Carrie Vaughn - Kitty Goes to Washington

He said, "I believe that those afflicted may look within to purge themselves of the taint of their… diseases."

"Through prayer," Duke prompted.

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

Prayer, yeah. That was all I had to do, it sounded so simple. I wanted to talk to him, to learn from him, because I'd struggled all this time to find some kind of peace in this life but he made it sound so simple—

"Kitty!"

My brain rattled. I blinked, disoriented. Jeffrey was shaking my arm. He'd hissed into my ear loud enough that the people in front of us looked back.

"What? What's wrong? What happened?"

Ben was staring at me, too. "You looked like a clich there for a minute. I think you were even drooling."

"I was not !"

But both men watched me closely, worriedly. Despite his flippant remark, Ben's brow was furrowed. Had I fainted? Passed out? I'd just been listening to the testimony, to Smith—

That steady, haunting voice filled the room. I could feel it against my heart.

"Oh, my God," I murmured. "Is it just me? You guys don't feel it—"

Jeffrey shook his head. "Not like that, but I can see it. It's like he's on fire. It started when he spoke."

Something about his voice sounded so reasonable, so pure. It hardly mattered what he said, because what I heard was, Here is someone I can trust .

I put my hands against my temples, quelling the headache I suspected I was developing. "This is seriously twisted."

"I think I understand his church a little better," Jeffrey said.

"No doubt." The cure was only the start of his power, it seemed. He could draw vampires and werewolves to him just by speaking. He hardly needed to cure them, if all he wanted was a flock of devoted followers.

If he had that power over me across the room, how was I going to get close enough to learn more about him?

Did I dare bring him onto the show for an interview, and broadcast his voice across the country?

Then we were done for another day. The hearing adjourned.

Smith immediately came down the aisle between the two sets of chairs, his escort trailing him devotedly. I watched him the way a wolf watches a hunter approaching with a rifle: head down, eyes glaring, lips ready to snarl a challenge if the intruder comes too close. If Jeffrey and Ben hadn't been there, I might have followed along after him, as eager and devoted as his pets.

I wasn't anybody's pet.

As he passed by, he caught my gaze. For a half a second, his lips twitched a smile—a cold smile—and his gaze held triumph.

He knew he'd gotten to me.

Some vampires and werewolves liked to say they were top of the food chain. Stronger than mortal humans, able to hunt mortal humans.

But we might have found the thing that could top us. I had to find out what he was. If I didn't risk getting closer to him, I'd never learn.

I scrambled past Jeffrey to get to the aisle. I was too late to intercept him, but maybe I could catch up.

Ben called after me, "Kitty, what are you—"

I'd only taken a couple steps toward Smith when the werewolves turned on me. Their lips pulled back in grimaces, their shoulders tensed, bunching up as if they were preparing to cock their arms for a punch. A couple of werewolves, getting ready to rumble. A shot of panic charged through me; I couldn't take these guys and my Wolf knew it. I had to work to stand there and not look away. Not cringe and cower. Please don't beat me up …

I looked past them to Smith, who had turned to see what the disturbance was.

"Hi, Reverend Smith? I'm Kitty Norville from the talk show The Midnight Hour . I was wondering, could I ask you a few questions? I think my audience would be very interested in learning more about you. Maybe you could come on the show."

He stared at me for a long time, and my heart beat faster and faster, in anticipation of what he might say, and what his words would do to me. Fight or flight. I should run. I should get out of here.

"If you come to me as a supplicant, I will answer all your questions." He smiled a thin, knowing smile.

They were true words; I knew they were. If I came to him, gave myself to him, I would have no more questions—at least, no will to ask them. But I couldn't. I couldn't go to him, I couldn't do it, because I'd lose myself, and I'd fought too hard to claim myself. My own two feet stood on the floor, and I was anchored to them, and I would not let his gaze swallow me.

I looked after him as he walked away, and the retreating bodyguards blocked my view of him.

Something touched my shoulder. I gasped and pulled back.

It was Jeffrey, forehead creased with concern. "That wasn't the smartest thing you could have done."

I'd been accused of a lot of things, but flights of genius wasn't one of them, so I couldn't argue.

We had to clear the room for the next set of hearings, a different committee, a different subject. The wheels of government rolled on, no matter what little paradigm shifts were going on in my head. I lingered outside in the hallway, arms crossed, shoulders hunched in and angry.

"Can we sue him?" I said to Ben. "There's got to be something we can sue him for."

He shrugged. "I don't know. I'll look into it. I'm always game for a frivolous lawsuit."

"It's not frivolous! There's something seriously creepy about that guy. We have to figure out what he's really doing with that church of his, because I know it's just horrible. It has to be."

"If he hasn't broken any laws, then there probably isn't anything we can do."

How could we know if he'd broken any laws if we didn't even know what he was really doing? Really, he was just inviting people to an old-fashioned revival meeting, and if they wanted to stay with him, well, that was their choice, right?

I had to find out what he was. "Jeffrey, if Smith isn't human, what is he?"

"I was hoping you'd have a guess," Jeffrey said.

I humphed. "Believe it or not, you probably have more experience with that kind of stuff than I do. I mean, you can see that he isn't right. If we find out where he's camped, take a look, maybe you'd see… I don't know. Something. "

"I'm not sure I'm willing to get close enough to try that. He's dangerous, Kitty. I can see that much about him."

"Ben?"

"Don't look at me. Somebody's got to stay behind to bail your ass out of jail when things go wrong."

That vote of confidence was staggering.

Ben said, "If you're about to do something prosecutable, I don't want to know about it until afterward. I'll see you tomorrow." He started off down the hallway, waving over his shoulder.

Jeffrey watched him go. "He's your lawyer, huh? He's…"

"Brusque?" I said.

"I was going to say honest. He's got a good aura."

Well, that was something I supposed. I apparently had an honest lawyer.

I sighed. "Since I don't know where Smith's caravan is, the whole plan to go looking for him is moot anyway."

I couldn't really see me climbing into a cab, flashing a fifty at the driver, and saying, "Follow that man!" I started to ask Jeffrey if he would do an interview on the show, when Roger Stockton stepped around from behind us, where he'd been lurking, eavesdropping, and who knew what else. He still had the camera, but at least he held it down and not pointed at me.

"I know where Smith is camped," the reporter said. "And I know he isn't human."

"Then what is he?" I said, once I'd regained control of my jaw. "And how do you know?" I'd tried to catch a scent off him, but his bodyguards stayed close, and I couldn't get past their smells, the overpowering scent of werewolf that set my instincts on edge.

"I'll tell you when we get out there."

"So I just get in your car and let you drive me to God knows where?"