Devil Inside (37 page)

Levi and Harley had been able to talk briefly throughout the months.  But their conversations—even when talking on the phone and not texting—had been short.  They both had been busy and exhausted as a result of their separate missions.  So, Harley filled him in on all the details that he had missed.

When she got to the part about how different she still was Harley hesitated.

“What?” Levi asked when she stopped talking.

Harley took a deep breath.  “Sunlight still doesn’t bother me.”  Levi’s brow wrinkled but he didn’t interrupt her.  “I mean—I can tell day light is coming and my Nocte doesn’t like the light.  But it doesn’t make me any more tired than I would be just from needing sleep.  I don’t feel any weaker.  I can still see and hear and smell as well as I do at night.”

Levi was silent for a while.  She knew that he believed her.  He was just searching for an answer.  “Honestly,” he finally said.  “I’ve never heard anything like it. Has Nya still not explained her theories?”

“Well…we haven’t really talked about it since the bond completed.”  Levi raised an eyebrow at her.  “She didn’t ask.  And I didn’t want to go into it,” Harley said defensively.  “I don’t like feeling like the weirdo.” 

“No one thinks you are a weirdo—at least not for this.”  He chuckled at his own joke and Harley slapped at him in mock anger.  “But if anyone has answers it would be Nya.  You really should tell her.”

“I will,” Harley sighed.  “We are supposed to meet with her about my placement anyway.  We can talk about it then.”  Harley twitched internally.  She tried to not worry about where she was going to be placed.  Both Nya and Levi knew how important it was to her to find Cutter.  She didn’t know how she would handle it if they sent her somewhere without the chance to hunt him down.

Levi rolled himself out of bed.  “I need a shower and food.  Then we can go talk to her.”

__________________

Later, Levi and Harley sat in Nya’s office.  Nya sat in an overstuffed chair and Harley and Levi sat on the couch.  Her office always left Harley feeling like she had just stepped into an animated world of madness.

“First, what have you found out about the Rogue?” Nya asked Levi.

“I’m still pretty sure that it is a Lux that is doing this.  I still haven’t gotten many answers from the Vigilum.  The ones I’ve gotten to talk to me haven’t exactly been talkative.  Someone did make a move on the Den in Canada but we weren’t able to find many signs of who, or what, it was.  It was during the day so I’m sure it wasn’t a Nocte.  Not that I thought it was anyway.”

Harley shifted uncomfortably.  It seemed as if she really was the only Nocte that wasn’t affected by the sun.

Levi continued.  “I haven’t been able to find more bodies in time to examine them.  But there have been reports of killings.  Of Ignis and Lux as well as the humans and Nocte that have been killed.  There doesn’t seem to be a clear pattern.  And someone did charter a flight to Italy recently.  I am pretty sure it was the Rogue—so I’m going to go to Florence when I leave here.  See what I can find there.”

Harley ignored the tinge of sadness at the idea of Levi’s leaving again.  “What makes you think it was the Rogue who chartered the flight?” she asked.

“One of the Montreal Praesidio there has connections with the Canadian Air Transport Security Agency.  The pilot disappeared.  He never returned from Italy and when the CATSA investigated the information on the flight logs was falsified.  The Praesidio even searched through video camera footage at the airport.  Nothing stood out.”

“It couldn’t just be a random criminal?” Harley asked.

“I thought so too.  But one of the Nocte’s cars was stolen during the attack on the Den.  It was recovered at the airport.  It was completely clean.  No finger prints.  No DNA.  Not even any lingering smells.”

Nya had been quiet during Levi’s update.  Finally she spoke up.  “What does Eric say?”

“The local Canadian general,” Levi clarified for Harley.  “He feels the same as we do.  He didn’t have any information that we don’t already have.  Everyone has been working together so far.  The Den in Florence knows I’m coming and they are searching for information there.  I’ll keep you updated on anything that I find.”  Levi sighed and rubbed his face.  “I’m really tired of feeling like I’m on a wild goose chase.  I just want to find this bastard.”

Something tugged at Harley and before she thought better of it she had to ask.  “What about reports of drugs in the areas where you think the Rogue has been?”

Levi studied her for a moment before nodding.  “I did ask about that.  There haven’t been any reports in Montreal of an increase in drug activity.”

Harley still couldn’t figure out what the drug significance was, but she knew there was something to it.  She continued to watch Levi and Nya discuss the issue.  The difference in their postures was almost amusing.  Nya sat with her legs folded under her in the chair, leaning against the arm while playing with her braids.  She looked as calm as she probably felt.  Levi, on the other hand, sat with his legs crossed at the ankle and his arms folded across his chest.  He slumped back in his chair and someone not paying attention probably wouldn’t realize how tense he was.  His jaw was clenched and his eyes were hard causing the lines around them to deepen.  Harley felt herself somewhere in between them.  She wished she could be as relaxed as Nya but she knew that sort of comfort only came with being comfortable with yourself.  Nya had had many years to find that comfort. 
Does that mean Levi is uncomfortable with himself?
  Harley was never sure why he was so restrained and tense.  Despite the surface calm that he carefully maintained, there was also a wariness underneath.  The only time he seemed completely at ease was when they were in bed.

Nya broke through Harley’s thoughts when she nodded, satisfied with Levi’s answers.  “We are all ready to catch this creature.  He, or she, is up to something big.  We need to stop it before it gets too big to stop.”  She was in one of her rare serious moments which only unsettled Harley even more.  Nya wasn’t this serious often and it drove home the levity of the situation.  Eventually, she turned to Harley.  “I’m getting the feeling that you have something to talk about too.”

Harley swallowed.  “Yeah.”  She could feel Levi watching her supportively.  “I thought that maybe the strange stuff that I can do and feel would change when the bond finished.  But it hasn’t.”

Nya nodded again.  “I figured as much.”

Harley raised her brows at that.  She had figured Nya would at least say something about the fact that she hadn’t discussed this yet.

“I figured you would say something about it eventually,” Nya explained.

“So…what is wrong with me?”  Harley was frustrated.  She didn’t mind the ways that she was different.  But she was concerned about what it meant.

“I don’t think anything is WRONG with you.  Quite the contrary actually.”  Harley waited for her to continue.  “I think your Nocte is just unusually strong.”

“OK,” Harley considered that for a moment.

“I think you are different because your Nocte is different.  We know very little about the world from which they come.  Unfortunately, I can’t give you more information than that.  I don’t know that we have ever encountered a Nocte this strong before.  But there are differences between Noctes.  The longer the bonding the process takes, the stronger the Nocte it seems.”  Even Levi was surprised by that.

Nya continued, “I am searching for all the information that I can find.  So far, I haven’t found anything to give me more clues.  The files that we do have are such rubbish—well, I’m still looking.”

“What exactly does this mean for me?”  Harley knew that Nya’s explanation was right.  Her Nocte agreed with her silently.  But Harley couldn’t get much more from her than that.

“You know what they say,” Nya shrugged.  “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Harley rolled her eyes at the return of Nya’s humor.  Even Levi’s mouth lifted in his trademark half smile.  “I didn’t realize that one Nocte could be stronger than another.”

“Well, yeah,” Nya said as if it was obvious.  “Some people are stronger than others—I don’t see why it’s surprising that Nocte can be stronger than each other.”

Levi interrupted.  “I didn’t know that the bonding process indicated strength.”

“It’s usually not that noticeable.  I’ve created a lot of bonds and over the years I’ve picked up on it.  And I’ve certainly never seen one take as long as Harley’s.”

Harley felt like squirming and willed herself not too.  She wasn’t used to compliments and she wasn’t used to standing out for good things.  She wasn’t sure how to react to it so she tried to look as comfortable with it as possible.  “So, what do I do?  Do you think there is a reason why I’m stronger?”

“We just have to wait and see,” Nya replied.  “I know it’s frustrating, but there isn’t much more that you can do.  I’m not worried about you.  You are, honestly, one of the strongest Nocte I’ve ever encountered.  You heal faster.  You move faster.  I don’t think your differences hinder you in any way.”

Harley swelled with pride but tried not to show it too much.  Levi looked at her and smiled softly.  “See.  Didn’t I tell you not to worry about the bond.  That everything would go fine,” he said with an air of I told you so.

Harley snorted.  “We’ll see.”  She almost brought up the desire to bite Levi.  She had mentioned to Nya once about the feeling of wanting to consume and possess Levi, but that feeling had evolved into actual bloodlust.  She knew that she didn’t want to kill him.  She just wanted to…taste him?  She shuddered.  It seemed more natural than she knew it should.

In the end, she decided to not bring it up.  As strong as the feeling was, she knew that it wasn’t normal.  Drinking blood was supposed to be the way for the Nocte to feed—to kill Ignis.  The Nocte were supposed to feed on the soul or spirit of the Ignis as it lived in the blood.  But even as she thought that she questioned its validity.  Was the Ignis the only being to live in the blood?  Did the Nocte (or Lux) as well?

“So,” Nya clapped her hands and startling Harley out of her internal turmoil.  “The question of the hour.  Just where are we going to send you?”

Harley looked from Nya to Levi.  Levi smiled slightly.  “I think right now we need Harley in New York.”

Harley’s eyebrows shot up. 
New York?
  “Why New York?” she asked.

“Well, we pulled a couple of Nocte from there to cover the areas where the Rogue has hit.  As a result the balance is kind of off there.  And besides—I’m pretty sure that is exactly where you want to be.”

“Why’s that?” A seedling of hope sprouted in Harley as she looked at Levi expectantly.

His smile grew wider as he looked at her.  “It’s the last place that Cutter was spotted.”

She felt her face split into a wide grin.  “New York it is then.”

Part Two

A week later, Harley found herself settled in Manhattan.  She used an apartment that was on permanent lease by the Praesidio.  She hadn’t really asked much about money and living space and things of that nature.  With everything that had happened, it had not been a pressing matter.  While living at the Den the food had been provided.  For over a month she hadn’t even been sure where the food came from.  Then one morning after everyone else had gone to bed she walked into the kitchen to find an older woman stocking the cupboards.  She had been shocked into silence for several moments until the woman laughed and introduced herself as Betty.  Betty called herself the house mother.  She picked up food and supplies and did light cleaning.  Everything else was up to those living at, or visiting, the Den.  Whatever Harley needed or wanted—within reason—she could leave on a list in the kitchen and Betty would buy it and leave it for her to find in the kitchen.  Harley often wondered just how much Betty knew about the “people’ she cared for, so Harley didn’t say much to her for fear of breaking some rule of silence.  When it was time to move out of the Den, Harley was informed that while she would be given an apartment and a small salary, she would have to take care of her own bills and shopping. 

Otherwise, Harley hadn’t known what to expect from New York.  She stood in the window of her small apartment looking down and the busy street below her.  She may not have been on Broadway or Penn Avenue, but even off the main routes her street got a lot of traffic from tourists and commuters. She allowed a moment of melancholy to sweep over her.  She and Jamie had always planned on visiting New York one day.  But, they had never found the time or money.  As soon as she arrived in the city she had wanted to run off and see the sites.  The Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Rockefeller Plaza—she wanted to see it all.  But when she realized that she would only be able to half enjoy it, her excitement waned.  She still had not made an effort to visit any of these sites.

Harley pushed away the ache of Jamie’s absence.  She only allowed herself to wallow in small amounts of sorrow at a time.  She didn’t know if she would ever feel like it was OK for her to stop feeling sad and guilty, but she couldn’t punish herself all the time.  If she didn’t control the amount of time that she spent feeling the sadness she would eventually be overwhelmed by it.  Harley couldn’t get used to how easy it was now to push away unwanted emotions.  It was both a blessing and a curse.  It was a blessing because she found it much easier to behave as she knew that she should and needed to.  But it was also a curse because few things could make you feel less human than being able to turn off your emotions when you needed to.  Harley had never been an overly emotional person, but the longer she was a Nocte the easier it became to pick and choose her emotions.