The Debt Collector (Season Two)

by Susan Kaye Quinn

  Okay, so clearly I’m not getting in the door without showing all my cards. “I have a lot of life energy to donate. I hear you have some skills we might need.” I slide up Zachariel’s trenchcoat sleeve, baring the withered part of his arm. “Maybe we can work out a deal.”

  Lirium leans forward to get a better look. But I can already tell he’s going to bite.

  He wrinkles his brow at the wound, then leans back and tips his head to Madam A. “We could use some more life energy for the experiments with Tilly.”

  The brown-haired girl’s eyes light up with that, and she looks expectantly at Madam A as well.

  “Very well,” Madam A says, although she doesn’t look happy about it. “But I want this collector in a separate room.” She’s talking about Zachariel. “Not with the kids. And Wraith you need to change as well before you frighten them halfway into their graves.”

  “Whatever you say.” I can’t quite keep the smile from busting out. But I attempt to smooth down the crazy hair. Fortunately, the electrical frizz-out is starting to die down on its own.

  Madam A opens the door wide. Lirium and the girl step aside, and I gesture our entire group inside. Jax and Madam A exchange nods on the way in, but Wyatt and Miral keep to the corner just inside the door, holding back from everything. I imagine they’ve never been in a room with so many debt collectors in their life.

  We don’t move past Grace’s apartment—the receiving room just inside the door—which is just as well, because Zachariel is becoming dead weight. I have to boost him a little with life energy just to get him to the hospital-style bed in the corner. I nudge aside one of the monitors on a wheeled metal post to make room to ease Zachariel onto the mattress. The bed creaks heavily as he lies back, his body going limp. He stares at the ceiling and breathes through his teeth, which makes my stomach clench. I have a feeling he’s been in more pain than he’s let on.

  Lirium drags a stool so he can sit near Zachariel’s wounded arm. I give him room, but stay close, because I’m pretty sure I’m going to be the source of whatever life energy Lirium’s using to do his trick. Everyone else hangs back: Jax and Madam A together by the door leading farther inside the brothel, Wyatt and Miral paired up by the back door. The brown-haired girl stands closest, with a good view of what we’re about to attempt from the end of the bed.

  I have to admit I’m curious as to how Lirium does his healing trick.

  He gestures to Zachariel’s arm. “Is it all right if I…”

  Zachariel leans forward to push up his sleeve, but even that causes pain to lance across his face. I rush to do it for him, so he’ll lay back down. Lirium inspects the wound: up close, it’s even more ugly. The skin is blackened almost as if it’s been burned, and the ink-black lines racing away from it look like death reaching fingers into the healthy flesh surrounding it.

  “How did this happen?” Lirium asks.

  “Had a disagreement with a guy who likes delivering pain,” Zachariel says through gritted teeth, which is true but not exactly helpful.

  Lirium purses his lips, still studying the wound.

  I’d like to speed this up. “It was someone who does what you do,” I say to Lirium, “only in reverse.” At his raised eyebrows, I quickly add, “I think. I don’t really understand what you do.”

  He gives a half-smile. “I’m still figuring it out myself.”

  Great. I was hoping he might be some kind of expert by now. “I think he drained life energy locally, just in one spot.” I place my hand over Zachariel’s withered arm. The spot is slightly larger than my hand, but then Seth’s hand is bigger than mine.

  Lirium nods. “I can try to contain the energy just to the damaged area, but…” He shakes his head. “It looks pretty bad.”

  Zachariel lifts his head. “Look kid, I know you mean well. But I haven’t seen anyone who can fix something that’s dead.”

  “I guess we’re going to see.” But he doesn’t sound deterred. In fact, the optimism in his voice lifts my heart. Lirium puts one hand on Zachariel’s arm and holds the other out, palm up, to me. “I assume you have some life energy to spare for this.”

  “I’ve got however much you need.” I clasp his hand in mine, palm to palm, and feed him life energy right away. His eyes light up a little with the flush, but then he focuses on Zachariel’s arm. After a moment, Lirium’s eyes drift closed. I don’t know what he’s doing, but Zachariel’s eyes go a little wide, and he lifts his head from the pillow again to look. As we watch, the black lines that lead away from the injured area slowly pull back, like snakes withdrawing their venom. A thrill races through my body. I pump even more energy into Lirium. The mercy hit starts to glow inside me, but then Lirium lets go of my hand and shakes loose my hold on him.

  “I can give you more,” I protest, but he just waves me off, eyes still closed.

  I keep quiet, watching him work. Zachariel falls back into the pillow, which ramps up my alarm. He groans a little, like he’s trying mightily to keep it inside, but he can’t quite manage it. Then he slumps in the bed, breathing hard, but it seems like he’s relieved now, not dying. Lirium pulls in a breath and lets out a long, low sigh.

  He opens his eyes but keeps his hand clamped on Zachariel’s arm. “I’ve established the cage. I’ll have to hold it for a while. The tissue was nearly dead, but there was a glimmer of life energy still there. That’s a good sign.”

  “Can you heal him?” I want him to remove his hand so I can see it with my own eyes.

  He looks up at me. “It will take a while, but yes. I think so. There are other wounds throughout his body. Did you know?”

  I nod.

  “Whatever you’re doing, kid, just keep doing that, okay?” Zachariel says, his voice breathy. His eyes are still closed. “You have a name?”

  “Lirium.” He’s focused on Zachariel’s arm again.

  “Okay, Lirium. My name’s Zachariel. I appreciate what you’re doing, but don’t feel bad if you can’t heal all of it, all right? I’ve seen Seth do worse, but not on anyone who lived. The damage goes deep. Moloch let him pretty much have free rein on me.”

  Lirium’s head whips up. “Did you say Moloch?”

  At his kicked-up tone, Zachariel lifts his head and opens his eyes. “You know him?”

  “You could say that.” Lirium grimaces. “Actually, I thought I had killed him.”

  Zachariel lets out a small laugh then drops his head back on the pillow. “You’re not the first to try. Or the only one to not quite succeed.”

  “You know about Gehenna?” I ask Lirium, amazed. I flick a look to Madam A.

  “They were behind the kids being cashed out,” he says.

  Killing kids—definitely Moloch’s style. I’m not surprised at all. “Did you know about this?” I ask Zachariel.

  “I heard about it,” he says. “It was one of Moloch’s side projects. Went belly up after he ran into…” He stops and looks up again. “Hey, that was you?” When Lirium nods, Zachariel gives him a full smile. “You’re all right, kid.”

  Lirium gives a short laugh, then focuses on Zachariel’s arm again. After a moment, he lifts his hand. Even though I hoped it would work, I’m still absolutely stunned. Zachariel’s arm is pink and hairless, like a scarred-over burn wound… but it’s healed.

  Zachariel lifts his arm to inspect it. “I’ll be damned.”

  Hope surges through me. “Can you do the rest?” I ask Lirium, a little breathlessly.

  “I can try.” But his smile promises even more than that: I can see the pride. He thinks he can do it.

  I hold out my palm. “I’m ready when you are.”

  Lirium glances at it then peeks back at the brown-haired girl at the end of the bed. They have some kind of wordless conversation where she bites her lip but doesn’t say anything. He gives a small shrug. She shakes her head. Finally, he looks to Madam A. She teeters over to us in her form-fitting gold dress. She’s shorter than Miral, and even in six-inch heels, she barely comes up to my nose. H
owever, she has her business face on, so I don’t even think about making demands.

  “You mentioned a trade,” Madam A says in her crisp, faintly-Asian accent. “How much life energy do you have to pay out?”

  “A lot.” I look to Lirium. “More than you’ll need.”

  He looks skeptical and glances at the brown-haired girl again. “I could use a year. Maybe two,” he says to me.

  “Done.”

  I’ve already fed more than that into Zachariel just getting him here. And I have plenty more in store from what he trickle-fed to me all last night. Lirium and Madam A exchange a look of surprise. They have to be wondering where all that life energy came from.

  I narrow my eyes. “Asking questions isn’t part of the deal.”

  I’m not sure why I’m so defensive about it—it’s not like I stole the life energy—but I feel the weight of the trio of stares coming from Jax and Miral and Wyatt. They’ve stayed back, but they’re watching everything with wide eyes. Well, mostly Wyatt and somewhat Miral. Jax has seen all this and more from her cousins, the mob bosses.

  “All right, then,” Madam A says. “Two years, at minimum, in exchange for Lirium’s services in healing your friend.”

  “And we need a place to stay.” I gesture to Miral and Wyatt with my chin. “At least the four of us. Jax can stay on her own.”

  “Hey!” she protests. “Can’t I negotiate a stay here as well?”

  I throw her a dirty look. She’s more interested in the services of Madam A’s girls than anything else. But Madam A is well aware of that, and besides, that’s up to them.

  I look back to the diminutive madam. “My friends are being targeted by some very powerful debt collectors. Moloch and his Gehenna gang are not people you mess with and come out alive.” I hook my thumb at Lirium. “Your debt collector can tell you all about their brand of evil. I can tell you even more, if you like. We only need a little time and a safe place to stay… just until we can figure out a plan of how to take them down. Because I want to take them down, Madam A. Once and for all.”

  Lirium rises from his stool. “Is that something you know how to do? Or is that just wishful thinking? Because I wouldn’t mind seeing Moloch pay for what he’s done. A little more permanently this time.”

  I give him a small smile. Between trying to save Zachariel and having already killed Moloch once… this debt collector is beginning to grow on me. “Lirium, I think we’re going to be friends.”

  He smirks. “Madam A told me you didn’t like debt collectors.”

  “I don’t.”

  He smiles more. To Madam A, he says, “I’ll need some time anyway to do the healing. He has a lot of injury, and I can’t do it all at once. I’m sure I’ll need a break or two. It would help if they stayed the night.”

  Madam A rolls her eyes. “I run a brothel, not a hostel, Lirium. How many strays are you going to bring into my house?”

  “These are your strays,” he teases. Then he gets serious. “Besides, I can think of one little girl who might not take up a bed anymore if we had a couple years to experiment with.”

  She gives him a final, glittering dark-eyed glare, but I don’t think she means it. I know Madam A well enough to know she would break any rule, even her own, to help the kids. Especially if it meant giving sanctuary to people who might be allies in the end.

  She curls her fingers, tipped in blood-red nails, beckoning the brown-haired girl who’s been hanging on our every word. “Elena, perhaps you could help me find some spare beds for our guests.”

  Jax looks entirely too eager about that prospect. I’d harass her about already having a drop-dead gorgeous nurse for a girlfriend, but the wary looks on Miral’s and Wyatt’s faces pull me in. I trudge across the room to the corner where they’ve been hanging out and watching.

  “This is going to take a while,” I say to them both. “But we need Zachariel’s help. Both in stopping Gehenna’s plot against Lifetime and for keeping you two safe.”

  “He’s one of them, right?” Wyatt’s voice is cold, and his glare for Zachariel on the hospital bed is even colder. “What makes you so sure he’s going to help us? Especially with Lifetime?”

  I turn my hands palm up, exasperated. “I don’t know, maybe because I’m saving his life?”

  The coldness thaws a little, and he drops his gaze to the floor. “I guess we’ll wait until you’re done, then.”

  Miral is tight-lipped and grim as well. They both follow Jax, Madam A, and the brown-haired girl, Elena, out of the room without another word. I watch them go, my heart wrenching with their turned backs. Mostly because of Wyatt’s anger, although Miral’s in danger because of me, and that’s hard to swallow as well. I wonder how long it will take for Wyatt to step through all the stages of fear and loathing and hatred for me... not to mention the situation I’ve put him in, endangering not only his life, but all his work at Lifetime and Sterling.

  I suck in a breath and turn back to the hospital bed. Lirium has cranked up the bed to a sitting position and taken a seat closer to Zachariel’s torso, where he’ll be doing his work. They’re both watching me from across the room, probably because I’m making them wait. Or possibly because of the awkwardness of having Wyatt and Miral and Jax all in the same room with Madam A and a trio of debt collectors. It’s like I’m colliding all the parts of my life that I’ve tried so hard to keep separate for so long… and it’s just as much of a mess as I thought it would be.

  I stroll quickly back to the bed and give them both a tight smile.

  Zachariel’s eyes are brighter now, and he seems like he’s in less pain. “So… the boyfriend’s not too happy with you, huh?” There are a lot of layers of meaning in that question, given I spent the night in Zachariel’s bed. Now is not the time to address any of them.

  “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my assistant.”

  Zachariel glances at the door Wyatt just left through. “Looks like he didn’t get the memo on that.”

  Lirium studies the medical equipment next to us, pretending he doesn’t hear every awkward word of this conversation.

  “He just doesn’t like debt collectors,” I say, hoping we can move on from this topic.

  Zachariel nods. “And now you are one.”

  “Pretty much. You know, you were a lot better company when you were in pain.”

  “Ouch.” But he’s chuckling at me.

  “If I infuse you with some life energy, will you shut up?” I ask.

  “Probably not.” Zachariel’s still grinning.

  I offer my palm to Lirium. He fights a smirk but takes my hand. I hold off on pumping in life energy until he’s ready. Zachariel’s grin fades as he unbuttons his shirt. I’m glad to see his hands are steady. Then he waggles his eyebrows at me, which just makes me want to smack him with more sarcastic comments… until he exposes the numerous black dead zones on his chest. The irritation fades from my face. Lirium scoots closer to Zachariel, tugging me with him, then he carefully places his hand over one of the wounds. I trickle life energy in before he asks. Zachariel groans and arches his back slightly away from the bed as Lirium does that thing he mentioned—I think he called it establishing the cage. After a moment, he releases my hand and closes his eyes to concentrate.

  I’m only giving Zachariel a fraction of what he’s already given me. With Lirium’s skills, it might be enough. I pray that it is, because as confused and awkward as the situation is at the moment, the one thing I can’t afford to lose is him.

  I’m floating above my body.

  It’s half-dressed and riddled with black spider-veined splotches. I claw at the air, trying to pull myself back down, but the motion only makes me drift farther away. I scream for help, but no air comes out. As I float higher, a horrible feeling comes over me: there’s something I forgot. Something terribly important… and I forgot to do it before this happened.

  And now it’s too late.

  Something touches me, and my eyes snap open. A breath rushes into my body, an
d I reflexively bat away the thing on my shoulder in a panic. Only I can barely move my limbs, and my face is buried in a pillow.

  “Hey, I’m sorry. It’s just me.” The voice belongs to Zachariel.

  I blink, and the shock of waking up fades. The realization that it was only a dream doesn’t wash away the sense that I’ve forgotten to do something important… only I have no idea what it is. I’m face down on one of Madam A’s cots—they’re the ones for the kids, but she’s short on beds in private rooms. Besides, I was so exhausted last night, after hours and hours of feeding life energy to Lirium and Zachariel, that I just collapsed onto the nearest semi-soft surface. Morning light creaks in through papered-over windows: I must have slept hard all night.

  I wipe the drool from my face and work my way up to sitting.

  “I didn’t mean to startle you.” Zachariel eases down to sit next to me. The ginger way he moves tells me all the scar tissue has to still be bothering him, even though he won’t admit it.

  “How are you feeling?” I ask, looking him over. He’s changed into fresh clothes, something Madam A must have had. The plain t-shirt and jeans are so… innocent… I barely recognize him.

  His clean-shaven face stretches wide in a smile. “Feel like I have a new lease on life.” He tips his head to me. “Thanks to a certain debt collector who I owe more thanks than I really know how to say.”

  “Let’s just call it even, then.” I rub my face with both hands, trying to come all the way awake. I’m still in my suit, hair flying every which way, hung over from the extended mercy-hit of last night. But now that Zachariel’s life isn’t hanging in the balance, there are other things that need to be done.

  Zachariel hooks his thumb over his shoulder. “I didn’t want to wake you, but Lirium’s ready for you, whenever you’re up to it.”

  I owe Lirium a payment of a couple years—which I’m totally willing to do, but last night we were all too tired. My cot is in the middle of the room: Lirium sits on a cot at the far end with a small girl. I think she’s the one I saw before, when I visited Madam A but panicked and left before paying out. I sweep a glance around the rest of the room. There are only two children left in their beds, and I’m sure Lirium is the reason why. Instead of feeling a ripping jealousy, like before, I make a fervent mental note to ask him to teach me his healing trick. Maybe he and Seth are unique in their ability to do this thing—if not, I want in.