark, and ugly.”
I looked around the area, thankful for the absence of normals. That was partly due to the hour, but the location helped. We were on the far side of the city, a block away from the Javits, near the Hudson River and the Westside Highway.
I made my way across the eight lane roadway, keeping my eyes on the ogre the whole time. It made no sense for it to be this far west. I shoved the idea out of my mind. It didn’t need to make sense. I just needed to neutralize it, and call it in.
The Guild would come in and take care of the rest.
Simple and easy.
I only needed to get these cuffs on it, without losing any of my limbs in the process. How hard could that be?
<Ogres are irrational rage machines. The moment it senses your energy signature it will try to destroy you.>
<Thanks for the update. Tell me something I don’t know.>
<There’s plenty you don’t know. No point in sharing your vast ignorance moments before your death.>
<Feeling extra confident now, thanks.>
<Confidence isn’t going to neutralize that ogre. Why not use your blade? Your blade would make this job easier.>
< I can’t cuff it if I remove its arms first. This is a retrieval, not an extermination, Kyr.>
<Has anyone informed the ogre? In any case, good luck. You know where I am if you need me. Still think you should use the blade.>
Everyone was a comedian tonight.
I made sure to avoid what little traffic there was as I crossed the southbound side of the highway. The ogre still hadn’t noticed me, but that would change in the next few minutes.
Even with a mask, my energy signature was unique enough to be near impossible to hide, thanks to my Nightmare Kyr.
I made it across the highway and managed to position myself behind the ogre.
So far so good. There was no wind, which meant it wouldn’t smell me until it was too late, and I could be as silent as death when I need to be.
I wouldn’t need my blade tonight if I could get these cuffs on its wrists.
Simple and easy.
I just needed to close the gap and cuff it before it noticed I was there. I crept over, pausing ten feet away. I took a deep breath, steadied myself, and dashed the last ten feet to where it was crouched.
I managed to get one cuff around a wrist before it whirled on me and swung. I was too close…and it moved too fast to dodge.
How was it so fast?
I braced against the inevitable as its massive fist crashed into my jaw, whipping my head around. I was airborne a second later, heading back across the highway.
It was simple physics really.
The ogre outweighed me by a good 300 pounds if not more. A large angry mass hits a smaller mass, causes the smaller mass—me—to take flight.
Being part Nightmare meant I would survive the blow and the landing. I was ridiculously hard to kill—not that it stopped the locals from trying.
It didn't mean I was immune to pain.
My face throbbed from blocking the ogre’s fist with my face. It would leave a massive bruise and I could already feel the swelling. I slammed into the far wall, back first, bounced off, and landed on my feet, falling to one knee, somehow managing to keep my body intact, as I spat to one side and took stock of the situation.
For a brief moment, I considered drawing my blade.
The ogre had literally punched me across the street.
The strangely empty street.
This smelled of the Guild.
They would be forward-thinking enough to cordon off the highway, protecting the normals, but send in a few squads, or even one, to assist with the raging monster—well, that was a step too far.
I only had myself to blame.
Lose control of your Nightmare one time, and no one wants to lend you a hand ever again. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as I glanced across the street at the towering mass of muscle and menace.
“Guild isn't paying me nearly enough to deal with this much ugly,” I muttered to myself before raising my voice and getting to my feet. “Had enough? You must be tired by now. Surrender and I'll take it easy on you.”
The ogre grinned, let out a roar, and ran at me.
Nothing that big should be able to move that fast.
Time to move.
My entire focus, besides the tower of rage that was headed my way to end me, was the dangling cuff attached to the ogre’s wrist. If I could manage to get the other cuff around the other wrist, it would release a wave of neutralizing energy that would shut it down.
If it didn’t crush me first.
The ogre jumped and I ran to the side to avoiding the life-ending foot stomp that followed as it landed. It cratered the sidewalk where I had stood a few moments earlier and lunged at me.
“Don’t think so,” I said as I jumped up and over the lunge, grabbing the dangling cuff as it flew past. The move nearly wrenched my arm out of its socket, but I managed to hold on.
Barely.
Spots danced before my eyes as the pain shot up the length of my arm. I almost lost my grip as the ogre swung its arm around in an effort to dislodge me.
<Kyr, I need to end this before it smashes me into the concrete.>
<Should have used the blade.>
<Shift now. Lecture later.>
<Very well. Prepare, Duskblader.>
The ogre attempted to lift its arm in an effort to slam me into the ground and found it impossible. I had grown impossibly heavy, yanking its arm down mid-swing.
It looked at me, puzzled, and made to crush my head with its fist. I raised a hand and stopped the blow aimed at my head.
With a roar of surprise and rage, it wrapped its arms around me and I released the gloom. Darkness flowed from me in a cloud that seemed alive. It flowed along the ground, enveloping the ogre.
It dropped me a second later.
I wasted no time.
I crouched down and launched myself upward, driving an uppercut into its chin, lifting it off its feet. It fell stunned, and I quickly attached the second cuff. A wave of neutralizing energy flooded the street. The ogre staggered for a few steps and fell again, face-first into the street.
<Enough, Kyr.>
<You could have made it last a little longer. I haven’t had a decent scrap in ages. Would five more minutes have killed you?>
<Yes, a ‘scrap’ as you call it, in my body, would have killed me or at the very least earned me an extended stay at Haven as they patched me up. No, thanks.>
<If you had used the blade from the inception, this would have been over long ago.>
<Retrieval, Kyr.>
<Bah, you are a Duskblader. This is beneath you.>
<Not exactly common knowledge, few know I’m a Duskblader, I’d like to keep it that way. Right now, I need to bide my time. If the Gray Council finds out I’m alive…>
<Then we will have a glorious battle.>
<Where many people will die, including me. We are not going the glorious battle route. Say it with me.>
<We are not going the glorious battle route—until it’s time to go the glorious battle route and destroy the Gray Council.>
<We’re done. Shut your face.>
<As you wish, Duskblader.>
He retreated to the dark recesses of my mind or wherever it was he went when he wasn’t present in my thoughts. I pressed the commlink and connected with Lily.
“It’s done, contact the Guild,” I said. “I’m sure they’re in the vicinity. The highway is empty and it’s never this empty no matter what time it is.”
“One moment, M,” she said as I heard the tapping of keys. “Locals will be there in three minutes.”
“Locals?”
“NYTF. They’re sending them in to handle the highway. The Guild will be there in twenty to collect the target. You were right—they are approximately half a mile from you.”
“Explains the deserted highway,” I said, rubbing my face. The pain was beginning to creep up on my body. It was going to be a rough morning. “Who’s lead on the NYTF?”
“Ramirez is on duty tonight,” Lily said.
I cursed under my breath.
“Father?”
“Daughter,” she said. “This going to be a problem?”
Angel Ramirez, the Director of the NYTF was a by-the-books agent who, it seemed, planned to leave this earth behind his desk at NYTF HQ.
His daughter, Angela, was a good agent, with skill. She was a little high-strung, but that was to be expected when facing the supernatural. We didn’t exactly hate each, but we weren’t going to be sharing a mug of coffee anytime soon.
As far as the name went, I guess Angel was going to have a namesake no matter the gender. That was the kind of person he was.
“Angel and I are civil,” I said, looking southbound on the highway and staying close to the now incapacitated ogre. “Do I think he should lay off the caffeine? Definitely.”
“Says the person who drinks coffee as if it were water.”
“Death Wish coffee is mostly water, which makes it an excellent substitute,” I answered, seeing the blue emergency strobe lights in the distance. “Besides, I don’t drink that much.”
“Of course not,” she said. “Haven called and wanted to let you know they were classifying your blood type as dark roast negative.”
“Angela and I don’t always see eye to eye.” I said. “You know this. We have…history.”
“Yes, she is her father’s daughter and happens to believe in upholding something called the law,” Lily answered. “Even when the NYTF moves in what could be considered a morally gray area, she still thinks—”
“She needs to grow up, before she encounters someone or something that doesn’t believe in manmade law and completely disregards her morally gray area.”
Four NYTF squad cars approached the scene, with the fifth being an unmarked NYTF Interceptor.
They had their lights on, but kept the sirens quiet. Eight officers exited their vehicles and fanned out, locking down the area with cones and yellow barricade tape.
A woman exited the unmarked car and headed my way.
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