One day, my mouth was going to get me killed.
“He must learn,” she said slowly, watching her son push himself up to his feet and then fall down again, a stream of blood dripping from his hairline. “He’s an idealistic fool who’ll get us all killed if he does not learn. We are, I must admit, nothing more than creatures with no remorse, no soul.”
This was said with no expression, no emotion in her bleak eyes and I resisted the urge to pat her on the head. “I am sorry.”
She shook her head. “Do not be. I made peace with what I was a very long time ago. Jason too must do the same if he wants to live.”
Did Reiko know the deal between Jason and I?
Did she know Jason’s life was mine as soon as I eliminated Noir?
Strangely enough, I did not want to enlighten her. She was volatile, and in this state of mind, with Jason’s blood splattered across her front, I didn’t want to surprise her. Not when I was within arms reach. And even then…
“Marcus,” she said, straightening her narrow, slight shoulders. “Help Jason up. Get him clean, if you can. We’ll hunt tonight.”
A new development. For the past two night, Marcus had brought someone into the house to feed Jason. I could only watch, fingernails curled into the palms of my hand, as he marched two women, one for each night, both of them brunettes, up the stairs.
The old me would have cut him down before he even made it to the base of the stairs.
The old me.
Saying much had changed seemed a gross understatement, at best.
I never saw the girls come back down.
Ignorance is bliss, they say.
I’m apt to agree with them.
I cleared my throat. “And what about me? What should I do?”
She quirked a faint brow at me and then looked me up and down, hands on her hips, in a very adult manner. “Would you like to come? It’s probably best that you do. You are, after all, his Ailward.”
“And Marcus is yours?” I asked.
“I don’t need one,” she said, smiling. “Marcus is just there to…persuade people.”
I had to admit, his girth was persuasive. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but think a pretty little girl walking alone in the dark was hell of a lot more frightening than a walking Goliath.
They do say the most frightening things come in small packages.
Or something like that.
She moved aside as Marcus assisted Jason out the double doors, the latter’s head down and very still. Had he passed out? Were vampires capable of being in an unconscious state? If I ever got out of this alive, all this knowledge of vampires would do me very well.
If I ever got out, that is.
“Where are you going?” I asked, as though I even cared.
Her fangs flashed in the light as she turned on one hell, her long black hair swirling perfectly about her shoulders.
“The Black Masque, where else?”
8
It was loud.
So loud, my teeth chattered.
Dressed in mostly black attire with a black coat procured for me by Marcus from who-knew-where, my hands itched. The hwan-geum had been confiscated at the door by a tall, lanky vampire with shockingly blond hair that looked almost too bright to be real, but had to be, since vampires didn’t take to dye very well.
He winked at me as I reluctantly handed over the scabbard.
“Don’t worry,” he said as one of the other security personnel began to open up the wide double doors to the converted warehouse that was, judging from the line that extended past the building and down the street, a very popular nightspot for most of Centennial City’s populace. “You’ll get it back. Promise.”
I nodded.
He lifted up a hand, as if to touch me and I’m ashamed to say that I flinched.
His bright blue eyes widened. “Wow, scared much?”
I had to hand over the sword. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to hand over the wrist dagger as well. And if I drew it on the vampire in front of me, then I would get it taken away. Not the most ideal situation. “Don’t touch me.”
He bit the corner of his voluptuously curved lips. “I almost wonder what you’d taste like…”
Jason clapped a hand on my shoulder and I almost jumped a foot in the air. “Fuck off, asshole.”
For a moment, he almost sounded like the pathetic skater-punk I waylaid in an alleyway. It seemed like half a century ago.
I rather missed it.
The blond haired vampire shrugged a bare shoulder. “Have it your way. Didn’t mean to offend, man.”
Jason snorted. “Let’s go, Ran.”
I followed Reiko and Marcus into the packed, dark club, all the while painfully aware of the blond vampire’s eyes on the back of my neck, like a line of ants marching down my spine.
“Should I have fought him?” whispered Jason directly into my ear and I rubbed it with my shoulder to stop the itching.
“Don’t be stupid,” I replied. “I thought our goal was to make your transition into vampire society as smooth as possible. Do you really think a fight your first night out will work?”
“Guess not.”
Marcus opened the other doors, and Reiko walked through, makeup turning her childish face into something older, something carnal. I was still having a hard time trying to reconcile the image of her wearing that skin-hugging black leather ensemble that trailed behind her in the form of a puffy veil to the little girl who had opened the door in a red dress…way back then.
Someone stood in the way, a tall woman dressed in a black business suit, hair tied back, accentuating her stunning Eurasian features. Past her, I saw bodies, a lot of them, dancing, swaying, bumping against each other in a brutally primitive way that would’ve made Madonna blush.
“Welcome to Black Masque,” shouted the woman with a small bow. “My name is Eve Faulkner.”
Reiko nodded imperially. “Vincent’s human emissary.”
Vincent. One of the four Vampire Lords of Centennial City.
Finally, the plan was set in motion.
No turning back.
Jason sidled next to me, didn’t even have to bend his head to speak into my ear. “This will be my…introduction to the vampire society, or so to speak, so perhaps we ought to be on our best behavior? After this, Reiko will get me into Noir’s House. And then you will be able to do what you do best.”
I didn’t have to ask what.
I nodded. I didn’t think he’d be able to hear me, not when the music just took a sudden upward surge, the discordant sounds of guitars and drums that made my nerves feel like they were going to jump out of my body and go walking all on their own.
The woman gestured and led us up a flight of metal stairs, the vibrations making their way up my legs and settle uncomfortably at the base of my spine.
There was a small alcove on the other side of the dance floor, soft leather sofas with a broad black table set in front. We were facing the entrance doors, something I didn’t know was intentional or unplanned.
Bottles of wine and champagne laid atop the table, each in their own silver bucket of ice, along with several crystal cut containers with jewel tops.
Reiko took a seat on a leather divan, or rather, she reclined, resting her feet on the other arm rest. “Won’t you tell Vincent I’d like very much to introduce him to my…entourage?”
This far up and opposite of the tall speakers, it was actually possible to hear her speak in a semi-normal volume and I took a spot along the wall, hands held in front of me. The classic bodyguard position.
Eve looked at me in an inquisitive fashion, but didn’t say anything.
I wondered if she knew I wasn’t a vampire.
Jason sat down on a love-seat next to Reiko and Marcus stood next to me, mimicking my stance.
Vincent’s emissary bowed again, this time deeper. “I am sure he is already on his way here, Domina Kumamoto.”
Kumamoto? Was that Reiko’s last name?
<
br /> Reiko lifted a slim, tall flute and let Jason pour her a small amount of champagne, the bubbles glistening like diamonds in the darkness of the club. “Thank you, Eve Faulkner.”
She nodded and excused herself, with another glance in my direction.
I’m sure she had questions.
We all did.
It was just a matter of whether a person had the…guts to ask.
Jason looked up at me, a brow quirked. “What the hell are you doing?”
I returned the look. “Being your Ailward.”
He guffawed. “Looking like that? No one’s going to believe you.”
Marcus and I exchanged a glance and Marcus shrugged. “He’s right. You’re too small.”
“Too small? I’m almost six feet tall.”
He shook his head. “You’re too skinny.”
That was the first time I heard such a thing. “What’s wrong with being skinny?”
Marcus shoved me on the shoulder and I staggered a step, back hitting the wall. “You see?”
“I get the point,” I said and righted myself, tugging the leather coat back over my shoulders. “Touch me again and you'll lose the hand.”
Reiko sighed. “You did not give up all your weapons? I am happy to know this, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s assume I didn’t hear a thing.”
“Zero accountability?”
There was a hint of a smile on her red lips. “Something like that.”
Jason patted the cushion next to him. “Sit.”
“I’ll stand.”
He opened to say something, but never got the chance.
Someone came up the stairs, and instinctively my muscles tightened.
I’d seen his pictures several times in the Daily Centennial, but to see Vincent in real life, is like seeing a masterpiece through dirty lenses and then having them cleaned.
Vampires were beautiful.
It was both their curse and their gift.
With Vincent, it was hard to see his beauty as anything less than a gift from the Gods.
Auburn hair shone like garnets, tucked into a loose queue at the nape of his slender neck, and his green eyes crinkled at the corners as he held out his arms to Reiko.
She jumped up and hugged him, all little girl instead of the pedophile dream she tried so hard to pull off.
Behind him were several people, Eve, a pouting tall, brunette dressed in more furs than a caveman in the middle of the Ice Age, and the blond vampire I ran into at the front doors.
Vincent held Reiko at an arms length, teeth glinting white in the strobe lights. “What are you wearing?”
She preened under his eyes. “Do you like it?”
He laughed and let her go. “You look like a child prostitute, Reiko.”
I winced. He didn’t mince his words.
Instead of punching a hole in his chest like I half-expected, she wilted like a plucked flower left out in the summer sun. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Well, better him than me.
She latched onto Marcus’s arm, voice plaintive. “Take me home. I want to change.”
Jason made as if to stand up. “We’ll go with you.”
“No,” said Reiko with a shake of her head. “Stay here. We won’t be long.”
Vincent stood aside as Reiko shuffled down the stairs, Marcus holding her hand to keep her from falling down the stairs in her six inch stilettos.
Jason stood up and held out a hand to Vincent, lips fixed in an easy smile. “I believe this is the first time we’ve met…like this.”
Vincent didn’t take his hand, and his face turned cloudy, a drastic change to the laughing, smiling vampire I’d seen with Reiko.
“You are treading on very dangerous ground.”
Jason’s smile never flickered. “I’m not sure if I know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you?”
“No. I don’t.”
Vincent looked past him and when the vampire lord’s eyes fell on me, I pasted a smile on my face. He was old, but not as old as Reiko, and for that I was grateful. It was easier to be around him since I spent the past three days with a child vampire capable of tearing me from limb to limb.
“I know who you are.”
Was that a compliment?
From the tone of his voice, harsh, biting, I didn’t think so. But I took it as such. It never killed anyone to be polite. “Thank you.”
“The only reason you and your…Order are still alive is because you fulfill a sort of…purpose,” he began, a muscle next to his lips twitching. “You get rid of the riffraff. I’m sure you wish you were hitting us where it hurt, but quite frankly, you couldn’t. I heard about Rammstein.”
My throat went dry. Civilized, or not, old or not, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Hunting Noir…perhaps I had a chance. But with Vincent? Not in a million years. There’s a reason why he’s head of the four vampire leaders. “Rammstein was an idiot.”
“For hunting Noir, yes, I would agree.” His gaze hardened and something inside of me curled in on itself. Not that I would ever admit it. “Do not mistake his gentleness for weakness. You don’t want to make him mad. Ever.”
With that warning, he turned to Jason, arms crossed over his chest. “I might not be your Dominus, but as a Lord of Centennial, I feel as though I have the right to ask you a question.”
The smile had never left his face. “I’m not stopping you.”
“What is the woman doing here with you?
He couldn’t possibly have said “that woman” with more scorn and animosity.
“She’s my Ailward,” said Jason easily.
Ryder’s eyes widened and Eve’s dark eyes narrowed.
“Ailward?” Vincent let out a sigh. “We do not observe such standing here in America.”
“Fine,” said Jason, his smile starting to crack around the varnished edges. “She’s my bodyguard. Satisfied?”
“A human for a bodyguard.” Vincent walked a slow circle around me, looking me up and down and then up again. I didn’t like it. “How…novel. And yet, if half of what I hear is true…perhaps not such a novel idea, after all.”
His human emissary cleared her throat. “Vincent.”
Just a single word and he stopped.
Strange.
Wasn’t she his human servant?
He walked back to his entourage, hands held behind his back. “I apologize. You are guests, after all.”
Why was he acting like he was her servant?
Vincent turned on one heel. “Reynold never arrived.”
Jason titled his head to one side. “Pardon?”
“As a Lord, I am privy to certain information…” He stared at me blatantly and my skin crawled. Beautiful or not, he was frightening. “Reynold was a contract killer. A rather infamous one, at that. He took hits from various people, be they human or otherwise. Yesterday, I received word he did not return back to his keeper. A well-known killer disappearing…rather curious, wouldn’t you say?”
My face was immobile. “What are you trying to say?”
“I presumed his hit had, in turn, eliminated him. But a vampire strong enough to dispatch Reynold…certainly, there are not many in this City that is able to dispatch a three hundred year old vampire who’ve been trained by the best killers of the millennium.”
I didn’t think he was that good. But I wasn’t foolish enough to admit to anything unless there was damning evidence. And even then, perhaps I would play deaf. “And what makes you think I know anything about him?”
“Nothing,” he said in a contemplative manner. It didn’t fool anyone. “Except I know who the contract was for.”
Jason wasn’t smiling anymore. “I don’t understand why you are trying to be so subtle. Do you want me to admit a vampire came looking for me?”
I wanted to bash my head against the metal wall. Or his head. It didn’t really matter. “Don’t. Tell. Him. Anything.”
“Too late,” he said and
turned his gaze back to Vincent. “Yes, I’ll admit it. He came for me on the same night Reiko decided to turn me. Ran was simply defending me. Nothing more.”
Idiot!
“Normally, I would applaud such efforts,” replied Vincent in a hushed undertone. “However, I know about Ran’s history. I know where she comes from. A skilled hunter becoming the Ailward to a vampire? A new one, at that? One to which she had absolutely zero contact with? If you were me, don’t you think you would find that slightly…suspicious?”
He whispered the last word, but he might as well have screamed it for all the effect it had.
His emissary’s brows rose and the blond vampire’s mouth gaped open. The brunette flipped her hair back and regarded me with cool eyes. If I’d been prettier, I might’ve mistaken her look for jealousy.
But not the way I was dressed.
Jason let out a slow breath and I saw his hands clench at his sides. Surely he wasn’t an idiot enough to throw himself at Vincent?
But no, he unclenched his fists and squared his shoulders. “May I ask how you know about my personal history with her?”
Vincent smiled but it was like how Jason smiled. Lips curved upward, but no mirth in the eyes. “When I learned about Reynold and the contract out for you, a mere pup of a bloodsucker, I thought it was quite strange. He had been offered quite a bit of money, if you must know. I couldn’t help but wonder why someone would put out a hit on a newborn, and not only that, but put a large sum of funds on it. As of yet, I have not found out why. I’m sure, given enough time, I will. But can you see where I am coming from?”
I didn’t, but this was not a conversation I could interrupt. As Jason’s Ailward, it was my job to look tough and menacing.
But without my weapon, I wasn’t sure how I was pulling it off.
“I’m a rich man,” Jason said with a straight face. “To Reiko, I think I am a formidable ally. There are many who would think nothing of knocking an entire House down, if only to advance their own families. No matter how you try to hide it from the humans, there is always internal strife. Each House battles another for prestige and honor. Every year, more vampires die at the hands of their own brethren than from human hunters.”
Invincible (A Centennial City Novel) Page 8
