The Nephilim (30 page)

But that was only the beginning. When they turned onto Ambrosia Drive to head to the academy, she could see more cruisers. A lot more cruisers. And vans covered in police markings. Even a truck. It seemed like there were more cops than students. There was also a fire truck and from what she could see one of the buildings had been burnt out.

“Maricia?”

“It's all right.”

They drove on up the road until finally the reached the small rise leading to the school where the police had set up a check point. There they slowed down but the officers didn't stop them, just waved them through. Shortly after that they reached the school car park. A car park filled with police and covered in yellow crime scene tape. The stuff was everywhere, covering doorways, tied to metal posts stuck in the ground, strung between trees and covering up the entrances to the courtyard. And on the other side of it were people in white paper overalls and gloves. The crime scene people. It seemed that the entire school was a crime scene.

They got out of the car and headed for the principal's office. But to get there wasn't as straight forward as it had been. They couldn't go through the front entrance – it was covered with yellow tape and there was a policeman standing guard beside it just in case someone tried to push past it. Instead they were directed to the side entrance which was actually a fire door that had been propped open, and then had to make their way through the hallway that led to the staffroom. And even that wasn't as simple as it should be as someone had lined one entire wall of the hallway with boxes. Boxes by the looks of things that were filled with books. Had the library burnt down?

In the staffroom Katz found her first piece of good news as she saw Mark standing there waiting for them with a bag in his hand. He was alive! She couldn't have even described how good that felt, though he was heavily bandaged.

He smiled at her, a stupid looking grin really, and she ran to him and crushed him a little in her arms. Something that made him wince a little.

“You badly hurt?”

“Bit. I tried to stop him and he shot me. But mainly I fell. I woke up fine in the ambulance. Then Inglis caught me and said I'd used my gift to harm someone.”

“And?” The Choir could be rough she knew. Especially if someone had used their gift to harm someone. It was their top crime.

“He instructed me.”

Katz winced at that in remembered pain. Of course he had. Katz knew the rules and Mark did too. But still, he had tried to save her. He had done nothing wrong. In fact he was a hero. The Choir should be applauding him. But instead they'd punished him because he'd broken the rules. That was just wrong. But at the same time Cassie had saved her when all seemed lost. None of it made any sense to her. But she could suddenly understand Garrick's whole “we're nephilim, we're screwed” speech.

“Bad?”

“Just sore. It'll heal.” He smiled at her. Pretending to be braver than he was. But he was still brave. Not that she would tell him that.

“You chicken shit!” She drew a laugh from him, and that made her laugh in turn. It didn't sound like he'd had anything too serious done to him.

“Come on you!”

Maricia grabbed her gently by the shoulder, grabbed the bag Mark had brought for her in her other hand, and started leading her towards the principal's office. Mark took the opportunity to vanish. He probably had some idea of what awaited her inside.

But what awaited her wasn't what she'd expected. The moment Maricia pushed the door open the principal sitting at her desk spotted her, she got up and came to her, hobbling awkwardly on a pair of crutches. Then Miss Holdsworth – Miss Iron Britches herself! – was hugging her tightly as if they were family. It felt good. Better than that.

“I'm so sorry!”

Katz tried to tell her that, to explain what couldn't really be explained, and immediately got shushed for her trouble. The principal didn't want to know. She just kept hugging her and telling her that she was glad she was safe. It wasn't what she'd expected. But maybe it was what she wanted.

It was then that she realised that Garrick had been right all along. This school would be a good place for her. Not because they would give her a good education or keep her out of trouble. But simply because they were all like her. They were family of a sort, and family were always better when they stuck together.

And in the end the only family a nephilim had was other nephilim.

Chapter Eighteen

“Cassie.”

Garrick called the angel even though he wasn't completely sure that he wanted to. But he needed to.

The hunt was in its closing stages. Benedict had escaped the factory, but he had left behind a lot. He was down on money and allies, running out of aliases and places to hide as well. Every law enforcement agency in the country was on his trail. Worse for him, his face was plastered over the nightly news making it hard for him to move in public.

Benedict was in trouble and desperate. And that Garrick knew made him more dangerous, not less. Desperate people did desperate things. Worse still, it wouldn’t be long before he would be caught. A few months perhaps – he was clever after all. But no longer. Even if Garrick did nothing he would be caught. It was only a matter of time. And when they caught him all hell would break loose. There was nothing Garrick could do about that because he didn't know where Benedict had stashed whatever information he had.

When Benedict went down the rest of them would follow him into hell.

But against that Garrick had a new weapon in his arsenal – Cassie. Katarinka had told him what the angel had done, and while at first he hadn't believed it, in time it had started to make sense. She wouldn't break her laws. But there were times when they didn't apply. Times when she could dance. It was simply up to him to be clever enough to make sure that this was one of those times.

“Why do I sense deception child?”

Cassie appeared in front of him and he knew from her first words that she was already suspicious. But then he couldn't really hide much from her. She though, could hide a lot from him, and one of the things he was certain she was hiding concerned the thief's true nature. The more he tracked him, the more Garrick had become certain that he was something more than just a normal human being. He was too bright, too good at finding out things. He was a hunter of some sort. But that Garrick knew, would have to wait. Right now he needed Cassie's cooperation. Upsetting her with questions that she would not answer, especially questions that sounded like accusations, would not help. He had to focus on what was at hand.

“I'd prefer to call it strategy.”

Garrick gestured at the couch opposite him, thinking to be polite and offer her a seat. But of course she didn't take it, choosing to instead just stand there staring at him and it suddenly occurred to him that he'd never actually seen her sit. In fact he'd never seen the angel in any other position than standing. Maybe she couldn't? Maybe that was why she was always so rigidly upright – she couldn't actually bend. Physically as well as morally. That would be sort of ironic.

“Tell me your strategy child and I will give you your answer.”

At least she hadn't rejected his idea out of hand before he'd told her what it was. That was something. She also hadn't said anything about the fact that he had a hand pinned back together and plastered up either. Everyone else had. Being shot was unusual. Being shot twice was sensational, at least according to the news – and of course he was back on the nightly news. Two attempted assassinations with Benedict’s fingerprints all over both of them. It would be a miracle if he ever got out of the news. Which was why he was once more hiding out in his home while the press were camped out by his letter box. He was beginning to think he needed to get away for a while. Find some nice, quiet place where no one knew him. And then maybe sit down and lick his wounds for a few months.

If only he didn't have a master criminal with a time bomb to deal with.

“Very well. The Choir, my people and Diogenes: It seems we all share the same problem – Armando Benedict, and whatever knowledge he has. You and the rest of the Choir are prevented from acting against him in any way because he is normal. All you can do is whisper to him of right and wrong, even though you know it is useless and he will do everything he has threatened to do regardless. Even though he knows of your existence as well as ours and Diogenes. His free will cannot be compromised.”

“You also can't use us as your agents in this matter because that would be the same as acting directly against him yourselves. The most you can do is warn us and Diogenes of the danger he poses because we are already aware of your existence and then leave us to deal with him as best we can.”

“We nephilim can act directly against him, provided we do not use our gifts to cause him harm and that we do not reveal ourselves.” Which of course was the very thing tying their hands behind their backs. It was incredibly frustrating. But that was normal life with the Choir anyway.

But it seemed that they had found a tiny amount of wiggle room. It seemed the nephilim could defend themselves against direct physical attacks with their gifts. That was how the attack on the school had been thwarted after all. Of course, that hadn't gone unnoticed and there were things that had had to be done because of it. The Choir would have demanded it even if his people hadn't already understood the need. First and foremost it was about hiding the evidence.

So the man who had been pushed off the roof through a mystic push had been convinced that he had simply slipped on the old tiles. The man who had shot both his companion and himself had decided that it was all an accident. The one who had had a heart attack was now convinced that he had serious health problems that had never been checked out. And the last who had fallen on the stairs because he had been blinded believed that it was all because of a dropped flash grenade.

Naturally there had been some punishments handed out, something that seemed grossly unfair to him. But grossly unfair was normal enough when you were dealing with the Choir.

Punishment however hadn’t been enough and the Choir had demanded one thing more, even though it almost seemed like a crime in itself: that those who had been harmed through their gifts, had to be cured of their injuries. All the harm had to be repaired. It had been done though it seemed wrong to Garrick. These were bad people who had done terrible things. To require their victims to then heal them while mourning the loss of two of their own was a step too far. But it was not their place to deny the Choir. Or rather, it wasn't within their power to say no. Garrick hurried on before he gave in to his natural urge to say how unfair all of that was.

“Diogenes however is not limited in any way. But they cannot be directed by either us or yourselves, and they have no gifts to aid them. And Benedict is too clever to be taken down by them unaided. They aren't police, they don't have the necessary skills nor the mandate, and even if they somehow did take him down, they might not be able to prevent him from releasing everything he has. It would be a pyrrhic victory at best.”

It was like a riddle where everyone who had the power to act was prevented from acting, and those who could act did not have the power. Fortunately Garrick thought he could see a way around it. Maybe.

“Logically then the only ones who can act are the ones with the least chance of success. Only Diogenes agents can stop him releasing the information because they too have free will that cannot be restricted in any way. But if they do so then because the Choir also warned them, then the Choir would effectively be using them as agents.”

“All of which means that the Choir would be placed in a difficult position – at least according to your rules. If Diogenes acts against Benedict that would mean you would have gone against Benedict's free willed decision. If you prevent that happening you would have to act against Diogenes’ equally free willed decision. And you can't do either.”

Garrick had no idea which option they would choose if it came down to it, or what the consequences for the Choir would be.

“To add to the problems, if Diogenes acts and somehow succeeds in stopping Benedict, there will still be more consequences. And I'm guessing that the major one will be that the deal between Diogenes and the Choir falls through. I’m guessing that you don't want that. Do you?”