Page 4

My Flawless Accent

The door opened once more.

The two agents who held his fate in their hands filed in, followed by beautif ul Helena.

To his relief, she came straight to him, offering her hands, which he took in both of his, his heart leaping at her touch. She squeezed, smiling reassuringly as she sat down on the couch with him. Her eyes alighted on the cookbook in his lap, that he had moved there because it felt safer. She reached to touch its cover, giving him a questioning eyebrow, but there was no time or safety of space to say anything about it. He slid it off his lap and tucked it under his coat on the couch as the two agents took seats across from them.

Agent Archon sat in the other normal chair which left Agent Sophia with the rocking chair, but she seemed plenty cheerful with the option. He knew this was it, and he would do whatever it took to prote ct Helena.

“We have come to a preliminary conclusion that you, Ms. Rhodes and Mr. Lares, were victims of a demonic possession,” Agent Arch on stated.

Rafferty couldn’t believe what he was hearin g. “What?”

Helena seemed surprised too. “But the summoning circle in my kitchen—”

“Is completely benign,” Agent Sophia said, clearly trying to be r eassuring.

Agent Archon shook her head. “Just carving a summoning circle into a floor doesn’t make it a real summoning circle, and the symbols around it are just utter gibberish. It is most likely that the real demon summoner planted that to convince you, Ms. Rhodes, that you had done the deed and that your boyfriend was that sa me demon.”

“The agency has seen this before,” Agent Sophia added. “One time it was a husband who the demon summoner had convinced that his wife was a succubus that he had summoned. She survived but he did not.”

Agent Archon folded her arms protectively across her chest. “This sort of deception,” Agent Archon said, shaking her head in disgust. “It never works, but some of them try. All it accomplishes is just more people gett ing hurt.”

“Then… what do you think did happen?” Helena asked, utterly perplexed.

“We aren’t going to comment further on an open investigation, only on the details that concern you.” She sighed. “I know this is going to be very hard for you to accept. But with time and counseling, you will be able to get on with yo ur lives.”

“For the time being, we would like you to stay under our protection,” Agent Sophia said. “The demon that caused all this is still out there, and it may focus on one of you to become its ne w anchor.”

“Without the anchor, it will be ejected from creation naturally, but it will cause a lot of destruction before that happens. We would rather find it before anyone else gets hurt.” Agent Archon flipped open another folder and showed her a brochure. “If you will allow us, we can put you up in a hotel. It’s already prepared with a protection circle and other charms, so you wouldn’t have to worry about the demon coming to get you while y ou sleep.”

“I… I just want to get back to my life,” He lena said.

Agent Sophia nodded. “Of course you do, this is just until we can get your house inlaid with its own pro tections.”

Helena nodded, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. Rafferty slid his own arm around her shoulders as well. He knew they were safe now, that he could rely on the deal he made with Vassago, but mentioning it now would only tip off these agents and void the deal.

Pulling out another set of forms from the folder, Agent Archon handed them to Helena. “If you sign this, we can have the protection circle set and everything over the next couple of days. It’s all covered by the state’s Demonic Barrier Act, so there is no cost to you. You won’t even notice that it’s there, but if the demon should get desperate enough to return, we’ll also be alerted.”

“And then you can go home,” Agent Sophia finished.

“But…” Helena bit her lower lip, “What if… what if what I said was true, even if you are having trouble finding evidence for it. I summoned a demon; shouldn’t I still be punished?”

It was Agent Archon’s turn to sigh but remain otherwise professional. “If you had, in fact, summoned a demon, as you say, and it was an accident… the worst that would happen to you is you would incur a fine and require classes on the dangers of demon s ummoning.”

Rafferty blinked. “That seems… incredibly lenient.”

“There is a degree of mercy in the laws as written,” Agent Archon explained, reusing the phrase Agent Sophia had said earlier like it wa s a creed.

“Nor is it really justice to lock away people who simply made a mistake and to ruin their entire lives,” Agent Sophia added. “Especially if it’s teenagers. They are often rebelling by doing something stupid with Ouija boards, that sort of thing. If no one gets hurt and they learned their lesson, it’s not something to destroy their li ves over.”

“The demon is worse than any punishment we can dole out,” Agent Archon agreed. “We are only interested in the unrepentant who will continue to be a danger to society. Nothing you’ve told me today, if true, rises to meet that standard.”

“Well… I’m not going to lie, that does make me feel a little bit better,” He lena said.

Rafferty, frankly, could not believe what he was hearing. Mercy? They were going to show them mercy? He wanted to laugh out loud and would have if it hadn’t been for the centuries of discipline to control giving away too much.

“You have a good life, Ms. Rhodes, Mr. Lares,” Agent Archo n assured.

“And you clearly love each other dearly,” Agent Sophia piped in.

Agent Archon only hiccuped a moment at her partner’s interruption, her one eye twitching before continuing. “Take our advice, stay at the hotel at least for tonight but for as long as you need. Let the professionals take care of the rest.”

“Oh, also, Mr. Lares, do you have any identification?” Agent Sophia asked. “We can’t find you in th e system.”

“Um, well, he’s French,” Helena said. It was true.

“Oh! I see,” Agent Sophia said, her gaze shifting from surprise to confusion. “But he doesn’t have much of a n accent?”

“He hides it because… well, I think, I don’t know if this is true… but I think you… grew up here, but his citizenship is… I mean, I don’t really know. I’m sorry I don’t know.” She was clearly trying so hard not to lie, but it was a struggle to find an answer that they wou ld accept.

They all look ed at him.

He sighed, then said, “I don’t know what to tell you since you haven’t accepted any of my ans wers yet.”

“Are you French?” Agent Archon asked directly.

“Yes. I was,” he admitted. Was he really going to get away with this by just telling the truth?

Agent Sophia nodded. “We understand, Mr. Lares. Don’t worry, we’ll reach out to the Embassy on your behalf. Try to see if you can find your identifications, but if you can’t we’ll help you start the process to get them reissued. It’s also not uncommon for identity theft to occur in the se cases.”

“But we just need an answer about the protection,” Agent Archon interjected. “Do you want i t or not?”

“We’ll take it for tonight, for sure. Thank you,” Helena relented.

Relieved at getting an answer she wanted, Agent Archon wrote on another form, had Helena sign it, then stamped it, before sticking it back into her folder. “If that’s the case, then you are both free to go to the hotel now. Agents will go to your house to collect anything you need. Just give Agent Sophi a a list.”

Then Helena sat more upright. “Oh! My cat, Pooka. She’s still in t he house.”

“Yes, our agents have already secured her and taken her to a holding facility,” Agent Archon said, reopening the folder to retrieve another piece of paper.

“Holding facility?” Hel ena asked.

“Yes, you’ll be happy to hear that nothing demonic has happened to your cat either. She has not been made a familiar and has a clean bill of health. Are her vaccinations up to date?”

“Uh, yes, yes, I think so. But I don’t understand what you mean by ‘holding facility,’” sh e pressed.

“Think of it as a pet daycare but federally funded,” Agent Sophia piped in. “Pets are often targets, so she is also a protected person just like you now are. I can help sign you up for our check-in app so you can get updates on how she is doing.”

“Thank you,” was all Helena could say.

Everything was working out in their favor, and Rafferty felt numb. He couldn’t trust this yet. It was almost as if a demon were working some impossi ble magic.

And may be he was.

But whatever dastardly plan or mischief Vassago was concocting with this, Rafferty simply could not d iscern it.

“If we both keep it, you’ll never see me again,” he had said.

Have I already done something to jeopardize that? Rafferty wondered t o himself.

Agent Archon stood, her face a stoic, analyzing mask. “Vous êtes libre de partir, M. Lares,” she said in French.

“Merci, m’dame,” he responded automatically, bowing his head respectfully, his French flawless compared to her rough, American-accent ed French.

Her eyebrows popped the tiniest bit, the crack in her p oker face.

“Ton accent Américain est impeccable, je dois dire,” she continued.

Rafferty’s face ticked at the realization of what was happening. He hadn’t even realized what he had done. But yes, he could speak his native tongue clearly, and it sounded indeed like his nati ve tongue.

He licked his teeth, unsure. “J’ai passé beaucoup de temps en Amérique. J’ai tendance à adopter l’accent dans lequel j’existe,” he answered. Again, it was the truth, and the truth had carried them this far.

Satisfied, Agent Archon switched back to English. “Thank you for your cooperation,” she said, and fin ally left.

Agent Sophia stepped up. “If you come with me, we’ll get you out of here.”

Helena grasped Rafferty’s hand to pull him after her, and they exited into a stairwell.

“Put your coat on,” Helena urged just before they went out a pair of glass doors to leave the building. She already wore hers, though it was unzipped in the front. “It started snowi ngagain.”

Rafferty did as he was bid, a smile starting to crack his face. Really? That is it? We are free to go? No need to prove our innocence? h e thought.

He looked down at Helena’s angelic face. As long as she was safe, he was fine with that.

But it could still be a trap or trick. He couldn’t let his guard down yet.

An unmarked, black car waited for them outside with a large, intimidating-looking driver in a formal, long black coat with a smart hat on his head. He opened the door of the car as Helena and Rafferty a pproached.

Agent Sophia went straight to the passenger side up front.“Next stop, the safest hotel in the city,” s he chimed.