“So let me get this straight,” Lena said calmly. “The drug dealing Tigers were really Underworlders?”
“Yes,” both Gregori and I said together.
“And they came up with this elaborate plan so they could just…kidnap you?” She pointed at me.
I grimaced and then looked down at my hands. “Yes.”
“Well then…”
She started tapping her pen on the desk. I got the sudden feeling that she was about to kick me to the curb. She couldn’t continue to put her people in danger because of me and I was more trouble than I was worth.
“Lena, I’m…”
“It’s not her fault,” Gregori cut me off. “I let the bouncer lead us into a trap. If you’re going to punish anyone, punish me. She didn’t do anything wrong. Just followed my lead like I told her.”
Lena stopped tapping the pen and studied the two of us. Her bright eyes looked from one of us to the next, her face completely neutral.
“When the clean up crew went back, they discovered seven dead and two wounded.” She opened the drawer of her desk and pulled out my knife I’d stabbed the guy with. “As usual, the Underworlders left their dead and wounded and fled the scene, leaving no trace of their whereabouts behind.”
She handed me the knife handle first and I took it.
“Now, I’m inclined to let this…mishap slide as long as the two of you promise me she’ll stay out of the field for a few days in case these Underworlders resurface.”
“Ok,” we both said.
She nodded. “Good. Gregori, the coroner pulled all seven slugs out of the bodies and identified them as yours. Once you confirm the kills, you’ll get your marks…”
“That’s not really the point…”
“I know that,” she snapped at him. He stopped talking and covered his mouth with his hand. “I placed her with you for a reason. If I wasn’t getting reports from your underlings that reflect how well her training is going, I would revoke your mentoring duties and place her with someone else.”
“But…”
She shot me a look and I stopped talking.
“However, because of her particular…situation, I’m forced not to. But I’m warning you both now. If something like this happens again, I will place her with someone else. Understood?”
We both nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Gregori, Ashley has the confirmation papers, make sure you sign them before leaving. Georgiana, I need to speak with you alone, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Gregori got up from his chair and left, without looking at me or even acknowledging me. I had a feeling he was mad at me for some reason and I didn’t know why. The fact that he was mad didn’t make me feel all that great. My stomach did a flip and I got a little depressed. Not ‘black mood’ depressed but normal depressed.
“Georgiana?”
The door closed and I looked at her. “Ma’am?”
“I got…an interesting report that correlates with last night.” I waited for her to say something else, not really sure if I was supposed to respond to that or not. “Apparently, one of the eyewitnesses said they saw what they thought was a angel surrounded in white light, come down from the ceiling and scoop a man and a woman out of the club.” She came out from around her desk and sat in the chair Gregori vacated. “Would you happen to know anything about that?”
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, ma’am, but…there was a lot of drinking going on in that club. Possible drug use…”
“The eyewitness happened to be completely sober. The men made sure.”
“I can’t say I saw anything like that, no. Sorry.”
“Umhm. Tell me, how did you and Gregori get out of the club again?”
“I can’t really remember. It’s all pretty much a blur.”
“Georgiana,” she folded her hands under her chin, “you can tell me the truth. Nothing you say will leave this office. I swear.”
“I am telling you the truth, Lena. I don’t know what happened. It felt like one second we were running through the crowd and the next we were outside.”
“That’s what Gregori said too.” She sighed but kept looking at me with keen eyes. If I were anyone else, I probably would’ve faltered under her scrutiny but I was Tiberius Vertigo’s daughter. I was used to getting the intense eye. I’d grown immune to it a long time ago. “Alright. You can go.”
I got up and scampered out of her office. I half expected Gregori to be waiting on me but he wasn’t there. It sort of…stung that he wasn’t there. I rubbed my neck and looked down at my feet. I was still in the same clothes as last night, not having a chance to change or shower since we’d spent a good portion of the night reporting in. It was now four in the morning and all I wanted was a shower and to go to bed.
“Ms. Vertigo,” Ashley said, stopping me from continuing out the door. “Mr. Phillies left a message for you.”
I turned and looked at her, completely surprised. She held out a folded slip of paper. I took it and nodded my thanks. I headed out in the hallway and unfolded it.
Grab something to eat and meet me in my office. We need to talk.
Oh that couldn’t be good. I went to my room, showered and changed, then grabbed something to eat from my kitchen before heading up to his office. The Security Office itself was pretty quiet. The members on surveillance duty sat at their stations, nodding hellos to me as I passed.
I knocked on his door and waited.
“Come in.”
I opened the door and went in. He didn’t look up from the paperwork he was reading.
“Have a seat.”
I sat.
He finished with the paperwork and closed the file. He capped his pen and then finally looked up at me. Unlike usual, he looked me straight in the eyes, creating that weird vortex thing where all the sound drained out of the room and the only thing that was real was him and me.
I still had no clue what that was or what it meant.
So I avoided it as much as possible.
“I’m going to ask you this once and I want you to give me an honest answer.”
“Uh…ok.”
“What happened last night?”
“You killed seven bad people?”
He remained perfectly calm. “I mean after that.”
“I told you…”
“Your knife was off.” He slapped a picture down on the desk and I let out a breath. I thought he’d want to talk about how we got out of the club. The whole time I was taking a shower, getting ready, and then walking here, I’d been trying to come up with something he would believe that I was actually allowed to tell him. “Clearly we need to work on that.”
“You’re—you’re not going to ask me about…”
“We need to work on your marksmanship.” He folded his hands over his chest. “As for the other thing…you don’t want to talk about it so I’m not going to say anything.”
I let out a breath. “Thank you.”
“Finish eating and then we have things to do.” He grabbed the picture and put it back in its perspective folder.
“Wait, what?”
“Training. On marksmanship. Did you not get that part?”
“But I haven’t even been to bed yet.”
“Neither have I but it’s obvious this is something that needs to be addressed immediately. You never know when those pesky Underworlders are going to pop up. And since you’re not allowed out on the field for the next couple of days, we’re going to work on that. When I can’t help you, Jesse or James will.”
Was he trying to punish me? It was because I wouldn’t tell him what was really happened…I just knew it. I stood up suddenly, my chair scrapping against the floor as it was shoved back.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m tired beyond belief. My muscles feel like they’re going to fall off the bone. I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn at the moment and you want me to work on my marksmanship?” I threw my sandwich at him and it smacked him right on the forehead. “Screw you. I quit.”
I turned on my heel and walked out of his office.
He caught up with me out in the hallway.
“You do this every week.”
“Shut up. I mean it this time.”
“You say that every week too.”
I stopped and stared at him. “Do you pick on me on purpose or is this just something you do with everyone?”
“I’m not picking on you. Training is supposed to be intense.”
“I think I’ve gotten all the intensity I need out of it. You covered all of your bases including sleeping on a cot in my room, remember? Neither of us had any personal space for three weeks.”
“Yeah, I still have a crick in my back from that thing.”
He proved the fact my putting a hand on the small of his back and stretching. I rolled my eyes and stepped behind him, batting away his hand.
“You do know when you put me through all of this, you go through it too?” He looked over his shoulder and glared at me. “Where does it hurt?”
“I don’t…ah, yeah, right there.”
I tried not to laugh at him as I tried to work out the knot in the small of his back but it was kinda hard. He always reminded me of one of those dogs who were always on guard but one scratch behind their ears they melted like butter.
“You’ve really got to relax more,” I commented.
“I have…a protégé…like you. I don’t…have time…to relax…ah, yeah. That feels good.”
“How about we break until noon and pick up after your ceremony? That way we both get some rest.”
I’d learned that after lunch was usually when they had the ceremony for the marks. Apparently it was no different for him as he started to nod but then shook his head.
“No. We have…” I stopped massaging his back and he looked at me. “Hey. I didn’t tell you to stop.”
“You don’t give me back rubs at the end of a hard day which just happens to be every day. So none for you unless you agree to a break.”
“I tell you what.” He took my hand and put it back on his back. “Finish my back rub and at the end of today I’ll give you one.”
“Um, no.” I took my hand back. “That doesn’t work for me. I want a nap not a back rub.”
“Geo…”
“I’m serious. I want a nap.”
“Fine but I’m taking a nap on your couch too. That thing is extremely comfortable. It’s like sleeping on a cloud.”
I rolled my eyes. “Some days you irritate me more than anyone ever has.”
He smiled. “I’m your mentor. I’m supposed to irritate you, piss you off, and be your friend. Now. Massage.”
“Well then, as a friend, let me just say…” I paused and he waited.
“Yes?”
I stopped and rubbed my forehead. “I have this massive headache.”
He chuckled. He didn’t think I was serious but I was. Then I got that feeling like I was about to fall asleep. I stumbled a little even though I was standing still and I knew immediately what was happening.
“Ah crap!”
I took off down the hall, running at full speed so I could pass out in bed instead of on the hallway floor. They could only talk to me when I was asleep and by the way they were tugging at me, they really wanted to talk to me.
“Geo!”
“Hurry up! I don’t have all day!”
Luckily the adrenaline pumping through my veins kept me from falling asleep instantly. God damn those freaking Angels! I got to my door and unlocked it. By my estimation I had a good two or three minutes to get myself prepared. I shucked my jeans and my shirt, hoping Raphael would give me enough time to do what I needed to.
Gregori jogged into the room, a look of surprise springing to his face at finding me almost naked, and he screeched to a halt. I finished pulling a nightshirt over my head.
“Close the door.”
“Geo…”
“Just…I don’t have a lot of time. Close the door.”
He frowned and closed the door. “What was that? If you really wanted a nap that bad…”
“Ok. I’m going to get this out before I can’t. Something is about to happen to me that I can’t explain right now or even when I wake up.”
“Geo…”
“I need you not to freak out, ok? Don’t try to wake me up because it’s not going to work and you’re just going to worry yourself to death.” I looked around my apartment. “Clicker for the TV is on the couch. I DVRed War Of The Worlds and I Am Number Four. If you want to order anything, go ahead. The bill is paid for the month. Um…”
“Geo,” he came forward and gripped my arms, “what’s going on?”
I started getting that light headed feeling that you get before you pass out. My eyes started rolling around in their sockets, my eyelids getting heavy. I was really tired all of a sudden.
“There’s—beer in the fr—idge that you le—ft from before. Ja—ck is in the fr—freezer…”
“Geo…”
“If I’m not aw—” I blinked a few times trying to clear my head for five seconds, “awake for your ceremony, I’m sorry. But remember, don’t freak out.”
That burn in my arm started and I turned around trying to find something soft to land on.
“Geo…”
“One more thing.” I whirled around and almost fell over. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
His voice was softer than I’d ever heard it. I didn’t know him to ever talk that softly.
“I don’t know if I’m going to wake up. So I’m just going to say this.” I swallowed and blinked to get rid of the fuzzies that were ringing my vision. “You saved me when you didn’t have to. You made me feel normal again when I didn’t think it would ever happen. You also shot that Underworlder before he could eat me…anyways, thank you.”
“Geo,” he moved closer so my skin was heated like I’d been sitting in the sun all day, “what’s happening?”
“Someone wants to talk to me and they can’t do it in person.”
“I don’t understand.”
The burn kicked up a notch and the sleepiness got worse. “You’re not supposed to and I can’t tell you. I’m really, really sorry about that because I feel like I can tell you anything.”
“Geo…”
And that’s when Raphael tugged me under.