Thief: X (3 page)

“Adram, we need to get out of here now,”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“I’m curious…”

“Curiosity killed the cat.” And, whatever had done this was watching us. “Seriously I don’t like this.” I pulled my Glock and slipped the safety off. “We’re being watched and whatever did this managed to kill so fast they didn’t make a noise.”

“Well, it’s not a demon because I would have felt it by now. Can you tell what it is from the sin?” Adram looked worried, hell I was worried. It had been a long time since I went up against something that had this amount of sin.

A dark shadow scuttled across the wall and made Adram jump enough for him to grab hold of me,

“I never had you down as a scaredy cat Adram…”

“We have to get out of her NOW!” He grabbed my arm and started dragging me away. In all the time I had known him Adram had never, ever been scared. Oh, he’d faked it many a time, but the sweat forming on his brow made my heart skip a beat. “Please Xan, you can’t beat it, you have to run.”

“I’ve never ran in my life.” I pulled my arm away and stared at him. I heard the scraping of claws against the marble floor and I froze. Whatever Adram was scared of was right behind me.

Slowly I turned and Adram was right; I should have ran. I could tell what was standing in front of me had been human at some point. Its humanity had been stripped bare and its body had been contorted into the beast it now was. Skin strained against its bones like it was emaciated and its spine jutted from its back making it unable to stand upright. This really, really wasn’t good.

“What the hell is it?” I whispered to Adram to find that he had already vanished, “Why do I even bother being surprised anymore?” I may not know what it was but I was about to kill it.

I aimed and fired. Not many things could come back from a head shot, especially with a silver bullet but this thing just looked at me. Its long tongue licked across its head leaving a river of slime over the wound. Eww and eww! It sat looking at me like a really ugly puppy,

“Don’t move…” Apparently Adram was back,

“I just shot that thing in the head with a silver bullet.”

“It’s a Tracker and it looks like it’s found what it was looking for.”

“Let me guess, me?”

“Yep,” Adram whispered so close I felt his breath on the back of my neck.

“Where the hell did you go? I thought…”

“I’d leave you? I did.”

“Well thanks.” I practically growled,

“Trackers are brutal but they didn’t cause this. They lack finesse and opposable thumbs to be able to create death in that manner.” The Tracker was still licking at its head ignoring us,

“So, what do we do?”

“I have no idea. I’m a demon not a hero.” Well wasn’t that just great. Before I could argue that he was supposed to help me, there was an almighty boom and a cloud of gas started to fill the room.

“What now?”

“That would be the cavalry…maybe…I should go.” Adram blinked out and I was left looking at the Tracker. Or I would have been if it hadn’t already run off. I needed to get out here but the gas was…was…

“On the floor now!” I didn’t have the option as my legs fell from under me and I face planted the cold marble.

My head was spinning. Torches were shining through the gas cloud and then someone in a gas mask was looking down at me.

“Who…?”

“We have her. No sign of the perpetrator. Yes sir. Come on out.” I was about to argue when a foot came down on my head. Fuck!

I was standing on the top of a hill as the world below me burned into oblivion. The heavens were crying and I was laughing. Beside me, Cain held me close to him as demons, angels and humans alike fell to their knees in surrender. He turned to me and smiled,

“Soon.”

“Wake up before I throw a bucket of cold water over you.”

I jerked awake not knowing whether it was the guilt from the dream or the threat of cold water in my face. The only problem was, my face had literally stuck to the table I’d been propped against and I was chained. Some fucker had chained me! I jerked upright in the seat and tried not to look at my drool on the table as I yanked at the chains.

“I suggest you stop that immediately or I won’t be able to stop the consequences.” A fat, blading man sat opposite me sucking on a Cuban cigar. That in itself was sacrilege, a Cuban deserved to be smoked, not sucked on like a dummy. I snarled at him and pulled at the chains again. Before I could rant and rave in his face, a current of electricity pulsed through my body making me scream. The second I got my breath back, I was going to have a few un-lady like things to say.

“Please don’t do that again.”

I looked up panting, “I’m going to kill you and then I’m going to smoke that cigar!”

“I very much doubt you’ll ever get to kill me.” He actually believed himself so I snorted.

“Look, as much as I love your hospitality, what the hell do you want?”

“You.” I glared at him. The fuzziness of being knocked out with gas was finally lifting and I suddenly realised he was wearing a soldiers uniform. Although it was starting to border on being excessively tight for his overgrown gut. It also dawned on me that he was probably blaming me for the deaths of the guards.

“If you think I killed those men…”

“Miss Trescott, I know exactly who you are. Although you
have
killed people, many people in fact, you’ve always been meticulous. That massacre was left to be noticed.” He threw a folder on the table and I cringed as I saw my name stamped on it. “Clive, will you bring the other guest in.” We were obviously being watched, because there was no one else in the room other than a blinking red light on a camera.

“Look there’s obviously been a mistake.” Although that dossier on me looked rather thick. I couldn’t finish my little protest because the side door opened and three men walked in; one of them being in chains. I rolled my eyes when I realised who it was.

“Sit, Mr Walker.” What in the hell was the cowboy doing here?

“Sir, I’m a United States Texas Ranger and I demand to know why I’m here and chained like a thief.” He stared at me as he said thief, and I couldn’t resist flipping him the bird.

“Sit!”

“Look, who the hell are you?” Marshall might have sat down all broody but I still had a mouth in my head and I was going to use it.

“You can call me the Major.”

“Is that ‘the’ with a capital letter, making you The Major or ‘Major’ like, I dunno, Prince.” The Major looked at me obviously not liking my referral to pop culture and his so-called name,

“The Major is fine Miss Trescott. It’s quite simple why you’re both here. Mr Walker here was following you so we rounded him up at the same time as we acquired you.” I glared at Marshall, who shrugged,

“Look, I didn’t steal anything important. In fact, I was re-appropriating lost property to its owner.”

“I know all about you and your talents and Mr Walker here is an added bonus. It saves me a lot of time trying to find someone willing to work with you.”

“I work alone.” I almost spat the words out. It wasn’t quite true, because Adram seemed to follow me,

“We both know that isn’t true. Your pet demon seems to pop up with you in tow.” Shit he knew about Adram and talking of the pest, where the hell was he?

“Are you trying to make me believe that there are demons out there?” Marshall sniggered and I wanted to bat him around the head with my hand.

“Didn’t you know he’s a non-believer?” I smiled at the Major, who was starting to go red with temper,

“Even so, he followed you and he has a similar goal to us.”

“Us?” Why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut?

“That would be me…” One of the men who had followed Marshall in was dressed in a boring grey suit that looked like it belonged in the eighties and his slicked black hair made him look even greasier than he probably was. He was holding a clipboard and clicking away at his pen and that was starting to grate on my very, last nerve. The most interesting thing, other than him looking like a peeping tom, was his American accent.

“It seems Mr Walker here has come into the country under false pretences and according to our surveillance had a meeting with you two nights ago. That doesn’t happen very often does it Xan?” I hated the American already, and I really wanted to stick that pen so far up his arse he could taste ink,

“Clive, that’s enough. Miss Trescott, both the British and American military would like to offer you a job.” I nearly choked,

“What?”

“We need your unique…skills unfortunately.” Clive grunted and wrote something on his clipboard,

“What if I say no?” Not that I thought it was even a possibility. They had taken me by force so there was no way they would accept no,

“The thing that I’ve never understood about you Miss Trescott is that you still have ties to family. Most assassins protect their identities fiercely so as not to have their family used against them. You on the other hand have loving parents and a brother and it would be such a shame for them to be brought into this mess.”

“You touch them and I’ll kill you!” I jumped up, but the other soldier in the room restrained me back into my seat.

“I’m not saying we would hurt them in any way, but they may not fare quite so well with others.” I was already thinking of different ways to kill him, “In fact my dear, I was surprised that you were so easily caught. Your reputation promised so much more.”

“Well, as you probably already know I’m not really an assassin. People simply get in my way and I deal with them.” I made a mental note to make sure the Major got in my way at some point,

“I’m sorry to interrupt this power struggle y’all have going on but what does this have to do with me?” Marshall was too polite for his own good,

“Ah, did you not set out to find Miss Trescott? It’s a long way to travel for help. Then again, you’ve tried others to no avail haven’t you? Miss Trescott was your last hope to find your kidnapped daughter.” My heart sank. If he had told me he wanted me to find his daughter, I would have done it. Kibble should have told me. I would be having words with the troll.

“No one would take on my case once they found out who I believed took her. I followed their trail here and I needed someone in the UK to help me.” He looked at me and frowned, probably because I had turned him down.

“Your arrival was unexpected but I believe we both want the same thing and the help of a Texas Ranger cannot be over looked. I stopped believing in coincidences a very long time ago Mr Walker. I want you both to find Clockwork and bring him in.” Marshall and I looked at each other. I cringed,

“I can understand why Marshall wanted me to find Clockwork but why you?” I may be slow sometimes but I wasn’t stupid,

“He’s become somewhat of a pest and now he’s crossed over into this country, we want him detained as soon as possible. We don’t know whether Clockwork is supernatural in nature, but the way he kills it seems likely he is. I believe the deaths tonight are his handiwork and it has to stop before he creates mass panic. From information gathered from our American counterparts he’s been kidnapping children over the last five years, although only a handful have ever been reported missing.”

“What’s that on your chin?” I rubbed my own chin, which made him do the same, “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought I saw a little bullshit drip down on it.” The look on the Major’s face was murderous as I smiled sweetly back. “You have people who can take this thing out. The only reason you want me to bring it in is so you can catalogue it.”

“Yes, there are others more qualified than you to handle this situation but you have no choice but to accept this agreement. Not only will you be imprisoned for the rest of your life for the grisly murders of those guards, but also your family will prosecuted for harbouring a criminal. I’m sure the shame and exposure would no doubt bankrupt your father.” I glared, but he knew he had me.

“I work alone.”

“Not anymore.” Clive chimed in,

“Do you guarantee to find my daughter?”

“That would be entirely up to how successful your partnership will be with Miss Trescott here.”

“I suppose I have to sign something?” I may as well give in to my fate. Clive placed a piece of paper in front of me. Yes, I should have read it but there was no point. He handed me a pen and I signed. Clive smiled and then placed another and another. I was probably signing away my first born child but I didn’t have a choice. Clive then did the same with Marshall.

“Can you undo the cuffs then if I’m now an employee?” The Major nodded to the soldier who pulled out a key and released me, then Marshall. I rubbed at my wrists and sighed. I hated being backed into a corner.

The Major pulled out a silver lighter and clicked at it making it flame into life, “Remember Miss Trescott, your whole life can change as easy as this.” He blew out the flame and then placed the lighter on the table with his hands either side of it.

“I don’t like threats ‘
THE’
Major.”
I spat out ‘the’. I loved sarcasm.

“I’d rather have your word than a piece of paper. I’ve learned over the years it can be more binding than anything else.” One thing was sure the Major was used to supernaturals. Most would never be governed by a piece of paper but their word was their bond.

“Ok, you have it.”

“Good,” he clapped his hands together, “I suggest you go eat something because you look awful.” I probably did. I never looked my best after I had nearly starved myself, shifted twice and
then
knocked out with gas! I was going to give the Major a dose of his own medicine.

“You’re right.” I said placing my hand on his.

He obviously didn’t know everything about me because he wouldn’t have been so careless. Before he could pull away I had locked onto a sin. I couldn’t always see what the sin was and most the time if I actually committed little sins myself it would keep the hunger at bay but I was hungry. Hungry meant I didn’t have full control and I soon found myself in an all I could eat buffet. The Major had been a very bad boy. I took one of the surface sins and drank it down. It was enough for now. I took my hand away, and the Major looked at me stunned. I watched his cigar fall from his mouth onto the table. I picked it up, smiled at the fact it wasn’t as soggy as it looked and lit it, taking a long hard drag,

“I told you I was going to smoke that cigar, but luckily I’ve decided to kill you later.”

“You do that again, and I’ll add you to the catalogue!” The Major was in my face. I puffed smoke at him and laughed,

“You have me now, but I never agreed to behave.” Marshall was looking at me in horror, probably because I was smoking a cigar, and I wondered exactly how long it would take me to make him believe.