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.

voice and slowing my words, “will be long, and

if need

a brave man, then, by baring his teeth

makes him faulter. And then I step away, secretly grateful

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

he looks down at the man strapped

And what your people want

that shows all

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

reconnaissance team standing behind the priest who whips forward a

it swiftly against the

bolt flies through the priest’s body, making him shriek and twist in pain, but my man, well

quickly. The priest goes a little

try again,” Roger says, kicking the leg of the chair to get the priest’s attention.

with

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

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

growing on his face. “You are already…too

as a crash of glass

upstairs –

stops as I recognize it, instantly, as

Ella

in my rocking chair by Rafe’s basinet, one hand on

quietly as he falls asleep when

–

a little tapping sound at the glass of

curiously, expecting a little bird – maybe a squirrel

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

as I froze, as he quietly pointed to the basinet and

for him.”

–

– the man pulled back his arm, and made a

window –

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

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

window cracking and shattering around him

–

an instant later, my instincts came back to me,

child’s rolling basinet behind me and screamed –

and back into the corner now, Rafe in

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

–

–

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

fast

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