Accidental Surrogate

Sinclair

I growl down at the man before me, who is younger than I thought he would be, for one with

such power. He has thick black hair and a day’s worth of stubble on his thin cheeks. The man

glares up at me with dark, angry eyes and opens his mouth to speak but before he can, I slap him

– hard with an open palm.

–

The man gasps with surprise and pain, his eyes going wide as he stares down at the floor, and I

smirk. I doubt this man has been slapped anytime recently, if ever. He has the smug look of

someone used to being in charge.

But he’s in my house now.

“You’ll speak when we tell you to speak,” I growl, and then I turn to the head of my

–

reconnaissance team, who is standing against the wall, his hands on his knees, panting a little.

Craig isn’t a small man to see him so undone by the efforts suggests that this diminutive priest

is, indeed, powerful in other ways.

“How did you catch him?” I snap. Craig looks up at me and does his best to straighten up.

“We followed the leads, sir,” he replies, looking me in the eyes, “that we gleaned from the

conversation with the other priest, who wished to remain anonymous. They were…fruitful. We

found this one’s lair, for lack of a better word. It was actually in a sewer -in an abandoned

maintenance room. He was living there doing…” Craig hesitates and then shrugs. “Forgive me, Sir,

for the dramatic language, but ‘arcane magics‘ are the only words coming to my mind now. Lizard

skins…and and snail shells, in jars – he had a cauldron –”

“Thank you,” I say, interrupting and nodding towards the head of my investigative team. “You.

will give your details to Alastair, as soon as you can. For now, though I want everyone here for

the interrogation.” I lean forward towards the priest, who watches me with wary eyes and a

clenched jaw.

voice and slowing my words, “will be

need be.”

then, by baring his teeth at me in

at him, which makes him faulter. And then I step

my muscles are tensed, ready to rip this man’s head

looks down at the man strapped to the

your people want

Roger, a too–wide expression that shows all of his teeth.

stares at him blandly for a moment and

standing behind the priest who whips

it swiftly against the

him shriek and twist in pain,

goes a

of the chair to get the priest’s attention. “What do

with my nephew.”

as the priest looks up at Roger again and just

“It doesn’t matter,” the priest says, shaking his head and holding

smile growing on his face. “You are already…too

starts to laugh – really, truly laugh, as a crash

upstairs –

heart stops as I recognize

Ella

in my rocking chair by

him quietly as he falls asleep when –

–

sound at the glass

towards it curiously, expecting a little bird – maybe a squirrel

black–masked face calmly tapping on my

ice as I froze, as

coming for

–

so fast – the man pulled back his arm, and made a fist, and

the window

don’t know how he did it – it should have broken his hand – Sinclair

the room through the hole he made with

window cracking and shattering around him

–

the moment he hit the floor, only half an instant later, my instincts came back

basinet behind me and screamed –

rocking chair away and back into the corner now, Rafe in his cradle behind me,

at the foot of the window. As he stands, my heart

–

–

more more men behind him, working their way up to the window and through it

fast –

the lead is on his feet now, grinning at me, starting to prowl