I sobbed into his neck, and he ran his hand up and down my back in the universal sign of comfort and assurance that it’ll be all right. But nothing about this situation was all right.
“Danny, did they do a blood test on you to see if you’ve been drugged?”
I shook my head, and he let go, pulling back to look into my eyes again.
“They didn’t check you for drugs in your system? Did they do a DNA test to see if the semen found on Emily was yours?”
I sucked in a breath and nearly passed out. This couldn’t be real. It couldn’t be true. None of this was real, because there’s no way my sweet friend had been not only murdered but also raped.
“Please, Uncle Paul, please tell me that’s not true. Please tell me she wasn’t violated like that. Please, not in my house, in my bed.”
Paul looked sympathetic but resigned. “She was, son, I thought you knew. She was brutally violated before she was stabbed.” He hesitated, seemed to debate his next words, then decided to continue, “She also had a few places on her body that were…chewed off, son. She was eaten on after she was killed.”
I couldn’t take this anymore. This was a nightmare, and I needed to wake the fuck up, now. I clamped my eyes closed as tight as they would go until I saw strobing lights behind my lids. There was no way this could be my life. I wrapped my arms around my waist and rocked back and forth to soothe my soul, but it was no use. My good friend and sweet neighbor, Emily had been brutally hurt, killed and…and I couldn’t even think about the rest.
“I would never have hurt Emily, Uncle Paul. I liked her. She was nice to me. One of the only humans in the complex who would speak to me. I would never have raped her either. I didn’t like her like that. I couldn’t. You know it’s true. You’ve known the truth about me since we had that talk years ago.”
I took a chance and opened my eyes to make sure he knew what I was saying. I couldn’t chance saying it out loud, but as I caught his gaze, he gave me a slight nod.
“I know, son, but that won’t help you right now. I have to be real with you, so pay attention. We only have a few more minutes before the trial begins. They’ve already found you guilty. They haven’t followed Allusian laws, but they don’t care about that here. They think they’re beyond the government, and there’s nothing I can do to help.”
The fog I’d been in the last hour began to lift, and as it went, I felt panic start to creep in. I pulled away from him and leaned all the way back in my chair, like the distance I was creating would prevent his words from touching me, from being real. He just leaned over, pulling my whole chair closer to him and kept talking, the words like barbs piercing my skin.
“You can’t shut down now, Danny boy. You’re the smartest of all of us. You’ve gone further than any of the other shifters in our community. No matter if you’re a niffling or not, the whole community has been supportive of you your whole life. You were our hope to lift our status in this province, and they’re not going to take this mockery of a trial lightly. I’m going to try to give you a defense, I promise.”
I felt like passing out was my best option at this point, maybe they would just take me out and shoot me like Edwards had said and end this misery. Hopelessness crept in and took up residence. Cold, numbness was taking over.
I was checking out for the first time in my life, voluntarily that is. I’d done it involuntarily a few times when the power would boil up inside me or when I had been threatened before I learned to control it all.
Paul slapped my cheek softly, and I snapped back to the present.
“No! Danny, you can’t let go, son. You’ll never survive if you do that. You have to be on top of your game from now on. The determination you had that got you into college, then medical school despite your background. That’s the Danny you have to be from now on. You have to be clever and quick, silent and smart.”
Paul poured me a glass of water from the pitcher on the table and handed me the glass. I drank slowly, then more deeply, as I realized how parched I was. I emptied the cup, but my mouth still felt so unnaturally dry. I reached for the pitcher and tried to pour more, but my hands shook too much, and I had to set it back down. Paul did it for me and continued telling me about my fate.
“You’ll be going to Starke Penitentiary. It’s full of the worst shifters this province has ever seen. And it’s also got a fair share of guys just like you, but those guys usually don’t make it very long. Your da and I are determined to give you every opportunity to live, son. So, listen up.”
He had to stop for a moment when the prosecutor came slinking into the courtroom, looking smug. He stopped by our table for a minute, looked me up and down, then turned to Paul.
“Nice client you have there, Robbins. Murderer, rapist, and cannibal, what a lovely combination. I’m glad the judge saw fit to judge this one behind closed doors instead of out here in public. The details were too gruesome for the general public to stomach, although I’ll have to give some of them when I do my interview with the news later today.”
He smiled, and his eyes flashed for a moment like he couldn’t wait to assassinate me all over the media later today and talk about every lascivious, horrible detail. Paul just stared into his feverish eyes and didn’t rise to the bait, so the slimeball turned away in a huff, disappointed for having not been given the confrontation he wanted.
“Danny, listen, this is important. So remember this if you don’t remember anything else. Your da contacted an associate, and he’s got a man on the inside at Starke. He has made a call to this guy, and he’s going to make sure you’re his new cellmate. He’s going to watch your back for a while and keep you safe for his boss and your da. This is very important, Danny, you have to keep yourself under wraps in there.”
Paul hugged me one last time and barely whispered into my ear.
“You have to keep calm, Danny boy. No one in there can know about you and what you can do. We’ve kept it quiet all your life since that day we had the talk. You have to keep as calm as you can. In your easy life up until now, you’ve had no cause to worry, but every day in this new life is going to be a fight. You can’t let it get out, or they’re going to tell the wrong people. The Syndicate will pull you out of there faster than this fake trial, and you’ll be lost forever, son.”
I knew he was right. I had stayed hidden for this long by being careful, but I had tried to keep my powers hidden, pushed down and ignored. I was regretting not using them more, or learning more about them before now.
“Prison will be hard, but you’ll survive. If the Syndicate ever gets wind of what you can do, you’ll wish you were dead every single day for the rest of your life. Remember, stay calm and don’t let anyone know. We’ve got some angles your da is looking into to get you out of here. Just hang in there, make friends with this guy if you can and hold tight until we can help you, okay?”
I nodded and drew in his familiar scent. He smelled like family and home, but I couldn’t let my mind go there, now. I had to focus on the trial and what was to come, just as Paul said. I couldn’t fall apart now. I’d jumped too many hurdles in my life to give up now. Da and Paul had given me a lifeline, and I’d take it with both hands.
The judge walked into the courtroom as we both sat further back into our chairs. It was a blur for the most part. Only bits and pieces stuck with me.
“I’m surprised to see you in this courtroom, Mr. Rourke, what with your education.” The Honorable Gray Whittaker sneered from the bench. “But knowing your background, I guess blood always shows, doesn’t it? I’ve been trying to get that criminal of a father of yours in front of me for years, the slippery snake. But he’s not a snake, is he? He’s a cat, isn’t he? Always hiding and waiting to pounce on the people he swindles. No matter how many opportunities we give you animals, you always revert to your baser instincts. One of these days the general population in this country is going to get tired of dealing with youpeopleand finally put you in your place. Until that day, I’ll do my part to make sure your kind stays locked up for the good of the people in the community. Danial Allenwood Rourke, stand for your sentence.”
At this point, there was a scuffle. Paul insisted I was innocent, which got him thrown out of the room. In the end, I was all alone in a room full of hostility and glee as the judge read the sentence.
“You have been found guilty of murder, rape, and cannibalism, any of which would carry a life sentence. These are heinous crimes against the human population, so I’m going to give you the maximum penalty allowable by law.”
The judge’s eyes were as gray as his name, but as he announced my sentence, they seemed to glow with the glee at the thought of my bleak future.
“You are hereby remanded to Starke Penitentiary for Criminal Beasts for the remainder of yourunnaturallife. Since your kind live such long lives, and since you’ve just reached your thirtieth year, that means you’ll be locked up with no hope of parole for about the next one hundred and thirty years if you can survive, Doctor Rourke.”
The words washed over me, and I couldn’t hold it back any longer. I would be strong when I needed to be. I would fight when it was required. But at this moment, I let my vulnerability rise, and let the shock wash over me. I welcomed the rest and the darkness, for now.
Tomorrow the rest of my life and my fight for survival would begin.
