Black Spring
Page 30
“Of course you would say that. You don’t want your reputation as the savior of Chicago to be tarnished,” he said.
I was trying to be patient and sympathetic because he’d obviously been through an ordeal, but I’d been through an ordeal or two myself since waking up that morning and my patience was stretched pretty thin.
“My reputation as ‘the savior of Chicago,’ as you put it, was nothing I wanted in the first place. It was your fault, anyway. You’re the one who went online advertising what I’d done. All I ever wanted was to live anonymously.”
“So you could carry out your atrocities without the glare of the public eye on you!” Jack shouted.
“Seriously? Where do you get your dialogue from?” I said. “You’re like a scene from a bad movie. Look, why don’t you tell us what happened?”
“You know what happened! You did it!”
“Let’s say I have a case of temporary amnesia, then,” I snapped. “Just give me the recap in your own words.”
Jude had by this time cut the rope that bound Jack’s hands. He scrambled to his feet, rubbing his wrists, which had been chafed raw by the bindings.
“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Jack said. “I’m leaving. I have a murder to report.”
I was still close to the door, so I moved to stand in the frame. Jude and Nathaniel both reached for Jack, to hold him back, but I shook my head at them. I wanted to see what Jack would do when confronted by me, and only me. I wanted to see whether he really believed I was such a monster.
He stopped about a foot away from me. He was several inches taller than me (as most people seem to be) and I was hugely pregnant. Jack could probably muscle his way past me if he wanted. To all outward appearance I didn’t seem to be much of a threat. Yet sweat beaded on his upper lip and ran down the side of his bloodless face.
The shadow inside me, the dark magic that slept under the surface, awoke with a snarl of pleasure. The darkness was a predator, and here was prey. I refused to let the shadow run free, but I could use it to my advantage for the moment. Jack took a half step back, and I knew he had seen my eyes change.
“Madeline,” Nathaniel said, the word filled with warning.
I ignored him, speaking only to Jack. “If I’m a murderer, as you say, what makes you think I would let you go?”
He took another half step back, shuffling away from me.
“These guys will stop you,” Jack said in desperation. “The only reason you did what you did before was because no one was around to witness it.”
“Neither of them has enough power to stop me,” I said, and in saying it I knew it to be true.
Nathaniel’s magic almost made him my equal. Almost. But I was the stronger one. The two strains of Lucifer’s power that were alive inside me, plus the magic that came to me from Azazel, had combined in such a way that there wasn’t much out there that could stop me if I didn’t want to be stopped.
Jack looked at Jude and Nathaniel, who watched him impassively. “What do you want from me?”
“All I want is for you to tell me what happened,” I said. “How is it that you were on the spot? I just told you to get lost and stay lost this morning.”
“As if I would let a threat keep me from reporting the truth to the public,” Jack said, a trace of his usual zeal back in his voice. “Anyway, I put micro cameras and bugs all around outside so I would know what you were up to. I knew all of you had left the house because I saw you leave, even that guy who usually hangs around the house all day.”
“Daharan?” I asked. “I don’t suppose you know when he left.”
Jack shrugged. “It was right after the wolf and the gargoyle and the angel. He walked out the back and into the alley.”
“Did you see where he went?” I asked.
“Nah, the cameras don’t go that far,” he said.
He seemed to be relaxing, getting more comfortable as he told his story. Which meant on some subconscious level, he knew I had not done anything wrong. Anyone who truly believed they could be brutally slaughtered at any moment would not be bragging about the bugs he’d set around my house.
The shadow did not like this. It wanted Jack to be afraid. I pushed that feeling down, away from conscious thought. Of course I didn’t want Jack to fear me. I just wanted to get to the bottom of this mess.
“So what happened after Daharan left?” I asked.
“Well, I jumped on my bike and rode over here, thinking you might have left a window open or something and I could get in here and look around.”
“That’s called breaking and entering,” Jude said.
Jack waved his hand, as if to say breaking and entering was just a technicality in pursuit of truth and justice. “Anyway, I got here and I left my bike in the alley. I was gonna open the fence when I heard you talking to that girl. The one you killed.”
His voice had gone flat as he remembered. “Then I saw that one of the dogs was dead, and the girl looked angry. The back door to the house was open. And then the weirdest thing happened. It seemed like everything froze somehow—the girl, the dogs, me—and the only thing that could move was you. You turned your head, like you’d known I was there all along, and you smiled.”
Jack shuddered. The shapeshifter’s smile had clearly not been a pleasure to behold.
“Then—I don’t know how it happened or how I got there—but somehow I was standing in the doorway of the room next to this one. And the girl, she was being torn to pieces.” He was crying now, a steady stream of tears running down his face as he remembered. “Why did you make me watch that? Why did you make me see?”
I was trying to be patient and sympathetic because he’d obviously been through an ordeal, but I’d been through an ordeal or two myself since waking up that morning and my patience was stretched pretty thin.
“My reputation as ‘the savior of Chicago,’ as you put it, was nothing I wanted in the first place. It was your fault, anyway. You’re the one who went online advertising what I’d done. All I ever wanted was to live anonymously.”
“So you could carry out your atrocities without the glare of the public eye on you!” Jack shouted.
“Seriously? Where do you get your dialogue from?” I said. “You’re like a scene from a bad movie. Look, why don’t you tell us what happened?”
“You know what happened! You did it!”
“Let’s say I have a case of temporary amnesia, then,” I snapped. “Just give me the recap in your own words.”
Jude had by this time cut the rope that bound Jack’s hands. He scrambled to his feet, rubbing his wrists, which had been chafed raw by the bindings.
“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Jack said. “I’m leaving. I have a murder to report.”
I was still close to the door, so I moved to stand in the frame. Jude and Nathaniel both reached for Jack, to hold him back, but I shook my head at them. I wanted to see what Jack would do when confronted by me, and only me. I wanted to see whether he really believed I was such a monster.
He stopped about a foot away from me. He was several inches taller than me (as most people seem to be) and I was hugely pregnant. Jack could probably muscle his way past me if he wanted. To all outward appearance I didn’t seem to be much of a threat. Yet sweat beaded on his upper lip and ran down the side of his bloodless face.
The shadow inside me, the dark magic that slept under the surface, awoke with a snarl of pleasure. The darkness was a predator, and here was prey. I refused to let the shadow run free, but I could use it to my advantage for the moment. Jack took a half step back, and I knew he had seen my eyes change.
“Madeline,” Nathaniel said, the word filled with warning.
I ignored him, speaking only to Jack. “If I’m a murderer, as you say, what makes you think I would let you go?”
He took another half step back, shuffling away from me.
“These guys will stop you,” Jack said in desperation. “The only reason you did what you did before was because no one was around to witness it.”
“Neither of them has enough power to stop me,” I said, and in saying it I knew it to be true.
Nathaniel’s magic almost made him my equal. Almost. But I was the stronger one. The two strains of Lucifer’s power that were alive inside me, plus the magic that came to me from Azazel, had combined in such a way that there wasn’t much out there that could stop me if I didn’t want to be stopped.
Jack looked at Jude and Nathaniel, who watched him impassively. “What do you want from me?”
“All I want is for you to tell me what happened,” I said. “How is it that you were on the spot? I just told you to get lost and stay lost this morning.”
“As if I would let a threat keep me from reporting the truth to the public,” Jack said, a trace of his usual zeal back in his voice. “Anyway, I put micro cameras and bugs all around outside so I would know what you were up to. I knew all of you had left the house because I saw you leave, even that guy who usually hangs around the house all day.”
“Daharan?” I asked. “I don’t suppose you know when he left.”
Jack shrugged. “It was right after the wolf and the gargoyle and the angel. He walked out the back and into the alley.”
“Did you see where he went?” I asked.
“Nah, the cameras don’t go that far,” he said.
He seemed to be relaxing, getting more comfortable as he told his story. Which meant on some subconscious level, he knew I had not done anything wrong. Anyone who truly believed they could be brutally slaughtered at any moment would not be bragging about the bugs he’d set around my house.
The shadow did not like this. It wanted Jack to be afraid. I pushed that feeling down, away from conscious thought. Of course I didn’t want Jack to fear me. I just wanted to get to the bottom of this mess.
“So what happened after Daharan left?” I asked.
“Well, I jumped on my bike and rode over here, thinking you might have left a window open or something and I could get in here and look around.”
“That’s called breaking and entering,” Jude said.
Jack waved his hand, as if to say breaking and entering was just a technicality in pursuit of truth and justice. “Anyway, I got here and I left my bike in the alley. I was gonna open the fence when I heard you talking to that girl. The one you killed.”
His voice had gone flat as he remembered. “Then I saw that one of the dogs was dead, and the girl looked angry. The back door to the house was open. And then the weirdest thing happened. It seemed like everything froze somehow—the girl, the dogs, me—and the only thing that could move was you. You turned your head, like you’d known I was there all along, and you smiled.”
Jack shuddered. The shapeshifter’s smile had clearly not been a pleasure to behold.
“Then—I don’t know how it happened or how I got there—but somehow I was standing in the doorway of the room next to this one. And the girl, she was being torn to pieces.” He was crying now, a steady stream of tears running down his face as he remembered. “Why did you make me watch that? Why did you make me see?”
