by S. L. Gray
"Don't." His mother's smile was wide and delighted. "Don't bother. Don't try. Protect her because you have to. Stay with her because it's what you want. You father was like you about it. He let the Unit send him all over the world so he could avoid me. You see how well that worked out."
She shifted closer while he chuckled, ducking his head. When he looked up, she stood right in front of him, almost like she was really there. Only the faint outline of the couch behind her, seen through her projection, reminded him she was miles away. Safely at home. He'd have to go soon.
"You've already been around the world," she told him gently. "Maybe coming back is exactly what you need. Keep her safe, Eric, but let her in. Let her take care of you, too, hm? We all need someone sometimes. Even you."
Even his mother who kept her chin up all the time. "Mom..."
"Oh, hush," she scolded before he could say anything more. "You're as stubborn as your father ever was and twice as much as Gabriel. That's quite the feat." She lowered her voice, and leaned toward him like she might confess a secret. "I know you love me. I love you too. Enough to give you time to figure out that you can always come home."
She straightened, eyes bright once more. "Now. I'm going to bed before you talking with shadows wakes your Melanie up and she thinks you've gone crazy." She lifted her hands to cup his cheeks though she couldn't actually touch him. The gesture was enough. "Take care of her. Take care of yourself. And when the world has settled again, bring her to meet me. That's an order."
She dropped her hands and went back to the edge of the room where she'd appeared. She didn't need to travel from exactly the same place, but habits were hard to break. Once there, she turned back to blow him a kiss, then she faded into nothing like she'd never been there.
~
Security cameras. Pass codes. Quaint, the things humans relied on to keep them safe. As if a locked door or an electronic grid could keep the clever and determined out. Even the flesh-bound had ways of getting through, and less incentive.
Shadows filled the hallways, broken only by shallow pools of fluorescent light leaking from behind closed doors. Two guards chuckled at the faint blue glow coming from a television, unaware of the figure drifting past just on the other side of a thin sheet of glass.
The tablet had been here, somewhere close. Warded now, perhaps. That would explain why the pull of its presence felt muted. The woman had no training, no practical experience in hiding anything, but there were inherent powers. Accidental triggers. Strength of will.
Nothing that could keep it out.
The door at the end of the hall beckoned. Someone passed the window looking in, silhouette darkening the glass momentarily. There, there, the tug within it urged. Hurry, faster, before they steal it away! Someone else might have been quicker to respond.
Not for long.
The lock on the door snapped open with a gesture, the single spot of color flashing from red to green. The door swung open and it stepped fully into the world. It could be seen, it could be heard, it could take what it wanted...
"Ah, you’re here, good." The sandy-haired man who came around the table appeared pleased, if surprised. His smile widened slowly. "I’ve just been going over everything and making sure it’s all in order. I’m sure you heard about the outage. Odd without a storm blowing through or something, don’t you think? Still, I suppose these things do happen. Fortunately I’m a light sleeper and heard the phone when they called me in.”
He waved his words away with a gesture. “Don’t mind me. I’m rambling. I do that when I’m flustered. Just go on about your business. The trash needs to be emptied at the very least.”
Oh, it planned to clean up the trash. It stepped around the empty work table, closing the distance to the man with the tag proclaiming him ‘Andruss.’ He was on the list of obstacles. A list that would shrink by one item tonight.
"Where is the tablet?"
The scientist's smile faltered. "Tablet?" Then his brow furrowed. "How do you know about that?" His gaze dropped, taking in more details. It lifted again. "Aren't you supposed to wear a uniform?"
It didn't answer the question. It had no time for distractions like these. It lashed out, catching the scientist by the throat, fingers biting into flesh just beneath the other man's jaw. Color drained from the scientist's face as he was lifted and held with legs jerking some inches above the floor.
"I'll ask again." It over-enunciated every word, making each syllable cruelly keen. "Where is the tablet from Taheret?"
The choked-off gags of panic didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t going to learn what it needed to know from this pathetic bag of meat. It was useless. Expendable. And so he was discarded, tossed into the now-closed door with such force the glass splintered, cracks appearing like a spider web.
Andruss made no sound during his flight, but now, crumpled at the bottom of the door, he groaned. Coughed once. Spat a gob of sticky red onto the floor.
It rounded on the scientist again. Knelt to lift the human’s chin, to force him to look into depthless eyes and understand he’d be shown no mercy. He would get no explanation for why he had to die. He would simply be dead. A message left for the woman who had not done as its master ordered. There were consequences to that.
This Andruss would be the first.
~
"Of all the mornings to be late, you had to pick the one that made you look guilty?" Noura had flagged them down from across the street and now jogged the last few steps as she crossed to meet them. She immediately folded her arms across her body and hunched her shoulders.
Melanie stared at the army of police cars and city vehicles. An ambulance parked just in front of an auxiliary building waited, doors open. None of the paramedics were in sight. "What's going on?"
"You didn't turn on the TV? Well." Her gaze shifted to Kade and back and a sly smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "I guess you might have been a little distracted." Amusement faded again, though, as she uncurled an arm and touched Melanie's shoulder. "It's Dr. Andruss. They found him dead this morning."
Melanie felt the blood drain from her face, leaving her cold in its absence. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth before she managed to ask, "Dead? What do you mean?"
Noura frowned. "The same thing dead usually means. No longer one of the living. They found him in the work room." She shifted her weight and shook her head. "The tablet's gone, Mel. The cops are saying Dr. Andruss must have interrupted the thieves and they got him permanently out of the way."
"Oh God. Oh, no." She clapped a hand over her mouth and the other over her lurching stomach. Kade stood close behind her, both hands resting on her shoulders. His touch reassured her, but it couldn't erase the guilt. No one had broken in and stolen the tablet. She'd left it at home.
As the saying went, it was easier to get forgiveness than to ask permission. She'd intended to confess to Dr. Andruss and promise to bring it back when Kade and his organization were satisfied. She had her reasons prepared and thought them strong. Not strong enough to account for the loss of a life.
"You were here late," Noura reminded her suddenly. "You didn't see anything, did you? You were probably the last one around."
Melanie's stomach clenched again. There'd be a record of when she came into the building, but with the way she’d left... “The power was out. I went home because I couldn’t get anything else finished.” And she wasn’t going to admit to hearing voices. Maybe she had, though. Maybe she’d heard the thieves sneaking in. Would they have waited long enough for Dr. Andruss to come in this morning? He didn’t usually show up before five, but with the power out, maybe he’d decided to drive in. If she’d just waited around a bit longer... "But I didn't see anything. Or anyone. The place was quiet as a tomb when—" She closed her eyes. "Bad choice of words."
Noura's wan smile didn't touch her eyes. "They'll want to talk to you anyway. The cops, I mean. I had my turn. Don't mind them giving you dirty looks. I think they've watched too much TV. They think
glaring an answer out of us is the way to go."
The cops. Questioning her? It was one thing to fudge the truth to a friend, someone who might forgive her if and when she could confess to the oddness in her life. Lying to the authorities, though, would take a different sort of courage.
"They're not going to have to glare anything out of her," Kade offered. "If they ask where you were, you just tell them you were with me." Melanie managed, barely, to control her surprise. Kade slid an arm around her waist, effectively claiming her as he continued to spin out an alibi. "I picked her up. The parking lot was empty."
Noura's gaze bounced between them. "So you were quick about making up. I thought you were on the outs."
Melanie heard the amusement in Kade's voice when he answered, "I'm just that good."
Noura snorted. "Save it for when it counts." She gestured with her chin. "Here comes the fun."
Melanie turned with Kade. She was grateful for the solid comfort of him against her back. She thought she heard Kade mutter something under his breath as a pair of policemen headed toward them. His expression was shuttered when she glanced up at him, though. Unreadable and far too controlled to mean anything good.
"Miss Kendrick, isn't it?" The officer who spoke first had a kind face, but his eyes were hard. Deep brown and unflinching, his gaze made her heart skip a beat. When she nodded, his lips thinned. "We must have just missed you. We tried calling your apartment about five minutes ago."
They'd probably thought she was running. That wouldn't make this easier. "I — we — had left by then. I'm sorry. I'm a little late today."
"Probably for the best, given the circumstances," the officer said, summoning up something that might have been a smile on a better day. "I'm Officer Cortez. We've got a few questions, if you'll come with me?" That steely gaze of his moved to Kade and lingered. "Who are you?"
"Kade," he answered before Melanie could. "Eric Kade. But I don't work here." A wry note crept into his voice as he added, "You probably know that."
"I can take him," the other officer said.
"Yeah. Sure. Routine questions, you understand," the first told Kade. "Just go with Officer Garamendi and he'll get you straightened out."
Garamendi. Melanie startled and Kade squeezed her gently. This time she felt certain she'd seen the faint nod he gave her before pressing a kiss against her temple. That was new. And odd. And nice at the same time.
"You'll be okay," he told her. "Bet this won't take long. These guys look like they know what they're doing."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Officer Cortez said. "Miss Kendrick, if you please?" He held out an arm, gesturing to an open space further down the sidewalk. No one lingered there, so no one would overhear. She wouldn't be able to communicate with Kade without being seen.
She nodded and swallowed. "Of course. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you waiting."
If Officer Garamendi really was someone Kade recognized, his boss or whoever he'd mention that shared the name, he seemed to be the only one out of place. Either that, or Officer Cortez had some training as an actor. He never broke character. He didn't ask questions that hinted he might be anything other than an officer of the law. Melanie took a little comfort from his grounding in the mundane, but couldn't help wishing she could confess to feeling more than a touch overwhelmed.
She stuck to the story. Kade picked her up, everyone else had gone home. Officer Cortez studied her throughout the interrogation as if he suspected she wasn't telling him everything. He didn't push for truths, though, and when he'd finished, he managed a sincere-looking smile. She wasn't to leave the city and should call if she thought of anything. Otherwise, he told her, she was free to go home.
She went back to where Noura waited instead. Her friend watched Kade and Garamendi from a distance. Melanie stopped beside her, then nudged her shoulder when she didn't turn her head.
"Lip reading now?"
Noura smiled briefly. "If only. I might be able to pick up something good." She peered toward where Kade and Garamendi stood and tilted her head. "Your man doesn't talk much, does he? Or that's a funny sort of cop. He hasn't let Kade get much of a word in edgewise. Odd, don't you think, for someone asking questions?"
He's not a cop at all, Melanie wanted to say but stopped. He might be an officer in his regular job, when he wasn't stepping between shadows and fighting men who dissolved into dust. She hadn't met Garamendi personally. She couldn't even say for sure what sort of person he might be.
So she settled for saying, "Maybe he's explaining what happened." A thought occurred and she braced herself. "You weren't the one to find him, were you?"
Noura's attention still rested on the men across the lawn. Her eyebrows lifted slightly and she tilted toward Melanie, but her gaze didn't waver. "Hm? Find who?"
"Dr. Andruss. Nour, you're staring."
Now her friend shook herself, a dusky blush touching her cheeks. "Are you really going to blame me for admiring your taste? No, I didn't find him. I came in late too." Her shoulders rose and fell. "I was having coffee in the break room when Kendall found him. She came up to post flyers about the next staff outing and all but tripped over him." She made a face. "Nearly screamed us all deaf and hasn't stopped crying since. Poor kid."
It took a few seconds for Melanie to put a face to the name. When she managed, a wave of sympathy flooded her. Kendall worked in the administrative building most days when she came in. She attended a local college and had taken on the internship for a business class. The quiet sort who warmed up once she started talking, Melanie could only imagine how the find must have shaken her. "Poor thing."
She leaned against Noura's shoulder and the smaller woman leaned back so they balanced one another. Silence stretched between them and Kade showed no signs of breaking off his conversation. Twenty questions, indeed.
"So, what about your date last night?" Melanie forced cheer into her words. "You looked like you were having a good time. Did it end as well as it started?"
For the first time Melanie could recall, Noura looked uncomfortable in her own skin. "I think so," she confessed after a moment's fiddling. "We might have gotten a little liquor-happy." She twisted, shifting her weight as though she had an itch she didn't want to scratch but couldn't ignore.
"Meaning?"
Noura exhaled hard enough to puff out her cheeks. "Meaning I don't remember exactly what happened. We were in the bar getting to know one another. I invited him back to my place and we started walking, but..." She shrugged and held up her hands. "That's it. That's where my evening ends. I don't remember getting home, but that's where I woke up."
Melanie frowned. "Was your date still there?"
Noura shook her head, her smile gone wry. "No note, no business card with a number on the back. He didn't take anything," she promised, "but he didn't leave anything either." She wrinkled her nose. "I don't even know if it was good."
Melanie would not blush. She made fists against the heat rising to her cheeks. "Then you slept with him. I mean, you think you did?"
Her friend laughed. "God, I hope so. Did you see him? If I didn't, we were drunker than I thought."
Only someone like Noura could make that statement and mean it. She wouldn't consider not remembering the night could mean something other than a little excess. "I saw him," she answered, smiling despite her worries. "But if you really can't remember what happened, don't you think maybe you should go and get checked out? He might have slipped you something, Noura. He might have taken advantage."
Noura rolled her eyes. "And I would have let him. I practically had my hand down his pants, Mel. Relax, would you? It wasn't rape if it was anything at all. I know you like to watch out for me, but I'm a big girl. I can handle myself."
Under ordinary circumstances, Melanie would happily agree. She'd seen Noura put men who could easily overpower her in their place. But things weren't normal anymore.
"You know I get fussy," she hedged. "Worried about my friends. You worried me, so I
thought I'd mention it. And you know, if you ever need anything, you can call. Or stay the night."
Noura's grin turned sly. "You might want to rethink that if you plan to keep the mister for a while. I wouldn't want company. Too distracting and too likely to keep me from testing out the sound proofing in every room."
"You're impossible," Melanie said, laughing. This time the blush came despite her wishes, which just made Noura's grin widen.
"Got you." She paused for a moment and her eyebrows tugged together, then she shook her head and looked at Kade and Officer Garamendi again. "You'd tell me the truth about anything, wouldn't you?"
The question caught Melanie off guard. "Of course I would. Well, most anything," she amended. Even if she were free to confess about Kade and his people, Noura wouldn't believe it. Melanie still didn't quite believe it herself.
Noura's shoulders lifted slightly but she didn't look back. "So tell me where the tablet is."
Melanie startled, her attention jerked back to her friend. Her mind raced as she reached for an answer she could live with. She didn't want to lie. She couldn't confess. She hoped she sounded surprised and not guilty when she asked, "Why should I know?"
Noura laughed. "Because you're obsessed, Melanie. You should have seen your face when you opened that box. You lit up like a kid at Christmas."
Discomfort stirred in the pit of her stomach. Melanie pressed a hand against it, hoping it would calm. "I'm not obsessed."
"Says the woman who was here working on it at two a.m. instead of home with her hot boyfriend, working on him." Noura snorted quietly. "All right, try this. Because that Sandoval guy told you it was important, and you're the sort who would take that to heart and not want to let him down." Now she turned to face Melanie fully. "Look, I'm not going to yell about it. I know you're not the sort to sell it. If you took it home, you probably saved it from the thief."