Beast

Sophie sat on the concrete bench outside of the Christian Science Center, her sunglasses pushed high up on the bridge of her nose, gazing at the reflecting pool as she waited for Ari. Clutched to her side, she held a bag containing the green binder. Sophie had hardly let it out of her sight over the past few days. It was a wonder to her that Ari had let it go so easily, considering what it contained and what it meant to him.

It did not, however, hold the answers to all of Sophie's many questions. She wanted to know more before she decided what to believe. Because if Ari was telling the truth, then it would be too much. Too much for her anyway. This truth was deplorable, and Sophie's heart shattered at the thought that it might be real.

She checked her watch. It was two o'clock exactly. She looked around, straining her neck to spot a tall, frighteningly pale man. Sophie bit her lip. Perhaps she should have been more specific? After all, there were a lot of places at the Center where they could have met. And maybe, just maybe, Ari hadn't gotten her message at all. Or, it was possible, that he had gotten it, and had chosen to ignore it. Sophie tapped her foot worriedly, revisiting the things she could have done differently, thinking of all the flaws she had left in her hastened plan.

"Hello, Sophie," a nasally, raspy voice said from behind her.

Sophie turned to see a tall, familiar man with paper white skin and a sharp face. He had a pair of sunglasses on himself, as well as a baseball cap and a blue windbreaker.

"It's nice to see you again, Ari," Sophie replied as he sat down next to her.

"I do hope this encounter goes better than our last," Ari said mildly, admiring the reflecting pool as people stopped to take pictures in front of it. One man even had the nerve to put his remote control boat in the water. It seemed almost blasphemous to Ari, the way the plastic toy disturbed the otherwise still, smooth surface.

"As do I," Sophie said, subconsciously touching the place where Ari's hands had wrapped around her throat. He was not forgiven.

"And I can only wonder if you've brought any of your Fortis friends along, because, believe me, I have brought mine," Ari warned her.

"Actually, no. I haven't," Sophie said calmly. It was the truth. She hadn't even thought of bringing back up. She didn't need it.

"I see," drawled Ari dryly. "I assume you've come to a conclusion?"

"Well, again, no. I still have a few questions for you," Sophie told him, taking pleasure at the disappointed look on Ari's face. Good, she thought. Make him squirm.

"Explain," Ari prompted her, clearly not amused.

"I can't argue with anything that's in here," Sophie said, taking the binder from her bag and handing it back to Ari, who seemed to relax slightly once the binder was back in his hands.

"It's clear that Milo is involved with the Fortis and that he's in contact with Fannar. What's less clear is what they're in contact about. I believe you when you say that there is some sort of corruption in the Fortis, but I'm not sure that the corruption goes quite so far as you say," Sophie said plainly, focusing on Ari and trying not to think about the friends he claimed that he had. If this went bad, Sophie would be in serious trouble. She was determined not to let it go that way. She would be honest and fair, and that's all Ari could reasonably expect from her. The thing was, Sophie couldn't be sure that Ari was a reasonable man.

He considered this, pressing his lips firmly together, before stating, "You did not listen to the tape."

"The-" Sophie began, before remembering the tape. She had been so anxious over the past few days, so focused on memorizing all the things she wanted to say to Ari, that she had completely forgotten about it.

Ari smiled wryly, "Come, my dear. Let's go to a quieter place where you can listen to it without the fear of being overheard."

He stood up, but Sophie hesitated to follow.

Ari sighed and bent down, whispering in Sophie's ear so that no one else could hear, "I promise, I have no intentions of harming you. I just want you to understand."

Sophie frowned and stood up reluctantly. She did not want to believe Ari, especially after what he had done to her mere days earlier, but, all things considered, he had yet to actually lie to her.

As he walked down the sidewalk towards the Prudential Center, Ari said, "It's nothing personal. You got too close. I couldn't let you continue snooping around."

This did not comfort Sophie. "But why? I wouldn't have found you. You know I wouldn't have been able to find you. You didn't show up in any of the databases. By this point, I would have moved on," she said honestly and curiously.

"It wasn't my name I was worried about you spreading around," Ari told her.

Sophie considered this, grimacing as Ari took her hand so that they would not be separated in the traffic as they crossed Newton street. Her first instinct was to yank her hand from his grasp, but repressed it because she didn't trust Ari, and she didn't want to make him angry. They were in public, yes, but she didn't know him and didn't know what to expect from him. Her eyes bore bitterly into the back of his head, resenting being led across the street like some sort of child.

Once they were in the Prudential Center, he let go of her, looking around quickly before pointing in the direction of a restroom.

"Come on," he said, glancing around quickly to make sure that no one was watching them.

Sophie followed him into the bathroom, hanging back towards the door as Ari checked the stalls to make sure that they were alone.

"Lock it," Ari said, nodding towards the door behind her and carefully removing the tape recorder from the binder.

Sophie did as told, scrunching her nose at the putrid smell of the bathroom.

"Here you are," Ari said, handing Sophie the tape player. She hit play.

Sophie's eyebrows knitted together as she focused all of her attention on the conversation that ensued.

A tired, gravelly voice spoke first. "This is not what we agreed upon, Fannar."

A second voice, slick as oil, hissing like a snake, replied, "I thought you'd have a little faith by now, old friend."

There was a sound, like traffic, in the background. This must have been recorded while they were in a car.

"I am not your friend," the first voice, Milo, stated firmly. "I'm your business partner. This is business, not some game for you and your deranged friends to fuck around with," His voice was calm, but both Sophie and Ari could tell that something very much like anger was bubbling just beneath the surface.

"Relax, nothing happened. If anything, you should be thanking me. Your little minions are rallying around you more than ever," Fannar said carelessly. Sophie could almost hear him rolling his eyes.

"Your friends made an unauthorized attack. One of them was nearly caught. What would have happened then? You trust your pals not to talk?" Milo asked, his anger beginning to boil over.

"They don't know anything. No one was killed. It's fine," Fannar was still calm.

Milo grunted, "This is not fine. The kid is still in the hospital and there was a church full of witnesses. Two against a hundred are not good odds."

Sophie stiffened, feeling goose bumps rise on her skin as she hit the pause button.

"When was this recorded?" she asked, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose.

Ari, who had been leaning against the far wall while he waited for her, was caught off guard by her sudden reaction. He hesitated for a moment before replying, "December 30th, 2003." He had the date memorized. "Is everything okay?" he asked, slowly moving to put himself between Sophie and the door in case she tried to leave with the tape.

Sophie took a deep breath. "No," she replied, before hitting the play button and listening to the rest of the conversation.

Ari watched her carefully, trying to understand why this young woman was slowly beginning to break in front of him.

"Relax," Fannar urged. Sophie bristled at the sound of his voice. "They're God fairing people. They weren't about to go after them. Everything is fine now."

"We have very different definitions of what the word fine means," Milo said. Sophie could hear the edge in his voice, imagine the panic he must have been feeling. Good. He deserved that and so much more. "I want your guys out of the Boston area. Do you understand? If you pull another stunt like that, I'll feed you to the wolves," Milo threatened.

Sophie turned off the tape, holding it out for Ari to take. Her hands were shaking.

As he put it back in the envelope, Sophie's eyes focused on something he couldn't see.

"Can we get out of here? Let's go to the park. Can we go to the park?" Sophie asked, her voice strangely desperate.

"Of course," Ari replied, tucking the binder under his arm and unlocking the door.

He let her lead the way up the stairs to the park. It was a strange spot for green space, but it was a lovely place to sit and talk nonetheless. Ari kept his eyes on Sophie, afraid that in her state she'd collapse. He knew she didn't want to run.

As they entered the park and breathed in the crisp air, Sophie seemed to be brought back to her senses.

"Let's sit," she said, walking over to one of the benches. Ari followed. He had not expected her to take charge so suddenly. As long as things played out in his favor, he didn't plan to stop her. He would let her go on thinking that she was in control.

"How... how do I know that it's them? On the tape?" Sophie asking, shaking slightly.

"I suppose that you can't," Ari answered calmly.

"How did you... the attack... How did you know?" Sophie asked because it was too much to just be a coincidence.

"Know what?" Ari asked, holding the binder protectively.

"Do you know who they're talking about? The person who was attacked?" Sophie asked, her lips trembling.

"No," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "It makes no difference to me."

"You don't know? You honestly don't know? Ari, look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't know," Sophie demanded.

Ari took off his sunglasses, revealing his black eyes and said confidently, "Sophie, I don't know who was attacked."

She nodded and took a deep breath, the hard realization of the truth, the real truth, setting in. "They're talking about Julius. He was attacked on Christmas Eve of that year. He almost died. It broke my mom's heart. And my dad... my dad tried to stop them," Sophie took another deep breath, trying to stay calm, to stay rational.

She laughed dryly. "That attack was the reason Julius wanted to join the Fortis. It was the reason I wanted to join the Fortis. And it was all a lie... all lies."

Ari didn't respond. This was working out better than he could have hoped for, but he didn't want to push Sophie too far in case she cracked. You could never be sure how people would react to these things. Milo had already learned that the hard way.

"Oh God... think of all the people... so many people have gotten hurt... have died because of this," Sophie said, burying her face in her hands.

"I know," Ari said. "That's why I'm trying to stop them."

Sophie nodded, sniffling, and wiping her eyes. "Okay."

"You will help?" Ari asked plainly, with no sound of empathy in his voice.

"Yes."

They sat together in silence for a long while, Ari relishing in his victory, and Sophie slowly coming to terms with the harsh reality that, whether she liked him or not, Ari was one of the good guys.

Although, good was a tricky word to throw around when it came to the head charlatan of the sanguinarium.