No Rest for the Wicked

 Evelyn was led to a door which seemed like every other door in the corridor. But she knew that the person she was looking for was behind it.

The young pimply-faced cop who had brought her there gave her a small nod. “Here we are, Miss Rogers. David Winslow is right in there.”


“Thank you, sir,” She replied, an amicable smile on her face. It gained a rather amused tinge as she noticed his flustered expression, but she ignored it to root through the belongings in her bag.


Evelyn thought he would leave then, having done his job. But perhaps his attraction to her caused him to speak up when he would have previously remained silent. “I have to ask,” He hesitated, lowering his voice. The innocence on his face morphed into disgust. “Why would you represent someone like him? He bombed a public area! Hundreds died.” He practically hissed the last few words.


The lawyer remained silent, not offering any reply. Instead, she pulled a compact mirror from her purse. Evelyn opened it, as if to check her makeup right there in the hallway, but snapped it shut with a loud click before she could do so.


The sound echoed in the hallway. “You won’t listen to anything in the room. You’ll ensure that there are no bugs in the room. You won’t enter the room until I knock on the door.” Evelyn recited.


The boy’s eyes glazed over. “I won’t listen to anything in the room. I’ll ensure there are no bugs in the room. I won’t enter the room until you knock on the door.” His voice was monotone, as if reading from a script. His eyes unfogged slightly after he was done speaking, but he seemed slightly off-balance.


Evelyn watched him lean against the wall beside the door. With a small shake of her head, she let herself into the room, and heard the door click shut behind her. She ignored the rather bedraggled looking man seated on the other side of the room, and took a seat across from him.


There was a moment of silence, and the only sound heard was of files shuffling as she flipped through them, and the click of her pen. Evelyn knew that Winslow was glaring at her with murder in his eyes, but he couldn’t do anything to her, handcuffed to the table as he was.


In the end, she broke the stalemate. There was no point in indulging in power plays with him. “David Winslow,” She read out from the sheet at the top of her pile. “Male magician, aged 34. You are under arrest for practicing forbidden rituals under Article 341, and for working with fae.”


The sneering expression and baseless bravado crumbled. His wide fear-filled brown eyes and similarly brown hair made him look rather like a mouse. It was almost hard to believe that not twenty-four hours ago, he had completely obliterated a human government building filled with civilians.


His hands jerked in their restraints as he tried to move away from her. “You aren’t a lawyer,” He said breathlessly, struggling in his bonds. “You’re an officer from The Other Side.”


Evelyn smiled sharply, meeting his eyes this time. She could see his panic spike when her dark eyes turned red. His own turned red in response, seemingly against his will as he squeezed them shut. But it was too late.


He understood this as well. Winslow stared at her, cogs spinning a mile a minute behind those scarlet eyes. “You can’t take me from here!” He exclaimed, scrambling for any escape. “The humans won’t let you. I need to have a trial, and then go to human prison.”


When she didn’t reply, he grew more confident. “I’ll yell for help! I’ll tell them you’re here to kill me, for betraying my ‘terrorist organization’. They’ll be watching us on the cameras!” Winslow’s expression grew manic, yet his trembling hands betrayed his true feelings.


In response, Evelyn simply raised her pen, the one she had been fiddling with when she entered the room. Winslow hadn’t paid attention to it then, not having known who she was. But as he scrutinized it now and paled dramatically, she knew that he recognized it for what it was.


“I’ve already taken care of that,” She said simply, her calm voice in stark contrast to his mania. “Nobody will hear us, and the cameras have blacked out. The humans think it’s a minor solar flare, and will bring them back online in half an hour.”


All hope left his eyes. Winslow slumped over, resigned to his fate. Evelyn felt no triumph at his response. Her job was not yet over. She still had to find the location of the other rogue magicians.


There was a lot of work to be done.

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