Minutes to Midnight Read Online Free Page B

knocked on the door at
this un-bar-like hour, it opened.
    Darius Parker appeared in the doorway but
didn't open it for us to enter. He stood half-hidden by the door's
shadow as he glared at Mike, then down at me. Darius was a bit of a
legend on the seedier side of Savannah. And I don't mean red-light
seedy. He knew about the planes and what lived in them. Darius had
been a bit of a Hunter in his time, claiming to have abbreviated
(that's what he called it) Fetches, Daemons, Symbionts, and a
succubus. But even I had a hard time believing in that last one. Of
all the things I'd seen and experienced in the past few months, the
idea of a succubus just never came up. I wasn't going to toss the
idea, though, anymore than I wanted Mike to toss the idea of
vampires.
    Like him, I just hadn't met one yet.
    Darius's constant stare at
me made me a little bit uncomfortable. He was a big guy, standing a
good half foot taller than Mike. Dark skin, a head full of braids
pulled back in a ponytail, and eyes the color of light beer. The
dude was scary and he slung a mean drink. "You know," he said in
his rumbling voice. "I never would have thought of you as dangerous." He
stepped away from the door and pointed a good-sized gun at me,
holding his arm up in front of Mike as if to prevent him from
interceding. "But from what I hear, you might just have something
of value that could make a lot of people a whole lot of
money."
    I straightened up with my hands out to my
sides. I hadn't come armed—why would I? It was nearly ten in the
morning on a Saturday! Not that I was any good with a gun.
    Mike moved faster than I'd
ever not-seen him. Two beats and he had Darius's gun in his hand
and released the magazine from the handle. I didn't know what model
the gun was—I only knew he'd been pointing it at me . When I knew the big
guy had been disarmed, I finally found my voice. "'The hell,
Dar?"
    "I second that," Mike said as he shoved the
magazine into his back pocket and handed the gun back to the
bartender. "Why the fuck are you pointing a gun at Dags? And why in
the hell do you think he would have something that would make any
money?"
    Darius took the gun, and for
a split second I thought he might try and clock Mike with it—which
would be just plain stupid on a monumental scale. I mean, come on,
the guy just disarmed you and didn't break a sweat. He didn't hit
Mike, but he did give him a nasty look. "You can't bring him in
here right now." Darius tilted his head down toward me when he said
the word him .
    "What…" I put a tennis shoe on the single
step into the bar, but Mike put a hand up. I stopped, not because
he told me to, but because, well…Darius is a lot bigger than me.
"This is ridiculous. I was just in here last night, Dar. I didn't
do anything."
    "You can't come in here
right now ." The
bartender continued looking me over as if I were a curious bug. I
wondered if something else was going on here.
    "Darius, we have a problem,
and I'm pretty sure you don't want to hash it out here on the
street," Mike said. "I got information from someone in your bar.
Information that led us smack-dab into a little gathering of
zombies. We need to talk. Now ." Mike moved to the right, on
Darius's left, and braced himself against the brick wall to the
right of the door. When Mike looked as if he wasn't ready to hurt
someone, that's when he was at his most dangerous.
    And Darius knew it. He finally tore his very
uncomfortable gaze from me and looked at Mike. "Meet me across the
street. I'll be over in five." He stepped back and slammed the
door.
    Mike and I exchanged looks.
Mine simply read, What the hell is going
on? But Mike's…well…his was unreadable. He
looked serious. And pissed off. "Come on."
    Apparently, across the street meant meet down the sidewalk to Martin Luther King Blvd., and then right. I
glanced in the window of Zen Sushi as I followed Mike, and then we
made another right and walked up that sidewalk. By the time we were
finished, we were