Crimes Against Magic (14 page)

When my heart rate finally lowered, I expected my actions to overwhelm me. I'd killed someone. But I didn't feel sad or sick. Just like my recent fights, there was no panic or concern in me. Only acceptance for what needed to be done. I didn't even know how I'd made the shot. But I did know that whoever had sent the men to take Dani wouldn't stop.

I left the motorway as soon as possible, taking the quieter back roads in case anyone was watching the main roads. At one point I parked the car down a dark lane when I heard police sirens nearby. When they'd revealed themselves to be ambulances instead, I knew I needed to wait before I set off again. I was too wired on adrenaline, and that doesn't bode well for driving safely or making good decisions.

By the time I reached London and stopped the car, it was midnight. I left Dani asleep in the car and ran the short distance to ring the bell for Holly's flat. "Who is it?" she asked a moment later, playfulness in her voice, accompanied by a second voice somewhere behind her.

I'd forgotten about her date. That could cause an interesting situation. "Holly, it’s Nate. I'm in deep shit."

Chapter 15

Holly stood in her open door, motionless, mouth agape, for what felt like hours. "Can we come in, then?" I asked.

She looked behind me. "We?" 

I raised my index finger to get her to wait a moment and dashed back to the car. Dani had woken up and was sobbing into her hands in great big breaths. I opened the car door and crouched beside her. 

"I'm sorry," I whispered. Asking her if she was okay would have been beyond stupid.

"She wasn't even my mum. Do you think he was being honest about that?" she asked through the tears.

What could I say to that? There was no answer I could give that would make what had happened into something better. But I decided the truth was the way forward. "I don't think he had any reason to lie."

She nodded once, as if understanding my words, but I doubted it was going to sink in that easily. "I always wished I'd been adopted and my real family would come find me. But now... I..." She trailed off as fresh tears fell from her eyes.

"I know. Come on, let's get you somewhere warm." Dani took my hand, falling onto me once out of the car. We walked together, toward Holly, with my arm around her. "I'll explain when we get upstairs," I told Holly.

She moved aside and led the way up two flights of stairs to her flat. "What happened?" Holly whispered as I lowered Dani onto her couch and passed her some cushions and a throw that had been draped over the back. Within seconds, Dani was asleep. 

I was about to explain what my day had consisted off, when a man walked out of Holly's bedroom. He wore only a pair of dark blue jeans and a smile, which faded when he saw me. I had to fight whatever instinct inside me reached for the gun. 

"Who are you?" he asked me.

"Slight change of plans, hon," Holly said. "This is my friend, Nate. Something's come up. I don't think it's going to work tonight."

"Fucking what?" he asked her with more than a little anger in his voice. "You're the one who asked me to come over to see you. These guys can wait out here for half hour."

Holly laughed. "More like ten minutes, isn't it really? Anyway, you can get your stuff and go."

He stormed off into the bedroom, re-emerging a few minutes later wearing boots and a shirt, which was still open down the front. "You're a fucking cock tease," he said pointing at Holly.

His eyes went wide when he noticed the gun barrel against his nose.

"I'm so very much not in the mood for this shit." My voice was utterly calm. "Say sorry and leave."

"You're...fucking insane," he stammered, looking down the barrel at me. He glanced at Holly. "Sorry." He almost ran from the building. 

"I could have dealt with him myself." Holly's eyes were set on the gun.

"Of that I have no doubt. But time's sort of a factor here. Besides, I'm not in the mood for assholes."

"When did you start using one of those, anyway?"

"Tonight. It was a gift from whoever decided to hire me to save Dani."

Holly stared at the gun for a moment longer and I replaced it in its holster. "What happened?"

 "It'll be easier to explain once I've got my bags." One quick journey to the Nissan later and everything in the car's boot was on Holly's bed.

"Whom does the car belong to?" Holly asked.

"Me, I guess. It was left for me by my mysterious employer."

"Explain everything. Slowly."

I started the story from the job at Mars Warfare and finished when I arrived at her home. "Holy shit," she whispered. "So Mars Warfare is involved."

"Really? That's the impression you got?" I sighed. "Sorry to snap. But, yes they're as bent as a nine bob note. Unfortunately, I think going back there would have stark similarities to the end of 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'."

Holly raised an eyebrow in question. 

"Seriously? The 'Charge of the Light Brigade', you've never heard of it? It's one of the most famous poems ever." Her quizzical look made me sigh. "How about Custer's last stand? Or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Would they be better references for you?"

"Ah, right, gotcha. Everyone dies." Holly got up and left the room.

"Do you trust the woman who got you out of that hotel?" Holly asked when she returned with a bottle of vodka fresh from the freezer and two glass tumblers. She poured herself a measure and passed me the bottle. I half filled the tumbler, steam coming off the near frozen liquid, and drank a large portion. The cold in my mouth turned to warmth as it passed down my throat and chest into my stomach. I closed my eyes as the alcohol did its job and made me relax.

"She murdered a man directly in front of me. Something she didn’t seem too fussed about. But she wants Dani safe. I believe that just from her tone. She's not setting me up. It would be a ridiculously long-winded approach to kill or capture me."

"But her...
lord
wants you?"

"Apparently, although I have no idea why. It's not good that they're playing with a full deck and I've only got one suit. I need more information about what's going on. Is Dani okay staying here?"

Holly nodded. "She's going to be a mess. Her mum, who isn't really her mum, murdered in front of her."

I opened the briefcase, staring at the sniper rifle it contained. It was in several pieces and I wondered if my subconscious would be able to put it together without help. I closed the case and opened the duffle bag, pouring out the hundred and fifty grand onto Holly's bed. 

Her eyes went wide. "That's a lot of money." 

"Take what you need and hide the rest. Anything I need is in my bag by the door."

"So what's your plan?"

"I'm going to see Francis tomorrow. He might know a few things. Or at least point me in the right direction. I don't want to sit around and wait for them to find me. Especially when I have no idea what I'm up against."

"I'll keep an eye on Dani. She'll be safe with me."

"Thank you," I said. "You mind if I take a shower?"

She gestured toward her en-suite bathroom. A second later I was letting the hot water wash away the day's events. I wondered how long it was going to be before I'd need to shower again, to get blood off me. Something inside me said things were going to get much worse.

I'd been in there for a few minutes when the bathroom door opened and Holly walked in. She pulled the shower curtain aside and my eyes took in the beauty of her naked body. "Care for a back rub?"

I smiled. "My muscles ache."

She stepped inside the shower and began to stroke me until I was hard. "Let's see if I can't do something about that," she said as she dropped to her knees.

Chapter 16

My sleep was restless. More than once I woke, grabbing the gun from the bedside table next to me in preparation for an unseen assault. When I finally decided to get up, the sun had started to creep through Holly's wooden blinds.

The red numbers on the digital clock next to me said it was just after eight in the morning. "You didn't sleep well," Holly said as she appeared in the doorway. She stretched, raising the t-shirt she wore to give a small glimpse of her toned stomach. She caught me looking and smiled. "You've got no chance this morning, Nate. I don't think my other guest would be too thrilled at hearing that sort of thing."

I pulled my best "damn it all" face and walked off to have a shower. This time I remained alone for its entire duration. 

When I was dried, I found Holly had left a pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt on the bed. "I told you one day you might need those," she said as she went to have a shower of her own. 

"Yeah, yeah." I thought back to how awkward I'd felt keeping clothes at Holly's place. I had some of my own in my suitcase, but that was still in the car, I was just grateful to wear something that didn't smell like I'd run through a burning building.
My home,
fucking hell that hurt more than I'd expected it to. I didn't have a huge amount of stuff, but it had still been mine. 

"Your friend's been up a while," Holly said. 

"She okay?"

Holly shrugged. "Not really, no. She's barely holding it together."

Holly left for the bathroom, a huge orange towel in hand. I finished getting dressed and went in search of Dani.

I found her sitting cross-legged on the couch, the blanket I'd placed on her before going to bed myself, draped over the couch's back. 

"What the fuck are you?"

"Excuse me?" I asked and sat on the chair next to her.

"Yesterday I watched a woman who I thought was my mum murdered by a man I've never met. And then I was caught up in an explosion and
thrown over a balcony
. You stopped us from hitting the ground. So
what
are you?"

"It's complicated."

"People only say that when they make it complicated. My whole life is a lie. I just want some truth I can hold onto."

She had a good point. Everything in her life had just crumbled down around her, having one truth in all that mess might make the difference between despair and hanging on with her fingertips. After checking that Holly wasn't around, I told her. I didn't go into everything. But enough about who, and what, I was to set her mind at ease and I made sure to keep an ear out for Holly finishing in the shower as I spoke.

When I'd finished, Dani sat very quietly for a few seconds, hands in her lap as she stared at me. "So, you're not human," she said eventually, her voice barely above a whisper.

I nodded as Holly's shower fell silent.

"Why do they want you too?"

I shrugged. "I plan on finding out. Don't mention what I told you to Holly. I don't want her freaking out right now."

Dani nodded as Holly entered the room. 

"That woman who called you, any idea who she was?" Holly asked as she walked to the kitchen, returning a moment later with two cups of coffee and a cup of green tea for me. She passed one cup to Dani and sat next to her. 

"No idea," I told them. "She said she would contact me soon. Hopefully today."

"Will you find the people responsible for what happened?" Dani asked me.

I nodded. 

"Will you kill them all?"

I paused for a second, a little concerned at the ease with which Dani had asked me that question. "I'll do what I need to." I caught Holly's eye, she seemed to have the same concerns as me.

Dani shook her head. "They've taken away my life. I can't ever go home. Hell I don't even
have
a home. I want them to feel what I feel." Dani stood and looked down at me as tears fell in steady streaks down her cheeks. I stood and held her against me as great sobs burst from her, coating my shirt and chest in tears. Holly looked away, with tears in her own eyes, which she wiped away. 

"Why am I crying?" Dani asked. "My mum..." the word seemed to cause her pain. "That woman and I. We fought all the time. She hated me. She couldn't even be done with that twat, Phil."

"She came to see me," I said, remembering Diane's visit.

Dani looked up from my tear stained top. "What? Why?"

"Just after the fight with Phil. She told me that she hated him, but that he had to be there."

"Why didn't she stop him coming over?"

"I got the feeling that she didn't have a choice in the matter. She was paying him off for something. If the attacker was being honest, then he probably knew something he shouldn't, and she was keeping him quiet."

"Was that all she said?"

"She asked me to take care of you if anything should happen to her. I don't know what she was preparing for, but she wanted to make sure you were safe. You were all that mattered."

Fresh tears rained down from Dani's puffy eyes. 

"I think she loved you, Dani. Really loved you. And I'm sorry that you lost that."

Dani howled in pain and wrapped her arms around me. Her guttural sobs caused Holly to look away again, rubbing her eyes. My own eyes blurred with moisture. Dani got out whatever was inside her, until she finally succumbed to exhaustion and sagged against me. 

"I'm sorry for that," she whispered. 

"You never need to be," I told her and pulled away. "Holly's going to take care of you today."

"You're going away?" Dani asked, scared. "You're not staying here?"

"You'll be very safe here. But I need to find out who those people were. And that means going out."

"Can't I come with you?"

"It's too dangerous. And besides you have no shoes."

"I'm going to take you shopping," Holly said. "You need some clothes and things if you're going to be staying here."

I picked up the remote and switched on Holly's widescreen TV, turning to the news channels. A portly man, with a shit-eating grin and possible toupee, sat behind a desk going through the main stories of the day. It didn't take long to get to what I was interested in and I watched with shock as every word out of his mouth was a lie. Even if he was unaware of it.