Prophecy: Tome of Blood

12. The Role You Were Born to Play

Myrna didn't like the pressure she was under. And it didn't help that Liam still stared at her with accusation from across the room. After what had just happened with Qui'hara, the only thing she wanted to be focused on was finding her, finding out why she had attacked the way she did. But she couldn't, she had been called away instead, and she was shocked when she got to her shop to find the captive that the boys had with them. It had taken her a moment to wrap her head around it when they told her it was Stephanie, and though she was sympathetic to the young enforcer, she still felt like her time was best utilized elsewhere.

"Look, I'm not sure about any of this," she offered, looking at Toby as he continued to bombard her with questions. "The kind of magic used for a charm this advanced is outside my range. Now, I've called for Blair but I don't know when she'll get here, or if she'll know anything more than I do."

"Come on, we can't just leave her like this," Cliff pointed to the lanky, masculine frame that did not belong.

"Well I didn't say I wouldn't try, here, give me some space." She continued, opening up several books as she attempted to keep her wits about her.

"You're all soft, look at him," Liam was snide, looking down on Stephanie. "He's ready to talk. This is the perfect chance, you finally found out his secret, you need to exploit it."

"Shut the hell up, you sick bastard," Toby was surprisingly hostile when he cut in, correcting him. "She may be ready to talk, but that doesn't mean we leave her like this-that's not right. And even if we restore her charm and she still won't talk, we have to find a different way."

"I don't think you're using your head, boss, I get that he's part of your spectrum, or whatever, but this is a golden opportunity. Let me have a moment with the lad, I'll get results." Still, the cyborg insisted, trying to be patient with their do-gooding because they couldn't see how easy their jobs would be if they played dirty once in a while.

"I'll only say it one more damn time, she's not a lad. That might've been fine wherever it is that you came from before-out from under whatever rock-but here, we do things differently. That's not who we are." But once again the hybrid reprimanded him, trying to think.

"All the magic in the world can't change who he is." It wasn't that Liam was trying to be disrespectful-there could be time later to debate political correctness. No, he simply knew that this was the best way to get what they needed-but he had to get them to go along with it first.

"The body she was born into does not make her who she is. Look at us, look at all of us-we've all gotten to decide who we wanted to be, who we were meant to be. And you of all people should be more understanding, you've made the most changes of anybody in this room." It was Myrna this time who chastised him, disgusted at the total lack of sympathy and understanding that he seemed to exude. Yes, Stephanie was a villain, but they all understood that there were more important things than just right and wrong. There was humanity, and decency, and if they forgot that now, even with the circumstance, what was left?

"Enough guys, this isn't helping anything." Austin tried to stop them all from erupting into an argument-that would be the least helpful thing. "I'll stay here and help Myrna, why don't the rest of you go save the day."

"Austin's right," Toby nodded, "we can't waste any more time waiting around here. Every second we take debating this, that thing is doing more damage." It had been only moments earlier when they'd received the text alerting them that Genesis had been spotted again. At least his appearance only heralded a nasty thunderstorm this time. "Cliff, you're with me. Liam, well, it'd probably be a hell of a lot better if you came along with us too, instead of staying here."