For Nevermore Season 1

Dante?”
    “You want my opinion now?”
    “You said the Queen told you about the order to kill you, correct?”
    “Yes,” Dante said.
    “If that’s true, it may mean that someone is deep inside the Elders’ circle, working for her, because nobody on my end has access to The Book.”
    “Yes, and she didn’t even hesitate giving up the information, which means her source is buried so deep we’d never suspect them, or she has more than one.”
    “Or perhaps she thought her argument was compelling enough to turn you against us?”
    “Perhaps,” Dante agreed.
    “And did it?”
    “I’m undecided,” Dante said.
    “Something seems off, though,” William said. “If they’re close enough to know about the order, then they must also know we have her location, right? So why not send someone to get her? Why try to convince you to do their work?”
    “Maybe they also know she’s starting to remember? They spotted her over there. And if they come at her forcefully, they’ll never turn her to their side, especially if they did it over here.”
    William put his glasses back on, and his eyes glimmered at the realization of what was happening. “Yes. She’s more valuable than the risk. And that means she’s an even bigger threat to the Elders.”
    Dante felt a twitch of terror at the conversation’s direction. If Noella was a threat to the Elders now, they wouldn’t even bother with a wipe. They’d simply have her eliminated, just as they’d planned to do with him.
    “Exactly,” Dante said, “which is why we can’t tell the Elders what the Queen knows. They’ll have her killed immediately.”
    “So what? We go against the Elders?” William asked.
    “They’ve been compromised, right? We’re not going against them, so much as protecting them. I propose that we — you and I — take her somewhere else, somewhere I can keep an eye out for her. A temporary measure until we can flush out the spy, or spies.”
    William sighed, then nodded. “Okay. But there’s one small problem. I’ve already ordered one of my men to wipe her tonight, as she sleeps.”
    “You what?”
    “Did you expect me to sit on my hands and wait?”
    “Damn it,” Dante said. “And what then?”
    “He’s supposed to take her and bring her to King’s Point Psychiatric as a Jane Doe, meaning that there’ll be no record.”
    Dante shook his head, sighing. “Who is doing it tonight? What time?”
    “It’s Carter. At 3 a.m.”
    “Can you call him off?”
    William shook his head. “Not without raising suspicions.”
    “I have to stop him. Then I’ll go back and talk to her tomorrow and convince her to come here, so we can figure out the next step together.”
    “You can’t kill him,” William warned.
    “I have other ways of persuading.”
    “Great,” William said. “Why do I know this is going to come back to bite me?”
    “Have faith, Doc,” Dante said, smiling.

    **

    Last night…

    Dante waited in the corner of Noella’s room, bathed in black. A sliver of blue midnight bled through her partially parted curtains, casting her skin in a powdery glow.
    He mentally traced his hand over her beautiful face — her soft cheeks, her neck, and back up to the pout of her lips. What he wouldn’t give to be able to touch her for real, just once.
    He’d known her in several incarnations, and this one was by far her most beautiful. Perhaps it was because this body looked most like Noella when they’d first met so long ago, back when the future seemed so promising, before his purpose was revealed.
    While he’d watched her from afar hundreds, if not thousands of nights, this was the first time in years that he waited in her bedroom. Seeing her so close, feeling her so near, yet being unable to speak to her or stare into her eyes was like death beside him.
    She murmured in her sleep and turned over, her long dark hair spilling over the pillow.
    Dante closed his eyes, trying to lock this image of her into his mind.
    His world hummed ever so slightly, just seconds before the man appeared — Carter.
    Carter’s eyes widened when he saw he had company. He did not expect a waking body, let alone Dante, to be in the room.
    “What are you doing here?” he whispered.
    “The mission has been postponed.”
    “Says who? I didn’t get word.”
    “Says me,” Dante declared in his most authoritative voice.
    “I don’t know,” Carter said, eyes moving past Dante to the bed where Noella lay. “If I go back without her,