7. Paul #3
“Because we’re looking for a much bigger fish to fry than you,” Cherry said, her flippancy suddenly turning down to zero as her voice dropped into a lower register.
She leaned forward again, but this time there was no booping, no joking.
“Look, you’re in the wrong line of business, and you’ve made some very bad decisions to get here.
But I’m not going to pretend that I haven’t made bad decisions in my life either.
“This was your first real gig, wasn’t it?
The thing that was finally going to get you out of the financial hole you’ve found yourself in, or maybe even born into.
You’ve killed before, yes, but it was for survival, when your hand was forced and whoever was on the other end of your actions left you with no choice. ”
I couldn’t help but stare at her. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen her do this, yet it was just as striking. The way she listed out deeply personal things so matter-of-factly was as unnerving as it was awe-inspiring.
“But you have a choice now. You’ll probably have to serve a little time??—?consequences of your actions, after all.
However, this doesn’t have to define you.
Once you’re out, we can set you up with an opportunity where you can provide for yourself and live comfortably without having to take another life or risk your safety for money.
Whether that’s college, or a trade, or another line of work, the VanMarches have the connections to help you.
“But first, you have to choose to help us. We won’t force you.
You can clam up right now, probably serve a whole lot of time.
When you get out, you can try to return to the life, but you’ll find yourself outpaced by youngsters a decade fresher than you, who had all that time outside the slammer to train and get bigger contracts than you could ever dream of. ”
Cherry leaned back, allowing the silence to drag on for longer than was comfortable. “So, what will it be? And before you answer, I should warn you that if you lie to me even once, the deal’s off.”
“I…” The assassin paused for an even longer amount of time, and even though I considered myself a patient man, I had an urge to throttle him. I pushed it down. This wasn’t the time to lose my self-control. “I want a healer.”
“We can do that.” Cherry looked at me again, back to her normal, smiley nature. “Right, Paul?”
“Right,” I agreed.
“See, there ya go. We’ll make sure they look at that bad bite on your ass too.”
“How did you—” he started before Jackson cut him off.
“ Psychic. Get with the program, man.”
I glanced at my brother. He looked quite proud of himself. Yet another thing I wasn’t going to ask about. Apparently, working on a murder investigation meant finding out all sorts of things about my siblings that I’d rather be ignorant of.
“Ah, I forgot.”
My mind was struggling to come to terms with how this guy looked. Assassins weren’t supposed to be around Jackson’s age and green around the ears. They were supposed to be stealthy and polished, faceless and enigmatic. Not…this.
“Try to stay on track,” Cherry said with a wink. “Now, to start, what made you decide to go after Jackson?”
“Apart from my charm and good looks, of course,” Jackie interrupted.
The assassin didn’t even blink. “No, that didn’t factor into anything at all.”
“Aw, don’t play coy now.”
The assassin gave Cherry a look.
“He’s not lying,” she said drolly, and my brother had the gall to look a bit hurt. “What was it, then? Surely not his sparkling personality.”
“There was a bounty placed on his head this morning. It would have been enough to get my sister out of debt and get out of this life.”
So, Cherry had been right about his motivations.
Of course. Still, it did make me feel a certain way that the would-be murderer on the floor had his own story and wasn’t just a spectral boogeyman dedicated to hurting us.
It felt too… real? Or was I just too disconnected from the plight of a lot of magical folks?
Hmm.
“That’s some fair motivation. Is your sister in danger right now?”
The assassin remained silent, and Cherry did the same. I was a bit surprised at that, since I got the impression she didn’t spend many moments both still and non-verbal.
“Not presently. But if she doesn’t make her payment at the end of the month…”
“It’ll be a different story?”
“To put it politely, yeah.”
Cherry’s eyes met mine once more, and I found a strange camaraderie there for someone I had only just met that day. Was this how the humans in ancient myths had felt when they ran into a deity with powers beyond their comprehension?
“Can we make sure that doesn’t happen?” she asked.
“You want us to help the family of a man who tried to kill us?” Chris bit out, and I could sense his inner wolf rising to the surface, teeth practically snapping.
That wouldn’t do. Cherry was helping us more than I could ever ask for and deserved respect.
“Stop it,” I snapped, letting my own wolf rise to the surface before I turned my attention back to the captivating woman shorting out my brain.
“Can you swear he will never relapse and go back into this world?”
Cherry turned away from me and stretched out her hand. “I’m going to touch you now,” she said, her voice going deeper and flatter again. “I want you to look into my eyes when you answer, and if you are lying to me, I will know.”
“I understand.”
She pressed her palm to his forehead, and the room fell silent again. Yet, I swore I felt a tingle of something on the edge of my senses. Almost like a passing wave of static, or a whisper of air, gone before I could even fully sense it.
“You want to help your sister, yes?”
“Yes.”
“You understand that if you go back to what we’re helping you escape, everything that has been done to help you and your family shall be undone, correct?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll help your sister, but not because you are giving us information.
That deal is already done. We’ll help your sister, so you don’t fall into the same trap you find yourself in now.
I need you to swear to me that you will not waste all of this, and should you be remotely tempted in the future when your path grows hard, you will bear the curse of betraying Haus de Donmoue .
Centuries of my family’s legacy will fall down on you all at once, and not even the wealth of the VanMarches will be able to save you. Tell me you understand.”
“Wait, Donmoue as in the great Ophelia Donmoue?”
Maybe I was wrong, but Cherry’s expression looked like a mix between pride and a tiny touch of insecurity. “One and the same. So, do you understand?”
“I-I understand. And I never meant any disrespect. I didn’t realize...” He swallowed. “My mother used to be big into stories about Ophelia. Always said one day she’d pay for a reading. Never happened, though.”
“Well, I am not my mother, but she taught me everything I know. So, now that we have your word, sworn on the power of my ancestors, we will help your sister.”
The assassin burst out in tears. Shock coursed through me, making me feel a little disjointed. Shouldn’t I be ripping out the throat of the man who had tried to kill my brother? But the urge wasn’t there, especially since Jackson had clearly so thoroughly trounced him.
“Thank you. Thank you so much! I’ll tell you anything you wanna know. I didn’t... I just didn’t see another way. I felt trapped.”
“Desperation causes many of us to do what we normally would never think possible of ourselves,” Cherry said calmly, removing her hand from the man’s wet face and sitting back. “Now, who set this bounty?”
“I don’t know. I promise, I’m not lying.”
“I know you aren’t. Do you have any idea of who it could have been?”
“Not really. It has to be someone with money, though, because the bounty was pretty hefty. Life-changing for a lot of us. And I have to warn you, I know I’m not the only one out for the contract; I just happened to be the fastest because.
..” he trailed off, and it was quite bizarre to watch him blush.
“Because why?”
“Because I picked up one of my side chicks here after she left with him at a club.”
Cherry did that head tilt I was beginning to recognize as her examining something more deeply.
For some reason, it made me feel a bit accomplished to already recognize patterns in the enigmatic psychic’s behavior.
Like I was special or something. Odd, but I was going to chalk it up to having one of the worst weeks of my life.
“That’s a half-lie, so I will give you a chance to clarify. Don’t let your pride ruin a good thing here.”
“All right. I went to a concert with a group of friends, and one of the girls I’ve had a huge crush on for about five years.
She and another girl ended up leaving with him”—he shot Jackson a rather venomous look—“and she called me in the morning. She asked me to take an Uber to her car, then pick up her and her friend. I did it because I wanted to be a good friend, but after that she pretty much stopped talking to everyone in the group.”
“Bummer,” Jackson said, sucking his teeth. “At least you saw her real side before you wasted any more time pining over her.”
“Not the time,” I said sharply.
“So, this contract is recent?” Cherry asked.
“Barely an hour or two old, or at least an hour or two since it hit the general circulation.”
A horde of footsteps came thundering through the door, and suddenly we were face-to-face with nearly a dozen of our security guards.
It was disconcerting that we’d gotten there so much faster than them; maybe a shake-up of our employ was in order.
Losing our top five was a serious blow to our protection.
“I’ll deal with this,” Chris said with a heavy sigh. “Please, finish your interrogation, Mrs. Donmoue.”
“It’s Miss, but also, please call me Cherry.”
“I… will attempt to do so.”
“Please and thank you.”