Darkest Before the Dawn (male/male)

Barty

Sometimes I forgot that Goldie enjoyed, more than almost anything, to throw herself into a project with everything that she had. It could be painting a room or sewing a new shirt or even cooking her favorite vegan meals. She was the one who initially got me into mushroom-based hamburgers. Her focus now laid on the vampire sitting with her in the backseat, mumbling at her to stop messing with his hair. “Just give me another minute,” she insisted after her previously requested minute ended.

“You only have about four minutes until we get Madeline,” I warned, navigating the roads of Atlanta as best as I could in the rainy darkness.

“Don’t remind me,” Felix said, adding an “ow” after Marigold jabbed him in the forehead with her purple fingernails. “Can you be done yet?”

“You don’t have the look quite yet. Something is missing.” From my rearview mirror, I saw the nymph furrow her eyebrows, the overhead light from my car casting a faint glow on the two of them, Felix’s skin glowing from the white light shining on him. “You said Marigold told you to look like an old mobster. You’re too cute for that. Don’t you think, Barty?” If I weren’t driving, I would have pushed her out of the car.

“I don’t know what to tell you. I never went for that whole mafia lifestyle in all my years.” Goldie had put pomade in his hair and parted it down the side, then somehow managed to get him dressed in a velvet three-pieced suit. I almost missed his cardigans and wingtip boots on him since that suited his personality and looks. Underneath the red velvet, he was still a vampire that had the lethality of a marshmallow.

“Well you should figure it out since we’re here,” I suggested, pulling into the driveway of the chief of police for Atlanta. She had offered to take Madeline the night before to keep an eye on her until we could pick her up for the BRF meeting. In the past six days since Goldie and I had been staying in Stone Mountain and Atlanta, I had become relatively friendly with the head of the police force, reinforcing the idea that Madeline was evil and needed to be watched closely. “I’ll go—”

“I got her,” Goldie said, already opening her door. “Madeline’s neutral towards me. You stay here and try to help Felix look tough.” She closed her door behind her and knocked on my window as she passed, winking at me when I looked up at her. I should have just left her. It would have been easier.

“I want to ask a question that may sound rude,” Felix said from the back. He had readjusted his position so that his right leg was crossed over his left one, and he had a stony expression that suited what he was going for. He waited until I rolled my hand at him, encouraging him to go ahead. “During the interview last week, your magic started going off. I’ve never felt anything like that before. In fact, that was the first time you’ve used your magic around me. Is that normally how demon magic works or is yours a special case?” The way he said it confirmed he already knew the answer.

I sighed and tried not to roll my eyes. All my life, there had been some questions about my magic, and they were never fun to answer. A week ago, before getting this investigation and working more closely with Felix, I would have told him to fuck off and mind his business. I still wanted to try that. But he had opened up to me some about Madeline. It was only fair.

“Sometimes in demonic families when there’s one extremely powerful demon, which would be my dad, the magic that’s inherited by the kids is a little spazzy. It isn’t an equal division of magic between all of the kids, like how some kids look identical to one parent but nothing like the other. Cadence got the typical magic, where she can use it whenever she wants, however she wants. Meanwhile, I got some bullshit magic where I can only use a little at a time, or have it all come out at once during times of high emotion.”

“Like the interview.”

“Like the interview,” I agreed. “If I don’t control my magic during those times, it goes off like a nuclear bomb, which is a fun way of saying that I don’t really know what will happen. It fucking sucks.” And then I waited for the judgement. There was always judgement from others, asking if I was safe to be around if I couldn’t get a grip on my own magic. It was how I lost half my friends as a kid. Goldie had been the first person in a while not to shy away from me.

Felix shrugged one of his shoulders and cracked a smile, quickly erasing the impassive persona he had temporarily created. “I thought it was really incredible. The absolute power behind it reminded me of my first drink of blood, where my senses felt so alive and my whole body was shrouded in this tingling, electric feel. But this was so much more than that, l-like my whole body was made of this amazing energy that I never wanted to shut off.”

Niceties were never my forte, which is why I just mumbled, “you should scowl again”, something he was already doing after not getting the response he expected from me. I would rather have him say how terrifying my magic was and how he couldn’t trust me not to blow up on him because at least then, I wouldn’t feel as exposed as I did now. I was thankful when Goldie finally emerged from the chief of police’s home, guiding Madeline, vines tied around the vampire’s wrists to prevent her from doing anything stupid.

“Let’s get this over with,” Felix mumbled, fumbling with his cufflinks as Marigold held the passenger door open for Madeline.

“You look wonderful,” Madeline purred, twisted around to look at Felix. “I wish you would dress like this all the time. You know, velvet is making a return to modern fashions.”

She was wearing her own eighties outfit, adorned in a bubblegum pink pantsuit with black piping, like a murderous, Chinese Barbie doll. Her hair was flat ironed, falling sleekly on her shoulders. I didn’t feel dressed up enough for her or Felix. Joggers and an old black T-shirt can really do that to a guy.

While I was driving, Goldie was getting the other two set up with our monitoring devices from our “spy kit” as my partner put it. “Since you naturally have good hearing, you don’t have to put the earpiece directly into the ear canal,” she explained to Felix, lifting up his suit jacket from behind to set the wires in the right places. “We’ll put everything around your collar. Madeline, since Felix is with you, you don’t need any equipment. Just act exactly like you would at these meetings.”

“I’m always on my best behavior with Felix around,” she swore, turning her head to try to look at vampire again, who was currently trying to pin his own microphone on the inside of his collar. “I do hope you’re ready to be with your own kind again, though. I worry for you. Sometimes these meetings do get a little out of hand, depending on who’s attending.” She carefully rifled through her handbag, wrists still bound, fishing out a tube of red lipstick. “Stay by me, and you’ll be safe.” The vanity mirror was opened, the lights making her skin glisten as she applied a fresh coat of lipstick. “And I assume when we leave, we’ll stay with you two and head to Mazerene tomorrow evening?”

“That’s the plan,” I said absentmindedly, traveling down a narrow sideroad, the pavement slick from the storm from earlier. “With the understanding that if you try to leave—”

“I’ll be set out in the sunlight, I know. Felix warned me when we got here last night. He wanted to be sure that I wasn’t going to hurt your liaison.” She studied me for a moment, her stare intense and uncomfortable. I considered the possibility that it may have been too dramatic to slam on my breaks to get her to stop ogling. “I am a little offended that you let Felix stay with you last night, but not me. I missed him.”

My foot hovered over the brake pedal before I reminded myself that Goldie was in the car and would probably go flying through the windshield if I crashed the car on purpose. “Felix isn’t a criminal who’s out on a temporary pass to catch a cult that he’s trying to leave. That description only applies to one person in this car.” And it wasn’t necessarily like this big sleepover or anything. I slept on the couch while Goldie stayed up with Felix, the two of them hiding away in the hotel bedroom and watching old Friends reruns. Madeline would’ve bothered me all night.

“Keep that up, and I may end up suffocating you with your pillow while you sleep tonight, jiàn. Now slow down so you can find a parking spot.” We were closer to our hotel than I had anticipated, just walking distance from Downtown Atlanta. The building had once housed a life insurance company that had long since been out of business. The large building was still in good condition, probably having been renovated by the city in recent years. The doors and windows were boarded up from the inside, black and white photos of what I assumed to be old Atlantan founders on the boarding, preventing light from coming in or going out.

“I’m gonna park in the parking lot right there,” I said, pointing to the dirt lot that had a few cars in it. Most importantly, it was about fifty feet from the front door of the building in case things went sour for Felix. “Before you go inside, make sure we can hear you. Don’t go inside until I confirm that.”

“You act like this is the first time I’ve done espionage,” Felix teased, opening his car door after Madeline got out.

“Wait, what?” I called to him as he let the door slam shut. “Is he more interesting than he lets on?”

Goldie blew air between her lips in a half-hearted laugh. “I’ve been telling you that for months. He had this whole life before becoming a vampire.” Carefully, she wormed her way between the two front seats and landed herself comfortably next to me. “I miss this. We haven’t done a stakeout in a while.”

“Fuck, I think the last time we did was for that affair for those werewolves. Remember that you had to seduce the husband?” I teased, getting a groan from her.

“Don’t remind me about him, oh my god. He smelled like expired milk and cheap cologne. I literally don’t know how he ended up with so many mistresses.” She pretended to gag then got out her laptop, pulling up the program that traced sounds and positioning. “We’re all connected and that they’re by the door. We should be hearing from Felix in a moment.”

“I’m glad I’m here,” Felix said to Madeline, voice carrying through the speakers on the computer and in my earpiece. “We should go ahead inside.”

“You’re good, we hear you,” I responded quickly. On his side, there were two voices, one belonging to Madeline. She and a male were talking lowly to each other, too quiet for the microphone to pick up. Then there was the creaking of wood, a soft hum of talking, and the faint tinkling of piano keys.

“It’s wonderful in here,” Felix mused, the wonder strong in his voice. It was hard thinking of him as some deadly creature when he spoke like that. What struck me more was that he had an accent now, somewhere between British and the one I knew him with. His rs were more like ahs, and my head snapped to Goldie for an explanation. “Is the wallpaper original?”

“Told you, whole other life before become a vampire,” she explained gently, opening the document of notes. “He used to live in Sussex, then moved here in the forties.”

“Hopefully, you didn’t tell them too much about me,” Felix said from his line, hinting at Marigold to stop talking. It heightened my curiosity about him and the warm flow of his words. “I do wish you would have told me there would be so many people, however. There’s about. . .” He did that humming thing again, still obnoxious. “Fifty people here? I was expecting a lot less. One could even call that deceptive, you know.”l

“It wasn’t intentional,” Madeline murmured, close enough to Felix that I could hear the tinkling of her dangling earrings as they moved. “I thought there would be less people since Adrianna only said they had reached out to a dozen vampires when I spoke with her on the phone. Is that a problem?”

“It’s not ideal.”

“Do you need me to move in closer?” I asked, already giving the keys to Goldie if she needed them. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the building filled with vampires since it sounded like a suicide mission, but I’d get flack from Felix or Goldie if I didn’t try to help.

“I think as long as you stay nearby, Madeline, I’ll feel a lot better about this,” Felix said coyly, giving me my sign.

“That’s all you,” Goldie said, her hand trying to tuck locks of hair behind her ear, despite her yellow curls being tied into a bun on the top of her head. She had warned me this whole week that this was making her antsy, the possibility of me ending up in the hospital again reminding her of why she hated some aspects of her job. “Be safe. I’ll kill you if you get hurt.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I agreed, saluting her with two fingers and checking for my gun strapped to my calf with the other hand. The night shrouded me as best as it could with the surrounding streetlamps and my stupidly bright hair, so I had to rely on the shadows to better help myself. The old insurance building had two parts: the main building where Felix and Madeline had gone into, then a second one that was taller and closer to the road with a Greco-style façade. I can always appreciate neoclassical buildings since Hell was largely designed with them. They reminded me of home.

Next to the building that reminded me of not-so-enjoyable times, there were a few oak trees, tall and sprawling. The tree was a relatively simple climb, even for someone with low magic. The roof, because of how flat it was, made it easy to get to, though my foot slipped on the decorative entablature of the building and made me curse in a way that would have earned me a slap from Cadence.

“Are you okay?” Goldie asked in my ear when I made it to the flattop.

“I survived,” I assured her, settling near the edge of the building to keep an eye on the one Felix was in. “I’m here when you need me, Felix.” I didn’t get any response from his end, probably trying not to ruin his cover.

“Are your four here?” he finally said, asking Madeline about the younger vampires who had actually done the murders.

“Two of them are, Adrianna and Layla.” Her voice was a little more distant now, still near enough to know that we needed to hear her. “Layla’s the tall blond over there, and Adrianna is the shorter blond. Charlie and Peter should be around here somewhere since they follow around those girls like lost dogs. Should I introduce you?”

“Not yet.” I heard my words echo as Felix said the same thing. I almost wanted to change my mind just to give a different answer, but it wasn’t the right call. “Adrianna is the one who took care of Luis, right?” Felix asked softly.

“She’s the one,” I responded quickly, mentally reviewing the notes from our first interview with Madeline. Dryness struck my throat, knowing that the people who had presented such brutality to demons were only about fifty feet from me. Multiple different means of torture darted through my brain: removing their eyes and fangs, locking them in a preheated oven, sending them straight to Hell to deal with my dad. Listening to my dad talk about Hell’s history and war codes was enough to drive anyone insane.

“So do we mingle or—” Felix started, then was cut off when Madeline started cooing over someone.

“Madeline, it’s so nice to see you here!” A new voice entered into their inner circle, male and younger sounding, like a guy who barely escaped high school. My guard immediately shot up, anticipating Felix to need me soon.

“You too, Peter. Where’s Charlie?” Madeline’s voice was tight, almost as tight as my clenched jaw. Peter. This was another one of the four, the one who thought it was okay to take the eyes, nails, and horns from Penelope and Luis, possibly from Eli, the latest victim. Peter thought it was okay to take features off demons. I’d keep that in mind.

“He had something to do. I’ll tell you about it in a bit. Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

“Elliot,” Felix responded quickly, using his last name. When he first started at MMES, I had made fun of his double first names, but I saw the benefit in not having to remember an alias.

“Nice to meet you. Maddie, does he know about…?” The voice trailed off at Peter’s question.

“He does, yes,” Madeline quickly responded. “He’s trustworthy. I figured since he wanted to check out the Foundation, I should fill him in on our vision for the future. It’s been so freeing being able to talk to him about all of this since we’re not keeping it as secretive anymore.” She could probably convince a nun that she was pure with all the charisma she had wrapped around her words. If this was how she talked to Felix when they first got together, there wasn’t any question about why he had been so entranced by her. “Have you told Richard about what’s happened? I haven’t gotten the chance to ask him.”

“Yeah, we contacted him last week to let him know.” There was silence for a moment. “Then is it okay to ask why you two smell like demon?” This was quieter, like Peter was speaking out of the side of his mouth.

Felix was a quick responder. “We made a stop on the way here. That mother and child duo over in Stone Mountain. Madeline told me about them on the way here. I wanted to see why she was so excited.”

“Oh, man, so you were a demon virgin?” Calling it that was almost enough to make me puke. There was a term for it now. They murdered a minor, and there was a term for it.

“Uh, y-yes, if that’s what it’s called.”

“Oh, wow. We wanted to stop there last week, but there were a lot of cops in the area. Did you have the kid or the mom? She’s a whole demon, so I’m surprised you took her out.”

“The girl was home alone. We scouted the area to wait until we had our chance and what better opportunity than a child by herself?” Madeline actually sounded disgusted with herself for a moment, then suppressed it as best as she could. “Well, you would know. You took that sixteen-year-old last week, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, that kid. He was coming home from school or something, so he was easy prey. Like I thought adult demons tasted great, but there was something even more delicious in someone who hasn’t been tainted.” It took every fiber of my being to not go down there and destroy the place and almost everyone inside, magic or not. “So how was it then?”

Felix paused, possibly trying to concoct something that didn’t sound unbelievable. “Oh, it was wonderful. Far better than human blood. The magic in the blood gave it a little extra…” Ah, what a man of words.

“A little zing, right?” Peter offered, laughing. “Nah, you don’t get that with humans, not even kids. It’s so much warmer and richer, like melted chocolate. I felt so much more powerful after drinking from them. That kid’s blood, though, was top notch. We definitely want to try it again.”

“You’ll have to call us when you decide to go out. But, unfortunately, Peter, I’ve made my appearance, so now I think it’s time we get back home. Elliot has this nice little home in the foothills, and I’d like to spend some time alone with him. Tell the girls sorry that I couldn’t stick around, but we want to get home.” Madeline’s voice was quick, even if she didn’t realize it. Her panic was starting to overwhelm her.

“Before you go, I’ll let you in on what Charlie is doing. When he was doing his patrols, he smelled a demon around here. Like it’s Atlanta, so there’s plenty, I’m sure, but this was close. And apparently really strong. Like whole demon level.” Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Barty, get out of there,” Goldie urged in my ear.

“Can you take us to Charlie, then?” Felix asked, urgency in his voice. I hated that the roles were reversed and that he was now thinking he had to come to my rescue.

“I was hoping you’d ask. There’s no way just Peter can take it in alone. Come on.”

“Barty!” Marigold sounded frightened, bringing me back to four years before when I had ended up in the hospital. I had promised not to scare her like this again.

“How’s it going?” The scent caught me as quickly as the voice. I wasn’t alone on this roof anymore.

Fortunately, playing dumb had kept me alive thus far in life. “Hey, man. Sorry, is this your place? I didn’t know it was privately owned by anyone.” I rose from my crouching position, exposing my hands to the interloper so he saw that I was, at least visibly, harmless.

He was on the stocky side, like an elf I knew once. He even had a tufty ginger beard. I could probably put my hand on his forehead and keep him at arm’s length to prevent him from touching me. The thin scar across his cheek and nose bridge confirmed that this was Charlie, a reminder that Penelope had a final attack before her death. “Oh, no, please stay. What are you doing?”

There really was no logical answer since most people didn’t spend their time on the roofs of historical buildings. “Uh, ghost hunting. You know, haunted Atlanta and everything.”

“On the roof?”

“Yeah, man, roof ghosts.” In my ear, Felix again covered his laugh with a cough. He’d be giving me hell about that later.

“Uh huh.” He came a little closer, meaning he took one large step for him. Like, was I really tall or was he just a short dude? “See, you don’t really seem like a ghost hunter. You smell better than a human would.”

“Is there a particular smell to them? Sweat and fear? I mean, I have a good cologne so maybe that’s what you’re smelling.” I had nine bullets in the clip of my gun, safely fastened on my leg, hidden by my pants. For some reason, I felt cocky and hadn’t filled the clip before leaving the safety of my car, while also feeling sure enough of my abilities to not have drawn the weapon already. Just had to be faster than a vampire. It’s fine. I had this.

“No, no cologne smells like you. This is much better. Your heart rate seems to have picked up some, too. Are you scared?”

“Did you not hear me say roof ghosts?” As long as I kept him talking, I was safe. I only had to buy Felix a few moments.

“You’re funny, demon, I’ll give you that.”

“Funny enough to walk away from this?”

“Not that funny.”

“My comedy is never good enough.” Crouching to retrieve the gun, I found myself hyperaware of how stupid I had been when I couldn’t roll my pants up quicker than it took for Charlie to cross the roof to get to me. It would have taken me even longer to undo the safety, so when I got the gun out of its strap, I ended up smacking the elf-vampire guy in the mouth with the butt of the gun, a growl escaping before a pained wail. “Didn’t mean to pistol whip you, but it works.”

“I’ll fucking kill you,” he hissed, his thumb catching the blood that had formed from the new wound on his lip.

“I’ve been given explicit permission to beat your ass by my boss, man. This is on you.” The safety was off, my aim was taken.

“Do not shoot your gun in the middle of downtown Atlanta, Mew, or so help me, you’re filing that paperwork, not me.” I thought Felix’s voice was coming in through my earpiece until I realized I heard him in both ears. Seeing him had never brought me comfort, but on that roof, with him standing next to Madeline and the other vampire, Peter, whose hands were in chains, filled me with relief. “Marigold, we could use you up here, if you can climb that tree. We’ll help you up.”

“Sure thing!” my partner chimed in my ear.

“And what is this?” Charlie asked, holding his arms open, probably exasperated. “Madeline, what the hell? Who are these people?”

“We’re with the Mazerene Magical Enforcement Squad, and we’re arresting you due to involvements in the murder of—” Felix started, then was interrupted by Peter.

“We’re being arrested for killing those demons,” the chained vampire said to his friend. “Madeline set us up, the stupid bitch.”

“Woah, no need to call a woman a bitch. It’s the twenty-first century,” I chided, lowering my gun. From the corner of my eye, because I have such amazing, keen senses, or because Charlie was just shitty at being stealthy, I saw his right leg twitch, probably hoping to make an escape. Flinging my pistol aside, sending it skidding across the graveled roof, I pounced on Charlie, easy to do given how short he was. He laid sprawled beneath me, my hands tight on the crooks of his elbows and my knees on either side of his hips. “Where did you get that chain from?” I called to Felix.

“It was on a door in this building beneath us. Marigold can get a vine going for Charlie’s bindings.” He glanced at the oak tree next to the building, both of us hearing the quiet complaints and groans of the nymph. “As soon as she gets up here.”

“She’s probably apologizing to the tree.” She was taking forever, though. “So Atlanta is nice, right?” I asked Charlie, nodding encouragingly.

“Shut the fuck up. What are you going to do with us?” he asked, glaring up at me.

“Well, see, that isn’t up to me because if it was, you would’ve been dead already. That’s up to that guy over there.” I popped my head towards Felix, appearing nothing short of amused at my behavior. He hadn’t seen me work before, I remembered. He didn’t understand that, on the inside, I was panicking, my heart thudding heavily against my ribs, that my head was spinning with my next steps while waiting for Goldie. He didn’t know that the nonchalant, aloof front that I put up was my way to stop any fear from displaying. “What can I do with this guy?”

“We have to bring them for questioning,” Felix said, rolling his eyes. “Although they have to understand that we don’t necessarily have to abide by the Geneva Conventions for torture processes in questioning.” A lie, but they believed it. “If they’re not following your directions and complying with your demands, I won’t stop you from taking an eyeball or something. Eye for an eye, right?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Peter asked, now struggling in the chains Felix had wrapped around him.

Felix leaned in closely to him, a wicked grin now settled on his face. It was a side of him that I was impressed to see. “Do you want to find out? Mew over there is dying to repay you the favor of killing those demons. I have half a mind to let him do it.” His head tilted some towards the tree at the same time that he shoved Peter to the ground, the younger vampire taking a tumble, unable to do anything besides writhe, his arms chained to his sides. “Oh, let me help you up, Marigold.” He extended his arms to help the yellow-haired nymph up to the roof, pulling her in for a brief hug.

“Well isn’t that just sweet,” Charlie growled beneath me.

“Let them have a moment. Shut up,” I hissed. “Felix, what body parts regrow on a vampire?” Because those fangs in Charlie’s mouth were looking mighty pointy and so easily removable.

“Everything. We’re like weirdly designed lizards. It makes cutting my hair infuriating.” He raised an eyebrow at me, coming closer now that he didn’t have to worry about Peter and Marigold was safe here with us. “Why, you want to do something?” He knew I was bluffing. Last week, he had done so much to remind me of the importance of my actions on the job when I was moments away from killing his ex-girlfriend. Still, I appreciated that he could let me have a moment to mentally torment the vampire beneath me.

I mean, I had half the group right here on the roof with me. If it wasn’t for my career, I certainly would have extinguished their lives already. All my instincts were telling me to do it, to just rip out their throats and then tie them to the pipes along this roof to let them burn in the sunlight. That was almost too kind for them. “You’re incredibly lucky that my boss is here or you would have been a husk of a body already,” I whispered to Charlie. “I want to rip open your body and leave it for vultures to eat, and if you somehow get released from this, I will make it my personal mission to make your life Hell. I was born there, so I know how to.”

Charlie opened his mouth, wide, like he was going to scream. I slapped my hand over his mouth and shook my head. “Shhh, no screaming. They couldn’t scream, so neither can you.” And if I dug my nails in a little too much to cut the flesh of his cheeks, well that’s just part of the method of keeping him quiet.

After Marigold got Charlie all tied up with the vines she was able to create from her hands, we set to work on getting the two bound vampires from the roof down to the ground. “Would it be rude to just, you know, throw them?” Madeline asked, sneering. “It isn’t like they wouldn’t survive it.”

Felix glanced at me and Marigold, then spun around, seemingly interested in the bank next door. “If I don’t see it, I don’t know about it,” he said softly.

Goldie and I glanced at each other, then shrugged. “We’ll head to Mazerene with you tomorrow to help take these two in since you also have to make sure Madeline gets back safely,” I offered, on my knees to start rolling Peter towards the edge of the roof. I couldn’t harm him much but getting him to drop from this height was better than nothing. “For tonight, we’ll keep an eye on them at the hotel. I promise not to beat them.” At that promise, I heaved Peter’s flailing body up onto the railing, then carefully pushed him over the side.

He landed with a hard “thump”, and it was almost satisfying.