The House (38 page)

Being inside a
drug addled mind had not felt comfortable. I nearly walked into
Hercules as I fought to escape. He gave me a glare before
continuing. Nobody had spoken a word since we left. It was sort of
peaceful but mostly just unnerving. Added to the feel of the coming
night it made my head spin.

We passed into
a slightly more colourful alley; there were doors all the way along
this one. Streamers hung from window to window across the space.
Illegals. They had moved into these back alleys and forgotten
houses when the rest of the world became too hostile. They had
their own communities and they kept the riff-raff away. Ironically,
it was down these alleys that we were in the most danger.

The criminals
and low-lifes spent their time forgetting nearly everything they
saw. The prostitutes and druggies would ignore us even if they
noticed our passing. The people here were more protective of their
space. I glanced around carefully as we walked and felt the hairs
on the back of my neck stand on end. I didn’t think it was my
imagination. Someone was watching us, probably more than one
someone. They would watch us until we left their territory. I just
hoped that watching was all they would do.

We were nearly
to the end of the alley when the first man came out in front of us.
He emerged from the doorway slowly and deliberately before he
blocked our path. Panic started to rise in me but the others were
calm. I could feel several other men and a couple of women around
us ready to step in as well. There was a man just behind us,
blocking our way out that way as well.

“This is not
your place,” the man in front of us said in heavily accented
English. I didn’t know where his accent was from. Britain had
closed its borders long enough ago that almost everyone had a
generic accent. I rarely heard foreign ones. People had been quick
to lose them; to convince everyone that they were British, that
they belonged.

The people
that lived in the back alley didn’t care if they belonged. They
weren’t British and they knew that acutely. Some of the younger
ones had never left those alleys; it was their only home. And we
were walking through it armed to the teeth. Well, two of us were,
the rest of us didn’t know shit about weapons.

“We are just
passing through,” Marlow replied to the man. There was no growl to
his voice, for which I was glad. Sometimes people like this knew
more than they should about the supernatural world. We passed by
them too often. They noticed too much. If they started to cause
problems the Covenant would have the area cleared out, but it was
too much hassle to do unless something happened.

“You are not
welcome here,” the man behind us said. He sounded like he would
have been growling if his throat and voice box had allowed it. To
me it sounded like a poor effort but it put me on my toes
anyway.

I put my hand
on Hercules shoulder for support and he reached back for my other
hand as well. I wasn’t the only one spooked. I was still hidden
behind Marlow on one side and Eddie on the other. I didn’t want
them to know I was there; they often had an odd view of women. I
didn’t want to be the reason it all came to a fight.

“We are just
passing through,” Marlow repeated, again calmly. His mind was
anything but calm, he was projecting so strongly that I couldn’t
help but hear him. I felt myself slip further into his mind and
tried to think calming thoughts at him. His mind relaxed minutely
and I almost gave a whoop of triumph but swallowed it at the last
moment.

Neither man
moved out of the way. I was starting to get worried. I pulled my
mind away from Marlow’s before the worry permeated into his. I
wanted him to keep his head even if I lost mine. I actually slipped
inside the mind of the man in front of us. It wasn’t particularly
useful since he didn’t actually think in English. I did manage to
get the picture that they expected payment for our safe
passage.

“They want
paying,” I whispered to Marlow. He turned around and looked at me
with such shock that I cringed back. I was still clinging to
Hercules but he was gripping my hand rather tightly as well so I
felt justified. Marlow nodded.

“We have no
money, we did not know you were here and we are just passing
though. We will not bother you,” he said, still calm and clear but
with something else that spoke of violent potential underneath. I
thought it would have been perfectly clear not to mess with us from
a glance but apparently these people fancied themselves as hard
men.

“You will not
pass,” the man said. I wasn’t altogether sure he had understood
Marlow at all.

“What do you
want?” Marlow asked finally. I would have asked straight away, but
then I don’t deal with large, violent men very often.

“Must make
deal to pass through. We have right to this space.” We seemed to
have overstretched this man’s English. I could have laughed if the
tension level wasn’t so high. Hercules gripped my hand just a
fraction tighter and I was glad I wasn’t the only one that thought
the situation was likely to deteriorate.

“So what do
you want?” Marlow asked again.

“Price to pass
here,” the man replied unhelpfully. I wondered if they were just
trying to delay us and hated to think what would happen if they had
reinforcements coming. It wasn’t uncommon to find bodies nailed to
the wall as a warning. I shuddered, remembering the first and only
one I’d ever seen. That time we’d turned and gone the other way but
the sight had stayed with me.

“They may be
stalling,” I whispered to Marlow. One advantage of our amped- up
hearing is that I could speak quietly enough to Marlow that they
wouldn’t be able to hear us and still have him understand me.
Marlow nodded again. There was a stiffness to his shoulders now
that hadn’t been there before.

“We have no
money,” Marlow stated. It was actually true; there had been no
reason for us to bring money with us. In fact, most things that
could be used to identify us were back at the house. It was too
risky if we were caught but I did have my coms pad with me; if we
split up we would need to contact each other and we didn’t have any
walkie-talkies. It had been bought anonymously and was mostly
untraceable. It also had an automatic locking mechanism. If anyone
it wasn’t keyed to tried to use it, it would shut down and wipe the
hard drive. I’d stopped short of allowing myself to be talked into
one that blew up.

The man seemed
to consider the ‘no money’ for a moment before waving to the
doorway he had come out of. A woman emerged. She was one of the
largest women I had ever seen and she barely fit through the narrow
doorway. She leaned into him and whispered low enough that it was a
strain to hear her from where we were. We may have super-hearing
but it still only stretches so far. Also, they weren’t speaking in
English so listening in was pointless anyway. I wondered if Marlow
knew what they were saying, he always seemed to have the strangest
of talents.

They both
faced us as one and I felt something jump in the air. Apparently
they had made their decision and their expressions sent shivers
down my spine.

“You may
pass,” the woman said. We all but sighed with relief but she wasn’t
finished. “Girl stays here.”

“No,” Marlow
growled. I could feel his anger riding the air and I shrank back
from it. “You cannot take her.” It felt like there was heat visible
around him. I hoped he wasn’t about to shimmer but I needn’t have
worried. Marlow had more control than that.

“Rest may pass
if girl stays here. Or you all stay here,” the man reiterated the
woman’s statement. Clearly there would be violence if we all
stayed; his tone suggested that we would not make it out alive if
we did. “We have many men here; she must stay.” They seemed very
sure of themselves. Mind you, the little illegal communities had a
reputation for violence. Most people probably just brought a
payment with them.

“I’m not going
to stay here with anyone.” I spoke up before Marlow had a chance to
react to their threat. “We did not know that you lived here. We
will not pay you to pass here.” I was walking a thin line, but the
only thing I could really do was bluff them. We couldn’t afford to
have a bunch of humans attack us; there was no way we could hide
what we were if they did.

“Then you all
stay. There will be trouble,” the woman said. “You are nice girl.
You stay with one of my sons. He make you happy.” I wondered how
many women had been taken by these people. Probably just
prostitutes though. I caught myself just as I finished the thought.
I knew a girl from school who’d ended up on the back alleys. She
was just as good as everyone else; she’d just had some bad
luck.

By that point
Hunter must have had enough. He stepped around the rest of us while
pulling his shotgun around to the front of his body. He pointed it
at the woman. I would have pointed it at one of the men but he was
right, the woman was definitely in charge.

“None of us
are staying here. If you want to keep your head on your shoulders I
suggest you instruct these men to let us on our way.” He sounded
hard. I’d never heard Hunter sounding less than jovial. He was
Hunter; he tried to get me drunk for the hell of it. His face was
never without the grace of his smile. The thought of someone
harming his family had brought out a harder edge to him. I hoped
that he would be able to get back to himself soon. I would miss him
otherwise.

I slipped into
the woman’s mind and tried to send her calm feelings, happy and
peaceful. I wasn’t sure how much difference it made. She did let us
go with a sharp nod to the two men. She didn’t look happy about it
though. Her eyes never left Hunter’s gun as the rest of us trailed
past. Hunter turned as we walked so that the gun was always
pointing at her. He continued to walk backwards as we rounded the
corner out of sight of the illegals.

I slipped
briefly into Hunter’s mind. It occurred to me that I was using my
power far too much to be healthy but I didn’t stop. It was useful
to be able to see into someone’s surface thoughts. I wouldn’t go
deep, it wouldn’t risk his mind, and I was curious. It seemed a
lifetime ago that I had been going crazy from the voices in my
head. The power seemed to get easier to control every time I used
it.

The turmoil in
Hunter’s mind made me stumble. I would have fallen if Hercules
hadn’t still had hold of my hand. He smiled at me wearily as he
lifted me back up. At least he didn’t seem to know the reason I was
unsteady. I didn’t think that they would like me peeking into their
minds all the time. I just had to know what had caused the change
in Hunter. I did hope for a moment that I wasn’t the cat that
curiosity killed but I pushed the thought away. I couldn’t afford
to think like that.

I dipped back
into Hunter’s mind, being more careful to just skim across the
surface. The anger I felt from him scared me. It was deep and so
well ingrained that it bordered on hatred. I slipped deeper to see
why he was so angry and instantly wished I hadn’t. I saw a girl, no
more than twelve, with Hunter’s brilliant hazel eyes. She was
stunning, even so young she was stunning. She would have grown up
to be a beauty.

I saw that
they had strayed away from the main paths. I saw through Hunter’s
eyes and he was shorter than the girl. She must have been an older
sister. I hadn’t known that Hunter ever had a sister. I saw her
being carried away by men, carried into the back alleys. I could
feel the pain of the beating the men had given Hunter. His memory
was that of a child but it had the feel of something often
remembered and sorely regretted. I saw the body of that girl in a
coffin before I pulled out. It made me want to hug him, to make his
pain go away, but now was not the time.

Hunter turned
back to the front just as I pulled all the way out of his mind. I
wasn’t going to do that again anytime soon. I realised that there
is a reason that people keep secrets. I didn’t know him well enough
to be privy to some of his deepest pain. I kept my eyes ahead of me
and prayed that he had not felt me within his mind. I had only been
a spectator so he should have felt nothing. Then again, my magic
wasn’t exactly acting normally.

I had to
concentrate very hard on the path ahead but it didn’t do my outlook
any good. We were still probably walking into a trap. And this one
wouldn’t be solved with one well-pointed gun. No, we would likely
end up fighting for our lives. It wasn’t something I was accustomed
to doing.

I knew when we
were approaching the docks because the air got colder. There was a
breeze that flowed back and forth in the alleys and cut through my
clothes like a knife. I wished that I’d put my big coat on, the one
that looked awful but was so warm I didn’t care. It would have been
a nightmare to fight in though.

The alleys
were also getting narrower. If we met someone coming the other way
I wasn’t sure that we would be able to pass without climbing over
each other. I was struggling not to touch the walls on either side.
Whenever I brushed against one the cold permeated even deeper. I
was just glad that I wasn’t claustrophobic.

I walked smack
into Eddie who’d ended up in front of me when the alley narrowed.
We had all stopped very suddenly. James managed to avoid walking
into me by centimetres. I heard Hunter grunt as he backed into
James. He had started walking backwards when the alleys got so
narrow that we couldn’t really turn around.

“Are we
there?” I asked. I couldn’t see around Eddie enough to tell. There
was no light. Not that I’d expected it; the entries into the
alleyways were always gated. It was the main way that the
authorities dealt with it. I disagreed that it was a good solution
but I wasn’t going to complain because it basically gave us the
freedom of them.