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.

continue, lowering my voice and slowing my words, “will be long, and

if need be.”

brave man, then, by baring his teeth at

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

man’s head off. Roger steps in to take my

crossed as he looks down

what your people want with

man just grins at Roger, a too–wide expression that

at him blandly for a moment and then shifts his eyes

standing behind the priest who

swiftly against the

through the priest’s body, making him shriek and twist

quickly. The priest goes a little slack in his

the leg of the chair to get the priest’s attention.

want with my

at Roger again and

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

a smile growing on his

really, truly laugh, as a crash of glass sounds and a

upstairs –

stops as I recognize it, instantly,

Ella

tense, in my rocking chair by Rafe’s basinet, one hand

is – shushing him quietly as

–

a little tapping sound at the glass of

towards it curiously, expecting a little

flooded me when I saw a black–masked face calmly tapping on my window,

turning to ice as I froze, as he quietly pointed to

for

–

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

the window –

know how he did it – it should have broken his hand – Sinclair paid to

hole he made with

of the window cracking and shattering around

–

half an instant later, my instincts came back to me, and I

behind me and screamed

shove the rocking chair away and back into the corner now, Rafe in his

man gets to his feet at the foot of the window. As he stands, my heart jumps when I see

–

–

more more men behind him, working their way

unnaturally fast

man in the lead is on his feet now, grinning at me, starting to prowl towards me –