Kicking It(106)

“Wow, it’s dead here,” I said to no one in particular. I had my windows open, but there was no one on the street to hear me. It was like the sidewalks had rolled up at nightfall. Was there a curfew or—“Have the attacks scared you into your homes?”

There were smoke creatures in the shadows after dark. Not that I’d seen one. Yet.

That was why I was hunting tonight. We didn’t have enough intel on the creatures, and Derrick couldn’t dig up more. Short of a premonition hitting him, the only way we would learn what I was facing was if I bagged one. So, I hunted. Rather passively, unfortunately.

I’d rather have been on the street, but I had no idea how to track the creatures yet. No idea of the territory yet either as the places they’d been spotted appeared random. Which left me only one option—follow on the cops’ trail. So I waited, the Hummer parked to save gas instead of cruising the streets.

Efficiency. Great in theory. In practice I was bored. And my ass was falling asleep. I wanted to be moving, to be doing something. Anything.

I considered the neighborhood around me. I could roam, just a little ways, but I wouldn’t be able to respond as fast if the dispatcher put out a call about the creatures. I glanced from the neighborhood to the scanner and back again. “You couldn’t pay me to live here.” The monotony made the place so very boring. Of course, that same trait gave the residents a certain anonymity, and I excelled at going unnoticed. What with my average height and build and average shade of brown hair and eyes, people tended to forget me as soon as I was out of sight. And that was without adding in my various obfuscation charms. Shaking my head, I amended my earlier statement. “Okay, maybe you could pay me to live here. But I’d have to travel. A lot.”

That trivial decision made, I double-checked the charms and weapons I had on me. It was typically a calming activity, but tonight it didn’t cut through my impatience.

“Come on,” I said, shooting the scanner a hard stare.

As if my glare had power, the scanner crackled again before the dispatcher’s voice filled the Hummer.

“Attention all cars in the vicinity of Blossom and Noir, an unknown entity was spotted at—”

Finally.

—

I spotted the telltale blue lights that indicated I’d reached my destination long before the GPS could announce I’d arrived. The Hummer didn’t have lights or tags—obviously, as it was only a rental—but I still pulled it as close to Robin Street as I could. Then I parked in the middle of the street. Who was going to ticket or tow the Hummer while we chased a creature of unknown origin?

After jumping out of the vehicle, I forced myself to walk, not run, toward the largest gathering of cops. You don’t run toward groups of freaked-out people with guns. The situation rarely ended well. Some of the officers looked up at my approach, but it was the two plainclothes Anti–Black Magic Unit agents who moved to block my path.

“I’m sorry but this area is currently restricted. Please—,” a tall agent with ruffled blond hair told me. But I noticed he didn’t actually look at me; his attention was on something over my left shoulder.

Cutting him off, I pulled my badge and held it above my head. “I’m Inspector Darque from the MCIB.”

The intersection went silent at my announcement. Now the agent looked at me.

“Thank goodness,” a rookie cop said, breaking the silence.

I glanced at him. His caramel-colored skin looked slightly washed-out as if something had scared the blood from his face. He also barely looked old enough to be wearing a uniform. I gave him a smile and a wink as I pocketed my badge. After all, we were both paid to take risks, but I was paid very well to take the more extreme ones.

“Bring me up to speed,” I said as I approached the two ABMU agents. There were grumbles from several officers who clearly considered the scene theirs, but I was dealing with a magical enemy. Many of the officers were probably plain vanilla human norms without a drop of magic in their blood, maybe a few were witches, but the agents were guaranteed to be witches and were experienced in dealing with corrupt magic.

The tall agent looked me up and down, and the crinkling around his brown eyes told me he was less than impressed. He didn’t offer his hand, but said, “I’m Agent Tayler and this is Agent Kelvis. We have agents and officers on the other end of this street as well. The creature was active when the first responders arrived and they managed to get tape enchanted with a barrier spell laid and activated, so we hope we’ve trapped the creature. Unfortunately, two of the officers and one pedestrian were hurt before the barrier went up.”