by Mason Dakota
She straightened up in her seat and squinted at me. “Do you know him, Griffon?”
I had tipped my hat too much before her. The last thing I needed was for Lady Alexandra Carline to suspect me to know or be Shaman. I would end up at the bottom of Lake Michigan before sunrise tomorrow if she figured me out.
Possibly sooner if there really is a gun under her desk!
“I know he’s not the man you’ve made him out to be. While you’ve got your puppets searching for him, someone is planning to kill every Noble in Chicago!”
I watched a flash of pure terror go through Alexandra’s eyes, the same terror I saw in Thomas and in the hospital staff earlier. All of them shared the same horrifying nightmare. Maybe all Nobles had it deep inside them. All their lives they were told that they were better, flawless, and perfect in this world. Nothing could ever harm them, but now all of that proved to be a lie.
Welcome to the real world, Nobles. It’s not all champagne and glamorous lifestyles.
Alexandra swallowed and whispered. “You are the Outcast Emissary. I suggest you concern yourself with matters that concern your people and not worry about the affairs of my people.”
“Consider me a concerned citizen. I live in this city, too. What happens to your people affects mine as well.”
“And what would you have me do? Should I inform the public? That would only create turmoil. The people would riot and slaughter each other in the streets. It will be a repeat of six months ago, except this time it will be far worse. It would create a war where Nobles and Outcasts kill out of fear and spread the virus only faster. Everything we’ve done since then would be in vain. So what do you suggest?”
I honestly didn’t know. I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. I was just angry at her for keeping the problem a secret. Maybe I wasn’t mad at her. Really, I just wanted answers and wanted to know who was responsible. Maybe a part of me wished she’d confided in me when she first discovered the truth.
“You can start by informing the Emperor. This convention has to be stopped immediately. Government leaders have a right to know!”
“The Emperor does know, and he’s coming regardless. There’s no stopping the meeting, not even if he tries. The plans were set in motion long before either of us took office,” said Alexandra.
That shocked me. “What? He’s the Emperor! He can do whatever he wants!”
She shook her head and said, “Even the Emperor has his limits and restrictions. He can’t stop this convention happening. Nobody can, and I’m under the impression that he doesn’t care if the virus takes hold anyway. It makes me think there’s more going on here than I am aware of, and I hate that feeling. He has an agenda to keep regardless of the circumstances. From what I’ve learned the man lacks any sense of a soul.”
Ironic. The murdering crime lord is the one to condemn the Emperor?
In many ways, Alexandra’s distrust with the Emperor made sense given her age. Thirty years ago, when Alexandra was a young adult, Emperor Adam Rythe took the throne in a bloody coup. Most citizens her age hated or feared Adam. I was a new born baby when it happen, so I could never separate feelings for him from my feelings toward Nobles in general growing up.
I still didn’t understand though why the Emperor would ignore a deadly threat. I don’t think Alexandra did either. She may be ferocious and a stone cold killer, but deep down she still had a small human side to her. Clearly this bothered her almost as much as it did me.
“Then we find out who’s responsible and stop them,” I said.
Obviously agitated, she asked, “Oh, and do you have any idea where to start looking? Nobody has any idea, that’s why Emperor Rythe wants Shaman caught before he arrives. In his eyes he can see no better candidate, and frankly I wouldn’t mind seeing the thief swing from a rope. However, if you have another suspect then please don’t hesitate to speak your mind, because I can’t think of anyone.”
That’s why the Emperor wants me dead? He thinks I’m responsible for this?
“Actually,” purred Alexandra, “one possible individual comes to my mind.”
She smiled a wickedly evil smile and I didn’t like where this headed. The lights flickered again and when they came back on she stood a few feet closer to me now.
I stumbled back a step and asked, “Ziavir?”
She shook her head slowly, never letting her cold eyes leave mine. “Ziavir is both long gone and a Noble. He wouldn’t try to exterminate his own race.”
I knew that to be true. It wasn’t Ziavir Yiros’ nature to perform mass genocide. He might have destroyed the infrastructure of Chicago with his EMP, but that put Nobles and Outcasts together in danger. If Ziavir unleashed a virus that killed only Nobles, he would be killing himself, too. I admit Nebula had crossed my mind as a possible suspect, but this wasn’t their M.O. It had to be someone different.
It had to be an Outcast.
“Whoever this is would have to be an Outcast. Someone who would benefit greatly from the collapse of the Nobles. Someone with resources and influence to create the virus and see it through. Care to guess who I’m thinking?” she purred.
Gulp.
“Let’s not get carried away,” I said.
“Who better than the Outcast Emissary?” she said the dreaded words.
“You’re crazy,” I quickly shot back.
She shrugged. “I won’t deny that, but that won’t change the suspicions the people might start to form in their minds. They would see that for six months you’ve been working under me, jealous of my position and power. You lied and cheated your way into your comfortable job in which every Outcast envies you. People would assume you’re ambitious for more, and willing to do what it took to get it. You said it yourself once when we first met that we were cut from similar cloths of a darker…more secretive world. Don’t you think others have such thoughts themselves? How can you convince them otherwise?”
She stepped closer, close enough to strike me.
She had a small gun in her hands now.
I back pedaled into the door.
“You’re insane,” I said. I quickly realized the extremely bad idea it was to barge into her office. I should have known that Alexandra would have somehow turned the tables back on me.
“Your job is to serve the Outcasts and for months you have listened to their hatred of their superiors. So it must get to you. Maybe you’ve finally decided to do something about it. You got your hands somehow on a weapon which you intend to use. You’ve planned this all from the beginning as a coup. Admit it, you want to be in charge, and not just of Chicago. You want it all.”
Alexandra actually seemed both jealous and devious when she spoke, like she wished it her idea to throw on a massive coup.
Is this how it began with Kraine? Run a city and eventually you aspire for even more?
She pressed herself against me, one hand resting on my chest, the other lightly pressing her gun under my chin. My heart beat faster, and her smile grew when she felt it. A line of perspiration formed on my scalp and for the first time I no longer heard the buzzing of the electrical grid on the other side of the door.
She’s a panther ready to pounce!
I fumbled behind my back for the doorknob. If I didn’t tread carefully Alexandra could kill me!
“Tell me,” I whispered, trying not to stutter with fear as she pressed the gun barrel beneath my chin. I wasn’t afraid of her earlier, and that was very wrong of me. “If I were the one behind this, why would I come here in the first place? Why would I demand that you do something? Why would I accuse you of keeping this a secret?”
Her smile grew bigger until she flashed her pearly whites and fluttered her eyelashes. She made even that romantic look come off as terrifying. “To throw off suspicion…of course. That’s what I would do.”
She dug her nails into my chest and let out a soft purr of pleasure, the sort of sound a cat makes before it kills a mouse.
I honestly didn’t know if she tried to scar
e me, or if she was being serious. Now that she said it, I realized how easy it would be to have me convicted. Alexandra could cut corners and plant evidence, easy tasks for someone who holds the NPFC under her thumb. Even if I tried to fight, there would be no trial. Outcasts weren’t allowed fair trials because they weren’t seen as the same degree of human as Nobles. I could end up the proverbial fish in a barrel for all of my enemies to shoot.
The wisest decision right now would have been to change to a friendlier approach, to apologize and ask what I could do to make her day better. Of course I didn’t make the wise decision. I never appreciated those who pushed the little guy around—even if they did hold a gun on me—and I definitely didn’t treat them with respect in return. It didn’t matter who you were. I didn’t let anyone threaten or push me around, not even a murdering, self-centered mob queen.
“Well I’m thankful I’m not you then,” I whispered.
I didn’t want to stay in there much longer for fear she’d formally accuse me, or shoot me on the spot. I walked on thin ice with an angry bear before me. Even if she knew me to be innocent it wouldn’t be hard for her to frame me.
I found the doorknob against my back, opened the door and stepped backwards away from her. I tried to pretend I didn’t notice the crowd of people who stumbled back away from the door. Their gasps when they saw Alexandra’s gun pointing at me were hard to ignore. Neither Alexandra or I gave them any attention, and Alexandra, to her credit, made no move to hide the gun either. I left the office with Alexandra’s wicked smile burning into the back of my skull, and a floor full of coworkers whispering gossip as to what went on between Alexandra and I.
I didn’t care what any of them had to say. I never looked back. Alexandra would have still been standing there, still holding the gun, if I had looked back. I had no desire to ever see her again.
Seventeen
In a whirlpool of emotions, I headed back to my office. Part of me wanted nothing more than to rip Alexandra’s head off her shoulders. My skin boiled with frustration. Alexandra had a gift for burrowing under people’s skin. I felt discombobulated. Too many curve balls hit me in such a short time that I couldn’t think clearly. I had to rid my mind of all this background noise and focus on the real threats.
With a deadly new virus threatening mass genocide on one hand and my ex-fiancé charged with hunting me down on the other, the stakes of my mortality and the city’s demise were higher than ever before. I didn’t know where to start. My mind brimmed with new distractions, like the Emperor and Evelyn, around every corner. I never could focus with Evelyn around.
The last thing I need is to see Evelyn when the world is threatening to fall apart.
I opened the door to my office and immediately froze in my tracks. There stood Evelyn Chambers.
I hate irony.
She sat on the corner of my desk and flipped through the pages of a file folder. She hummed some song in her head and looked gorgeous (like always).
“Speaking of the devil,” I grumbled. She looked my way and smiled her warm cheery smile. It sent a flutter through my chest so loud I swear she heard it. I reminded myself of all the hurt and pain from the past, hoping she wouldn’t pick up on my emotional and physical reaction to her. Memories made it easier to hate her.
“Mmm…you look good in a suit. You should wear them more often,” she said. She winked and I struggled to hide my blush.
“Well hello to you too, Eve,” I said as I closed the door behind me. I instantly regretted it, remembering how tiny my office was and how close it made us stand. I felt trapped and forced to breath in her delightful smell. My head swirled. I bit my cheek and focused on more bad memories. But her smell seemed stronger.
“Have you come to arrest me? I thought you said that you wouldn’t come for me as Griffon?” My voice came out rougher than I intended.
“I meant what I said. I’m here in the city for Shaman, not for Griffon. As long as you don’t put that mask on we won’t have a problem,” she said.
I wanted to say something snarky and mean, but I chose a more peaceful path instead. “Then why are you here?”
She closed the file and dropped it on the pile on my cluttered desk. “I came to see you, of course. Really I thought you were smart enough to figure that much out.”
I rubbed my hand down my face. She was toying with me and I just didn’t have the heart for it at that moment. “I get that. But why are you here…in my office…at this time?”
She tilted her head. A lock of hair fell down over her face. “Maybe I wanted to take one handsome Outcast out to lunch.”
I turned my hips and pointed my thumb behind me. “Oh, well in that case Jared is down the hall three doors to the right.”
She giggled and said, “Clever. You always were clever. I mean I would like to take you to lunch.”
I cocked my head and replied, “Is this part of your game, Evelyn? If so I’m not interested.”
She rolled her eyes, to feign annoyance, but we both saw the flash of hurt on her face at my accusation. She said, “No I seriously just wanted to catch up.”
I ought to kick her out like I should have done last night. I have work to do and a killer to find! I don’t have time for her games.
Evelyn could be very devious. I played with fire going anywhere with her. I wasn’t ready. Logically, I needed to just tell her no and kick her out.
But she had the most innocent smile.
And I was never a fan of logical decisions.
I grabbed my coat off its hanger. “Lunch sounds wonderful.”
She smiled and together we left the office. As we exited I happened to turn my head to the right. There stood “Lady” Alexandra Carline. She didn’t say anything. She just stood there with her arms crossed. Her mouth curled at the corners, but her eyes told a much darker story. She studied Evelyn carefully and an evil settled beneath that glare. I didn’t like it.
Her eyes never left us.
Eighteen
We picked a small diner that served Outcasts. It was about four blocks from the office. At three in the afternoon, the diner was fairly empty. Servers were recovering from the lunch rush when we entered. The smells of the kitchen made me realize just how hungry I was; I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Maybe the hospital visit took the appetite out of me—or maybe the two heated conversations with Lady Alexandra.
Conversations with Alexandra were often stomach turning.
We took a shadowed booth back in the segregated Outcast section. Neither of us spoke much on the way to the diner. We made random, meaningless small talk like any two awkward individuals might. A waitress asked us for our orders, a simple process when the Outcast menu only has three items on it. We both got burgers, hers with a slice of bacon on it just like she liked it. We didn’t say much while we waited. I don’t think we knew where to start after so many years.
Finally Evelyn leaned forward and asked, “For the sake of being original, what’s new with you?”
“Am I supposed to spill out all my dirty secrets and tell you about my new job and my romantic life?” I said. The waitress arrived with our food and set two delicious looking burgers on the table. Suddenly my appetite returned to me in roaring fashion.
“That would be lovely. Start with the dating. That sounds the most exciting,” Evelyn said as she swiped a fry into her mouth. She lacked any fear or shame asking about my personal life like that.
I grunted and said, “You already know that answer.”
“Maybe, but a lady always loves to hear said what she already knows.”
I bit into my burger and grumbled through a mouthful, “I haven’t seen anyone. Happy?” I’m not sure if it was the poor food quality here or the conversation, but the burger suddenly wasn’t as satisfying as it appeared moments before.
“A lady is always happy to hear that the men she dates never get over her.” She had that sparkle in her eye.
“That’s not—!” I grumbled under my breath and she giggled. “W
ell, what about you! Have I been so easy to replace?” I hoped for pity. Asking with a mouthful of food in my mouth took something from my question though.
She shrugged and swallowed a bite of her food. “Went on a few dates, mostly work related. I’m still in the market for a taller man.”
“I’m sorry to say then that Chamberlain is already taken. Alison will claw your eyes out if you even try.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
I knew what she meant. I decided not to snap back and focus my attention on safer endeavors—like devouring this burger.
“Okay then, how about a different approach? How have you been?”
She was really trying. Typically when I reacted harshly, she clammed up and pouted until I decided to open up and stop acting like a jerk.
I just shrugged and said, “I have survived.”
It’s the mantra of my life.
“Just survived? It looks to me like you have done a lot more than survive. Look at yourself. You’re wearing suits. Suits! You used to hate people who wore suits all the time, almost as much as you hated politicians. Now look at you! You’re the first ever Outcast Emissary. You should start saying you hate people with millions of dollars and then watch as money rains down around you,” she said.
I couldn’t help but smile as I silently cursed her ability to break through my walls.
“I never asked for any of this. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Next thing I know, people think I’m some sort of hero and this job is forced on me,” I said.
She nodded sympathetically, as though she could possibly understand my predicament. We both knew she couldn’t.
“I can’t imagine what it was like to face Ziavir. Twice in one life…not counting times under the mask.” She reached across the table and laid her hand on mine. She spoke in a genuine tone, “I’m glad you’re okay.”
I enjoyed her touch, maybe too much. My heart raced. Terrified, I yanked my hand away, but not before feeling her pulse rush. I spoke spitefully, angry more at myself than at her, as I said, “Why do I feel that there is a ‘but’ waiting after that comment?”