Sky Ghosts: The Night Before (Urban Fantasy series for adults)

shadow moved at the edge of her sight. "Or better yet, let me go, and I won't kill you?"

  Before he could respond, two brown hands grabbed his head from behind and snapped his neck in one blurry motion.

  "?but he will," she said to his lifeless body as it toppled to the ground and Marco stood in its place with a devilish grin. "You're late," she greeted him, turning and taking a wide swing that forced another body to hit the ground, this time, separated from the head.

  "I got distracted."

  He flew across the street, disarming one of the two Beasts and smashing his head into the wall with a disgusting crunch.

  "Yeah? Did your distraction have a name?"

  She saw the last thug back off into the shadows, probably hoping to bring reinforcements, which would do him more good than running. Her eyes focused on his every move while she drew a dagger from her belt.

  "Two." Marco grinned at her as the dagger hit the man in the back, making him stumble and fall. "Naomi and Miranda."

  She snorted and sheathed her sword while Marco went to retrieve the wounded Beast.

  "Five points for trying, but I know you never ask their names."

  "No, I don't," he said with another wicked grin, dragging the terrified thug back to her. The man that had been so brave before just stared at them now, mouth open, probably knowing there was no escape from the Gruesome Twosome.

  "Are you from Chuck's squad, or do you work directly for Eugene?" she asked, squatting before him.

  "Ch-chuck," the Beast stammered.

  "How many men does Chuck have?"

  "I-I don't know. Fifty, maybe sixty."

  "Whoa?" She looked up at Marco, ignoring the man's pleading eyes, and nodded slightly.

  The Beast was dead before she got up to her feet.

  "Fifty?" Marco ran a hand over his short Mohawk thoughtfully. "And how many are in there?" He pointed his thumb at the warehouse at the end of the street. The bulk of it loomed in the darkness like a grotesque monster, its shape broken like it was built by someone with a mental disability.

  "Half of them, but they're supposed to be out tonight, remember?" She shrugged, giving him a once over. He wasn't even wearing his vest, just the gear pants and a black t-shirt. "Where's your sword? Did you leave it with Naomi?"

  His big hand closed on his weapons belt.

  "Crap! I knew I forgot something!"

  "And your jacket? And the vest?"

  "I have my knife." He drew a small black knife from his boot with a smile, making her roll her eyes.

  "Put that back." She unbuckled the horizontal carry sheath off her weapons belt and handed the big knife to him. "Here."

  "Thanks." He fastened it to the belt on the small of his back, looking out over the street. "We gotta get rid of these. The clean-up team is busy at Longwood."

  "Fine?" She picked up their last kill by the back of the jacket and dragged him down to the smelly corner. "Oh, I almost forgot!" The sight of the dumpster made her drop the body and grab the bloodied duffel bag.

  Marco was carrying a headless body when she ran back out into the light.

  "I wish you wouldn't behead hairless people," he complained. "Makes it really uncomfortable? Ouch!" He dropped the body to catch the bag that she tossed to him. "What's this?"

  "Another birthday present." She wiggled her eyebrows.

  Marco opened the bag with a grimace. "Jesus Christ, Pain. We talked about this." He gave her a disapproving look. "And my birthday was two days ago."

  She pursed her lips. "I'm aware of that. I threw you a damn party, and then you were sick in my bathroom all night."

  He beamed down at her. "Yeah, I was."

  "It's not something to be proud of, Marco," she chastised him with an incredulous grimace.

  His face fell. "Alright, alright? Who do we have here?" he wondered, peering at the head.

  "It's Benji!"

  Marco's face showed nothing but confusion. "I'm sorry, Benji who?"

  She stared at him, not believing her ears. "Benji who swore to kill you! Tall Tommy's brother!"

  "Who?" Marco squinted at her.

  "Oh, come on! You hated Tall Tommy!"

  "Sorry, babe. I hate a lot of people, and it's hard to keep tabs when they keep losing their heads."

  Her eyes rolled skyward. "Whatever. He's not looking for you anymore."

  Marco chuckled. "Thanks." His gaze switched back to the bag. "Okay, this is gross, why am I still holding this?"

  He quickly disappeared around the corner, taking the bag with him. "Where did you find him, anyway?"

  "I wasn't looking, really. He was lurking around at Archie's, probably hoping you'd be getting drunk there." She watched Marco carry the bodies away from the light, using his distraction to avoid the dirty work.

  "What were you doing at Archie's? Ogling that hairy bouncer again, ain't ya?"

  "Nooo?" She made a face before giving up with a sigh. "Maybe? He's got beautiful eyes, admit it."

  Marco scoffed. "Sure, if his eyes are on his ass?"

  "Oh, shut up." She grabbed another Beast by the jacket and dragged him into the darkness to speed up the process and get back to the interesting part.

  "Okay," Marco said, moving his massive shoulders as if to warm up. "What's the story again?" He dusted off his hands and stared at her with a quizzical look.

  "From the beginning?" she asked, getting a quick nod from him. "Remember the two fools that have been following me around? I ran across one of them yesterday and was about to slit his throat when he said he had the info on Chuck that I've been looking for. Apparently, he had overheard me asking about it somewhere. Normally, I wouldn't listen, but you know how we've been grasping at straws lately, with Chuck being smarter than most of them."

  Marco shook his head in agreement, stretching his tattooed arms over his head with a yawn. "And this guy, he's not one of Chuck's?"

  "He said not, but you know the crap they say with a blade at their throat. It doesn't matter anyway. His name's Fox, and he said we haven't been able to find Chuck because he's got not one, but two bases, and he changes them every week. They move their shit around in a truck, have guards posted outside at night, and Eugene's spies provide him with intel whenever our patrols come too close to finding him. In other words, he knows what he's doing."

  "Yeah, I can see why Eugene likes the guy. He's not just some Mexican punk with skills."

  "Exactly," she continued. "Chuck's squad is doing a security job for Eugene tonight, some big shipment of whores or arms or innocent babies for evil sacrifice, whatever. But the thing is, Chuck himself is going to stay at the base and coordinate everything from there, with only half a dozen men with him."

  "At this base?" Marco pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the warehouse. "Are you sure about it?"

  "No. I got it from some skanky Beast who makes his money selling scraps of gossip. How sure can I be? But I know the chance is too good to miss."

  "And it didn't cross your mind that busting their shipment could be way more fun? I'm not even talking about Eugene losing a client, plus whatever we would find there."

  She shook her head. "Getting rid of Chuck is more important at this point. We take him out, and his whole squad goes back to where they came from, and it's half a hundred trained thugs. Besides, there's no way we'd be able to track down the shipment on such short notice. Even if the whole of the Headquarters was on it, and you know Peter's got his hands full of crap now."

  "If they're all in there, and Chuck makes it out alive, we'll only make it worse. You do realize that, right?"

  "Well, yeah. He'll lie low, and we won't find him for another six months. But he'll be half a squad short," she said with a smile.

  Marco pointed a finger at her absently, thinking over her words. "You are talking about killing two or three dozen people, am I right?"

  She paused. "People?" she repeated incredulously. "They're not people, Marco. They're animals. I'm talking about using the chance to take out a gang that's been ter
rorizing the city for months, instead of waiting for the perfect opportunity again. Do you know why the clean-up's at Longwood?"

  "No, I don't," he snapped, annoyed.

  "Skull and ten more guys have been there two nights in a row. They're wiping out a gang that's been on our raiding list for a month, because we're understaffed. You know why tonight?"

  "Do you have to ask me every time before you say something?"

  She ignored his snide comment. "Because two days ago, the sheriff called Peter about the five dead teenagers they found there. They were just kids, Marco. Teenagers don't have money. And the Beasts killed them anyway, for sport. Because they trespassed into their territory. They now have a territory in our city. All because we didn't get there in time."

  He gazed at her, as if lost in thought, and it didn't seem like he had anything else to say.

  "So yeah, whoever is in there, I'm alright with taking them all out. I'll make it as messy as possible, and then I'll make sure people find out about it, that the Headquarters doesn't need to send dozens of men to eliminate those bastards like the plague that they are. So that next time some gang decides this city is the perfect place for them, they think twice about it."

  "Alright? We're wasting time." Marco cracked his knuckles, looking back at the warehouse. "When do they start?"

  "At eleven, but I'm guessing Chuck is already there. We'll have to secure both him and his men. You told me yourself that he's dangerous. Come on."

  They circled the big building, jumping soundlessly from roof to roof, peering into the darkness for any sign of the guards. It seemed, aside from the Beasts they took out earlier, the whole area was deserted this time of night. All they heard