Bane's Edge Read online

  Bane’s Edge

  A Piper & Payne Supernatural Thriller Book 2

  John P. Logsdon

  Christopher P. Young

  Chapter 1

  Prison breaks were usually contained to the Netherworld, but now and then the convicts made it topside. That had happened just a couple weeks back with Gallien Cross, but he was just an isolated incident. This time we had an entire contingency of djinn on the run in Vegas.

  Fortunately, there were a number of Retrievers helping to collect the escapees. Unfortunately, Reaper and I were among them.

  “He’s straight ahead, Reap,” I said through the connector while pointing at the far edge of the parking lot. The connector was a device implanted in every Paranormal Police Department agent’s brain. Well, everyone but Reaper. His was connected to his specialized tattoo. “You take the inside wall and I’ll go wide.”

  “Got it,” he replied, stopping to peer over his sunglasses at me. “Piper, try not to kill him. My rent is due.”

  Two things: First was that Reaper wore sunglasses at night, not because he was a fan of that song from the eighties, but because his eyes glowed like a couple of lanterns in a dark cave. It had something to do with him being a reaper…and, yes, I mean one of those guys who ferries the dead to the great vortex in the sky or whatever it was. Secondly, we got paid a base salary plus commissions. Our salaries sucked, so commissions were where we made the majority of our income. A dead perp only gave us a twenty-five-percent commission, but we got the full bounty on any runners we brought back alive.

  “That’s up to our inked pal over there,” I replied noncommittally.

  Our mark was on the upper-level parking lot at the Palm’s Hotel and Casino. This level of the lot was pretty barren, which was good since I didn’t like having to deal with normals in a firefight.

  I moved slowly, wishing there were a few cars I could hide behind. Sneaking around with nothing to cover you wasn’t easy.

  The only real thing we had going for us was that these escaped djinn were some of the most arrogant pricks I’d run into in quite some time. In fact, I’d already killed three of them tonight due to their inflated egos.

  I glanced over at Reaper.

  Okay, so maybe I was a little trigger-happy now and then, but better the bad guy get killed than me, right?

  No, that wasn’t fair. The fact was that I couldn’t be killed. I was immortal, and so was Reaper. Different reasons, obviously. I wasn’t a reaper. My immortality stemmed from an event that happened during my childhood. But I couldn’t think about that at the moment. I had to keep focused on the task at hand. Immortal or not, getting shot sucked.

  We closed in on the guy, who seemed to be digging through a lonely white pickup truck near the industrial fans.

  “He’s not paying attention, Reap,” I said. “I’m going to move in behind the truck. You loop around the other side.”

  He didn’t reply, but I saw him pick up his pace.

  With any luck, we’d have this guy wrapped up and sent down in the next minute or two. That all depended on how cooperative he’d be. I had to admit that it would be nice to get a full commission on him.

  “Is he trying to steal the truck?” asked Reaper.

  “I thought so at first,” I replied as I closed in, “but now I’m not so sure. He’s digging around in the back and…” I paused as realization hit me. “Oh shit,” I groaned, taking off in a full run right at the djinn. “He’s got weapons in there!”

  I was still twenty feet away when he pulled out a big fucking gun and leveled it at me.

  “Eat lead, bitch!” he yelled out.

  I dived to the ground as a massive bang sounded. Whatever the hell he was using punched some major power.

  “Reap, he’s—”

  “I know,” Reaper interrupted, casting a fireball at the djinn. He missed by a good ten feet. “I’m trying to stop him.”

  “We really need to get you some target practice.”

  Too bad for Reaper, his attempt at launching that fireball had given the djinn a new target to take out. He spun and shot, hitting Reaper square in the chest, throwing him back against the concrete containment wall.

  So much for that full commission.

  I jumped up and fired my gun repeatedly, striking the djinn in the torso twice with Death Nails. He screamed and hit the ground as I ran around the truck to put a few more Nails in his head. This was wholly unnecessary since one Nail was sufficient to kill your average djinn, but I was pissed.

  “You okay, Reap?” I called aloud, running over toward where he lay.

  Those eyes glowed bright enough to power your standard Vegas neon sign. His shirt was ripped up pretty good and he was definitely going to need a new trench coat. I picked up his sunglasses and hat and handed them to him.

  “I’ve been better,” he groaned. “That was quite a weapon.” Like I said, we may be immortal, but getting shot sucked. “I’m assuming we’re not getting a full bounty for him?”

  “Sorry.”

  “Under the circumstances,” he said while pushing himself back up, “it’s understandable.”

  After sending the djinn down to the Netherworld morgue and giving Reaper a minute to recover, we started walking back toward the ramp.

  “I’m tracking another djinn in the lower level of this complex,” Reaper announced. “There seem to be a couple of PPD officers nearby as well.”

  “Retrievers?”

  “No,” he replied with a shake of his head. “They’re just turning up as standard PPD.”

  I nodded and sighed. “Well, hopefully they don’t kill the guy before we get to him.”

  “Agreed.” Reaper then glanced at me. “And it’d be nice if we didn’t kill the guy either.”

  “I know, I know.”

  “Seriously, Piper, I need the money right now.” He adjusted his hat. “Promise me you’ll at least try not to kill this one.”

  “I tried not to kill the last one, Reap.”

  Chapter 2

  We got to the lower level of the west parking garage and heard the faint sound of a gunshot. It was like someone had fired a pellet gun. A scream followed the sound.

  “Let’s go,” I whispered, moving as fast as I could without making noise.

  When we got to the location where the disturbance was, I spotted Ian Dex, the Chief of the Las Vegas PPD. He still looked as hot as ever. Tall, great hair, nice suit, a body that belonged on a calendar, and the most amazing lay I’d ever had. Honestly, the man almost made me reconsider my only-screw-them-once rule.

  “Look it up on the other side of life, pal,” he was saying as he pressed a very large gun against my perp’s head.

  I had no idea what he was talking about, but the djinn looked pretty freaked out.

  “Wait, wait.”

  “No, no,” Ian replied in a mocking way.

  Part of me wanted Ian to pull that trigger. It wouldn’t be me doing it, so Reaper couldn’t give me shit about it. But if I didn’t interrupt, it may as well be me.

  “We’ll take it from here, Officer Dex,” I called out. “Lower your weapon…now.”

  He glanced over his shoulder and said, “Piper?”

  “Yes.”

  He then set about scanning my body before giving Reaper the once-over.

  “You look good,” he said.

  “Thanks.” Awkward. “You, too.”

  “And this is?” he asked, looking at Reaper.

  “Reaper,” I said, thinking it was a waste of time to introduce them to each other. I rolled my eyes. “Reaper Payne, this is Ian Dex.”

  “Ah,” Reaper said in his calm way. “You’re the amalgamite.”

  “Yep,” answered Ian. “And you’re a…”
He paused and tilted his head. “What exactly?”

  “Former reaper,” replied my partner.

  Ian blinked a couple of times. “As in the dude who takes people to the afterlife?”

  “One of them, yes. There are many of us.”

  “So you’re a reaper, but you work for the PPD as a Retriever?” Ian had asked that in such a way that made it clear he and I were a lot more alike than I remembered.

  “Correct,” Reaper replied, clearly not catching Ian’s sarcasm.

  I went over to the djinn and gave him a very dark look. It was the kind of look that told him I very much wanted to end him right where he stood. He gulped and stared at his shoes.

  “I’m being punished for transgressions against my Order,” Reaper explained behind me, sounding distant.

  “Oh,” said Ian. “Cool.”

  “Please don’t kill him, Piper,” Reaper called out.

  I glared at the djinn for a second more.

  “I said I wouldn’t,” I sneered.

  “Thank you.” I then heard Reaper whisper to Ian, “We’re paid on commission, you know? I have rent to pay.”

  “Ah.”

  “I sense someone is injured,” Reaper announced a moment later.

  “My partner is,” Ian said and then moved to intercept Reaper. That explained the gunshot I’d heard when we came in. “Injured,” clarified Ian, “not dead. Don’t get any ideas, pal.”

  I shook my head while looking back at them.

  “Don’t be a dumbass, Ian,” I said. “Reaper can heal the guy.”

  “Oh,” Ian replied. “Sorry.”

  As soon as they were out of earshot, I grabbed the djinn by the throat and shoved him up against the wall. I’d promised I would try not to kill him, but I never said I wouldn’t cause him some discomfort and maybe scare the shit out of him.

  I stuck the barrel of my gun against his forehead.

  “You and your pals caused us a lot of trouble today, you know,” I said calmly. “If it wasn’t for the fact that my partner has rent to pay, I’d decorate this wall with what little brains you have.”

  “But…you said,” he stammered, “that you wouldn’t—”

  “I know what I said,” I interrupted him. “You literally just heard me tell you that my partner has to pay his rent and that I wasn’t going to do any impressionist-style art on the wall because of that.” I then ran the gun down the front of him slowly until it was pressed against his crotch. “Now, I didn’t say I would avoid doing some redecoration on your more useless parts.”

  “You wouldn’t,” he rasped with wide eyes.

  “Wanna bet?”

  He licked his lips in terror. “What do you want?”

  “Who broke you and your gang of misfits out of prison and gave you access to the Overworld?”

  “I don’t know,” he replied with fear in his eyes.

  “Remember, I’ll shoot your balls off.”

  “But…” I pressed the gun more firmly against his niblets. “Okay, okay. I don’t know the name of the guy. But I do know that he’s some big mage dude. He didn’t talk to me directly. Word just came down that we were going to make a run.”

  “What was the point of the breakout?” I pressed.

  “Uh…to get away?”

  “No shit, asshole,” I hissed. “I’m talking about the real reason. A big-time mage isn’t going to give a damn about you personally.”

  “Fair enough,” he said as I relaxed the gun slightly. “Again, lady, I don’t know.”

  “And you didn’t get a name?”

  “No.”

  “You’re sure?” I tapped his jewels with the gun.

  “Fuck,” he whimpered. “I swear I didn’t get a goddamn name.”

  I let him go and told him to turn around. Then I took the butt end of my gun and gave him a medium-powered bonk on the back of the head. It wouldn’t knock him out, but it’d definitely put him in a haze.

  It took some effort, but I dragged his sorry ass over to where Reaper was standing. There was a big, hairy dude with him and Ian. The hairy guy was pressing down on one of his legs as if testing it. Apparently, he was the one who’d been shot earlier.

  “All right,” I said, “this is the last one.” I gave Ian a fake smile. “Thanks to the rest of your team. Blah blah blah.”

  “So heartfelt,” he replied dully.

  Frankly, that was about as much feeling as the Vegas PPD deserved. It had taken them far too long to capture these escapees, in my mind. Granted, there were only a handful of officers here, and granted they were not given the same level of freedom to apprehend as Retrievers were, but in my estimation they could have moved more swiftly.

  I nodded at him, feeling I should at least point out the obvious. “And if this ever happens again, see if you guys can be a little quicker about things, okay?”

  He gave me a look. “How about you guys making sure this never happens again?”

  “Not my jurisdiction to stop prison breaks,” I stated. “My job is to bring back lawbreakers.”

  “Right.” Ian then fake-smiled. “Well, it was simply a pleasure seeing you again.”

  I paused and gave him another once-over. Was he being for real? Fact was that it had been a while since the last time I’d rutted. I knew that once was enough with each person, I didn’t want to start a relationship at this point in my life. But I had to admit that he…

  “Actually,” I said with some difficulty, “we should get together sometime.” I couldn’t help but feel my lips wanting to smile. “It was fun last time.”

  “Fun?” he scoffed. “As I recall, you were using a whip last time we were together.”

  “Like I said, it was fun.”

  He furrowed his brow, but I could see in his eyes that the offer sounded intriguing.

  “Right,” he said.

  Chapter 3

  With the djinn escape situation under control, Reaper and I returned to the Netherworld PPD headquarters and headed down to see our chief engineer.

  Apparently, he had something new to share with Reaper.

  “Pecker?” I called out as we walked into his office. The place was just as much a shambles as ever. “Pecker?”

  “Keep your panties on,” he grumbled in reply as he flung papers and boxes out of the way, looking like a dog who was trying to escape from under the blankets. He pushed through finally and looked at me. “Oh, it’s you. Strike what I said. You may feel free to take your panties off at any time.”

  “Don’t make me slap you,” I warned.

  “All I gotta do is say stuff like that and you’ll slap me?” he asked, fluttering his eyelashes. “Easier than I thought.”

  I grunted at him. “Gross.”

  “Keep fighting it, Piper,” Pecker cooed. “It’ll make it all the sweeter when you finally succumb to my charms.”

  I crossed my arms and glared at him. That didn’t seem to improve the situation. I had to hand it to the little goblin, he was persistent. Problem was that I didn’t find goblins attractive, especially Pecker. He was a good guy, sure, and he was fantastic at engineering, but he wasn’t what I would call a bedfellow.

  “You called us down here for a reason,” I said without inflection. “What is it?”

  “Ah yes,” he said, getting back to work. “Reaper, I have a couple of enhancements for you, and one new skill.”

  He walked over to the only thing in the room that wasn’t covered in papers, boxes, or trash. His computer. Now, when I tell you that Pecker is a fast typist, I want you to understand that I’m being dreadfully serious. I would imagine he was in the 250-300 words per minute range. Either that or he was faking it. But if that were the case, then nothing he typed would result in anything aside from gibberish.

  “What do you have for me, Pecker?” asked Reaper.

  Reaper had been enthralled with the goblin since day one. Frankly, if he and Pecker were both gay, there’d be a relationship brewing there. That sure would have made interactions with enginee
ring more comfortable for me.

  “Bring your arm over.”

  Reaper jumped to it, taking off his tattered trench coat and rolling up the sleeve of his shirt.

  Unlike my tattoo, Reaper’s was grander, having tendrils running all the way up his arm. At the end of most lines was just a closed-off point, but some contained gear-like structures that reminded me of steampunk. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a bit jealous. Unfortunately, Reaper was the only one able to use this kind of tattoo because of his particular energy signature or something. Apparently, Reaper could power the thing somehow.

  “Be still,” Pecker instructed as he adjusted Reaper’s arm so his entire tattoo was under a blue light. It shone down from a post that was connected to the computer. “This may sting a little.”

  Reaper didn’t budge as the tattoo began to update.

  A laser started burning through Reaper’s flesh, tracking the entirety of the tattoo. It didn’t look fun. Once it was finished with the outlining, the machine moved to add another gear to the design.

  The etching stopped and the light went off.

  “Ouch,” Reaper sighed finally.

  “Sorry, pal,” Pecker said, patting Reaper on the shoulder. “I wish there was a smoother way.”

  “So what did you just do?”

  Pecker nodded and pointed at the screen. “After studying the tattoos from the bad guys you’ve been bringing down lately, I found some interesting ways to improve your particular tech.” He glanced at me. “Sorry, Piper, it only works for Reaper.”

  “Of course it does,” I remarked.

  Pecker didn’t seem to catch the sarcasm…or he didn’t care.

  “The routines will run a lot quicker than before,” he continued, talking again to Reaper. “You should see a marked improvement whenever you use it. Also, there will be less power consumption.”

  “Oh, that’s nice,” Reaper said with genuine enthusiasm.

  “Yep. Also, I added in a new stun feature.” He pointed at me. “Try it on her.”

  “Yeah,” I glared. “I don’t think so.”

  Pecker grinned. “Right. Well, it should work. Just point your hand at whomever you want to stun, press these two gears at the same time and it’ll send a shockwave out that will freeze them for a minute or so.”