Rebirth of the Seer (18 page)

The rest of the nigh
t passed with a similar tenor and t
he next two days followed suit. During quiet moments, I
continued losing myself
in my private
thoughts, and during more active ones would engage my watcher in discussion. The flat
was
filled with the aroma of dinner
when
I woke and a cup of coffee alwa
ys waited for me, on the
table beside the couch. By the third night,
enough time had passed for me to notice
effect of what Monica had don
e to me at the train station. I
found the opportunity to talk to her about it as I tended to her wounds.

She sat on her bed with me, blanket covering her bare chest enough for modesty’s sake and gazed at me in a conciliatory manner. “How did I know you were going to eventually bring that up?” she asked.

I smirked and wiped at her stitches with an alcohol swab. Granting myself a pause in conversation to assess her injury, I perked an eyebrow at the condition in which I found it. “Tell me more about these bloody healing spells of yours,” I said.

Monica laughed. She inched away just enough to cast a downward gaze at her chest. “Well, I don’t know any magic powerful enough to mend an injury like that in one application, but you can usually speed along the healing process without getting into chicken bones and sacred artifacts.”

As our eyes met, I laughed. “You mean to tell me there is some truth to that whole concept?”

“The right w
ords and enough aptitude and yeah
, there sure is.”

“Remarkable.” Bending, I reached for the duffle bag on the floor and lifted it onto the bed with us. The scissors and tweezers provided to me by Chloe lay on the bottom. I fished them out and set them down with the other items I had extracted earlier.

Monica watched, a faint grin on her face. “What is your prognosis, Dr. Dawes?”

I sighed. “I
truly
wish you would not call me that,” I said, but failed to frown in a stern enough fashion to lend any credence toward my irritation. Within moments, I had inched close enough to tug at one of her stitches with the tweezers. “This looks mended enough to remove the sutures.”

“You sure that’s a good idea? Doesn’t someone need to dig in and remove whatever they put inside me?”

“No. The ones inside of you dissolve.” I murmured the comment while already reaching for the scissors. “Hold still and speak to me while I do this.”

Monica nodded, but failed to talk while I snipped the first two knots. As I settled into a rhythm, though, I felt her relax and stopped working only briefly as she drew a deep breath inward and exhaled it. “When I first brought out your abilities,” she said, “I didn’t think y
ou were ready for the whole she
bang. You have to figure, it’s a lot of juice to give a sociopathic killer and while I didn’t expect you to go as kid-in-a-candy-store happy as you did, I knew there’d be some sort of learnin
g curve. So, I… had you on lockdown.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I created a lock. Granted, you’re powerful enough that you could’ve picked it, but you’re not trained enough to know how.”

I frowned, but did not look away from what I was doing. “So, I have not had full access to my abilities until now?”

“No, you haven’t.” She paused and finally, I glanced upward in time to catch a flash of guilt cross her gaze. Monica tilted her head. “Can you really blame me all that much for doing it, Flynn?”

We regarded each other in silence for several beats. Finally, I shook my head and directed my attention back to her wound. “No, I suppose not. I did run amok a trifle with what I did have.”

“You see? I wanted to make sure you had a handle on the basics before we moved you to the major leagues. And I…” She trailed off.

When she failed to continue, I furrowed my brow. “You did what?”

“I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t fall into your old ways. That’s why I waited until we were at the train station.”

What was meant as a soft chuckle came out a sardonic huff. “That danger yet exists. Why give it to me now?”

“I
disagree
, but I don’t want to fight with you. Especially not while you’re holding a pair of scissors.”

The best I could offer her was a nod. The topic had been visited once in the past three days and yielded a spirited debate I finally demanded cease when we reached an impasse. Not in the mood for
a rematch
either, I let her assertion stand. My focus shifted to the final sutures. “What should I be able to do now?” I asked.

“Who the hell knows?” Monica tensed with the next tug, but continued talking without being deterred. “You’re a vampire-seer. If I hold up one finger, I’ll be able to count the number of those I’ve even heard of, let alone met.”

“That one being me.”

“Bingo.” She sighed. “What that means? I have no idea how the two sides blend together. And considering you were made to be some incredible vampire hunter, you could have a pretty extensive list.”

“I took to knives and sword exceedingly well.” The thought threatened to provoke a sigh to mirror hers, but I managed to suppress it. “Within a year, I was ready to assume my duties as an assassin. Sabrina flew in specialists when I eclipsed Robin’s talents – masters from as far away as Japan, and they dubbed me some form of savant.”

“You found your weapon of choice pretty early, then.”

I glanced at her for a brief moment. “My weapon of choice?”

She smirked. “Every seer has one. And some don’t need their gifts to be drawn to it. There are stories of seers from centuries ago who wielded sickles because they had become so damn good at using them in their normal lives.” Monica shrugged and shifted a little as I continued removing her stitches. “In any event, that’s how it starts. You get really good at shooting arrows through things or whipping swords around and then, you start hearing voices in your head. Before you know it, you’re piss drunk at a party and accidentally throw someone across the room with your mind. When you wake up in the morning, you have green eyes.”

Laughing, I snipped the final knot and pulled the last of the sutures from my watcher’s chest. I deftly gathered the discarded pieces in my hand and stood to walk to a trash can across the room, my fingers still threaded in the holes of the scissors. “You make it sound somewhat like a hangover.”

“I’m sure to some people it feels that way.”

“The Order comes to collect you at some point thereafter?”

“A
nywhere between a few hours and a couple of days. They try not to make it longer.” Monica slipped the blanket over both shoulders when I turned to face her again. I shook away the urge to linger on the
brief
glimpses of her skin I had been granted. “The longer they wait, the better chance you’ll do something stupid.”

I set the scissors down on the top of a dresser and dusted off my hands. When I glanced back at her, I smirked. “You covered up before I could finish.”

“It looks fine enough. I doubt you need to
bandage
it again.” A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

“Fair enough.” Walking back to the bed, I sat on the edge and sighed. My hands folded on my lap and my gaze shifted away. “So, what you are telling me is these
alleged
‘textbook’ abilities of which you have spoken
actually
defy any
sort of
textbook when it comes to me.”

In my periphery, I saw her nod. “Seers are diverse enough as it is. Some are more combative. Some are better with the mental tricks. Some do a little spellcasting and others are jacks-of-all-trades. You? Hell, you could be the one ring to rule them all.”

“A comforting assessment.”

Silence fell between us. My thoughts circled around the concept several times over while failing to land on solid ground.
I became so lost in speculation,
I almost jumped when I felt her hand settle on my shoulder. My eyes darted toward hers and my brow furrowed as she inched closer to where I sat. “Don’t try to f
igure it all out at once, Flynn,” she said.
“
We’re writing the textbook as we go along. Sometimes necessity will spur you along to learn the lessons faster than I can teach
them. It’s a good thing, too. W
e wouldn’t be here otherwise
.
”

“Perhaps.” Something about the way her fingers closed around me inspired a shiver to run the length of my spine. Our mutual gaze held trance-like while my hand lifted to touch hers. Her smile turned warm and I swore I could feel its radiance ebb into my veins. I
reluctantly surrendered a
subdued grin. “I would not be here without your intervention, so I declare us even on that account.
There is, however, the matter of repaying
the other debts I owe.”

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“I beg to differ.” The fledgling grin vanished slowly. A heaviness settled on my heart which forced my eyes away again. “I believe I
shall
take a walk. I grow loathe to sit still and we have not wandered around much since that first evening.”

“No, we haven’t.” She paused. I felt the weight of her stare and looked back at her, seeing her regard me in a manner I could not quite decipher. “Can I get dressed and join you?”

“As you wish.” With a nod, I freed her hand from the loose grip I held upon it and stood to exit the room. She quipped about privacy as I offered her a chuckle and shut the door behind me. Allowing my mind to quiet itself for the time being, I walked over to where I kept my coat and slid my arms through the sleeves. The fabric settled on the slight downward slope my shoulders maintained, feeling heavier than I recalled it being the last time I wore it.

She emerged from the room a few minutes later, clad in a fresh set of clothes. My gaze was distant, face pointed toward the window as I studied the faint glow of moonlight through the blinds. Her pulse beat steady in the background, but I did not turn my head to acknowledge her. She lingered in the doorway. Finally, I heard her shift in place and settle again.
“What is it, Flynn?” Monica asked.

I swallowed down a lump forming in my throat
. “So many things all at once,” I said.
“
I suppose I am preparing myself for what is to come.”

“I only feel some of that.”

“You
are empathic
now?”

“I’m a good read of people,
I’ll have you know
.” She
stepped closer by a
pace. “Are you still churning on that whole duality thing?”

“In part. Humanity still escapes my grasp and I fear it shall always be this way.”

For a few beats; silence. The steady sound of Monica drawing breath accompanied the cadence of her heart. “I thought
mingling with
humans more would help me to understand, but I cannot escape
the
level
of detachment I harbor
with regard to them
. Their energy radiates around me like a hum and speaks a foreign language all at once.” Reluctantly, I succumbed to a frown. “Being around them only reminds me of what I am no longer. I look to people such as the Council and see only hypocrites. And no matter how many times you pledge there is some good in me, I know the darkness lingers still.”

“Peter…”

My eyes shut. “Do not call me that.”

“I want to speak freely, if I could.”

Opening my lids once more, I finally turned my head to line her in my sight. She mirrored my frown. “Peter, I know something happened to you when you faced Sabrina again,” she said. “I’ve never seen the wind escape someone’s sails faster than it did yours and it scared you into hiding behind this alter ego of yours. I get it, and didn’t argue when you claimed this pledge you made to my sister, but I know the truth. You faced the demon again and think that’s all you’ll find when you peel back the layers. There’s more to you than that, though.”

My frown deepened. “And how are you so
certain
of this?” I asked.

“I just am.
Call it blind faith if you want.
I don’t care. I just hope one of these days you learn to believe it, too.” The smile returned to her face, shrouded in sympathy at first. I felt relief surge like a torrent when the look of pity gave itself over to her typical amount of amusement. “Now stop this angsty bullshit. When I first met you, you would’ve retched at seeing yourself turn this introspective.”

I rolled my eyes, pivoting to face her fully. “See
what you have done to me, witch?
You have turned me soft.”

An exaggerated sigh escaped her lips. “I know. I have that effect on guys. That’s why my relationships never last.”

“Ah, so that is
what happened with Wesley.”

“You son of a bitch.” Monica slapped my shoulder when I walked past and I smirked on my way to the front door. I heard her scoff and turned to face her partly as I swung the door ajar. She narrowed her eyes at me. “
I’ve noticed
you haven’t asked me much about him and his buddies. I’m beginning to think you’re jealous.”