Peering inside, Lita blinked at the sight of an apple and what appeared to be a sandwich wrapped in butcher paper. “Did…did you just pack me dinner?”
“Can’t have you fainting while we’re interrogating your old partner,” Rain said as he passed her, headed to the car. Lita followed suit and then they were back on their way.
III
“Tell me again, why aren’t we just tracking the car that Alex and Amelie were taken in?” Lita asked as they pulled left onto the highway, headed for Maple City.
“I can’t reliably track a car over long distances like that.”
“Seriously? After you just painted a whole picture from a little sniffing and squinting back there?”
“People are messy. They leave footprints and scuffs and distinct smells. A car on a well-traveled road is a different thing entirely. Besides, even if we could follow them directly, we’d have no idea what sort of forces might be waiting for us wherever they went. If we want to have any chance of getting the two of them out alive, we can’t go in blind. We need to know what Jonas knows.”
Lita nodded in agreement, but then said, “It may not be as easy as you think to get him to talk. He’s an idiot, but he’s loyal to Cleric. He’d die for him.”
“You said Jonas was Cleric’s cleanup man, right?” Rain asked.
“Yeah.”
“So Cleric’s orders would have been to kill us back in that cemetery?”
Lita paused. “Probably.”
“Then why are we still alive?”
She said nothing, only furrowed her brow and stared out the windshield.
“I think Jonas has feelings for you. We can use that to our advantage when we question him.”
She ignored the comment about Jonas’ interest. “Cleric trained us to resist interrogation. Jonas won’t be an easy crack.”
“I have my ways,” Rain said, then took a drag from his cigarette.
Lita looked at him, her eyes suddenly firm. “You are not to kill him. If that has to happen, it will be left to me. Do you understand?”
Rain looked back at her, but seeing the resolve on her face, made no move to argue. “Fair enough,” he said, returning his eyes to the road.
Sighing, Lita turned around and reached into the back seat to grab the food Rain had brought her, and ended up grabbing her bottle of vodka from her pack as well. There was only about a quarter of it left. She took a strong pull off it before returning it to its home.
“Try to stay focused,” Rain said.
“I am,” she replied, “Just a little maintenance.”
He glanced at her, then said cautiously, “After this is through, I can help you with that if you’d like. I know something about addiction.”
Lita looked at him and his cigarette askance. “Is that so?”
“I mean the drink,” Rain replied. “The craving for it, the need. It can be overwhelming, but I’ve learned ways to get past it.” He looked to her once more. “You can too.”
Lita scoffed, but only halfheartedly. “Let’s not go planning the wedding just yet there, pal.”
Rain left it at that. Her response hadn’t been a no, and now was not the time to push the issue. “So you said you know someone in Maple City who can help us find Jonas?”
“Yeah, a guy that used to work for Cleric. Goes by the name of Stitch.” She had unwrapped her sandwich, finding it to be ham steak left over from breakfast in between two thick slices of bread. She took a greedy bite.
Rain paid her a skeptical glance. “You’re joking.”
Lita shook her head and tongued the wad of sandwich into her cheek. “We nicknamed him that because of the way he sees reality.” She paused, chewed, swallowed. “For him, it barely holds together at the seams.”
“Doesn’t sound like a very reliable source.”
“He is, trust me. He senses things that normal humans can’t. It’s like how we can only see colors from red to violet. He sees things outside that visual spectrum.”
Rain blinked and gave her a surprised look.
“Hey, I’m not stupid, okay?” she said sharply. “I just choose to learn things that are actually of use to me instead of filling the brain space I’ve got with silly books.”
Rain waved his hand like a white flag. “Alright, go on.”
“Anyway, that sight of his lets him find things without having any way of knowing where they are. He’s great to have around when you’re trying to find a mark or your car keys, but he’s also crazy as shit. It’s like he doesn’t have a filter for all that stuff that’s coming in, and over the years it’s driven him mad.”
“Is that why he’s no longer in Cleric’s employ?”
“Sort of. One day Stitch just got something in his head that didn’t sit right with him, and he went after Cleric like a rabid dog. He came close to killing him, but Jonas stepped in and lit the poor bastard up like a torch. He left Stitch with half his skin charred off, but Cleric let him live. I don’t know if it was as a warning to others or out of some sick pity, but now he just lives in alleys in downtown Maple City, scrounging for food and freaking out the locals.”
“And you’re sure we can track him down?”
“Won’t be a problem. He stays in about a four-block radius. I take him food sometimes, talk to him a little.”
“Those must be interesting conversations.”
“Like you read about.” She sighed and slipped down to a more comfortable position in her seat as she worked on her sandwich.
They drove in silence for a while, each of them mulling over a flurry of different thoughts. Concern over the wellbeing of Alex and Amelie, wonderment over one another, questions about themselves regarding feeling such curiosity. Before long, they were entering the outskirts of Maple City. Lita finished her meal and sat back up, looking around with no particular fondness at her hometown.
“So where are we headed?” Rain asked.
Lita nodded ahead and pointed. “Take a right up here.”
Rain obliged, following her directions towards the heart of Maple City.
NINETEEN
Alex groaned as he came around to blurry surroundings that seemed to take their sweet time coming into focus. His head was swimming, just as it had when Lita had drugged him last night, though that seemed a lot longer ago now.
As his full range of senses returned to him, he found that he was sitting on bare earth. He tried to stand, but realized he was bound. His legs were straight out in front of him with his ankles tied together and his hands were behind his back, wrists crossed and similarly bound. He was leaning against something that felt like a post. Moving his hands a little, he winced at the feeling of coarse rope rubbing against his skin. He shifted against the post and could tell that it was made of wood and only about six inches in diameter, but a quick tug and its refusal to budge told him it was anchored firmly in the ground.
“Alex? Are you awake?” a hushed voice inquired from directly behind him.
“Amelie?” Alex blurted in surprise. He craned his neck in effort to look over his shoulder. He couldn’t see her, but he felt her hair brush against his cheek.
“Shhh, stay quiet,” she whispered. “I’m right behind you, tied up as well. We’re back to back, see?” Slender fingertips tickled his palms and Alex felt a modicum of ease knowing he was at least in close proximity to his new friend and fellow captive.
Looking around, he tried to get a feel for his location. Nightfall was approaching, the light pouring away past the world’s horizon in a gradually darkening cascade. Ahead of him and to his left, about fifty feet away, there was some sort of structure unlike anything he had ever seen. It was an arrangement of enormous rough stone pillars that had been erected at seemingly random intervals, some in pairs with a third lying horizontally across them. Squinting, he could see what looked like runes carved into the closest pillar to him. When Alex was younger, a tutor had once explained Stonehenge to him, and though he had only been able to produce a rudimentary and mostly inaccu
rate drawing of the ancient landmark, it immediately came to mind as Alex looked over this odd structure. The comparison was more or less astute.
Unlike Stonehenge, however, this construct had a coliseum-like wall completely surrounding it, placing the structure itself in the center of a large arena. The wall wasn’t terribly tall—twenty feet at the most—but it blocked Alex’s view of the outside world, keeping their exact location a complete mystery to him.
“Where are we?” Alex whispered, turning his eyes up towards the dimming sky.
“I’m not sure,” Amelie replied, her voice uneasy. “I woke up here too, not long before you. I remember being at your house when that man came with that…God, that horrible creature. And then I saw it again, right next to me in a car. And then I was here. Please tell me I dreamed that awful thing.”
“It wasn’t a dream. That thing is very real, and we may have to fight it if we’re going to get out of this.”
Amelie took a deep breath. “Lord, help us. What was it?”
“A demon, I think,” Alex said offhandedly.
“Are you serious?”
“Is it really that hard to believe? Last night you had tea with a vampire and a boy who came back from the dead. But honestly, I’m more worried about the people controlling that thing. There was the big guy, I think that might have been the Cleric fellow Lita was talking about. Also, when I was in the trunk of that car—”
“You were in the trunk? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Focus, Amelie.” Alex snapped, then winced with immediate regret. He heard Rain in his own voice.
“Sorry,” Amelie whispered.
“No, I am. I guess waking up tied to a post makes me cross.”
“I think you’d need another piece of wood for a cross.”
“I’d n…wha? No, I mean it makes m—”
“I know what you meant, Alex. I was trying to be funny. To lift your spirits.”
“Oh…” he paused, then chuckled in spite of himself. “Sorry, I’m sure I would have laughed if—”
“It’s fine.” She laughed a little herself. “You were saying? About being in the trunk?”
“Right. When I was in there I could hear Cleric talking to someone. Someone younger. I think it might have been—”
“Michael.”
“Right. He’s got to be the one who—”
“No, Alex, Michael!” Amelie whispered fiercely. “To your left!”
He looked that way and his gaze fell upon two men approaching from a doorway at the far side of the coliseum. One was Cleric, so he figured the other to be Michael.
Coming upon the two, Michael stood so they both could see him. His dress and manner were sober as always, and he held a large, leather-bound book clasped in his hands over his belt buckle.
Alex thought he looked more like a church pastor than a scheming heir to any throne.
“I’m glad to see you two awake,” Michael said. “Though I’m sure it will mean little to you, I feel I should apologize for your poor accommodations. We were not expecting to hold anyone captive here. Amelie, you were meant to be laid to rest hours ago…” he paused and glanced ruefully over his shoulder at Cleric, who was standing a few paces back.
Alex followed that gaze and noticed the man was carrying two lengths of heavy chain over his shoulder. Catching Alex looking at him, Cleric smirked eerily, which sent a chill up Alex’s spine and his eyes quickly darting back to Michael.
“…and you, young man,” Michael went on, “Alex, correct? That’s what Cleric said she called you. Or do you prefer Alexander?”
There was a moment of silence and then Alex blinked, looked around, and finally quirked a brow at Michael. “You…you’re actually asking my name preference after taking me from my home, putting me in the trunk of a car, and tying me to a post? Are you arsing about?”
“I don’t know what that means, but I don’t think I’m doing it,” Michael replied. “I am simply saying that, had we known you were going to be a person, we would have been better prepared. We’re having to make a few adjustments to our initial plans.”
Behind him, Cleric rattled the chains.
“How did you find me?” Amelie suddenly spoke up.
Michael sighed. “I’m afraid that we were forced to gather that information from the guard Christopher at the expense of his life. It was a shame it had to come to that. He had always been a loyal and valuable asset. He will be remembered for his sacrifice to our cause.”
Amelie felt like she had been kicked in the stomach. “What cause?” she cried, her eyes filling with tears.
Michael glanced at his watch. “I haven’t time to explain at the moment, though hopefully I will soon. I have several matters to attend to, but I’m afraid I must impart one more piece of bad news. It pains me to even say it aloud, but in the interest of—”
“Oh, for God’s sake, what?” Amelie screamed bitterly. “You tried to have me killed, abducted me, and now I’m your prisoner! For once in your life, stop flitting about like a nervous bird and just say whatever it is you want to say and leave us be!”
Michael’s jaw clenched and behind him he heard Cleric chuckle. “Your father is dead,” he spat, and huffily walked away, searching for Saint Monica in his pocket as he went.
Alex heard Amelie issue a thin, strangled cry, and then felt her shaking behind him. She was sobbing. He let out a heavy sigh and looked mournfully down at his lap. After a moment, he heard indistinct murmurs intermixed with her shuddering breaths. He thought she might be trying to pray. He left her be for a few minutes, then finally whispered, “Amelie, I am so very sorry about your father and your friend, but we need to pull together and find a way out of here, or we will end up the same. Maybe worse.”
“My f-father…he’s…I d-didn’t even get t-to say…” she trailed off, sniffling.
“I know, Amelie, but I need you to be strong. I want you to try to use what you’re feeling right now. Get angry and use that to help us get free. If you can do that, maybe they didn’t die for nothing.” Alex’s words felt hollow on his own lips, but Amelie’s sobs started to subside.
“I…” she began, then swallowed, and started once more. “I don’t know h-how to be b-brave like you.”
Alex laughed a little. “Me? What makes you think I’m brave?”
Amelie took in a long, moist sniff, swallowed once more, and spoke. “When I heal s-someone, I get a g-glimpse inside them. It’s…It’s like I c-can see their soul for a mmoment, and it t-tells me things. Yours told me t-two things, and one was that you are very brave.”
“What was the other thing?”
“You’ve been someplace wonderful,” she said quietly. Alex furrowed his brow and tilted his head back, giving her a quizzical look she couldn’t see. “Someplace none of us have ever dreamt of,” she went on. “I only felt a shimmer of it, but it was perfect.” She closed her eyes, and as she recalled the memory, her moist cheeks actually curved up around a tiny smile. “What was that place, Alex?”
“I…” he paused. “I don’t remember.”
“I hope my father is there.”
“Me too.”
TWENTY
“Pull up over here,” Lita said, pointing to an expanse of curb on their right. “It’s still a couple of blocks up, but the car’s less likely to get stolen here.”
Rain obliged, pulling over and killing the engine. He tugged on a lever under the dash and the trunk popped open. “Put your bag in the back. The car’s tempting enough as it is,” he said, then stepped out of the vehicle.
Lita pulled her knapsack from the back seat and exited as well. She rounded the back of the car, tossing her bag into the trunk and shoving it closed. When she looked back to Rain, she paused and blinked at what she saw. After locking the car, he rubbed his hand vigorously on the back of his neck and then wiped it around the top of the driver’s side door, as well as over the handle.
“What in hell are you doing?”
“The only high-end car t
hieves in Maple City are the vampire gangs,” Rain explained. “They’re so powerful that humans don’t dare even try for something this nice. If they smell another vampire on a car, they won’t touch it, no matter how shiny it is. I’d have done it when we parked at your apartment, but I was a bit preoccupied with not bursting into flames.”
“How do you…” Lita began, then shook her head. “You know what? Never mind.” She waved a dismissive hand and stepped onto the curb. “I’m just going to add it to the ‘creepy people smelling’ file and pretend I never saw it.”
“Probably best,” he said, joining her. She pointed in the direction they were already facing and they began walking.
Coming to an intersection, Lita paused long enough to glance both ways before continuing. “When we find Stitch, you should probably keep your distance and let me do the talking. He’s twitchy enough as it is, but a vampire might really set him off.”
“Is it that obvious?” Rain asked around the cigarette he’d just put between his lips, then proceeded to light it. He took a long drag and blew the smoke away from Lita, allowing it to trail out behind him.
“To Stitch? Yeah. He probably already knows we’re on our way. Besides, even without crazy psychic powers, anyone can see you’re not exactly a well-sunned person.”
He regarded the flesh color on the back of his hand. “Hmmm. I always thought it was the scar that scared people away.”
“It is pretty startling.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
She glanced at him. “No, I guess not, huh? That’s gotta be strange. I’m not what you’d call vain or anything, but I’d go nuts if I couldn’t see what I looked like for that long.”
“You get used to it.”
“I guess you’d have to. But the scar’s not so bad. Hell, some girls think they’re sexy.”
“Oh?” He paid her a look.
“Yeah. Usually the fucked up ones.”
Rain smirked and flicked his half-finished cigarette away as they crossed another street. Up ahead, a man was walking towards them with a pair of young boys, perhaps three and seven years old, one on each side of him. When they got closer, Lita and Rain moved to the far right of the sidewalk, allowing them room to go by.
The Crimes of Orphans Page 26
