by D. N. Hoxa
“Correct,” Ross said with a nod.
Could have been my imagination—I was seeing all kinds of things that night—but he looked honest. Either way, I was taking what he was offering because I had no better plan on how to get out of here by myself.
With a sigh, I prepared my head to take in everything these people said through one ear, and let it go out the other. “You can start by telling me what a Forger is.” Ross had used that word twice now, and I was pretty sure he was referring to me.
Pressing his lips into a tight smile, Ross nodded and finally took a seat on the other side of the table, right across from me. Cruz continued to stand and analyze me, but I was pretending not to notice. Ignoring her was better than returning her stare.
“A Forger is a mage who has forged an entire life as a human. Some do it voluntarily, some unconsciously. I’m guessing you are the latter,” Ross said.
“A mage,” I repeated. Mage. I’d read that word somewhere. Wasn’t a mage like a wizard or something?
“That’s right,” he said. “In most cases, the Forger who does this unconsciously, lives and dies as a human. In others, they find out about their true nature, then decide whether to go back to their old lives or begin new ones. That’s where we come in. It’s why we exist.” He nodded proudly. “To protect and to serve. To help those in need.”
Part of me wanted to laugh. Part of me wanted to cry. The biggest part of me, though, wanted to run to the door and out on all fours. Unfortunately, while Ross had spoken, Naomi Cruz had stepped right in front of it.
Sweat covered my forehead. Non-stop shivers down my back. I couldn’t figure out why but my heart beat normally. Probably because it knew that I had to keep calm and not raise any red flags before I figured a way out of this.
“So, you think I’m a mage.” I expected them to start laughing at my face, and I’d have been relieved if that had happened, but they didn’t.
“According to the description you gave to Officer Terrin, then yes, we believe you are a mage. No human can see the things you’ve seen, Miss Vaughn. No one but an impari—that is what we call ourselves—can see the true nature of another,” Ross said, bringing back memories I never wanted to think of. The red eyes. The sharp teeth. The incredibly fast movements of Red Tie…holy balls. “Ms. Dixon confirmed your nature upon your arrival, too.”
I wanted to ask how she’d done that, but I was pretty sure I didn’t want to hear the answer.
“Go on,” I said instead, my voice a stranger’s to my ears. If I could keep him talking long enough, maybe, just maybe, a lightbulb would turn on somewhere in my head and I’d get the idea of the fucking century.
Ross didn’t hesitate. “As you already know, Miss Vaughn, humans are not the only conscious beings in the world. There are a lot of other species who share this place with them, and you’re one of them.”
For a long second after he stopped speaking, nobody in the room seemed to breathe. Maybe they were waiting to see if I would fall for it? What was I supposed to do, start laughing?
Good thing I didn’t get the chance, because Ross cleared his throat and spoke again. “Right, so, at this point, we would expect you to ask questions, but it’s okay if you won’t.” Questions? Did he really think I was going to believe in what he was saying? I squinted my eyes at him in confusion, but he either pretended not to get it, or he really couldn’t tell. “The Senior Order of Magic is the institute that maintains order, and records of every registered species—”
“What species?”
Ross smiled. I fell back on my seat. Fuck. I’d asked a question.
Blame it on curiosity. I mean, I didn’t believe anything he said, but I did want to know how far the limits of their imagination ran.
“Mr. Foster, if you will,” Ross said, and, without a word, Foster took a folded piece of paper from the bottom of his pad and slid it over to me.
My eyes never left Ross’s as I took the letter in my hand and opened it. Did I really want to look away from them and give them the chance to do anything they wanted to me while I read?
Why, yes. Yes, I did. I really wanted to read that damn letter.
Taking in a deep breath, I looked down. It was a list, and Foster hadn’t even bothered to bullet-point it, or put in some numbers, at least. The list was short:
The Impari:
Mage
Vampire
Dryad
Changeling
Shifter
Siren
Pixie
Salamander.
I looked up at Ross again. Neither of them had moved an inch. “What’s this?”
He seemed to be surprised by my question. “Your answer,” he said. “All the known conscious species that exist in the world. The impari.”
“Oh. Right.” I hit my forehead with the heel of my hand and laughed a little. “Silly me. Please continue, Mr. Ross.” I slid the piece of paper back to Foster.
“It’s yours to keep, if you’d like,” said Ross.
“I don’t like.” I even added in a nod for good measure.
Without hesitation, Foster put the letter back under his pad again, never even looking at me.
“Miss Vaughn, if you would like a break—” Ross started but I cut him off.
“No, no, no. No breaks. You tell me what you want to tell me, and then I’ll be free. That was the deal.” I’d listen to him talk about ghosts if it would get me out of there.
“As I was saying, the Senior Order maintains the records of every individual belonging to the species you read on the list. We also maintain the order among them, and we serve justice to those who do not abide by the laws.”
“How do you serve justice?” I asked. I couldn’t help myself. He just sounded so cold when he said it.
“By imprisonment, of course. And by a death sentence.” That’s exactly what I’d thought.
“Oh, I get it. You’re the good guys.” I grinned, because everybody who ever served the death sentence thought they were the good guys.
“Miss Vaughn, I can sense your discomfort. Please feel free to react the way that comes naturally to you. Trust me, we’ve seen it all. This is standard procedure and we’ve got everything in place to handle all kinds of outbursts,” Ross said impatiently.
“I’m not in discomfort, Mr. Ross. I’m just trying to picture a real live vampire. And a real live shifter. And a salamander?” I had no idea what that even was.
“Don’t you believe your eyes, Miss Vaughn? Officer Terrin reported the way you described what you saw earlier today. And the training halls are perfectly visible through the main bridge, and we have no report of you being unconscious at any point while you’ve been here.”
“Those…those weren’t real. I was in shock. I am in shock. Those were just…” my imagination.
Something hard fell in the pit of my stomach. The footsteps echoed in my head until Naomi Cruz was in front of me again. “We have a special program for Forgers who refuse to believe, Miss Vaughn. If you allow me, I will open your eyes to our world, little by little, with no more than three sessions, I guarantee it,” she said. The sick smile on her face made me want to drag my chair away from her until I hit the wall.
“No.” No fucking way. I wouldn’t allow her to open my eyes. And sessions? I’d rather cut off my hair than be in a room alone with her!
“Suit yourself,” she said with a nod, as if she was glad I’d refused.
“Let us get back to the point. You are here because you were the sole witness of a crime scene involving mages and devamps,” Ross said.
“Devamps? That wasn’t on the list.” I’d have definitely remembered.
Ross flinched. He turned to look at Foster, who only shook his head, and then looked back at me. “We need you to walk us through everything that happened tonight.”
“Wait, is that it? Was that all I needed to hear? Because if it was, then I’m free to go.” I stood up. The door was already calling my name. All I had to do was walk to it, then
I could run out of the building as fast as my legs could carry me.
“Yes, I’m afraid that is all we can tell you. If you want to know more, you have to ask the questions,” Ross said.
“I don’t want to know more.” I already knew enough about their state of mind.
Ross pressed his lips together and shrugged. “Great. Why don’t you take your seat, walk me over what happened tonight so Foster can record it, and then we’ll need you to sign some paperwork, and you’re free to go.”
“What paperwork?”
“Just a few documents that state that you are voluntarily leaving without the full knowledge of the impari, and that you agree to never speak to any human about what you’ve seen, heard, or talked about in here, nothing more,” Ross said. It was amazing how good he was at this. I couldn’t catch any hint anywhere on his face to give away the fact that he was making this whole thing up.
Without wasting any more time, I sat down and cleared my throat. Better get this over with real quick.
“I’m a bartender at the Lonely Rose. That’s a club in Richland. My cousin Luke is a waiter. We work there six nights a week, sometimes seven. There were never any incidents that I know of, until tonight. We heard the gunshots sometime around two in the morning. Everybody ran out of there fast, but Luke was serving the VIP tables, so he was there when this guy and his friends shot two others dead right in the middle of the club. Luke had tried to help one of them get out and the guy thought Luke knew him. But he didn’t.” I spoke so fast, I could barely catch my breath. “We begged him to let us go. He didn’t. Instead, he, uh…” shit, now I was going to sound as crazy to them as they did to me. “He bit Luke on the neck.”
Foster didn’t stop writing on his pad for a second. Naomi kept analyzing me with her brow raised, slightly shaking her head every other second as if she was seeing something she didn’t approve of.
“Describe the man to me. Him, and his friends,” Ross said.
The rusty taste of blood filled my mouth when I bit down on my tongue hard. Why the hell had I told Terrin about the stupid eyes and the teeth?
But why did I even care about how I’d looked, anyway? These people were going to let me go and I was never going to see them again. That gave me a much needed push, and this time, I didn’t hesitate. I gave them all the details.
“He was a bit taller than me. Dark hair cut close to his head. His eyes were red and his teeth were sharp. He moved really fast, like in-a-blink-of-an-eye fast. His skin was kind of cold, too.”
Nodding his head, Ross looked at what Foster was writing on his pad for a second. “And his friends?”
My whole body shook as the memory of how I’d killed the guy came back to me in a rush. What the hell had gotten into me? I’d actually killed a man!
The reality of that situation was only now hitting me. And hard.
“Their eyes weren’t red or anything, but they were strong. Very strong, like they were made of steel or something,” I mumbled, looking away from them and at the black sphere in the middle of the table.
“Did you get into physical contact with them?”
My jaw almost touched the ground. “No! What? No, I didn’t.” When did it get so hot in there?
Ross rose his brows, then took Foster’s pad in his hands. “‘His skin was kind of cold, too’, you said. And you also claim that their hands were made of steel?”
I’d messed it up. For fuck’s sake, who was I kidding? I wasn’t a good liar. My blood boiled way too fast, and my temper never let me lie like normal people did. Dropping my hands on the table, I sighed. “I slapped him, okay? The guy with the red eyes. He was laughing in my face and I lost it and I just…I slapped him.”
“You slapped him?” Ross said. Foster wasn’t writing on his pad for once. He was looking right at me, and his hazel eyes were very intense.
“Like I said, I didn’t see any other way out of the mess, so…” What the hell did they expect me to say? It wasn’t like I was sane in those moments.
“Miss Vaughn, I get the feeling that you’re keeping something from us. Am I right?” Naomi Cruz said, her voice low, almost seductive.
I looked into her eyes, feeling a bit calmer all of the sudden. Why had I thought her eyes were cold before? They were an icy blue, yes, but they were really warm. They made me feel like I was the only person in the world when she looked at me, and I wanted to hug her for thinking that.
“Yes, you are, Ms. Cruz,” I heard myself say. She was just so amazing, I couldn’t find it in me to lie to her. Her silky hair fell on her cheek, and gracefully, she put it back behind her ear. Amazing, amazing woman.
“Miss Vaughn…may I call you Nova? You have beautiful eyes,” she whispered.
Something that looked like a stop sign took over my thoughts. I blinked fast, and Cruz’s eyes changed. They went back to cold…and then they were warm again. And she was beautiful, so gorgeous, but then, she wasn’t.
What the hell was happening to me?
“Ms. Cruz?” Ross said, but she took a step toward me instead.
My head was exploding. One second, I couldn’t get enough of the sight of her. I wanted to tell her all of my secrets and I wanted to stay by her side forever, but then, a breath later, I wanted to push her against the wall and run as fast and as far from her as I could.
“Do you mind if I touch your hand? You skin looks so soft,” Cruz whispered.
My hand reached out for her without my approval. What the fuck was going on?
The panic threw me to my feet. I knocked the chair down and stepped back, away from her. “What are you doing to me?” I demanded. “Tell me, right now! What the hell are you doing?” This wasn’t normal. What I was feeling, this fake desire in my chest couldn’t be normal.
“Naomi!” Ross shouted.
She stopped in her tracks, blinked a few times, then looked at him. Cruz looked completely lost. When she turned to look at me again, her eyes were wide, full of fear and panic, and a visible shiver washed down her back.
“I don’t…I…” Shaking her head, she closed her eyes for a second. “Please excuse me,” she said, and without looking at Ross again, she walked out the door.
Chapter Four
Five minutes later and I still couldn’t breathe easy. All I could think about was what to do in case Naomi Cruz came back and did…that to me. Whatever that was. It made no sense to me, no matter how many times I thought about it, so eventually, my brain began to shut down the details.
“Are you feeling better, Miss Vaughn?” Ross asked, and I only nodded. “Can we continue the interrogation?”
“Please,” I whispered. That place was doing things to me I didn’t want done. Now more than ever, I couldn’t wait to leave.
“Let me clear something up first: we will not judge you. Whatever it is that you’re hiding from us, we do not have the authority to judge or sentence you if you do not belong to the Senior Order. Do you understand?”
Did I understand? No, I didn’t understand. But lying was exhausting. All of this was exhausting. If telling the truth made it all go away sooner, I was all in.
“I killed one of them,” I whispered. Before I could see their reaction, I closed my eyes. Darkness was my friend and it would help me spill out the beans easier. “They were already leaving. I thought the guy with the red eyes had already killed Luke. I don’t know, I just grabbed a beer bottle from the floor, and I jumped on the guy’s back. Fell on top of him. Stabbed him in his neck, three or four times. Maybe more, I’m not sure.” The weight on my shoulders got a bit lighter. “I’m really sorry.” No matter what Red Tie had done, the man I killed didn’t deserve to die because of it. And I was better than becoming a murderer just because someone else was one. Too bad I hadn’t been able to think in those moments. If I’d known that Luke wasn’t dead, I wouldn’t have done it, though.
When I finally opened my eyes, Ross was pale as a ghost. Foster wasn’t writing again, but he wasn’t looking at me, either.
&nb
sp; “Look, I know that it was wrong, but I—” I started but Ross cut me off.
“Miss Vaughn, do you realize what you’ve done?” he whispered.
“Yes, of course I do. I killed a man! I wouldn’t have if I knew Luke wasn’t dead, I swear it. I wasn’t thinking straight, and I already told you that I was in shock. I couldn’t control my body.” Maybe a lie, maybe the truth. But the way Ross was looking at me now made me wish I’d just kept my mouth shut.
“You killed a devamp servant, Miss Vaughn,” Ross said, shaking his head like he’d heard the most impossible story ever.
“What the hell is a devamp servant?” he completely lost me.
“A devamp is short for demonic vampire,” said Ross. “They’re a new breed of vampirism, something quite recent, in fact. Their servants are other impari, in most cases mages, who drink devamp blood regularly to become as strong as a normal vampire.”
“You just used the words normal and vampire in the same sentence,” I said, just in case he didn’t notice. The other stuff he said? My brain still hadn’t processed any of it.
“You killed one of them with a beer bottle,” he said.
“Like I said, I’m s—”
“Miss Vaughn, you’re missing the point. A trained Senior Order officer might have been able to do that. A Forger with no knowledge of what she even is? Impossible.”
Hold on just a sec. “Are you calling me a liar?” Because it sounded like it to me.
“I’m not calling you anything, but we have the body of the servant, and further tests are going to bring the truth of what happened to the surface,” Ross said. He sounded angry suddenly. Had I pushed one of his buttons?
“Well, that’s great, then. You won’t have to take my word for it.” It didn’t matter whether they believed me or not. What was important was that I got out of there. “Now am I done? I really need to go. My cousin is all by himself in the hospital. If he wakes up and I’m not there, I’ll never forgive myself. Please, just bring me the paperwork so I can sign it.”