Death Touched Box Set: Urban Fantasy Romance

Chapter 2

2

The men marched up to her with the bandanna-attired holding back a few feet from the bleeding woman. His eyes were wide as his friend stooped and rifled through Nena’s pockets. The gunman lifted her up and yanked her bag off her shoulder.

“Jesus, Darryl, you didn’t have to shoot her. . .” he whimpered.

Darryl whipped his head up and glared at his trembling friend as he tossed the bag to his partner. The other man caught the bag in his trembling arms. “Shut up, Willie, and search her bag before the cops come.”

Willie swallowed the lump in his throat and knelt down to sift through the large bag. He had just pulled out her purse when something made him look up. The man froze when he caught sight of a shadowed figure at the intersection of the two alleys.

The stranger was about forty and stood as still as a gravestone. He was six-feet tall and wore a black overcoat that reached to the ground. The front was open to reveal black suit pants and a black vest that covered a black blouse. The coat had a high collar that wrapped around his neck and contrasted sharply with his pale skin. Black gloves adorned his hands, and in one he grasped the top of a black cane. Unlike his short messy black hair, the man’s face was thin and deathly white. A skull mask covered much of his features, but it couldn’t hide the person’s sunken eyes that glowed like cooling coals in a once-blazing fire. Those eyes fell on Willie and made his chilling blood freeze.

“D-Darryl!” he yelped.

Darryl raised his head and noticed the stranger. He stood and walked around Nena to face the stranger in a showdown. The punk raised the gun and pointed it at the interloper. “Get the f**k out of here. Now.”

The man shook his head. “I don’t wish to interfere. It’s too late, at any rate. I would ask as a small favor that your toy-” his eyes settled on the weapon pointed at him, “-be given to me.”

Darryl sneered at him. “Over your dead body.”

Their dark foe chuckled. “That is not an option. However-” he strode toward them with his cane clacking against the hard ground, “-I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist.”

A sick smile slipped onto Darryl’s lips. “You want the gun? Too f*****g bad. But I’ll give you a bullet.”

Darryl fired off six successive shots. The partners heard the bullets meet their target as metal buried itself into cloth. They could even see the man’s clothes indent with each hit, but the stranger himself didn’t notice any of the hits as he continued to walk toward them.

Darryl’s mouth dropped open as the man stopped four feet away from them. “What the f**k?”

The stranger stopped and smiled as he drew off one of his gloves. Beneath the cloth was only a hand of bones connected by some invisible method. “You have very precise aim, my young murderer, but I’m afraid you were shooting the wrong target.”

The stranger lunged forward and wrapped his bony fingers around Darryl’s throat. The thug screamed and dropped the gun to grab the other man’s arm as he was lifted off the ground. Willie scrambled back as Darryl’s body began to shake. Black smoke rose from his flesh as his skin melted away to reveal his bones. In a few short moments the stranger held a baggy-pants wearing skeleton.

Willie screamed and turned to flee, dropping the bag. His cries echoed through the night as he ran down the alley and disappeared around the corner.

The man sneered at the body in his grasp and tossed the skeleton to the side. He stooped and picked up the gun before turning his attention to the woman.

Nena was still alive, but each labored breath was slowly ticking down to her last. Her vision was blurry, but not so bad that she didn’t see what had happened. That’s why she cringed when the man stepped up to her and knelt by her side. His dark eyes studied the bloody hole in her chest over her heart before his gaze moved up to her pale face.

A soft smile graced his lips as he grasped her left hand and slipped the gun into her cold fingers. “This will hurt but for a short time, and then you will feel nothing.”

Nena’s lips moved, but no sound came out as he raised his bone hand and lay his fingers over her forehead. Her eyes widened and she let out a strangled gasp as a deep cold seeped into her body. He lay his gloved hand on her chest as her body twitched and jerked against the chill that invaded her form. Every prick of cold was like a dagger buried deep into her flesh. Her breathing quickened. Each short breath was a fight against death.

Then she stopped. Nena’s body fell back against the ground as her breathing ceased. Her eyes were open, but they no longer saw anything.

The stranger removed his hand from her forehead and closed her eyes. He brushed away a strand of her hair from her face and cupped her cheek. His voice was soft and low as he studied her pale face with that peculiar smile of his. “Wherever your adventures lead you, hold tight to the gun.”

The man stood and once again covered his hand with the glove. He cast his gaze one last time over Nena’s still form before he turned and walked toward the wall opposite where she lay. A dark swirling portal twenty feet tall and as wide opened in the wall. He paused in its mouth and half-turned to glance at the still body.

A noise down the alley made him look in that direction. He chuckled and returned his attention to Nena. “They’re coming. Be brave, Nena, and farewell.” He stepped into the portal and disappeared. The swirling darkness closed behind him.

The alley was quiet for all of a half minute before a black car with red license plates skidded to a stop at the mouth. The front passenger door opened and out stepped a young man. He wore a tan overcoat over a pair of jeans and a plain white shirt. His hands were hidden by a pair of black gloves like those worn by the previous stranger. Between his lips was a short cigarette. He took a long puff and tossed away the remains before he looked over the area.

“He would be hiding out in a dump like this,” he commented with a shake of his head. He glanced at the opposite side of the car and banged on the roof. “Are you coming out or do I get to play with him alone?”

The driver door opened and a pale man of thirty exited the vehicle. He was tall and thin, and dressed in a formal black suit with a pair of shades over his eyes. A string hung around his neck and at the end hung a small white bag with a slight bulge at the bottom. His lips were tightly pursed as he studied the mouth of the alley. “The sensors indicate he is no longer in the area.”

“Typical,” the other guy replied as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and helped himself to another. He lit the end and tucked the lighter into his overcoat pocket. “How big was this portal supposed to be?”

“Large enough to drive a truck through its mouth,” the other man replied. He watched as his companion took another long puff and frowned. “That is not healthy for you humans.”

The other man chuckled, but tossed the half-finished cigarette away. “I don’t think that’s what’s going to get me. Anyway, let’s see if he left anything behind.” He took a step forward, but paused and glanced over his shoulder at his companion who didn’t move. “He is gone, isn’t he?”

The pale man swept his gaze over the area and nodded. “Yes, but-” he looked down the alley and frowned, “-there is something down there.”

The other man arched an eyebrow. “What’s that mean?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know myself.”

The smoker sighed and tucked his hands in his jeans pockets. “All right, let’s see what he left us.”

The pair walked side-by-side into the alley and stopped five feet from where Nena and the skeleton lay. Her blood was spread across half the alley. The thug’s body still smoldered. The whole place wreaked of death.

The man in the overcoat shook his head. “Jesus Christ. What’d he do to them?”

The pale man strode over to the skeleton and knelt down beside the body. He turned the neck over and brushed his pale fingers across the throat. “He burned away the flesh and organs.”

The other stranger knelt beside Nena and looked over her blood-stained body. He pressed two fingers against her neck for a moment before he shook his head. The gun in her hand caught his attention. He pried the gun loose and popped out the cartridge. “Still hot. This must’ve been what did her in. Funny, I didn’t think human weapons were his style.” He returned his attention to Nena and studied her face before he shook his head. “Too bad. She was a real looker.”

“Death does not care for beauty or age,” his partner commented as he joined him. His brow furrowed as he looked over Nena. “This is strange.”

The smoker frowned at his partner. “Come on, Pete, you know I hate it when you do that.”

The pale man pressed his palm against her forehead for a brief moment before he drew back. “She is not dead.”

The other man arched an eyebrow. “I felt her pulse. There’s nothing there.” Pete tapped her eyelid. Nena flinched, but her eyes remained closed. The other man’s eyes widened and he looked back to his partner. “A vampire?”

Pete shook his head. “No, but she is between worlds.”

He returned his attention to Nena and pursed his lips. “Death Touched.”

Pete nodded. “I believe so.”

The other man pocketed the gun and lifted Nena into his arms. “Let’s take her with us. Doc’ll want to take a look at her.”

Pete stepped in front of him, blocking him from the mouth of the alley. “That is not the protocol. Those who are Death Touched must be-”

“I know the protocol, but we can’t just leave a lovely young woman out in the cold,” the other man argued.

“Even one he has touched?” Pete countered.

His partner pursed his lips. “Yeah, even one he’s touched. Besides, we’ll have Doc confirm what you said.”

“And Scratch?” Pete reminded him.

The other man frowned. “If I know him then he’ll have a plan for her, but at least she won’t be out here wandering the streets alone, and you and I know that would be a worse idea than taking her with us.”

He pushed past Pete and strode toward the car. Pete frowned and glanced over at the skeleton. He drew out a black plastic bag and stuffed the bones inside. A short stop to grab Nena’s purse, and he followed his partner to the car. Nena was set gently in the back seat and the bag was deposited in the trunk before they drove off, leaving only her blood as evidence anything had ever happened.