part of a team that went up against… Sariel. The last time Sariel was here in Charleston, bringing Nephilim across to do his dirty work, it was in 1854. The Yellow Fever epidemic. Except it wasn’t just the disease killing people. Sariel summoned Watchers from the other side, and together with the Nephilim, they harvested souls to feed on. Sariel made himself the judge, jury, and executioner.”
“Judge,” I echoed. Teag and Sorren looked at me. “Mr. Thompson keeps talking about a judge. He told me, ‘The Judge comes at midnight’. Daniel also mentioned Watchers and Reapers.”
“Now I’m even more convinced that this whole mess has something to do with Sariel,” Sorren said. “This can’t all be coincidence. But before we do anything else, let me take a look at those pistols.”
We went out to the kitchen, where Teag had left the dueling pistols when we came in from the car.
“The man who brought in the pistols said he believed they still worked, but he hasn’t fired them,” Teag said as Sorren inspected the guns carefully.
“Indeed,” Sorren murmured, and as he handled the pistols, I had the feeling he was looking for something specific.
“You said you didn’t handle the guns, Cassidy, yet you had a mental image of Josiah Winfield in a magical battle?”
I nodded. “Teag supplied the name. I saw the history.”
Sorren set the guns back in their case. “They’re Winfield’s pistols,” he said. “I saw his mark on the grip. Cassidy couldn’t have seen that unless she handled them, and even then, she wouldn’t have known what it meant. They’re the real thing.”
“Since we’re all together, how about if I take a look at the pistols myself?” I said, managing to sound braver than I felt. My visions seem to be getting more detailed, but I still can’t control my reactions as well as I’d like to. Sometimes, if the vision is strong enough, I don’t control it at all.
“Are you up to it?” Teag asked. “It’s been a hell of a day.”
Just then, the timer rang for the lasagna. “How about we do it after dinner?” I said. “That way I’m less likely to get knocked for a loop by the vision.”
Teag and I were both hungry, so dinner did not take long. Afterwards, Teag brought the guns back to the table. “Ready?” he asked.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said.
I let my hand hover over the box, and got the same ripple of apprehension and danger that I had sensed before. Then I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let my hand touch the smooth, burled wood of the gunstock.
The world shifted, and I saw Charleston through the eyes of a stranger.
Josiah Winfield stepped off the train and looked around, sizing up this new place. I ignored the looks fellow passengers gave me, worried glances that took in my leather coat and long gun and considered me suspect.
Let them. I was here to do what needed to be done so they could sleep like babies in their beds at night, none the wiser. And if that meant that my dreams would never be peaceful again, so be it. I didn’t particularly like the word ‘assassin’, and I didn’t think it was quite the right term when I wasn’t – usually – killing real people, but it would do. Monster hunter. Demon killer. Supernatural vermin exterminator. Those got to the heart of the matter. Then again, it didn’t really matter what people called me, so long as at the end of the day, I got paid and I was alive to spend the money.
Even if it meant working with unholy creatures like vampires. I knew who my contact was. Blond man. Dutch accent. Vampire. Funny thing, but if I’d had a different sponsor, I might have been gunning for him. On this job, I take his money to kill something even worse. Nothing personal.
The memories blurred into a jumble. I knew time was passing, but the stream of images gave me only an occasional glimpse of what Josiah had seen. The memories became clear again, and I – or rather Josiah – was fighting for his life.
I had the dueling pistols, one in each hand, and they barked as I pulled the triggers. The Nephilim closed in on me, a tall, misshapen creature that only vaguely resembled a man. Raw-limbed and slack jawed, with rage-filled eyes more fitting to a rabid dog than a human being, the thing came at me relentlessly. I had spent my