Rising Light

Chapter 16: Midnite Tests

'How long?' Midnite asked, his attention on his sister. For once, the room felt as though it was too hot, as if it were stifling him. He felt restless, felt as though he was being kept in the dark. He'd kept up with other affairs, but the lingering thought of the Brujeria seemed impossible to ignore. It was always there, at the back of his mind, waiting for them or one of their others to jump out at him. To tell him what they needed next. 'Surely we have to act soon.'

He waited, felt the weight of his sister's reply, but she never got the chance to answer.

'You might just be in luck,' came the smooth voice of Manny.

Despite himself, a niggle of irritation ran down Midnite's back. He slowly turned to face the angel. He just stood there, not quite looking at Midnite. Somehow, scorn shot directly at him would have been better than this. This look that made him feel as though he were merely something that the angel had peeled from the bottom of his shoe.

'You're needed.'

'Do I get something this time?' Midnite asked boldly, getting to his feet. 'My services don't come for free. The trial period's over.'

The angel's eyes seemed to flash ever so slightly. 'You should be grateful that you were able to escape police custody. But, there are things far worse than being trapped in a cell,' the angel said coolly; his voice little more than a sliver of ice.

The tension hung in the air, brittle.

Manny blinked, his eyes seemed to clear. 'If you succeed,' he said, voice even, 'I will do something for you.'

'What?' Midnite knew that he was being brazen, but he couldn't help it. He'd been cooped up too long, kept in the dark about the truth so much that he was beginning to think that they were done with him.

'That girl Constantine has with him, the slightly younger one. There's something I need to know about her.'

'How she can be stupid enough to stay with John Constantine?' Midnite murmured, trying to cover his shock. Kate Bastille was an enigma to him; brilliant fighter and ray of sunshine, even he couldn't help but feel slightly humbled by her reactions to things, even if she did give him her fair share of headaches.

Manny waved the comment away with a lazy hand. 'I just need some DNA.'

Midnite bit back the question of just taking hair from her hairbrush. He bowed his head ever so slightly. 'And the payment?'

'To be discussed when the job's done,' said Manny.

Midnite opened his mouth to say something, but in the blink of an eye the angel was gone. He cursed softly before turning back to his sister. 'Getting Katherine won't be easy,' he said, gently spinning one of the beaded bracelets on his wrist. 'But, she's never been one to decline an invitation to a fight.'

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'Come on,' said Kate, ducking away from another low punch that Zed had aimed at her. She spun beneath the other woman's arm and got a gentle hit to the ribs. 'You can do better than that.'

'How're you not breaking a sweat?' complained Zed, darting away from Kate. She scrubbed her arm across her forehead; her hair was sticking to her skin even though she had tried to keep it up in a bun.

Kate offered her a demure shrug. 'Because this is how I've always fought,' she said, feigning forwards. Zed dodged the other way, and Kate hooked her leg behind her friend's knees, toppling her. 'And not with knives alone.' She offered Zed a hand, hauled her up. 'This'll be good if you don't have them. And you never know when you'll need to put John in his place.' A smirk tugged at her lips.