Mikkel

The guy was as green as grass and as orange as a peach. No wonder Cory recognized him instantly. He must be the only person in the whole verdam' city with hair that color, never mind his crazy eyes. In a city of drab, he was a shiny, colorful toy. It was irresistible. He stood in front of me with this puppy dog face that could rival Nate's and his goody-goody religiousness that shone out of him like a halo. Definitely raised by the Mid-Town Matrons.

Our impressive Tower of Babel didn't scare him off. Neither did our little fit of pyromania. And he was showing a fair amount of caution in the conversation. Still, if he was going to work on our side of things, he would need to show a tougher face.

Cory said she picked him because she remembered him having a very even temperament. "No matter how much Wesley and I beat on him, he never buckled," she said. Sounded like he was more of a pacifist than Miles. That was good. Pacifists were strong shelled people—and stubborn as anything. But if he was an officer, then he must have some willingness to use violent force when necessary.

I considered pulling my paintball pistol on him, just to see how he'd react. I always kept it on my person to keep Cory on her toes. It was a pain in the ass, too—quite literally.

If I was gauging Steven correctly, he had his gun under his jacket. My hangover had worn off, but I wasn't sure if my reflexes were up to speed if he decided to take a shot at me. He didn't seem like the type, but...

"So what, exactly, am I expected to do as a liaison?" Steven asked, breaking my thoughts of shooting him. It was probably for the best. Miles was already fuming at me for everything else I'd done that day.

I had never found Miles's snapping point before, but I had definitely come close. That time I dragged him into Jaggar territory pushed him to the brink.

He still hasn't forgiven me for making him break his silly code of pacifism.

"Why don't you come have a seat?" I asked, beckoning him toward our new couch we'd just scavenged. I wanted to get a better feel for him—see how much I could really trust him with. "I think it's important that we get to know each other first. And for that matter, you might be able to enlighten us on Cory. We hear very little about her childhood in the orphanage."

He sat down on the opposite end of the couch from me, placing all the pieces of saw-blade on our new coffee table we had scavenged. He was stiff and awkward and was having a hard time looking at me straight. "What do you want to know?" He asked while scanning everyone's faces.

Miles and Cory stood together. She kept trying to slip her hand into his. He kept slipping his out. She was quite persistent with her idea to break through his stone wall. I could tell he was struggling with the idea. He hated keeping her out, but he hated letting her in, too. Lately, the tension had been worse. He had a secret he was hiding from me. I hadn't bothered to look into it. Whatever it was, the stress from it was emanating out of him like heat from a radiator.

Nate was still on the floor, picking up pieces of whatever he could and trying to crawl closer to Anna. Their little relationship was just as amusing to watch as Cory and Miles. Anna blushed and shied away from him, hiding her smile under her hair that formed a curtain between the two. She always let her hair fall over her face when he was around.

"What was Cory like in the orphanage?" I asked Steven.

Steven let out an uneasy laugh. He sighed and thought his answer through before saying, "Well, she was known as the Devil's Apprentice."

"Apprentice, huh?" I said. "Let me guess, the Devil was that Wesley kid, right?"

"Sounds like you do know a little bit about her time in the orphanage," Steven said, "But we called him the Devil's Child."

"Well, if we keep working at it, I think she could give the Devil and his child a run for the job."

"Oh, I doubt Wesley's alive anymore," he said, but his face showed all kinds of doubt at the statement.

I only smiled. A kid like that wouldn't die in this city. He'd thrive. And given the stories I'd heard of him, he'd probably thrive best in the south with the Jaggars. My bet was that we'd run into him soon. And when we did, Cory would have to be ready to kick his ass and not cower from the memory of their last encounter. Anna giggled. All heads turned toward the flirting couple. Nate sat awkwardly on the ground, trying to pick up Anna's hand like he was collecting pieces of plastic. It was childish. But it was winning her over, and as usual he was making everyone else in the room smile—except Miles, who shook his head like he didn't understand the scene.

I was beginning to wonder how much range his emotions really had. Perhaps he was stunted by years of living in a family full of back-stabbers. Or maybe he was a robot. If I hadn't of known him in diapers, I might have believed it. And baby Miles was just as stoic as this one.

My thoughts were interrupted again by Ingrid coming in to let us know that there were fresh cookies waiting for us and that dinner would be later than usual because someone rigged the fridge.

I had forgotten about that trap. I was going to ask Steven to get me a drink from the fridge. Ingrid wasn't covered in eggs, so I figured it hadn't gone off on her. Cory probably ruined it all for me.

The kids got up off the floor and we headed into the kitchen to eat some cookies. Real milk was expensive and powdered milk always left a film in my mouth, but the others didn't mind. While we ate, I told Steven a little bit more about our relationship with each other and how we were connected to the Serpents.

"So, King Matthias is the evil twin, huh?" Steven said, looking Miles over.

"I don't know about that," I said, "This bastard is pretty damn sneaky." I pointed my thumb at Miles who was sitting close enough to me to bite it off if his anger got any hotter, "Keep a close eye on him."

Miles frowned and turned to Cory. "Did the Bastard just call me a bastard?" He said to her.

Cory nodded, "I believe so."

He immediately dropped into a lower octave of brooding. Pissing him off was my most active hobby.

Miles

I don't want to talk about that day. Ask Cory to write about it.