Power Play

Chapter 9: Simon

Chapter 9: Simon

    Simon arrived at the home of Evan and Alaine Fray at the scheduled time. He hadn't brought his sword, as there should be absolutely no danger here. Despite the fact that up until a short while before they'd worked for Vanning, Simon had still been friends with the two of them for some time, or at least as close to being friends as freaks came. He at least trusted that they wouldn't stab him in the back. He sensed a total of four freaks in the house, but Evan had told him that a couple others would be there, so Simon wasn't worried. He didn't even need to knock, they sensed him as surely as he sensed them, so he just stood there, waiting.

    A few seconds later the door opened and Evan offered a smile of greeting before beckoning with one finger and walking back into the house. Simon stepped inside and shut the door carefully behind him before following. The moment they entered the living room, Simon's eyes went to the other freaks in the room. Alaine he'd expected, but sitting on the sofa next to her was Lily Drake, and in a chair partway across the room was Silver, who didn't use a last name to his knowledge. Except for Kade, who was still working for Vanning, assembled here was Evan's old team. Still, Simon wasn't worried. If they were working for Vanning again and Simon had been in danger, Kade would've been here with them, and he wasn't.

    Evan gestured him to an empty chair before dropping into one close by and after one last glance around, Simon seated himself. "So, why did you ask me here? Why the whole team?"

    "You've been having some difficulty with Vanning lately, haven't you?" Evan asked in return. It didn't answer Simon's question, but he had to imagine it was leading to some sort of answer.

    "I don't know if I'd call it a difficulty. He wants my sword a great deal. He made a very large monetary offer on it, but the larikin is valuable to me and I have no desire to sell it, so I had to refuse him. That did upset him a bit, but I don't see where that would concern you," Simon stated.

    "Do you know what Vanning had us do to get a larikin knife, over in Glenwood?" Evan queried.

    "I'd heard the rumors," Simon said hesitantly.

    "Not rumor, fact. Vanning had us kill a freak to retrieve his larikin. And though Lord Talen took the knife, he let him get away with it," Evan informed him.

    "So Vanning's a corrupt bastard, most freaks in the city already know that. But... He won't go after someone in his own city. Not for the sole reason of stealing their larikin. Even he won't go that far," Simon replied, though he didn't even feel sure of that himself. In fact he believed it was definitely possible that Vanning might do just that, but he still couldn't see where this conversation was going.

    "You know better, Simon. Vanning's getting desperate. Lord Talen has been in our city a lot lately. Usually he keeps himself occupied with entire northeastern US, when he's not dealing with the world as a whole, and we barely ever see him. Yet recently he's shown up in our city time and time again. On top of that Harken's starting to bear down on Vanning, we left his service, and Garen Carnus was made an official representative for Harken in this city so that he can watch Vanning constantly. It's all made Vanning nervous, very nervous. He feels threatened, feels his position and authority starting to slip away from him, and rather than trying to clean up his act and make peace, he's responded by becoming even more corrupt. By going farther and farther, and disregarding even more of our laws, to try to hold onto his position by force. That's why he wants a larikin weapon. As powerful as he already is, it's not enough for him. He wants even more, in case Harken or anyone else moves against him. And the more pressure he feels, the more desperate he'll become to accumulate that power quickly, and the further he'll go to obtain it," Evan told him firmly.