The Detective Inspectors (The Doorknob Society Saga Book 4) (12 page)

“No, why?”

“Because in my time they are holding one of my friends there and we’re trying to find a way to break in and get him out.”

Bodie scratched his head. “That is strange, what could it mean?”

“I have no idea and the person who might know is the one being held at the prison.”

 I ran my hand through my hair wishing I could just yank my brain out and forget all of this for a moment. Then it hit me, I’d kept this secret from everyone except Gavin and Rosalita. Maybe there was a good reason for that.

“Maybe we can use this to our advantage.” I smirked and Bodie cricked his neck looking at me.

“How so?”

“We’re both going to the same place at different times. There has to be a way to use that to help our causes.”

“You have a plan?” Bodie asked hopefully.

“You bet I do.”

Status: I like kicking ass.

I brought my whip up and caught the Impossible Engineers ball bearings in mid-air. They shattered before they could explode and I snapped my wrist sideways to deflect the secondary attack.

HVO manacles sped across the open space, my energy whip just missing them. I dropped down quickly and the shackles sailed over me. I rolled to one side and came up on my feet, my whip coiled and ready to snap.

“Nice job.” Gavin clapped and the manacles disappeared in a shimmer of light. He was leaning against a practice dummy, smiling. I’d met him earlier at the Reliquary, happy to start training again. I needed to blow off some steam.

“We can go again,” I offered eagerly unfurling my whip and practicing some defensive maneuvers.

 “In a bit, first I want to talk.”

“About what?”

“You.”

“Not a subject I want to discuss, Gavin.” I took two steps and leapt into the air spinning and bringing my whip around in an attack pose I’d been trying to master for some time.

He went on talking anyway. “You have a lot going on and I want to make sure your head is right.”

“I’m fine.”

“Right, sure you are. Can we pretend for a minute I’m not a moron and talk?”

“What do you want, would you rather I cried and begged for help? Sorry, not my style.”

“You know damn well that’s not what I mean. I want to make sure you’re not rushing in with the likely chance of getting yourself killed because you’re too focused on revenge instead of the mission at hand.”

 I stopped practicing and glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. He was right. He wasn’t the type to try and coddle me, he was being careful.

“I’m angry, okay? So angry that I feel like my insides are burning but it won’t affect my plan to rescue Edgar. If I get to take my mom out at the same time, it’s an added bonus.”

“Do you think you have it in you to kill your mother?”

 His question stunned me. No one had ever put it so bluntly until now. I intended to go after her but hearing him state it so directly made it all the more real. The next time I met my mother, one of us was going to have to die.

 “I know what I have to do,” I assured him.

“Do you?”

“Yes!” I yelled and Gavin was up and charging at me. I turned in time to block the blow from his Skeleton Key. He didn’t stop, one blow after another rained down on me. I kept my cool blocking the shots and looking for an angle to attack from.

“Can you really do it up close and personal, you’re mother in your face and ready to finish you off!”

 When his voice raised his left arm dropped, I brought my whip around and snapped it into his side knocking him off his feet. I moved swiftly and was on him in a flash, straddling his chest, my Doorknob powered directly above his head.

“I can and I will,” I assured him with cocky confidence.

“You’re one of the best I’ve ever trained, but when you’re this close looking into her eyes will you see the woman who hurt you or the Mom that you desperately miss and love despite everything?”

 I thought about Dad and Mom when they had been locked in battle. She’d called him Eli and that had distracted Dad, since for that one second she looked and sounded like the Mom that had loved me and her husband. Her voice had been so full of emotion and confusion it was no wonder why Dad had believed her and that second of hesitation was all she had needed to kill him.

My leg twisted out from under me as Gavin grabbed it and flipped me over reversing our positions. He leaned over me, his Skeleton Key mere inches from my face.

“You can’t hesitate, not for a moment. You have to kill her or she will kill you. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“I hope you do, I don’t want to go to another Masters funeral.” He rolled off me and stood up offering me his hand.

 I grasped it and got to my feet, sliding my Doorknob into my pants and brushed the dust off them so I didn’t have to look at him. “I can handle it.”

 “I’ve never doubted that, but wanting to do something and actually doing it are two different things. Killing someone is a hard thing to do and it leaves scars. Killing someone close to you,” —he shook his head slowly— “that can send you over the edge. We need you, Chloe, and you have no idea how much.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“If you say so, but remember I’m here if you need to talk.” He gave me a firm nod and continued. “Now, about your training, I know Archie is going to be showing you a lot of new things concerning DS, but I still want to train you when it comes to your Polymorph abilities. Right now you’re a bulldozer with your other powers, pushing ahead and taking down everything in your path. I want to show you how to be a surgeon and use those powers more precisely.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“I’m glad you feel that way. With any down time you have I want you here at the Reliquary training with me.”

“Sure, why not,” I agreed with a shrug. ”It’s not like I have a social life anyway.”

“That reminds me, I spoke with Nightshade.”

Oh great, this should be fun. “What did he say?”

“You’re right, he’s not thrilled with you right now, though I still don’t think he’s working with the First Kind. He hasn’t recalled all of his memories and I think the Forget Me Not that was used on him not being destroyed yet is a problem. But he’s too much of an asset to not utilize.”

“We can trust him?”

“I think we can use him for now.”

“That’s not a definitive answer.”

“The older you get you’ll learn most things aren’t black and white. There are plenty of gray areas and some people, like Nightshade, always work on the periphery of them.”

“Don’t forget that also means people like you and me,” I reminded him.

“Yes,” Gavin said almost sadly.

 I knew what he was thinking. He felt responsible for bringing me into his little group of Polymorphs and adding an extra burden on me. What he didn’t realize was that I hadn’t been that same person since I had learned about the Old Kind, long before he had entered the picture. In a way I had been forced to grow up in a blink of an eye, and it hadn’t been a fun thing to do. I wasn’t involved in some frivolous game or silly adventure. This was all too real and all too dangerous. And I’d be damned if I wouldn’t do what needed to be done. Someone had to protect the Edgars of the world and it appeared as if I had been elected.

“What do you think of mine and Bodie’s plan?” I asked.

“It certainly is audacious.”

“Do you think it’ll work?”

“If handled right, it can, since it certainly isn’t something they’d be expecting.”

“Good, I’d like to take them by surprise for once.”

“Are you going to explain everything to your team?”

“Only the parts they need to know.”

“The moment I met you I knew you were going to be one hell of a leader, Chloe, though I never expected it would happen so quickly.”

“Thanks, I simply want to get through this and keep my friends alive. That’s all I care about.”

“What about when this is over, what’re you going to do?”

“I honestly haven’t given it thought. I need to finish my DS training, other than that I don’t know. Dad and I traveled the world. I guess I always figured that would be my life.”

“It doesn’t have to be.” Slade’s voice echoed around the training room as he walked in.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I like training here, the Wheel of the Impossible Engineers is too crowded.”

“I’ll leave you two to train, I have something to deal with anyway. Chloe, we can finish our discussion later.” Gavin excused himself and stepped out of the room.

I almost shook my head at him but stopped. He was letting me know that he wasn’t finished talking with me, though I really didn’t have any more to say.

I turned to Slade. He had yanked his shirt off and I couldn’t help but stare. I had forgotten how built he was. I realized what an idiot I must look like gawking at him and quickly said, “Want to do some fighting exercises?”

 “Sure,” he said.

He circled around me and I shook my head trying to focus. I mean had it really been that long since I’d seen Slade without a shirt. He must have sensed that I wasn’t concentrating because he moved in hard and fast.

I dodged the tackle sidestepping him, causing him to miss me by inches. He pivoted his body quicker than I thought he could and his arm wrapped around my waist bringing me to the floor. I twisted and rolled my weight winding up on top of him.

 “Nice move,” he smirked looking up at me.

“Shut up, I controlled the attack didn’t I?”

“Yup, you have me defenseless.” He stretched his arms out and lay underneath me quietly.

“Slade.” I shook my head and started to slide off of him, his hands suddenly at my waist held me in place.

“I know we’re just friends, but are we, friends?” His fingers tightened on my hips and I missed that strength, that feeling of being safe with someone. I’d always felt safe with Slade, and comfortable. Maybe that was the problem.

 “Yeah, friends,” I spit out so fast that I didn’t believe myself.

“Way to sound like you mean it.” He pulled himself into a sitting position, his face mere inches from mine. His beautiful smile stared back at me with a hint of hurt in it.

 “You know why.”

 “I’m sorry, you know that.” His smile faded while the hurt grew. We both knew that we were referring to him finding it more important to save the Impossible Engineers Artifact, rather than me.

“You were always so perfect, maybe that was my mistake thinking you a boy scout. But now the problem is how do I ever completely trust you again?”

“You could give me another chance?”

“As a friend yeah, but no more than that. You forget there’s Nightshade.” The silence in the room was palpable. I had been dating Slade when Nightshade and I had first kissed and revealed our feelings for one another, though it was after Slade had deserted me like a sinking ship

“He doesn’t even remember you, Chloe.”

“I know,” I whispered, “but I remember him.”

“You don’t have to punish yourself for what they did to him.”

 I pulled myself off of him, stood, and kept my back to him. “I’m not.”

“Damn it, Chloe, yes you are. You walk around like it’s your fault that he’s messed up. He chose to do it, and to this day I wish I had. I wish I had been the man I always thought I was and had saved you. It should have been me, and if it had been I would never have expected you to take the blame for it. I don’t think Nightshade would either.” His voice was sharp and filled with frustration and on some level what he had said was true. But the pain was all I had left of Nightshade. If I let that go I had nothing else.

“I can’t do this not now.”

“You don’t have to be a vagabond. You could have a life with the Old Kind, a family.” Slade walked over to me and rested his strong hands on my shoulders.

“Slade, please.” First Gavin and now Slade, I’d had enough. “Not now.”

“I care about you and I hate seeing you this way. Everyone has suffered enough through this ordeal, it’s time to stop.”

 Damn, that would be nice, but I’d have to be a fool to think that more suffering wasn’t coming my way. And I’d rather be ready for it than have it punch me in the gut. “I have to concentrate on finding Edgar, all this other crap can wait.” I shrugged letting his hands slip away from me and took a step back from him.

 “I’m not the only one who’s worried about you. You have friends who care about you.”

 “I’m fine, really.” I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying what I really wanted to say like leave me the hell alone.

“If that’s so, why then are you sulking around the Reliquary like this?”

“I’m not sulking; I’m training.”

“You’re hiding away. You have to let someone in, Chloe.”

“I’m not hiding and as usual I’m doing fine on my own.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“You’re fooling yourself.”

“I don’t need your help,” I shot back.

“What about Declan?”

“What about him?”

“Would you rather be talking to him?” He crossed his thick arms over his chest and his eyes narrowed.

“What if I do? That’s none of your business anymore.”

“I guess you’re right, it isn’t. But are you sure you can trust this Declan guy? You’ve only just met him. You need to be careful.”

“Really? You’re talking to me about a guy, a possible date. Isn’t this a conversation I should be having with a girlfriend and not my ex-boyfriend?”

“Somebody had to talk to you about it and your girlfriends are afraid you might hurt them if they bring it up, so I got elected to do it.”

 I turned to face him. “Are you telling me that they put you up to this?”

“You could say that.”

“I’m going to kill them. Who was it Val or Jess?”

Slade raised his hands and backed away. “We’re just worried about you.”

“Worry about yourselves and tell Val and Jess to knock it the hell off.” I swung my arm in an arc, a tail of blue energy gliding behind it as I let the excess power flow off me.

“Maybe we should talk about this another time.” Slade shook his head and backed out of the room.

 I didn’t give him a second look, I attempted to lose myself in training exercises, wanting desperately to rid myself of the anger and frustration that had built inside me, or perhaps it continuously sat there waiting to rear up and torment me. It wasn’t working. Slade’s comments kept playing in my head. What did I want out of life? Family, friends, a place I could call home?