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.

lowering my voice and slowing

if need be.”

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

makes him faulter. And then I step away,

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

arms crossed as he looks down at the man strapped to the

are. And what your people want with my brother’s child.”

that shows all of

in his voice now. Roger stares at him blandly for a moment and

the reconnaissance team standing behind

swiftly against

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

away quickly. The priest goes a little slack in

Roger says, kicking the leg of the chair to get

people want with my nephew.”

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

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

on his face. “You are already…too late.”

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

upstairs –

stops as I recognize it,

Ella

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

– shushing him quietly as he falls asleep when –

–

heard a little tapping sound at the glass of

it curiously, expecting a little

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

my body turning to ice as I froze, as he quietly pointed to the basinet and mouthed

coming for

–

the man pulled back his arm, and made a fist,

the window –

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

hole he made with his fist,

window cracking and shattering around

–

moment he hit the floor, only half an instant later,

rolling basinet behind me and

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

of the window. As he stands,

–

–

working their way up to the window and through

unnaturally fast

the lead is on his feet now, grinning