Medusa's Dagger: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Aya Harris Collection Book 1) (10 page)

“As far as we know, he’s still only killing people he thinks are evil. That was, until the Yonas family.” Gideon topped off my barely touched glass of whiskey. “Either way, I don’t take too kindly to people who think they get to dole out justice in their own fashion. I don’t like vigilantes. They’re just as bad as the criminals.”

I took a big swallow from my glass. Gideon probably hated harpies. They had a reputation for acting like vigilantes. Our visions helped us stay a step ahead of the SI and nab the bad guys for a trial and sentencing through the HQ. In Chicago, they were considered a nuisance to the local agents, even though crime among the supernatural had dropped to nearly nothing.

When I was about six years old, my mother came home one night after a long weekend away. She’d been in Ukraine or Poland or some neighboring country. I remember climbing into her lap with my little pigtails bouncing, begging her to tell me about her trip. It was one of the few times she actually talked about it.

One of her sisters had received a vision of a creature made of wood hiding in an ancient forest. It snuck out at night and stole young women from a local village, and sacrificed them under the harvest moon to preserve its immortality. Killing humans was an act punishable by death to the harpies. My mother traveled there with several others to capture the creature and bring it home for a taste of harpy justice.

I looked up from my drink into Gideon’s eyes. “After my brother killed for the first time, the Harpy Quorum my mom belonged to ordered me to track him down and kill him.”

I’d never told anyone this story, not even my best friends. It felt weird to say it aloud.

“Our mom died when we were younger, so the HQ decided the task should fall to me.”

I could still remember the way they’d burst into my house that night, dressed in black, wings unfurled in all their glory. These had been my mother’s friends and coworkers. But, they came that night with a request that wasn’t to be ignored.
This is your destiny. Join us. Kill your brother
.

As a child, I’d begged my mom to leave the HQ. She was gone so often on missions that she missed t-ball games, dance recitals, concerts, almost everything. After the hundredth time I asked her to quit, my mother sat me down and sternly told me a story of how one of the harpy sisters had tried to quit the HQ and start a normal life. No one could be sure who did it – but she was found slaughtered the next week with her wings splayed open and nailed to the wall. My mother told me that harpy got what she deserved. The HQ was family and family came first.

“I refused to kill Nicky and they got angry,” I continued. “So very angry. They threatened me. Even tried to come after me when I ran. They wanted to kill me for not taking out my own brother.”

Gideon slammed his hand on the bar. “That never should’ve been your responsibility.”

“Maybe.” I didn’t follow that line of thought any further.

There could be arguments for either side, but the truth was that I was a coward. I’d never be able to kill my own brother. Not even if he murdered every person on this planet. I couldn’t do it. It was how I ended up in Arcana, hiding from my brother and the HQ, foolish enough to think I could start my life over.

A couple entered the bar, giggling and draped over each other. Gideon and I watched them sidle up to the bar and order a round of tequila shots. Besides a few other customers at the other end of the room, the establishment was mostly empty. The couple filled the previously quiet room with shrieks of laughter and noisy kisses, sucking on each other’s lips.

“Yikes.” It was all I could say as I watched them swap saliva from a few stools away. Jealousy flickered in my gut. I’d give anything to be them, without a care in the world.

Gideon raised his eyebrows at me and nodded, the humor returning to his eyes.

I chewed on my thumb nail as I studied Gideon out of the corner of my eye. The scruff along his chin had grown past the five o’clock shadow phase and into the rugged beginnings of a beard. His black tie hung loose around his neck, with the top two buttons undone. Taking another swallow from his glass, he sighed and studied the label on the bottle.

My secrets were out on the table now. There was nothing left to do but trust the man sitting to my left. I hoped that not only could he save the Yonas family, but protect himself as well. Mrs. Beckett’s blood was already on my hands. I didn’t want Gideon’s, too.

“There’s something I haven’t told you yet…” I began.

Gideon tore his attention away from the bottle and rested his unsettling gaze on me. With a deep breath, I filled him in on my call to Nicky’s old cell phone and the message he’d left me today. Gideon insisted on listening to the message himself, so I pulled my phone out and let him have at it.

Nicky had been very cautious – he didn’t mention where he was or what he was doing. There was nothing in that message that allowed us to track him. Even tracking the cell phone was impossible. Nicky probably had it turned off most of the time and might have even found a spell to enchant it, leaving it impossible to trace. It was amazing how magic had caught up to technology.

“You have to call him. Make him meet with you,” Gideon said after a long pause and another sip of whiskey. His cheeks had begun to burn bright red from the alcohol, but I had a feeling Gideon knew how to hold it down. “Offer to meet him at the North Central train station at 1:00 tonight. Tell him it’s urgent. My partner and I’ll be there and we’ll take him down.”

“Wait, what? You want to use me as bait?” The horror I felt at Gideon’s plan washed away the heat from the whiskey.

“Not as bait.” Gideon frowned, pausing a moment. “Okay, yes, I guess as bait. But I swear, I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”

I believed Gideon’s promise, even if I didn’t think he could deliver on it. The brother I’d grown up with was insanely smart. Ivy League material. He’d smell a trap coming from a mile away. They’d never catch him.

“What makes you think he’ll even come?”

If Nicky was busy keeping hostages and bleeding them for their powers, it was unlikely he’d want to take time out of his busy schedule to meet with the sister who’d abandoned him.

“He will.”

The spark in Gideon’s eye unnerved me. I wasn’t sure what made him so confident.

“Fine.”

I picked up the old track phone and dialed Nicky’s number. Just like the last time, it went to voicemail and I thanked my lucky stars. With Gideon’s silent prompting, I left a message asking Nicky to meet me, telling him that I really needed to speak to him. The guilty feeling in my gut made my voice tremble a bit, but I hid it for the most part.

Gideon took the phone when I was done and placed it on the table in front of us. “Now we wait.”

The little screen on the Samsung faded to black. I watched it, unblinking, until angry tears filled my eyes. Everything I’d built in Arcana – my new life, my friendships, my job – was hanging in the balance. I was only twenty-four years old. People my age were supposed to be worried about dating, paying school loans, and their career. Not about their psycho killer brother or the harpy mob.

“He’s going to kill me, I just know it.”

“No, no he’s not.” Gideon swung my stool around until I faced him. The muscles along his jaw tightened. “I won’t let him. I’m an SI agent, remember? It’s my job. Plus, you’re stronger than you think. I sure wouldn’t want to face you in a dark alley.”

I laughed and blinked away the tears. “Yeah, all five foot six of me. I’m sure formidable.”

“Well, you scare the hell out of me.” Gideon bit his bottom lip.

He looked like he wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by the buzzing of my cell phone on the bar. Saved by the bell.

I snatched it up and opened to the main screen.
Text Message
shined in bold white letters.

“He sent a message.” I clicked on the messages. The only one in the inbox was from Nicky.

“What’s it say?” Gideon leaned in close to catch a glimpse.

I held it out for him. “He said yes. He’ll meet me tonight.”

Suddenly, all the worries of the day came crashing down in a load too heavy to bear. I grabbed my full glass of whiskey and downed it in one gulp, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth. Tonight would be the family reunion to die for.

Chapter Eight

I closed my apartment door behind me and leaned against it for support. There were only three hours left until our meeting with Nicky at the North Central train station. Gideon had taken a taxi back to his hotel. He was going to fill Agent Silva in on the play and gather some resources. I didn’t like the idea of her getting involved, but he didn’t give me a choice.

The one good thing about tonight was that it would finally come to an end, one way or another. I’d have to face Nicky, quit pretending he didn’t exist, and hopefully move on with my life without his shadow hanging over me. It’d be nice to have my freedom again.

The apartment was dark and still. I turned on all the lights and peered in Johnny’s room. No one was home. He must’ve stayed at Steven’s place. Either that, or he was working late on another case. His clients tended to be a helpless bunch.

Johnny couldn’t help throwing himself into his work. He often said that if he didn’t do his absolute best and someone innocent got locked up because of him, he wouldn’t be able to live with it. It was a heavy burden to bear. I didn’t envy him.

I wanted to slip in bed and pull the comforter up over my head, but I figured if I did that, I wouldn’t get up again until morning. I settled for flopping down on the couch and throwing my feet up on the other end instead. The sweet call of sleep rang in my ears.

The combination of French food and too much whiskey had left my eyelids heavy and my head fuzzy. I needed rest. Just an hour of sleep before tonight’s big reunion. That’s all I wanted.

It felt like I’d barely closed my eyes when I heard my cell phone buzzing in the recesses of my purse.

Who could that be?

I scrambled off the couch, catching my toe on the rug and tumbling to my knees. The phone continued to buzz. I crawled to the kitchen table and pulled it out of my purse, answering without even looking at the screen.

“Hello?”

Suddenly I realized that it wasn’t my new phone in my hand, but the old track phone. The sleep that had clouded my eyes only a moment ago cleared up in an instant. No one but Nicky would be calling this number, but it was too late to hang up.

“Little Bird.”

Sure enough, Nicky’s low voice came through the speaker. It was gruff, just the way I remembered. My mouth went dry, causing my tongue to stick to the roof of my mouth.

“We have a change of plans.”

I coughed to clear my throat. There was no way we’d change our meeting. Gideon had been very specific about the location and time.

“What do you mean?”

“I need to move our meeting up. Let’s do midnight at the station.” Nicky didn’t sound angry or worked up. His voice was smooth and controlled.

“Wait, why?”

There had to be a reason for the change. Maybe Nicky knew the SI was onto him. He was already getting suspicious.

“Let’s just say, I needed a little insurance.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. The kind of insurance that Nicky was talking about could get someone killed.

“I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

“I know the SI is pressuring you, Aya. I’m not stupid.”

His words made me tremble. Nicky had been watching me. For how long, I couldn’t guess.

“I moved our meeting up so that we don’t have any unwanted company.”

If Nicky wanted to meet earlier than planned, I could simply warn Gideon and they could adjust. It’d be an easy fix.

“Sure, Nicky, whatever makes you feel better.”

“I knew you’d understand.”

There was a scuffle in the background of the call, as if someone was wrestling. I heard a dull thump and then a moaning groan.

“Oh, and Aya? Please come alone. I’d hate to have your roommate get hurt. He’s my other insurance policy.”

Nicky had Johnny! The phone slipped from my hand and clattered to the floor. By the time I picked it up again and pressed it to my ear, the line was dead. The only noise in the room was the incessant beating of my heart against my ribcage. I’d never even considered how much danger I was putting my friends in when I agreed to this meeting. And now, Johnny was paying the price.

I ran around the room, tearing off my work clothes and putting on a more sensible pair of worn jeans and t-shirt, ditching the red pumps for my black leather boots. My little snooze session on the couch had cost me. I had less than an hour to get to the station, meet my brother, and save Johnny.

There were no weapons in my apartment. Nothing that I could take to defend myself with. I considered calling Gideon, but that thought quickly passed. If I told him about Johnny, Gideon would still insist on coming along. His prime objective was in capturing Nicky, not in saving my roommate. I couldn’t trust what he’d do. It was one thing to use myself as bait, but to add my friend in the mix? I just couldn’t let that happen.

I snagged a taxi and had them drop me off a block from the North Central station. The white stone building loomed out of the darkness, its arches beckoning me. I’d taken the train to this side of town a time or two. The wooden benches and old tile floor had never seemed odd to me before today.

But now, as I stepped inside the station, they reeked of suspicion. Every little noise, every little creak of the hundred year old building called my name. I found myself turning in circles, desperately searching for a sign of my brother or his hostage. But the station was silent and eerie.

Settling down on the edge of a bench, I looked at my track phone. No new messages. There were only three minutes left until twelve o’clock. Nicky was never punctual in our youth, either. I had to be the one that dragged him out of bed in the mornings, and to school before the first bell rang.

Unfortunately, we didn’t always make it in time, no matter how hard I tried. Our attendance records were often shattered by the end of September. According to the rules, we both should’ve served multiple detentions for our tardiness, but all Nicky had to do was flash our principle his charming smile and she’d let it slide.