Chapter Eight
‘Where are we’re going?’ Jason asked.
The guard car crept along the road. John had to look as if he was patrolling the city. Guards currently walked the streets at all times. Avoidables had a tendency to come over the river at night. They used the cover of darkness to steal or sneak around.
‘We’re going to deal with Noland,’ I replied. ‘But I want you to stay in the car.’
His fierce scowl made me smile. He was a spoilt young man. He had a lot of learn.
‘Don’t be disappointed, son, William personally wanted you to come.’ John turned the car and headed back to the bridge.
‘Do you have contact with Artie?’ I asked John.
He nodded as his cheeks flared red. It was illegal for Perfects to communicate with Avoidables. Even if they were family.
‘What happened to him?’
I didn’t ask the question just because I was curious. The man had gone from one city to the other and somehow he was now an Enforcer. It wasn’t like he had grown up on Lower Side. I could tell in the few moments I had encountered him on the bridge a few days ago.
‘I’ll fill you in tomorrow,’ John mumbled, gesturing to Jason with his head.
Nodding, I glanced over my shoulder. The young man watched out the window, the scowl still on his face. ‘They keep everything from me.’ He huffed.
He was a handsome lad but in a pretty way. His hair was gelled in the usual style. The green of his eyes glowed when we passed under a street lamp. When he finally realised that he was part angel, his appearance would change in subtle ways.
‘You’ll learn a lot working for me,’ I said.
His gaze met mine. Nodding once, he turned back to the window.
‘Right, I’ll let Artie know we’re almost there.’ John reached his phone out and sent a text.
It was a risk. Meeting with Avoidables on their turf could lead to disaster but I hoped they would play nice.
‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ Jason called from the back.
I frowned, not looking back at him. He didn’t need to see that he made me doubt my decision by the look on my face. Doubt was a foreign feeling. I had never experienced it when I was a full angel. Was I doing the right thing? I could be killed. The whole of the last week could have been for nothing.
‘I want to do this,’ was all I said.
John tucked his phone away after checking a message he’d received. The Lower Side was dark across the water. There were hardly any street lamps. No wonder it was dangerous to walk around at night.
‘He’s there.’ John pointed to the end of the bridge as we drove onto it.
Driving all the way to the other side, John didn’t get out until he had his gun in his hand. I followed him, not speaking to Jason as we left him in the car.
‘What’s this I hear about a new leader?’ Artie called to his brother as we came near.
I swallowed as I glanced past Artie to the dark streets beyond. Shadows moved. Other Avoidables waited to see what would happen. Were they his backup? Or just people willing to take a chance.
‘Meet William,’ John shouted back as he pointed to me.
I strode straight up to Artie. He didn’t flinch or move back. A shadow grew beside him and Noland materialised.
‘What are you? Some sort of…maniac?’ he asked.
I chuckled. The sounds drifted around us. John came to stand next to me. Artie and I gazed at one another. None of us would back down. That was a good thing. I needed a strong leader in Lower Side.
‘I’ve watched the development of the Perfect government and the deterioration of Lower Side. It has to stop. I’m a political man. I’ve studied a huge amount.’ I kept my lips straight as I thanked whoever had forged my file. It wasn’t a lie. I had sat watching from above as the city turned to chaos.
‘So, you’ve wormed your way into the government? For what?’ Artie wore leather trousers and a denim waist jacket. His hair was dirty blond, a bit like his companion. However, his was straggly and hung lifeless to his shoulders. Noland’s was shaved at the sides but fell into a thick long braid down his back.
‘To make it a better place. I want to work with you to get fairer rights for Avoidables. And to keep Perfects safe, of course,’ I added for John’s benefit. ‘I’m all about law and order.’
Noland’s shadow fell over me as he took a step forward. He tried to get me to look at him but I avoided making eye contact. He had a gift. I knew that.
The dim light of the bridge cast a yellow glow over us.
‘Noland, I’ve been assured that Sandor is not in the care of the chancellor. Can you be sure that she’s not here?’
Artie put his hand on Noland’s upper arm. He stepped back to allow the Enforcer to talk to me.
‘She’s not here. However, she often makes friends with roamers. I will investigate this end, if you do a little more research on yours.’ Artie leant his head to the side. The dim lamp highlighted the deep scar that ran the length of his face. What had happened to make him an Avoidable?
‘Of course. I will do an extensive search of the compound.’ I nodded at John, who nodded back. It would be his duty to search the rooms for the missing woman.
‘Who are you?’ Artie asked.
He watched me intensely. Noland pulled on his arm to get his attention but he ignored him. A flash of recognition came over his face when I looked into his eyes. What was that? Had he seen something in my eyes, too?
‘William Davis. The new leader of the government.’
‘On probation,’ John piped up.
I smiled as I pulled on my jacket sleeve to smooth it out. I stood straighter when Noland took a step towards me again. He was several inches taller but I wouldn’t let him intimidate me.
‘I have three months. Artie, as Enforcer of Lower Side, we should sit down and talk. Often. If you’re able to get some sort of control on the Avoidables, I would like to offer fairer options for them.’
Noland snorted as Artie chuckled. ‘And how do you suppose I rein them in? There’s only me and Noland. Lower Side is a big place with lots of people.’
John shuffled on his feet. He swung his gaze back at the car. Noland looked around me to the vehicle that waited for us.
‘Is someone in there?’ He squinted to try and see.
I stepped in his way, although it didn’t block his view. ‘Why don’t you set up a team?’ I asked them.
Noland lost interest when he heard my words. He glanced between me and John before raising his eyebrows at Artie.
‘A team?’ the Enforcer said.
Doing up the button on my suit jacket, I smirked at Artie. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t supposed to like Avoidables. I had to persuade John that I was hard, just like his wife.
‘I want you to set up a team of people that will be trained to help you. They must keep Avoidables in line as much as possible. Your team will work on missions set myself, through you. Obviously, you will give them your own assignments too.’
Artie raised his eyebrows. ‘And what’s in it for me? Why should I do your bidding?’
Noland’s head turned as a scream sounded in the distance of Lower Side. He shrugged when my eyes widened.
Clearing my throat, I glanced at John before taking a step forward. ‘Avoidables have it rough, yes? I’m prepared to work with you so that my guards don’t have to do so much work. In exchange, I will give you support. We will fund your missions, although they will have to be approved by me before we give you the money. Working together could prove very effective in settling both sides of the river.’
My words were said quietly in case anyone in the shadows eavesdropped. Noland nodded. Artie kept his eyes on me, trying to read me. Was I genuine? I could see the question pass over his face. I kept my own expression neutral.
‘How can we trust you?’ Noland spoke the question.
Artie shook his head but looked to me for the answer.
‘Let me prove
myself to you. Give me a month. See what happens. If I deliver on my promises, set up your team, work with me.’ I shrugged and glanced at John.
He frowned as he watched his brother. ‘You’d be a fool not to take this opportunity.’
‘Who asked you?’ Noland butt in.
Artie put up his hand. He smiled at John before looking back at me. ‘Okay, a month. I will recruit one or two people. Will we communicate directly?’
Glancing at the dirt on the ground, I shook my head.
‘No, brother, you’ll communicate through me.’
There was no need to disagree, it was the best way forward. I couldn’t have people know that I was working with what the other officials classed as the enemy. It would be safer for John to pass messages between us.
‘You look a bit like someone I used to know.’ Artie patted a pocket on his top.
The others ceased to exist as I focused on the man. I had never seen him before coming to Earth, obviously. However, he scrutinised me unlike any of the Perfects ever had. He couldn’t have a gift. He was only an Avoidable because he had a scar on his face.
‘I don’t think we’ve ever met,’ I said carefully.
He shook his head, clearing his expression. ‘No, we haven’t. You do look like someone I used to know. About nineteen years ago.’
My whole body froze. Jason was nineteen. And so was the other person that would be responsible for the Avoidables and Perfects to unite. I didn’t know her name, yet.
John moved next to me. I ripped my gaze away when he clicked the safety off his gun.
‘What’s happening?’ I said as Noland spun towards the darkness of Lower Side.
‘Get back in the car, William,’ John ordered.
A high pitched giggle made me shiver. It came from the shadows. Artie pulled a knife from his waistband. ‘He’s right. Get back in the car.’
A door slammed behind us. I spun to see Jason advancing. Rushing from my spot, I caught him before he reached the Avoidables. I didn’t want them to see him. I also didn’t want him to take too much notice of them. He would know more down the line.
‘What’s happening? I saw my dad aim his-’
A shot rang out. We both ducked to the ground.
‘Missed me!’ someone shouted.
Another high pitched giggle made me pull on Jason’s arm. ‘Get back in the car,’ I hissed.
‘Missed me, too!’
The second voice was female. The first had been a man talking in a funny voice. John took a step forward at the same time Artie and Noland did.
‘What’s going on, then?’ The third voice came from a different part of the shadows. Near the first concrete building. The other two were on the opposite side of the road. We couldn’t see any of them.
‘You need to leave,’ Artie called. ‘Before you get hurt.’
The giggling grew louder as their shadows emerged. I pushed Jason under the car as they approached the three people that stood at the end of the bridge. Noland tipped his head to the side. John aimed his gun at them. Artie held his arms to his side, his knife clearly visible.
‘Is this a secret tryst? Are you all lovers?’
The woman had dirt smudged over her face. I could just about see the Avoidables as they stepped under the first lamp on the bridge. I got to my knees and crept to the front of the car. Looking around the hood, I kept my gaze on them.
‘I am the Enforcer. If you don’t leave now, I will have this Perfect shoot you for trespassing on the bridge.’
Artie pointed to John with his knife. The woman’s eyes followed the movement. Her hair was matted. It was impossible to tell what colour it was naturally because it was so coated in grime. Her eyes were big. The slouch of her shoulders told me that she lived a miserable life. Did they not have access to shampoo and soap on Lower Side?
‘We’re not trespassing. We’re making conversation,’ another man said.
He spoke in a sing song voice. It was creepy, which matched his long face. His hair was dark but grew in patches over his head. The long chin he stroked was covered in a beard.
‘Did you not hear what the Enforcer said?’ Noland’s deep voice echoed around them.
I shifted on my feet. The last man must have heard because his head whipped to where I peeked from behind the car. Moving back, I flattened myself against the car door.
‘We have company. Someone important I reckon,’ he said.
His frame was taller than the rest. The fingers on the hand that pointed at the car were bent at odd angles. His eyes were bright red. A half breed. I had heard of them but never seen one in real life.
‘Come out, William,’ Artie called.
I heard John try to disagree but ignored him. Patting Jason on the head so that he knew to stay where he was, I got to my feet. Approaching the newcomers, I brushed down my jacket and ran a hand over my hair to make sure my new style was in shape.
‘Who do we have here? You look important, mister,’ the sing song voiced man said.
‘He looks like royalty,’ the woman chimed in.
‘There’s no royalty left, stupid!’ the last man added.
He was the brains of the trio. He knew what he was doing. The others were his puppets, waiting for his orders. They wore rags. Different material roughly sewn together to cover their bodies.
‘You’re government, aren’t you?’ the red eyed man asked me.
Taking a step closer, I paused when John glanced at me over his shoulder and shook his head roughly.
‘It’s okay, William. We’ve got this,’ Artie said.
All three of the dangerous Avoidables glared at me. They traced the line of my suit, studying the way I held myself. Proud. Arrogant. The way I had to show them.
‘He thinks he’s better than us.’ The girl snarled crouching slightly.
I cleared my face, ready to do battle. If the Avoidables wanted to prove me wrong, they would. My plan was to persuade the Perfect government that there was good in them. It would take a lot to get them to hear me. Especially if news got out that a fight had gone down because of me.
‘Hold on.’ The red eyed man put an arm across to block the girl from moving.
She frowned but stepped back. The other man scratched at his beard, not really paying much attention to anything.
‘I say we kill them,’ he sang when our gaze locked.
The ringleader stepped towards Artie. He kept his gaze on me the whole time he moved. Noland went to get in front of the Enforcer but Artie pushed him away.
‘What do you want?’ he asked the man.
I didn’t know what half bred he was. The red of his iris reminded me of ancient pictures of demons. They had not existed. Ever. The humans didn’t know that, though. When they thought of angels, they automatically associated them with demons.
I blinked to get away from the red eyed intense gaze. What would have given him such strange coloured eyes if not a demon?
‘We’re hungry, that’s all,’ he said.
Artie sighed as the other Avoidables nodded their agreement. They both grinned when they looked at me. I was fresh meat. Someone to ransom.
‘I will give you food,’ I called.
John took a step back towards me as Noland glared at me over his shoulder. I was the leader now, I could do as I wanted. If I wanted to give them food, I would.
‘For our whole lives, I hope.’ The man sneered.
My mistake. They were bribing me. My life for food. Or if I was to look a little closer, my life for theirs. They were nothing but skin and bone. It was wrong. Distribution of food wasn’t fair.
‘Don’t threaten us,’ Artie said.
I wasn’t sure how they were threatening us but Artie knew his kind much more than I did.
‘You’re scum. Leave now.’ John waved them away.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. My thinking of them as a species was just as bad as the Perfects way of looking at them. They were human, mainly.
‘Come on, now. This litt
le rendezvous would surely get people talking if they knew about it. Would be a shame to let it slip to the Avoidable community. Some of us are able to get messages across to the Perfects. You have the number of the television station, don’t you?’ the ringleader said, turning to his girlfriend.
She showed her black teeth when she smiled at him.
There was a television station on Upper Side. It only showed programmes that told the Perfects all about their side of the city. Some reports were made about Avoidables but they were always scary propaganda.
‘Let’s wrap this up, I need to get back.’ I feigned boredom by slouching my posture.
The giggling man let out a happy laugh. He must have been mad. His eyes didn’t stay on me, they looked all over the place. The woman that had been escorted to Lower Side a few days before came into my mind. How was she fairing?
‘Food. That’s what we want.’
I waved my hand as if dismissing him. ‘That’s what you’ll get. Artie, see to it that these three get the food they deserve. Can’t have them starving, can we?’
Turning, I made my way back over to the car. We did need to get back. Catherine could become suspicious of John and Jason’s whereabouts. I didn’t want her to get involved in our business.
‘Thank you, sir,’ the man drawled out his gratitude.
‘Meet me here tomorrow morning, I will have your food,’ Artie spat.
The red eyed man clicked his fingers. The others went to slink into the shadows. A gun shot rang out. I spun to watch the scene in front of me. The crazy man slumped to the ground. A woman’s scream filled the air as the girl disappeared into the shadows.
John had killed the Avoidable. The man lay dead in the dirt. Artie and Noland moved forward as the red eyed man stared straight past them at me.
‘You made your decision.’ He turned and vanished into Lower Side.
Noland grabbed hold of John’s guard jacket and lifted him from his feet. Artie went over to the dead man, checking him over.
I ran to the tall Viking like man, grabbing his arm. He was too strong. John wriggled as he was held by the scruff of his coat.
‘Why did you do that?’ I hissed at him.
Noland blinked, his gaze moving to me as he lowered the guard. ‘Get back in the car,’ he said in his deep voice, pushing the guard away from us.
I stood my ground. Noland wanted to use his gift. A flash of memory came to me. People that were able to look into a person’s eyes and see their true intentions. They could see if they were telling the truth. Noland had that gift. If I allowed him to look into my soul, would he believe me? Maybe he would be on my side.
‘I have a way of knowing people,’ he muttered as Artie flicked open an old style mobile phone and made a phone call.
‘I know,’ I said before I could engage my brain.
His eyebrows dropped. ‘How do you know?’
The back of my hand was fascinating as I studied it. I thought I had it sorted. My arrogance as an angel was overtaking my common sense. I had only been human for a few days. I was playing with the big people already.
‘I read your file.’
‘Too afraid to look at me? Scared I’ll find out what you’re all about?’ He flicked his long braid over his shoulder. I could see why people would be afraid of him. His size made me feel tiny. And I wasn’t.
Glancing up at him, I let his gaze connect with mine. My mind went still as his power worked on me. If anyone else watched us, they would think we were locked in a lovers’ stare. The intimacy of it made me tear my gaze away.
‘There’s good in you. Even if you are a Perfect.’
He turned, dismissing me from his thoughts. ‘I will bury him,’ he said to Artie as he approached.
Artie clapped him on the shoulder as he whispered something to the hulking warrior. Would he share his findings with his Enforcer?
‘You can go now,’ Artie said to me as he came over.
Folding my hands in front of me, I stayed where I stood. ‘I’m sorry about John’s action. I meant what I said.’
Artie shook his head, letting his breath out in a long rush. ‘That’s my brother for you. He’s been trained to…’
He didn’t stop shaking his head through his whole sentence. I glanced over my shoulder. John hovered by the car watching us closely.
‘I know what you are,’ Artie said suddenly.
My gaze snapped back to him. His smile was small, almost forced. He was sincere in his belief, whatever that was.
‘Twenty years ago I encountered another of…’ He paused as he lowered his voice, ‘…your kind.’
Swallowing, I let my head fall forward. To gain his trust, I would need to trust him.
‘And what is that?’ I said under my breath.
The glint of his knife blade caught in the light. He moved it back to his waistband when I looked at it. Facing him, I set my feet slightly apart. He couldn’t possible know that-
‘You know, from up there.’ He gestured to the sky with his head.
The air in my lungs escaped me. My shoulders started to itch as my wings pushed against the skin of my back.
‘We’re back!’ someone called from the shadows.
The sound of feet on the dirt was multiplied. The red eyed man had brought back up. I glanced at John as he got in the car and started the engine.
‘Get out of here, we’ll sort this!’ Artie pushed me towards the vehicle.
I didn’t stop to see how many there were. The weird laughter was much louder now. Almost a choir of synchronised hysterical laughter.
‘We’ll talk again!’ Artie shouted as I yanked open my door and slipped into the car.
He was right. We would talk again. I needed to know just how he knew that I was an angel.