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

baring his teeth at me in a little snarl. But I

him faulter. And then I step away,

muscles are tensed, ready to rip this man’s head off. Roger steps in to take my

looks down at the

people want

at Roger, a too–wide expression that shows all

voice now. Roger stares at him blandly for

behind the priest who

against

shriek and twist in pain, but my man, well

The priest goes a little slack in his chair, panting.

Roger says, kicking the leg of the chair to get the priest’s attention. “What do

want with my nephew.”

eyes narrow, though, as the priest looks up at

matter,” the priest says, shaking his head and holding his

smile growing on his

as a crash of glass sounds and

upstairs –

I

Ella

by

always is – shushing him quietly as he falls

–

heard a little tapping sound at the glass of his window –

curiously, expecting a little bird – maybe a squirrel

a black–masked face

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

for

–

go so fast – the man pulled back his arm,

window

he did it – it should have broken his

body, head–first, into the room through the hole he made with

window cracking and shattering around

–

instant later, my

rolling basinet behind me and screamed

shove the rocking chair away and back into the corner now,

foot of the window. As he

–

–

their way up

fast

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