Broken (Book 1, The Watcher Chronicles, Paranormal Romance), page 3
Mason gives me a lopsided grin.
“Do you find scaring me to death funny?” I ask, feeling my temper begin to spark.
“No,” Mason shakes his head sincerely, “of course not. I’m just not used to people talking to me like an equal. Most people feel humbled in my presence, especially humans. Yet, you don’t seem affected by me in the slightest.”
A fact which seems to befuddle Mason.
“Is that why Isaiah dropped to his knee so quickly when he saw you? Do regular Watchers feel humbled by you?”
“I’m Isaiah’s superior,” Mason says with no arrogance attached to the words just fact. Mason shrugs off his coat revealing a slim fitting black pullover sweater and jeans underneath.
“I didn’t know Watchers had superiors until now,” I say, finding myself slightly distracted by the way Mason’s sweater clings to his muscular torso as he moves.
“Not many people do,” Mason says, tossing his coat onto the leather couch we’re standing by.
“Why keep it a secret?”
“Sometimes its better when people don’t know everything.”
“Too many questions?”
“Exactly.”
“So, where are we?” I ask, looking at my new surroundings.
“My home.”
Mason’s home looks like something you would find a picture of in a magazine titled Log Cabins of the Rich and Famous. We’re in a living room area with walls made from large pine logs. The outer wall to my right is made entirely of glass acting as a picture frame window but the view is obscured by the darkness of night. A stone fireplace hugs one corner and it’s lit with a blazing fire providing enough heat to keep the room we’re in toasty warm. The couch and chairs in the room are made of brown leather and there’s an actual white bear skin rug on the floor in front of the fireplace.
“Which is where exactly?” I ask.
“Near Denver, Colorado. We can find you appropriate accommodations in the city tomorrow.”
“No.”
Mason looks confused again. I seem to have that affect on him a lot, and I get the sense he’s not used to being confused by many people.
“No?” He asks, trying to confirm he heard me correctly.
“I have a home and I’m not going to leave it.”
“That would make it rather difficult for you to come into work,” he tries to reason.
“Then I guess you’ll just have to come and get me everyday because I’m not leaving my family.”
“Do you mean your adoptive family?”
“They’re my family, adopted or not. Plus, I like where I live. I like my community. I’m not going to give up my life just to work for you. If you’re expecting me to, then I’ll have to back out of our agreement.”
“I guess I have no choice but to do as you ask,” Mason says, resigned to his fate.
“You were right.”
Mason cocks his head to the side. “Right about what exactly?”
“Letting people know you can phase with them does lead to them asking for free rides.”
Mason chuckles. It’s a nice sound which sets me more at ease. It’s the first time he’s looked half-way human.
“Why are we here?” I ask.
“It’s also my group’s base of operations. This is our busiest night of the year, as you might imagine.”
“So what exactly are you guys doing to find a way to seal the Tear?”
“We’ve been following the person responsible for its existence,” Mason says pushing up the sleeves of his sweater to three-quarter length. “Would you mind if we talked while we walked?”
He doesn’t wait for me to say ok before he starts walking out of the room. I decide not to move an inch. Rudeness has never gone a long way with me and I find Mason’s action rude. But, if he had been Isaiah, I would have done whatever he said. I mentally try to shift gears making Mason my new boss but find the task harder than I thought. Isaiah was always thoughtful of others, never having to force people to do what he wanted. Almost every agent I know under his command just wants to gain his approval. But with Mason, I feel no need to please him. On the contrary, I feel like I’m on equal footing with him which seems odd since he’s Isaiah’s superior. It’s obvious he doesn’t feel the same way, something which will have to be corrected if I’m going to work with him.
Mason notices I’m not following and stops in the door way of the room to look back at me.
“Is something wrong?” He asks.
“How truthful will you be with me while I’m working for you?” I ask.
“I will tell you everything you need to know when you need to know it,” Mason says, turning around to face me while crossing his arms over his chest.
“Then tell me what you are. Who or what are the Watchers?”
“That isn’t something you need to know right now. There are only a handful of humans who know the answer to that question including the leaders of the world. We had to tell them the truth to gain their trust.”
“But you don’t have to tell me?”
“No. It’s not something you need to know to do your job, especially not on your first night working for me. In time, after I know I can trust you, I will tell you.”
I feel like that’s the best I can get for the moment and decide to follow Mason blindly down the rabbit hole.
We end up going to the end of a hallway where the doors of an elevator stand. Once inside the elevator, we descend to the basement floor. When the doors open, they reveal something I’ve only seen in TV shows and movies.
The far wall is home to a multitude of holographic displays showing what looks to be a variety of Watcher agents like me helping tearers all over the world. A young man with dark brown hair dressed in a red T-shirt, jeans and white sneakers sits in front of a touch screen control panel moving his fingers across it with incredible speed. A black haired man in a well tailored black suit hovers over the young man studying the holographic images like he’s looking for something in particular.
To the left of the elevator is an area which looks straight out of some mad scientist movie. It’s a glass room with scientific equipment neatly arranged on black marble counter tops. A man with dark brown hair and a woman, who both look like they are around the age of thirty, instantly stop talking to one another when they notice us walk into the room. The surprised looks on their faces almost makes me want to laugh. I instantly get the feeling that new people aren’t an everyday occurrence in Mason’s little group.
“It’s about time you got back,” the man in the tailored black suit says without turning around. “What did you find?” The man pivots on his heals and faces us.
His pale green eyes instantly land on me. He’s handsome with naturally wavy, jet black hair expertly parted to the side. His face is clean shaven and his suit is expensive, indicating he might be someone with money. When he looks at me, he’s careful not to give anything away, but I can tell he’s surprised by my presence.
“Nick Summers,” Mason says to the man, “I would like to introduce you to Jess Riley. She’ll be joining the team.”
“Watcher agent?” Nick asks Mason, taking in my uniform from head to toe.
“Yes,” I reply, not seeing why I should be talked about like I’m not in the room. “Do you have a problem with that?”
Nick’s expression is guarded as he studies me. “No, but I would have preferred to vet you myself before allowing you to come here.”
“I was vetted by the Watcher agency when I joined,” I tell Nick.
“I like to do my own investigations, Agent Riley. I feel safer if I know who I’m working with.” Nick looks to Mason. “Why her?”
“She killed a demon.”
A look of shock passes over Nick’s face for a second before he’s able to hide it.
“You actually killed a demon?” The young man at the control panel spins around in his chair to get a better look at me.
The boy doesn’t look much older than seventeen. His chocolate brown eyes stare at me like I’m the eighth wonder of the world.
“Stop ogling her Joshua,” a female voice with a British accent says behind me. “We don’t want to give her the wrong impression about us right off the bat you git.”
I turn to see the girl from the glass room standing a few feet away. Her light brown hair hangs half way down her back in soft curls. She’s wearing a pair of black rectangular glasses and a white lab coat with a pink ruffled shirt and jeans underneath.
“Jess, I would like you to meet Angela Westwood. The man conspicuously peering at you from the lab is a brother Watcher and Angela’s father, Allan.”
“Sorry,” Angela says extending her hand out to me which I automatically shake. “I should have introduced myself. We don’t get many new faces down here. Well, none really. So, how were you able to kill the demon?”
“I don’t know,” I tell her, feeling myself relax for the first time in Mason’s secret lair. “It wasn’t something I was trying to do.”
“Pull up Jess’s recording,” Mason tells Joshua as he goes to stand next to him and Nick. “Start it at around 7:45pm, central time.”
Joshua spins back around in his chair and does something which instantly projects my car on the screen driving down Hwy 61. I watch as the altercation with Owen unfolds before me like a movie. I hear Angela gasp beside me when the demon turns to ash.
When Mason appears in the scene, he tells Joshua, “You can stop it there.”
I wait to see if any of them can offer an explanation on how I was able to kill Owen, but silence reigns eternal in the room until I hear a new voice speak through an intercom system.
“I would like a sample of her blood please.”
Everyone looks in Allan’s direction and I realize it was him who must have spoken.
“Do you think she’s a hybrid?” Mason asks.
“Hard to tell from just looking at someone,” Allan says. “But an analysis of her DNA will tell us definitively.”
“Do you mind?” Mason asks me more as a perfunctory question than a real concern.
“Yes, I do mind actually,” I say. “I don’t know any of you. I’m not some lab rat to be prodded and poked at.”
“Do you have something to hide?” Nick asks me, instant suspicion written clearly on his face.
In truth, I fear what they might find out. I’ve always known my father was different in some way and feel sure if they try to do a genetic profile on me his secret will be discovered. I can’t willingly let that happen, not after the promise I made to him.
“Do you?” I counter, not seeing why I should let them know everything about me when I know nothing about them.
Nick looks at Mason. “You’re not going to just tell her everything are you? I would feel a lot more comfortable if I could vet her before giving her any classified information. Plus, you know I have to ok it with Washington first.”
“What is your job here exactly?” I ask Nick, wondering why he’s so concerned about my trustworthiness when none of them have proven theirs to me.
“Nick is my liaison with the President,” Mason tells me. “He makes sure your government stays out of my way and smoothes over any ruffled feathers when needed.”
It’s not hard for me to imagine Mason ruffling the feathers of the government’s bureaucracy. He doesn’t strike me as someone who lets red tape prevent him from doing what needs to be done.
“I’ll tell Jess what she needs to know when the time is right,” Mason says to Nick, looking the other man in the eyes to make sure he understands his position.
“I would like to know one thing,” I say. “Can you tell me how you just happened to find me in the middle of nowhere tonight?” I ask looking at the holographic displays of the other Watcher agents all over the world. “It had to have been like looking for a needle in a haystack considering what tonight is.”
Mason looks at me and I’m not sure he’s going to answer my question. Finally he says, “I felt you.”
“What do you mean you felt me?” I ask, feeling a little odd about his choice of words.
“I was able to detect you when you began to use whatever power you possess to fight off the changeling. It was like a great disturbance in nature pointing me to exactly where you were.”
A vision of Obi-Wan Kenobi pops in my head and I hear him say, “I felt a great disturbance in the Force.” I almost smile but don’t want to explain to Nick why Mason’s statement would cause such a reaction. He is suspicious of me enough as it is. I don’t feel like divulging the very personal fact that I am a sci-fi geek to him. That is privileged information which is only on a need to know basis and Nick definitely doesn’t need to know.
“Have you ever felt a disturbance like that before?” I ask.
Mason is silent for a moment before saying, “No.”
“You do realize,” Nick says, “that when you became a Watcher agent they took a sample of your blood. Whether you give it to us now willingly or not we’ll still be able to run your DNA through our system.”
I curse to myself. I’d completely forgotten about that.
“They’ve already tested me then,” I say. “What do you think you can find out that they didn’t?”
“There are certain markers,” Allan says from his glass enclosed room, “which a regular DNA profile wouldn’t check for. I, on the other hand, know what differences to look for.”
“What do you think you’re going to find?” I ask.
“It’s possible, though unlikely, you fit a profile we’ve encountered once before,” Mason tells me.
“What makes you think I’ll be like this other person?”
“Because she’s the only other human we know of who can kill the way you did tonight,” Mason says. “We would like to either confirm or rule out that possibility. If we can rule it out it will allow us to focus on what really makes you different.”
“You can either cooperate,” Nick says, “or we can get your stored blood sample from the agency. It’s up to you.”
My heart sinks because I know he’s right.
“Take it,” I say, stripping off my Kevlar vest and jacket to roll up my right sleeve.
Angela walks back into the glass room where her father is and returns with everything she needs to take a sample of my blood. She points to a seat by Joshua for me to sit in and I rest my arm on the control screen the boy genius uses to spy on Watcher agents like me.
While she’s filling five empty test tubes with my blood, I ask, “So is this what you guys do all day? Sit here and watch agents with your super spy satellites?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it spying,” Mason says, sounding slightly offended. “We look for anything out of the ordinary which might help us discover how to close the Tear.”
“How long have you been trying?”
“Since it opened.”
“So in fifteen years have you found out anything?”
Mason’s eyes shift away from mine and I instantly know my question has hit a sore spot.
“No,” he finally answers.
“Nothing?” I ask a bit flabbergasted. “Nothing at all?”
“We’ve found things but nothing to help us seal the Tear. We know the answer is here on this planet, but to be honest,” he says looking back at me, “you’re the first real lead we’ve had so far. At least, I hope you are.”
My grand vision of this group being able to help me find my parents suddenly evaporates. If I’m the only real clue they’ve been able to find in fifteen years, maybe they don’t know what the hell they’re doing.
“You people don’t strike me as being incompetent,” I say. “You must know something.”
“What we do know for certain,” Mason says, “is that the person who made the Tear visits almost every tearer who comes through each year.”
“Is he looking for someone in particular?” I ask.
Mason smiles like he’s proud I thought to ask such a question. “That’s what we have been assuming.”
“Do you know if he’s found who he’s looking for?”
“He hasn’t tipped his hat one way or the other. He only visits them once. There is never a second visit. Either he hasn’t found who he’s looking for yet or he has and knows we’re watching him so he doesn’t do anything to make us suspicious of anyone in particular.”
“Who is he anyway?” I ask. “Some genius mad scientist you guys couldn’t find a way to control?”
“Genius, yes,” Mason says, “mad, certainly. But not a scientist. He’s something similar to a Watcher but not quite that either.”
Angela tells me I can roll down my sleeve as she takes my blood to the glass room where her father is located. I watch as she walks in and hands him the tray of vials. Allan immediately sets to work to figure out what makes me so special.
I stand up and button my sleeve. “You know, it’s going to be hard for me to work for you if you can’t tell me everything. I’m pretty smart,” I say. “I might be able to help you figure things out if you give me all the information.”
“In time, Agent Riley,” Mason says. “Let’s see how things work out first. Trust is earned not given.”
“Yes, it is,” I agree, staring at Mason.
He grins, hint taken.
“I will need for you to take me to your home,” Mason informs me.
I feel my forehead crinkle. “Why?”
“If I’m going to have to be your private phasing chauffeur, I need to know where you live. I can only phase to places I’ve been to.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“It’s possible I’ve been where you live just like I was able to phase to your location tonight. What city do you live in?”
“Cypress Hollow.”
“Never heard of it. I presume it’s near Tunica in Mississippi?”
“You presume correct.”
“Be right back,” Mason says, phasing somewhere.
“Would like to say it was nice to meet you,” I say to Nick, “but I try not to lie if I can help it.”
Nick raises an eyebrow at me.
I hold out my hand to Joshua. He smiles up at me and shakes my hand. I get the feeling from the adoring way Joshua looks at me most people don’t talk to Nick like I just did. I almost feel bad about it but can’t quite make myself feel ashamed enough to take it back.
