by brett hicks
I stared at him and I grit my teeth.
“Did you…”
He shook his head, and said, “That was when they let me go. I refused to kill you, so they brought in the goons hoping to earn themselves a fancy new promotion. I met you Elise, and I spoke with your mother. She did not seek war, but she was willing to fight if she had no choice. She was an honorable woman, and you were a stubborn, but interesting young girl. I found myself faced with a situation, even I could not follow through on. I have never once killed a child, nor a woman of such clean character, and I hope to go to my grave able to say as much.”
I stared at him in open shock.
“You… you were there…”
He gave me a bitter smile and asked, “What now? Do you allow this old enemy to sow you back to health, or do we have out here and now?”
I deliberated, my emotions were everywhere, but my mother’s face came back to my mind. I remembered the dream of walking with her in the dress.
“A woman can be both, loving, and vengeful.” She had told me before. Here I was, confronted with a man who knew that she was marked for death, so he was not blameless, yet, he had also protected Avery.
“ Sew me up doc, I’m through killing for today, I hope.”
He nodded, and he turned and pulled out a black traveling doctor’s bag. It shouldn’t surprise me he has such a bag, but it did somehow.
“Why was my mom so different to you?”
Teddy was milling about in his bag, and he sighed.
“She spoke of peaceful co-existence in a way that even I believed could happen one day. She was a visionary, your mother. I know this isn’t the life she would have hoped for you, but I am sure she is smiling down on you, even at the unseemly choices you have been forced to make.”
“Why did you tell James to run, just as you told me?”
He turned back, and his deeply seasoned gaze pinned me to my chair.
“I was once that young lad’s mentor, so I did not wish to see him bested by you, nor you potentially bested by him. I was more certain you would come out victorious, but I couldn’t be sure. You two were both torn from your proper teachings at the same time, due in part to the very same situation. You and James might have always been destined to meet. I was sad to know he passed, but James was a jolly killer. He had no soul in his eyes, even as a lad. I still thought fondly of him, even knowing he was an instrument with no moral compass of his own.”
“Why not out-right tell me I was dealing with a Crown-appointed killer?”
Teddy chuckled, and he leaned down, and he poured a clear cleanser into my stab wound. I gritted my teeth and held tightly onto the chair.
“Because you were nearly there without my aid. I knew you, Julia, you wouldn’t let it go, and you would see past the framework of the case.”
I hissed out in pain as he began to pierce my skin with the needle.
“He got you good, but you managed to just barely diverted his blade from a vital point, I’m sure you have figured this out for yourself by now.”
I nodded and grunted.
“Yes, his training was quite difficult for me to handle, but our actual fight only lasted a minute or so.”
“Yes, such is the way of two professionals. One will find an opening or make one, and it will be over sooner than expected. Most expect two masters at battle to last indefinitely, but it is the opposite. One false step and one is dead.”
“What if neither of us made a single false move?”
I asked through the pain of his needle sewing up my gut.
“You’re not that good yet, little lady. You have missed much, and could still stand to learn so much more, if only so that little girl doesn’t end up orphaned a second time.”
I flinched, then I looked up at him suspiciously, and said, “Was that some sort of offer, or am I reading too much into this?”
Teddy smiled brighter than I ever imagined was possible for him. The look of humor, true humor, on his features was almost more terrifying that drowning in the Atlantic with a hole in my gut!
“You don’t miss much child, but you could stand to learn more, and I seem to be the only master left to teach you since Dark Horse is much too far from you now.”
“Have you met Dark Horse?”
He chuckled, and shook his head, “No, if I had, then one of us would have been dead.” He stated matter-of-fact.
“You were a sloppy child, I will tell the officials you were with me this entire time, hiding your new ward from James.”
I felt realization dawn on me. I knew that the government would look hard at me, but I had left myself vulnerable, and without an alibi of any repute to cover for my whereabouts at the time of the murder I had just committed.
“That would be very good, thanks. You know, this softer side of you is a bit scary.”
He snorted, and he finished his thread-work on my gut.
“That’s why I prefer to act as people expect. I am the Angel of Death, so they expect a godless man of the void.”
“What are you then?”
He smiled, and said, “I hope we can discover that together one day child. Now, you get to the sofa, and cover that wound up, in case someone stops by to interview us.”
I slowly obeyed the man, and I managed to walk to the sofa without bursting a stitch. Teddy Angel had not turned out to be what I had imagined him as. Even with his path intersecting with my mother’s, I couldn’t find hatred inside me towards him, only some new avenue opening of mutual understanding. I couldn’t in good conscience just turn away in blind hatred.
Elise was resting once more, and Julia was back in control. The detective, the champion of Colonial justice. I had stepped outside the system to protect Avery, but I would keep facing this world as the law officer, and I would find new ways to enact change, even if it took all my life, and then some of the next generation’s.
For now, I am a black badge, and I work Homicide in Nexus City.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brett studied English Lit in college. He has been writing full length manuscripts for about ten years consistently now. He lives in Richmond, VA on the East Coast. Writing is not a hobby. It is something he does as soon as he wakes up in the morning. Brett grew up an "outsider" socially. It has gifted him a unique perspective that he endeavors to capture to its fullest in his work every day.
Links:
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Twitter: @BrettHicksx86
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