by Sarah Biglow
“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” Taggart growled at me.
I didn’t respond. I took up residence on the captain’s other side. She hit “Play” and swiveled the monitor so that Taggart had a good view. It was the camera right near the Orpheum Theater. It played along depicting pedestrians making their way along Tremont Street. Sure, I hadn’t been at this scene, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t need to see Kevin end another innocent person’s life. I intently watched Taggart’s face transform from smug to a hint of fear as the recording inched closer to the time of death and didn’t cut to black. Kevin appeared in view. Taggart paled and he fiddled with the hem of his left shirtsleeve, no doubt tugging it down to cover the Order’s mark on his wrist. I glared at him and he made a break for the doorway. There was no chance in hell I was going to let him get away. Sure, there was an entire bullpen full of cops who would react if I needed them to, but he’d made this too personal.
I darted around the corner of the captain’s desk and dug my hands into the meat of his upper arm, dragging him to the floor. He bucked, but I managed to get a knee into the small of his back, pinning him down. I felt something damp dribble down my front. I’d probably popped another stitch. I yanked his left arm behind his back and he grunted in pain. I hadn’t grabbed him that hard, but then I remembered our sparring sessions as I’d tried to undo his magic on the videos. He’d beaten me pretty good, but I’d winged him too.
Bending low so the other people in the room couldn’t hear, I hissed in his ear. “Hurts, doesn’t it? That’s what you get for trying to kill me.”
“This changes nothing,” he snarled, spittle dripping from his lips.
“You bet your ass it does.” I looked over my shoulder. “Captain, you’re going to want to take a look at the last recording.” I let up the pressure on my prey just enough to get my handcuffs free and latched around his wrists. In the process, I pushed up his left sleeve far enough to reveal the triple spiral and scythe mark.
The image on the computer screen changed. This time, it was me finding the last body. I wanted to look away and avoid the sense memory of the knife rending flesh and muscle, but I forced myself to watch. I had him in custody and he wasn’t going to hurt me again. In horrible black and white he knocked me down and stabbed me, leaving me there to die with the last victim.
“Get him up.”
I dragged the man to his feet, not caring if I put extra pressure on the wound on his shoulder. Let the bastard feel my pain. I swung him around to face Captain Beech and if I hadn’t known the fury in her gaze was meant for him, I’d have shrunk back in fear.
“Jamison Taggart, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder. I think you know how the rest of this goes.”
He struggled against my grip and I had to eke out a little of my will to keep him in check. With Jacquie by my side, we marched out into the bullpen leading our captive to the other interrogation room. The rest of the FBI contingent stared, mouths agape, as their boss was led away in cuffs. His second in command glared daggers at me and I just stared at her, trying to keep my expression neutral. Giving him a shove between the shoulder blades into the room gave me a sense of satisfaction I hadn’t thought possible.
“It’s all fake!” he yelled, but I slammed the door on him.
“You better get all of those tapes authenticated by department techs. This needs to be ironclad,” Captain Beech said.
“Already on it, Captain,” Jacquie said.
“You need to get checked out. You’re bleeding, Trenton.”
I looked down to find yet another blouse ruined by blood. “Yes, ma’am.”
The adrenaline of the takedown was beginning to wear off and the pain of having ripped out a stitch seeped in. I bit my lip and tried to pour a little will into it, easing the desire to cramp up. I’d never been so grateful to have an ex’s phone number in my phone than right now.
The line rang only once before J.T.’s voice said, “Are you okay?”
“Uh, not really. I popped a stitch. Not sure it’s the best idea for me to drive right now and I don’t have my car anyway.”
“Where are you?”
“The precinct.”
“Stay put and put some pressure on it. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Okay.” A pause and then, “We got him, J.T. The bastard who orchestrated all of this, we got him.”
“You can tell me all about it when I get there.”
I ended the call. I should have rested until my ride arrived, but there was one more thing I needed from Taggart. It was a risky move given that the cameras were still on and I didn’t want to shut them off because it could jeopardize our case. Still, the weight under my ribs throbbed and I needed to try. I slipped into the interrogation room to find Taggart standing in the corner, hands still cuffed behind him. I wanted to trust that they remained locked, but there was every possibility he’d unlocked them. The charming façade had dropped away, but an image flashed in my mind and I realized why he’d looked so familiar.
“You can’t question me without my attorney present,” he snapped before I could speak.
I stayed at the other end of the room and answered, “Lucky for you I’m not here to ask about the case.” I had no choice but to get up close and personal with him, so I crossed the distance and pressed one hand to the spot under my ribcage. “I know you turned Kevin to stone.”
His eyes lit up and he smiled. “Yes, I did note he was far more mobile in there.”
“I undid what you did to him and now it’s trying to change me. You cast the spell. You can make it stop.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?” I wanted to throttle him, but I kept my hand pressed to my side.
“I said no. It won’t kill you. You’ve proven stronger than I anticipated and the spell wasn’t meant to bind you. But even if I wanted to, I can’t. Let it serve as a reminder, Savior, that even your heroics carry a burden. You’re fighting a losing battle. It’s going to cost you dearly one day.”
“It’s certainly cost you your freedom.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps.”
“I remember you now, you know,” I said and took a few steps back to lean against the table behind me. “It didn’t click at first, but then I saw the photo of you at headquarters. You were one of us. Why would you throw in with those lunatics?”
He bristled and his lower lip curled. “Those lunatics, as you call them, have the right idea. Using our gifts how we want. You can’t tell me you never thought about it.”
I wanted to deny it, but, of course, I had wanted the freedom. But not the anarchy the Order represented. “So, you just turned your back on everyone?”
“Isn’t that what you did?”
“No … we’re nothing alike.”
“I embraced my gifts and the people are willing to accept me. What did you do, Savior? You ran and hid away from the world.”
His words hurt and I backpedaled out of the room. Barely holding back angry, hot tears, I slammed my fist into the wall outside the interrogation room. Taggart was wrong. I hadn’t run and hid. We were not the same. With that line repeating in my head, I went and sat at my desk for lack of anything else to do. The mountain of paperwork could wait until I wasn’t bleeding from an open wound and had saved the world from going to hell.
“I thought the captain told you to get that looked at?” Jacquie said.
“I’m waiting for J.T. to get here.”
“You took him down faster than I think I’ve seen anyone move before.”
“I was highly motivated. I’m just glad this case is over.”
“It won’t be over for a long while, Ezri.”
“For now, it’s done. I can worry about a trial when it comes to it.” I wasn’t convinced Taggart would want all that publicity. The Order may want to fuck with people, but even they weren’t stupid enough to let one of their top people get dragged through a very public trial.
I
let the buzz of the precinct lull me into a sense of calm as I waited for my personal medic to arrive and patch me up. Before long, the desk sergeant stuck her head in and asked, “Did somebody call for an ambulance?”
Jacquie was nice enough to help me to my feet and walk me out. I didn’t think a torn stitch required an ambulance ride, but I didn’t argue as J.T. helped me into the back of the rig. Jacquie shut the door once I was perched on the edge of the gurney and we pulled away.
“I don’t think this is necessary,” I protested as he pushed me onto my back and wrapped a blood pressure cuff around my left bicep.
“I was just coming off shift and this seemed faster. Now, let me take a look.”
I tried to relax as he peeled the fabric of my shirt away from my stomach. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it felt. Either I was going into shock or his magic was numbing the surrounding skin and muscle because I barely felt him poking at the wound, pinching it back together and securing it with a fresh set of sutures.
“I hope you have a good dry cleaner.”
I laughed and winced. “You know, I may have to find one who isn’t squeamish about blood because it seems I’m covered in it more than usual.”
He smiled at me and it was a genuine expression of adoration. Maybe I hadn’t totally broken his heart all those years ago after all. Or maybe he’d been more empathetic than I’d given him credit for. “Thanks for saving me again.”
“Any time.”
I lost track of time as the ambulance trundled through the city streets. I hadn’t even paid attention to the direction we’d taken out away from the precinct. When we finally came to a full stop, I looked around. J.T. popped open the back doors and offered me his hand.
I shouldn’t have been surprised to find myself back at headquarters. I was really starting to get sick of the place. I let him guide me up the front steps and into the foyer. He nudged me toward the spiral staircase and, with reluctant steps, I trudged up them to the waiting Council. They weren’t going to let me leave until I answered their questions about Kevin. That was fine. They were going to answer some of mine.
I pushed the double doors inward and marched into the spacious room to find them all sitting in their stupid semicircle. One chair—mine—vacant on the end. There was nowhere else to sit that wouldn’t have given the impression I was coming back to them entirely. So I remained standing.
“You should have a seat, dear,” Belladonna said from her seat near the middle.
“I’ll stand,” I answered, my body tensing in anticipation of her magical push. None came.
“We wanted to congratulate you on solving your case,” said a man I didn’t recognize.
“Just doing my job.”
“Saving that gargoyle wasn’t. Tell us, how did you manage it?”
The mass beneath my ribs pulsed as I swallowed. “They’d used his own magic to turn him to stone. I pulled it out of him. All of it.”
“That’s dangerous. Did he consent?” This time Wallace’s voice came from my left.
“I don’t think he realized what was happening. And why does it matter if he consented?”
Wallace’s eyes bulged. Had I really said something so shocking? I’d made Kevin a promise to try to free him and I’d done so. Sure, it had taken more from him than intended, but I didn’t think that was entirely a bad thing.
Belladonna’s face softened and she said, “Yes, it matters a great deal. Magic is a part of us. It’s in our blood and our DNA. Taking it without consent can have disastrous consequences.”
“Such as?’ A lump formed in my throat.
“The spell designed to lock him into the form in which you found him could latch on to you or another practitioner. Spells don’t like to be just dismissed without the right intent.”
“Did something like that happen?” Desmond’s voice came out as a strained tenor instead of his usual baritone.
My fingers massaged my ribs before I could stop them. “I tried to get the original caster to reverse it, but he refused. It’s been contained.”
“For now,” Desmond murmured.
Great, a ticking time bomb was now nestled in my ribcage, ready to go off with a moment’s notice. Maybe Taggart was right and this was my punishment for meddling with magic I didn’t fully understand. I’d grown up knowing I was supposed to save the world. I thought I knew better. I’d honed my skills in the last decade but clearly not enough.
“Look, I’m sorry that what I did was against the rules or unethical or whatever, but I needed Kevin in a state where he could be brought into a police station without raising mortal eyebrows. And even if he was an unwilling participant, it got a murderer off the street. You have got to see that as a win.”
“We aren’t questioning your motivation,” Desmond began to the scoffs of some of the other Council members. “But we are relying on you at the moment to fulfill the prophecy. A task which would be far more difficult if you were, say, encased in stone.”
The argumentative part of me wanted to spring into action. To be contrary to these people just because they’d ruined my life. But Desmond had a point. Damn him. So, I held my tongue. “I’ll get us through the Equinox.” Or die trying. I surveyed the twelve people assembled before me, meeting each of their gazes in turn. “If that’s everything, if you can’t reverse the stone magic put on me, then I need to get going and make final preparations for the Equinox.”
“You’re free to go,” Belladonna said with a small, dismissive flick of her wrist.
I was already halfway down the stairs to the first floor when Desmond called my name. I didn’t stop. Instead, I let him come to me. His footsteps thudded heavily on the stairs as he caught up and grabbed my left arm, halting my escape.
“I need to talk to you. It’s important.”
“They said I could leave.”
“And you can. This is better if we don’t do it here anyway. Come on, I’ll drive.”
Twenty-Six
He gave me no choice, dragging me out into the late afternoon sunshine and away from my car parked in the driveway. He thrust me at the passenger side of his car and I climbed in.
“Where are we going?” I asked as we eased to a stop in a line of traffic.
He didn’t answer. By the hard lines of his shoulder muscles and his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel, I knew I wasn’t going to get any answers while we were still on the road. So, I settled back against the seat and watched the traffic pass us by. Turning my attention to the sky, I took in the late afternoon sunlight. Only three more days until the world experienced a rare phenomenon and a dangerous cult was going to use it to … do what exactly? I wracked my brain trying to decipher what they needed five souls for, but nothing obvious came to me.
“Do you know where the best spot is going to be to watch the eclipse?” I asked, hedging my bets that he might want to talk about our impending doom.
“The Common probably.”
“Yeah, but where exactly? I mean if I’m a dark magical cult and I’m relying on this eclipse and the meteor shower hitting right at the Vernal Equinox, I’d want the best view to do my dark ritual.”
“We can look at a map.” He glanced at me before turning his attention back to the road. “It’s a shame you won’t be able to really enjoy it. From what I’ve heard it’s supposed to be pretty spectacular.”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll see some of it before they try to kill me.” I couldn’t help sounding glib about my potential death. I’d survived this much already that I had to find humor in it somehow. It didn’t mean I wasn’t silently screaming in terror. I’d accepted my role in all of this, but I really wasn’t sure what I’d be up against and that chipped away at my confidence a little more with every day that passed, bringing me closer to the final battle. But they all needed to believe in me. I couldn’t show weakness now.
“Don’t do it alone.”
“I think I kind of have to. That’s the deal with being the Savior, right?”
“I mea
nt don’t go by yourself. Bring backup. If you manage to stop them, you’re going to need help rounding them up.”
“Oh, right. That makes sense.”
Our brief conversation was enough of a distraction that I hadn’t noticed when we crossed the Charles River into Cambridge. Desmond pulled to a stop in a short driveway leading to a split-level, brick fronted house. Without a word, he climbed from the car, leaving me to follow after him. He produced a silver house key from a pocket and slid it into the lock on the front door as I’m sure he’d done a thousand times before.
“Nice place,” I said, eyeing the décor in the front hall.
“Thanks.”
“You rent?” I realized with a pang of sadness I knew very little about his private life. That had been my own fault as much as his.
“I bought it a few years ago.” His hands darted from under his arms to in his pockets and then hung limply at his sides.
As much as I wanted to ask for the grand tour—we were getting reacquainted with each other and that was the sort of thing you’d do with a guest—he didn’t seem in the right headspace.
“So, what was so important we had to drive all the way to your house?”
Color drained from his cheeks and he jutted his chin toward a hallway to the right. Giving him some serious side-eye, I headed down the hall and stopped at the closed door at the end of the short hall.
“In there.” His voice once again had gone tenor. He stayed put.
“Are you coming?”
“Trust me; you’re going to want to do this alone. I’ll be out here when you’re … ready.”
The quiver in his voice as he finished speaking made me doubt I wanted to see what was behind door number one. Fear flashed in my cousin’s eyes as he took a step back and out of view. Was he afraid of what was waiting for me or was it me?
I wasn’t going to get answers staying rooted to the spot in the hallway. Swallowing down my anxiety, my hand trembled as I opened the door. It swung inward on silent hinges to reveal a small study with a desktop computer set up on a small table set beneath a window looking out on the street. A TV with a DVD player sat against the far wall away from the glare of the front-facing window. The TV was on but covered in static, waiting for a connection to be made.
