Slipping the Past

by D. L. Jackson

  “What agreement?”

  “A week. You told him about giving me a week.” Jocelyn reached down and yanked the coat out of the threshold and slammed the door shut. “How else would he know?”

  “I don’t talk to Ian. Don’t like him. You’d be smart not to do it, either.”

  Jocelyn snorted.

  “What?” Gabriel snapped.

  “Ian seemed to think you two were pretty chummy.”

  Gabriel strode across the room and grabbed her by the arms. “You do know he has a unique gift? He can read your memories when you vocalize. He’s one of the strongest readers in existence. It’s why he’s insane. Too many voices in his head. Stay away from him, Jocelyn, and for God’s sake, don’t talk to him anymore. He’s dangerous.”

  “How do I know you’re telling the truth? Why did you steal my abilities, Gabriel? You knew I couldn’t read you without them.” Jocelyn yanked free. “What did you do with my brother?”

  “I didn’t mean to draw the energy. I lost myself and before I realized it, I’d drained you. When we first met, I took the scarring from your brain. I tried to fix your sight, but couldn’t. I didn’t think the draw would do what it did. As for Nate….” His gaze swept the room. “I told you. I didn’t do this.”

  “How do I know you’re telling me the truth? You’re a reaper. A fucking reaper who drained my ability to gauge what you say.”

  Gabriel glared. He walked past her, grabbed his coat from the floor, and slipped it on. He raised one wrist and stared at the cuff. “What happened to my coat?”

  “What happened to my brother?”

  “I had nothing to do with this.” Gabriel spun around and strode forward. This time he came straight at her. Jocelyn backpedaled, coming to an abrupt stop when her ass connected with the wall. He slapped both his palms on either side of her head and leaned in. “If you choose to believe that crazy Enforcer over me, do. But it’s going to get you one place. You’ll be helping to charge a city for the rest of eternity. Listen to me, trust me, and maybe I can get you and your brother out of this mess. Choose.” His eyes glittered.

  “You’ll help my brother?”

  “That was my intention when I walked into this room. When the lights went out, I knew something bad happened. I came over here to save your sorry ass and your brother’s. Instead, you accuse me of being behind it. I thought they had you, and I contemplated breaking every law on the planet to get you back. Doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, Jocelyn. I thought after all that’s happened between us, you would know I couldn’t do this to you.”

  Jocelyn sighed. It sounded feasible, but so had Ian. Every time she began to trust Gabriel, something happened to make her question that trust. Had she made another mistake? “Okay.”

  “Okay what?”

  “Help me, please. Help my brother.”

  Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “And….”

  “I’m sorry I listened to Ian. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”

  He lowered his mouth and kissed her, sliding one hand to her face, cupping it gently. “I’m sorry I gave you reason to doubt me. I’ll never do it again.” He stepped away.

  “Nate is safe for now. He was gone before they came, but we need to find him fast. Who knows what information you gave Ian when you spoke to him?”

  “We have a meeting place, should we ever get separated and need to find each other.”

  “You think he’s there?”

  “Without a doubt.”

  “Then so is Ian.”

  Chapter Ten

  The lights were brilliant. She’d never seen it through her own eyes. Like a star-struck tourist, her mouth hung open and she stopped in place to stare. “It’s beautiful. I feel like I’m in some kind of fairy ballroom. Look at all the lights. The way they dance off the marble floor and did you see that—”

  “It’s a commuter station, Jocelyn. Standing in place staring isn’t a good idea. You look like easy pickings.” Gabriel grabbed her arm and pulled her into a crowd. “Stay with me and try to blend.”

  “Blend. Okay.”

  “Hide that hair.”

  “Does it stand out that much?” Jocelyn tucked her ponytail in the back of her coat and pulled the hood up, peeking out at him.

  He studied her for a minute, his eyes warming until they glowed. “I haven’t forgotten it for centuries. So yeah, you could say that.”

  “I think that’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

  Gabriel groaned.

  “What?”

  “I don’t talk sweet.”

  “Yes, you do. I bet you could write poetry if you wanted. An ode to my lips, my eyes, my thighs.”

  Gabriel stared.

  “Okay, maybe that’s stretching it a bit.”

  He tugged her along. “Where?”

  “Any place you can find food, you’ll find Nate.” Gabriel dropped her arm and cut a direct path to the vendors, where the deepest congestion bottlenecked and the crowds stood still. People brushed her, bumped and jostled. She flinched each time, expecting flash of emotion or image. Nothing. It was as if their energies were gone and all that was left was a lifeless shell.

  Ahead, the crowd parted for Gabriel. People gave him space. Not one person bumped into him or looked in his direction. They turned their faces, avoiding the chance of eye contact. Jocelyn felt a jolt of pain. He must be so lonely. In a crowded room, not one person risked his company. How long had it been that way?

  “Since I became an Enforcer.”

  “You read my mind.”

  “No. I caught the look on your face in the stainless steel on that vendor’s cart. Don’t pity me. I don’t want it.” He turned to her. His eyes darkened to a smoky topaz. “You of all people should know how it feels.”

  Jocelyn opened her mouth and shut it. He was right. She’d seen the looks on people’s faces. Poor blind, homeless girl. She’d never been blind, not in the way people thought, and she was homeless by choice. A place to rest her head was a place for an Enforcer to come knocking. She’d gotten good at staying ahead of them and if it meant sleeping in the cold and panhandling for food, that was what she’d do. Better that than an eternity imprisoned.

  She returned her attention to searching for Nate. In a city this large, he could be anywhere if he wasn’t here. “I don’t see him. Usually, by now, I sense….” But that was before she lost her sight. Nate had a unique energy. It towered above the crowds like a giant, reaching for the sky as though he stood ten feet tall. Jocelyn scanned over the multitude’s heads.

  Nate also had a knack for getting out of trouble. It never stuck to him. Even though he’d had amazing luck in the past, Nate’s proverbial kismet-meter hit zero, and all his good fortune had run out. Her attention landed on Ian.

  “Gabriel.” Jocelyn took several quick steps and almost ran into him. She grabbed the back of his coat.

  “Nate’s here. I can feel it,” Gabriel called over his shoulder, not slowing his pace.

  “Gabriel.” Jocelyn yanked hard on the back of his jacket, stopping him. “He’s not the only one. Look. Over there.” Jocelyn nodded to a section the crowd moved around, like an invisible barricade surrounded it. Psycho reaper leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, watching them.

  “Saefa.” Gabriel shoved her behind him. “Get out of here, Jocelyn.”

  “I’m not leaving without my brother.”

  “We’ve been through this before.”

  “Have we? That’s funny, because I don’t remember,” Jocelyn snarled and started to walk away. “He can take Nate.” Gabriel spun around and snagged her arm.

  “Wrong direction.”

  “Let go, Gabriel.”

  “Not until you tell me where you’re going.”

  Enforcer Saefa appeared next to them. “How’s my pretty torch-top?”

  “She’s not yours.”

  “You’re not supposed to talk….” Jocelyn’s voice died in her throat as Ian’s eyes locked onto her.r />
  Then he smiled.

  “Shit.”

  “You could say that.” And then Psycho Reaper vanished.

  “Go after him.” Jocelyn pushed on Gabriel’s shoulder. “Do that teleport thing. Go.”

  “Can’t. For one, he’s doing his job and I can’t interfere. Two, if I leave, he can grab you. When it comes down to you or Nate, Nate loses.” Gabriel grabbed her wrist. “We need to go.”

  “I’m not leaving without Nate.”

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  “But that asshole is after him.”

  “Nate’s not here. I told you I felt his energy to put the thought in your head. I figured Saefa already raided your head for Nate’s location on the previous conversation and would be lurking around the station. When he couldn’t find him, he decided to frisk your mind again. I only planted the bait. My commander can’t accuse me of interfering. You have a temporary pardon, so he can’t touch you, not in the physical sense.”

  “How’d you know he wouldn’t read yours?”

  “Saefa could care less what I think. He targeted your thoughts.” Gabriel tugged her wrist. “You got another place you’d like to check?”

  ***

  Jocelyn scanned up and down the aisles. Rows of books sat like stiff soldiers, packed next to each other. Since technology had seized the world, bound volumes sat unused, ignored for the convenience of a digital read. She’d never read a real book with her own eyes, and to her they were lost treasures, begging to be explored, but now was not the time. Jocelyn pulled her fingers back from the bindings and sighed.

  The library felt like a crypt, so quiet. The brutality of the storm kept most of the residents of the city at home. The wind whipped and flakes had started to fly hours ago. Outside, the snow piled up faster than the street crews could keep up.

  Nor’easters had a way of stopping the world. Nobody risked going out in them if they didn’t have to. At least the sane people didn’t. She moved away from the shelves and a longing filled her gut. Someday, perhaps.

  She turned left at the end of the aisle and headed for the processors. Sure enough, Nate sat in front of a holo-screen, touching the air between the readers, dragging his finger and moving data that was invisible from where she stood. A headset attached to a sonic player covered his ears. In one hand he held a laser-pen and drummed away on a digital pad, stopping every so often to scrawl across the surface, humming, not noticing the nasty looks from the gray-haired woman at the counter. Not that he was disturbing anyone.

  “Nate.”

  Nate continued to drum and scrawl—and dear God, sing.

  “Nate!”

  Nate glanced up and smiled. Quick to forgive, Jocelyn was happy to see the hostility gone and the brother she loved had returned. He pulled the headset off and turned the data toward her.

  “I’m a genius.”

  Jocelyn glanced at the holo-screen, not really taking any of it in, and then back at him. They didn’t have time to discuss whatever he’d found. His life was in danger. “We need to talk.”

  “Did you hear me? I’m a genius. Look.” He tapped the reader with his pen, causing the screen to ripple like water. “Look.” He grinned.

  Jocelyn sighed and glanced at the image.

  Salem witch trials.

  “I can track all your past life crimes. Here’s one. You were accused of murdering a family with witchcraft.”

  “If you say so. I don’t have any memories of it.”

  Nate shrugged. “After tall-dark-and-nasty sucked—”

  “Let it go, Nate.”

  “I’m just saying he isn’t the best person for you to get involved with.”

  Jocelyn reached over and grabbed Nate’s hand giving it a squeeze. “You’ve got to stop being so protective. I can take care of myself.”

  “I know, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.” He sighed and nodded at the holo, changing the subject. “A nineteen-year-old woman by the name of Josephine Laurette Smith was burned alive for bewitching a man named Caleb Dover and causing him to slaughter his sister-in-law and her children.”

  “Great. So you’re telling me I’m not just a killer but a home-wrecker?”

  “Hold on. Let me tell the story. I said I can track your past life crimes. Home-wrecking isn’t a crime the DSLE is interested in. Bewitching isn’t murder, it’s the result of the hysterical atmosphere of the time and won’t be hard to disprove. It’s the murder I’m concerned about. Somebody killed them and we need to find out who. I don’t believe it was….” He dropped the next thing he was going to say. His gaze darted over her shoulder and back to her face before he shut his mouth and looked away.

  “Go on,” Gabriel urged from behind her.

  “I wasn’t talking to you.” Nate grabbed the holo and turned it away. He slid his headphones back on his ears and began touching and dragging data like the reaper wasn’t present.

  Gabriel grabbed a chair, spun it around backward, and straddled it. He turned the reader so he could see. One hand reached over, plucked the ear-mics off Nate’s ears, and crushed them to powder. He sprinkled the debris on the table.

  “Now continue.”

  Nate started to get up and Gabriel reached out and clamped down on his shoulder, slamming him back into his seat.

  “Sit down.”

  “I’m not talking to you.”

  “Okay. Have it your way. There’s a warrant out for your arrest and I can use any method I see fit to interrogate my prisoner.” He held up his hand and sparks danced from fingertip to fingertip. “Standard procedure. Did I ever tell you I have a gift with kinetic energy? Energies in general. I can control its path, twist it, use it as a force field, charge things, reverse polarity—but I can’t make it disappear. It’s got to go somewhere. All energy has one thing in common. It needs an entrance and an exit. You might want to hold on to something. This will hurt.”

  “Warrant?” Nate turned to her. “Joce, what’s he talking about?”

  “It’s true. Ian’s hot on your trail for the knock you gave him to the back of the head,” Jocelyn said.

  “Can he do that?” Nate turned to Gabriel, clearly surprised. “I was defending—”

  “A criminal. Yeah, he can do that. Assault and battery, aiding and abetting a fugitive, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong Enforcer.”

  “Reaper,” her brother corrected.

  “I really don’t like that term.” The sparks on Gabriel’s fingers whipped into the air, making Nate’s hair stand on end. “Don’t call us that.”

  He swallowed and gave Jocelyn an anxious glance. “You want to tell your boyfriend to back off?”

  “You’re making him nervous. Please. You don’t need to threaten him.” Jocelyn rested her hand on the Enforcer’s shoulder. “He’ll talk. Won’t you?”

  “If you put it that way.”

  Gabriel nodded. The sparks stopped, but Nate’s hair continued to stand on end. He ran his hand over his head in a futile attempt to push the rebel strands down. He eyed the tall man, who’d folded his arms across his chest and now stared.

  “As I was saying…would you not stare? It’s creepy.”

  Gabriel continued to focus on her brother, his eyes taking on a hard edge.

  “Please?”

  He shifted his gaze to the holo screen.

  Nate sucked in a deep breath and collapsed against the back of his chair. “Where was I? Yeah. There was this woman, accused of murdering a family with witchcraft in 1690. Seems Josephine Smith was also a redhead, like Joce. So…I searched for redheaded killers and came back with the standard Bonnie, as in Bonnie and Clyde, but it also led me back to this Josephine Smith chick. I realized a couple of things from it. One, her past-life names have always started with Jo, and two, she likes to be a redhead, which I already figured was the case. And since red hair is hereditary, I followed the family line and found two other cases of murder. Both by redheads, and yes, by women with names that start with Jo. The first murder b
ack took place in England, around 1102, give or take a decade, and was a clear case of innocence, where it was proven after execution. Then there was this one.” He punched a key and brought up another screen. “Josette Knapp. You remember her, Joce?”

  “I’m not sure. I don’t remember much after the convenience store. A little here and there.”

  Nate shot Gabriel a nasty look. “I’ll fill in the deets then. You said the bodies of her husband’s victims were buried behind the grove.” He pointed at the plantation, now a high-class bed and breakfast. “This is the place. According to what you saw in the vision, she killed him in self-defense. The bodies will prove it.”

  Jocelyn nodded. “It’s coming back. Lucas cut up his body and fed it to the pigs to hide the crime. We freed the slaves and made a run for the northern borders.” Jocelyn sighed and turned to Gabriel. “They hung you for trying to protect me.”

  Nate brought up the screen with Josephine again, from Salem. “This is the only one I don’t have hard evidence for. She was found in possession of a bloody knife.” He ran a hand through his hair, finger-combing the static strands. “Caught in her lover’s residence as testified to by the local constable. Her lover’s sister-in-law and her two children were murdered, according to everything I’ve been able to pull up. There’s supposed to be a journal written by the only surviving child, who was sixteen at the time of the murders. I think the daughter pointed an accusing finger at the constable and ended up getting tried as a witch. The really freaky thing about it all,” he switched screens, “a death portrait of one of the children looks remarkably like…well, see for yourself.” He pointed at a picture of a small painting of a boy. A child posed in death, for his family to remember him in life and an odd custom of the times, one that produced more questions than answers.

  “Kid.” Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “Looks like you’ve been a pain in my ass for a long time.”

  “Freaky, huh? Jocelyn was accused of murdering this child, his sister, and the mother.”

  “I killed you?” Jocelyn’s eyes widened.

  “I don’t think so. The sole survivor, Liberty Dover, saw it all and it’s in that journal. We only need to get our hands on the document to prove it. Everyone knows the witch trials were a grievous injustice. They know that those tried for witchcraft were falsely accused. The murders are the only things that come into question.”