03 Saints (32 page)

We lapsed in to silence to wait. It was a long wait – Daniel had made sure we were early. Finally, I heard the sound of feet on hard stone, but no thoughts to go with the sound of walking. I knew the Watchers we had come to intercept had finally arrived. Daniel put a hand out to communicate. I took it wordlessly, aware that the others could hear us just as well as we could hear them.

Try not to kill anyone, unless it’s necessary,
he warned.

I won’t,
I promised. I definitely didn’t want a murder on my conscious for so little.

Don’t play hero, either,
he said.

If you spend all day warning me, they’re going to get away,
I thought at him.

He rolled his eyes at me and moved to the edge of the building. His body was tense and alert. I followed after him, my heart thumping excitedly in my chest. It wasn’t just adrenaline that had my heart beating an irregular pattern. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t jumping into something I wasn’t prepared for. I was fighting a battle I had chosen – one I was reasonably certain I could win. With Daniel at my side, I felt as if a part of me suddenly made sense. This was the world I was meant for. Though subduing two Watchers wasn’t an epic adventure by any scale of the imagination, it was a start. It was a beginning I had been searching for. The purpose and adrenaline fueling me, I jumped out at the men.

The fight was not a long one. Ten seconds after it began, it was over. We drug the unconscious bodies back to the building we had hidden behind, and Daniel glanced at the shipping manifesto the man he had ambushed had on him. He carefully put the paperwork back in to the man’s jacket, and we hurried away from them.

Sara picked us up not long after, in the same spot she had dropped us off. We passed through the moving dark, between the docks and the school, the voices whispering my name. I thought, when I listened closer, that the voice was really one voice, but Sara pulled me out of the dark before I could find out. I was almost annoyed with her for pulling me out. Listening went beyond compulsion; I had to know. It was important to know why they called my name. As we landed in the school, I had to remind myself of Sara’s words, not to listen to the whispered voices. It was dangerous.

Reaper wanted to speak with Daniel alone about the shipping logs when we got back. Unable to handle being by myself, when I was so full of remembered adrenaline, I went in search of Alex. She wasn’t on the third floor or the second, though I encountered someone much more bizarre than my best friend on the second.

I was passing a door I had passed many times without thought, when it opened and out stepped a woman I had only seen twice. The red eyes of Moira locked with mine as she turned to shut the door again. Beyond her, in the room, was a large silver container and what looked like the stolen items Reaper had yet to sell. I was instantly curious about the container, but Moira was the more immediate mystery. She blinked at me a couple of times, obviously wondering why I had stopped walking to stare at her.

“Uh, hi,” I said.

“Hello,” she said politely.

I jammed my hands in to my pockets awkwardly. I was curious about her, but I didn’t know where to start. The aura of power she generated was the same sort of aura Margaret generated. It was the sort of power a person didn’t mess with…unless they were suicidal.

“I wanted to thank you for standing up for the kids the other day,” I told her. “You know…to Quinn.”

She smiled briefly. “I’ve never been fond of bullies.”

“Oh, well, we have something in common, then,” I said.

“Best beware of Quinn, however,” Moira said. “He’s afraid of me…but you? Not quite.”

“I keep hearing that,” I said dryly. I pursed my lips. “Why is he afraid of you?”

“No one has told you to beware of me as well?” Moira asked.

“No…” I said.

“My reputation must be slipping,” she said. Her face changed with her mischievous smile. “People fear me because of my talent.”

“What is that?”

Her smile hadn’t left. “With proper incentive the body can be drained of blood in less than five seconds,” she said.

I wasn’t certain if she was messing with me, or not. It was hard to tell.

“Moira, you ready?” River joined us, her hair streaked with orange and red today. She smiled at me in greeting but maintained focus on Moira. It was obvious from River’s expression that she feared being rude to Moira. It was obvious, because I suddenly felt the same way.

“Yes,” Moira agreed.

River waved a brief goodbye at me and led the way down the hall. Moira’s expression as she left was more enigmatic. I thought it was likely she really was messing with me. Her smile suggested she was…

I shrugged and started to step toward the door she had left, my second curiosity taking over now that Moira was no longer in front of the door. I wanted to see what was in the box. It was an odd shape and seemed…familiar for a reason I couldn’t place.

“I wouldn’t,” Moira called to me, without turning.

I lowered my hand from the door as Ghost passed River and Moira in the hall. He nodded at me in greeting then stepped around me to go in to the room I had been trying to enter. With another polite nod, he shut the door in my face.

Figuring I had been disinvited from the party, I left the door and went downstairs to the silver room. As I walked, I thought of the container and how it had seemed more like a prison than anything else – complete with a round-the-clock guard. The part of me that didn’t do well with having a mystery dangling over my head wanted to turn around and go back to the room. The only problem was that the part of me that loved to solve a mystery was also the part that usually got me in a whole lot of trouble. I wasn’t sure what kind of trouble my curiosity would get me in now. I figured it was best not to get in a fight with one of Reaper’s generals…not unless they earned it.

Alex was hunkered over a laptop in the silver room. She waved at me vaguely when I entered, but she didn’t take her eyes away from the screen.

“Your mission go well?” she asked still not looking.

“Yep.”

I told her about meeting Moira and the suspicion I had about the box. Alex finally looked away from the computer screen.

“You think they’re holding a person in a box?” she asked me. “Doesn’t that sound sort of unlike them?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “They were just acting…”

“Hinkey?” Alex asked.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “It felt like a prison…and I know what that feels like.”

“Ask Reaper. He knows,” Alex said.

“You think he’ll tell me the truth?” I asked.

“I’m not a fortune-teller,” Alex said, returning her eyes to the computer screen.

“No, just a pain in the ass.”

“Ouch,” Alex said dryly.

The door opened, and I saw Reaper and Daniel in the hall, outside the silver room.

“What are you ladies doing?” Reaper asked.

“Talking about you,” I admitted.

“Really?” Reaper asked, his lips lifting up in to a cocky smile. He glanced at Alex then looked at me again.

“You bet,” I said. “What’s in that room you have Moira guarding?”

Reaper’s face immediately switched to neutral. It was the face he normally reserved for business and dealing with underlings. It was the face of a leader with hidden plans and agendas. It was not the face of a friend.

“I don’t want to tell you,” he said.

At least he didn’t lie.

“What room?” Daniel asked.

“A room on the second floor,” I said. “There’s a container of some sort. I didn’t get to see it for long, before I was shut out.”

Reaper had crossed his arms in front of his body. He was locked down tighter than Fort Knox. I wrinkled my nose at him and eyed Daniel. Daniel wasn’t annoyed – he was suspicious. I could tell Daniel was used to getting straight answers from Reaper – there weren’t secrets between them.

“Reaper?” Daniel asked. In that one word Daniel was able to say everything he needed to say.

Reaper shook his head. “There are some things I don’t have to tell you. There are some things that are better for you not to know.”

All three of us stared at Reaper. He took the silence as proof we weren’t buying it. Reaper’s expression cleared. He dropped his arms and his act.

“We managed to capture a prisoner the night we met,” Reaper told me.

“You’re keeping a person in a box?!” I demanded. I was mortified at the idea. A cell with a mask over my face was bad enough. A box? – That went beyond torture.

Reaper held out his hands to me. “It was her idea. After we captured her – well, I actually think she let us capture her – she agreed to give us information on Lorian’s place, in exchange for a favor. She said that the box would keep people from suspecting her motives. She’s asleep and rather comfortable, from what I can tell.”

“She?” Daniel asked.

“Let you capture her?” I asked.

“Information?” Alex asked.

“I will only tell you all those things if you sit down and Daniel stands in front of you,” Reaper said to me.

I was uncertain why he was only talking to me, but the way he said it made me nervous. A knot of tension settled in my stomach.

“Why does Daniel need to stand in front me?” I asked, stalling for time.

“Just do it,” Reaper said.

Alex stood, so I could sit in her chair. Daniel stepped in front of me. My confusion greater than the how ridiculous I found this situation I waited for Reaper to get to the point.

“When we were getting King out, a girl caught him. King thought she was going to kill him, but she didn’t. Instead of fighting, she gave up…with conditions. She tells us about Lorian – his inside operations – and we…erase her memory.”

“Erase her memory?” Alex was astonished.

“King can take away memories,” Reaper said. “His gift was how he got in to Lorian’s organization. I didn’t ask her why she wants her memories erased. I just know that is what she asked for. It’s too good an opportunity to pass by.”

“And why am I sitting in this chair?” I asked.

“Because of who she is.”

Daniel tensed in front of me. He had obviously seen what Reaper was about to say. He stopped standing in front of me so casually. I recognized the change, but it didn’t stop me from asking the next question on my mind.

“And who is that?” I asked, wishing Reaper would get on with it. I was too impatient for long buildups.

“Anna,” Reaper said.

It was one word, but it was enough.

I jumped up at the naming and lunged at him. I was angrier than I had been since Mama Dot had tattooed my foot. I saw red.

He had brought Anna here under the same roof as me and hadn’t told me? It was almost as unacceptable as the idea that Anna was as close as two floors above me.

Daniel caught me around the waist, having been prepared for my reaction, but I was too angry to allow his touch to soothe me. All I could think of was getting to Reaper – I wanted to punish him, too. Daniel’s touch changed as he felt my resistance. He fought harder to keep me away from Reaper. I growled at the combativeness of his touch. It was holding me back. It was keeping me from the blood I wanted to spill.

I raised my hand, even as I kicked Daniel’s legs out from under him. And for the first time since the night I had faced down Cobb, I let loose with a surge of fire. Reaper, who was standing in the door, jumped back and away from the flames. As he jumped, he dissolved into mist, using his talent.

I growled again and started forward, but Daniel was not as subdued as I had thought. From his place on the floor, he swept out my legs. I hit the ground hard. Daniel took advantage of my fall. He rolled on top of me and pinned me down. I struggled against him, but he was as determined as I was. His strength kept me on the floor, though my struggling was nearly as powerful as his.

“Clare!” He tried to break through my anger. “Stop this!”

“No!” I growled at him. “I’ll kill him...then I’ll kill her! I’ll kill them all!”

“Listen to yourself!” he said. “This isn’t you!”

Alex knew what I needed to hear more. “Clare…” she whispered from where she was cowering in the far corner, out of range of the fight.

I focused on her, though her voice was so low. Was she also a threat? Would she keep me from my goal? I looked her in the eyes and saw that her eyes were a milky white. Her whole body shook from the urge she was fighting – to turn in to a Nightstalker.

“I’m scared,” she added.

Alex was scared – she was close to turning, because of her emotions, and it was because of me. I took a deep breath. Then another. Daniel felt me relax, and his grip loosened. He sighed in relief and looked me in the eyes.

“Are you good?” he asked.

“No,” I said.

“Does that mean ‘yes’?” he asked.

“No.”

“You’re fine,” Daniel said dryly.

He stood and helped me up. I let him help me to my feet and thought over the source of my anger. Daniel kept his hand on my arm as I turned to look at Reaper, who had reformed in the hall. My hands were clenched in anger, but I didn’t try to kill him. He was looking at me as if he had never seen me before.