The High Priestess - The Darkest Desires Series

XX

E

cho watched as more life drained from the detective's eyes while his exhausted body followed the Techy down the hall. Another lead to follow, another possible dead end. Echo almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost. Cuffed to the chair, she didn't feel so pitiful. She gave the cuffs a sharp tug just to test them, but as expected they were solid and biting against her skin.

Looking back towards the exit as the daylight died in the doorway, the sun beginning to set, she thought of Nic's sudden appearance. She'd always been wary of him. She wasn't scared but he was... sneakier; sneakier than the other family members. If Nic had been here it wasn't a pleasant reason. If he wished to speak with Detective Hale, it was for a reason. He never 'fed' as they others called it. Sam feed off passion and heat. Archer bathed in the need and want that coursed through people's veins. Twilight would dance among the cat fights and broken friendships, drinking it all in. But Echo had never seen Nic eat and if it ever came up, he just shrugged and said he needed only a little sustenance.

Shaking the cold chill that threatened her, she took in her situation again. Chain to a desk was more interesting than in a six by six cell, but everyone was giving her a wide birth. Cowards, she thought and smiled. She liked it when people feared her. McQueen didn't fear her though, not yet.

"What to do...?" She mumbled to herself. She needed to get free. Free from these cuffs, free of the station and more than anything, free from under the critical eye of Detective Hale. With McQueen: he was avoiding her, despite still feeling curious. She had awoken something in him, whether he knew it or not. But the tall, bright detective wasn't swayed by just anything so battering her eyelashes wouldn't get her free. McQueen was too weary of her so if she wanted out of here, it would take Detective Hale's say so. Unless...

Closing her eyes, she plotted. Archer had spent what little time he could afford teaching her how to manipulate and control. Control people and you control their action. Control their actions you can control their lives which for him, included their bank accounts.

She'd done cons a thousand times over, she was good at getting her way. While Adin had been absent, Echo had absorbed every trick, every lesson, every scrap of knowledge she could just for this moment. While Adin had been of killing, murdering or stalking, Echo had learnt to deal with the living. And the one thing she'd leant was she had a knack for it. She couldn't work people's emotions like the Sins, something she despised admitting, but she did hold one thing over them. It was a flaw they each had, a catch, to make life fair.

"Fair." Sam had seethed in disgust when Echo, at a tender age of seven had asked why Archer couldn't steal money, and Gala never actually ate anything. "Blame our makers. They made the laws. We can't kill, only influence to. We can't force them to eat, only make them hungry. We can't love, only make them lust. We can't take, only receive what is given." Sam rolled her eyes to Echo and smiled, "Gala can't eat, Mara can't kill, Archer can't steal, Nic can't rest, and myself for example, I can never love."

"Would you want to fall in love though Sister Sam?" Adin had asked sat on the floor with Echo as they dissected the puppy spread out before them. He had a mop of silver blonde hair that tickled his ears, falling in his bright blue eyes and dimpled cheeks. He was adorable and if he and Echo ever walked on the street, he had every mothers head turning to look at the adorable angel. Now however, he had blood spattered on his face and a wicked knife in his hands. Little dots scattered his cheeks like freckles where he'd pulled apart the rib cage a little too hard.