Nita made a face and looked to Kovit. “Is there a reason we’re watching this? Unicorns are creepy.”
His mouth tightened, and his eyes stayed on the screen. “Zannies are creepy too.”
“I never said they weren’t,” Nita agreed pleasantly. “Is this a friend of yours or something?”
“I don’t know any unicorns.” His mouth twisted in distaste for a moment. “That’s a lie. I met one once. It tried to eat me. I was unimpressed.”
Nita snorted. “I met one too, when I was a kid. It also tried to eat me.”
Her mother had whisked her away and killed the unicorn. Nita’s chest tightened at the memory. It would be easier if her mother were all evil, then Nita could hate her. But she wasn’t, she was kind too.
Like Kovit.
Nita turned her eyes back to him, just in time to see him visibly stiffen, eyes widen as he stared at the screen.
“And now we’re back to Agent Vidthuvitsai, the INHUP agent in charge of the investigation here in Montreal. Agent Vidthuvitsai, tell us, are there any suspects currently?”
Onscreen, a small brown woman with long black hair smiled a PR smile at the reporter. “I’m sorry, at this time, we can’t disclose details of the investigations.”
The woman had thick dark eyebrows and a slight hook to her nose. Mid-twenties, pretty, but there was something older in the set of her mouth and the tilt of her head. Her eyes were dark and thoughtful, and somehow deeply sad.
Nita frowned and turned back to Kovit. His fingers were clenched tightly around his napkin, and his eyes were glued to the screen.
The same dark eyes as the woman on the screen.
Nita’s eyes widened, and she whipped back to the screen, but the news had shifted onto something else.
Kovit slumped in his seat, swallowing.
“Was that . . . ?”
“My sister,” he whispered, horror slowly overtaking his features. “My sister’s an INHUP agent.”
Thirty-Six
NITA STARED AT HIM.
Kovit rarely talked about his sister. But Nita remembered the few anecdotes he’d told her. How she’d hid him from INHUP when they came in to kill his mother. How she hadn’t cared that he was a zannie and had saved him. They’d seemed close.
When Kovit had left Nita in Brazil, he’d told her he wanted to find his sister and meet her again. He hadn’t talked about it much since, but judging by the rawness of his expression, she was just as important to him as she had been before.
“She’s not far from here,” Nita whispered. “If you wanted to meet her. Montreal is only an hour by plane. Less than a day by train.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally, he said quietly, “I know.”
She hesitated. “Do you want to go?”
“We have to deal with Henry. And Fabricio.”
“I know, but after?”
He shrugged, looking away.
Nita frowned. “You said you wanted to see her. She’s so close. Why wouldn’t you go?”
He was quiet for a long time. The dried blood in his hair had cracked a little, and a few strands fell in front of his face.
“What if she regrets saving me?” he whispered.
Nita reached over to put her hand on his, but hesitated. She hadn’t realized how accustomed she’d become to casually touching him in the past few days. She lowered her hand, worried he’d move away again. “What if she doesn’t?”
He smiled, just a slight curl of his lips. “There’s a part of me that hopes that. That imagines finding her and having a tearful reunion.” His smile twisted, warping into something self-deprecating. “But I wonder if it isn’t better to keep the memory as is. Remember her as the person who saved my life, who loved me unconditionally, rather than face the reality that she and I are now very different people. Whatever relationship we could build now would likely be complicated and painful for both of us. And not end well.”
Nita couldn’t deny the truth of that. She didn’t know what she’d do in his situation. Cling to a memory, or bring the memory back to the present and risk tarnishing it forever?
She understood his reluctance—especially given how poorly his meeting with his internet friends had gone.
“Just because she’s in INHUP doesn’t mean she doesn’t still love you,” Nita whispered.
Kovit snorted. “Well, I suppose she could be corrupt.”
“Maybe she’s there to try and change the Dangerous Unnaturals List and remove zannies from it.”
He rolled his eyes. “And that’s why she’s hunting unicorns.”
Nita admitted, it did seem a bit far-fetched. “Unicorns are on the list too. It could be a steppingstone job.”
He sighed and shook his head. He was silent for a moment before murmuring, “I can’t believe she joined INHUP.”
“Canadian INHUP at that.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think she joined in Canada. But all the recruits are trained at the central headquarters in France. And they all have to do a term in a foreign country before they become certified and go to their full-time jobs. It’s pretty common for them to be shuffled all over.”
Nita raised an eyebrow. “You know a lot about INHUP.”
“Know thine enemy.” He shrugged, then his face darkened. “If she’s working on a unicorn death, she’s probably positioned here in the Toronto headquarters.”
“I wonder if she knew the man you murdered,” Nita mused, then froze, realizing what she’d just said.
Kovit stilled, shoulders tightening. His lips pressed together, and he turned to glare at her. “That we murdered, Nita. I may have killed him, but it was your plan.”
“That we murdered.” She swallowed, then leaned forward. “I didn’t mean it. I wasn’t trying to—”
“You weren’t trying to remind me of how much I disgust you? How mad you still are about that?” Kovit’s voice was cold.
“You don’t disgust me.”
“I saw your face, Nita, when that INHUP agent had to die. I know what you think of me.” His jaw was tight. “Just the monster you need for a job until it’s too much monster to handle.”
“That’s not . . .” But it kinda was, and she couldn’t finish her sentence.
He shook his head and got up. “It doesn’t matter. You’re right. She might have known him. How do you suppose that would go? Sister, it’s me, your evil brother! We haven’t seen each other in a decade. Also, I just tortured and murdered your colleague. Aren’t you happy to see me?”
Nita flinched from the sarcasm in his voice. There was something deeply cruel in the way he said it, and her heart began to ricochet with fear.
Nita swallowed. “You just don’t tell her that part.”
“Sure. Because lying is a great plan. It definitely won’t backfire when she realizes what I’ve been doing for the past decade.” His mouth twisted. “And of course, she’ll get to see it all in gruesome detail if Henry sends INHUP those videos.”
Nita opened her mouth, then closed it. She didn’t know what to say. Because he was right. And there was nothing she could say to change that.
Kovit turned away from her, a single, sharp motion. “It’s time to go see Henry.”
Nita looked at him a long moment before following. He didn’t look back as he headed for the door, as if he didn’t even care if she came along or not.
She’d just screwed this conversation up in a monumental fashion, and she had a terrible premonition that it would come back to bite her.
Thirty-Seven
THEY LEFT THE SPORTS BAR and crossed the street, heading for the Starbucks. And Henry.
The sun was still high, and people flowed down the street in chattering streams, some laughing, some talking on their cell phones. A small child sat on the curb and cried while an adult, presumably her mother, told her to get up in an increasingly loud voice.
It felt so normal. The people here were unaware of the monsters walking among them. Nita wondered what they’d think
if they realized the person from the shooting in the news was walking by. Or a zannie who had tortured and murdered an INHUP agent.
They’d probably run screaming.
But no one noticed the two monsters crossing the street. No one ever did.
Kovit turned to her just before they reached the block with the Starbucks on it, and looked down to where her gun was hidden. “Nita—”
“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything unless you give the signal to shoot.”
He swallowed heavily. “All right.”
He turned away sharply and kept walking. Nita followed, her fingers running over the gun hidden in her hoodie, the metal warm from proximity to her body.
They entered the Starbucks separately. Kovit took the corner seat near the window, and Nita took a table across and down from his. It had a nice clear shot of whoever sat in the second seat. It was far enough away a normal human couldn’t eavesdrop. Heck, the Starbucks was so loud, a normal human wouldn’t have been able to eavesdrop from the table next to them.
Nita was not a normal human.
She enhanced her hearing and focused it. She planned to catch every word of their conversation.
When a man finally approached the table, Nita almost ignored him, until she saw the expression on Kovit’s face.
Henry.
He was white, with gray hair and deep lines around his mouth and eyes. His skin had the ruddy tan of someone who was outside a lot, but despite his age, something about it looked tough, like a rhinoceros.
Kovit’s eyes were dark and wide, his mouth slightly open. He swallowed. “Henry.”
Nita’s jaw clenched, and she stilled herself before she could grind her teeth off. Henry had made everything so much more complicated.
“Kovit!” Henry grinned. “Always a pleasure.”
Kovit’s face was still, and it was strange. In any other context, he’d have pulled out a creepy smile, twisted and warped, and whispered in a voice full of dark promises, Oh, the pleasure is all mine.
But he didn’t. He just gestured for Henry to take a seat.
“I thought you were dead.” Henry raised his eyebrows and sat. A slight smile quirked his lips. There was something deeply creepy about his smiles, and it took Nita a moment to realize they strongly resembled Kovit’s. It was like seeing his expression on someone else’s face.
Kovit shifted away from Henry. “I don’t suppose you’d consider continuing to think I’m dead?”
Henry burst into laughter. He crossed his arms and looked at Kovit from under heavy brows. “Now, how could I do that to my favorite protégé? I’ve missed you, Kovit. I’ve been grieving.”
Henry didn’t look terribly grief-stricken, and Nita’s fingers tensed around the handle of her hidden gun. The metal was warm and slick.
“How did you find out I was alive?” Kovit’s voice was soft.
Henry smiled and touched his nose. “Ah, a great magician never reveals his secrets.”
Nita sighed, heart hurting for her friend. Kovit was right, Henry was definitely monitoring his online conversations somehow.
Henry eyed Kovit. “You didn’t ask me for a plane ticket.”
“I was already in Toronto.”
“Doing?”
“Probably the same thing you are.” Kovit sounded calm, but his shoulders were tight, and his hands tensed and released compulsively.
“Hunting.” Henry smiled, slow and thin and full of malicious promise. “Wonderful, let’s do it together.”
“Let’s not.”
Henry mock-scowled. “Kovit, why are you being so distant? We’re Family.”
“We were.” His eyes tightened. “Until you threw me under the bus to save face and sent me to South America to rot in the jungle.”
“That’s not fair, Kovit.” Henry sighed deeply. “You disobeyed a direct order and helped an enemy of the Family escape. I couldn’t just let you go with no consequences.”
Kovit’s eyes narrowed. “You told me you wanted to kill me and I was lucky to be alive.”
“I was very angry!” A flash of teeth, probably meant to be a smile, but it looked more like he was going to bite Kovit. “You know how I dislike it when people misbehave.”
Kovit’s fingers curled into his jeans. “Of course.”
Henry sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. Another gesture that Nita had seen echoed in Kovit. “I didn’t come here to fight. This isn’t going at all how I planned.” He sighed again. “I’m sorry about our argument. But one little spat shouldn’t take away a decade together.” Henry put his hand on Kovit’s shoulder in a way that seemed fatherly. “Kovit, Kovit. I promise nothing like what happened before will happen again. If you say no, I won’t push.”
Kovit stared at him with dark eyes. “A bit late for that.”
Henry put his other hand on Kovit’s opposite shoulder and faced him. “It’s never too late. We may be Family, but I really do think of you as family. I raised you, Kovit. You’re like my son. Sure we have spats, but have I ever been anything but supportive of you? Haven’t I fought for you, haven’t I shielded you from the ignorant fools who were afraid of you?”
Guilt coiled in Nita’s stomach. Are you afraid of me? he’d asked her.
She remembered the way his face cracked and the hurt in his eyes when he realized she was.
“Yes.” Kovit’s voice was small.
“Is there anyone in the world who knows you as well as I?”
Kovit looked away, eyes drifting toward Nita before jerking back to Henry.
“Come home, Kovit.” Henry’s voice was gentle. “I’ll sort it out. Life without you has been wretchedly dull.”
Kovit didn’t respond, but his eyes were on the ground. Dried flecks of blood fell from his hair like dandruff and clung to the shoulders of his shirt.
“Your room is still exactly as you left it. I haven’t touched it.” Henry leaned forward.
Kovit’s voice was soft, and he swallowed. “I’m not . . . I came here to ask you to leave me alone. I just . . . I want to be on my own for a while.”
Henry sighed. “You know I can’t do that, Kovit. Gold is here, with me. You know she’ll report all this to her father. I either come back with you or I come back with your body.”
Kovit’s voice was slow and dangerous. “And if Gold weren’t an issue?”
A smile twitched the corner of Henry’s lips. “Much as I would enjoy being free of the watchdog, I suspect it would be a death sentence for me too. And I don’t trust her enough to try bribing her.”
“Ah.” Kovit looked away and was silent for a moment. Then, “Why threaten me with the videos?” He looked down at his hands. “You know if you leak those videos, no zannie will ever come within a hundred miles of working for the Family. No vampire either. You may also lose human contractors, hit men, bruisers. Most people won’t want to work for an organization that leaks its members’ secrets instead of dealing with them in-house. It’s a terrible career move. I can’t imagine the rest of the Family will approve.” Kovit met Henry’s eyes. “So why?”
Henry’s face stilled as he studied Kovit. Finally, a slow smile slunk across his face, and he reached over, as though to cup Kovit’s cheek, but his hand stopped partway, hovering just shy of Kovit’s face. “Don’t you understand? I don’t care about any of them. I care about you.”
Kovit blinked and leaned away from the hand. “What?”
“I don’t want another zannie. I want the one I raised.” Henry paused, his eyes on Kovit’s, before leaning back and shrugging. “And the head of the Family is behind me. You know too much. He’s approved any and all measures I choose to take to deal with the security risk.”
“My information isn’t worth so much that you’ll risk alienating future employees.”
“The head of the Family might be under a different impression.” Henry winked. “But I don’t need new employees. You’re worth ten of them, anyway.”
Kovit looked away. “Is that so?”
“
Of course it’s so.” Henry shifted closer. “Kovit, you’re the best of the best. And I don’t mean at torture. I mean at everything. I’ve spoken to other zannies since you left. I even hired one for a time.”
Kovit snorted. “How did that go?”
“Awful.” Henry’s voice was short and cold. “There was nothing remotely resembling humanity in her.”
“Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“No.” Henry pursed his lips. “It was difficult to interact with her. It’s the impulse control. You know, I thought I wanted someone completely amoral. But the problem was that she didn’t understand or care about the value of life, and so she didn’t understand the consequences of taking it. She didn’t care, so she couldn’t understand why others did.
“You could tell her not to hurt certain people, but it was more like a guideline than a rule. When she was hungry, she wasn’t patient. She wouldn’t wait for me to bring her someone we needed punished. She just picked the first person she saw on the street.”
“I imagine that’s gone well?” Kovit’s smile was thin and sharp.
Henry’s gaze was flat. “She nearly had the entire city on the hunt for us. She kidnapped a fucking three-year-old from a park and . . . Well, afterward she just ditched the body in a construction site. Do you know how angry people get about tortured and mutilated children?”
“No—people don’t like to see children hurt?” Kovit’s voice dripped sarcasm, his mouth twisting into something cruel. “I never would have guessed.”
Henry snorted. “I had to kill her and hand the body over to INHUP. Nothing would have slaked the mob’s thirst short of death.”
Kovit’s eyes were cold. “I see. Another zannie you’ve given to INHUP. Quite friendly with them, aren’t you?”
“Don’t mock.” Henry’s eyes narrowed. “I’m trying to apologize, Kovit.”
Kovit blinked, then frowned. “Oh? That’s not what it sounded like to me.”
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