“This little number? I thought we were making a night of it?” The little number being a very short sequined dress with sparkly red shoes,
“And you thought we were going to see the Wizard?” Adram smiled at my remark,
“And you always say you don’t remember watching the Wizard of Oz. Seriously though Xan, you’re really jumpy tonight. Do you want to go spar? It won’t take me long to change.”
“No, it’s ok.” I looked at Adram’s face and saw how disappointed he’d be if I’d have said yes,
“I’ve tried to give her a job to do. Nice and quick, but she won’t do it.” Kibble just had to interrupt,
“It’s for Father Thomas.” I said into my glass,
“Urgh, I know you’re still cross with him but it wasn’t his fault…”
“Cross? I’m livid Adram!” The glass broke in my hand,
“I’m gonna start charging you for glasses soon.” I shot Kibble the look of death,
“Me and the Church don’t mix. Full stop, the end, drop it!”
“It’s not like you’ll be physically setting foot in the church is it? It’s the cemetery and you and the dead seem to have somewhat of an affinity.” Adram did have a point I suppose,
“Plus its fifty grand.” Kibble added,
“If you don’t let out some of this pent up aggression you’re going to blow and who knows who’ll be in the firing line.”
“Ok.” I sighed,
“Really? That was too easy. Are you drunk?” Adram peered at me like I’d grown another head,
“Maybe blowing the head off a zombie will help. Although if I accidentally blow Father Thomas’ head off it’ll be both your faults.”
“I’ll go keep everyone occupied.” He smiled and minced towards Marshall and the others.
Ten minutes later I was standing in front of Havensbrook Cemetery’s gates. The church stood like a gothic sentinel standing guard over the grave stones. I’d winced when Kibble took his spare shotgun off the wall. It was an old English farmer’s shotgun that you had to crack in half to load the cartridges. I had two shots, not that I’d need the second. Zombies were gooey, like snot mixed with mud. I took a deep breath and opened the gates.
Most people thought graveyards were eerie at night but I always saw them as calming. Maybe Adram was right, I did have an affinity with the dead. Or maybe I just knew that it was the dead that were walking about that caused the issue and it was the one groaning that I was here to sort. I walked up to it and sighed,
“It’s time for you to go back to the grave.” The woman groaned. I didn’t always relish what I had to do and this was a prime example. There wasn’t much skin left on the woman and her clothes had been shredded with age. The groan hadn’t been from any remaining vocal cords but from the air gushing from what was left of her body.
I aimed the shotgun at her head and pulled the trigger. Her head splattered backwards and her body fell to the ground. I always felt a little sorry for zombies. They didn’t ask to get reanimated and yet they were powerless to stop it. I’ve even know stupid kids accidently raise one on Halloween by pure coincidence. Cremation seriously was the way to go.
I was pondering how to tell Marshall that his life was a lie when I heard a twig snap behind me. I was sure Kibble had said zombie and not in the plural. I spun around and came face to face with Father Thomas. Great, just great.
“I didn’t think you’d come.” Father Thomas smiled. He was the same as ever. His brown hair was short and ruffled. He wasn’t the typical Father and had more a look of nerd than of religious superiority. He peered at me through his glasses and I saw the wrinkles around his eyes. He was older and probably no wiser,
“You offered Kibble money. Enough you knew he wouldn’t refuse and talk me into it. About that…” He threw an envelope at me and I caught it. Inside was stuffed with money,
“You can count it if you want.”
“I should trust a man of the cloth. Although I would like to know why you planted a zombie in your own cemetery?” Father Thomas’ face went bright red, busted!
“How did you know?”
“Oh come on! It hasn’t rained in weeks. The ground is rock solid and there’s no fresh graves. Zombies have a hard enough time digging themselves out of the ground and make a complete mess. There’s no holes. Plus there’s the red clay on her feet…” I kicked her limp foot to illustrate my point, “…completely different soil to what you have here.”
“You’ve never been stupid.”
“And yet you excommunicated me!” Years of bitterness and anger spewed up, “I was fourteen. My mom cried for weeks because she didn’t know how to tell her friends I couldn’t go to church anymore. That I wasn’t welcome in a house of God. You did that. You made me lose my faith!” I marched past him before I used the last cartridge on him,
“Back to that again?” I swung around and punched him. He flopped to the ground like a rag doll. It took him a moment to realise his arse was on the ground and then he clutched his nose that was definitely broken,
“Again? I saw you once, a year later because I couldn’t cope with my mom’s crying anymore. I needed to know why and do you remember what you said?”
“It’s better than being dead.” He mumbled into his hand trying to stop his bleeding nose,
“You have no idea what my life was like back then and you were wrong. You helped convince me of the complete opposite.” I know he wanted to say more but I stormed off.
I wasn’t interested in the excuses. He’d made his choice and I’d made mine. There was no going back. I had to keep moving forward or I wouldn’t be sane enough to remember anything.
Kibble was right, it hadn’t taken me long to off the zombie and I threw the envelope at his head when I sat on the bar stool.
“Next time the answer's no, regardless of the amount of money offered.” I slid his shotgun across the bar and he cringed,
“The bat hooker is here. I’ve put her in your booth. The others haven’t even noticed you’ve been out thanks to Adram’s table dancing.”
I looked over and saw Madam Cassandra waiting, impatiently picking at her nails. It looked like she had the information I needed,
“If she hears you call her that she’ll probably eat you.”
“She’s a vampire, of course she’s heard me and I wouldn’t mind her having a little nibble.” I rolled my eyes and headed towards her,
“It’s about time. Do you know the favours I’ve had to pull in to get this information for you?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re gonna tell me.”
“I don’t like to be indebted to anyone, Xan. Here.” She practically threw the file at me, “What are you looking for anyway?”
Madam Cassandra had done a good job, I gave her that much. Most of the information matched Marshall’s file but now I also had family photos. I was right that all the girls had familiar traits and when I looked at their parents my heart sank. It was so apparent I wanted to kick myself. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Every single one had either a mother or a father that was a changeling. I didn’t know what disturbed me more; the fact I was so stupid or that Cain had actually helped me for the first time ever.
“I gather you’ve found something useful after my evening of blackmail?”
“Unfortunately.” I sighed. All I had to do now was get Marshall to believe me,
“You better hope my girl is alive and well…”
“Or what?” I felt my eye twitch,
“I’ll decimate you and everyone you hold close, starting with that cowboy of yours.” Why, why, did everyone call Marshall my cowboy?
“He’s not my anything! I suggest you leave now before I turn you to ash.” Madam Cassandra’s teeth lengthened and she hissed,
“You’re no threat to me Xan, I could break your neck before your next breath!”
“And I could fill you with enough steel you’ll be ash on the wind, Cassandra.” I locked eyes with her but the sound of a bullet entering the barre
l of Kibble’s customised shotgun under the table made her break eye contact.
“You wouldn’t dare!” She hissed,
“Why not? I don’t like being threatened and that’s exactly what’s been happening this week. So, I think it’s time I fought back. Starting with you.”
“I’ll remember this.” She gracefully left the booth as only a vampire could, and glided out the door.
I sighed to myself as I looked over the files again, hoping I was wrong, but I knew in my gut I wasn’t. I now knew why these girls had been targeted, why Marshall’s daughter had been targeted but I still had no idea what Clockwork wanted with them. I felt myself staring into space as my brain pondered what the connection was. I doubted Clockwork had killed any of them because he’d have left the bodies to be found to taunt me, which meant he was saving them for something. There wasn’t anything of any astrological importance coming up, supernatural or natural. I needed the Kodak, or someone that had access to it.
“What’s up buttercup?” I was suddenly pulled from my thoughts by Adram, who’d wiggled his sequined arse opposite me,
“I need you to look in the Kodak.”
“Urgh, whhhhhhhhhhhy?” He face planted the table and bashed his head a couple more times for effect,
“You know why! The Kodak has every dark ritual inscribed in it. I need you to see if there’s anything that requires elven half breeds with changeling parents.”
“You have to be kidding me? Urgh.” Adram faked a faint and slid under the table,
“Come on Adram. You’re the only one that can even get remotely close enough to look.”
“He’s the Dark Lord Xan. He hates me!” He mumbled from under the table,
“He can’t hate you that much if he still allows you to dress him.” The top of his head poked over the table,
“That’s because I have fabulous taste…”
“Impeccable…” I smiled as he rose from the depths of despair he’d made himself under the table, “…you could be a hero if you do this.” He looked at me and grinned,
“Demons aren’t meant to be heroes.”
“But can you imagine if you were the first? The first demon hero?” I could see him thinking about how he could spin it in the demon world,
“I suppose I could do it. I’m dressing him for a ball in an hour. Maybe I could sneak a looksy then? Ummmmm.” He was rubbing his chin, which meant I had him, hook, line and sinker.
“I’m sure men and women would fight to spend time with you.”
“Ok, I’ll do it. If I go now I can pick out his outfit early and free up some time.”
“Thank you.” I smiled and then in a dramatic poof he was gone and then he came back again,
“Oh, don’t think I don’t know what you’ve just done but I’m sure a pair of limited edition Jimmy Choo’s will make up for your deceit. Let me know if this sparkles.” I wanted to ask what when in a puff of pink and sparkly smoke he disappeared.
“Yeah it does.” I laughed.
“Xan?” Wasn’t I the wanted one tonight?
“Marshall.”
“I thought you wanted to talk?”
“I do. I think you’ll need to sit for this.”
Chapter Twenty
Usually I just came out with whatever needed to be said, but this time my tongue was drier than the Sierra Desert and my mouth had forgotten how to form words. I knew he was going to blame himself for his daughter’s kidnapping and there was nothing I could do. I decided it was best to just come out with it,
“You’re a changeling.”
“A what?”
“A changeling.”
“I heard that and still don’t know what it means for me or my daughter.”
“You’re not technically human.”
“Of course I am. My parents were human and so am I, being their son.” He laughed and usually it was the sweetest sound but this time it hurt. I was about to shatter all his illusions,
“They’re not your parents.”
“Come on Xan, I’m not stupid. My mom’s in Florida and I’ve listened for years when she tells everyone she was in labour with me for three days and just as she was giving in I decided to make an appearance. How can she not be my mother?”
“Because it wasn’t you she gave birth to.” Why did everything have to be so difficult?
“Right, of course. How much have you had to drink?” I rubbed my head because it was starting to pound thanks to Marshall’s naivety,
“Urgh, this isn’t working! Look, thirty seven years ago there was this massive coo in the Elven Highlands. That’s where the ruling families of Fairy lived. It was a massacre. A complete blood bath, orchestrated by the Elk to take control. Everyone thought the ruling families had all died but there were rumours.”
“Is this another tall tale?”
“Please Marshall, just listen.” For the first time in years I was trying to be sincere. I hadn’t even realised I was holding his hand on the table,
“You’re being serious?” He questioned for me to nod,
“There’d always been this rumour that the babies had been saved. You see, elves are only fertile for a short period, once a decade and so they always give birth at the same time. When the castles were raided they apparently didn’t find any. Nurseries stocked full, but no babies,”
“So what happened to them?” And that right there was the million dollar question,
“Their nannies hid them in plain sight. They swapped them for human babies and gave them loving parents.”
“But I don’t have pointy ears.”
“It’s illusion. Cosmetic changes in infants are easy enough to do.”
“What happened to the babies that were swapped?”
“I don’t know. Some say they returned to the Highlands with them and others say…”
“They were disposed of?” Marshall looked white as I nodded, “I’m sorry but I just don’t believe it. I was a non-believer until you came along. Surely if I was a changeling I wouldn’t have been?”
“That was the point. The whole plan was a success and the royal lines were protected. Yeah you and the others had no idea, but your bloodline would eventually be called on.”
“Nope, still don’t believe it.” He rubbed his fingers over the top of his ears. I knew the moment he started to believe the illusion would shatter and from his reaction so did he,
“I take it you’re carrying your gun?”
“Of course.” He smiled and patted at the hip holster,
“Ok, place it on the table.” He looked puzzled but did as I said. I’d been wondering about it since the moment I’d seen it,
“Why does it have an ivory handle?” He looked at me but was silent, “I’m guessing you have an intolerance to some metals. If exposed for a long time you get a rash or start itching. Did you buy it or did you find it somewhere?”
“When my dad died, I was clearing out his study and there it was in a small wooden box. He was a Texas Ranger too and I thought he’d been given it at some point in his career. I’ve kept it with me ever since.”
“Did it have a tree carved in the lid?” He nodded at my question, “I thought as much. The gun’s enchanted. I’m surprised it’s a gun but they say elven weapons are what you need them to be. It was sent to you, it’s yours and you’ll never lose it. When we were in that hell of a prison didn’t you notice every shot hit true and actually did more damage than anyone else.”
“I was a little busy to notice anything other than not to die.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I laughed, “The fact is, you’re an elf Marshall and a royal one at that.”
“Then there’s what the Librarian said about the unknown elf. Naturally, we thought it was Clockwork but what if it was you. You followed him here and would show up in her records. The fact you had no idea you’re a changeling hid your origin and bloodline. It’s too much of a coincidence Marshall and I learned a very long time ago there’s no such thing.”
“I’m sorry
but all this is bull shit. Yeah I accept there’s this whole other world in the shadows but I’m human. I have a mother, a daughter…”
“A daughter that’s an elven half breed.”
“My daughter is human!”
“Your daughter was taken because she has royal, elven blood because you are a changeling!”
“You’re only saying this because you want me tangled up in your world. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you look at me.” Oh no he didn’t!
“My world? As I recall you came to me. I wanted nothing whatsoever to do with this mess but oh, freakin no. I don’t care if you’re human, demon or a bloody elf. As for the way I look at you? You must be seeing things because there’s no way in hell I’d fall for a guy that was so egocentric he can’t see the truth when it slaps him in the face. Just remember I never asked for any of this. None of it. Not even my sin eater side.” I pushed out the booth and stormed out.
I’d let way more out than I wanted to. At least he had the illusion of being human for so long. I’d never had that gift. I was a sin eater and a scion of Cain. I was born this way, whether I accepted it or not. I knew Marshall was going to be difficult. Reality was sometimes the hardest thing to believe but the thought of him thinking I was lying to keep him close to me made my blood boil. Yeah he was attractive, you had to be blind not think that but if he thought…urgh men!
“Hello love.” Dorian stepped out of the shadows. As always, he was immaculately dressed in a grey pin stripped suit, with his cane tucked under his arm, “You look a little frustrated?”
“Piss off Dorian, I’m not in the mood.” I stormed past him and head for my house,
“At least allow me to walk you home. You never know what dangers lurk on a night like this.”
“The only thing lurking is you.” I laughed,
“Exactly love.”
I was trying to ignore him but he followed next to me anyway. I’d finally reached my front door and cooled off a little,
“Coffee?”
Thief: X Page 15
