by J. Armand
“Feeling betrayed that I had based my trust on a lie, I confronted my master. She confessed both kingdoms had been under her control. To her, the war was an annoyance, as is the squabbling between her children to a mother. The deaths of my brothers, my closest friend, and countless others was at the hands of the very people I served blindly.
“There was little I could do, and I was not fool enough to directly defy the progenitor of our coven. Instead, I strived to rectify the injustice tainting the legacy of my good friend’s name. Using the same methods I was taught that led her to death, I coerced the Church to reexamine her trial and under new evidence I produced, her honor was restored. Since last century she has been canonized as Saint Jeanne d’Arc, La Pucelle d’Orléans.”
“Here’s your pet,” Noah said, bursting in on our conversation and dumping Lyle on the floor.
“Perfect timing,” Vivi greeted them.
“Duh.” Noah pulled my chair out from under me, sat in it himself, and threw his feet up on the desk.
“Slow down a second,” Lyle said, looking at the three of us. “What’s going on? Should I be running for my life or not?”
“No, dumbass,” Noah sighed. “If I was going to kill you I would’ve just let you fall from one of those buildings on the way here.”
Vivi smacked Noah’s feet off the desk and presented Lyle with the briefcase. “There isn’t much time left to waste. This contains a copy of everything I used to absolve you from your false charges. The memories of everyone involved have already been altered to reflect the alibi I created. You can walk back into work as a hero.”
Lyle was wide-eyed and speechless as he flipped through the papers. It was like watching a kid on Christmas morning open a present he had been waiting all year for. “I don’t know what to say. Why did you do all this?” he asked her.
“There’s no reason for you to have been involved in our mess. You’ve been nothing but selfless, so it was only right for me to correct the mistakes made.”
“It’s just who I am. I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you.”
“You could take a shower,” Noah mocked, while checking out his own reflection in the mirror.
“Just live your life as you would have if we had never met,” she told Lyle. “There is a limousine upstairs waiting to take you to a hotel outside the city limits for the night. By dawn tomorrow this will all be over.”
“No,” Lyle said, firmly placing the briefcase back on the desk. “I’m not leaving until it is. This is my home and I’m here to fight for it. You already saved my life twice. I could never just walk away after that.”
“The conflict ahead is no place for —” Vivi started.
“A human? I’ve been getting that a lot lately, but I’m still here.” Lyle stepped closer to her. “If you want me gone then you’re going to have to make me, because I’m not going anywhere.”
“That can be arranged, monsieur.” Vivi’s eyes began to glow as they locked with his. Before her hypnotic influence could take effect, Lyle closed his eyes and leaned in, pressing his lips to hers. The kiss continued for several seconds as I watched in astonishment.
“Gross.” Noah raised an eyebrow and walked out of the room. “I’ll be outside working if you wanna join me, Vivi.”
Lyle flipped Noah the middle finger and continued his impassioned embrace with Vivi. She rested her hands upon his chest while he held her face.
“I think you’ve made your point, Monsieur Turner,” she whispered to him after finally breaking away. “Your choice is yours to make.”
For the first time since I had met her, her reserved professional behavior seemed to melt just a bit before she could collect herself again.
“Meet us upstairs and I will fill you in on what lies ahead,” she said, picking up her katana on the way out. “You’ll be needing the weapons in that briefcase.”
“Don’t forget I was the one who introduced you to her,” I joked, and tried not to laugh at his grin.
“I love New York,” he said, putting on the holsters and loading ammo into his new guns. “Even when it’s bad, it’s good.”
“You know, she probably planned on that happening the whole time. I mean, she already had it all set up with the handguns and everything.”
“Even better,” he laughed on our way upstairs.
“Shall we, boys?” Vivi had a map of Manhattan rolled out on a table upstairs that she and Noah were inspecting. “The areas I’ve circled are where the highest concentration of infected are.”
The Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Penn Station, and South Street Seaport were all highlighted.
“I’m not seeing a pattern,” I said. “If my apartment was ground zero, then why didn’t the plague just spread outward from there?”
“The Carpathians slipped into the city from the southern docks and traveled north through the sewers to your neighborhood. Once hospitals here were overwhelmed, patients were transferred west across Central Park. After you left the city, the Carpathians began infecting people at Penn Station, allowing the plague to spread by the subway systems.”
“All these people dead because of me. Why didn’t they just attack directly if they knew where I was?”
“The same reason we didn’t,” Vivi answered. “Nobody knew what you were capable of. Rushing in ran a high risk of failure. Don’t be too hard on yourself; the Carpathians had been scheming to do something like this for quite some time whether you were involved or not.”
“Let’s just be glad the Archios were here to help,” Lyle said. “How do we end this? I don’t see it all going away by dawn.”
“Luckily, the infection spreads through direct fluid contact and isn’t an airborne disease. Sectioning off areas and eradicating the creatures isn’t much of a problem, but we have to stop the source. We’ve closed down the docks and sent the Outsiders in through the sewers to flush out any remaining infected for disposal.
“It’s the Carpathians that are the problem. We have reason to believe there is at least a small group hiding in the city that is helping the plague spread more each night. The plan is to clear out as many infected as we can in our own small groups to lure the Carpathians out of hiding. They are going to be somewhere around a high concentration of the plague. This was their focal point, and it would make sense that their hideout is near here. The Carpathians are also going to want to stay close to watch for Dorian’s return.”
“You think they’re in his building?” Lyle asked.
“No, we’ve checked there already. There are three hospitals within a few blocks. If the Carpathians wanted to stay close enough to watch for you and continue propagating the outbreak, the hospitals would make the most sense.
“We’ll split up to cover more ground. Noah and I will each take a facility, you and Dorian will take the third.”
“Good thing we stayed, huh?” Lyle said as he patted me on the shoulder.
“We never said we were letting Dorian leave, we just weren’t going to kill him,” Vivi said.
“Right as I was starting to like you too,” I frowned.
“It’s nothing personal, dear. Business is business, no matter how unpleasant. I wish no harm to come to either of you.”
“Aren’t you going to get in trouble with Aurelia, returning without our heads on a platter?” I asked.
“I’m always in trouble with Aurelia,” Noah shrugged.
“Our success in driving out the Carpathians will trump her other orders. She’ll surely be displeased, but investing more time in tracking you down, assuming you’re even still alive, wouldn’t be worthwhile. As long as Monsieur Turner keeps our existence a secret, Aurelia will not concern herself over him. Her real interest was in Dorian for his potential to become a threat, but we will try and convince her otherwise should we need to.”
“What if you just ran away?” Lyle suggested.
“She does not need to be in range to exact her mental dominance over others, especially her own progeny,” Vivi expla
ined. “As with all other Ancients, her power is something we could never hope to overcome. Aurelia’s machinations may be unclear to many, but once you learn how to coexist things can be quite peaceful. It may not be a perfect afterlife, but I’ve come to accept it. The perks even make it entertaining at times.”
“You’re sugarcoating it again, Vivi. It’s a prison of glass walls.” Noah stood up, looking disgusted. “Why won’t you ever just call it what it is? We’re slaves.”
Vivi stared down at the map for a moment, not wanting to acknowledge his outburst. “The Carpathian in charge is known by many names, but most recently goes by The Blighted One,” she continued. “He made his presence known at the chateau when Rozalin was imprisoned. If he is defeated, the others will retreat.”
“The hunchback dude in the bird mask? Vance told us about him, but isn’t he an Ancient too?” Lyle asked.
“Yes,” Vivi answered.
“But how are we supposed to kill one?” I didn’t like where this was going.
“He may not even be here,” she said. “Like most Ancients, he acts through others.”
“You know he’s here.” Noah sounded increasingly fed up.
“There is a good chance he may be,” she said in resignation.
“So, what, this is a suicide mission?” I was getting pretty agitated myself. “You aren’t sparing me, you’re using me again.”
“Sucks being expendable, doesn’t it? Better get used to it.” Noah stormed out, leaving the rest of us bewildered.
“Am I missing something here? That was kinda dramatic, even for him.” Lyle whispered to me after waiting to make sure he was gone.
“He’s bitter because Aurelia tricked him into joining the Archios to protect her.”
“I could think of a lot worse and most of it just happened to us this week.”
“Non! You haven’t a clue how cruel this life can be for some of us more than others. What you have experienced in a matter of days, we endure for centuries.” Vivi was not pleased with us making light of Noah’s anger. “Noah is a wild horse that refuses to be tamed and it only makes his situation worse. It is no secret that he refuses to serve on bended knee, but instead of crudely flaunting her power over the mind Aurelia has made a game out of his suffering.”
“How did she do that?” Lyle asked.
“By breaking his heart.”
“He has one of those?” Lyle was as surprised as I was when I learned more about Noah’s past from Vivi the other night.
“Noah thought he and Aurelia were going to be together as lovers when she turned him,” I recalled.
“There were others, three in fact. Understand I am telling you this in confidence and only because I cannot stand to hear these comments made of him.
“Once Noah learned the true intent behind Aurelia’s interest in him he began to rebel. To avoid the embarrassment of having him cause a scene at her prestigious soirees she would send Noah into Paris to keep watch on the mortal families in charge of her many business ventures.
“Noah was soon distracted by a pretty young thing that happened to be the daughter of one of these mortals. He no longer minded the meaningless chore of going to Paris. Noah even snuck out quite often to court the girl and bring her gifts of jewelry taken from Aurelia’s sizeable collection. They fell in love and Noah did his best to conceal his newfound joy.
“But nothing escapes Aurelia’s nigh omniscience. She sent him to Paris planning for this very situation from the start and feigned ignorance to the missing baubles. When she felt it was time to end the game she ordered Noah to kill the girl. Aurelia claimed the girl’s family was responsible for stealing from her and wanted to make an example out of their daughter.
“I was there when Noah confessed everything thinking that it would change Aurelia’s mind. She smiled and revealed she knew all along. It was a harsh lesson in servitude. Noah offered to return the jewelry, never see his lover again, and serve without question if the girl could be spared. Aurelia rejected the offer, even when he bargained with his own life. He fought with everything he had in him to resist what came next. It was painful to watch as Aurelia took control of his mind and sent him to murder the young girl with his bare hands.
“He returned later that night, covered in her blood, and was never the same again. For years he mindlessly followed orders without so much as a glimmer of hope left in him.”
“Why don’t we just kill her?” My apathy toward taking a life was growing, but I felt it too easy to justify in this case. “I mean if we’re actually able to take down one Ancient tonight, why not make it two?”
“She could end us both with a snap of her wrist,” Vivi stated. “Conquering Aurelia is learning to make peace with her, not attack head-on. She is not our concern right now though.
“This city, your home, needs your help. Look at it any way you want, but only a fool goes into battle assuming victory is assured. Yes, it will be dangerous, but it isn’t impossible. We may not need him dead so long as we can force a retreat. Our main goal is to stop the plague.”
“We came to help because people need us, not because we thought it’d be easy,” Lyle proclaimed.
“Whatever, I’m getting really pissed at still being a pawn on somebody’s chessboard,” I said, and walked out.
The limo was waiting for us in front of the station. Far-off sounds of police sirens mixed with the occasional gunshot and commotion of a skirmish somewhere on the streets.
“Your friend is throwing you under the bus in there.” Noah stepped up next to me. “He wants to go with Vivi to play the knight in shining armor.”
“Jealous the attention is off you for once?”
“I don’t know what jealousy feels like. I just know I cause a lot of it,” Noah retorted. “I thought you should know humans aren’t any better. They’re more annoying than anything.”
“I’m happy to still consider myself one.”
Noah laughed and sat on the roof of the limo. “You’re about as human as this sword,” he said, unsheathing Vivi’s katana and looking at his reflection in the blade. “And just about as replaceable.”
“Doesn’t sound like you’re any more valuable.”
“Maybe to some, but the only thing that matters to me is my self-worth.”
“Not if they’re holding your leash.”
“Sounds like you’re finally starting to understand. You’ll never be free unless you overcome your fear, and you can’t overcome your fear until you believe you can be free.”
“So how do you start? And if you know so much, why aren’t you free?”
“Eliminate your weakness, then eliminate your obstacles,” he said, and swung the katana through the air a few times before sheathing it again. “It takes patience.”
“You’re the last person I’d ever think would have patience.” I wanted to mention I knew about his past, but Vivi had told me in confidence and bringing that up right now would probably start something that shouldn’t be happening before marching off to battle.
“ ‘All warfare is based on deception.’ ” Noah showed me the tattoo on his forearm. “Deception is an art, one that’s toppled the greatest empires, but it takes time. Desire is exploitable. Show your enemies what drives you and you’ve shown them how to stop you. Let them underestimate you, then strike.”
“But then you become exactly what you hated in the first place —deceptive and manipulative.”
“Now you’re thinking,” he said, and pointed to me like I had unveiled some big mystery. “When you’re free, will you have the strength to walk away? Or will you become weak and hide behind others?”
This was the strangest conversation I’d had, with the exception of the one about my birth. Noah seemed so enlightened, like the martial arts masters he claimed to have trained with. Was this the real him? And if so, was he only revealing it now that we were potentially headed to our deaths?
“Is that why you let Vance go?” I asked. “Because you saw him in the same situat
ion with Minerva as you are with Aurelia?”
“I don’t kill for the sake of killing. I don’t need to prove I’m good at what I do, believe it or not. I know I am, and that’s what matters. Vance and I had an understanding. He showed remorse for what he put you through and was a victim of it himself. The world needs more people like that. Killing them would be counterproductive.”
“Vivi said that about Lyle,” I remembered.
“She’s a different story. Vivi gave up the fight a long time ago and buried herself in denial. It’s a shame. She taught me almost everything I needed to know after I was turned. I got her this sword as a present when I returned from Japan and showed her how to use it. You should have seen her face when she saw how big it was. She couldn’t keep her hands off it. Before that she was only into fencing and savate,” he scoffed.
“I think Vivi feels guilty or something for not being able to prevent this life for me. Now she thinks she can save people by helping them run from their problems instead, but that only creates more weakness. You need to conquer your problems or they’ll catch up to you.”
I realized that Noah had no idea Vivi hinted at her feelings of regret more than once to me. I thought about what she’d said — how Noah was pushing me to fail so I’d be dismissed. But they also admitted it was to see what I could do and prepare for a fight like the one ahead. Both of them seemed to constantly live out double lives and double meanings within those lives. The fact that they held on to any shred of right and wrong and hadn’t just completely given up by now said a lot for them.
“Did you ever tell her it wasn’t her fault?” I asked.
“No need to. Getting emotional never solved anything. She should know by now that I don’t blame her.” Noah flipped a small rock up off his boot, caught it, and pitched it into the police station window.
