Available Darkness Season 2

breathed himself into a calm, then said, “How did you get inside their house?”
    “I don’t know. One minute I wasn’t feeling well so I went to sleep, and the next minute I was in their house. I even slept through killing Bobby. I didn’t wake up until I was standing over his parents’ bed. I think something is wrong with me,” Abigail’s voice cracked, forcing her to breathe before she could finish her thought. “I think I’m broken.”
    Larry remembered how, a decade ago in Florida, John had thought he’d been going out on midnight kills and not remembering them. Of course, it turned out to be his brother Jacob, not him. But what if Abi was killing in her sleep? This added a new wrinkle to caring for the girl, a wrinkle that Larry didn’t know how to iron.
    “We’ll figure this out,” he said, even though Larry wasn’t convinced in the slightest they would. “I’m gonna get some stuff from the kitchen to help get rid of that gas smell on you, so go get undressed and ready to shower, and I’ll bring it to you with some fresh clothes.”
    “What are we going to do? Are we going to move again?” Abi asked.
    “I don’t know,” Larry said.
    “I don’t wanna move,” Abi cried.
    “I don’t know ,” Larry said, trying to keep his annoyance from bleeding through his fraying calm. The only thing Larry knew for certain was that he couldn’t handle this on his own. He had to reach John.
    “OK,” Abigail said, then turned from Larry and trudged up the stairs.
    Larry didn’t even have to try and reach John. The soundtrack of rushing water only played for a minute upstairs when the doorbell went ding. Larry crept to the peephole with one hand wrapped around the hilt of his pistol, then opened the door to John and Tiny, standing on his porch, covered in blood, and looking like they had a problem far larger than Abigail’s.

    * * * *

CHAPTER 3 — John

    “I think I’m going to need another Mountain Dew,” Larry said as John finished updating him to the final detail, including the fact that Shadow was now dead, betrayed by his people.
    John and Tiny followed Larry into the kitchen. He handed them each a cold can of soda.
    “The Agency probably thinks I’m dead, or Shadow’s captive, so that’s our advantage,” John said. “I need to find Hope. The two people most likely to know are Duncan Alderman and Bob Cromwell, one of the bosses at the Agency.”
    “Can’t you just ask Alderman?” Larry said.
    “I’d rather not have to kill him,” John said.
    “What? That dude used Abigail as a pawn to get you to join his little Omega death squad. He also used Hope to keep you on a leash. Fuck that dude.”
    “Fair points,” John said, taking a swig of soda. “But he also took care of my brother, Caleb. He did what he did to protect him. I can’t fault him for that.”
    “So, Cromwell’s the target?” Larry asked.
    “Yeah, do you have info on him? Where I can find him?”
    “Let me make a few calls,” Larry said. “I’m pretty sure we can get to him. You wanna do it now, with the sun coming up? Or wait until tonight?”
    “Well, it depends where he is. If he’s at the office or anywhere near Omega, we’ll have to wait until tonight,” John said, sighing. “I need Mathews and everyone else to still think I’m missing. Besides, I don’t have my lightproof uniform, which is just as well. And Tiny doesn’t have one, so we’d be screwed if we’re fighting anywhere near daylight.”
    Larry looked at John, “So, what are you gonna do if you find her?”
    “ When I find her.”
    “OK, when — what are you going to do? We’ve got Jacob to deal with, again. And you’re probably gonna piss off Omega if you strike at Cromwell.”
    “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” John said. “I only know one thing: once I have her, I’m never letting her go again. Not ever.”
    Larry said, “I still don’t get how she’s from your world! This is way too trippy.”
    “Tell me about it,” John said. “I don’t know how I couldn’t tell. Humans give off a different aura from Otherworlders. It must be a mistake. The list has to be wrong.”
    Larry said, “A bit too convenient to be wrong, don’t you think?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Think about it — you were willing to end your life for her,” Larry explained. “You love her with the kind of love I’ve not seen outside chick flicks. Maybe you two are so deeply connected because you’re from the same