He was the size of a small giant, if that made any sense. He could be a basketball player. The guy was at least six foot five, and he wore the standard white uniform and helmet with the tinted visor that all collectors were expected to put on before they went out and took the paranormals away.
All three of them wore gold badges. Though hunters and collectors were from different factions of the same organization, the symbols were the same. A hawk in flight. The only difference was that, on the collector, the hawk had small prey in its talons.
The blue-eyed collector had a cold stare as he looked down at Cindy through the clear visor, cold enough to make her shiver. He had his nightstick at his hip, and Cindy could see the folded shield on his other side. All that aside, she was most concerned with the syringe gun that was in his hand.
Her panic overflowed in the form of helpless shouting. "Jack! Jack, don't do this! Jack!"
"Step out of the way, Mr. Marilla. We can take it from here," said the collector.
Jack held out his hand, stopping the man from coming forward. "Okay, hold on one second, this isn't right. You don't need to give her that."
"She's in a panic. Her powers will be at their most dangerous until her heart rate goes down."
"I told you she's wearing spelled cuffs. Will you stop!" Jack snapped, jumping to his feet and pushing against the collector's chest with enough force that the man stumbled back. He stayed on his feet though, and there was real anger in his eyes as he and Jack stared each other down.
Bitch case worker was immediately on her phone, her fingers flying.
"Okay, what are you doing?" Jack snapped.
"Letting the others know that there's a conflict of interests here," she said.
"What others?"
She looked away from the screen of her phone and up at Jack. "It would've been easier if you would just let us do our job, but there are other collectors right behind us. They were running late."
"Late?" Jack asked, though it was hardly a question, and he was sneering at the woman now as well.
"You said it yourself that there's usually more than one collector. Now, we three here decided to come and get this over with because it was on our way, and we got here first. If you're going to create a problem then our backup will need to know about it, you'll be put into a pair of bracelets, stripped of your license, and fined for interfering with our mission. That doesn't include any potential prison time for endangering the lives of a collector and two agents of your government. I'm leaving it up to you whether or not I let the others know you're causing these problems. I haven't sent the message yet."
"You really are a bitch."
Bitch case worker glared down at her, and Cindy realized she'd spoken out loud, which was fine with her because she didn't give a damn about the feelings of a woman who wanted to strap her down to a table and dissect her brain.
"What're you going to do with her when you take her?" Jack asked.
Cindy's heart flipped, and she had a hard time catching her breath. This was going to happen. It was going to happen and she was going to be taken away from Jack. He didn't believe her and he didn't want her. She could already see herself on a table, being dissected by people who wanted to figure out how her powers worked, and determine whether a profit could be made of them.
"Screw you Jack!" she snapped, her anger consuming her self-control, and all of it was directed at him. She yelled louder to mask the slicing pain in her heart. It would've hurt less if the man had stabbed her through the ribs with a thin blade. "I didn't do it! You bastard! I didn't do it!"
"Does it matter what happens?"
"Yes it does fucking matters. What if she's telling the truth and didn't kill my family? There could be other paranormals out there who are guilty and going unpunished because you're too busy punishing her."
Cindy tried to make sense of what she was hearing. Was this the sign she'd wanted? Was Jack starting to believe her? If it was, then he wasn't invoking a whole lot of confidence. It mostly sounded like he just didn't want to take the risk that she was innocent, but was still leaning towards handing her over.
Bitch case worker sighed, lifted her glasses off her nose and put them on top of her head, and crossed her arms. "She's in our custody now. All I can say is that she will be receiving the same treatment as other fugitives. Will you step out of the way now? Or am I going to have to click send? You wouldn't be the first hunter to turn into a sympathizer, so I understand if you're having trouble with this. Don't make things anymore difficult than they need to be."
Jack's lips thinned, and his eyes narrowed at the woman in front of him. Cindy had never seen that look on his face before.
Jack must've come to a decision because he then reached into his pocket, and then he tossed something in Cindy's direction.
She didn't know what it was but it was instinct to reach out and catch the tiny thing. When she opened her palm, the key to her cuffs was in her hand.
The second she realized what she was holding onto, the collector noticed as well, and he surged forward just as Jack did, holding the man back.
"Get out of here!" Jack yelled, but Cindy knew he was yelling at her. Her hands were shaking, and she almost missed the tiny keyhole, but she got it into each cuff, and the metal shackles popped right off of her wrists.
She ran for the door.
Bitch case worker pushed her male colleague into Cindy's way, and the poor guy's wide eyes behind those thick black rimmed glasses almost made him look like a small animal about to be run over.
"What are you doing, Steve? Grab her!" Bitch case worker screamed.
"I..."
Cindy didn't have time to feel sorry for him. She pushed him out of the way, and she put a little fire behind her shove.
Steve screamed and jumped back as the flames jumped out of Cindy's hands and licked at his clothes and body. As she ran past him, she could make out the way he jumped around and slapped at himself, trying to put out the small fire before it burned his skin.
"Come back here!" Bitch case worker yelled as Cindy launched herself up the stairs.
Like there was a chance of that happening.
She burst through the door leading to the first level of the house. She looked around wildly for the direction of the front door. Escape was her top priority.
Jack's pained scream made her stop and she froze in her tracks, breathing heavily.
Jack wasn't the only one screaming. Bitch case worker was down there really giving Steve and the collector a piece of her mind.
Cindy didn't even know what the woman was saying. Adrenaline was making it hard for her to think, otherwise she might not have turned around and ran back down the stair.
"We'll handle this here! Go upstairs and catch her before she gets away!" Bitch case worker screamed at the collector as he put Jack's hands behind his back and put shackles on him. Jack was face down on the concrete floor, and he wasn't moving.
She'd never wanted to hurt anyone with her powers, but after what happened with Stephanie and Stacy, she'd made a deal with herself that she could justify it in times like these.
Cindy whistled, getting the collector and bitch case worker's attention, who both looked up at her just in time to face a fireball.
Chapter Fifteen
Jack woke up to the sound of panicked shrieking, and it was hot in the room. Too hot, and his ears were ringing.
He'd thought he was just feeling a jolt of pain in his arm from where the collector had broken it. Then the man had punched him hard in the eye hard enough to knock Jack out.
Strong motherfucker.
He groaned and shifted, and the heat in his arm, which was twisted behind his back, flared up so badly it felt like liquid fire under his skin.
It turned out that wasn't the case at all. There was a small flame right next to his body. It looked like a clipboard and several sheets of paper were quickly burning.
"What the hell?" Jack groaned and looked around some more. One of the case workers, the male, was lying down on the concrete floor, and he wasn't moving. The fact that his chest was peacefully rising and falling indicated that he'd fainted. The scent of burning metal and plastic filled Jack's nostrils.
He noticed the collector's needle-gun on the floor, destroyed. It was smoking and black in some places, and the sedative was oozing out of the broken glass. Another small fire was about ten feet away from him, and it took him a second to realize it was the case worker's phone. There was also the smell of burning hair all around him.
Cindy had done this. She'd actually tried to fight back, and now she was really going to get in trouble. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She was supposed to run for her life!
Jack tried to move, but he ended up hissing through the pain in his arm, and he called out through clenched teeth. "Cindy? Cindy!"
"I'm here! Jack! I'm up here!"
He hadn't expected a reply, and her call shocked him, but she was coming. He could hear her feet clumsily rushing down the stairs to get to him.