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.”

a brave man, then, by baring his teeth at me in a little snarl.

which makes him faulter. And then I step

to rip this man’s head off. Roger

his arms crossed as he looks down at the

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

a too–wide expression that shows

now. Roger stares at him

member of the reconnaissance team standing behind the priest who

it swiftly against

flies through the priest’s body, making him shriek

priest goes a little

again,” Roger says, kicking the leg of the

want with

narrow, though, as the priest looks up at Roger

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

his face. “You are

starts to laugh – really, truly laugh, as a crash

upstairs –

stops as I recognize it,

Ella

rocking chair by Rafe’s basinet, one hand on the edge of it

him quietly as

–

tapping sound at the

curiously, expecting a little bird – maybe

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

as I froze, as

for

–

the man pulled back his arm, and made

the window –

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

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

window cracking and

–

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

behind me and screamed –

the corner now, Rafe in

to his feet at the foot of the window. As he stands,

–

–

more more men behind him, working their way up to the window

fast –

his feet now, grinning at me, starting to prowl towards me