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, “will be long, and

need

brave man, then, by baring his teeth

him faulter. And then

to rip this man’s head off. Roger steps

us,” Roger commands, his arms crossed as he looks down at the

people

expression that shows all of

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

team standing behind the

against the priest’s

body, making him shriek and twist

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

kicking the leg of the chair to get the

with

eyes narrow, though, as the priest looks up at Roger

his head and holding his gaze. “Because,”

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

laugh, as a crash of glass

upstairs –

my heart stops as I recognize it,

Ella

sitting here, tense, in my rocking chair by Rafe’s basinet, one hand on the edge of

– shushing him quietly as he

–

little tapping sound at the glass of his window

looked towards it curiously, expecting a little bird – maybe a

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

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

for him.”

–

go so fast – the man pulled back

the window –

don’t know how he did it – it should have broken

room through the hole he made with his fist, the rest

window cracking and

–

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

rolling basinet behind me and screamed

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

of the window. As

–

–

their way up to the window and

fast

now, grinning at me, starting to prowl towards me –