Bladed Wings (49 page)

              “She showed me burns on her hands. I think Sasha’s pretty far along.”

              “Then she needs a body,” Seth stopped. “She wants your body. That’s what this is all about.” She exhaled, determined to keep the fear from rushing through her brain. She couldn’t shut down. She wouldn’t freak or break. If nothing else, Kayla wouldn’t make him deal with this alone. Seth wouldn’t have to protect her.

              “She wants me?”

              “You have abilities. She could use you.”

              It wasn’t long before he parked in front of the school. Seth got out but didn’t head back to his car. Back straight, he looked around like he thought Sasha would find them there too. “Kayla, I might not be around much for the next few days.”

              “What are you going to do?” Kayla heard something else there. That wasn’t the Seth who’d be honest with her. It was the same controlled expression, the same submerged anger. He wanted a war.

              “I’m going to be gone for a little while. That’s all.”

              “No, you’re not. You’re not doing this alone.”

              “I shouldn’t be around you.”

              “Why not? Why?” she asked. “You don’t think I can handle this?”

              “I think you shouldn’t have to handle this.”

              “No,” she said. “I want to help you.”

              “Kayla, you’re a good person. You’ve never killed someone. You’ve never had to hurt anyone. Not really. That’s why you’re good. That’s why you might make me think people are worth the effort. But you shouldn’t have to lose that.”

              “You’d kill her?”

              “She wants to hurt you.”

              “Exactly,” Kayla said. “She wants to hurt me. I can’t let you just go fight her because you think that’ll save me. I need to be there too.”

              “I can handle it.”

              “Maybe,” Kayla said, refusing to lose this argument. “But you shouldn’t have to find out. You’ve seen what I can do too. If you go against Sasha alone, she’ll kill you, Seth. She will kill you.” Kayla wiped at her eyes before the tears could get out. She didn’t want to cry, didn’t want to be that girl, but she couldn’t stop it. “I don’t want to think about what would happen. I can’t do that. Do you get that? I couldn’t deal if you got hurt and I wasn’t there.”

              Seth turned and started to walk. He wanted to skip out and ditch her. Teeth tight down, she ran around the car and grabbed him. He was stronger and could’ve shrugged her off. He tried, a broken effort that didn’t shake her loose. Kayla wouldn’t let him. “No. No. You are not doing this alone. Promise me. Promise me, Seth.”

              “You couldn’t trust me if I did.”

              “Yes, I can. I can trust you because you know me and you know I’ll believe you. I’ll believe you because I trust you, and I know you care about me. So Seth, promise me. I’m telling you to promise me.”

              “Fine. I won’t do it alone.” He shook his finger at her. Kayla would’ve laughed if it wasn’t serious, if this decision wouldn’t mean someone’s life or someone’s death. “But you listen to me. We do this together, and we do it right.” He stared at her hard. “Do you understand?”

              “You know more about this,” she agreed, “but you made a promise, so don’t forget it. Otherwise, I’ll be really, really grumpy with you.” She let the smile drop from her face, “You have to trust me.”

              “I’m not good at that.”

              “I know that, but I know you can do that. I trust you. So just be worth it, okay?”

              Kayla expected a nod or some solemn oath. Anyone else would’ve been worried about whether or not he meant it. When Seth put his arms around her and pulled her close and held her tight, Kayla knew it was true.

              Silence dominated their house went Kayla stepped inside. She was twenty minutes past curfew, tired, and drained in every way. At least she didn’t have to deal with her parents. Locked in an office or watching TV in their bedroom, her mom and dad didn’t notice or didn’t care. Kayla tried to tell herself they trusted her, so the curfew didn’t really matter anymore. She was old enough and responsible enough that she didn’t need one.

              Kayla went through the routine of getting ready for bed. Shower. Dress. Floss. Brush teeth. It was everything she always did. But when she looked at her bed, still made from that morning, she didn’t slide under the sheets despite the exhaustion that rang through her head with each heartbeat.

              Seth needed her help, so she’d be there for him. That would probably mean another fight. That fight would probably get bad. But helping him also meant information, so she went back to her nightstand, pulled open the drawer, and found the card. Printed like any other, regular paper, regular font, Kayla didn’t know if she could trust him. He said he was a mercenary. That meant he was just out for himself. Kayla hoped she could use that. She pulled out her cell, typed the numbers, and listened to it ring.

              “Good evening, Miss Knack,” came the silken tones of Cyrus the mercenary.

              “I have some questions for you.”

              “Good. We should meet.”

              “I’d rather do this over the phone.”

              “And I’d love to oblige your issues of convenience, but alas, questions get complicated when you don’t know who’s listening. You’re on a cell phone, right?” Kayla didn’t know if he could track that with some scanner or if it was just a lucky guess. Cyrus took her silence for a yes. “The Alliance gets twitchy with nascents, especially new ones. Just be happy they’ve revised their old policy. They used to kill everyone. At least now there’s a chance.”

              “Didn’t you just say a lot?”

              “Oh,” he gasped. “You’re right. I guess we should meet in person. Who knows what other dark secrets I might reveal with an errant slip of my wayward tongue?” Kayla’s temper flared though she couldn’t do anything. She needed information. “I’m free now if you are.”

              “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

              “C’mon. There’s something you want to know. And you know the cliché, knowledge really is power, so let’s talk. Anywhere you like, and I’ll be there. And don’t worry, we can keep it public so you won’t have to worry about me killing you.”

              Kayla smiled, “I’m pretty sure you could’ve done that a long time ago if that’s what you wanted. You found me at school, so you probably know where I live.”

              “I do,” he said. “Just another reason to trust me.”

              “There’s a restaurant a few miles from my house.” She gave him the name and said to meet her there in about twenty minutes. With that she clicked end and got dressed again, this time in jeans, a sweater, and coat. Clouds drifted beneath the stars, each puffy and ready to rain. Outside, she’d find the kind of cold that woke her up and made her even more eager for the comfort of some warm blankets.

              Technically, Kayla never snuck out before. She thought it would be harder, but by the time she got down the end of the hall, she knew she was free. On the other side of her parents’ bedroom door, she heard the hissed and snarled insults and lowered shouts. They wouldn’t scream at each other when the kids were trying to sleep, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t fight either. Kayla stopped at the door for a second and listened. She didn’t want to, but she braced her palm against the painted wood and remembered all of those times she had with her parents, when they were happy, when they were a solid family.

About ten minutes later, Kayla got back under the fluorescent lights of a restaurant. She sat down toward the front as the server came and asked if she wanted anything. Kayla just asked for a soda and waited. It wasn’t long before Cyrus strolled through the double doors. Kayla was pretty sure her hair was mussed despite being pulled back in a ponytail and she could feel the weight of fatigue from running hard for twenty hours. Cyrus looked like he woke up two, maybe three hours ago, and leisurely enjoyed every moment to get ready for this encounter.

“Good evening, Miss Knack.” He sat down and picked up one the menu that the server left. “I hear they have good mini-burgers. Any recommendations?”

“I’m not really here to eat.”

“Sure you’re not.” Smiling still, the mercenary lowered his menu. She was pretty sure that warm sign of affection could’ve shifted to rage or frenzied combat between heartbeats. “So tell me, Miss Knack, why are you here? Have you decided that you’d like to make the world a better and safer place by joining the Alliance? I’m sure they’d have you, once your test results are back, of course.” He flashed a practiced smile, something a model or announcer would wear.

“You know about that.”

“I know a lot.”

“Tell me about it, then.”

“Which part?”

“I’m a nascent.”

“Yes.”

“And that means I’ll become something else.”

“Ah,” he said, a finger on the air with the revelation, “You’re confronting the existential implications of this development in your life.” He wove his fingers together, his palms placed against the cold tabletop. “Yes, Kayla. Considering that Vigo hasn’t stabbed you in the face, he believes you’re a nascent angel. You do believe in angels, don’t you?”

“I do,” she said. “But not like this.”

“Yeah, it does get pretty sad when you can see the magic behind the curtain. I guess it would be even worse when you realize that you are the magic behind the curtain. Kind of loses some of its shimmer, doesn’t it?”

“Do you get a choice?” she asked.

“Kind of hard to tell,” he said. “Maybe people become demons because they choose it, or maybe they choose it because they were always meant to be demons. I guess it really depends on how you think the universe is built.”

“So no one knows?”

“The Alliance has their beliefs, but the Alliance has a couple centuries under its global belt. That makes them kind of clunky. Not very nimble, philosophically, I mean.”

              “Someone came after me. A woman.”

              “What did she want?”

              “A body,” Kayla said. “Is that possible?”

              “If she was a demon who’d lost hers, absolutely.” The grin disappeared, and he didn’t look like the jaunty merchant out to make a sale. No, Cyrus leaned forward like she had something he actually wanted now. “Did she give you a name?”

              “That’s valuable, isn’t it?”

              “The Alliance lives to hunt demons. They pay a lot for that information.”

              “Then you’ll owe me one if I tell you.”

              “Absolutely.”

              Kayla didn’t know if she could believe him, but she didn’t care about the money, “Sasha. She said her name was Sasha. She’s come after me twice.”

              “Twice?” he asked, a flicker of surprise in his raised brows. “You should be proud of yourself. Evading someone like that must’ve been very challenging. Even with help, I would imagine.” He tilted his head, just a little, just enough for her to see him reevaluate her.

              “I got lucky.”

              “And such modesty,” he said. Kayla couldn’t tell if that was sarcasm or humor.

              “What do you know about her?”

              “Not much.”

              “But you know something.”

              “I know that she gave over to her demonic transformation. Rumor has it that she killed herself early to expedite the process. She didn’t want to be a human with the trace abilities she’d get without her first body.”

              “She killed herself? It was that important to her?”

              “Your first body belongs to your soul. It affects you, limits you. When you die, it changes in some very important ways. It’ll happen to you, just hopefully in a more angelic way. Your body dies and comes back. It changes. It’s no longer human. Think of that skin you’re wearing now like a cocoon.”

              “Do you know how?”

              Cyrus shrugged, “Does it matter?”

              “I want to know how ruthless she’s going to be.”

              “She slit her own throat. She was crazy enough to record it too. Some Alliance scouts found it one of her hideouts. Pretty creep stuffy. I could probably get you a copy if you’re interested in that kind of thing.”

              Kayla’s mouth went dry, but she wouldn’t swallow. She wouldn’t let him see the shiver that crawled down her shoulder blades. “No. Thanks, but I’m good.”

              “Yeah, Vigo really wants her. He actually killed her second body. He had it destroyed, so she jumped forms. At first, Vigo thought she was actually dead, but then he realized that a kid went missing the same day Sasha’s first body was killed.”

              “She took him?”

              “Yeah, but children really aren’t supposed to hold the fires of a hell bitch. They found his body a few days later. Six years old.” Cyrus clicked his tongue and shook his head like it was a shame, the same kind of shame as rain or when his favorite team lost. Kayla felt the kind of horror that made her eyes water.