Sixty-Seven

The street in this part of Smithtown was empty and quiet, maybe because it was after eleven in the evening. Most of the families were getting ready for a good night’s sleep. It’s been two hours since I parked my sweetness a block away and climbed a tree, crouching on a branch on top, recognizing my surroundings. My eyes were set in one house. The house. I had already sent a message to Shane, telling him I was back and to meet me in the morning.
The entire ride back to the city was hell. The heaviness in my chest only grew with each mile I put behind me. I felt the precise moment he woke up and realised I wasn’t there anymore, and the only echo floating in my mind was his pissed growls and the unbearable disappointment in his voice: ‘You’ve promised.’
I broke his heart. But hasn’t it always been this way? A total load of broken promises? I blinked several times to dissipate the tears threatening to fall, only to give place to a scorching sensation bathing my body, making my skin flush and my toes curl with all the sinful acts of retaliation he was promising to me. I concentrated and banned him from my head, as I had to focus on my mission.
Back in the Catskills, I overheard their conversation, and they lost me when they thought to trick me. Two entitled bastards! But I loved them dearly, and I understood they had substantial power, but my fear was exactly that. They relied too much on them, thinking they are invincible and that could be their downfall. I’ve been inside the agency for a long time to know what they can do. It’s not wise to underestimate them. I wouldn’t let them interfere in my business and get hurt. This was between me and those who wronged me.
It wouldn’t take too long for them to catch up with me. Vlad said once that I’d never be able to run away from him, and I guess neither from Anton. It sounded so strange calling him Anton. Everybody knew him as Uncle Tony, the barber and tattoo guy, but in my heart he was my father forever. Life was a hell of a ride! Well, the last light in the house was off. Time to pay daddy dearest a visit.
Shadows were my dwellings. I adjusted my night vision glasses and jumped down as I took cover in them. Just like a cat, I prowled the backyard, looking for the basement. Soon enough, the small window came into view on my left side. I crouched beside it and closed my eyes. Seconds later the bolt locking it vibrated, then a click of sound. I pushed at the glass and sneaked inside, gliding above all the crap he had in there, and of course the stairs. I didn’t want to cringe under my feet.
Things were perfect. Not even I could hear my footfalls. The house was clean and impartial, like a hotel room. No memorabilia, no decoration, no warmth. Nothing, and I didn’t know how to explain, but it saddened me. It was a home of a very lonely person. I was already on the second floor and the sound of light snores and steady breathing came to my ears. Following the noise, I got into his room. The moonlight shone over him, and I stopped to pay attention to his face.
In his sleep, he had lines that weren’t there in daylight. He looked battered and alone, much older than we used to see him on and off the agency. I walked to the window to put the blinds down, but not before I noticed a picture frame beside his bed, and I choked on a sob. I grabbed it and made myself comfortable in his armchair, looking straight to the bed, where it laid a man who had been part of my life for so many years as a doctor and colleague, but turned out to be my shitty runaway father. Then, just like God, I snapped my fingers, and there was light.
“Hello daddy dearest!” I said while taking my glasses off and stabbing the arm of the chair with my dagger, leaving it there for theatrical purposes. Then I stared at the man, who went rigid and opened his eyes, turning to me. “Surprised?” If I were a ghost, he wouldn’t be that scared.
“How?” He pressed himself to the bedpost as if I was some sort of plague. His heart beat like a derailed train. I could hear from where I was. “How d’you know?”
“I’m the one questioning here, not you.”
There was so much hurt in those blue eyes. How didn’t I notice before? I glanced at the portrait in my hands, then I narrowed my gaze at him. No! Feeling sorry for this impostor wasn’t a choice. I wanted answers and needed to focus. Let my sixth sense take over. I couldn’t afford to waste my time listening to his lies.
“What do you want?” he asked. Eyes fixed on my face.
“I came to collect your sins and deliver your penitence.” And I gave him an evil grin.
Hey, that’s my line! Liz, I’m gonna snap that sinful neck of yours! Suddenly, he was growling in my head. I smirked at his words. I let my guard down. Once more, I had to block him.
“Let’s count your sins. Abandonment of your family, one. Mother’s death, two. My sister and I, moving to foster homes, three. Spanks and abuse, four. Living on the streets, five. My sister’s death, six.” Every time I raised a finger, his face got paler and paler.
“Enough! Stop that!” He screamed at me in horror. “I didn’t want things to happen this way, but I had no choice. I did everything in my power to get us away from them, but it didn’t work!”
“We always have a choice, and you chose the simple way out!” I grunted at him. The air crackled and the way his pupils dilated. He felt it, too. “My life was a living hell because of you…”
“You don’t have a choice with him, Alexandra, he’s powerful beyond human abilities.” The way he said it, my heart reached for him. The sorrow and frustration in his voice made him look so old. “There are so many factors involved in all this, you just know the tip of the iceberg.” He sighed.
“You want me to believe you? Start talking, daddy dearest.” I sat up straight and took my dagger, playing with it like a crazed, waiting.
“Don’t say it like that, please. I also lost everyone I loved.” His voice trembled, and he shook his head, sighing loudly. “About two months after your sister was born, I was returning home from the office late at night when someone approached my car, shoving me off-road. They knew about my paranormal research in the university lab, since I gained acceptable results in the brief time of my studies. They took me to a facility with an enormous research lab and told me from that day on I worked for them.”
“How? Injecting people with some freak’s blood, like you did to me? Your own daughter?” Disgust dripped from my words.
“No, God! No!” He shook his head. “I used to prescribe a healthy diet, with all the vitamins and minerals specific for brain development, and we’d work with some concentration exercises, that was all. My methods worked, it helped some people control their talents, even grow them a little.”
“Why didn’t you refuse them?”
“I’ve tried, but it was work on their project or my family’s suffering.”
“Oh, for heaven’s father, how cliché is that?” I laughed so hard I even snorted. He got scared of me. Waves of despair came from him, but also anger mixed with sadness. A deep sadness. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, I can zap you with the snap of my fingers,” I said, when he tried to move out of bed, as static jumped from my hand to the dagger.
His eyes darkened, marveled at the power I yielded. “I’m not lying to you! They threatened me. I knew you were different from the moment you started having nightmares and everything flew around. You were three years old, and you were part of my research at the university. They knew about you.” I glued my eyes on him, and I didn’t miss any of his reactions. He seemed sincere, but to what point?
I glanced at the portrait, and tears came to my eyes. There were three pictures put together in one, a woman looking just like me, but blue eyed, holding a baby and a smiley little girl by her side. My mom! Gosh, I didn’t even remember her face anymore. Another of me, from a few years back in the agency, and the other of a blond, blue-eyed girl about fifteen, I didn’t recognize. Passing my finger on the baby, I looked at him. “What was her name? I didn’t even know her name. I looked for her, but she died just like mom.”
“Look again at that picture, Alexandra. Her name is Alice. She’s alive.”
I stared back at him, my eyes glinting with tears, but rage filled them also, and at that moment I was even more dangerous than my Grizzly. In one leap I was onto him, holding him by the hair, with my dagger on his neck. “Why shouldn’t I kill you right now, daddy?” I asked in a low growl close to his ear.
“Because, I’m the only one who knows where she is, and you the only one who can save her.”