Evil Origins
chapter FOURTEEN
Harrow
As I waited I ordered another scotch. I had to appear human and this was as close to human as I could get, considering where I was. The waitress was always quick to bring me my drinks and my glass never went empty here. I could easily spend three hours sitting here, downing drinks and watching the living waste their lives. Early in my transformation I would frequent bars to find food, but thanks to the internet I could pop online and order like it was takeout. As I sipped my drink I scanned the bar, with its oak panelling on the walls and the chip-marks along the bar. You can still see the marks along the bottom where there was once a brass plated bar for people to rest their feet on. Lousy idea, though. The patrons of this place were mostly overweight construction workers and retired vets, so in the first month they had made it look like the remains of a five-car pileup. I still liked the place, though. It was an uneventful environment for old drunks like me. Well, if I could still get drunk. Now I just played the part.
Maude came by, dropping another drink on table as she passed.
"It’s been too long since you spent any time here,” she said. She was in her late 50's and always turned away when she passed to give me a look at her finely shaped ass. I have known her for ten years now and while abusive boyfriends along with time had stolen her youthful complexion, it had no effect on her back end. It still looked so firm that I could bounce a quarter off of it. We used to try that in her youth but, like most things, those days are long gone.
"No, I am here to meet an old friend tonight," I responded.
With a sour face she raised an eyebrow and snorted, “A lady friend?" I could see the resentment in her gaze. For too long now she had hinted, then offered and finally, almost begged to be the next Mrs. Barthélémy, but that ship had sailed and sank too many times now. For me, love and marriage was the equivalent to booking a cruise on the Titanic. Doomed to sink with little hope of survival. As I took another swig I heard a loud, horrible roar followed by an earth-shaking chugging sound. Damn bikers, I thought. It did not happen often, but from time to time they did stray in. They never stayed around as the bar was so uneventful and there were no young hotties here to harass.
“He may seem a little girly, but that is because he is a priest. Or at least he was one,” I responded as I tapped the hard table top.
“Oh Harrow, if your friend is trying to save your soul he will need a lifetime to do it and an Angel on his shoulder.” Maude responded with a loud toothless laugh. She may not have had the prettiest smile, with only two or three nicotine stained teeth left and so many faint wrinkles that her face looked like a plowed field when she smiled, but her laughter was always genuine. She looked back with a wink and snorted, “I cannot imagine that you have ever been in a church, let alone know a priest.”
As I slapped the table I continued, “Know him. I grew up with him and for all I know, the devil in me is the reason that he went into the church and stayed.”
A loud voice bellowed, “I had to in order to try and save that tattered soul and cold heart of yours.” As I looked up, there was Mike but I could see by the way he tried to hide his face that he was just playing a part, trying to blend in. It still amazed me to see Mike in faded black jeans with a wrinkled black shirt that had seen many days’ worth of wear by the looks of it and a long scratched-up leather jacket that went down to his knees. His eyes seemed cold and his whole face looked too worn. I am sure if a strong wind hit him that he would fall on his ass. I had seen that look before when I was in the Persian Gulf War. Officially, Canada was there doing peace keeping only but unofficially, a select few of us were deep in the thick of it. It’s there that I learned what I was made of. We barely slept, and when we did, it wasn’t restfully sleep as there was no way to stop our minds from wandering. A person couldn’t do the things we did or see the things we saw and not be affected by it. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear that Mike had just returned from a war.
As Mike sat down he whispered, “I thought we had an arrangement?”
Our only contact had been through texts, so I was still a little surprised at how much time had changed him. He wasn’t the mild-mannered kid that I grew up with anymore.
“You look used up, Mike.”
“I am used up. Do you know how I spent my morning, Harrow?” There was something in the way he glared at me that told me I wouldn’t like the answer so I just took another sip of my scotch, wishing it was warm fresh blood. I could hear the blood as it flowed through his veins. It was as powerful as the smell of fresh bread when you are hungry and walking past a bakery. “Do you have any idea what I have done this morning? What kind of problems you have caused and not just in my life, but Jenny’s as well?”
“How could I have added that much stress to your life?” I hadn’t seen Mike in so long and we didn’t cross paths, so I couldn’t understand how I could be causing issues in his life. I made it a point to try and keep my old life separate from the new one. Even now, seeing Mike was a sad reminder of what I traded to escape my destiny. No, destiny wasn’t the proper word. My curse.
“Jenny is missing and Wilson is in the hospital.”
“What makes you think that I had anything to do with that? I stay in the shadows, Mike. I don’t get involved in the world that you belong to.” Mike didn’t believe me. I could see it in his eyes. “I promised Nathanial that I wouldn’t touch a single hair on Wilson’s wrinkled head. I keep my promises.”
Slamming his hand onto the table he snapped, “Don’t give me that oath bullshit, Harrow! Everything you do or have ever done has some hidden benefit for you.”
“What exactly do you think I did that will screw everyone but me? I didn’t touch Wilson nor did I do anything to Jenny.”
“You took the information I slipped you and used it not to save Jenny, but to push her into harm’s way.”
"You asked me to protect Jenny and Jade and that's exactly what I did." I had made a calculated move to protect them both. Today's events were a solid indication that even the most thought out plan can and will go astray. I wanted to save Jenny, but Jade was the one that counted. The only one I needed to save.“What happened, exactly?” How could I defend myself if I didn’t know the crime that I was accused of?
"Don't treat me like an idiot, Harrow. For the past six months I have been spoon-feeding you tidbits of Wilson and William's plans and you were supposed to protect them. I see now that you still only care about your interests." Taking a sip of his beer he leaned forward and clasped his hands together, "I don't want to be forced to take drastic actions that might get messy."
"Mike, you and I both know that you have no power over me any more then I have trying stop the sun from shining or jump back in time and erase my regrets." Mike was upset and I didn't want to add his name to my list, but he was overstepping his bounds and certainly jumping into a dangerous place. "You don't want to make me an enemy Mike. I can be a worthy ally, but you don't want me as an enemy. My enemies don't live all that long."
Mike tossed a silver cross on to the table and it burnt my eyes immediately. It was like stepping out of darkness and into the sunlight. “Blinding” was the only way I could describe it. Legend said that pure faith and a cross could repel my kind, but those legends weren't terribly accurate. It was annoying as hell, but it wasn't fatal. Grabbing hold of the cross, I felt it sear and smelt my flesh as it burnt. Taking a deep breath, I refused to give into the pain. Mike needed to learn a lesson here as I didn't want to be forced to kill to him. He wouldn't survive the change or be welcomed into my world. No, it was best for him to be humbled now rather then be torn from everything he knew.
Mike stared at the display and he truly understood for the first time what I was. He had heard the stories and excepted that I was no longer the man he knew or the boy he grew up with. Nathaniel had always protected him from me. Nathaniel didn't fear my kind, but he wasn't exactly welcoming either. He was a wall between us, but my brother wasn't her
e to stand in the way anymore.
“I don’t have any enemies, Harrow so I don’t know a lot about wiping them off the face of the earth, but if Jenny gets hurt because of something you have set in motion I will learn my lessons faster then even you can imagine.”
The savage part of me wanted to reach over and tear out his throat. It was an instinct that I was always struggling to control and sometimes I lost the battle. I forced my hands onto the tabletop and reminded myself who Mike was. I forced the images of a wasted youth shared with him and the bonds that once existed between us.
"Listen, Mike. I am not your enemy. If I caused any issues for Jenny or Wilson it wasn't my design. However, Wilson getting a beating isn't something I will apologize for. Truth be told, if my brother hadn't sworn me out of their lives I would happily be the eternal thorn in his side."
"That's not a secret, Harrow. I don't like Wilson any more then you do, but this isn't about Wilson. If the gangsters don't kill him, Renaud eventually will. This is about the gangsters getting caught speeding out of their house like they just robbed a liquor store and the cops are right behind them then Jenny goes missing."
"Jenny's missing?” I asked, registering it for the first time. "The King took her after I asked him politely not to touch her" I reached in closer, "What about the child, Jade?"
Still sipping his beer, Mike looked even more concerned as he responded.
"She is safe, but there is another complication. A big complication."
"I imagine her mother going missing is stressful for her."
"Yes, but that isn't the complication. She came into the house when Renaud was doing whatever it is that he does. I didn't see it exactly, but what I do know is that one minute Wilson was broken in two and then the next he is still looking beaten, but not on death’s bed."
“Renaud knows about the child? Does he know who she is?” This wasn't something I was prepared for yet. I was well aware that I would be forced to face my brother. That lines were drawn the day he died and I knew that there was the possibility Jade was going to be our chess piece. That to save her I might have to kill her, but I didn't expect it to start this early. Fighting two wars was something I didn't expect to face. "What do you mean Wilson was on death’s bed one minute and yanked back the next?"
Mike seemed to calm as he signalled Maude for another beer, "Like I said, I saw Wilson bloodied and looking like he was being dragged down to the pits of hell. I walked away to call 911 and when I came back he looked rough, but not dying."
"And Renaud. How did he look?" I was well aware that I lost control and looked too eager, but it was too much information to absorb at once. "Did he look like he was angry or upset?"
Mike tapped his fingers as he seemed to be considering his answer. "I don't know how to answer this exactly. One minute it was like he couldn’t care less if he lived or died. Actually, I don’t think he even cared what might happen to Jenny, but then I come back and he had his hand on Wilson's forehead." “Ok, but did he looked angry or stressed?”
“He looked exhausted. It was almost like every bit of life that had returned to Wilson was stolen from Renaud.”
I always knew that he had power. Murlin had chosen him over me, which was unheard of amongst her kind. They were drawn to the strongest like a bee to honey, yet she overlooked the most powerful warlock and went for the other one. I had thought that when he returned he would do like I did when Mihaela turned me. That his soul would be drained of goodness and his powers be stolen too. "So does he know who Jade really is?"
"No, I don't think so. He did look troubled though. He looked like he had gotten answers to questions that he truly didn't want answered." It looked like he knew more then he was saying, which was uncharacteristic for Mike. Mike was like an open book with all the important sections were highlighted.
"I will fix the problem with the King and get Jenny back. This might not be part of my plan, but I will deal with this unexpected little series of events."
"Don't let it take too long, Harrow. I don't know what exactly you are afraid of or why you and Nathaniel wanted to keep Jade’s existence such a secret, but if Jade means so much to you, Jenny better come back unharmed."
"Mike, you don't want to do that and you don't want to threaten me. Save the souls of the living and leave my soul to hide in the shadows." I was seriously considering waiting for my old friend to step out one night and end this, but that would not work. Renaud would have questions and would hunt me. I couldn't let attachments interfere with protecting Jenny and Jade.
Mike stood up and fixed his jacket. He reached out, picking up the silver crucifix and stepping closer.
"Harrow, just do what you promised when I told you about Wilson's deal with the mob." He took the crucifix and dropped it around my neck, which was followed by a burning that went all the way down to the bone. I refused to let him see my pain, so I endured it. "You find Jenny and do as you promised or I will finish this."
Walking away, Mike looked over his shoulder and whispered, "Do as you promised Harrow and I will keep your secret. You owe me that and I owe you my silence. I don't want Jenny to be your next victim and you don't want Jade to become one." I watched him walk away and pass through the doors vanishing into the darkness. I hoped for his sake that I could save Jenny, because if I couldn't I was going to have to kill him and that idea was very unpleasant to me. I might be a monster, but I didn't take pleasure from killing the innocent that existed in this world. Mike was one of the innocent ones that still existed. The effects of my brother’s presence were already touching his heart.