He leapt to his feet and looked straight into my eyes, that expressionless expression filling his face. “I am Walpurgi. Penitence has no place in my life.”
Before I saw him move, his fist struck me across the cheek. Bright lights pulsed in my head, and I found myself looking up from the street at Egon. He was good. I shook my head to clear the cobwebs. Not even Andy had ever hit me so hard. I had to give that one a ten plus.
Egon turned toward Mason’s unmoving body and shook his head. “He was a real disappointment. I think remorse may have gotten the best of him. I assumed he was stronger than that.”
“Is this where you reveal all your evil plans to me? That’s what bad guys do, right? You have some code or something that says you have to.” Spots floated in front of my eyes.
Egon’s gaze softened, and he shrugged. “You’ll be giving me some very important details before long, so it’s the least I can do. Where do I start? Mason was a lost soul looking for someone from his past. I needed a flunky. It was a beautiful arrangement. Christie was business, a little extra cash. Kathryn…well, Miss Popularity was taking too much of your attention. When she went down, there I was to console you, good old Egon. You could have avoided that if you’d made me a little bit more of a priority. No matter. You’re mine now.”
“But why Susie?” I asked, buying time for my vision to clear. “She never did anything.”
“Bait. I needed to catch a gift for my boss. Somebody wrecked a project I was responsible for. When I find out who, he’s going down. A lot of work went into it for nothing, and my boss wasn’t happy. He’s not very forgiving, you know.”
“Nicolaitan?”
“You know more than is healthy for you, Rinnie Noelle. Or should I say Lynn Morgan?”
My breath caught, but Egon didn’t seem to notice.
“He wanted retribution,” Egon continued. “I thought I could make him happy, be a hero, you know, all that good stuff. You were kind enough at the dance to let me know that you’re a Psi Fighter. When I opened your purse to take back my Amplifier, imagine my surprise when I found two! Did you really think that hidden pocket would conceal it from me? Then I learned from Bobby that you were adopted, put two and two together, and voilà! The ever-elusive Morgan girl. I was going to give you to Nicolaitan as a surprise gift.”
“Me, the legendary Morgan girl?” I was suddenly terrified for my family, but couldn’t let him know. “Wouldn’t that be something? Imagine Nicolaitan’s disappointment when you show up with the wrong person. Will he kill you?”
“I haven’t told him yet. That would ruin the surprise. Don’t worry, I’ll scan you first to make sure.”
Relief. My secret was still safe. If I could believe a Knight.
“But you know…” Egon smiled. “After that kiss, I might keep you for myself. I can give old Nico an even better surprise.”
“Let me guess. My school.”
“Your school. I don’t need the Morgan girl now that I have you. I don’t suppose you’ll make it easy and just tell me, will you? Of course, you could always join me. We’d make a great team.”
“I used to think so,” I said. “But even then, I wouldn’t have told you anything about my school.”
“Thought not. Guess I’ll have to loosen you up a bit. Psi Fighters are supposed to be tough to scan, but I think I can work around that.”
I struggled to sit up, but my body wasn’t cooperating.
Egon laughed. “Takes a while to recover from that, doesn’t it? I hit you with my special one-two combo. A sucker punch and a Mental Blast all in one. Don’t bother trying to get up. It’ll be a while.”
That explained why I couldn’t control my limbs. I felt as though the connection between my body and mind had been scrambled. I could feel everything, and my muscles worked, they just refused to do what I told them.
Egon held up his Amplifier. A whip with nine tails hissed from the end, each tail tipped with a smoky barb. “This works just like a real cat-o’-nine-tails. It won’t cut your body, but when I’m done, your mind will be so shredded you won’t be able to think. You’ll tell me everything just to make me stop.”
A wild scream rent the air, and Mason yelled, “Don’t touch her!”
Egon grunted as Mason crashed into him like a linebacker. They sailed through the air. Egon twisted, turning himself and Mason in a slow spiral. Before Mason could slam him to the street, Egon was on top, and Mason landed with a sickening crunch. Egon leapt to his feet, and began flailing Mason with the psionic cat-o’-nine-tails. The misty whip slashed across his body again and again, hissing and yowling like a cat with distemper.
Mason just sat there with a strange look on his face. Then he jumped to his feet and belted Egon right in the jaw, knocking him against the alley wall.
Definitely an eleven.