by Sam Cheever
The Sheriff’s station and the firehouse had been the first casualties of that war. The idea had been to remove those who were the most militant, the most physically able to fight back, and those who projected the ability and willingness to lead.
Many first responders died in those ugly days. Others had fled. Still others had gone to Magical Indy under the promise of wealth and comfort.
But no one had remained behind in the building that would be considered modest by most city’s standards. No one had lived within its walls.
Until Hawk and his impressive pooch had slipped silently into town.
Hawk could have been one of the country-fled as we called them. He might have been one of those who run to Magical Indy but had decided it wasn’t the place where he wanted to spend his days. Either way, I thought he owed us an explanation.
And I was determined to get one. Even if it meant planting my buttocks on his doorstep and refusing to leave until he did.
“Look, Glynnie! Fire tucks!” Boyle hopped up and down and pressed his little face against the glass in the big doors of the truck bay. “Red tucks!” He bounced so hard I was afraid he was going to put his face through the glass.
“Yeah, they’re pretty, huh? You need to stop jumping, sweet boy.”
A big shape appeared on the other side of the glass and Boyle squealed, jumping away in surprise as Nicht pressed a big, wet nose against the glass.
Boyle squealed again and pressed his nose against the glass in the same spot. The big dog barked, the sound startling in the silence of the night. Boyle answered in kind. “Bark, bark, puppy,” he squealed, clapping his hands.
The smaller door next to the truck bays opened, and I found myself staring into Hawk’s inscrutable gaze. With a supreme effort, I managed not to scour a gaze over his tall, muscular form, which was currently covered in a tidy white tee-shirt and a pair of loose, soft-looking jeans that were slung low on his hips. His feet were bare, showing me wide toes with tidy, well-groomed nails.
“Are you all right?” he asked me. His deep voice sounded a bit rougher than usual, probably a residual effect of nearly being eaten by that lizard thing the night before. “We’re good. How about you?”
He shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Okay.”
He looks good, my traitorous mind said. Really good.
We stared at each other for a few beats. I started to think he wasn’t going to let us inside. Then, luckily, it was taken out of his hands when Boyle dove past him, through the door, and squealed as Nicht went snout down, butt up, in a classic playful pose. The two of them took off running around the big bays, and Boyle was soon climbing all over the fire engine parked there.
I lifted my brows at Hawk.
His lips curved in a wry grin. “Would you like to come in?”
“It appears one of us already has,” I told him, matching his grin with one of my own.
He stepped back and I slid past him, my shoulder brushing against the heat of his chest. He’d left me just enough room to sneak past and not an inch more.
I didn’t think it was a mistake when his hand came out to skim over my back. The touch pulsed heat straight through me and momentarily clouded my brain. To cover my discomfort, I nodded toward the dog sitting in the front passenger seat of the firetruck and my rambunctious baby, who was making siren noises and turning the huge steering wheel back and forth. “It looks like the firemen have come back to Render.”
Hawk’s gaze slid over the baby and warmed. He barked something to Nicht in a guttural language I didn’t recognize. The big hound responded with a noise that sounded like a gruffly spoken word rather than a bark.
Hawk turned to me, indicating a sliding glass door into another part of the building. “Coffee?” he asked.
“I’d love some. Thanks.”
I followed him into a large room that was sparsely furnished with an old couch and two old reclining chairs. The furniture all faced a television that looked like it had been around for a few decades. It hung on the wall between two sliding glass doors and filled most of the sixty or so inches of paneled wall space.
I inclined my head toward the television set. “Does that still work?”
“It does. I watch it every night.”
“That must cost you a pretty penny in electricity.” Since most of the population of Render had been drawn back to the city, power companies no longer fully supported the area. There was a skeleton crew that would still travel out to the country to fix existing equipment when service was interrupted, but they took forever to come and charged the customer triple what they used to charge for the service.
Hawk filled a saucepan with water and dropped a cone of coffee into it. I recognized the coffee pods used by people who either lived outside the grid or traveled through it. I mostly made tea because it was easier to find and didn’t cost as much as coffee, but Sissy used the pods so I knew they made decent coffee. Her highly-placed parents sent her regular care packages, which usually included coffee pods.
Hawk turned the heat up under the saucepan and shifted to look at me, crossing muscular arms over his wide chest. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Why do you ask?”
He held my gaze for a moment. “I felt a surge of magic from your house last night.”
Oh, oh.
I smoothed as much emotion as I could from my expression. “Oh?” I’d leave it at that because I didn’t want to directly lie. A change of subject was in order. “How are you? That lizard thing really did a number on you.”
Hawk stared at me long enough to let me know he’d recognized my tactic and then nodded. “I’m fine. Your neighbor’s fairy magic is strong.”
I noticed the way he’d referred to Della as my neighbor, despite the fact that she was his neighbor too. That seemed meaningful. As if he didn’t consider himself a resident in Render.
Like he didn’t intend to stay. And if he didn’t, why not? Before I even realized I was going to ask, the real question I wanted him to answer popped out of my mouth. “Why are you here, Hawk?”
He turned to the coffee and lifted the pan, swirling the contents in a practiced move before pouring it into two large mugs. He carried them over and set one down in front of me, taking a seat across the table.
He didn’t say anything for long enough that I thought he wasn’t going to answer my question.
Finally, he said. “I’m trying to help.”
“Help who?” I asked, sipping carefully so as not to scald my mouth.
He just shook his head.
So far, my information gathering wasn’t going well. I decided to try a different tack. “Since you arrived, we’ve had several monster attacks. Do you know why?”
He blinked at me over his mug, looking genuinely surprised. “You think I’m responsible for those attacks?”
I just stared at him.
He lowered his coffee. “I was nearly killed last night.”
“But you weren’t. You’ve managed to come out of all of the attacks mostly intact.”
“So have you,” he said, his brows lowering with anger.
I realized making him mad wasn’t going to get me what I wanted. So I changed course again. “Mitch is missing.”
If Hawk was feigning surprise, he was really good at it. He leaned across the table, his expression filled with sudden tension. “When was he last seen?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. He keeps to himself. We only ever see him if we go to his place.”
“You were there a couple of days ago?” The way he asked told me he knew the answer already.
“Yes. Sissy stopped over there yesterday and didn’t find him. So Art and I went to his place last night…”
“Art? You took your brother?”
The question throbbed with hostility and caught me by surprise. “Yes. Is there a reason I shouldn’t have?”
Hawk shifted in his chair, an irritated jerk of broad shoulders. “He works for the Magical Body. Do you really think
it’s a good idea to take him to the Seer?”
I was surprised that Hawk knew what Mitch was, but I tried not to show it. “Art is questioning his work at the Body. And I needed backup. Sissy had to stay and protect Boyle…”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
I laughed. “No offense, but I barely know you. And you won’t tell me who you really are or even what you are. You just pop into town and insert yourself into my life.” I shook my head. “Judging by your outrage that I would take my brother to see Mitch, you know how hard we try to protect each other here in Render. Yet you expect us to have full confidence in you. Since you won’t tell us anything, we have no reason to trust you, Hawk. And every reason to fear your being here.”
He inclined his head. “Point taken. But I’ve tried to prove that I’m trustworthy. I’ve tried to keep you all safe.”
“We don’t need you to save us. We’ve been taking perfectly good care of ourselves for three years. But, if you want us to rely on your help and integrity, you need to earn that reliance.”
He sipped his coffee and stared at the table for a long moment. Finally, he caught my gaze. I noticed that he had really nice eyes. They were slightly tilted, making him look a little exotic, and they were mostly green with splinters of caramel brown running through them. “Okay, you’re right. You deserve to know what I am. First, I’m an ex-cop from Magical Indy. I left because I couldn’t stomach the way the Body was treating non and low magic people.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, feeling the first nigglings of discomfort threading through my chest.
He gave me an incredulous look. “Surely, you’re aware of the purgings?”
“Purgings?” Okay, that sounded bad.
“The Body has become arrogant and dictatorial. People’s rights are being ripped away from them, especially those with weak or no magic. They’re being watched and controlled and punished for non-compliance. And when any of them show a spark of defiance, the Body has them killed.”
I was appalled. “But you say you’re a cop. Can’t you do anything about it?”
“That’s the point, isn’t it?” he asked me. His tone throbbed with anger. For a moment, I thought that anger was directed at me.
But it wasn’t.
He leaned across the table, his face dark with rage. “Who do you think they asked to do the killing?”
Stars burst before my eyes. I swallowed bile and fought sudden dizziness. Then I realized what he was telling me. What he was really saying. “So you ran away? You’re in hiding in Render, aren’t you? You saw a tragedy and rather than help to stop it, you ran.” I surged to my feet, disgusted. “I can’t believe you just left those people to die.”
“Sit. Down,” he growled.
I shook my head and turned away. “Don’t come near Boyle ever again.”
He was out of his chair and on me before I managed to make it two steps. His hand wrapped around my wrist like a steel band and he yanked me around, slamming me up against the rock wall of his body.
“Let me go!” To my horror, tears burned my eyes. I had no idea whether I was crying for the loss of something I never really had, or for the nameless, faceless strangers Hawk had killed or abandoned.
“Listen to me, Glynn. This is why I didn’t want to tell you…”
“I’ll just bet. Why would you want to admit you were a coward?”
“I’m not a coward!” he growled out. Pressing his face closer to mine, he spoke through gritted teeth, his jaw rigid. “I didn’t abandon them. I brought two dozen of them out of the city with me when I came. I kept them here until they could catch a ride to their next destination.”
I blinked, surprise ripping words from me. I shook my head. “There’s no way you could have kept that many people here without my knowing.”
His smile was smug. “Are you aware there’s an underground shelter in back of this building?”
My mouth snapped shut. I hadn’t been aware. Rather than admit it, I said, “I would have seen you arrive.”
He shrugged. “You sleep during the day. And we’re very good at moving through an area without so much as kicking up a dust bloom. I chose this building for a reason. It’s on the edge of town and there’s a very nice woods behind it that gave us good cover until we got close to the shelter. It wasn’t nearly as hard as you seem to think.”
He must have sensed he finally had my attention because he released my wrist. “I’m not hiding in Render. I’m looking for people who are strong enough to stand up to the Body.”
I frowned. “You expect me to believe there’s nobody in Indy who can stand up to them?”
“There are a few, he conceded. But the strongest are part of the Body. I need rebels. I need people who are good at hiding what they can do. In other words, I need people just like you and Sis and Mitch and Della.”
Realization brought my eyes wide. “You came to recruit us?”
“No. Well, maybe. But only once I’d proven to myself that you were suited to the job.”
I dropped my butt onto the nearest piece of furniture, feeling slightly dazed by his revelation. Then I remembered what had brought me there. I looked at him. “How are the attacks we’ve been experiencing tied to Indy?”
He blinked in surprise.
I realized he hadn’t made the connection. “They have to be,” I argued. “What I said before…about the attacks starting after you arrived here. That was true. If you think about it, you have to admit it to yourself.”
“I don’t know. Besides, I’d been here for three weeks before you realized I was here. Secrecy was key to getting those people safely away. You don’t know when I came, so you can’t tie the attacks to me.”
I wouldn’t be so sure about that, I thought. “I know you’ve been watching us for over two weeks.”
He hid his surprise well. Inclining his head, Hawk laughed softly. “I guess I’d better brush up on my reconnaissance skills.”
“Why were you watching us?” I asked, not because it mattered anymore. But because I’d been wondering for a while and just wanted to know.
“Habit, I guess. I’ve had to be very careful. I make it a practice to know who’s around me and what they’re capable of. We’re working on moving the next bunch of refugees and I didn’t want to bring them into an unsafe situation.”
I didn’t believe him. I wasn’t sure why. He didn’t give anything away by look or movement. But something told me that had been a lie.
We sat in silence for a few moments as I tried to absorb his story. I was willing to admit he could have done what he’d said. It was plausible. But there were still a couple of things that weren’t plausible. One was his excuse for watching me. The other…
“Tell me what you are, Hawk.”
His brow furrowed. “I did…”
I shook my head. “No. You didn’t. You gave me your profession. But you have magic. And even Mitch couldn’t tell me what you are. Only that he wasn’t sure if you were good or evil.” If Hawk’s story was true, Mitch’s confusion finally made sense. “What are you, Hawk?”
He seemed to be considering my question. I figured he was trying to decide whether to lie or not. Finally, he lifted his gaze and locked it on mine.
And proceeded to rock my world with three little words.
“I’m a daemon.”
20
I stared at him, a huge lump in my throat. “You’re a demon?”
His expression tightened slightly. “Not a demon. A daemon. Long A sound.”
“Aside from pronouncing it differently, what’s the difference?” I asked, my muscles tightening for flight. I glanced quickly at the door dividing the house from the big garage.
Could I get to Boyle before Hawk reached me?
“Daemons are protective spirits,” he said, a knowing look on his handsome face. I could tell by the way his jaw had tightened, he was annoyed. He was probably used to the reaction I was having. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you. I think I’ve more
than proven that I don’t mean you and Boyle harm, Glynn.”
He was right. He’d certainly helped us a few times. But that made me wonder if he was just trying to get into our good graces before doing whatever dastardly thing he was going to do. I shifted sideways on my chair, ready to plant my feet and make a run for it.
Hawk sighed. “You don’t have to run.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not going to try to stop you. Go ahead if you have to.”
I stood up.
“But just know this. Something bad is coming, and you’re going to need my help to stop it.”
An uncomfortable feeling razored through me at the words that everybody around me kept repeating like a mantra. I narrowed my eyes on him. “What’s coming?”
“I don’t know…”
I shook my head. “If you know something’s coming, you must know what it is.”
“I promise you, I don’t.”
“Then how do you know there’s trouble heading this way?”
“When you teased me about sniffing magic at Della’s the other night…”
I let my eyes narrow further.
“That was truer than you know. Before I left MI…”
When I frowned, he clarified. “Magical Indy.”
I nodded.
“I was part of a special tactical group there. We were responsible for finding non-registered magic users and bringing them before the Body to be tested.”
I slid back into my chair, interested despite myself. “For what purpose?”
His expression tightened. “To be judged and given designations.”
“Designations?”
“Yes. The Body controls everything in MI, Glynn. Those who live there have no choice in what they do, who they associate with, how they live their lives. It’s a good system if you’re at the top.” He shrugged. “But if you’re not lucky enough to have the right kind of magic in the right amounts…”
“You become a slave,” I finished, horror making it hard to breathe. I’d known on some level that I needed to avoid the Body and Indy. Until that moment I hadn’t known why. “That’s horrifying,” I told him.