The Devil Is a Gentleman (14 page)

“You okay?” I said. I put my gun down and reached out my hand.

“Back away!” he shouted suddenly. I withdrew my hand out of surprise. His skin was reddening as though from exertion. His breath came fast, his mouth opening and closing like a fish trying to breathe. He grabbed his chest.

“Gage,” I said. “I think he’s having a heart attack.” But Gage was right behind me. He put a hand on my shoulder and tried to gently pull me away.

“Niki, get away from him,” he said softly. I shrugged his hand away and took a step toward the man.

“Call an ambulance,” I called. I touched the man’s hand and pulled it back with a hiss. He was blazing hot. I looked at my hand and there was a burn mark where I’d touched him.

“Sorry, sis,” said Gage. He wrapped his big arms around me and pulled me across the room, kicking and screaming. He didn’t stop until we were on the other side of the vault.

“Let go, Gage, he needs help,” I shrieked. “
I can’t just let him die
.”

“There’s nothing you can do, sis,” said Gage.

The man was smoking now, I could see his reflection in the mirrored walls from where Gage was holding me, clamping me to him like a human vice. He was screaming, his shouts echoing off the unyielding metal walls. His body shook like he was having some kind of seizure, tendrils of steam or smoke came from his eyeballs and his mouth. And then he was burning, falling, the unnatural red flame consuming him. I gagged at the smell of melting hair and flesh and leather, but I made myself look. The fire was so bright it make my eyes ache, and it didn’t last longer than a minute. When it stopped, there was a blackened pile on the floor, stinking and smoking. All that was left of the old man. And another greasy black starburst on the floor.

I caught my breath. I had stopped struggling long ago, but Gage had apparently forgotten he was holding me. He let go. I looked at him. “Bobby?” I said.

“Yeah.”

“Maybe we should go.” There was an echoing click followed by a long creak as the vault door slowly swung open.

“Too late,” he whispered.

With a feeling of dread I looked around the corner of the vault. The impregnable door stood ajar.

“Do you think we’ll die here?” I said.

Gage shrugged. “Good a place as any,” he said. “Whole setup’s pretty dodgy. I said as much.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll listen to you next time.”

“We got no choice but to go in now,” he said. “Let’s go get your angel.”

“You don’t have to be afraid,” said a high, thin voice from inside the vault. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

I walked slowly around the side of the vault. I could hear the echo of my boots on the concrete. My hand throbbed where I had touched the guard. Gage was quiet behind me, but I knew he was there. As I came around the vault door I didn’t know what to expect. I peered through the door and saw a room, with an oriental rug placed over the metal floor, wall hangings covering the metal sides of the large safe. I ducked through the opening. A small figure was sitting in a padded rocking chair, her mary-janes dangling just above the floor, her dress covering just below her knees. I couldn’t see her face in the shadows. She was a child, though.

I looked to the other figure in the room. It was just as Bradley had said. He was lying on a thick cot, his chest barely rising and falling with each breath, and when he inhaled there was a barely-noticeable rasp, like a snore, only more desperate. He had a blanket on top of him, but I could see how thin he was. There was an IV tube in his arm that was attached to a bag of something clear hanging on a rack.

“He’s tired now,” said the girl. “He won’t wake again until I tell him to.”

“Who are you?” I said, taking a tentative step inside. It smelled of metal and sickness. “Are you the Morrigan?”

“That’s what they call me,” she said, her voice lowering. “When they don’t know I’m watching they call me other things. But my father gave me a name once. It was Natalie. I think that’s much nicer than Morrigan.” Her voice, at first high and giddy, turned more somber.

“Is that the angel?” said Gage.

“I don’t want to talk to him
,”
said Natalie. “I want to talk to you, Niki.”

“Okay,” I said quickly. “Let’s talk. No more burning, though, okay?”

“Oh, it would kill him if I used him again,” she said, gesturing to the figure on the bed. “And I don’t want that.”

“None of us do,” I said.

“I went to a lot of trouble to get you here,” said Natalie.

“You sent Frank Bradley,” I said.

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“No,” I said. “Why did you send him to me?”

“Because I wanted to see you,” she said. “I know all about you. I’ve told them such things. Made them afraid. They think you’re their end. They think you’ll kill them all.”

“You probably shouldn’t have done that,” I said.

“Why not?”

“They want to kill me now,” I said. “You shouldn’t have lied.”

“Who said it’s a lie?” There was a creak as she leaned forward. “Do you know I can see you? I can’t see most things, least of all regular people, but I see you.” Her face came into the light and I saw what she meant. Her sightless eyes were pale, almost white. Too white. She had a pretty, oval face the color of creamed coffee, and cropped hair tight with curls. She faced me with her white eyes and I fought the urge to look away.

“I make you uneasy,” she said.

“No,” I said.

“That’s a lie,” she said. “I can see it when you lie.”

“What do you mean you can see it?” I said.

“Danny says I have the sight.”

“Danny?” I said.

“The angel,” she said. “He’s called Daniel, but I call him Danny.”

“Cute,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“I can do other things, too,” she said. “But my sight is strong. I can see things. Like you. Only I can see more than dead people. Lots of things. Things that shouldn’t be in the world.”

“But you said you could see me,” I said.

“Yes.” She sat back in her chair again and I saw something twitch on her arm. She had an I.V. in her arm, too. “Maybe you’re a ghost and you just don’t know it,” she said.

“That’s not funny,” I said, but she wasn’t laughing. She was completely serious.

“Did you love your father?” she said.

“What?”

“Your father. Sasha. Did you love him? I’ll know if you lie.”

“In my own way,” I said.

“You were broken,” said Natalie. “You’re put together again. But only just.”

“You can see that?” I said.

“Yes. You should let him go.”

“Who, Sasha?”

“No, the half-demon. You have to let him go. He’s not the right one. There will never be a right one. Not for you.” I heard her sigh. “That was unkind. I’m sorry. I forget myself sometimes.”

“It’s not unkind if it’s true,” I said. I felt a sting behind my eyes. “Is it true?”

“Perhaps,” she said. “Maybe I’m wrong.”

“Are you ever wrong?” I said.

“No. Never.”

I looked back at Gage. He was leaning against the wall by the door of the vault, staring at the man in the bed. “Is he the angel?” I said. “Daniel?”

“He is. He has great power. Sometimes.”

“How does he use it?” I said. “He looks so frail.”

“He doesn’t use it anymore,” she said sadly. “I have to use it for him. When they need to be reminded.”

“You can just use his power?” I said. “How?”

“I just slip into his head,” she said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

“What’s wrong with him?” I said.

“He’s dying.”

“Why is he dying?” I said.

“Because of me.”

“You’re killing him?” I said. “Why?”

“It’s not on purpose,” she said. Her voice grew quiet. “It’s my nature. Danny told me so.” I heard her sniff. “But if Danny dies, so do I. Death takes us all, in the end. Almost all of us, anyway.”

“Can he be saved?” I said.

She laughed, and for a moment sounded very old. “The Blood drained him dry over and over. Sometimes they did it for me. But mostly for themselves. For the angelwine. It’s never enough for them, though. Or for me. A body adjusts.”

“You?” I said. “You’re a child. You shouldn’t be taking angelwine.”

“Oh, how we judge,” she said. She was quiet for a long moment. “My mother gave me to them, you know. A trade. A baby for greatness. She paid for it later. My father killed her before she rose to the top. She knew why she was dying in her last moments. I know because I looked. You were there, too, Niki.”

“Me?” I said.

“Yes. You shouldn’t have stopped him. He was doing what was right. The Blood raised me. Weaned me on angelwine. They wanted to find out what would happen. I think they were trying to grow goddesses, but I’m no goddess. Just a girl trapped in a box with a dying angel. You’re thinking I could leave. But you’re wrong. Where would I go, Niki?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

She held up her arm and the tube glittered in the dim light. I saw it was attached to the bag that the angel was attached to. “This is all I know,” she said. “I sit here and I peer into the minds of people. Sometimes I do it for
them.
So they can grow fatter and richer. What do I care? I was born into this. At least my father was angry about it. He didn’t know until the end. Do you really think he’s still alive?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said. I looked at Gage who was frowning at Natalie. He looked to me, and I knew. “Sasha?” I said. “You think Sasha is your father?”

“Of course he is. Why else would I bring you here?”

“You think you’re my sister,” I said.

“I
know
you’re my sister,” she said. “Everyone kept it a secret. But I can see secrets. They glow in the mind like flashing red lights. I took over the mind of a prison guard and told Sasha everything. He was going to kill everyone in The Blood. And everyone who knew what they did.”

“Judge Shandler?” I said.

“The wife of Rodney Shandler. She put Sasha away as a favor to The Blood.”

“What about Hugh Perry?” The former police commissioner had also had his heart ripped from his chest. Perry had been my least favorite person in the world, but I wouldn’t have wished his fate on anyone. It was a bad way to go.

“Perry hated the Slobodians so much it tore him apart,” she said. “He was working with The Blood to make stricter laws for people like us. Abnormals. That’s what they call us, isn’t it? He saw me as nothing more than a scientific experiment. He didn’t think I was a real person. He knew about me and he didn’t help. He had to be punished.”

“The warden?” I said. “Jeffries? What did he do?”

“He was blackmailing my mother. He knew about me. When The Blood wouldn’t allow him entry in their ranks, he extorted money from her. I was just a piece of useful information for him. Something to sell.”

“So your mother-”

“Nora Delaney,” she said. “Mayor, future congresswoman, probably president someday. If she had lived, there’s no telling where The Blood could have placed her. And the only price was one small child. A small thing, really, if she thought about it the right way.”

I felt my stomach churning. “Jesus,” I said.

“You’re not feeling well, sister,” said Natalie.

“The room felt very close, the smell of sickness overpowering. “I just…how could this happen?”

“Is it so shocking to you?” she said. “You knew about Sasha’s relationship with my mother, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I knew,” I said. “I just never thought-”

“No one likes to think of these things. But here I am. I know you think I’m crazy, but it’s okay. Maybe I am.”

“Whatever you are, they made you this way, didn’t they?” I said. “They really did all this to you?”

“Yes,” she said. “And I can never leave.”

“But I can take you away,” I said. “You said The Blood are afraid of me. You don’t have to stay. You can come with me.”

Natalie sighed. “It’s not that simple. If you move Danny, he might die.” She held up her arm so the I.V. tube jiggled. “We’re connected, you see.”

“But I can help you. Maybe we can wean you off the angelwine. You don’t need the angel.”

“Kindness,” she said. “I’d forgotten how kind you were. You try so hard to be strong, Niki. You don’t always have to be tough.” She began to rock in her chair, the rocker creaking with every movement. “You can’t help me, though,” she said. “My body has stopped producing its own blood. They’ve brought doctors in and I’ve looked into their heads. They never tell me the truth, but I can see it. My body needs the blood. And human blood is toxic to me. They tried that, too. One of them thought that I wasn’t even human anymore. The angel blood is keeping me alive. Until there is no angel.”

I walked toward her, until I was in the shadows with her. The chair stopped creaking as she stopped rocking. I saw a small smile appear on her face. I knelt down next to her and took her hand. It was not as hot as Sam’s but still almost feverishly warm. “I know someone,” I said. “Maybe he can help you. He healed me when I got shot. An angel.”