The Severed Thread (2 page)

“I want to see him,” I announced.

“I think you should hold off until we have had a chance to move him from the trauma room.”  I knew what he really meant was that they wanted to clean him up so that his appearance was more orderly, more sterile.

“No,” I replied firmly.  “Now.”

“Ms. Lassiter,” the doctor tried again.  “I think you should really wait.”

“Why?” I met his concerned gaze with my determined one.  “Could anything I see in there be worse than what I saw in my driveway this morning?”  The doctor chewed on that a moment before loudly blowing out a defeated breath. 

“No, I suppose not,” he finally admitted.  “I will send a nurse out in a minute to take you back.”  He very obviously did not think this was a great idea but I really couldn’t have cared less.   He left me standing in the hallway to await the nurse.  Thankfully I was not kept waiting long.

 “Ms. Lassiter?” a gentle voice asked from behind me.  I turned to see that the speaker was a scrub clad young woman in her mid-twenties.  “Doctor Baramey sent me to escort you back to see your brother’s body.”  I blanched. 

Body.
  The word hung heavy in the air around us.  Gone was the man everyone called Jason.  Now there was only
the body
.

I swallowed heavily because despite the confident stance I had taken with the doctor, I was nervous.  Before I could chicken out, I forced myself to nod and follow her down the hall to the trauma room.  Just outside the door, she stopped me with a gentle hand on my forearm. 

“If you need anything, press the call button on the wall,” she instructed sympathetically.  “Take as long as you need.”  My eyes flashed to her hospital badge.  Her name was Sally.  I cannot remember the last time I met someone as young as her named Sally. 

“Thank you,” I said before pushing through the door into the room.

I stopped in my tracks at the grisly sight before me.  The absolute stillness of the room was suffocating, the metallic stench of blood, overwhelming.  To my right Jason’s hastily removed clothes, obviously cut from his body, were lying in tatters on a rolling stainless steel tray.  I forced myself to move further into the room, treading carefully to avoid the bloody gauze pads that littered the floor. 

“I know you’re here,” I said into the stillness.

The air shimmered briefly before revealing a nearly seven foot tall, sun kissed man with glowing blue wings.  Golden haired, he was wearing his usual white tunic and brown homespun pants.  If not for the wings, his appearance would be nearly monochromatic.  His name was Naris and he was standing near the foot of the bed looking down at Jason.

“I thought you said you were keeping an eye on him?” I accused.  Jason was always getting into some dubious investment or another but never anything that should have gotten him killed.  When he’d asked to meet me this morning, I had expected to hear about some misguided financial escapade.  Instead I was covered in his blood and he was dead.

“I was,” he assured me, still looking at Jason.  “I was prevented from interfering.”

“Prevented?” I asked incredulously.  
Who or what could prevent a Guardian from intervening?
  “By whom?”  He turned to face me, his features etched in sadness.

“Those who decide,” he replied simply, like that should explain everything.  I really wish I knew what the
hell
that meant.

Naris and I had been together since I was six years old when he first appeared to me in the brightly hued rows of my mother’s rose garden.  I was crouched down intently watching the path of a stick bug hidden among the branches. 

“That is quite the discovery,” he had said from behind me.  I was young and like most children had not been overwhelmingly alarmed by the presence of a stranger.  I had puffed up proudly at my find before it ever occurred to me to ask why he was in my mother’s garden.

That first day among the flowers he told me he was sent to watch over me.  He was a Guardian and I was his charge.  I had never heard of a Guardian but the story sounded reasonable to my six year old self.  Later that evening, when I told my mother about Naris’ visit, she thought that he was just an imaginary friend, a figment of my imagination.  She explained that Guardians were make-believe, the stuff of legend.  Certainly not something that would show up in the garden to talk with her six year old daughter.  Looking back on it now, it seems odd to me that she did not wonder how I even knew about Guardians.  She had never told me about them and there was absolutely no chance my father had done so.    

When I was a teenager I tried to learn more about my mysterious protector but I never did discover anyone else who had one.  All the references implied that they were considered a myth.  I only knew that Naris seemed to be a permanent fixture in my life, someone who over the years I had begun to think of as a mentor and friend.  That being said, you would think by now I would better understand the tenets that governed his actions.  I didn’t.

The only thing I truly did understand was that he was permitted to intervene when things were not proceeding according to The Plan.  Naris had explained to me that The Plan was the grand design set out for all beings in the universe and that nothing he did could be contrary to it.  I’m not sure how he knew which actions were contrary and which weren’t.  That information seemed to be embedded into the very essence of who he was.  

“Who are
they
exactly,” I asked in frustration.

“They are.”
Well that wasn’t cryptic or anything,
I thought
.
  Not exactly helpful but completely expected when it came to Naris.  Spending the last twenty-four years in his company had accustomed me to regular doses of bewildering explanations.

“Did you at least see who did this?” I hissed, pointing at Jason’s lifeless body.

He opened his mouth to respond but no words came.  He looked confused for a moment and then a cool blue washed over his normally warm toned skin, followed quickly by scarlet. 

He looked at me sadly before replying.  “I cannot say.”  I took a moment to digest that before another question occurred to me.

“I thought you knew when it was a person’s time?” I couldn’t seem to keep the accusation out of my voice.  “Did you know it was Jason’s time and keep it from me?”

“No,” he said while shaking his head sadly.  “The hour of his death was written far into the future.  Something changed….”  He let the words trail off.  Either he did not know why or was unwilling to say.

I turned away from Naris to look over at Jason’s still form.  “You should go now.”

“I am sorry Abigail.  But you must remember, I am your Guardian, I was never Jason’s.  As such, my ability to intervene on his behalf was… limited.” 

I did not acknowledge his words even though I knew it wasn’t fair of me to lay blame at his feet.   The reasonable part of me whispered that I should feel fortunate to have a Guardian at all.  But today I did not feel lucky, nor did I feel like being fair.  I let out a relieved breath when I felt the slight disturbance in the room’s overwhelming stillness that signaled Naris’ departure.

I approached the bed and reached out to touch what was once a vital man.  My hands were shaking and the overhead light glinted off the pinky ring Jason had given me for my twenty-first birthday.  That little flash of reflected light was my undoing.  The tears started, and I never thought they would stop.  I knelt on the floor with Jason’s hand grasped in mine. 

“Who did this to you?” I moaned, knowing I would never get an answer.  I was floating in an ocean of tears, a veritable deluge of sorrow and loss and not a small amount of fear.  The fear I knew was rational and healthy.  Something Jason had been involved in had changed The Plan, and that was a truly frightening thought.

Chapter 2

“Ms. Lassiter?”  I looked up to find Sally standing near the door.   I don’t know how long I had been there kneeling on the floor crying.  I felt worn and thin, like my nerves were too close to the surface of my skin.  Not a good state for someone like me.  I rubbed my eyes with my hands, trying to wipe away some of the salty moisture.  Sally quickly walked to a counter on the far wall and came back with a box of tissues.

“Thank you,” I said as I took several from the box before wiping my face and blowing my nose.  My eyes and sinuses ached from all the crying.

“I hate to bother you but there are two agents from the Interspecies Bureau out in the waiting area that want to speak with you.”  She frowned apologetically.  “I put them off as long as possible, but they finally insisted that I come get you.”

I grimaced.  I knew this was coming but had hoped to put it off for as long as possible.  Before I dealt with them though, I desperately needed to splash some water on my face.  My eyes ached and I needed a moment to shore up my tattered defenses.

“Is there someplace I can go wash my face before I have to see them?” 

“Absolutely,” she said sympathetically.  “Follow me.”

I turned back for one final look at the shell where my brother once resided.  “Goodbye little brother,” I whispered.

Sally led me to a different restroom than the one where I had washed my hands earlier.  Going there would have required me to walk past the agents on the way.  Sally had kindly taken me to one further down the hall away from the waiting room.  

I barely recognized the haunted woman with the swollen, red rimmed grey eyes staring back at me from the mirror.  My skin was blotchy and wispy clumps of silvery blond hair hung about my face, having long ago escaped the confines of this morning’s simple French twist.  I untangled the barrette from my sagging hair and finger combed the long, knotted strands before twisting and clipping the hair back upon my head. 
Better
.

I turned on the cold water, filling my palms and tried holding the icy cups up to my eyes.  I hoped the water would act like a cold compress and reduce the swelling.  It seemed to help with the soreness a bit but I still looked blotchy, red and swollen.  Not exactly Miss America but it would have to do.

I was not surprised that my brother’s death warranted a visit from the Interspecies Bureau.  Our father worked for the government, and our family owned Lassiter Shipping.  It was one of the largest shipping companies with the US as its flag state.  It also happened to be the only one not held by a human conglomerate because we Lassiters are definitely not human.  We are elves.

The global supernatural community first came out of the closet in 1987; three years after Sir
Alec Jeffreys
came forward with his research on human DNA profiling.  When the first commercial DNA blood testing facility opened its doors in the UK, it was clear that widespread genetic testing capability was just around the corner.  Once that happened, the supernatural community realized that it would be nearly impossible to hide their existence. 

So in 1987, on a historic morning in May, PR firms around the world sent simultaneous press releases to all major media outlets.  The announcement proclaimed the existence of Weres, shifters, vampires and all manner of supernatural creatures living peacefully within the larger human community.  It also unveiled the newly created Coalition for Assimilation and Relationship Establishment, CARE for short.  CARE proclaimed the desire to peacefully begin talks with government officials globally about integrating members of the preternatural community openly into society.

Over the ensuing months all manner of non-humans came out of the proverbial closet at every professional level and in all areas of government worldwide.  This period in world history became known as The Revelation.  The Revelation went better in some countries than in others.  Western Europe and Australia had the least difficulty embracing the news, while countries in the Middle East as well as large regions in Africa and Asia had the worst.  Hate groups popped up everywhere.

  The ensuing global dilemma of equal rights and citizenship made it apparent to local and national officials in the US that the then current governmental structure needed an overhaul.  In 1993 the five regional senates were created; Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Midsouth and West.  The senates did not replace the existing government; they were just another layer in the process.  They were responsible for oversight of the states in their region so that peace and equality could be maintained for all the races.  At least that was the idea.  It was a rocky road to achieving that goal, but for the most part, the governmental restructure was effective. 

Jason and I were born into an influential elven family firmly entrenched in the new political machine in the US.  Our father was a member of the Northeast Regional Senate, aptly dubbed the NRS.  The region encompassed all the New England states as well as New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

When our father took his senate seat it became apparent that he couldn’t be effective in both running the company and managing his responsibilities to the NRS.  Since I was already working as his assistant, he moved me into the Managing Director position.  I became responsible for daily business operations and most of the mundane decisions.  Anything big still had to go through him.

Jason worked with me; at least that is how I always looked at it.  He became the Operations Director.  Unfortunately, he saw it as working
for
me.  My position definitely chafed him a bit at first, but he finally seemed to settle into his role.  And really, it was a much better fit for him than reviewing spreadsheets and talking to accountants. 

He had a more hands on job that involved making sure all of the cargo was moved into and out of the shipyards without mishap.  To make sure the customs paperwork provided by our clients was filed correctly and to contact customs officials if anything unusual appeared in any transaction.  It was perfect for him.  He had the type of charm that worked well with the ship captains, port authority officials and crewman.  He had a charisma that made people like him.

The down side of his position was it also brought him into contact with less than savory characters wanting to transport things that would never make it onto manifests; primarily, controlled substances and illegal weaponry.  I was worried because I couldn’t think of any reason that someone would want to kill Jason – unless he had somehow gotten involved in the darker side of the international shipping business.