Chapter Ten

Men in Black ? “Nah. I’m not much of a sci-fi fan.” Unless the sci-fi starred Chris Pratt. Then, Morrisey might not remember the plot later, but he would remember Chris Pratt.

Especially shirtless Chris Pratt.

“Ah, that’s a shame.” Austen sounded genuinely remorseful. He propped himself against the elevator”s back wall;

“Why?”

“It would make explaining things so much easier.”

The elevator stopped, and the doors whooshed open before Morrisey could ask questions.

“This way.” Austen exited and stood at the elevator entrance leading to a long hallway.

Morrisey stepped off after him, struggling to keep up with the conversation. “You can’t go getting all cryptic on me and walking off. What are you trying to say?”

The edges of Austen’s lips tilted upward in the briefest of smiles. “Full disclosure is above my pay grade. I’ll let the boss explain.”

Men in Black? Had Morrisey even seen the movie trailers? Weren’t those movies about aliens living in disguise in the US? Unease gnawed his guts. Maybe he should’ve had a bite of breakfast with the three cups of morning coffee currently burning through his stomach lining.

They stopped by a reception desk located off to the side of the hallway like an afterthought. No bulletproof glass here. Morrisey didn’t get a look at whoever sat there since Austen stood between them. “Hi, Arianna. This is Detective Morrisey James from Atlanta PD.”

“Nice to meet you, Detective,” came the soft voice from someone unseen but who sounded female. “He’s expecting you.”

Austen ushered Morrisey along. Morrisey glanced behind him, assessing the exit and who stood between him and freedom, but the woman had doubled over, digging through a lower desk drawer.

Fluorescent lights illuminated a long corridor of gray carpeted floor. None of the doors were open, nor did they have any identifying nameplates or indications of what lay beyond. There were no pictures, chairs, tables, or even a cheesy motivational poster about teamwork. Nothing to relieve the monotonous grayness of the walls.

As used to the close quarters and chaos of a bullpen or shared office as Morrisey was, this entire area might as well be a ghost town.

At the far end of the corridor, Austen knocked on yet another unmarked door.

“Enter!” came a deep, booming voice.

Austen pushed open the door, once more waving Morrisey in. “Boss, this is Detective Lieutenant Morrisey James. Detective, meet Special Agent in Charge Reginald Leary of the FBI Alternate Entities Task Force.”

Alternate what now? The FBI sure enjoyed their long titles, then abbreviated them to acronyms.

Leary looked to be in his mid-forties, with buzzed copper hair and closely spaced green eyes. A shimmering glow on his cheeks suggested he’d not shaved recently. He rose, rounding the desk with his hand extended. His broad shoulders had made him seem larger somehow, and it shocked Morrisey to discover that Leary stood a good six inches shorter than him. Leary offered a sturdy handshake, the dimples in his cheeks making him appear far younger. Freckles were scattered across his nose. Such a deep voice for a small man. “Detective James. We meet at last.”

Leary held on longer than Morrisey thought appropriate, but since he hated shaking hands, even a microsecond counted as too long in his book. Still, they didn’t touch long enough to allow Morrisey to get impressions. If he could read others’ emotions, maybe they could read his, too. Sadly, his skills worked better with the dead than the living.

However, the tingling in Morrisey’s palm when he’d shaken hands with Austen left him wanting more—but only with Austen.

Leary wore slacks and a green polo shirt. ”Please, have a seat.” He motioned to the two plush chairs facing his desk, then returned to his own chair.

Morrisey took quick stock of the room: an enormous wooden desk, not the utilitarian mostly chrome ones currently in fashion, with two matching bookcases. Besides a pair of visitor chairs, a small, round table sat in one corner, surrounded by four less comfortable looking chairs.

The walls displayed the bumpy surface and groove texture of cement blocks, painted a dull gray to match the darker gray carpet. No window, but then being underground, Morrisey didn’t expect any. The office appeared stark even with the large furniture pieces. Businesslike. Much larger than his office at the precinct. No pictures or motivational posters broke up the monotony of the walls and no interesting knickknacks occupied the bookshelves. The building hailed back to an earlier time. Cold. Impersonal. Showing nothing of the occupant’s personality unless Leary lacked a personality altogether.

So unlike the overcrowded office Morrisey had shared with Will at the precinct. Fastidious Craig would have approved.

Austen pulled a pile of documents on a clipboard and a pen off Leary”s desk, handing both to Morrisey. Their absence made the desk even more empty and foreboding. Flat surfaces were meant for clutter.

Morrisey stared dumbly at the papers, page after page of small print. “What’s this?” And did anyone really expect him to read every word?

“A nondisclosure agreement.” Leary studied Morrisey like a cat watching a mouse. “Whatever is said in this room can only be discussed among the three of us.” He shrugged. “We’re kind of old school here, so paper and pen.”

“I’ve already got agreements in place.” Didn’t they trust him?

“Not like this one.” Austen gave a tight smile. “It’s a bit… different.”

“How different?” It might be preferable not to know based on the swooping feeling in the pit of Morrisey”s, well, everything.

Austen lifted one perfectly arched eyebrow. “Remember the Men in Black reference?”

“Which I didn’t get.” No use denying. Morrisey would binge-watch the series the first chance he got.

”Don”t tell me he hasn”t watched Men in Black. I thought everyone had.” Leary palmed his face. A shiny gold band glinted from the ring finger on his left hand. ”Things go so much easier with a few obstacles removed.”

Morrisey scanned the agreement. No sharing information without direct approval from Leary, etcetera, etcetera, and a whole lotta legalese. Nothing left to do but sign. Why all the formality just to tell the story they wouldn’t believe anyway?

Leary and Austen”s twin scowls promised nothing good for the next few minutes.

Leary regarded Morrisey for several more moments before giving a decisive nod. “What I’m about to say will sound farfetched, but hear me out, okay? Know that I’ll never lie to you. Everything I say is God’s honest truth.”

Morrisey nodded numbly. Whatever Leary said couldn”t be more farfetched than the incident in the alley.

“There’s long been a debate about whether we’re alone in the universe, but no one really questioned other universes. Or realms.”

There went the swooping feeling in Morrisey’s gut again. Nothing but something totally bizarre could follow such ominous words. “Okay,” was all he could say from a suddenly dry mouth.

Leary continued, “There are… entities living among us who come from different realms. Not necessarily planets in our galaxy, but from an alternate plane altogether. They may look like us, but they aren’t us. Some have abilities we’d see as magic. Others are vicious and present a threat to humankind.”

What the absolute hell? Did this have anything to do with Leary and Austin hearing the rumor that Morrisey could have a drinking problem? “And you expect me to believe that?” Someone had to be playing a rather cruel joke.

Leary lifted both copper-colored eyebrows. “Remember what I said. The God’s honest truth.”

“We’re kind of like Men in Black, only I prefer blue. I don’t wear suits when given a choice, either,” Austen added.

Humankind? Entities? Who said things like that? Morrisey glanced from Leary to Austen and back again. “Come on. Who put you up to this? Captain Gaskins? I get it. I’ve had a few shit months, and I don’t exactly have the best sense of humor, but this isn’t the way to get me to lighten up.” However, Gaskins wasn’t known for playing practical jokes or having much of a sense of humor at all, and he snarled when he said “FBI.” These guys likely weren’t on Gaskins’s Christmas card list. Was this some form of test due to the alley incident?

Leary pressed a button on his phone. “Arianna? Could you come in here, please?”

Several minutes later a gentle tap came to the door, followed by the slim figure of a blonde woman with bright blue eyes, but then… Morrisey jumped back, toppling the chair, and landing on the floor with an “Oomph!”

Her skin glowed pearl. And her eyes!

He scrambled backward until he hit the wall. Oh, God! Not here, too! From his spot on the carpet, he heard Leary say, “Thank you, Arianna. That will be all.”

Arianna oozed smugness in her smile. “Kinda jumpy, ain’t he? Bless his little heart.” She strode out from the room, chuckling. Scariest five-foot-nothing Morrisey had ever met.

What in God”s name had he just seen? He sucked in a great lungful of air. Forget about making an escape if this was the person standing between Morrisey and the elevator. Pressing his palm against his chest didn”t calm his pounding heart. What the fuck? What the fuck! What he’d just seen wasn’t as horrifying as the thing in the alley, but it wasn’t exactly human-looking, either.

Austen offered his hand. Morrisey reluctantly accepted the help. As before, a jolt trailed from his palm up his arm from where they touched. He yanked his hand back when he got to his feet under the guise of retrieving his toppled chair.

The sensation intrigued him before. Now it freaked him the hell out.

He righted his chair and dropped heavily into it before his legs gave out. ”No disrespect to your receptionist, but what in heaven”s name did I just see?”

Leary and Austen locked gazes. Austen broke the stare-off, settling into his chair with more grace than Morrisey ever had.

Morrisey scooted his chair a few inches away. The nondisclosure agreement made sense now. They should have included a clause about not running away screaming.

Then again, deep underground, just a single exit…

Past Arianna. Morrisey shivered.

Austen didn’t acknowledge the action, voice calm when he said, “You tell me. What did you see?”

“I know it’s a death wish to comment on a woman’s appearance, but she… umm… didn’t look quite right somehow.” Once more, with feeling, the tale that would have these two men smirking with their faces and giving empty platitudes with their words.

Between the deaths of Craig and Will, the attack, and the apparent loss of his fucking mind, Morrisey wasn’t in the mood to be humored. Nor did he care to be laughed at any more than he already had been.

“Explain.” Leary settled in for the long haul, hands folded on the desk. Neither he nor Austen smirked.

Morrisey stared Leary down. ”Look, I”m sure you had no trouble getting a copy of my report since one of your agents was involved, but I”m already up to my ass in alligators and not interested in games.”

Once more, Leary and Austen exchanged glances. They needed to cut that shit out. Austen acted as spokesman for their unspoken conversation. “Just as we trust you not to share any of this conversation, you’re right to expect the same of us. Now, let’s make things easier. Assume we’re fully prepared to believe anything you tell us, okay?”

As if. Morrisey crossed his arms tightly over his chest. “Even if I said your assistant glowed and had slitted irises like a goat?” At least Morrisey thought they were goatlike, not having seen an actual goat except at zoos. “Or how about a man shot so bad he can’t possibly be alive attacking me?” He massaged a knot of tension at the base of his skull. Just recalling the event made his head pound anew.

”What are your thoughts on myths and legends?” Again, Austen spoke. He sure got his words in now for someone willing to let his boss explain earlier. A blessing, given how Leary tended to yell as a normal vocal tone.

Which only amplified Morrisey’s oncoming headache.

A particular teacher who liked her students to read Homer’s Odyssey and turn in reports on Norse, Greek, and Roman gods came to mind. “One of my weirder teachers suggested there might be some truth in them, but we called her ‘Crazy Old Ms. Ferguson.’” In hindsight, maybe the student body had been hasty in its judgment. According to her, legends had their beginnings, and similar tales across different cultures suggested a link. Morrisey had paid some attention in school—especially when pouring far too much energy into an unrequited love for a certain linebacker—even if he’d considered the words bullshit.

“Very good!” Austen’s overexuberant praise brought to mind a mother giving too much credit for some child’s simple accomplishment. Like not eating a crayon. “That gives us a starting point.”

Morrisey took in his surroundings once more. He wouldn’t like what came next if Ms. Ferguson’s creative writing class provided some kind of basis for anything. “Can I ask a question?”

“Sure.”

“Why are we in the pits of hell? I mean, how many floors down are we?” Might be better not knowing. Already, the room felt suffocating, a sense of heretofore unknown claustrophobia setting in.

“Funny you should mention the pits of hell.” So, Leary planned to take part in this conversation after all, instead of watching Morrisey’s every reaction. ”Have you ever seen documentaries about unexplained phenomena?”

“Like Area 51?” Craig loved documentaries about anything unusual. Morrisey watched with the express intent of scoffing at everything anyone on the show said. Would there one day be a show about Morrisey?

“No. More like demons, werewolves, that sort of thing.” Leary made the concepts sound so reasonable.

Farren winced at the word “demon,” muttering “Daemonium” under his breath.

“I’m not a horror fan.” What an understatement. Morrisey wasn’t a big fan of many things. He witnessed enough horrors in daily life not to subject himself to more during his free time.

Austen shifted his chair to face Morrisey fully. “The other night, the suspect should have died from the shot you fired.”

No shit. “And?”

Austen took a long breath, exchanging one more look with his boss. “The body would have died if not possessed by something people might call a demon who knew the body was dying and needed a new one to survive.”

Morrisey gave a nervous laugh. He’d had dreams like this—usually after drinking too hard. “This is pretty elaborate for a joke, don’t ya think?”

“Detective James, this is no joke, I assure you.” Leary studied Morrisey intently. “The world you live in, the one you know, is but one plane of existence. There are others. At times, they touch, allowing contact between worlds. Other times, someone with more knowledge than sense pulls an entity through, or they stumble through.”

Morrisey glanced from Leary to Austen and back. Both wore serious faces. “Are you honestly telling me a demon attacked me?” Neither man joined in Morrisey’s laughter. Which cut the laugh off in mid “Ha!” He eyed Leary, then Austen again. “You’re shitting me.” Oh, shit. Morrisey barely held in a scream, and his every muscle bunched to run.

With his softer voice, Austen delivered the news much calmer than Leary’s outside voice inside. ”I can promise you we”re not. Which explains why we’re hidden underground. Can you imagine the panic if the public knew strange creatures walked among us?”

“Your assistant is a demon?” Morrisey shot out of his chair, breathing hard. Calm the fuck down, motherfucker. The worst scenario imaginable was to pass out in front of these two, even if they showed no evidence of horns or tails.

Had there been wings?

Leary chuckled. “Don’t let Arianna hear you call her that. She may be little, but she’s tough.”

Austen continued the story. “Just like in this world, in the others we speak of, there are people, and there are animals. People think, and most are decent. Animals live instinctively and aren’t so discerning. Criminals exist in both. Arianna is a person in either realm, though you, like myself, see her both as she is here and with traces of her own home. Her true physical form cannot survive here, only what you might call her spirit, but when she crossed planes, she came across an accident victim near death and claimed the body.”

He leaned closer. “You might also see deeper, to her character. Say, if she was a bad person and what you saw reflected that.”

“Like having horns and a tail?”

“Sometimes, the mind tries to tell us things but lacks a proper frame of reference, like, for instance, someone in ancient times seeing an airplane. Their minds might think ‘bird’ because that’s the closest comparison. It’s rare, but sometimes a human sees something unusual about those from another realm. Their minds try to explain things with limited understanding.”

Like one face on top of another? One of which doesn’t look entirely human? Merely a suggestion of a face.

Austen kept a close watch on Morrisey, who dared not make a move lest he haul ass out of here. “But imagine if, say, a lion was to inhabit a human body, a sadistic lion craving fear for a meal.”

Morrisey shuddered. “Like a horror movie monster?”

“Right again, Detective.” Leary slouched in his chair, far too at ease for this bizarre conversation.

“So, those… things just take over bodies?” Someone hand Morrisey a drink. And a cigarette. Possibly something stronger and less legal, and to hell with department random drug tests.

Leary made Morrisey jump with his too-loud voice. “There are a few ways to get from there to here. Some accidentally stumble upon a rift between worlds, like our dear Arianna. First, she tried to return but couldn’t. There were other humans she could have claimed, but she’d never force someone out of their body. She needed to find someone willing to share, or the body of a dying or recently deceased person. Because of her nature, she was able to perform minor healing on an accident victim and continued to survive. She intervened after it was already too late to rescue the body”s previous owner.”

Austen regarded Morrisey quietly for a moment. “Others aren’t so scrupulous. They’ll force someone out and take over. Still, others from another plane are summoned here for nefarious purposes. Have you ever heard the term succubus, originating from the Latin succuba?”

“I’ve heard the name.” Or something similar. Recently, in fact.

“In the other realm, beings get sustenance from the world itself or each other.” Austen gestured to his surroundings with one hand. “Ether in the air sustains them. They don’t consume food as humans do.”

There went the whole “humans” thing like Morrisey had heard from the woman at the bar. What was her name? Jessa? Or Piper? Jessa and Piper?

Austen settled into teacher mode. “These kinds of entities from an alternate realm find they need powerful emotions in Terra to survive, to feed on, like desire or lust, as the atmosphere no longer provides what they need. In the past, pimps have called them forth to possess lovely men and women in the sex trade. The victims usually have no say in the matter and must do as told. Pity them, forced to perform a task they needed to survive while knowing they cost someone else their vitality. In rare cases, they share a host body.”

Host. The term seemed familiar somehow. Oh! In the bar. Hadn’t Jessa-whatever mentioned a host? Should he mention their meeting? You don’t know who you can trust. Maybe not. Not trusting anyone—ever—worked for Morrisey.

Leary took over the telling. “The realm in question is collapsing, pushing more beings to seek refuge here. The problem is they’re incorporeal and can’t take form. They must occupy an existing body, either human or animal.”

”What are you saying, the realm is collapsing?” This was some real sci-fi shit going on.

“Imagine waking one morning to find an area the size of Rhode Island simply vanished along with all inhabitants, leaving nothing but an impenetrable gray mist.” A flicker of sorrow crossed Austen’s face, gone so quickly Morrisey might have imagined it.

Wait a minute! “That man… thing… whatever, tried to possess me?”

Leary pursed his lips. “Somehow, you resisted.”

“My head hurt like hell.”

“Because you fought and were winning.” Austen peered into Morrisey’s eyes. “The entity might have killed you if I hadn’t come along. Or you might have repelled it. Somehow, I sense darkness in you. If you were from the other realm, you’d likely be one of the most powerful of them, so I think it was drawn to you and repulsed in equal measure. You have the potential for good or evil, kept tightly in check.”

“Powerful?” Good or evil? Sure, Morrisey was no angel, but he’d never try possessing anyone. Hell, most days, he had no desire to possess his own body. “What happened to that… thing?” Hadn’t Captain Gaskins mentioned a body in a morgue?

“Sadly, though it managed some healing to the body it inhabited, evidence suggests it found a nurse to possess and escaped.” Austen sounded too casual. “Someone made a mistake and took the body to a local hospital instead of bringing it here. The demon, for lack of a better word, would have faced banishment.”

“Banishment.” The hairs on Morrisey’s arms rose. “Wouldn’t the thing just come back?” What the hell was he saying?

“No. Its essence would have gone to the great beyond,” Farren stated flatly, as though his cryptic comment explained anything.

Morrisey looked between Leary and Austen, half hoping they’d start laughing. He braced for a “Gotcha!” They didn’t laugh. “How do you know so much about them?”

“From those like Arianna, who found themselves here through no fault of their own.” This time, Austen folded his arms, displaying a touch of defensiveness. Interesting.

“If you could banish the guy from the other day, why can’t Arianna go home?”

“Remember the vanished area I mentioned, the size of Rhode Island? The other realm cops send the guilty to the same place.” Leary paused for effect, then flicked his fingers in a “poof” motion. “Nothingness.”

Either Morrisey needed a drink, or excessive drinking took its toll. “How do y’all fit in all this?”

The stiff set of Leary’s shoulders eased. “We know about them, help those in need with the government’s full cooperation, and capture those who threaten society. Very few humans see them for what they are. That’s where you come in. Your attack woke something dormant in your mind.” Did Leary always have to talk so fucking loud?

“I’m not out of my mind?” Morrisey hadn’t meant to sound so hopeful, but really. At this point, he’d gladly take any reassurances.

Leary vigorously shook his head. “Not for seeing demons, at any rate.”

Yeah, the verdict might still be out on Morrisey’s remaining sanity. “My boss thinks I am.” Though Gaskins wouldn’t admit his true feelings. Not when he needed Morrisey back. Everyone else in the precinct would voice their doubts loud and clear.

“I wouldn’t worry too much.” Austen flashed a brief smile. “Around here, being thought odd is sort of a job requirement.”

Odd? “Really?” Eventually, the precinct would take Morrisey off leave—or let him go.

Like Leary, Austen appeared more relaxed now. “If we truly thought you’d lost touch with reality, trust me, you wouldn’t be here now. We researched your background. You’ve stretched the rules a few times, but in our line of work, rules sometimes have to be amended on the fly. There’s also the little matter of those who really would view the newcomers as demons and attack them for religious reasons. Are you a religious man, Morrisey?”

Morrisey didn’t even know any priests in this town. “It’s been twenty years since my last confession.” Unless one counted secrets shared with a half-full bottle of tequila. “What does all this have to do with me?”

Leary leaned forward, bracing both forearms on the bare surface of his desk in a blatant show of eagerness. Perhaps too much eagerness, given the scary intensity in his eyes. “We want you to work for us.”

“Doing what?” Morrisey studied the sanitized office and gray walls again. Not the sort of place he”d want to spend his days.

“Precisely what you’re doing now—investigating crimes. You’ll just have more knowledge and deal with perpetrators few know about and fewer understand.”

“The case… the dead women…”

Leary nodded. “Has been transferred to us. We don’t believe the average human is capable of such violence.”

“I’m not so sure. I’ve seen meth addicts—”

“Trust me. No human destroyed those people. Deep in your heart, you recognize the truth, don”t you?” Austen asked, his voice a soothing murmur.

Were they for real?

Leary stood, ending the interview. “Maybe you’d like to sleep on the matter. Give us an answer in the next few days. Meanwhile, you can study this.” He removed a manila envelope from the desk and handed it to Morrisey. “Let me remind you of the agreement you signed. This is to be kept confidential,” he stated, as if the big, red “Confidential,” stamp across the envelope wasn’t hint enough.

Sleep, hell! There wouldn’t be much sleeping happening for Morrisey anytime soon. He gave the expected empty platitudes, clutched the envelope to his chest, and stumbled for the door.

Austen appeared out of nowhere. Or maybe Morrisey had gotten sidetracked. “I’ll escort you out.”

Morrisey offered a feeble nod since words wouldn”t come and followed Austen down the hallway, purposefully avoiding looking at the receptionist.

Even with her, “Have a nice day, now!”

When he stepped off the elevator onto the main floor, Morrisey once more spotted the man he’d seen before. No, not a man.

A demon.