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.

my voice and slowing my words,

if need be.”

then, by baring his teeth at me in a

And then I step away, secretly grateful

tensed, ready to rip this man’s

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

people want with my brother’s child.”

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

stares at him blandly for a moment and then shifts his

reconnaissance team standing behind

against the priest’s

making him shriek and

The priest goes a little slack in his

the chair to get the priest’s attention.

want with my

priest looks up at Roger again and just

shaking his head and holding

growing on his face. “You are already…too

laugh, as a crash of glass sounds and a scream

upstairs –

stops as I recognize it,

Ella

was just sitting here, tense, in my rocking chair by Rafe’s basinet, one hand on

quietly as

–

little tapping sound at the glass of his

little bird – maybe a

a black–masked

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

for him.” (2)

–

to go so fast – the man pulled back his

the window

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

room through the hole he made

window cracking and shattering around

–

half an instant

basinet behind me and screamed

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

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

–

–

men behind him, working their way up to the

unnaturally fast –

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