by Deanna Chase
I grabbed it and slipped it on, tucking it under my shirt. The medallion and ring settled against my breast and my pulse raced at the mere thought that this necklace might be Billy’s. What was the A? Was it a clue? Was this necklace even his? I’d found it after our fight and assumed it was, but was it really?
I had to know. The need to get to Grace’s and get my hands on whatever files the order had on the priests made me antsy.
I was zipping up my boot when I smelled sulfur. I still hadn’t forgiven him. “What?”
“Here.” Luc shoved something small and hard into my hand. “Wear this.”
I opened my hand and stared at a black earpiece the size of my pinky nail and a short snake like wire attached to a flat small box with an on/off switch on its side. “You asking me to wear a wire?”
“I’m not asking, I’m telling.” Then he took a deep breath and gave me a weak smile, as if trying to take some of the sting out of his words. “Listen, Dora, I wish I could be there. Believe me or not, but I just can’t and you’re gonna have to trust me on this.”
I crossed my arms. “Whatever, Luc. You know I don’t wear bras, so what do you expect me to do? Shove the wire up my ass? Not happening.”
He rubbed his brow and groaned. “You’re still angry.”
“Hmm.” I tapped my foot. “What would give you that idea?” Was he serious? Did the man really think he could say the things he’d said to me and a few hours later I’d be all happy because he decided to throw me a scrap of kindness? Judging by the plea in his ice blue eyes, apparently so.
“I want to help you and this is the only way I know how without compromising the orders directives.”
“Fine, whatever.” I huffed a stray tendril of hair out of my eyes. “Put it on. But I don’t know how you think it’s gonna help. Maybe if a bad guy tries to kill me I can rip it off and throw it at him. That’ll stop him.”
He took a deep breath, as if trying to quell his rising temper. Personally, I was ready for another all out brawl. Bring it on, baby.
“This,” he said, picking up the wire, “is laced with heat sensors; it can detect anyone’s body heat. I’ll be able to let you know if someone tries to sneak up on you.”
Well, there was that. Though I hated to concede the point, this might help after all. My parasite detector only worked on anyone less powerful than myself, and any advantage was a good one. “Can you see what I see?”
He shook his head. “Infrared imaging only.”
“But if I’m in a crowd, how’s that gonna help me? All you’ll see is fuzzy red dots everywhere.”
“Paras, even more powerful ones, transmit at a cooler frequency. We’re almost entirely blue.”
“I didn’t know that. How come I didn’t know that? When did you find that out?” I asked disgruntled, why hadn’t he bothered to share that information with me before?
He jerked his chin, indicating I should lift my shirt up. He paused for a second, looking at the necklace and ring. I knew he had questions, but he didn’t ask. He pushed the necklace aside, pressed the wire to the bottom of my breast so that it molded against the curve and quickly taped it on.
“Kemen, and I have been tinkering around with the idea for a while. We used night vision goggles with an IR filter and noticed some heat differences so figured we were probably on the right path. But goggles are too obvious.” He lifted my breast and bent down so that his nose was mere inches from it and tugged on the wire.
Believe it or not, getting your boob handled like it’s little more than a nuisance isn’t much of a turn on.
Obviously satisfied with the placement, he jerked his chin in the direction of my jeans. “Pull your pants down.”
I unzipped and pulled them down to my knees. He taped the box to the inside of my thigh then switched it on. “So,” he continued, “Kemen and I came up with the concept of masking the infrared in wire. This is the prototype. But I’ve tested it out. It works. It’s not perfect, has some glitches, but for what you’re gonna do tonight, it’s good enough.” He gave the wire one last tug, then patted my breast with a satisfied nod.
My lips twisted. “If you were anyone else, I’d accuse you of copping a feel.”
“I was.” He winked, then he grabbed the necklace again, finger lingering for a moment on the medallion. He cleared his throat. “Okay, now the receiver.”
I handed him the earpiece. He shoved it inside my canal as far as it could go. I frowned. It felt strange, but not unpleasant. I looked at the mirror and turned my face to the side. It was like it wasn’t even in there, I couldn’t see a thing.
“You can hear me and I you,” he said.
“How are you going to hear me with this? Don’t these things need antennas?”
“Pandora,” he said with a twirl of his lips, “leave technology to the experts.” He tweaked my nose.
I’m not kidding. He freakin’ tweaked my nose. Condescending, chauvinist pig. I wanted to bite his finger off.
He cupped my cheek. “Be safe out there tonight.” Lengthy pause. “And come home.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I guess in his own way, he was apologizing. I grabbed his hand, squeezed it and then stepped back. “I’ll do my best.”
~*~
I brushed my hands down my pants, glanced both ways to make certain no humans were around to watch me appear as if from nothing, then stepped out of the alleyway a block from Grace’s house. I ran with hurried steps to her front door.
It was dark enough out that I’d decided I probably wouldn’t get caught if I’d ported. I was fifteen minutes early, but I wanted to get a jump on the club and it opened its doors at ten. I doubted Grace would mind my showing up a few minutes ahead of schedule.
“Testing. Testing. One. Two. Testing...” The teeny voice reverberated through my skull and set my teeth on edge.
“If you don’t shut up, I will personally rip your tongue out when I get back home tonight.”
He laughed. “Told you it would work.”
“Jerk.”
It was quiet again and I could almost picture Luc scrawled out on his bed wearing nothing but a pleased smirk.
Then I thought of something I probably should have remembered much sooner. I was going to Grace’s to get a book on priests and bloody Big Brother could hear every word I said. I cursed myself every kind of fool. Oh well, I was gonna have to figure out a way to speak without giving my secret away. How to stop Grace from doing it was the x-factor.
I ran even faster when I finally caught sight of the flag. I bounded up the steps and was getting ready to knock when I heard a scream of outrage.
“What do ye mean he hasn’t taken the bait?”
Pause.
I placed my ear against the door, the words grew low and muffled, but I was able to make it out.
“Now ye listen to me, I don’t care what ye have to do to make this happen, but ye will make it happen. If ye don’t...”
The door was suddenly flung open. Startled, I yelped and jerked back swiftly, trying not to appear as guilty as I felt.
“What were ye doin?” Mary asked, a suspicious glint in her gray eyes.
“I’m here for the...umm, package.”
“Package,” the tiny voice in my head questioned. “You didn’t tell me about a pit stop at Grace’s.”
She stared at me for a long second. I shoved my hands down my pocket, trying my best to ignore my vexation at getting caught by her. Luc snarled that he was going to kill me when I got back if I didn’t answer him now.
I plastered on my best smile, going for innocence and naiveté. “Well, you gonna let me in or what?”
The static in my head died down. Let him stew, served him right.
Mary didn’t seem to want to budge, as a matter of fact her attitude turned downright hostile. She gripped the door, her mouth set into a hard slash. My smile slipped and I cocked my head, aggravation burning a hot line through me. I lifted my brow and let her know that she had a second to move before I
made her do it.
“If I were you, Mary,” Grace said, “I’d move away from the door.”
The girl finally stepped back, but her rigid posture screamed she wasn’t happy about it.
I walked in, glared at her, then turned toward Grace. “Sorry, I got here early. But I wanted to make it to the club before it opened.”
The earpiece buzzed. “I think when you get home I’m going to tie you down to the bed and swat you for keeping more secrets from me.”
I coughed, cleared my throat. Grace gave me a questioning look. I patted my chest. “Just a prick in my throat,” I said with a stiff smile.
“Well, okay...” Confusion still evident on her face as she gestured me toward the kitchen where she stood.
My ears rang with a peal of laughter I was determined to ignore.
Grace’s normally neat bun had come loose and wisps of curls framed her face in a gray halo. She looked about as frazzled as I’d ever seen her.
“You look awful, Grace. You okay?”
She curled her nose. “Bloody order’s got me teeth on edge. When ye told me about the little girl I thought of a plan to try and get inside. Find out if that was an isolated incident or indicative of some grand conspiracy.”
I perked up, so had Luc by the obvious lack of noise on the other end of the line. “Oh yeah?”
“Mmm.” She nodded. “Many of us when we’re inducted into the order do so at young ages. I was ten when I sealed in.”
I frowned. That seemed incredibly young to take on the huge responsibility of being a watcher. My doubt must have shown because she wagged her finger at me.
“You’ve no idea how valuable the little ones are to us. They’re almost always overlooked and able to get in places adults cannot.”
Made sense. But still... “What’d you do?”
“We grabbed a girl child, twelve, but she looks much younger. More like eight. We’ve got scouts all over her, we set her out as bait. But no takers yet. We need to get inside there, Pandora.”
I narrowed my eyes. What a perfect answer. Too perfect maybe? Had she known I was listening? Or was it really the truth and I was looking for trouble where there wasn’t any?
I clenched my jaw. The Gray Man had done his job well. I didn’t know who to trust anymore. Was Grace really telling me the truth, or had it been a brilliant rouse to throw me off the scent of what was real? My stomach churned. Was I losing my mind? It was beginning to feel that way.
“Well, anyway...” She flicked her wrist. “That’s not yer problem, it’s mine.” She turned and I followed. “I’ve got what you need. Here.” She grabbed a small, leather bound book off the kitchen table.
It was thin. I mean twenty, thirty pages thin. I frowned. “Is this it?” After hundreds of years, this was all the order had about the priests? It was almost anti-climactic. I’d expected something thick and nearly full to bursting.
“Aye. They’re an elusive lot. I do hope it can be of some help.”
Curious, but running low on time, I forced myself to stuff the book into my back pocket. “Thanks.”
She grabbed my hand. “Call me if you learn anything new. Understand?”
I nodded.
“Or if you see—” She glanced over her shoulder at Mary who stood by the sink washing a plate with the slow, methodical movements of someone trying to pretend they weren’t listening when in fact they were. She leaned in to whisper in the ear without the piece in it. “You know who.”
I wondered if Luc heard her. I hoped not.
“What did she say?” I heard him ask. “See who? Pandora, don’t think I don’t know who she’s talking about.”
“I will.” Lie. I wasn’t gonna tell another soul about him. Then I said my goodbyes and left, the second the door closed Luc grilled me.
He growled. “What did she give you?”
I smirked, very pleased with myself and liking the wire a little better, without it I would never have experienced the instant gratification of pissing him off. How fun. “Now, now, demon,” I purred, “a woman can’t spill all her secrets.”
I headed back toward the alleyway. There was a long enough lull in our conversation that I thought the batteries had died, when he quietly said, “Pandora, I saw purple in there.”
“What? Purple?” I asked, a second before what he meant dawned on me. “I thought you said paras were blue?”
“Up ‘til now, that’s pretty much all I’ve ever seen.” He grew quiet. When Luc was nervous—and trust me he was—I was nervous. “Where was it?”
“That’s what doesn’t make sense.”
I stopped walking and looked over my shoulder, peering down the empty street. The rows of houses almost seeming like malevolent specters the way the empty black windows stared back at me. I shivered.
“Put it this way,” Luc said, “you were a tower of blue in a sea of purple.”
But I barely heard him as I turned and ran down the alley, because the eyes were back and they were watching me.
Chapter 19
When I’d ported I’d lost the eyes. I don’t know who kept following me and frankly, I didn’t care, so long as it stopped.
I crouched in shadows on the building adjacent to Sanguinary, watching the cluster of people gathering around the still closed doors. But I saw nothing out of the ordinary. No tall man. No kids. This plan of mine might very well turn dud if something didn’t happen soon.
“Where are you, Dora? I see you and black.” Luc sounded aggravated, I smiled.
“Don’t get your panties in a wad. I’m on a roof, your thingys not broken.”
He growled.
I loved picking on him, made my night so much more enjoyable. “You know,” I said, “this wire is quickly becoming my best friend. I never knew it could be so easy to get a rise out of you.”
“I hate you.”
I grinned. “Although...”
I leaned back on my heels, studying a straggler walking down the sidewalk. He was a smallish man, wearing a trench coat and ball cap tucked down tight on his head so that his face was hidden.
You can always tell the look of a person up to something. My heart thumped with excitement and I waited on bated breath, expecting to see him pluck some child out of the shadow at any moment. But when he entered the X-rated theater I knew it was probably some married husband of three, trying to hide his late night sexcapades from the ol’ ball and chain.
“Yeah,” Luc prompted.
I pinched my nose, blowing out a disappointed breath. “Isn’t seeing nothing but purple inside Grace’s house sorta odd?”
I could picture him shoving his fingers through his hair. “Yes.”
“So is it fried, or what?”
“You didn’t maybe see anything weird while you were there, did you?”
I thought about it for a second. “Nah, nothing that I can think of. House maid, Mary, was channeling a bit of the wicked witch of the west, but...” I shrugged. “Wait. Were her and Grace purple too?”
“No.” He paused, as if searching for the right words. “They were red, orange. Human. The purple happened about two seconds before you left. It was almost like creeping fog the way it rolled over their heat markers.”
“So they’re definitely human.”
He sighed. “Would seem so. Either that, or the wire really is fried.” He took a deep breath. “And there was no one else there?”
“Not unless they were upstairs. I didn’t sense anyone else.”
“Hmm.”
I settled in and waited for something to happen. The wire fell silent, either Luc had fallen asleep or he was eating. Personally I was fine with that.
Figuring I had some time I grabbed the book with eager anticipation and flipped it open to the first page. It was difficult trying to decipher the chicken scratch; obviously the order hadn’t yet come into the twenty first century, preferring handwritten notes to press print.
I sighed.
Pontifex Mortus: An ancient sect of warriors tra
ined in battle and skilled in every weapon known to man. They are highly efficient assassins, often times able to catch their prey unaware.
I bitterly twisted my lips. I’d experienced that firsthand.
A Priest’s killing is distinguishable by their use of the biblical passage, Rev 21:8.
My shoulders slumped. None of this was new. My excitement wavered with each sentence read. The order seemed to know even less than me. And they called themselves the watchers. I snorted.
“I could do better than this,” I huffed.
The book went on to speak about their appearance, height. I growled, aggravated.
Then I flipped the page and my stomach churned with a case of gut wrenching butterflies.
Names. Overtime we’ve gathered clues and insights, repetition of names and alias’. Which is which we haven’t a clue, likely guess these are the true names:
Asher. Dahlia. Cain. Axel. Ari. Two remain, as yet, a mystery.
I frowned. Dahlia was a female name. There was one Cain and three names beginning with A. I reached into my shirt and pulled out the necklace staring at the silver A inscribed on the medallion. So who was my Billy?
I couldn’t picture him as an Axel or an Ari. Asher. I grinned, heart thumping forcefully. Maybe.
“Asher,” I said slowly, tasting the vowels of the name. My pulse hammered. Was that his name? I couldn’t explain it, but somehow it felt right.
I turned the page and my jaw fell in shock. “No way.” I flipped page after page and it was all the same. Every page aside from the first two had been blacked out with marker.
Stunned, I sat that way for a second shaking my head in disbelief. But after two more minutes of flipping back and forth I finally had to admit it was no hallucination.
“What the hell did they do?” Angrily I snapped the book shut. Did Grace know what had been done to this book? Who’d done this and what were they trying to hide?
“What?” Luc asked.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and shoved it back into my pocket. There were ways to reveal hidden words, even under the thick stain of black marker. It was scientific and I didn’t quite understand the how of it, but I was going to figure out a way.