Tyler focused on the tall dude before him with coal black eyes. Warm blood streamed steadily down the side of his face. He blinked, trying to clear the blur from the vision of his damaged eye.
"He had him a fancy wallet and no money." Black hat held his wallet out.
Tall dude took it and smiled, looking it over. The smile vanished and he glared at Tyler.
Shit.
Tall dude shoved the wallet in Tyler's face and leaned to put his own face just inches from Tyler's. "You know dese crackas motherfucka? Huh?"
Tyler grunted and struggled under the cold fingers suddenly crushing his throat. The guy holding him from behind was like an iron straitjacket.
"I'm going to choke the fucking life out of you right here unless you tell me where I can find that red motherfucker running this lawless outfit." The cultured tones of a man with education and money surprised Tyler. Whoever held him from behind wasn't like the other bangers there.
He jerked and thrashed, vision turning dark. His spirit began to slip out of his skin and he fought to hold it in. Shit. Why was it doing that?
The pressure left his throat and he fell to his knees to gasp and gulp cold night air into his fiery lungs.
The guy paced exactly before Tyler, only his expensive leather shoes and the bottoms of dress pants visible. "You have two seconds to talk."
Tyler nodded. He knew the rules. No negotiating, only buying minutes to live and think of another plan. "I can take you…" he coughed and gagged, "…can take you. To him."
Leather shoes guy bent and brought his face close to Tyler's, flashing his denture-perfect, brilliant white teeth. "That's more like it." He looked at Tall Dude standing next to him. "Take him to the house. Tie him up and beat that sweet cooperation out of him. Then beat the location out of him." Another pretty grin with a crushing hold on Tyler's face. "And if he's lying?" His shoulder twitched several times with a deranged excitement. "Beat him the fuck to death."
****
Kassie focused on the fear in Tyler. It was embedded into her psyche from the day she'd met him. She could taste it. Bitter and gagging. She looked around the city streets, following the scent. She was close. What would he be doing at a place like this? This was a very bad area. She could sense the evil everywhere. Something she seemed to have picked up from Lyght since….
Pain sliced through her chest at just the thought of him. Every time she tried to miss him, the crush of guilt chased it off until she had to stop and breathe through the avalanche. What was wrong with her? It was too much. What she was feeling wasn't normal. She figured out the second she landed in the city that something was wrong with her. How long had it been wrong and what exactly was it? Was she sick somehow and didn't know it?
She needed to get back to Lyght. At least let him explain these things to her so she'd know. If she had inherited some of his power, she needed to deal with it, not be a stupid whining bitch. Maybe she could use it to pay for this horrific crime she'd committed.
Kassie made her way into a building, following the sick smell. After several flights of stairs, she ventured down a hallway that was fit for a horror movie. One light bulb for a fifty foot stretch made it eerie as hell.
A heavy smacking sound came through a slightly open door just ahead. She half crouched and scooted to the wall and put her ear against the moldy cracked and peeling plaster.
"That's enough. Don't kill him yet. He'll be pissed if we don't get what he wants before the kid kicks it." The tough sounding voice reminded her of something from one of the cop shows Bill had enjoyed, with violent gangs and corrupt cops and a single good guy.
Another smacking sound, light this time. Kassie jerked away, heart slamming her chest. Someone was being beaten.
Tyler was very near. She could feel him. She looked all around, searching for a spot he could be hidden. There was nothing but his fear permeating the air.
God, please don't let it be him.
How could she find out?
Again she looked around, searching for something usable. A corroded looking sprinkler hung on the hall ceiling. A fire. She could light one, set the alarms and sprinklers off. They might leave the room long enough for her to get to their victim.
Damn it. She had nothing to light a fire with. She went several doors down and knocked.
As locks clicked and snicked, and the door opened up to a huge black dude in baggy jeans and a white wifebeater shirt, it hit Kassie. What a stupid idea.
The guy stared at her like she'd interrupted his last meal.
"Uh, hi. I was hoping you might have a cigarette." Dear God what was she thinking? Every instinct sounded major alarms in that second warning she had both feet ankle deep in a heaping pile of dumb shit. "You know what? Never mind." She waved a hand with a flirty airhead giggle. "Weak moment, trying to quit. I'm on my way to visit my mother." She pointed down the hall. "She lives here. I better get going before she gets pissed."