Free Humanity 02 - Raven Flames by Corrine Shroud

 
    Interval Two of HUMANITY
    Raven Flames
     
    Michael Parlinn drummed a tuneless
beat against his steering wheel as his father drew a sharp intake
of breath.
    “ This quickly?”
    “ She was amazingly simple.
Much less difficult than her father was.” His voice was perfectly
blank, no inflections. Empty.
    “ How many?”
    “ As many as we can. She
may have been easily led, but she’s powerful.”
    “ Every one?” Michael could
hear the frown in his father’s voice. “We didn’t bring everyone for
Gauthier.”
    Michael cleared his voice. “Mirage
is…different. I dunno what it is, but she’s unsettling. I’d feel
safer if everyone came.”
    “ Her father was powerful
as well, but they all die the same.” The vicious tone twisted in
his voice almost made Michael shiver. “I’ll trust your judgment.
I’ll call Taylur and he’ll get a hold of the others.”
    Michael hung up without a response. He
shut the phone and threw it into the seat beside him. He sighed and
returned his attention to the road. It had begun to spurt rain,
promising the storm that the weatherman had predicted for the
night. The storm would help cover them as they surrounded the home;
it would affect Mirage’s sensing abilities. It would be too late by
the time she realized his deception.
    Michael continued on his
drive home. His father would contact everyone he needed to; there
was no more need of him until tonight. Until then, he’d go home and
take a shower. Maybe that would get rid of this odd feeling that had
settled over his shoulders. It was a weight, something he didn’t
understand. Was it that different essence he’d told his father
about? Was Mirage really that unusual?
    He just couldn’t shake that
feeling he had. Something big was going to happen tonight. He gave
himself a small mental shake as he turned the windshield wipers
on. Get a grip ,
he commanded quietly.
    Michael couldn’t get Mirage’s midnight
eyes out of his head.
    “ She’s a Dark Child!” His
anger-filled voice echoed through his truck, and that helped steady
his shaking hands that gripped the steering wheel. God, what was
wrong with him? Mirage wouldn’t be the first he’d helped HUMANITY
kill, and she would most certainly not be the last. If it came to
him being the one to kill her, he wouldn’t hesitate.
    His father was the
Monarch, the leader of the Humanitarians, and he was being
conditioned to follow in his footsteps. The thought made Michael
grimace. Though his ancestor was Nathanial Parlinn, he’d never had
the taste for murder. Damn if he wasn’t good at it, but it still
wasn’t something he enjoyed. Still, it didn’t particularly bother him. The
abominations were God’s one mistake and it was the humans’ job to
eradicate them. His father had pounded the knowledge into him since
before he could walk. Everything about them was beastly and alien,
and Mirage was no different. Even with that knowledge, he knew this
particular Dark Child would haunt his dreams for the rest of his
life. He cringed at what she was…and yet, he couldn’t stop that
small seed of guilt that settled into the pit of his stomach.
Mirage had trusted him, and she was nice—risking everything to help
him. She would have made a good human.
    But she’s not
human , Michael thought a little bitterly.
She was a Dark Child, a banished Dark Child at that. There would be
no one to miss her, even in her own tribe, when she was killed
tonight. He kept telling himself that as he drove home, and he
almost managed to convince himself. Almost. There was still the
nagging feeling in the back of his mind, an unsung thought from his
subconscious that he couldn’t shake.
    Michael shrugged to
himself as he thought about his assignment tonight. He tried to be
an honest person to himself; if he had to lie to everyone then the
only one he could be honest with was himself. It was a small comfort that he
was allowed. He at least had one person to trust...
    The Altruistics were
seeking