The Man Who Crossed Worlds (A Miles Franco Urban Fantasy) Read online

  The Gravedigger gave the bills a suspicious stare, but made no move to take them. He trapped his lip piercing between his teeth, chewed on it for a moment, then gave us each another look. “All right, get the fuck inside. Go talk to Brad Darney in the corner. He’ll set you right.”

  I tipped an imaginary hat to the man. “You’re a gentleman and a squire, good sir.” I feigned a step forward, then paused as if considering. “Say, you don’t happen to know if you’re got any good tail in there?”

  The Gravedigger’s face split into a grin that made me want to punch his lights out. “Matter of fact, just got some fresh meat in a few minutes ago. Young, perky.” He licked his lip piercing. “Might have to fight Brad for her though. He’s always looking for a bit of tight, clean pussy.”

  I shoved my hands back into my pockets to keep them from gouging out the smug fucker’s eyes. What I wouldn’t give for a pair of pliers and the chance to show that son of a bitch what I could do to those pretty little piercings of his.

  Desmond slapped me on the shoulder and gave me a warning look. “You hear that? Let’s get inside before all the good ones are snatched up.”

  He gave me a rough shove in the center of my back, and I grudgingly took a step forward. The Gravedigger gave me a funny look as I went past him. I told myself to be calm. I had more important things to defend than Tania’s honor.

  The inside of the bar was about the sort of hole I expected. Most of the bar’s inhabitants were smoking, giving the place a feel of unexplored rain forests. The bar’s patrons completed the look. They were predators, I could see it in their eyes.

  Most huddled over drinks or leered at the women—some human, some Vei—wandering around in skirts so short I wondered why they even bothered at all. Most of the women wouldn’t have made the cut in one of the Silk Dragon’s brothels—few of them had their entire collection of teeth—but standards must’ve been lower in this part of town.

  I got to admit, I was surprised how many people had stayed around drinking and whoring after the neighborhood had been blown half to bits. I suppose the ones that didn’t feel much like fighting had nothing better to do now. The bar contained humans and Vei in about equal numbers, though the Vei tended to be the dirtier ones, the ones that looked like they’d been inside a building that had come down on top of them. Many of them huddled around the bar, alone or in small groups, slapping back shots of alcohol like they were water.

  I met Desmond’s eyes, and he gave me a wide grin and a couple of raised eyebrows. I shook my head at his eagerness. The quiet life had ruined him.

  I tucked in my shirt, smoothed down my curls, straightened my lapels, and plunged into sweating mass of humanity. The rain and humidity gave everything a wet dog smell. I didn’t mind; it was perfume compared to all the corpses I’d been smelling lately.

  The dealer, Brad Darney, wasn’t hard to spot. He was a human man with his boots up on a table in the corner, one arm around a topless Vei woman while his hand groped her pale breast. In contrast to most Gravediggers, he went easy on the leather and spikes, sticking with jeans and an immaculately clean black shirt. Only a pair of studded gloves and a single cheek piercing indicated his allegiance.

  The booth was occupied by a few girls and someone who looked like a bodyguard. A loose crowd of well-dressed onlookers surrounded the booth. Occasionally one would trade a wad of cash for a vial or two from the bodyguard and steal away back into the crowd. A box sat on the table, stacked with vials. It drew the attention of everyone in the room, including me.

  That was when I saw Tania. She’d picked up an ill-fitting skirt and a shirt to go over her hospital gown. She was soaked through from the rain outside. Her hair was tangled and damp like the rest of her. She hovered just to the left of Darney’s booth while some sleazebag in a hooded sweatshirt pressed in close to her. She didn’t look at him, though. Her eyes were fixed on the box of Chroma. And she was closing in on it.

  “Ah, shit,” I said. “Des, can you run interference?”

  “On it.” He shouldered his way through the crowd toward Darney’s table while I went for Tania.

  The hooded guy reached for Tania, but she ducked under his arm and slipped out away. Swearing, he snatched at her again, but she kept on the move, sliding through the crowd to Darney’s table.

  I got to her a moment before she pounced like a jungle cat. She reached forward, arm snaking out from behind the bodyguard’s head, her fingers stretching for the Chroma.

  “The hell?” the bodyguard said. He spun in his chair, a snarl on his face.

  I wrapped my arms around her waist and yanked her backward. Her sunken eyes flashed to my face. “What are you doing?”

  There was a scuffle behind me, and I turned to find Desmond staring directly into the bodyguard’s face. It came complete with cauliflower ears and a permanently deformed nose, making him look like a boxer who’d lost more fights than he’d won. Delaney was standing, his hands clutched protectively around his Chroma, all attempt at class gone. The crowd in the immediate vicinity had gone quiet, the sort of quiet that comes on when everyone’s expecting a fight.

  Desmond glanced at me and gave me a smile small enough that only I’d see. He wiggled his hand a little, showing me the Pin Hole etched into a piece of custom brass, already splashed with Kemia. I nodded and took Tania by the hand. Desmond could handle himself against that chump.

  I, on the other hand, had the tough job. I had to get Tania away from the Chroma, and it wasn’t an idea she was taking to.

  “Let me go,” she shrieked, twisting her arm in my grip.

  I held on tighter and tugged her through the crowd. “No. I’m getting you home.”

  The hooded guy reappeared through the crowd and shoved his meaty palms against my chest. “That one’s mine,” he said, showing me his three gold-capped teeth. “Get your own.”

  I sighed. Fucking punk. “Wrong words, kid,” I said. “Wrong words.”

  I slugged him in the chin. My knuckles exploded with sweet, satisfying pain, as the chump stumbled backward and slammed into a group of young Vei men.

  The crowd immediately surrounding me immediately erupted into screams, but I didn’t stop to enjoy the ambience. I gripped Tania’s wrist tighter and kept moving.

  “I just wanted one, damn it.” Tania struggled against me, for all the good it did her. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

  “You’re not yourself.” I shoved through a small knot of gawking Vei women, not giving a damn what they thought. “Come on.”

  Another shout came from behind me, and I sensed Desmond opening his Pin Hole, chaos on the edge of perception. I glanced back through the crowd and caught a glimpse of him grinning. Plucky bastard was having way too much fun.

  I shoved Tania back out into the rain, a little rougher than I intended. The bouncer from before glanced at the girl then looked at me with a grin and a wink, and I just managed to refrain from kicking him in the kneecaps. I fixed him with a scowl instead and pushed Tania out around the corner.

  “I said let me go!” she said, and ripped her arm away from me.

  “Enough!” I roared. My face was growing hot, blood pounding through my head. Something in my expression shocked her into silence, and her eyes opened wide, her eyebrows disappearing up into her hairline.

  She stared at me for a few more seconds with that same look on her face, raindrops trickling down her face. She was shivering. Then she inclined her head and dropped her eyes. Her tongue darted out, licking her lips.

  “I didn’t want to leave the hospital,” she said, hugging herself. “I didn’t want to go with the cop, but he took me anyway.”

  I fought down a tightening in my chest, and I pulled her against me. “It’s okay. We’re going to get you home.”

  She pressed her head against my chest. “Okay, Miles. Whatever you say.”

  I started to breathe a sigh of relief, then I felt a subtle shift in weight in my jacket pocket. I slapped my hand to my side, trapping Tania’
s hand inside. “What are you doing?”

  The snarl returned. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand from my pocket. She was clutching the vial of Chroma I’d got off Ugly in Heaven.

  “Tania,” I whispered.

  She bared her teeth at me and struggled against my grip. I held tight. I couldn’t do anything else. I wasn’t angry anymore, or disgusted, or anything else. I was nothing.

  Tania’s anger slipped as I stared at her, then her face broke completely. Tears flooded her eyes and she collapsed into my arms, sobbing violently.

  I ran my hand down her damp hair. She was so small, like a little kitten out in the rain.

  My pocket started making noises. I almost didn’t notice at first, I was so far away. But something about the shrill ringing nagged at me, so I pulled O’Neil’s phone from my pocket.

  I answered the call.

  “O’Neil, where are you?” Todd’s voice was strained. “They ambushed me, and the girl got away. We’re changing up, and we’re doing it now.”

  “Detective, I’ve got some bad news for you about your Tunneler girlfriend.”

  There was a pause and an intake of breath. “Miles.”

  “Why’d you take Tania?” I clenched my teeth, refusing to let my rage boil over.

  “Listen to me you little piece of shit, do you know how much you’ve fucked everything? When I find you—”

  I hung up.

  “Miles.” I glanced over my shoulder to find Desmond standing behind me. “Is she…”

  I stroked her hair again, and she burrowed her face into my chest. “She’s okay. But I need you to take her back to the hospital.”

  He frowned a little. “What are you going to do?”

  I disentangled Tania from my arms and took the Chroma back from her. She resisted a little, then let go with a sob. I passed her over to Desmond.

  “Miles,” he said, louder this time. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to find Todd.”

  Tania collapsed into him, weeping. His eyes went wide and he grabbed me by the jacket with his spare hand. “What? Tell me you didn’t just say that.”

  “You heard me. I’ll deliver O’Neil’s phone to Vivian, then I’m going to track down Todd. I need to have a little face-to-face chat with him. Some things you just can’t say over the phone.”

  “You remember what happened last time you two had a chat?”

  “This is different.”

  “No, this is stupidity incarnate.”

  “Maybe.” I shoved my hands in my pockets and turned away.

  “Damn it, guy, don’t be an idiot. Why are you doing this?”

  “Because,” I said. “Just because.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  I left Desmond and Tania to get a cab while I took Desmond’s car. The drive went by in a blur of slick streets and distant gunfire. I was speeding, but no cops were going to bother pulling me over. They had more important things to worry about.

  I clutched O’Neil’s phone in my hand while I drove. There was no way in hell I was letting the thing out of my sight. It was all I had to get to Todd, and by God I was going to do it.

  I’d allowed that son of a bitch to hurt Tania too many times. I wasn’t going to do it again. This wasn’t even about Bluegate anymore, no matter the way my stomach burned every time I heard another building crashing down.

  Maybe the cops could stop Todd without me, maybe Vivian would get what she needed to take him down. But I couldn’t wait for that. I was going to give Vivian the cell phone and tell her everything I knew.

  Then I was going to track him down and bring him to his knees.

  I slammed on the brakes outside Vivian’s apartment, nearly losing control as I brought the car to a skidding halt. A passing pedestrian running to get out of the rain gawked at me, his mouth hanging open while he stared at my battered face. I slammed the car door behind me and ran up the stairs to Vivian’s building. I only hoped she was home. I’d never get to her in she was working, surrounded by cops. And going directly to any other police officers was out of the question. I didn’t trust them not to be working for Todd. Vivian was the only one I could rely on.

  I used a Pin Hole on the outside lock, took one look at the elevator, and sprinted up the stairs. They were still muddy with the bootprints of the armed police. That was one good thing about all this city-wide destruction; no cops would be spared to hang around Vivian’s place waiting for me to come visit. At least, I hoped there wouldn’t be.

  I reached the fourth floor and realized I couldn’t remember which apartment was hers. Then I spotted the fragments of wood on the ground and the still-shattered lock on apartment 402.

  “Vivian,” I called, pushing the door open. “You home? I got a present for you.”

  No response. I stood in the doorway, staring around. The cops had really given this place the once over. The apartment had been Spartan already, but the cops had trampled dirt over the bare wooden floor and knocked over the few pieces of furniture so it felt like I was in a haunted house out of some movie.

  I stood like an idiot for a few more seconds, then stepped inside, making for her bedroom. If she wasn’t here, I’d drop off the phone along with a note. Maybe she was asleep. God knows I would be if I had the chance.

  “Vivian?” I tried again.

  A muffled noise answered me this time. It hit me too late. I opened the bedroom door and took a step inside.

  Vivian lay on the bed, fully dressed, her normally perfect hair mussed and tangled around her face. She bore a fat lip that trickled blood and drool down onto her chin and the collar of her shirt. Her eyes were half-shut, and all I could see were the whites.

  No, no, no. My thoughts were already yammering as I followed her arms up above her head, to where her wrists were attached to the headboard with a pair of handcuffs.

  Fuck. No. She had to be alive. She was tough. Oh Jesus, who the fuck had done this?

  I took a step toward her. Then came a single, ominous click, the sort that only comes from a gun.

  “Easy, Miles,” Detective Todd said. “That’s enough.”

  I froze. Well, my legs did, but my hands had different ideas. They went for the Pin Holes in my pocket.

  “Don’t be a fuckwit.” Todd stepped out of the dark corner to my right, and I swear I could sense the bullet quivering in the pistol barrel. “I’m too jumpy to have you fiddling in your pockets. Come on, hands high.”

  I hesitated for a moment, then obeyed. Getting shot didn’t seem like a particularly heroic move right now.

  “Enjoying yourself, Todd?” I asked, eyeing Vivian. Her chest was rising and falling, but slowly. She was alive. Alive. I allowed myself to breathe. “Is destroying the city everything you thought it’d be?”

  He was nothing like the strong, confident cop in the interrogation room a couple of days ago. His face was drawn, as tired as mine must’ve been. The stubble on his cheeks had gone well past five o’clock shadow. His haggard eyes watched me—never looking at Vivian—and something in them made me shiver.

  “I knew you’d come talk to her sooner or later. Where is it?” he asked.

  “Where’s what?”

  “The phone.”

  “What phone?”

  He took a step forward and raised the gun to my head. “Don’t fuck with me, Miles.”

  “You’ll kill me if I give it to you.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. I haven’t decided yet. You pissed me off, but maybe I’ll give you a pass, if you play nice.”

  “What’ve you done to Vivian?”

  “She’s fine,” he said without looking at her.

  “She doesn’t look fine.”

  “I gave her a little something. She’ll be all right, as long as you do what I say.” He held out his hand. “The phone. Now.”

  Son of a bitch. I didn’t have a choice. “Right jacket pocket.”

  “Get it. Slow-like.”

  I lowered my hand slowly into my pocket, pulled out the ph
one.

  “Good,” he said, jerking his gun slightly. “Toss it.”

  I threw it to him, and he caught it with one hand.

  “Good,” he said again.

  He hurled the phone at the floor.

  “No!” I shouted.

  The phone shattered, sending bits of plastic flying in every direction. That was everything, everything I had. I took a step forward and got a gun in my face for my trouble.

  Todd shoved me back against the wall and stomped on the remaining bits of the phone. The crack went right through my skull and into my soul.

  I closed my eyes and fought back the twisting pain in my gut. “You done?”

  Todd gave the phone one more stomp. Vivian groaned and shivered, then she was still again. I needed to get her the hell out of here. Todd was crazy, and she was in desperate need of a doctor.

  “What did you think you were going to do, huh, Miles?” Todd asked. “You think this one little cell phone would turn everyone against me?”

  “I’m sure they’ll figure it out soon. Your eyes are too close together, classic criminal trait.”

  “You think you’re such a righteous little shit, don’t you?” He stabbed his finger toward me.

  “Not really, but it doesn’t take much to be more righteous than you.”

  He spat. “Fuck you, Miles. You think you’ve seen the underside of this city? You haven’t seen shit. I’ve spent hours searching the bodies of junkies that’ve got on the wrong side of someone or other. I’ve spent decades fighting the scum that rule these streets. I was first on scene when the twelve-year-old daughter of a Silk Dragon whore was kidnapped by a group of Gravediggers. Those sick fucks shoved the barrel of a .45 in her cunt and emptied the clip into her. I’m the only one who has the guts to do what it takes to save this city.”

  “It doesn’t look very saved to me. Damn it, Todd, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “For decades I did my job, did it clean. And my son paid the fucking price. I won’t let it happen again, Miles. Never again.” Todd shook his head and waved the gun at me. “But you, you had to go fuck everything. You motherfucker. You ruined everything.”