Truth Behind the Mask Read online

  *

  Rogue shut the door behind her carefully and looked over at Melina, who was seated behind her desk. “Erith didn’t turn up for work today.”

  “I had a feeling Pagan would have to check in on her. Did you stop her from charging over there?”

  “Barely.”

  “I did a little investigating of my own. One of the Sentinels who lives nearby very kindly answered my call to check them out. She went masquerading as a door-to-door evangelist and was thankful she wasn’t invited in, but she saw Erith and said she looked okay, subdued but okay. She also said she heard Erith call out to her mother and heard a voice answer back. Joe Baylor, however, is nowhere in the vicinity. It looks like he’s out for the day already.”

  “He’s probably got other business to attend to. But he’ll be back.” Rogue pulled Melina into her arms and nuzzled into her neck. “What are we getting ourselves mixed up in?”

  “Something that obviously is already dragging Pagan in, heart first.” Melina tightened her hold on Rogue’s arms. “You saw this woman for yourself, what did you think?”

  “On first glance I didn’t see her emblazoned with the mark of the Phoenix, if that’s what you want me to say. I saw a woman who really needs to eat something because she is so slender. I’m guessing she doesn’t get to look after herself much. She’s obviously as smart as a whip to have managed to survive in such a terrible situation for so long. All I got from her that day was her disappointment that Pagan wasn’t the one visiting the car lot.”

  “If this is the one for Pagan we’re going to be kept on our toes.”

  “She waits all this time to find a woman and then picks one that is trouble personified.”

  “But bad girls are more fun.” Melina kissed along Rogue’s jawline and grinned when Rogue pulled away to stare at her. “They are! They are larger than life, amazing to understand, and have that sense of danger that is such a huge turn-on.”

  “I am not a bad girl.”

  “No, you are very good at everything.” Melina tugged her head down to kiss her.

  “You’re trying to distract me,” Rogue grumbled, but let Melina kiss her way around her face until she could take it no longer and directed Melina’s lips back to her own. She let Melina’s tongue enter her mouth and twist lazily with hers. She took advantage of Melina’s distraction and kissed her back with tender ferocity. Rogue felt her melt into her arms and let Rogue take what she wanted. When they finally broke apart, Melina looked both dazed and aroused.

  “How long before Pagan finishes what she is doing?” Melina’s voice was husky with longing.

  Rogue ran her hands through Melina’s long hair and marveled, not for the first time, at her beauty. She was eternally grateful to know where Melina’s loyalties lay and was secure in the knowledge that when she needed someone, Melina was the one for her. “She’ll be long enough for you to see how bad I really can be.” Rogue led Melina out of her office and up the stairs to their bedroom. The lighthouse with its damnable secrets and Erith Baylor with her mysterious involvement could all be put on hold while Rogue gave her full attention to the one thing that really mattered in her life.

  *

  Pagan had never known so few hours to go so very slowly. She had seen to her duties in the Security office with more than her usual determination, anxious not to have Rogue berate her for not being able to keep her mind on the job at hand. But the time for Pagan to don her Sentinel suit was a long time coming, and it chafed her to remain away from Erith’s door. The whereabouts of Erith’s father were still unknown. The Sentinels had been warned about him. The ever-watchful eyes of the city were seeking him out, waiting for him to come home.

  Pagan impatiently watched the clock’s slow hand tick away every second of the daylight and draw the night ever closer.

  “What makes you so certain something will happen tonight?” Rogue asked as she finished her nightly routine of closing up the shop.

  “What makes you think there won’t be trouble?” Pagan stood at the window with her arms folded, watching the waning sun sink a little lower in the sky. “She didn’t get what she’d been sent to collect. There are consequences, she said. And we know that the one he hurts to keep Erith in line is her mother.”

  “Which would go a long way to explain why she’s never just up and left.”

  “Family has a huge hold on you when you love someone.” Pagan shoved her hands in her pockets to stifle the need to punch something hard. “If you know how to use that particular tool against someone, it can be devastating.”

  “You need to be focused. Calmness and a level head will serve you better than anger and the need for revenge.”

  “Sometimes I feel a rage so deep inside me that it wants to burst to the surface and make my head explode.” Pagan couldn’t bring herself to look at Rogue. She feared she’d see nothing but disappointment there. She was surprised when a hand tipped her chin up and Rogue fixed her with a look of understanding.

  “It’s good to recognize the power that rage holds inside you; it’s even better to temper it and use it wisely. In some ways you are very much like your sister, so noble and bright following the path destiny has laid out for you, for all it has taken from you.”

  “And in other ways you are the spitting image of Rogue.” Melina entered the room and reached out to hold a hand from each of them. “So determined to save the world single-handed. Sentinels are not ones who fight alone. They call upon their fellow Sentinels to assist them. They rely on the Sighted to guide them. And they have the backing of the families that love them and support them in all they endeavor to do to keep this city safe.” Melina turned to Pagan. “We know what you want to do. You want to go out tonight and check that Erith is okay.”

  “I have to,” Pagan said.

  “And if we tell you that what you are electing to do is both foolhardy and stupid, then what?” Melina asked.

  Pagan felt her anger bristle but tried to temper it. “Then I’d hear your words and ask you to understand mine. I need to go to her. I think she’s in grave danger and I need to help her.”

  “We can’t save everyone,” Rogue said.

  “But I need to save her.”

  “Should you be needed to aid someone who has come to mean much to you, then you need to do so wisely. Who you are cannot be jeopardized for the sake of one in trouble. If you are recognized, then we are all in danger. Never compromise your family,” Melina said.

  “I understand.”

  Melina shifted her attention to Rogue. “You know this city like the back of your hand. It’s your territory. But tonight, this will be Pagan’s call, as it has been from the start. So I’m going to request that you remain here until we are certain that Erith is safe and Pagan can once again put the rest of the city first.”

  “She’s to receive no backup from me?”

  “This is going to be Pagan’s mission. If she is intent on going against our wishes in this matter, then she needs to go it completely alone.” Melina cocked her head at Pagan. “Think you can handle it?”

  Pagan was astounded by Melina’s directive. She didn’t expect them to leave her without backup. Only then did Pagan realize what it cost her sister to let her go. “I have been taught by the best,” she said.

  Rogue snorted. “Flattery will get you nowhere.”

  “I speak the truth.” Pagan looked over her shoulder as the sun dipped lower. “I’ve held back all day. Let me go out now. Let me put my mind at rest that she’s safe.”

  Melina released her hand. “Go suit up and prepare for the night.”

  “I won’t let you down. I promise. But she might need me, and I have to heed that call tonight.”

  *

  Pagan ran from the room.

  “What are you doing, sweetness?” Rogue asked Melina.

  “If she truly believes she has to save this woman, then she has to do it herself. She’s old enough to be her own Sentinel and she needs to prove it to herself. Some day, this city
will be hers alone to watch over.”

  “So soon to put me out to pasture, are you?”

  Melina chuckled at her. “No, but when you’re too old to race across the rooftops I’d like you here in my arms in one piece for me to cherish while our Pagan keeps us safe in the night.”

  “Time to let go of the reins, eh?”

  “Time for us both to let our girl grow up and meet her own destiny head-on as the woman she is now.”

  Rogue hugged Melina to her. “Tonight should be quite a night, then.”

  “You can do this, Rogue. You took her as your own, you gave her some semblance of hearing back, and you’ve helped me bring her up to be such a wonderful adult. Now let her be her own Sentinel, big and brave enough to make her own mistakes.”

  “And if she needs my help tonight?”

  “Then let her ask for it.”

  “I can do that.”

  “I have every faith in you.” Melina’s praise was accompanied by a wry smile.

  Rogue blew out a breath. “God, who knew kids could be so hard?”

  Melina just chuckled at her. “Like you didn’t enjoy every minute watching her grow. Maybe we should have had some of our own for you to adore.” She turned and sauntered from the shop floor. “We still have time. I could ask any number of cousins who are willing to aid us.” The door closed softly behind her, and suddenly Rogue found that Pagan being out on her own that night was the least of her worries.

  *

  Just as Pagan left the lighthouse, another Sighted confirmed her worst fear; Baylor was on his way home. She sped across the city, leaping from rooftop to fire escape, all the while focusing on the apartment building she knew was just a little farther ahead. She listened to the satisfying snick of the wire shooting across one wide divide and felt the pull as the grapple reached its target. Pagan launched herself once more into thin air and slid down the wire to land with her feet firmly planted on rusted steel bars. With silent stealth, she situated herself on the fire escape outside Erith’s room. It had been a race across the city to see who got to the building first.

  Joe Baylor won.

  Pagan could hear the awful sounds coming from inside the apartment. A sudden crack in the glass in the window next to Erith’s caught Pagan’s attention. It spiraled out like a huge spider’s web.

  “I’m going in,” Pagan said.

  “Be careful,” Melina said over the comlink.

  Pagan eased up the window in Erith’s room and slid inside. She could hear Erith’s voice, the tone wavering, her words shaking with obvious fear.

  “Come on, Dad, calm down,” she was pleading, her voice thick with tears.

  Pagan cautiously peered around the door frame. She first saw the prone body of a woman on the floor, half in and half out of the hallway, her face bloody and bruised. She could only hear Erith, but what she heard chilled her to her core.

  “I have done everything you have asked from me. I have tried to be the dutiful daughter you seem to think I am incapable of being. But this is wrong, Dad. Can’t you see that? I can’t keep doing the things that you want. Sooner or later, I’m going to get caught doing your dirty work.”

  “You deserve to be, you little coward. All I asked was for the codes, and you couldn’t even do that for me. You are pathetic, just like your mother.”

  Pagan heard him smash something, and Erith’s scream signified it had obviously hit a little too close for comfort.

  “I should have pushed her harder this morning when she told me you weren’t here with what I’d asked for. Her excuses were lame, even for her.” His laughter was cruel. “It’s just a damned shame these windows are built so strong. You could have come home to find your mother waiting on the pavement for you.”

  Pagan wondered just where Erith had spent the night once she’d supposedly returned home from the lighthouse. The lights in the room suddenly went out with swift pops, plunging the room into darkness. Pagan sent a silent thank-you to Melina, who she knew was responsible for that feat. Melina had called it her favorite party trick to overload the circuits and blow out all the lights.

  Pagan carefully opened the door a little further and then stepped in. She saw Erith’s eyes widen as she witnessed her enter as if from nowhere. Pagan headed straight for Joe Baylor and grabbed his arm to disable him. He roared with surprise and rage and then with pain when Pagan applied enough pressure to make him drop the knife he’d been brandishing at Erith.

  “Who the hell are you? Get the hell out of my house!” he screamed, trying to punch Pagan with his free hand.

  Pagan ducked easily as she kicked him in the back of his knees so he collapsed. She swiftly cuffed his hands behind his back with her plastic binders and secured his legs as well. Then she picked the knife up and attached it to her belt.

  “What the hell are you doing here, you freak?” Baylor spat out. “Who do you think you are, coming into my home, stealing my knife, all dressed up like some clown?”

  Pagan grabbed a handful of his hair and smacked his head into the carpet. “Shut up,” she said. She looked at Erith, who was stock-still in the middle of the room. Pagan looked closer, and even in the near dark she could see an angry-looking bruise already starting to form on Erith’s face.

  “Are you okay?” Pagan asked, her fear for Erith coloring her voice and pitching it at a deeper tone.

  Erith nodded dumbly, obviously shocked by the turn of events. Gathering her wits, she rushed over to her mother, who was gingerly fingering her bloodied face.

  “She needs a hospital,” Pagan said and was startled by the pitiful keening sound that came from the woman’s mouth.

  “Noooooooo,” Mrs. Baylor wailed, sounding like an animal in distress.

  Pagan looked at Erith, who just shook her head. “If she goes to the hospital, they’ll ask how this happened, and she won’t ever tell them.”

  “Smart woman,” Baylor hissed.

  Pagan bounced his head off the floor again for good measure. She had the satisfaction of hearing his nose break.

  “How about you?” Pagan said to Erith.

  Erith touched her cheek and gingerly worked her jaw. “I’m sick and tired of this,” she said.

  “Shut up, girl, or I’ll cut you another lip!” her father warned.

  Pagan got up from where she’d been kneeling beside him. She ignored his protests as she laid her boot on his head and kept him chewing the carpet to shut him up.

  “If you want to leave, I can help you.” Pagan held his head down as she felt him writhe beneath her. “Both of you.”

  Erith looked at her mother. She shook her head. “Mom, please,” Erith said. “This can’t keep happening. You’re running out of bones to break.”

  “My place is with your father,” her mother said weakly.

  Pagan felt Erith’s pain as she stared at her mother in utter disbelief.

  “Even now, after what he did to you this time, after what he was going to do to me?”

  “For better or for worse,” her mother replied, eyeing Baylor fearfully. Even with him bound and pinned to the floor, the woman’s absolute terror of him was palpable.

  Pagan caught the faint sound of approaching sirens. “The police are already on their way.”

  Mrs. Baylor began to wail, and Baylor began to struggle again under Pagan’s boot.

  “They won’t keep him long. Mom won’t say anything against him.”

  “What about you?”

  Erith looked at her father tied up on the floor, his face smashed into the carpet under Pagan’s boot. Erith shook her head sadly. “It’s more than my life’s worth.” She sighed. “He’d just take it out on Mom yet again.”

  Pagan held her hand out to Erith. “If you want to leave, I can take you somewhere safe.”

  Erith looked at her mother, who pushed her toward the Sentinel with a weak hand. “Go, I’ll be okay. You need to go. It’s way past time you left us.”

  “Run, girl,” Baylor muttered.

  Erith ignored
him, her attention firmly fixed on her battered mother. “I can’t keep living like this, Mom. I thought this move would stop it, but it’s just gotten worse.”

  “You can come back later. He’ll be better again, like he always is. For now, just go,” her mother said.

  “How do you know you can trust this clown, Erith?” Her father struggled to turn over to fix angry eyes on her.

  Erith knelt down and kissed her mother’s forehead, then carefully picked her way over broken furniture to where Pagan stood. Pagan tried not to look away too quickly and hoped the shadows hid her identity.

  “Eyes don’t lie, Daddy,” Erith said simply. She crouched down beside him. “Please try to get help this time.”

  His features softened fractionally and he nodded. “Get out of here.”

  Pagan took her foot off Baylor’s head and he flipped over to look at her. “Hurt her and I’ll be down on you like a ton of bricks.”

  “I’ll leave the hurting to you, sir. It seems you’re quite the expert at it.”

  Baylor sneered. “This Phoenix will rid Chastilian of you Sentinels. He’ll blow you all away. I’ll be sure to dance a merry jig on your grave especially, sir!”

  Pagan turned to Erith. “Gather what you need now.”

  “I’ll be ready for you next time,” Baylor said.

  Pagan stared at him while Erith rushed past her to get things from her room. She leaned closer to him. “You won’t get the chance to even see me if there is a next time.” She had the satisfaction of seeing him swallow hard. She straightened back up and cast an eye at Erith’s mother, who was watching her fearfully. “Lady, I suggest that you find a way to inject the strength you have just shown for your daughter into your own backbone.” With that Pagan left them alone.

  Erith held up her backpack for approval when Pagan entered her bedroom.