Nocturne | ONC 2024

Sixteen: Complications

Whatever Aaron had expected to find, it wasn't a Dead man.

"Mr Evans," the Veilwalker said cheerfully. He leaned against the wardrobe in one corner of the room, lank hair damp with rain, a delighted glint in his eye. The night nurse, on the bed opposite where he stood, was white as a sheet and gasping for breath, and with the street lamp shining directly into the window now that the curtains had been pulled aside, the man was visible in all his gory detail. "A fine evening for a meeting."

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Aaron said, as the two back-up officers clattered back down the stairs and came to a halt on either side of him, guns pointing into the room.

The sight of the guns seemed to be the last straw, and the night nurse promptly fainted.

Aaron turned to the officer on his left. "Take my father downstairs. Make him a cup of tea, talk to him about the weather, do whatever you have to to keep him out of here. And," he added, as the man turned to do that, "send a message to Nikolai Meier immediately."

"Oh, he won't come til morning," the sorcerer said, seeming utterly unfazed by Aaron's animosity, the guns, or the unconscious woman on the bed. "He's busy."

Aaron said nothing, waiting until he had a response from the officer before turning back to the sorcerer. "We're not talking in here."

The man gave the unconscious woman a disdainful glance. "Well, she's hardly listening now, is she?"

"I think you've done enough," Aaron snapped, unable to rein in his temper for a moment. The sorcerer only looked amused by it.

"Touchy," he said. "She won't remember a thing anyway, Mr Evans. She'll think it was all a bad dream."

His grin then was ghastly and gleaming in the street light, and Aaron felt the second officer shudder beside him. He was just trying to figure out what angle, exactly, he could take to navigate this unexpected visit when the sorcerer sighed. "Suit yourself. I heard Meier's study is now available?" A sly grin at the officer. "I'll see you up there in a minute."

He sauntered past, as if he hadn't just broken into the house and caused an uproar. Once his heels had disappeared up the stairs, Aaron turned to the second officer, who looked like he might be sick.

"Is he...?" the man whispered. He seemed to have forgotten the gun in his hands.

"Don't think about it," Aaron advised. "You'll sleep better. Go downstairs and radio Bill."

"But..."

"I can handle this, officer," he said firmly, though he wasn't entirely certain of that. "Then I want you to come back up here and make sure she's okay. Can you do that?"

"Yes, sir." It was shaky, but determined. Aaron clapped the man on the shoulder and turned away before he himself was tempted to bolt from the house.

He could hear the sorcerer pacing when he reached the top landing, and didn't take his hand off his gun as he approached the splintered door of Nikolai's study. In the gap he saw the edge of a polished wood desk, part of a well-stocked bookcase, and another painting, this one a portrait of woman, smiling gently at the viewer. It was this the sorcerer was staring at when he entered, hands clasped behind his back, rocking gently back and forth on his heels.

"What do you want?" Aaron asked. "Is this about the favour you wanted? There were better ways to call it in."

"Oh, no." The Veilwalker turned, smiling amiably. Aaron didn't believe it for a minute. "This is actually a favour someone called in on your behalf."

He set something down on the table with a clatter. Unwillingly, Aaron took his eyes off the sorcerer and looked down, astonished to find a data chip sitting on the polished surface. "What's on that?"