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

if need be.”

baring his teeth at me in a

at him, which makes him faulter. And then I step away, secretly grateful

tensed, ready to rip this man’s head off.

as he looks down at the man strapped to the chair,”

your people

just grins at Roger, a too–wide expression that shows all of his teeth. “No,” he

him blandly

reconnaissance team standing behind the priest who

against the

making him shriek and twist in pain,

priest goes

kicking the leg of the chair to get the

with my

narrow, though, as the priest looks up at Roger again and just huffs a

priest says, shaking his head

his face. “You are already…too

to laugh – really, truly laugh, as a crash of glass sounds

upstairs –

I recognize

Ella

my rocking chair by Rafe’s basinet,

always is – shushing him quietly

–

at

it curiously, expecting a little bird – maybe a

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

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

for

–

then it seemed to go so fast – the man pulled back his arm, and made a fist, and crashed it

window –

it should have broken his hand – Sinclair paid to have those

room through the hole he made with his fist, the

window cracking and shattering around

–

floor, only half an instant later, my instincts came back

rolling basinet behind me and screamed –

away and back into the corner

of the window. As

–

–

behind him, working their way up to the window and

unnaturally fast

on his feet now, grinning