Invincible (A Centennial City Novel)

by Fionn Jameson

  Trent had a set of rooms in the Sanctuary, near the edge of the compound, but we chose to sit outside on the upraised platform, feet dangling in the air. I couldn’t remember the last time I sat like this. “It’s cold.”

  He nodded and stared up at the dark sky. “Do you think it’ll stop snowing?”

  I ignored him. “Is it true then? About...about Adrian?”

  He swallowed and tucked his hands into the wide Mandarin sleeves. “She told you about that?”

  My throat felt tight and a strange heat rose in my nose. “So it is true. Adrian’s dead.”

  Anyone would have avoided my gaze. Trent did not. It was one of the many things I admired about him.

  “I’m sorry, Ran.”

  “Yeah,” I said, voice hoarse. “Me too.”

  “We don’t know who did it.”

  Wetness streaked my cheeks and I rubbed my cuffs at the moisture, trying to vain to keep down the roiling emotions that fought to break loose. “I thought so. If you knew, then the murderer would already be dead.”

  He made a small sound in the back of his throat and tactfully turned to look up at the swirling snow that looked more like small feathers from a dove.

  Minutes passed. Much of it with me silent, a fist pressed to my lips. After that speech about pain passing, it just didn’t seem right to let go.

  That and I hadn’t done so in ten years, and I wasn’t sure if I remembered how.

  “Why was I not told?”

  “No one knew where you’d gone,” he said softly. “You weren’t at home. Adrian knew you were with the mark who was supposed to be dead two weeks ago. That was all. Sooner or later, I figured you’d come back.”

  Always the practical one. “I called a couple of days ago. Someone told me Chang was not available. Why didn’t they tell me about Adrian?”

  His lips thinned. “Another bit of a bad news, really. With Chang down, I guessed he kind of get shunted off to the side.”

  I sniffed. My nose was running. “Sounds like the Elders.”

  “He’s in a coma.”

  I never felt anything for Elder Chang, except for a bit of mild affection for it was obvious that he cared about my well being, although it was never certain as to whether he cared about me as a person or as a tool to be used against the monsters of the darkness. But in the end, I supposed it never really mattered. “What are his chances of survival?”

  “Who knows.”

  “Any idea on who it might have been?”

  Another casual shrug. “They also stabbed him in the chest with a combat knife. Ironically, or maybe not, it was the falling that almost killed him. He hit his head on the edge of his table. Guess the bastard’s harder to kill than anyone ever realized.”

  I thought he smiled although it was hard to see through my vision gone uncontrollably blurry. “He’s an Elder. It’ll be a cold day in Hell before one of them dies that easily.”

  My cuffs were starting to turn into a mess. “Trent, do you have a tissue?”

  “I have something better,” he said and then opened his arms. “Come here. You’ll feel better.”

  I shook my head fervently. “No. I don’t think so. I’ve come this far. I’ve made it this long without losing control. I can do better.”

  Arms still open, he gave me a pained look. At least, I thought so. I was rather distracted trying to keep the sounds from leaving my mouth, trying to keep from drowning in the tears soaking into my coat. “You going to just leave me like this? Man, Ran, I knew you were cold, but I didn’t know it was this bad!”

  I inched towards him and my lips wobbled. “You even smell like him.”

  He nodded. “Of course I do. That son of a bitch always stole my cologne. Said he was sick of smelling like you. “

  And despite everything, a laugh felt my lips. “You’re a lying bastard.”

  He sighed deeply. “Oh, all right, then. I know which cologne he uses and I thought you might either get comfort from it or run screaming. Since you’re still here, I guess you like it. Now, how about that hug?”

  I looked at him and then let myself fall into that warm comfort, that warm circle.

  17

  Someone was waiting for me.

  Although, at this point, I supposed I should have expected such...surprises.

  A small part of me wondered if I would still be alive tomorrow.

  Now that would truly be a surprise...considering who it was.

  Eyes hidden behind a pair of aviator glasses, hair disguised underneath a rather filthy baseball cap, there was still no hiding the fact that my target stood in front of me, leaning against an expensive looking silver car, arms crossed over his chest.

  He looked comfortably warm in a flannel jacket and dark blue jeans tucked into a pair of black cowboy boots.

  A rather incongruous image, considering the last time I saw him, he looked like the classic example of a Victorian printer, especially with his round rimmed glasses and checked vest.

  The doors swung shut behind me ponderously slow, but the fact of the matter was, here stood the Order's most outstanding enemy, and he was alone. Or looked it, in any case.

  I could kill him right now.

  Or attempt to.

  Either way, something would end. Either my life or his.

  He smiled.

  The breath caught in my throat. "Why are you here?"

  He uncrossed his arms, that same, small smile on his generously plump lips. "Surely you didn't think we wouldn't keep, what's the word, ah, tabs on you, Miss Hwang?"

  My mouth was almost painfully dry. "What do you want?"

  Kill him.

  Kill him now.

  He was quiet for a moment, taking the time to look at the structure of our headquarters. "Your...order. They try so hard to keep us at bay. But in the end, they will only die, one after another, until there is no one except for those...Elders you seem to follow with such blind hearts."

  Did he know? "You have a lot of nerve. To come here. Knowing what they hunt."

  I almost said "we" but barely managed to keep the word from spilling off my tongue. For all intents and purposes, I was Jason's Ailward.

  "A nice attempt at distancing yourself, but I think we both know you're playing both sides of the field, or so to speak," he said and then opened the passenger door. The dark interior made my palms sweat. "Let's go for a ride, shall we?"

  "I'd rather not," I said and risked a glance at the twin doors. Could the guards get the doors open before I became a splatter on the walls? I doubted it.

  He took off his glasses and his light blue eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry. I know it sounded like a request, but it really wasn't. Get in. We need to talk about your so-called...Master."

  "And if I don't?"

  An eyebrow rose. "Don't what? Don't get in? Jason is, for the lack of a better phrase, at my mercy, didn't you know? If you say no, it will be reflected in his treatment. Surely you wouldn't want that...would you? Or did you mean you simply didn't want to talk? Which in that case, I'm afraid the results will be the same."

  A more blatant threat could not have been possible. "So I have no choice."

  The smile faded away. "No."

  My hands itched. "I could kill you right now."

  "No," he said again, shaking his head. "I don't think you can. You are, without a doubt, quite the little warrior, but you cannot kill me. Haven't I showed you that with, what's his name, ah yes. Rammstein. An interesting diversion to say the least, but then again, also just a diversion."

  I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. "They think I'm working for you." Even now, my right cheekbone stung. There would be an ugly bruise within the next half hour or so.

  “I’m sure standing here doesn’t help,” he replied and gestured to that dark, cavernous depths. “If you will? By nature, I am a patient man, but even I have limits. Get in.”

  I didn’t have a choice.

  The inside of the car smelled like leather and something else, something almost e
arthy, and when Noir closed the door, I felt the familiar sense of choking as the darkness closed in around me, like a vise.

  Perhaps I made a sound because Noir said, “Ah, yes. Forgive me. I did forget about your strange little quirk. Although, I do think it’s strange, a vampire hunter afraid of the dark. There’s a button next to the armrest. Feel free to open the window. Unfortunately, I cannot turn on the lights. I rather like the darkness, truth be told. Besides, it’d be like traveling with a bullseye emblazoned on the hood. There are people hunting me and moving in the dark is my best defense.”

  Opening the window did help. “You waited outside for me. Weren’t you out in the open, then?”

  “That is true,” he said. “However, I have an unusually good sense of the areas near me. Before someone drew a bead on me, I would know. But in a car?” He shook his head. “There are…interruptions. Also, you can dodge a bullet out in the open. In a car? Tell me, have you ever tried to dodge an explosive?”

  “You mean, there’s someone else hunting you besides…the order?”

  I almost said us and judging from his raised brow, he must have known it as well. “Yes. You see, for some strange reason, enemies of our…partnership seems to think I am the weakest link. Hence, all challengers to our reign here in Centennial City seem to come straight to me.”

  “Imagine that.”

  He looked at me. “Was that a note of sarcasm I hear?”

  Sarcasm? Hardly. I had a hard time understanding jokes as it was. Sarcasm was on a whole new different level. “Not at all. I heard from Vincent. He says you are the true monster of the four.”

  “Hah!”

  “It’s not true?”

  He let one shoulder rise and then fall. “I suppose it depends on how you define a monster. How do you define a monster, Ailward?”

  I didn’t know how to answer. So I did the next best thing; I moved on. “Why am I here?”

  “Well, spoken plainly, you are here because I’ve blackmailed you.”

  Blackmail. It was an ugly word and an even uglier concept. “That’s not what I meant. What purpose could you possibly have for me?”

  The car moved like a silent animal. I couldn’t even hear the engine. Could only tell the car was going from the occasional stops and acceleration. That and the sound of the wind whipping through the tiny gap in the window that let in the cold.

  “Ah, well, in that case…I must admit to a certain curiosity,” he said, elbow on his knee, chin braced on one hand. The streetlights bathed his face in light, then darkness, then light again. He was beautiful. Beautiful in the way a tiger prowls through the underbrush, beautiful like the sheen and angle of a blade. “I’ve heard some extraordinary things about you. Is it true that you can see the future?”

  My laugh was hoarse, rough. “I am not a fortune teller.”

  “A pity,” he replied, voice lingering. “But you’re a human. Who can fight toe to toe with one of my kind. I’m told you eliminated an assassin the first night of your Master’s turning. How did you do that?”

  Was it wise to tell him? I thought not. “I would rather not talk about that.”

  “Hm. In that case, I suppose I could always threaten you with the death of your Master.”

  How could he smile?

  Vampires were monsters. Not a shred of humanity between the lot of them; I had forgotten.

  I had forgotten. “Is this how you get what you want? By threatening?"

  He tilted his head to one side. "Pardon?"

  "Have you ever considered asking, perhaps even offering something in exchange for whatever it is you require?"

  The vampire let out a slow breath and then lifted one hand, staring at it intently, as though he could read his fortune in the lines. "Do you know how I've survived as long as I have?"

  "You're avoiding the question."

  He looked at me, eyes completely black. I wished he was looking back at his hand. "You dare ask me such a thing? Tell me, Hunter, aren't you afraid of me or are you just too stupid to be afraid?"

  A combination of both. But I wanted to live, so I kept my mouth shut.

  He opened his mouth to say something, but then held up a finger. “Wait.”

  I watched him pull a cell phone smaller than the palm of my hand from the flannel jacket that looked and smelled like it had come from a discount clothing warehouse that specialized in keeping beggars from going nude.

  “What?” he answered.

  He stilled and his lips pursed. “I see.”

  A pause.

  “Have Vincent notified. Tell him we are headed his way and will pick him up at the club. We should arrive in the next ten to fifteen minutes.”

  Instinctively, my muscles twitched.

  Vincent? In here? I would share a car with Centennial City’s two most powerful vampires. Panic made my breath come up short and when he snapped the phone closed, I jumped at the sudden, sharp noise.

  He rolled his shoulders back and sighed, a startling sign of humanity I hadn’t expected to see.

  “We have a…problem.”

  I felt the almost unstoppable urge to laugh like a maniac. “I cannot imagine something possibly going right.”

  “Fate does seem to have a way of making sure to frown upon you, doesn’t she?’

  This time, I did laugh. I couldn’t have stopped it for the world. “I can only wait and see what she has planned.”

  The brackets between his thin lips deepened. “You will not like this piece of news, I fear,” he said and sighed. “On second thought, there can be only one person who could rejoice at this news and that would be the one who took him.”

  The one that took him.

  Something tightened in my chest. “Who took who?”

  He shook his head. “Jason. No one can say. Well, no one who can speak, that is.”

  “What happened?”

  His fingers tapped wildly on his thighs. Was it a sign of his disquiet? It was clear this was extremely worrying to him, although how it could worry him more than myself, I could not understand. “There was an attack at my estate after I went to intercept you. From what I can gather, someone or something simply walked into my home and demolished it.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “Demolished it,” he said again and to my most abject horror, found myself sitting only three inches away from a vampire lord with fully extended fangs. “They came to my bastion and left no one alive. They slaughtered all of those under my protection and left my home in shambles.”

  I wanted very much to leap out of the car. When it came to taking my chances with an angry vampire lord or asphalt going seventy miles per hour, I’d take the asphalt. It would be less painful. “Then who called you?”

  “Ryder,” he said. “He was supposed to help you acclimate to the new…atmosphere.”

  And even though fifteen years of conditioning made me want to lunge for my sword, it would only prove cumbersome in the car’s interior.

  That and I didn’t think Noir would give me the time to pull it out of its bag, much less the sheath itself. “You’ve been rather accommodating to someone who hunts things like you.”

  His smile was crumbling visibly at the edges. “It would seem you’ve got more pull with him than most other Ailwards. Seen but not heard, I believe, is the purpose of them, no? Clearly, you must not have received the memo.”

  His fangs had retracted just a bit but it was enough that I released my death grip on the door handle. I might die that night, but chances were high it would not be in that moment, in this car.

  “What happens now?”

  The car took a right turn a little too abruptly and I careened into Noir’s side.

  Slamming into a brick wall woiuld’ve been less painful and the breath left me in a sudden whoosh that left me gasping for air, my stomach cramping.

  Someone screamed, long and high.

  I didn’t realize it was the driver until the car screeched to an earsplitting halt and I bounced off the front barri
er, cutting my chin on a metal coat hook.

  “That…that wasn’t planned, was it?” I asked, like a stupid idiot. I tasted blood in my mouth and felt it dribble down my chin; I’d bitten my tongue, and pretty badly at that.

  Noir stared at me, his eyes wide, and I stared into those empty, pitch black depths. “What?”

  He shook his head and turned away, as though he could not bear to look at me. “Wipe your chin. Hurry up and wipe it before I do something I regret!”

  Shit. I swiped at my face with trembling fingers. I almost put an eye out. “Sorry. Sorry. I didn’t think.”

  “Never mind,” he said forcefully and opened the door. “Are you ready?”

  I didn’t think he was, when someone, something jerked him out of the car and into the darkness that seemed to beckon like some horrible shadow that knows all your secrets.

  Suddenly, I couldn’t get away from that side of the car fast enough.

  Sword clenched in my right hand, I felt for the door handle digging deep into the small of my back, and I frantically depressed the handle, all the while aware of the terrifying howling, snarling I heard from the other side of the car.

  The car door gave suddenly behind me and I fell heavily on my back, my right arm twisted in an awkward position underneath my hip.

  “Well, ain’t this a surprise!”

  Marcus leered down at me and before I could move, reached out, squeezing my shoulder hard enough to bring a cry to my lips.

  Pulling me onto my feet, he dragged me around the side of the car where I saw Noir flanked by a pair of vampires, their eyes dark, fangs fully extended.

  Meanwhile, the vampire lord’s right eye looked like it would explode in its socket if someone so much as coughed in his direction and blood drenched the flannel coat, dripping on the asphalt that seemed to absorb the blood before it even had a chance to pool.

  I didn’t recognize the vampires standing on either sides of the bested vampire lord, although I did recognize the feminine figure that sat on the car trunk, her black stiletto heels kicking in the air.

  “Hello, Ailward.”

  Marcus shoved me forward and I fell on my knees, bruising both kneecaps.