I wouldn’t mind the wait. It wasn’t as though I had anywhere to be anyways.
After making a quick phone call in a dilapidated phone booth at the end of the strip mall, I took a seat at the very back of the diner, next to the restrooms. Gabe’s Diner was stuffed with seniors taking advantage of the Seniors eat 50% off deal going on and I remembered seeing an assisted living facility at the outskirts of town.
An old man shuffled past me on his way to the bathroom and a tall, dark-haired man with a scruffy beard pushed open the front door.
Our eyes met.
Of course I should have expected such a meeting.
He slid into the seat across from me, eyebrows furrowed deep over his deep-set blue eyes. “Talk to me.”
I stared down at my hands clasped on the scarred Formica table. “Did Elder Chang call you?”
Adrian sighed, covered my hands with his. His hands were always warm, a fact I always found to be quite interesting, as my hands never seemed to get warm enough. “Talk to me, Ran. What the hell is going on?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can.”
His eyes narrowed. “I know why you wanted me to go on vacation. Chang put you on one of the vampire lords. You were worried why he didn’t delegate the task through me.”
I curled my fingers through his, relished the warmth flooding up my arms to settle comfortably between my shoulder blades. “I thought the Fellowship was going to get rid of you.”
He snorted. “Yeah right. I’m the best fucking handler they’ve got. I helped train you, didn’t I?”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Of course, there wasn’t a whole lot for me to train,” he acquiesced with a soft laugh. His smile faded away, almost as though it had never been there in the first place. “Look, before you came, there was…” He drew his hands back. I missed the warmth. “Like I said, I’m the best Handler they’ve got. Unfortunately, that means I get paired up with a lot of hunters. You know, people die, Ran. To be honest, you’re the longest-lasting hunter I’ve been paired with. And you know, I kind of like it. You think I’d get use to people dying on me, but I really don’t.”
Much as I appreciated the sentiment, I wasn’t sure where he was going with this monologue. “I’m sorry to interrupt you, Adrian, but do you have a point?”
He coughed, gaze sliding sideways at the elderly old man who shuffled out of the bathroom, hands in his corduroy pants, a greasy leather hat atop his feathered white head. “The point is, I’ve lost hunters. To Noir.” He covered his head with his hands for a moment, slowly drawing them down, eyes heavenward. “I don’t know what their obsession is with Noir. It’s always him. Do you have any idea how many people we’ve lost to him and his House? Christ, it’s like throwing people in front of a fucking machine gun.”
A rather interesting turn of phrase. “Elder Chang told me Rammstein had failed.”
“Of course Rammstein would fail,” he replied. “It’s a wonder Rammstein’s survived as long as he did. But that’s not the point. The point is, if I knew what task they had given you, I would’ve done my damnedest to turn it down. I care for you more than that.”
I cast my eyes down, growing uncomfortable under the heat of his gaze. “Be that as it may, the task has been given. I will go through with it.”
He shook his head and stood up. “No. Don’t think so. You’re coming back to the Sanctuary with me. Elder Chang wants you back.”
Elder Chang wants you back.
Wants you back…
“No,” I said quietly. “No, I’m not going.”
His eyes widened and he sat back down heavily, making the table tremble under my hands. “For Christ’s sake, there’s no shame in going back, Ran. Better to live and fight another day than just fucking dying. You’re too damn important to risk on such a foolhardy mission. Please, just come back with me.”
I stared at my scarred hands half-curled on the table. “I…I made a deal, Adrian. I can’t just walk out on him.”
His expression grew dark. “Ah, yes. The so-called bait you were supposed to kill to gain Noir’s loyalty. Stupidest plan by the Elders yet, by the way. They should’ve known he wasn’t that much of a blithering idiot. No one is.”
The conversation died and I waited for Adrian to say something, anything.
He obliged. “Look, I dunno what the problem is. The bait…well, he’s can’t really actually want to die, can he? If you call off, then he’ll live. And that’s good for him, isn’t it? I mean, who actually wants to die for some stupid, idiotic cause? Damn it, it’s not even a cause. It’s just a fucking excuse.”
It would be easy.
So easy to simply stand up, leave the SUV in the parking lot, and go with Adrian.
Too easy.
Adrian stood up, as if he had already made the decision for me. “Where’s your sword? Come on, if we leave now, we might be able to beat the morning traffic.”
I can’t do this without you.
I need you, Ran.
I breathed out, let my shoulders relax. Lately, more and more often, I found my shoulders tensed unconsciously. It probably explained the multitude of small headaches I couldn’t seem to shake. “Go without me.”
His fingers clenched around the plastic headrests.
“You know what this’ll be called, don’t you?”
I didn’t care. “I made a deal. I’m not going back on it. I’m going to see it through. To the very end.”
“Insubordination,” he said, a whisper, a word I barely heard over the sounds of pancakes sizzling on the industrial sized griddle. “No one’s ever said no to the Elders.”
“You mean, no one’s said no and lived past sunset.”
He ran a shaky hand through his dark hair. “Don’t do this, Ran. I’m begging you. Just come back with me. Elder Chang is worried. Everyone’s worried.”
And despite everything, a nearby booth smelled of pancakes and hash browns and my stomach growled. When had I eaten last? I couldn’t remember. “The person I’m working for. He’s going to help me kill Noir. How can that be wrong? How can they condemn me for something they’ve fought for since the very beginning?” I paused, tried to choose my words with care. “It seems…hypocritical of them.”
He sucked in a breath, a panicked expression on his lean face. Silly of him to worry. While the Fellowship was strong, they certainly weren’t strong enough to know when they were being discussed. “I wish you didn’t say that.”
I regarded him calmly, even though my stomach continued to rumble in an embarrassing fashion. “Can’t I? Either way, I can’t go, Adrian. I’m staying. I’m going to see this through to the end.”
The diner seats were built low on the walls and he stepped closer, loomed over me.
“Honestly? It doesn’t look good, Ran.” He snuck a glance over his shoulder, although why he chose to do so was confusing. Was he expecting someone? “We heard you’re an Ailward.”
I should have expected this. Should have expected the Fellowship to hear of such developments. Surely, this was not an ordinary incident, and more so due to my past. “It’s a cover.”
“Yeah. So you say,” he said and shook his head. “The thing is, you are walking a dangerous line, kid.”
I let that name go. He was old enough to get away with it. “Do they really think I’m fighting for the other side?”
“I’m just telling you right now,” he said. “Things start looking real suspicious. For everyone. You’re Ailward to a vampire who no one’s heard of.”
I tapped a finger on the plastic table. “Do they know who the vampire is?”
His eyes narrowed. “No. Why do you think you’ve got everyone so worried? Not to mention, what happened to the small fry you were supposed to off? How is he wrapped up in this? Was he a spy?”
Interesting. So the Fellowship didn’t know everything.
I didn’t know if that was a good thing.
“He’s…part of the scheme, Adrian.”
; Should’ve just told him everything. Should have told him to sit down and start the story over from day one when I first met Jason Eldridge. But something stopped me. Maybe it was the way Adrian kept sneaking furtive looks over his shoulder. Maybe it was the way he kept clenching and unclenching his fists.
The suspicion made me feel ill.
There had never been a time I couldn’t trust Adrian.
He was, after all, my handler.
If I couldn’t trust him… “Look, everything’s okay. It’s all under control. You need to let Elder Chang know this. I’ll call him. Today.”
He let out a slow breath and then nodded. “You do that. As soon as possible.”
I managed a small smile, although it felt wooden and somewhat painful with my cracked lips. Winter in Centennial City was not forgiving, nor welcoming. I almost preferred the warmth of Los Angeles, even though the vampires and other creatures had all but overrun the city. “I will. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
He nodded once, tugged down an invisible hat and strode out, his low boot heels clicking on the meticulously scrubbed concrete floors.
Adrian was worried, that much was obvious.
But it seemed like such a mundane issue. I had been called to assassinate a vampire lord, but there were…adjustments. Surely, I was not the first hunter to make such changes to a plan that had never been concrete to start with.
That the Fellowship would worry to such an extent to bring me back into the proverbial fold…something did not feel right.
I mulled this over, eyes open, but not quite seeing anything except for possibilities that eluded me, like shadows in fog, until a thin, scratchy voice pulled me back to the present.
“Dear, do you mind if we use this booth?”
A pair of elderly gentlemen smiled down at me, trays in their hands heaped high with hash browns and pancakes.
It didn’t occur to me as to why they would ask such a question until a quick perusal of the diner revealed a lack of tables. Indeed, there were people waiting for seats to open up.
His partner smiled, revealing very white, very bright dentures. “I’m sorry to push you from your seat, but we haven’t got the joints we used to. We could sit across from you, if you wouldn’t mind?”
I rushed up from the seat. “I beg your pardon. Please. Sit down.”
A flurry of apologies followed, but they did take their seats and I left the diner, more questions than answers could possibly be had.
I hated that.
***
A few hours later, I unlocked the front door of the quiet bungalow, the curtains not yet drawn to let in the morning sun that felt sublime on my face.
Jason’s door was shut. Locked, as well.
I’d checked.
But not before calling out. He didn’t answer and if the door was locked and there seemed to be no signs of forced entry. That and I couldn’t sense anyone’s aura since we walked in.
The place was quiet and calm as a tomb.
I walked around the house and pulled free all the curtains, tugged up all the shades, did everything but open up the doors to let in the sunlight that seemed to scare away the shadows that had lingered in this home for too long.
I decided it was time to use the new cell phone.
Someone answered, a high feminine voice, vaguely British in the accent, but I couldn’t tell for sure. “Yes?”
I stared out the window at the older gentleman who was shoveling his walk with a snow shovel that seemed bigger than he was. “It’s Hwang. I need to speak with Elder Chang.”
There was a pause.
I hated pauses.
“There…” I heard her swallow on the other line. “There has been an…incident.”
An incident.
A pretty phrase to mean things had turned out nasty. “Explain.”
She swallowed again. “I don’t think I…that is to say, perhaps I wouldn’t be the best…”
There was another pause and distant voices, or maybe someone just put their hand on the speaker to mask the conversation.
“Is this Hwang? Ran Hwang?”
A new voice.
A voice I recognized. But not one I particularly welcomed. “Malcolm. I would say it’s a pleasure, but we both know I’d be lying.”
He drew in a deep breath and then let it out. When he spoke, he almost sounded friendly. Almost. “There’s been a situation. Nothing to worry about.”
I had asked to speak with Elder Chang, but got Malcolm, the head Guard instead. This did not bode…well. “Is he dead?”
“It’s a— what did you say?”
My eyes saw the old man struggling with the snow shovel, but nothing registered in my mind. “I asked you if Elder Chang is dead.”
He laughed. Nervously. “What would make you ask such a thing?”
He was stalling for time.
I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling the painful beginnings of a tension headache chip away at the corners of my vision. “You asking me that makes me fear the worst. Is he or isn’t he dead?”
In my mind, I could see him rub at his chin, dark, thick eyebrows furrowed over a nose broken multiple places, multiple times. “He’s not dead…yet.”
I let out a breath. “I was told by my Handler Elder Chang wanted me back at the Sanctuary.”
“I don’t know anything about that, but you are not needed. If Elder Chang needed to see you, then he’s certainly in no position to meet with you. We will get a hold of you when we need you.”
It sounded like a dismissal. “But I —”
“Stay safe.”
“Wait a mi—”
The empty, banal dial tone was my only reply and I slipped the phone back in my back pocket, unsure of just how to progress.
I hated uncertainty.
Always I had a plan, or someone did and I followed it.
What was the plan now?
Watery sunlight filtered through the trim, meticulously cleaned home and as was my habit, I made a cursory inspection of the house. You can call me paranoid, but it helped to know the potential number of entrances.
Should something happen, that is.
And that was the kicker.
With Elder Chang incapacitated, Jason exhibiting deviant behavior and Adrian all but dragging me back to the Sanctuary, I felt thin, punched to the ground, about as substantial as a shadow in the middle of a summer day.
“Something is bothering you.”
Jason, wreathed in shadows and darkness, stood in the safety of his doorway, the door cracked to just a few inches, to let in the minimum of sunlight. Beyond him, I could see nothing, just a pitch black darkness that made me wonder just how well he had prepared for his transformation into the Underworld.
I shook my head and held out the credit card. “Don’t worry about it. I have a phone.”
He stared at the card for a moment and then met my gaze. “Keep it. You might need it in the future.”
Much as I didn’t like being dependent on other people, I could see his reasoning. After all, he was forced to stay indoors and I would have to feed myself, transport myself in the daylight. “So, in effect, I am your Renfield.”
His face was emotionless although I noticed the dark circles under his eyes. “In effect, yes. I apologize for the change in plans. I had not anticipated…”
“You hadn’t anticipated on enjoying vampires more than humans?”
Perhaps my voice was just that much harsh, but I couldn’t help the note of resentment from entering my voice.
He looked away.
“I can’t do this without you.”
I can’t do this without you.
I didn’t know why his words affected me. “You’ve said that before.”
I squirmed under his calm gaze.
“So I did. You have a great deal of honor. You would not dare go back on an oath. Your pride and yet your downfall. I’m going to hold you to your promise. This is a job, but it’s one you can’t let go, not easily. In a
way, I’m sorry, Ran. This wasn’t how I thought events would unfold.”
I couldn’t remember the last time he’d spoken so long. “You’re using me.”
A flicker of pain ran across his pale features. “Plainly speaking, yes, I am.”
I wished he didn’t look so uncomfortable. To see the multitude of emotions in his face, in his eyes, it was hard to reconcile this image of Jason to the previous one, the confident one, the one with all the answers.
“It’s ironic,” I said quietly. “You seem more human than ever.”
He licked his lips and a sharpened canine glinted in the darkness. “Yes, funny, isn’t it? The way life seems to work.”
I watched him watching me and felt as though I stood at a precipice, the fog too thick to see beyond or below.
Uncertainty. I hated it more than I hated pauses.
“So.”
“Yes?”
He leaned against the door, arms crossed, feet bare. It was an oddly intimate moment and I came to the conclusion that I had never been around Jason in such a state of dishabille, not counting the time when an assassin decided to take his life.
Another mystery, but not one I would visit at the moment.
But soon.
Soon.
“What will you do now?”
He rubbed his temple in a thoughtful manner. “Originally, I was meant to be presented as Reiko’s latest protegee, a possible successor to the House. Unfortunately, that path is now closed to me. She would not dare present me, not at the risk of her life. There is somewhat an antiquated idea that once a Domina makes…” he smiled bitterly. “Something like me, there is a chance she can make another. Something in the saliva, the DNA she passes on. Of course, it’s foolish nonsense. No one can predict the birth of something like me, no one can try to make one. I am an…original.”
Original.
What a strange concept. “You know, humans seek to protect what they deem to be a one of a kind.”
A corner of his lips kicked up. “I wonder what Vincent would say if I asked for protection.”
What to say? “I’m sorry.”
Simple, but it seemed…right.
Invincible (A Centennial City Novel) Page 12
