As Dempsey hung there in silence he raised his head as far as he could, contemplating Alexis’ threat. I couldn’t tell if it was fear keeping him silent or his legendary stubbornness. Eventually, he nodded. “Very good.” Alexis replied with joy in his voice. “Now the first question I want answered is why you wanted me dead? I cannot recall ever interfering in your business, so why the assassination attempts?”
This time I could tell that Dempsey’s silence was due to his stubborn streak. His mouth clenched tightly as though to keep himself from accidently saying something he didn’t want to. Alexis only let Dempsey play that game for so long before taking action. Even though I never saw Alexis so much as twitch, Dempsey uttered a sudden a cry of pain that raced through the cavern. The pain must have broken Dempsey completely. I noticed a smile starting to spread across my face so I turned my eyes away, hoping they would just think I was a little squeamish.
Alexis must have used forgery to inflict the pain. I was going to have to figure out these new laws that were going to influence my life. When I had regained mastery of my face I turned to see Dempsey’s full attention focused upon a scowling Alexis. After another uncomfortable silence Alexis scolded Dempsey as if he were a disobedient child.
“I asked you a question Bertrand. We already agreed to my asking the questions and you answering them. And you just found out what’ll happen if you refuse to answer a question. Is that clear?”
Instead of the piercing eyes that had pinned me into my chair earlier today, now I only saw eyes that were truly frightened. I was barely able to hear his mumbled answer, but it was enough for Alexis. “Now let’s try this once again. What is the real reason you wanted me dead?”
“You.... You have been interfering with my business, you just haven’t known about it. Francis over there wasn’t the first forger I tried to recruit.”
“And how are you finding these forgers?” Alexis asked, his eyes burning as hotly as the sun.
“I have the resources to scour not only this city but others as well. I simply keep my ears open for interesting stories.” Dempsey answered in an emotionless voice.
Alexis registered the answer as he asked his next question, “How long have you been searching for forgers?”
“I’ve always searched for them.” Dempsey’s reply bordered on curt.
I thought Alexis might make another objection but he restrained himself and asked another question. “What brought our kind to your notice in the first place?”
Dempsey hesitated for only a second but it was a second too long as Alexis somehow managed to force pain through his body. “I thought you remembered our agreement to answer any question I put to you.”
“I’ll never give you the answer to that! No matter how much pain you pour into me.” Dempsey snapped.
Alexis silently studied his captive before coming to a decision. “I believe you would endure any kind of torment I could possibly imagine and I would never get any closer to that answer.” Alexis nodded with what appeared to be a sort approval before concluding his thoughts. “Fine, I’ll not ask you to reveal anything about your witch to me.”
As Dempsey heard those words I thought Alexis and I would be washed away by the fear that flowed out of Dempsey’s eyes. Seeing the intended reaction from Dempsey, Alexis leaned right next to the other man’s ear and spoke so softly I almost missed the words.
“It was not all that difficult a leap to make, Dempsey. How have you managed to be so successful if a simple, logical conclusion draws such a fearful reaction from you? Now that I know how you became aware of our world, tell me, who was the forger I denied you access to. Why was he so special?”
“You and your kind are all special, don’t you know that?”
“Of course I do. But why was this one specifically so special to you?”
Dempsey began with as much force as he could muster. I guess he wanted or needed to hold onto any piece of dignity he could. “Her name was Julia Santiago. She wasn’t as powerful as your friend over there or you apparently. But she had power all the same.”
“Power you wanted to harness for your own gain no doubt.”
“Of course, I would have used her for my own gain.”
Alexis began chewing his lip in thought and I could tell that he had wanted to ask a specific question, but after a moment’s thought he chose to move on for the time being. “Fine, so I kept you from getting forgers and ultimately, when you finally had a name to chase, you wanted to stop the interference. I’ll assume your witch was involved in most of this up to then. But why did you send Francis here after me?”
This time, when Alexis mentioned the witch, Dempsey managed to keep his face impassive. Here his control seemed to end as his next words dripped with venom. “I sent him after you hoping that a forger would have better luck eliminating you. Two of my men had already failed to do that using more…conventional methods.”
Understanding dawned on Alexis’ face, his next words held the power that Dempsey seemed no longer able to utilize. “So you were the one?”
Unable to keep silent anymore I broke into the conversation asking, “The one what?”
“Conventional methods, Francis” Alexis replied quietly before turning around to look at me. “Dempsey’s conventional methods must refer to a sniper. Keep in mind what he threatened you with. A few times over the past month or so I had some rather large bullets slam into the same protection you encountered earlier.
“Unlike your attempt, I didn’t know where theirs came from, so I chalked it up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Whipping his body back to stare up into Dempsey’s emotionless eyes he continued. “Only now I know they were actually intended for me. And that’s a decent enough reason to force your newly recruited forger into an assassination attempt, though my guess is there was more to it than that. I’d be willing to bet your witch suggested it to you.”