The Infinite Pain: A Cosmic Florida Urban Fantasy Thriller (Black Tar Souls Book 5) by Martin Shannon

Author:Martin Shannon [Shannon, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Weird Florida LLC
Published: 2021-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

10

Sacrifice

Jagged and confusing at first, it didn't take long for the puddle's shapes and colors to form into something. They were reflections of the parking lot, and of something more. I pulled away from the dark water and found the scene playing out across the blacktop in perfect detail.

Gene...

Even if I'd never met him, I knew Porter's husband when I saw him. This wasn't some dark and twisted version of the man that had fought back against the Black Eyes.

This was a husband and father.

His hair fluttered in a wind only he could feel, pouring from an immense and fiery circle. The circle brought with it memories of that night. The night I'd been shot, the night I'd lost Meghan, the night I'd saved Hal.

The gun fought to free itself from my waistband, but I couldn't tear myself away from the scene unfolding across the parking lot.

A bearded younger guy raced into the frame. It took me a few seconds to place him, but I knew that face. I'd only heard his name once, in passing, but the kind look in his eyes had never left my head. He was there, by Gene's side, and begging him to stop.

"Close the gate!"

Porter's husband shook his head, his fingers wrapped around a silvery cord I hadn't noticed before. He pulled, and the bearded guy pulled with him. They threw their hearts into it, putting it all on the line to not lose whatever was twisting at the end of that gossamer strand.

A girl!

She screamed for help, her hair whipping in a gale force wind only they could feel. The fires closed it tight, while a small purple and rubbery thing clung to her shoulders like a winged house cat.

"Cathy!" Gene dipped forward and braced himself against the ring of fire. His arm burned, and I felt it with him. The symbols in my hand flared to life, the intricate designs twisting and turning like the flames that danced on that ring, and in the dark corners of the Edge.

Gene screamed, and I did too. My chest throbbed, as did my hand. The tar was leaving me, just like that young girl was leaving him.

"You have to let her go," the bearded man cried, his hands on the cord right next to Gene.

"I can't. That's my daughter! I can't let Cathy go!"

His daughter.

The words hit hard enough to squeeze my chest even tighter.

Gene was losing his daughter, and it tore my heart out to see it.

Something large and impossibly black moved behind her. It was as if the stars had been plucked from the sky itself. The sheet of ever-swelling midnight filled the ring, and sent with it long tentacles into the misty air. Those arms brought back memories of their own.

Whatever it was, I'd seen it before, the Damned had been afraid of it, and of what it represented.

"Gene, you have to let her go!"

"No!"

Still the Magician fought, but he was losing the battle. His arm burned, and flesh melted, he couldn't hold on any longer, not against the inevitable, not against what was coming.

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