Xavier sat at a large conference table, papers strung out around him. He was comparing Caleb Green, Malachi Blake, and my own medical records, looking for anything that might jump out as strange. While two psychopaths and one almost psychopath was not a huge case study, it was the best we had available at the moment.
Once in a while, he would circle something or make a grunting noise. I was trying not to look over his shoulder. I desperately wanted to see what comments and circles existed on the pages.
Fiona was off bushwhacking her way through cyberspace for some trace of Alejandro Gui. The man had more classified information than public and since leaving the Marshals, it didn’t look like he had used a credit or debit card. Or sent mail. Or anything else that might leave a trace. It was as if he had vanished.
Gabriel and Lucas were off playing nice with the tribal police. Gabriel, in the spirit of cooperation and manipulation, was going to share all the information we had on the present killings with them. Lucas had gone along to help.
That left me, sitting with Xavier. I’d been sitting for nearly three hours. The wait was killing me. My ability to bury my head in a book had deserted me. Making a production of it, I walked out to smoke a cigarette. If Xavier noticed, he didn’t acknowledge it.
The afternoon air was cool, raising goosebumps on my arms, despite the jacket. The wind was steady and cold, blowing against my back as it came from the northeast. Thick, black clouds hung heavy in the sky, pregnant with rain and destruction. As I lit my cigarette, I watched a few of them.
The clouds that caught my attention were not the heavy black clouds that moved en masse across the sky, but smaller ones. They had dropped below their brethren to dance and swirl in the lower atmosphere. They defied the laws of atmospheric winds by moving with the wind that blew at my back, not the winds that pushed the heavy rain clouds from the northwest.
Sunlight still shown, struggling to maintain light on a world that was about to be hit with rain. The upper clouds moved slowly and ominously towards the light. Once they covered it, it would be as dark. It didn’t matter how powerful the sun was, it would lose the battle with the storm clouds.
Having spent a majority of my life in Missouri, I had watched storms roll in before. The Midwest was infamous for the phenomenon. This storm was no different from any of the others. Giant wall clouds formed the front line, reaching up into what seemed like infinity. In front of these clouds was the wind, bitter and brutal, as the front continued the arduous journey. Behind the wall of clouds would be heavy rainfalls, lightning, thunder, and maybe some hail. The air currents would move a little faster, forced down by the heavy clouds, making the wind as dangerous as anything else the storm had to offer.
The emergency alert tone went off on my phone. I had no need to look at it, since the thunderstorm was before me. The first boom of thunder vibrated through my body. The air took on a new smell, not just the smells associated with cities, but also a musky smell.
Rain forced odors down, cleansing the world of its artificial smells. When people said it smelled like rain, it was really the absence of other smells. For me, rain did have a smell. A musky scent tainted with metals, no different from a glass of water.
There were very few people out tonight. The approaching storm had them staying indoors, sheltered from the rain and wind. The few still out, walked quickly, heads down, with a look of sheer determination.
The lights from the buildings were shining out onto the pavement now. Darkness coming faster than the setting sun would have liked. The movement within these puddles of light caught my attention first.
His features were invisible, but his body wasn’t. Long legs, covered by black denim with cowboy boots barely visible where the denim stopped, and a long torso, visibly muscled despite the polo that covered it. He was impressively tall, taller than Malachi by at least a handful of inches. He was meandering, not hunkering down, looking for shelter. His steps were even, but they were slow, as if he was window-shopping. He stopped and lit a cigarette, holding it cupped in his hand, just in case it started to rain.
I considered my options. I could approach him or I could call for Xavier and follow him. My brain weighed the two, checking off the list of pros and cons for each. He turned, and his eyes caught mine, so I realized I had no options. He was there for my benefit. He had somehow known I was going to be in this spot. He was baiting me.
The logical side of my brain told me to go inside. The impulsive side told me to go get him. The impulsive side won out. I tossed my cigarette onto the ground, half smoked and still smoldering, and started across the street.
A car honked at me as I jaywalked, but I ignored him instead of giving him a one-finger salute. The tall man was becoming clearer, his features visible. He had a roundish face, pasty and sick looking. However, he laughed as the car honked at me a second time and the laugh belied his look. The deep, rich laugh made my gut tighten. It was full of bass that rumbled in a person’s insides. I’d heard it before. Somehow, Alejandro had become a tall white guy.
I forced myself not to run, even though that was exactly what I wanted to do. However, I did pick up the pace, walking faster than normal. I was within a few feet when he flicked his cigarette at me. The cherry caught my forehead and sparks rained down on me. The tall man began to walk. He didn’t need to walk fast, because his stride was twice my own. He would easily lose me at the rate I was moving. I gave into instinct and began to run.
To my surprise, so did he. His footfalls were heavy on the concrete, much louder than my own. His stride lengthened and I gave it my all just to keep him in sight. He turned a corner. I arrived a few seconds later. He was gone. I stopped running and looked around. There were no cars sitting around with a person in them. I swore under my breath and brought up my phone.
The needle slipped under my skin. I could feel the burn as the liquid entered my flesh. I jerked and felt the needle withdraw. Turning, I found myself face to face with the tall man. His eyes were blue. His face looked even paler and rubbery up close. He smiled and it was pure malice that shown through.
Like a snake striking prey, his hand was suddenly around my throat. He lifted me from my feet, the smile widening, while his eyes sparkled. I clawed at the hand. The flesh felt strange, unreal.
“Don’t worry, Aislinn Cain,” he hissed my name, “it only lasts a few minutes.”
Something was happening to my vision. I was expecting spots to start appearing. Instead, the world was beginning to look like someone had painted it with primary colors. The distant buildings shimmied and shook. I reached for my baton and heard more hissing. I dropped it and watched the snake roll away from me.
“What the fuck did you…” I didn’t finish my sentence. His face distorted. The pasty appearance now looked like grease paint and I was being dangled in the air by a giant, evil clown. His lips moved, but the words didn’t make sense. My brain felt like it was going to explode. There were other noises too, but I didn’t know what they were. My body thudded, hitting something hard, diamonds floating through the air around me. The world smelled of cotton candy and sweat.
A small green and orange goblin grabbed hold of me. Again, his lips moved, but he spoke a foreign language. I fumbled at my waist, reaching for anything to help me fend off the troll. I found a cupcake and hit him with it in the shoulder. The goblin crumbled to the ground, but there were other goblins behind him. Dozens of them and dragons with tan skin and sharp teeth stood between the goblins. I looked for another weapon and came up with a balloon. A balloon would be useless against them. I tossed it away. My Batmanesque utility belt was quickly running out of stuff. I pulled at a ball under my arm. I didn’t know why I had a baseball under my arm, but I did. I threw it at the closest troll. A second one was under my other arm; I threw it at a dragon.
There was something very wrong with the world. I moved, vomited, moved again, vomited some more, then a dragon grabbed hold of me. I struggled, but a goblin joined the melee, grabbing my feet. Together, they managed to use magic to hold me down.