Authors: C S Winchester
Frankie heard Pietro head towards the door but he was as blind as she was, and tripped and fell. Frankie had a sense neither of the others did though; her psychic sense. Everything that had been handled by a human gave off faint psychic impressions, and she closed her eyes and tried to see them. She could 'see' Will and Pietro clearly in her mind's eye, but the other objects in the room were much less clear. Still, she managed to manoeuvre around most of them and punch Pietro in the kidneys as he climbed to his feet.
He turned, striking out at her but she had stepped away, using the dark to her advantage.
Of course she realised that the one object that was most dangerous, namely the floor, was invisible to her since people rarely touched it with their hands. Still, she reasoned that by staying close to the centre of the room, she would probably be safe enough.
She struck Pietro again, but this time he managed to strike her before she could pull away and she fell to the floor, as did Pietro. She couldn't be certain, but she thought that she was now between Pietro and the door.
Just then Will managed the coax the maglight back to life and Frankie opened her eyes, blinking against what felt like blinding sunlight for a few moments. She got to her feet just in time to see Pietro rushing at her. She cut him off with a kick to his knee, and she could hear the bone crunch as he howled in pain and fell back to the floor.
He began to speak in Italian again, so before he could cast another spell, Frankie straddled his chest, grabbed a handful of his hair and slammed his head into the concrete.
“
Wow,” Will said, having watched her display but been unable to do anything to help her.
Frankie checked to make sure Pietro was unconscious before looking over at her friend.
“
Are you okay?” she asked. He was behind the torch, so she was unable to see his features.
“
Yeah, I just have the hangover from hell.”
“
Trust me, so will he,” Frankie assured him. She got up and took the torch from him, using it to examine the back of his head where he'd been struck. “You're bleeding.”
“
I'll live,” he assured her.
“
Did you pass out?”
“
I don't think so.”
Frankie didn't like that answer but she accepted it. She shone the torch on her watch and was surprised to find that it was nearly sunset. It had taken them longer than she had realised to make their way down here.
She went to her bag in the hallway and got her phone out to call Dante.
“
The sun is nearly down,” he informed her as he answered. “You can't keep me out of this for much longer.
“
I don't plan to,” she answered. “I've got him.”
“
Is he dead?”
“
No, just unconscious.”
“
Where are you?”
Frankie explained and Dante told her he'd be there in five minutes. Frankie put her phone away and went over to Will to check his head again. Thankfully the wound seemed to have stopped bleeding.
“
Why'd you call him?” Will asked as Frankie helped him to his feet.
“
Because this is his demon, he needs to finish it.”
“
Whoa!” Will pulled away and looked appalled. “You're going to let Dante kill him?”
“
What do you suggest?” Frankie asked. She didn't like that option, but she honestly couldn't deny Dante his vengeance. “You saw those women earlier and they weren't his first victims, he deserves this. Besides, do you really think that any prison can hold him?”
“
Frankie!” Will couldn't really argue her points, but he still didn't think that either she or Dante had the right to play judge, jury and executioner.
“
Will, this has been going on for three hundred years.”
“
Surely you must have dealt with things like this before!”
Frankie had, of course, but she didn't want to admit that to Will. They stood there in silence for a few minutes until Dante suddenly appeared in the room, making them both jump.
“
Well you didn't gift wrap him, but it's still the best present I've had in a while,” Dante teased, ignoring the tension in the room.
“
I thought that you deserved to be the one to kill him,” Frankie said, keen to get this over with.
“
And what makes you think I'm going to kill him?” Dante asked, raising an eyebrow.
Frankie hadn't really thought about it, she had just assumed after seeing how Alex and Josh handled problems, that Dante would be the same.
“
After what he did to you?” Frankie couldn't quite believe that Dante didn't want him dead.
“
There are worse things than death,” Dante said with a smile that chilled Will to his core.
Dante knelt down beside Pietro's unconscious form and slapped his face a few times to wake him up.
“
Is that wise?” Will asked.
“
Don't worry,” Dante assured him. “His mind is completely under my control.”
Pietro blinked as he opened his eyes and Dante stepped away as Pietro got to his feet, his expression completely blank.
“
What are you doing?” Frankie asked.
“
Getting some answers,” Dante said. “Why did you come after me again?” Dante asked. Pietro answered in Italian.
“
What did he say?” Frankie asked.
“
He said that he's been ageing quickly for the past three years. He doesn't know what went wrong with the spell, but he believes that by repeating it, he can stop himself ageing again.”
Dante sighed as he considered the man before him for a few moments.
“
What are you going to do?” Frankie asked.
“
I was thinking, perhaps a persistent vegetative state,” Dante confesses. “That way he can be aware of what's happening around him but unable to interact with the world at all.”
“
He can still do magic,” Frankie reminded him. “He doesn't need to speak the words to cast a spell.”
“
Oh, I'd remove all that knowledge obviously, and without the means to relearn it, he'll be trapped; even more helpless than a kitten. How does that sound?” He turned to Will.
Will grunted something that sounded like acceptance and Dante turned back to Pietro.
“
Come on,” Frankie said to Will. “We should get that head wound seen to.”
“
Don't forget your gun,” Dante said, though he didn't look away from Pietro.
Frankie used the torch and quickly found it, then headed out of the room with Will.
“
Can you leave him on the floor when you're finished?” she asked. “And make sure you aren't seen on your way out?”
“
Of course,” he said, not turning to look at her.
Frankie hesitated for another moment, unsure what she was waiting for exactly, then she and Will left him to it.
Frankie didn't get home for another few hours, since the police needed her statement. She didn't have to talk to the police, of course, but she was happy to if it made Will's life easier. She told them the truth, on the whole, simply saying that MI5's interest in Pietro was a matter of national security.
She knew that Pietro's head wound would be blamed for his altered mental state but given his crimes, she was confident that she wouldn't face any trouble over it. She was also happy for the police to take full responsibility for stopping him, which pleased Will's boss no end.
Will was still busy by the time she was finished, so she said a quick goodbye and caught a cab home.
The house was dark when she arrived home and for a moment she wondered if her parents had left. Their coats were hanging up by the door however, so she assumed that they were still out at dinner.
She was dog-tired as she headed into the kitchen but she still had a report to write for MI5. She looked to the cabinet where her whisky was stored, knowing that it would pep her up.
She turned the kettle on instead but coffee wasn't what she really wanted. She pulled her coat off and hung it on a kitchen chair as she debated whether to have a drink or not.
One drink wouldn't hurt, she reasoned, and she had nowhere else to go tonight, so she wouldn't be driving. One couldn't hurt, could it?
She poured herself a very healthy measure and downed it in one go, enjoying the warmth that spread throughout her body as the amber liquid slipped down her throat. She let out a long sigh of relief as she placed the glass back on the side, and tried not to think of her promise to Will.
She shook her head, as though she could shake those niggling thoughts away, then headed through to the living room to start writing her report. When she had finished, she headed upstairs and ran a hot bath. Thanks to the en-suite bathroom, her parents hadn't used this one, and she could relax knowing that she wouldn't be assaulted by any stray psychic impressions.
Whilst the water was running she got a good look at herself in the mirror and thought that she looked pretty grim. Her face was covered in soot stains and somehow she had managed to cut her cheek, though it was healing already. She stepped into the bath and sank slowly into the water then leant her head back and closed her eyes, letting the hot water sooth away her aches and pains.
The next thing she knew, someone was knocking on the bathroom door.
“
Francis? Is that you? Are you all right?”
Frankie wiped her eyes and sat up.
“
I'm fine, Mum, I just fell asleep. I'll be down in a few minutes.”
The water was cooling now so she quickly washed her hair, got out and dried off. She found an old pair of pyjamas to wear and pulled her gloves and a robe on before heading downstairs to see her parents, who had settled in the living room and were watching the late news.
“
Hey, did you have a nice evening?” she asked, taking a seat next to her Mother on the sofa.
“
Lovely! Cecilia smiled, turning to her daughter. “We went to- Oh my God, what happened to your face?”
“
Nothing, Mum, it's just a scratch. Besides, we caught the bad guy,” she said, gesturing to the TV where a reporter at Rosslynlee Hospital was reporting on the details of the case and capture of Pietro.
“
The suspect fought with authorities and during the struggle, he sustained a head injury. He has now been taken to Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary but his status is currently unknown,” the reporter said.
“
You say suspect,” the anchor in the TV studio began. “How certain are the police that they have the right man?”
“
Very. While they haven't released any specifics, they say that he had a number of items in his possession which are very damning. They also have a lot of forensic evidence, including DNA and finger prints, which they expect will take weeks to process, but they have said that they would be highly surprised if the forensic evidence didn't back up their existing findings.”
“
We're hearing reports that MI5 might have been involved with this case, can you give us any more details on that?”
“
The police have confirmed that the suspect was a person of interest to the Security Service, and that they have been very helpful in helping to apprehend the suspect.”
“
You caught this man?” Frankie's dad asked.
“
We did.”
“
Did he give you that?” her mother asked, pointing to Frankie's cheek.
“
I got it in the fight with him,” she confirmed.
“
But you're okay otherwise? He didn't hurt you, did he?”
Frankie had never seen her mother look so concerned so she reached out and took her hand.
“
I'm fine, Mum, honestly. Just a few bumps and bruises.”
“
Good, I'm glad.” Cecilia smiled in relief and patted her daughter's gloved hand. “Are you hungry? I can make you something?”
“
Actually I'm starving,” Frankie smiled. “Can you make me one of those omelets like you used to do when I was young?”
“
Of course, sweetheart. I picked up some eggs while we were out the other day.”
Frankie could have sworn that she'd ordered some to be delivered with the shopping, but she let the remark slide.
“
Why don't you come through and we'll talk while I make it, like we used to when you were little?”
“
Sure.”
Frankie sat at the kitchen table while her mother worked.
“
Now I know I'm not wearing gloves,” Cecilia said, “but the truth is I've already touched all this stuff anyway, so it would be a little pointless to wear them now. Dan assured me that he'd make sure you had everything new anyway.”