He glared down at me. “This world isn’t nice, harpy. Get used to it. Nice people die here.”
I fully admit my jaw dropped open. “I am not a harpy! You are a horrid man, and I hope you think about what you said the next time you kiss your mother with that mouth.”
He handed me off to someone else, who took me through several more sets of doors before stuffing me into a tiny interrogation room. I was shoved into a chair, my zap straps were cut off, and then I was left alone.
I rubbed at my wrists. The room wasn’t much. A table and two chairs. A large plate-glass window. On the other side stood three people. All men. I stood and walked to the window, putting my fingertips on it.
The vibrations of their words rumbled along my skin, and I heard them clearly, as if there were nothing between us.
“She was with the snake. You think he was going to make her like him?”
“No,” the man in the middle said. “She’s related. Same blood, but different creature, I’m sure of it. Naga smell like snakes. She doesn’t. She smells human.”
“Not possible. We spotted her coming out of Merlin’s place, and she’s dumb as a stick when it comes to supernatural goings-on.”
Dumb as a stick? I frowned and tapped on the glass, but they ignored me.
The other two shrugged, and the man in the middle turned. “I’ll see what I can get out of her. Maybe a date if she really is human.” He winked.
I stepped back from the window. I didn’t smell like a snake? Had Merlin saved me and kept me human somehow? Hope soared for a split second. Who was I kidding? I’d just listened in on a conversation using my hands as a microphone. That was not normal.
That was not human.
I went back to my chair and sat down. I smoothed the skirt over my legs and then pulled my hair across my shoulder, running my fingers through it over and over. The door behind me opened, and the man who’d stood in the middle of the trio stepped into the room.
He reminded me a bit of Smithy. They had the same pale-blue eyes and hard edge to their jaws. Though Smithy was a bit leaner than this one, their builds were close enough that I wondered if they were related. They were both big, strapping men who could probably bench-press three hundred pounds without breaking a sweat.
“My name is Captain Oberfall,” he barked out as he strode around to the other chair. He yanked it out from the table and sat down across from me. Placing his hands on the table, he leaned forward. “We can do this hard or easy.”
“My name is Alena,” I said. “Why did you chase us?”
“How new are you?”
I frowned, feigning innocence. “I don’t know what you mean.”
He let out an exasperated sigh. “Merlin turned you. When did he do it?”
From the window came a laugh. “Merlin loves the dumb ones, doesn’t he? She’s too stupid to even understand a basic question.”
I had to force myself not to react to the other man’s comment. “Umm. I guess not long. A few days maybe, I’m not sure.”
That much was the truth.
“A few days, then. When did you wake up?”
I blinked several times. What harm could it do to tell him the truth? “A few hours ago.”
His eyebrows jumped. “Goblin piss, that is new. Okay. Here’s the rundown. I am in charge of this town, do you understand? Nobody shits, eats, sleeps, or fucks that I don’t know about it. You got that?”
“Why would you want to know if someone poops? That’s disgusting.” I crinkled my nose up and leaned back.
He glared at me. “You will stay to your own kind. There will be no fraternizing with other species. You will be situated with a tracking device that will be implanted into one of your major organs while you are under anesthetic. You will not cross the Wall.”
“Lots of don’ts.” I made myself sit still when all I wanted was to jump up and run out of the tiny room that held the overbearing Oberfall. “What am I supposed to do here?”
“What did you do before?”
“I was a baker.”
He grinned. “Good. We don’t have any bakeries, and I’d kill for a donut. You and I are going to be friends. Understand? You will do what I say, and I will make sure you stay safe. It’s a harsh world, Alena. And this is the harshest place for a delicate flower like you. Now.” He pulled a folder out from behind him and slapped it on the table. “I want all your information in here.”
He flipped the folder open and pushed several sheets across to me along with a pen. I took the pen and filled everything out. Name. Age. Previous residence. Occupation. Blood type.
I paused at the “Married”/“Single” boxes. “I was married.”
“Not anymore. Unless he got turned too?” Oberfall asked.
I shook my head, but my pen hovered over the “Single” box. I moved it to the “Married” box and checked it. Oberfall shook his head. “Firstamentalist?”
“I was,” I whispered.
From the window came a low groan. “Assholes, all of them. Think they’re right, won’t conform. Won’t change. My family was turned in by a local group of them.” A pause. “Usually end up offing themselves in the first six months. They claim it isn’t suicide, since they were already dead to the world.”
Someone laughed from the other room. “Bet she doesn’t last even that long. Shame. I’d like to see what she’s got under that frilly skirt.”