Truth Behind the Mask Read online

  Pagan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I should have left you in Akramon’s warehouse.”

  “Her place isn’t with me,” Akramon said. “She belongs with your sister and you. Destiny, dear Pagan, has a way of bringing people to you so they can take their place either at your side or against you.”

  Rogue touched Pagan’s hand. “Go find her and bring her back safely. Then we’ll all get together and set some ground rules on what is acceptable nighttime activity. We have enough in this city to contend with without having to monitor her movements as well.”

  “Maybe she’s sleepwalking?” Pagan offered weakly.

  “Then go guide her home. We’ll be sure to wake her carefully when she returns.”

  Pagan closed the door and watched as the dark car disappeared like a shadow along the road.

  “She’s still at the apartment. The tracer I put on her jacket is showing she’s stationary at the moment.”

  “You bugged Erith?”

  “No, I traced her. Seems like it was worth it, wouldn’t you agree?”

  Pagan took off in the direction that would lead her to Erith, the one route that she felt she was fated to choose.

  *

  Pagan leaned lazily against the wall, watching as Erith carefully eased herself out of her bedroom window and slowly pulled the frame down to latch it again. Pagan knew the instant Erith realized she wasn’t on the fire escape alone. She swiftly stifled any sound from her scream. “Shh,” she whispered. “You’ll wake up the entire city!”

  Erith ripped Pagan’s hand away from her mouth. “What are you doing here?” She began down the fire escape.

  Pagan followed after her. “Shouldn’t that be my question? What are you doing out so late?”

  “I had to get to something,” Erith continued down the steps.

  “Did you let anyone know that you were leaving?”

  “No, I just snuck out,” Erith said. “I’m a big girl now. I don’t have curfew.”

  “How did you get past the alarms?” Pagan asked.

  Erith hesitated a little in her flight. “I disabled them,” she said softly. “But I reactivated them when I left so everything’s back up and running again.”

  “What the…? She’s right!” Melina exclaimed over the comlink. “I need to have a serious talk with that young lady. She all but slipped out from under us without leaving a trace.”

  “How did you do that?”

  Erith dug in her pocket and pulled out a small box that fit perfectly in the palm of her hand. It looked like a simple calculator.

  “And that does what exactly?” Pagan asked.

  “It blocks the signals to alarms to give me enough time to get in or out.”

  “Did you design this?” Pagan reached for it and turned it over in her hands.

  Erith nodded and took it back. She stuffed it in her jacket and headed down the stairs again.

  “So, you’re what? A mild-mannered secretary by day and some kind of electronics whiz kid by night?”

  Erith laughed. “I have highly honed burglar skills. It’s not exactly the same thing.”

  “I think you sell yourself short. That’s not just to break in or out. It’s too sophisticated for that.”

  “And there’s more to you than a mask and flying prowess.” She stepped back a pace and Pagan immediately stepped into shadow. “Elusive, though.”

  “Sentinels aren’t exactly supposed to make idle chitchat,” Pagan replied.

  “Yet you do.”

  “Yes, you do!” Melina grumbled in Pagan’s ear.

  “Let’s just get you back home.”

  “Home?”

  “Your safe home. Which, obviously, isn’t safe enough if you can break in and out of it.”

  “How do you know so much about its alarm system? First the shop, then the home,” Erith asked.

  “I’m a Sentinel, I know all,” Pagan said. “Besides, what would be the point of me taking you somewhere safe if I didn’t know how safe it was?”

  Erith nodded, conceding the point.

  “Are you okay there?”

  Erith nodded again. “They’re great. It’s a fantastic place to live, and I’m with my best friend. What more could I wish for?”

  “Your bike, obviously,” Pagan said pointing to the contraption that Erith was wheeling along.

  “I wanted something that was mine. I only have my clothes. Nothing else there is mine. And I can’t keep having someone drive me to work every morning. I won’t be a burden to these people.”

  “You could have gone home during the day for it.”

  “Dad might have been there. I couldn’t risk it.”

  “Would he hurt you without your mother being there?”

  “It’s not so much that, I’m used to that. He’d want me to go back there to look after Mom when she comes out of the hospital. But I can’t get caught up in that again. And I know he’s tangled up in something much worse than he ever was where we lived before. I’m frightened he’s a part of everything terrible that I see on the news.” Erith looked at Pagan. “I don’t know exactly what he does. My dad has many talents.” She patted the pocket where her gadget was hidden. “Some I inherited and some I learned from him directly. I’m guessing this Phoenix is just the latest in a long line of hoodlums my dad has hooked up with. He seems to attach himself to badness with alarming regularity.”

  “He’s with a major crime lord.”

  Erith’s eyes widened as she heard her worst fears confirmed. “What has my dad gotten himself into?”

  “Your father is part of the worst criminal gang in Chastilian.”

  “He hates the Sentinels, doesn’t he? My dad said something about this Phoenix wanting to wipe you all out. Then take the city back and run it into the ground.”

  “He can try,” Pagan said with a shrug, then added dryly, “And he is trying, regularly.”

  “How can you live with that?”

  “How did you live with your father battering you and your mother on a regular basis?”

  Erith halted in her steps, pulling the bike to a stop. “Because I had to until I had the power to change things.”

  “Ditto.”

  “Do you like being a Sentinel?” Erith tried to catch Pagan’s eyes again. Pagan evaded her.

  “I was born for it.”

  “Are there many female Sentinels?” Erith asked.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I just wondered.” Erith grinned at her, seemingly enjoying their banter. “I am, however, beginning to think you are the only one who tours these streets. Seems to me the only objective you have is to catch me doing something illegal.”

  “That does seem to be a regular occurrence. You might want to temper the urge more.”

  The lighthouse made its majestic appearance as they rounded a tower block, and they stepped onto the street to cross over into the quiet road.

  “You can find your own way from here, I take it?” Pagan asked. She noticed a small light in the front window. “Looks like you have someone waiting up for you.”

  Erith swallowed audibly. “I hope it’s Pagan.”

  “Is this Pagan over six feet tall and wears a very stern face?”

  “No, I’d hazard a guess that would be Rogue.” Erith sighed. “I am so in trouble.” She looked up at Pagan. “They won’t kick me out, will they?”

  “Explain yourself to them,” Pagan said. “And then make sure you don’t betray their trust again.” Pagan stayed behind while Erith slowly made her way to the lighthouse. “Go on. I have work to do other than to walk you home.”

  “You be careful out there, please?” Erith called softly to her.

  “I will.” Pagan slipped into the darkness and masked herself from Erith’s sight. “Sighted, one Red Fox has once again seen the light.”

  “We want that device. Rogue is all but drooling over its schematics.”

  “Ask her for it. She’s so afraid of Rogue’s reaction that I think she might hand ove
r anything. Even that precious bike of hers.”

  “Come on home, Sentinel,” Melina said. “You’ve earned your rest tonight.”

  Pagan smiled as the light from the lighthouse drew her home, albeit on a different path than the one Erith had taken straight to the front door. It seemed Pagan’s destiny was to be one who would choose the different path.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Erith and Rogue sat at the kitchen table in silence when Pagan entered the kitchen the next morning. Rogue knew Pagan had made the most of it being a Saturday and had enjoyed a workout on her own. Now she was scavenging for a drink in the refrigerator and had not heard the soft gasp that erupted from Erith. Rogue couldn’t help but grin at the captivated look on Erith’s face. The fact that Pagan was wearing only gray shorts and a matching T-shirt had caused Erith’s mouth to drop open. Rogue reached over and shut Erith’s mouth with a sharp click of her teeth. Erith looked at first startled, then embarrassed at being caught, but her eyes drifted back to Pagan once more. Rogue nonchalantly picked up a piece of toast crust and flicked it at Pagan’s shoulder.

  Pagan reacted to the feel of something hitting her and turned around. She questioned Rogue’s method of calling her to attention with a lift of an eyebrow and then saw Erith also in the room.

  “Hi. Forgive me. I didn’t see you there. I was just getting some juice.”

  That’s okay, Rogue signed. You just missed Erith’s tongue rolling out onto the floor at the sight of you, all muscles and naked flesh bathed in the light shining from the fridge.

  Pagan blushed and looked down at herself self-consciously.

  Erith stared at Rogue. “How did you know she couldn’t hear you?”

  “Because she would have reacted to your gasp of appreciation and the sound of the copious drool dripping from your jaw,” Rogue replied. She watched Pagan scrutinize Erith’s face as it suddenly flared with color.

  “Is something wrong?” Pagan asked, looking between the two women.

  “Go shower,” Rogue both signed and spoke aloud for Erith’s sake. “Before Erith expires on the spot.”

  Pagan looked back at Erith. Erith shrugged at her unashamedly, blatantly enjoying the view.

  “Look at you.” She gestured at Pagan, who immediately looked down at herself, wondering what was amiss. “You never looked like that when you came to fit the alarm system. You’re all muscles and stuff!”

  Rogue watched Pagan’s reaction. It was obvious she wasn’t sure how to react to Erith’s interest. “I’ll go shower,” Pagan mumbled and took a step to get out of the kitchen as quickly as she could.

  Rogue nudged Erith. “Go to her before she thinks you’re just teasing her.”

  Erith was out of her seat in a split second and just as quickly in front of Pagan, stopping her flight. She purposely took a hold of Pagan’s face and made her look down at her.

  “You’re gorgeous,” Erith said seriously.

  “I was working out.” Pagan touched her ears sheepishly. “My aids are upstairs.”

  “You’re still gorgeous, and you need to teach me sign language,” Erith told her, very carefully enunciating each word.

  “I will,” Pagan said looking over her shoulder at Rogue. She hastily turned her attention back to what Erith was saying.

  “That way I will know exactly what it is Rogue is saying to you behind my back.”

  Pagan laughed. “How did you know?” she asked as Rogue very quickly lowered her hands from where she had been busily signing love birds at Pagan.

  “I watched your eyes. You focus very keenly on someone when they are talking to you, be it actual speech or sign language. It’s amazing what eyes can reveal about a person. Go shower. Cover up that body before I do something that will scandalize Rogue,” Erith said with a wicked grin.

  “She’s pretty unshockable,” Pagan replied.

  “Don’t you believe it,” Rogue said, watching them interact and realizing why this woman was so important to Pagan. There was a connection between them that was almost tangible.

  “Do you want to do something today?” Pagan asked Erith shyly.

  “Yes.” Erith’s reply was unhesitant.

  “Great, then I’ll go make myself more presentable.” Pagan placed her empty glass on the countertop and reached for an apple. “Then you can tell me why you were out all night while the rest of us slept on unawares and you’re still alive to tell the tale!”

  “Who told you?”

  “I may be deaf, but the walls have ears,” Pagan said and chuckled when Erith spun around to give Rogue a look that could kill.

  Rogue rocked back on her chair and just watched them. It looked like Pagan had found herself a suitable sidekick after all.

  *

  Pagan stood in line for their movie tickets while Erith perused the candy counter. Erith carefully picked out their choices and then managed to cleanly juggle both popcorn and beverages as she made her way back.

  “Is your popcorn okay?” Erith asked with amusement as Pagan began immediately digging in as they made their way to their screening room.

  “I love this stuff,” Pagan said around a mouthful. “You can’t see a film without the customary kernel of popcorn stuck in a tooth somewhere.” She led the way down the aisle. “Is this all right for you?”

  Erith nodded. “I haven’t been to the movies in ages,” she said. “Thank you for inviting me.”

  “No, thank you for letting me bring you along on what has been my weekly diet of action since this film came out.”

  “You’ve seen it that many times?”

  “It’s my favorite film. I can’t see it enough.”

  “What is it about it that keeps bringing you back?”

  “The curious mix of religion and modern technology blended into the storyline, coupled with the philosophy of world faiths linked to a cyber intelligence where machinery rules over mankind. Add to that, special effects that are truly mind blowing, and all that wrapped up in a love story that transcends gender.”

  “And the fact that the leading lady looks very butch in her shiny black leather has nothing at all to do with it.” Erith leaned forward conspiratorially. “I saw the poster outside.”

  “That might be the major factor in my repeated viewings, if the truth be known.”

  They settled down to watch the trailers before the movie. Pagan fiddled with her aids to take in the sounds in the best quality she could.

  “Are those things fitted with high-definition surround sound?” Erith asked.

  “No. They need to be turned down so I don’t lose any more hearing from the sound system they employ here,” she teased. When she was settled, Pagan was surprised to find a small hand seeking out her own.

  “Is this okay?” Erith asked. “I’m getting the feeling we’ve been heading toward this. Slowly, mind you, but surely.”

  Pagan grinned. “It’s more than okay.”

  Pagan marveled at the strength in such a tiny hand. It was so pale against her own much darker skin, something she could see even in the darkness of the movie theater. She squeezed Erith’s hand and enjoyed the feeling of fingers twining around her own. Yes, we have been heading toward this. She was grateful that Erith had taken the first step to get them closer. Pagan thought back to earlier that morning. Erith had stood close enough that Pagan had smelled the soft fragrance of her skin. It had teased at her senses and made her want to burrow in closer to the source. Desire and need burned deep in her chest. They were unfamiliar sensations, but Pagan welcomed them. She shifted in her seat so she could relax and enjoy her film in the company of the woman holding her hand. She just hoped that she could keep her attention on the screen.

  *

  There was a glorious pink tinge to the afternoon sky when they finally surfaced from the movie. A large crowd was waiting to get inside for the later showings, and outside the theater, weary shoppers battled through the weekend crush. Pagan kept a firm grip on Erith’s hand as she led them out through the masses.


  “Where’d all these people come from?”

  “It’s Saturday. They amass from all corners of Chastilian to shop.” Pagan looked over her shoulder to share a grin with Erith. Suddenly, the air was knocked out of her as a man was roughly pushed into her chest, and she spun around from the force of the blow. Pagan’s grip on Erith’s hand tightened so as not to lose her.

  Seven men, their faces hidden by familiar bandanas, were forcing their way through the crowds, pushing people aside like blockers on a football field. Pagan quickly pulled Erith toward her, picking her up against her chest, and swiftly moved through the crowd to a small alleyway between buildings. She shielded Erith, arms tight around her as the men barreled past, sending people flying as they went. She watched as they rampaged through the unsuspecting throng of people, knocking over men and women alike with no regard. Pagan heard the yells as the men brutally snatched purses and wallets from the shoppers, then ran off, their mission complete and their voices loud and clear over the crowd.

  “Where are your precious Sentinels now, Chastilian? The Phoenix will soon take care of your city without their interference!”

  Pagan watched them go, trying to memorize any distinguishing features and the direction in which they were headed. She was startled by their words and the blatant public threat. When she felt it was safe to move, she peered down at Erith, who was safely nestled against her chest.

  “Are you all right?” Pagan asked.

  Erith pulled Pagan’s face down and kissed her.

  Pagan was at first startled by the touch of lips pressed against hers, then she melted into Erith’s mouth as she drew Pagan closer still. Pagan shuddered as a soft, moist tongue touched at her lips, and she opened her mouth to grant it entrance. Their tongues touched hesitantly and Pagan felt Erith groan into her mouth. She experienced the delight of the vibration accompanying the sound and could feel Erith’s body shudder against her. She marveled at the sensation of their bodies touching and craved to get closer still. Pagan let her own tongue reach out boldly and the kiss deepened into something more. Pagan cupped Erith’s face in her hands, amazed at the way Erith fit so perfectly into her. She ran her hands over Erith’s shoulders, down to mold over her slender hips. She lifted Erith off the ground, and Erith wrapped her arms about Pagan’s neck to hold on as they continued to kiss.