Everlasting Flame

by Katelyn Anderson

  Chapter Twenty

  Faint rain splatters soaked my skin. The drizzle was gentle, like soft silk brushing past my face. The sweet scent of honey made my heart flutter. Cyrus was here, hiding within my dream. I couldn’t see him.

  I was alone in a field, surrounded by a sea of colourful flowers that were lit by bright moonlight. I was lying on my back, gazing up at the serene night sky. Rain fell from the stars. The breeze was soothing. Cricket chirps filled the silence.

  I tried to sit up but couldn’t move. My body was heavy. I couldn’t even lift a finger.

  “I don’t want you here. My dreams are my own. Leave me be, Cyrus,” I spoke curtly; at least I could move my mouth. “You stole my heart. You can’t steal my mind, too. Get out and stay out.”

  “I never stole your heart, Joan.”

  “You know I love you and you left anyway.”

  “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “There is always a choice.”

  “I left to give you a chance. I will only be a distraction, a distraction that will get you killed. I left to protect you.”

  “You and I both know that I’m quite capable of looking after myself. I don’t need protection. You left because you were afraid. It’s been a long time since you’ve loved someone and the thought of commitment scared you. I saw into your heart that night. You let me in. I saw everything. The only thing you know how to do is kill. You think that loving me will be your undoing. I won’t hold it against you. Do whatever the hell you want. Just leave me alone.” Hot tears streamed down my face. “I don’t want to see you, hear you, or smell you. It brings back memories I’d rather forget, moments that hurt to think about because you left me. Continue being selfish, Cyrus, as that’s something you live by and a habit you’ll never break. I’m not that type of girl that’s satisfied by random drop ins when you need company. I want to wake up every morning with my lover by my side. You can’t give that to me.”

  “I want to. You know I can’t. Dane wants me dead. Being with you is too risky and it will be for a long time. I can be with you in your dreams, in ways that reality cannot begin to imagine, if you let me. Your anger can’t mask the desire. I’m inside your mind and can feel all of your emotions. I can give you everything in a dreamworld. Let me in, Joan. Just let me in.”

  My phone alarm woke me; it gave me a fright. My whole body jerked when the dreamworld vanished. My pillow and face were wet with tears.

  I turned off my alarm and wiped my face, using the bed sheet. Cyrus’s magic had faded away the moment I woke up but I could still feel rain splatters soak my skin. I rubbed my arms and got out of bed.

  “That jerk,” I muttered to myself, grabbing some clothes.

  I tugged the curtain to peek outside. I wouldn’t need any wet weather gear for the morning run with my new team. The last thing I wanted was to run in the rain, especially after dealing with Cyrus’s magic. I was glad the weather looked nice.

  I changed into suitable jogging clothes. I slid a gym bag out from under my bed. I packed spare clothes and the gear that Dane gave me yesterday. It was lightweight body armour. I wasn’t going to shower. I would after my run. There were shower facilities in the agency. I just had to pack a towel and other extras.

  Lorenzo was fast asleep on the couch. He had stayed over last night. Leftover Chinese cartons were scattered across the table. We were up until midnight playing video games. He knew I needed the company and the distraction. He was a really good friend. He had always been there for me. He was my substitute for Damian since Jacqueline had my uncle on a tight leash. I knew in my heart that Damian wanted to see me but he didn’t want to go against his wife’s wishes. That’s why he sent Lorenzo instead. Lorenzo wasn’t as loving as my uncle but he cared for me in his own way. He was a flirt but I got used to it. He never tried anything, probably because he knew I’d knock him on his ass.

  I skimmed through the pantry to find something to eat. I needed to do some grocery shopping. Lorenzo and Renée had been taking turns stocking up food supplies since I had been housebound. Now that I was able to come and go as I pleased, I wasn’t sure I had time to do food shopping.

  I guess I was having toast for breakfast.

  “You’re up early,” Lorenzo mumbled. I must have woken him up when I was rifling through the pantry. He ran his hand through his hair to make it presentable. It was tousled by sleep.

  “Sorry. Want anything to eat? All I have is bread and peanut butter.”

  “Nah, I’m good. I need to head home and feed Whiskers before he decides to eat the furniture. You can’t live off bread and peanut butter. I’ll stock up your fridge and cupboards while you’re at work.”

  “You don’t–”

  Lorenzo held up his hand to interrupt me. “Sweetheart, you’re not gonna have time and I’m not gonna let you starve.”

  “Thanks, Lorenzo. You’re a lifesaver,” I beamed at him, chucking snacks into my bag.

  I left the gym bag by the front door and went into the bathroom, chowing down on a slice of toast. I brushed my hair and tied it up into a ponytail. I gave my face a quick wash to get rid of the saltiness left behind from tears.

  I still couldn’t believe that Cyrus had the nerve to do that to me. I was mad at myself for wanting more. I’m glad my alarm woke me up. I didn’t know what I would have said if the alarm didn’t end the dream. Who was I kidding? Of course I knew what I would have said and done. I would have given into temptation like I always did when I was around him. I had no self-control. Cyrus was right when he said I used anger to hide my desire. He saw right through me.

  “Heading out before your BFF shows up. Don’t want to be running into him again anytime soon,” Lorenzo called through the bathroom door.

  I snickered, splattering toothpaste on the mirror. Oops. “Dane is not my BFF.”

  “You’re alive and breathing for some reason. Be wary of him. He’s up to something.”

  “He’s using me for bait to lure Cyrus out.”

  “Yeah, good luck with that. Cyrus is cunning and one hell of a slippery snake.”

  “You can say that again,” I muttered, wiping the toothpaste off the mirror with a wet cloth.

  “Ciao for now. If you want me to come over after you’ve finished work, just call me.”

  “Will do. Thanks.”

  I heard the front door make a soft thud when Lorenzo left. I let out a heavy sigh and leaned my forehead against the bathroom mirror. It was really cold and refreshing.

  I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was worth the risk. Dane would always be suspicious of me. If I set a toe out of line, he would kill me without hesitation. I knew the possibilities of death when I signed up to be an assassin. I knew what I was getting myself into but Dane was a curveball. I had heard stories of his ruthlessness and how scary he was. I never imagined those stories to be even worse in person. I was glad I hadn’t cracked under pressure, that I had made a thick shield of resistance. It would only be a matter of time until Dane broke my armour and saw straight through me. I had to be extremely careful. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t last very long. It wasn’t rocket science.

  I wasn’t sure if I would have time to wash my hair in the shower at work so I just grabbed a bar of soap and chucked that into a container. Oh, I needed deodorant too. Why the hell didn’t I just pack everything last night? I was running around the apartment like a headless chicken.

  I was actually organised when there was a knock at the door. The chill down my spine told me it was Dane. I tucked my laces inside my shoes, slung the gym bag over my shoulder, and answered the door. The chill was spot on.

  Dane was wearing his usual black suit attire. Something told me he wasn’t going for a run. The dark blue shade of his tie made his eyes seem lighter, the colour of silver clouds. He was always so neat and presentable, his collar and cuffs never out of line. I wasn’t sure if it was perfection or a serious case of OCD. I wasn’t going to ask him. I liked not being shot. There was a hint of aftershave hidden under h
is cologne. I wish Tainted Beings got flus, that way my nose would be blocked and his cologne wouldn’t make my brain foggy. There I go again, obsessing over how nice he smelled. I really needed to stop doing that.

  “I take it you’re skipping out on running?” I asked him as we walked down the corridor.

  “What gave you that impression?” he replied, tone mocking.

  “Oh, nothing,” I said, using the same tone as he did. “I’ve just never seen someone doing a morning jog in a suit.”

  Dane smirked and tapped the elevator button. “I have several meetings lined up that I can’t postpone. My busy schedule doesn’t allow me to keep a close eye on you so I have given that job to someone else.” That was his way of saying that he didn’t have time to watch me and run his company – excellent.

  I was hoping Dane’s replacement wasn’t as scary as him or hot-tempered like Winters.

  The elevator doors opened and we stepped inside. Dane let me go first. The typical gentleman. I didn’t know what to say to him in that confined space. I decided it would be best just to stay quiet while the elevator descended to the lobby. In all honesty, I was still half asleep. My mind was too busy wandering back to that moonlit field of flowers, Cyrus’s voice whispering things in my ear. I shook my head to get rid of that memory and tried to focus on something else.

  There was someone leaning up against the wall across from the elevator when the doors slid open. The first thing I noticed about the man was a scar on his face, undoubtedly left behind by a sharp blade. The scar started from the top of his eye and continued down his cheek. It may have gone all the way but the lower part of his face was covered in black facial hair. His left eye was completely white from the scar. His other eye was a dark brown, almost black. It perhaps looked that dark because of how pale his scarred eye was. He had borrowed Dane’s wardrobe, suit attire. Instead of a jacket, he had a black vest, like a butler. He was older than Dane. I was leaning towards early thirties. I was terrible at guessing how old people were. Dane was twenty something. That much I knew.

  “Theo, this is Joan. Joan, Theo,” Dane introduced us. “I need to go. I’ll speak to you both later.”

  Dane inclined his head and made his way out of the lobby without glancing back. That kind of gesture told me that he was confident in Theo’s ability to keep an eye on me. That made me incredibly nervous.

  Theo pushed himself off the wall and held out his hand. I wasn’t big on shaking hands. The last set of hands I had shaken were the Russians. They were all dead, nothing but piles of ash. There was a reason why I suddenly had become reluctant to shake a person’s hand. I still had nightmares of the Russians’ deaths.

  “Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand. He had a firm grip and callouses from working hard. He was definitely human. I didn’t feel any magic flowing through his veins. He was ordinary.

  “I’ve heard a lot about you,” Theo said, scratching his chin. He had a British accent. “You’ve made quite the impression.”

  “I have that effect on most people,” I responded, smiling briefly. “I can’t help myself.”

  “Dane has requested that I watch you closely and only intervene when I need to.”

  That wasn’t creepy, at all. All aboard the stalker train.

  “What’s your best skill set?”

  “Killing people,” he replied, voice casual, like he was talking about being excellent at crossword puzzles. “Not to worry. I’ve been given strict instructions not to use that skill set on you. I’ll just be your shadow.”

  “Good to know,” I murmured uneasily, beginning to make my way out of the lobby. “I hope you brought a spare change of clothes. We have jogs every morning, rain or shine.”

  “It’s a good thing it’s not raining,” Theo said, smiling. “Dane took the car, so we’ll have to walk.”

  “You came with him?”

  Theo nodded. “It was a last minute decision. I work for him, but not for the company.”

  “If you don’t work for the company, then the elevators won’t work.”

  “I guess we’ll be taking the stairs.”

  “You can’t be serious?”

  Theo gave me the straightest face he could before giving the game away and laughing. “Don’t worry, I have a key card.”

  “That’s cheating. Besides, didn’t Dane stop using those?”

  “Not the master key.”

  “He trusted you with something like that?”

  “He trusts me with everything. There’s a reason why he asked me to keep a close eye on you.”

  “What did you do to earn that kind of trust?” I would take mental notes so I could get into Dane’s good books.

  “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

  “Try me.”

  “Nope.”

  “Otherwise I’ll jump to conclusions and start thinking you guys are more than just friends.”

  Theo cracked up at that comment. He laughed so loudly that strangers glanced at us with strange expressions when they walked past. He coughed a few times to cover up his sudden outburst.

  “That’s hilarious. Good one.”

  “I’m glad you find me amusing. The team I’m joining thinks I’m a psycho badass,” I muttered, kicking a stone across the pavement.

  “That’s what happens when you knock their leader to the ground and hold a knife against his throat.”

  “You know about that?”

  “Dane wanted to make sure I was well informed. I can see why. You look sweet and innocent.”

  “I am sweet when I don’t have to stab people in the face to prove a point.”

  Theo laughed. “Did you know that agents are making bets on how long you’ll last? They’re also betting on how long it will be until you turn on all of them. Nobody trusts you. They’re all wary of Dane’s decision. He’s heard the whispers but ignores them. Maybe in time the whispers will stop. You have a great deal to prove before anyone will trust you. Being a sassy, wild child will not do you any favours. I know what it’s like to be an outcast. You need to try your best to fit in, even if that means you need to pretend. Your survival depends on it. Make friends. Don’t make enemies. At the end of the day, even you aren’t strong enough to take on everyone.”

  I let that message sink in before I spoke. “Why are you telling me all of this?”

  “You’re young and I don’t like seeing adolescent corpses in a morgue. I don’t gain anything from giving you advice. It’s simply peace of mind. I don’t want to see you fail, Joan.”

  “Why?”

  “There’s something special about you. I don’t know what it is but Dane saw it too. That’s the only reason why you’re still alive and kicking.”

  “Here I was thinking it was my charm, beauty and wit,” I replied sarcastically. “Dane made it quite clear that a few people might try to kill me. I doubt changing my personality will stop that. Everyone is uneasy around me. I would be too if I found out how many people someone had killed in the span of a day. I’d sleep easier at night knowing that they weren’t going to add me to the mass murder list. Can’t add anyone to a list when you’re dead.”

  “They’re worried you’ll move onto humans next when there aren’t any Tainted Beings left for you to kill.”

  “They think I’m an unstable serial killer?”

  “Basically.”

  I laughed hysterically. “Oh, that’s hilarious,” I spluttered in between laughs. “I’m taking out immortal criminals. That’s my MO. I’m not going to move onto humans when the criminals are wiped out. I’m not interested.”

  “They don’t know that.”

  “I doubt they will believe me even if I told them.”

  Theo shrugged. “Adjusting your attitude would be a great start.”

  “Hell will freeze over first. I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to kill criminals. I’d rather have people afraid of me than treat me like a princess.”

  “That’s not a good way to earn their trust or re
spect.”

  “It works for Dane.”

  Theo paused for thought. “That’s different.”

  “Why? Because I’m a woman?”

  “No, of course not. It’s not something I can explain. Maybe you’ll work it out on your own when you get to know Dane better.”

  “He’s terrifying.”

  “Everyone wears armour. Beneath it all, he’s a decent person. Keep that between you and me. He does have a ruthless image to maintain after all.”

  I didn’t really know what to say to that so I decided not to say anything at all. I figured it would be best.

  The team I had been paired with were doing warmups in the parking lot. I checked the time on my phone and slipped it back into my pocket. It wasn’t quite eight o’clock yet so I had time to chuck my bag in my locker before we started our jog. There was no way I was going to run with my bag or leave it unattended. I didn’t trust anyone and it was bulky.

  “Morning, Joan,” Winters said when I tried to sneak past them. Everyone but him had their backs to me. They all turned their heads as soon as Winters said my name.

  “Hey. How’s your neck?”

  “I had to get stitches,” he replied, hazel eyes narrowed.

  Served him right. Theo subtly nudged my back to prompt an apology.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to cut so deep,” I said sincerely.

  There was no sarcasm or sass in my voice. I was proud of myself.

  “I’m just gonna go chuck my bag in my locker and I’ll be back for our morning run,” I said, beginning to sidestep away from the group.

  “Yup. I’ll give you ten minutes.”

  It sounded like Winters didn’t accept my apology.

  “Dane’s replacement?” Winters asked with a raised eyebrow, directing the question at Theo. He had dropped eye contact with me.

  “For now,” Theo replied, voice slick. He had temporarily borrowed Dane’s smoothness. “I’m here to keep the peace. I’m sure neither of you want a repeat of yesterday.”

  “I haven’t seen you around before,” Winters mentioned, sounding suspicious.

  Theo scratched his beard. “By all means, take it up with Dane. You’re on thin enough ice as it is. Your decision, Leroy.”

  It seemed that Dane didn’t spare any details. Theo knew Winters’s first name. Theo probably knew everyone’s name. Nobody was wearing a name badge.

  “Are you sure your last name isn’t Jenkins? Because you have a habit of barging into things in a Yolo like fashion,” I commented, smirking after I spoke. Gamer jokes. Lorenzo would be in stitches.

  Everyone looked at me like I just spoke in a foreign tongue; blank faces. Theo seemed to be the only one hiding a grin underneath his beard.

  “I have no idea what the hell that even means. Go put your bag away before I decide to leave without you.” Winters scowled.

  “Yes, sir,” I said, giving him a salute.

  I made my way to the elevator. I would continue referring to our glorious leader as Winters. If I didn’t, I would start cracking more Leroy Jenkins jokes, and that would get me into trouble, more trouble than I was already in.

  “I didn’t peg you as a gamer,” Theo said, swiping the key card before the electronic voice had a chance to ask where we wanted to go.

  A section on the elevator wall slot opened, revealing the floor levels. There were over fifty.

  Theo tapped floor thirteen and the elevator ascended.

  “Same goes to you. How do you know what floor to go to?” I asked.

  There were no titles by the elevator buttons to specify what was on each floor. The last floor ended on an even number, but there was an odd amount of buttons. There was a floor missing. The elevator slot covered up the buttons before I could see which floor was absent. It was a mystery.

  “I know many things,” Theo said, tucking the master key into his vest pocket.

  “Why is there a floor missing?”

  Theo glanced at me with his good eye and looked away again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “The last floor ends on an even number, but there was an odd amount of buttons.”

  “Curious,” he said, not sounding interested at all. It was then when I realised he knew exactly what I was talking about.

  “There’s a secret floor in this building, isn’t there?”

  “My my,” Theo said. “The more time I spend with you, the more I see why Dane spared your life. A floor that appears to be non-existent isn’t a secret if it doesn’t exist. That’s all I can tell you.”

  “Does it exist?”

  “You tell me,” he said, watching the elevator doors slide open. “But I won’t give you an answer.”

  I waved my hand around and left the elevator, making my way down the hall. Theo stayed where he was. Some shadow. He wasn’t supposed to let me out of his sight.

  The locker rooms were split into boys and girls, for obvious reasons, but that didn’t stop the opposite genders from being where they weren’t supposed to be. There was a guy in the girls’ section, hands behind his back, wandering around. All the doors were locked. There were no showers running. He was alone and had nothing to snoop through. What a creep.

  “You get lost without your map, Dora?” I asked, heaving my bag into my locker and twisting the lock.

  He turned his head, gazing at me with those blue eyes. His brown hair was short and flat, enhanced with blonde highlights. Stubble covered the lower part of his face. He looked a few years older than me, mid-twenties. He had broad shoulders, the muscle line visible underneath his black shirt. There was a gun bulge on his hip. I didn’t see any other weapons.

  “And who might you be, beautiful?”

  I crinkled my nose. “Nauseous.”

  “That’s cute,” he replied, the tips of his fingers brushing past my face.

  I flinched and immediately took a step back. “Don’t even start with me, buddy. You have no idea who I am. You’ll be on the floor in three seconds flat if you try anything else. Touch me again and I’ll break your face.”

  “Elliot, get out of here if you know what’s good for you. Taunting the Angel of Death will shorten your lifespan,” a female agent spoke. She just appeared out of nowhere. I could have sworn nobody else was there. She was very light on her feet.

  Elliot shrugged and rolled those blue eyes at the both of us. “Fine, I’ll leave to keep the peace,” he muttered, beginning to make his way out.

  I turned to the side to get a better visual on the agent who spoke. I saw her make eye contact with Elliot and give him a subtle nod. I wasn’t sure what the signal was for until I heard a familiar click from a gun.

  Two consecutive gunshots echoed off the walls. Blood splattered on my face and clothes; it wasn’t mine. Both agents were lying dead on the tiled floor, with bullet holes in their heads.

  I glanced up to see Theo still aiming his gun, which fell to his side when he saw that the agents weren’t going to get up again.

  “So it begins,” Theo said, shaking his head; his gun disappeared from sight. “Seems I can’t leave you alone for a few minutes.”

  I ripped paper towels from the bathroom section of the locker room and wet them, wiping the blood off my face and clothes. My hands were trembling. I let out a steady breath to calm down and scrubbed the blood out of my shirt. It had already soaked into the material.

  I chucked the bloodied paper towels into the bin and tried my best not to look at the floor. I didn’t need to add more corpses to my nightmares.

  “Thanks for having my back. How did you know that I was in danger?”

  “It was too quiet. I don’t like ominous silences. Knew something was up,” Theo said, raising his phone to his ear after dialling someone’s number. “Sorry to interrupt your meeting. You need to send someone to clean up the female locker room. Two dead agents.”

  “Already?” Dane questioned.

  “Yup. They sure don’t mess around. What would you like me to do with Joan?”
>
  “Did she do it?”

  “No. I did.”

  There was a short pause while Dane thought it over. “Do what you will. I’ll send someone to clean up,” Dane said, cutting the call.

  “Still feel like going for that jog?” Theo asked, phone still in hand but no longer held up to his ear.

  “After that, not really,” I admitted. “There’s probably more agents waiting to get the jump on me.”

  “Quite possibly. Let’s head to a different floor,” Theo suggested, fiddling with his phone.

  I stepped around the bodies, avoiding the red pool slowly forming on the tiles. I didn’t want to get my shoes covered in blood. I let out a few calming breaths on my way to Theo. I was freaking out and barely holding it together.

  “Winters?” Theo asked his phone, putting the call on speaker.

  We were wandering down the hall, back towards the elevator.

  “How did you get the connection to my comms?” Winters replied back, sounding slightly annoyed.

  “I’m a wizard,” Theo commented, smiling even though Winters couldn’t see. “Run without us. We’ll be in the meeting room.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “Some agents just tried to kill Joan. I’m sure there’s more waiting for another opportunity.”

  “Idiots,” Winters said, sighing after he spoke. “Alright. Be vigilant. I don’t want anyone on my team dying.”

  That comment surprised me.

  “We have it covered,” Theo said, meeting my face. “We’ll make a start on the pile of case files.”

  “Good plan. See you later,” Winters said, cutting the line.

  I hope there would be a later. How many attempts on my life would it take for them to stop? I just wanted to bury my head in the sand and get on with it. I didn’t have that luxury. I had to be on high alert. At least I knew Theo was reliable and had my back. I was unscathed and alive, thanks to him. I was grateful.

  “We’ll go the cafeteria first and get some coffee. I’ll pay,” Theo said, holding the elevator doors open for me.

  I had been lost in thought and didn’t realise they were open. “I hate coffee.”

  “Hot chocolate then.”

  I smiled. “Deal.”