Vespertine

Caiden sat on the floor, against the wall, Scarlett at his right shoulder. She was tossing her cellphone up and down absentmindedly, the two of them seated just outside the entrance to the jail. Astor had instructed them to guard while he was in Prima for his quarterly report—and indeed, there was a lot to report lately.

Quinn was in there, somewhere, along with half a dozen other V’s and random criminals. Caiden suspected Quinn was quarantined in the most secure cell, all the way in the back, due to the uncertain nature of her powers.

“When will Astor be back?”

Scarlett caught her phone and checked the time. “Half an hour, probably.”

There was an awkward silence as Caiden fiddled with his fingers. “He wants to interrogate Quinn?”

“Mhm,” Scarlett agreed quietly. “I’m curious about what she has to say, too. I never suspected she was anything other than mortal.”

“Didn’t seem like she did, either,” Caiden commented, leaning his head back. He frowned. “She isn’t going to help us, even if she does admit that she’s a sorcerer. We killed her brother.”

Scarlett began to examine her nails, pointedly ignoring him. He felt a prick of annoyance. “And you know that just means Astor’s going to torture her, or kill her, or leave her to rot in that cell, don’t you?”

She said nothing.

“And you don’t care,” he muttered.

“You’re never going to get over this whole double agent thing, are you?” Scarlett asked, exasperation tinting her voice. “Grow up, Caiden. Like I said, I did what I had to.”

Caiden pursed his lips. He knew Scarlett was right, but the whole situation still bothered him to no end. Logically, what she was saying made sense, but it just didn’t seem right.

Another couple moments passed before she sighed. “I get the feeling you want to talk to her.”

Caiden glanced at her. “Not exactly.”

“Do it anyways,” she said, closing her eyes. “I’ll pretend like I fell asleep.”

It took a second to realize what she was suggesting. “Wait, are you letting me help her esca-“

“Shh,” she said, cutting him off. “If you’re going to, hurry up. Astor will be back soon.”

He shook his head incredulously. “So I guess she does matter to you, to some degree. You don’t want her tortured either. But then how could you just stab her in the—“

“Before I change my mind,” she snapped, glaring at him. He shut up and scrambled to his feet, unlocking the door and heading down the dark jail corridor.

The main hallway was supposed to be well lit, but evidently the power box had been damaged during the raid. He peered into each cell as he passed, but didn’t spot Quinn. He reached the end of the corridor, where a stainless steel door led to the next level of confinement. He rested his index finger on the keypad and the scanner affirmed his identity as part of the department, and the door clicked. He pulled it open.

They rarely found the need to put convicts in here, unless they happened to be especially powerful, or were in danger of escaping. Caiden wasn’t sure which category Quinn fell under, but sure enough, there she was, slumped in the only occupied cell.

Her hands were still cuffed, and she appeared to be asleep, her straight brown locks scattered messily about her shoulders. They had taken off her mask, and she looked exhausted.

Caiden knelt down next to her, reaching a cautious arm through the bars and shaking her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open reflexively and she swung her hands towards him, but he scrambled backwards and scowled at her.

“Calm down,” he said, quietly.

Her warm brown eyes were narrowed. She shook her head to get the hair out of her face, and then said, “What do you want?”

Her tone wasn’t accusatory. In fact, she sounded kind of sad.

“I need to know what you did,” he said, gauging her reaction carefully.

Quinn scoffed bitterly. “Like I said, I didn’t do anything.”

Caiden considered this for a moment. There was a slight possibility that the collapse of the ceiling had been a huge coincidence, but Caiden didn’t really believe in chance. Besides, he knew what he felt. The shockwave had definitely originated from Quinn.

“Quinn, the ceiling exploded and collapsed just as Dante was about to hit you. I highly doubt it was an accident.”

“And I highly doubt you understand what I’m saying,” she snapped. “I didn’t do anything, because I can’t do anything. I’m mortal.”

Caiden sighed. “You think you’re mortal, but the evidence suggests otherwise. And I know you know that. If you don’t tell me what happened, or how you’re feeling now, then I can’t really help you. And when Astor gets back, he’ll ask the same thing, but in a much less nice way.”

Quinn stood, using her shoulder to support her weight against the wall, and then staggered closer to Caiden. She put her face up against the bars, clutching them with her hands still cuffed together. “I’m not a sorcerer. If I’m a sorcerer, then Salvatore was one, too. And he would’ve never lived to twenty-three and not known.”

Caiden tried not to flinch under her unnerving stare. Instead, he stepped closer and kept his tone neutral and reasonable. “Maybe he knew, and just didn’t tell you to protect you. You saw how fast they abandoned you once they saw what you were.”

Her eyes narrowed. Even though she had been left behind, he could see her loyalty burning fiercely; ready to leap to their defense. “No,” she said stubbornly. “Salvatore would never have lied to me.”

He tried to keep his exasperation hidden. Her brother had just died, after all, and he didn’t want to be insensitive. “I’ve read his file, Quinn. He was a killer. I don’t see why he couldn’t be a liar, too.”

She slammed the bars and grabbed for Caiden through one of the spaces, but he leaned backwards just in time. She drew her hand back and clenched the metal bars tightly, and he could see his “non-blunt” approach had clearly failed.

“You know nothing about my brother,” she hissed. “Sal would never lie to me. And I am not one of you.”

“Yeah, Quinn,” Caiden said, softly. “You are.”

She tightened her grip just a bit as the last word left his lips and suddenly he felt the shockwave again, and right before his very eyes the bars exploded.

He dove, barely avoiding being skewered with pieces of shrapnel. When he looked back up, he saw Quinn standing there, shock written all over her face. Her cuffs had come off too, and her wrists were bloody and scarred from the explosion of metal off her hands. He quickly grabbed her, taking advantage of her stunned state to heal her. There was still blood on her, but underneath it her wounds had healed.

“We have to go,” Caiden managed to say, a little shocked himself. “Come on.”

“Come on!” He repeated, when she didn’t move. He tugged and she let him drag her along, out the door and back down the corridor. The prisoners were all standing at the edges of their cells now, curious as to what that loud noise had been. They were clamoring and yelling, but Caiden ignored them and ran faster, pulling a stumbling Quinn along behind him. They burst out of the prison and past Scarlett, who was standing, looking alarmed and wary.

Before Caiden realized what was happening, Quinn tore herself from his grip and slammed Scarlett against the wall, her elbow digging in the soft flesh at the base of Scarlett’s neck. Scarlett instinctively brought her knife up, but Caiden pulled Quinn back before the knife could make contact. He gave Scarlett a deploring look, and he saw the red fade from her eyes as she looked away. He pulled on Quinn again, hard.

“There isn’t a lot of time,” he snapped. “I’m trying to help you, for God’s sake. The longer you take, the more likely it is that you’ll get caught. This way.” He made a sharp right, and then entered a code on the keypad. The door clicked and he pushed it open, and then ran down the hall until he reached a maintenance closet.

He glanced furtively around to make sure no one was around, and then shoved Quinn in the closet, entering after her. Bewildered, she opened her mouth to protest, but before she could he hit a button hidden behind a box of trash bags, and a panel in the floor slid open.

“Secret exit,” she muttered, but didn’t move. Caiden stepped down the first couple steps and then latched onto her arm again, forcing her to follow him.

The last time Caiden had used these tunnels, he had been eight and screwing around with Scarlett, but he still remembered how to get out. Right, left, straight, left…

Quinn forcefully jerked him backwards as she yanked her arm away from him, just before the last turn. He was pulled abruptly to a halt as he gaped at her. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” she retorted. “Why are you helping me?” Even in the darkness of the tunnels he could see her eyes glinting, wary and defensive.

He shook his head in exasperation. “Does it matter? I’m just saving you the pain. You’re not a mortal, so the V’s will never take you back. You’re not a threat to us anymore, and I don’t believe that you deserve to be tortured, or die.”

She didn’t respond, so he stepped closer and gently grasped her arm again. She stiffened, but didn’t pull away. When she spoke, her eyes were glistening with more than caution.

“I’m a mortal.”

“Quinn, you can make things explode with your mind.”

She shook her head. “No. This doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t matter.”

“It changes everything. You won’t be treated like a mortal anymore, whether you like it or not. And you’re not gonna die here, whether you like it or not.”

“No. You’re wrong. I’m still a mortal, and my people are still out there, and I’m still on their side,” she insisted. “Because everything is still wrong.”

Caiden rubbed his eyes tiredly. “You can’t change anything by yourself.”

She shivered, almost involuntarily. “Probably. But if I didn’t try, I’d really be a traitor. And I don’t know if I could live with that.”

“Your brother lied to you,” Caiden blurted out, before he could stop himself. Then he mentally hit himself for being so blunt. But it was true—Quinn was no longer denying that she had magic, which meant that she had to accept that her brother had hidden it from her for her entire life.

“He did what he had to,” Quinn said hoarsely. “Because it was right. I believe in that.”

Scarlett’s words echoed in Caiden’s head. I did what I had to.

But was it right?

“Me too,” Caiden said softly. Quinn furrowed her brow in confusion.

“I wanted to do something right, too. That’s why I’m helping you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you even a real sorcerer?”

Caiden rolled his eyes. “Yes. My point is I might be one hell of a confused sorcerer, and I don’t really know what the fuck is happening or where I stand, seeing as I haven’t really been outside in the past five years, but from the beginning fighting you, and the V’s—it all felt wrong.”

Quinn managed a smile. “Well, then I’m glad it felt wrong.”

Caiden tried to smile back, but he could already feel fear twisting his stomach. Astor would be back soon, and there would be hell to pay if he ever found out that Caiden was here, helping Quinn escape.

“Come with me,” she said suddenly. He looked at her dubiously.

“What?”

“Come with me. You said it yourself; I can’t do anything by myself, and the V’s aren’t going to take me back. But maybe with the two of us, we could do something to change the situation.”

Caiden could already feel himself shaking his head before she finished her sentence. “I can’t.”

“Why—“

“I can’t,” he repeated, backing up. “Doing something that right would almost be wrong.”

Quinn looked disappointed, but didn’t push it. He was about to tug her in the right direction again when he heard a sound that made his heart drop.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“What’s that?” Quinn asked, in a hushed tone, as the alarms blared aboveground. In the tunnels, the stark noise was somewhat muted, but still clearly there.

“They’ve discovered that you’re gone,” Caiden whispered. “I don’t understand. Scarlett said she’d let us slip by.”

Quinn scowled. “And you believed her?”

He shot her a look, and she shut up. Now was apparently not the time.

“I don’t understand,” he said, despairingly. “I can’t go back if Scarlett pulled the alarm on me.”

“So what now?”

His shoulders sag. “Now…I don’t have a choice.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning I am coming with you,” he said, clearly reluctant. He looked like a wounded animal, and Quinn would’ve felt bad for him if she hadn’t thought it was his fault for trusting someone like Scarlett in the first place.

“This way,” he said, and took off running to the left. Quinn followed on his heels, and after another minute of running they came to another flight of stairs. At the top, Caiden twisted a lever until the panel popped open and he climbed out, offering Quinn a hand up as they stepped out into the middle of the forest.

“Nice,” Quinn murmured, peering through the trees. The compound was visible from where they were standing, but they would be hard to spot. From the angle, they weren’t far from where her bike had been parked before the raid. Maybe it’s still there…

“This way,” she hissed to Caiden, before trudging through to another path. Up ahead, she spotted her black bike, still leaning against the tree in the shade where she had left it.

“Sweet,” Caiden said, eyes widening. “Is this yours?”

Quinn nodded before pulling the helmet off the bike and tossing it to him. “You wear the helmet.”

“Shouldn’t you? You’re the one driving.”

“Yeah,” she responded, pulling her bike upright and swinging a leg over. “But you’re more likely to fall off.”

“Why’s that?” He asked cautiously, strapping on the helmet and mounting the bike behind her.

She shrugged as she revved the engine. “I’ve never ridden with another passenger, so I have no idea what’s gonna happen.”

“Great,” Caiden said, without enthusiasm. “Where to?”

“My house,” Quinn replied. “There’s a couple things I need to grab. And then we should probably get out of here.”

“I’ve always wanted to take a roadtrip,” he deadpanned.

“Shut up,” Quinn responded, and then she peeled off into the night, swerving along the dirt path.

“Dear lord,” yelped Caiden, and then he grabbed onto her waist for dear life as she headed towards her home, and away from what had been Caiden’s.