Flickering streetlights, the sound of car doors slamming in the distance…. everything that she’d ignored in the past now made her nearly jump out of her skin.
“Don’t you have a car?” a familiar voice called out behind her.
To her credit, she didn’t jump. Sage turned to see the vampire Zack from the other night staring at her with a glint in his eye. Was that hunger or humor?
“Have you learned nothing?” He flashed his trademark cocky smile, revealing teeth Sage knew were as deadly as they were white. “Don’t bother answering. You wouldn’t be here if you had.” Just as deceptively handsome as the last time she’d seen him, Zack’s dark brows hung over eyes so blue they looked like ice. Only this time she knew better than to fall for his pretty face.
She stood in stunned silence for a moment, trying to determine whether to run or attack. He had lured her out into the open the last time they’d met, presumably to kill her or worse. What was his intention now?
“Did they steal your voice?” he mocked her. “Or have my mesmerizing eyes rendered you dumbstruck?”
Smooth as ever. His words had lured her in last time, but she knew better now – he was a vampire. What had she read about them? No. She’d been told, by Devon. They were stolen magic, and the ones who could turn a Terra to a Darkling. Pepper spray wouldn’t do much, but if he tried anything, she’d unload the whole damn bottle on him.
“You’re wondering whether or not I’m going to hurt you.” His expression darkened. The glint in his eye sharpened with all the intensity of a viper, ready to strike.
Definitely hunger. Her blood suddenly ran cold in her veins, Sage inhaled a sharp breath.
“You seem like a decent person. I’d hate to kill you.” He delivered the line with a disarming wink.
Dread evaporated the moment she recognized the words and where they came from. “You seem less like a decent person.” She smirked. “And I’d hate to die.”
Despite his attempt to quell her nerves with nerdy catchphrases, the warning in his laughter was real. . “You were warned, I’m sure. Stay away from vampires.”
Grey had said something similar after he’d saved her from Zack. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” Sage asked. Her memory still a bit dull on exactly what had happened the last time they’d met. As badass as Grey pretended to be, why leave this vampire alive to continue whatever it was that vampires did?
“I am in a way,” Zack responded, without missing a beat, turning his head to reveal scars on his neck. “But don’t worry. All the equipment is still in working order.” Another naughty wink confirmed his innuendo.
A shudder threatened to reveal her disgust, but she held herself still. He might just as easily take it as fear. She couldn’t show that, no matter how much her heart was racing, given that she was within striking distance. She hadn’t learned what vampires were capable of. Were they fast? Were they superhumanly strong? Sage assumed the worst, and kept her tone sharp. “Guess Grey didn’t kill you then, did he?”
“Kill me?” Zack shook his head slowly, clicking his tongue with disappointment. “That’s no way to treat a compatriot. As if he could.” He puffed his chest with pride as he closed the gap between them, close enough for Sage to feel the wind from his breath. “Your pal Grey asked me to scare you. He needed you to see reason, which you clearly haven’t. Should I try harder this time?”
“That bastard!” Sage growled, anger overtaking her fear. She’d been manipulated by both of them.
“We all must bend to the whims of you Terras eventually.” Zack bowed low, mocking her further. She wanted to slap that annoying grin from his face, but didn’t dare to invite him to put a hand on her in return. “From time to time, when it’s worth my efforts, yes, I willingly aid the cause.”
“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” She threw the words back at him but felt their meaning all too well. They’d used her just as easily as they had the vampire.
“Circle of life.” He waved a dismissive hand. “But my involvement ended when they brought you in.”
She wasn’t buying that. He wouldn’t be lurking in the shadows near her home if that were the truth. Grey’s little spy. At least Grey was smart enough not to come himself; he was the last person she wanted to see. Just the thought of him conjured up the memory of what he’d done. Zack made a better emissary, but not by much. “So why are you slumming around here still?”
“It is dinner time.” Hunger returned to his eyes. He licked his lips for effect, but she wouldn’t let him see her shudder. She wasn’t giving him the satisfaction. “Don’t flatter yourself, newbie… You’re not on the menu. Terra is an acquired taste.”
Ally or not, Zack gave her the creeps. “If you dislike my kind so much, why are you working for them?”
“Quick to call ourselves Terra now, are we?” His taunt made her pause to look at her wrist. He continued before she could open her mouth to speak. “Having that mark means you’re special, but are you truly ready to say you’re one of them?”
Sage thought about it for a moment. She’d been led to believe that it was her life’s mission. Bearing the mark meant it was her duty to join the ranks of ASSET. Zack again responded before she could come up with a worthy retort. “Your kind people the world, you know? But not all of them operate behind the shield of ASSET.”
“And you’re telling me this why?”
“Because when I first met you, I was serious about guiding you to a place where you could find out more about your special markings.”
“Because you were being compensated by Grey, right?” She all but rolled her eyes, expecting him to give her the company line. If he couldn’t scare her, he could always try the righteous route. Make her see the greater good and all that bullshit. More manipulation she refused to fall for.
“He’s not the only one I know who can help you…” Zack left his words hanging in the air.
She snatched at the opportunity to reply before he could go on. “No, he was just the first to pay up, right?”
Zack smiled wickedly as if she were saying all the right things. “Everyone has a price.”
“So you’re a double-dipper then?”
“Consider it being entrepreneurial for a good cause. You clearly have no idea about who or what you are, and I happen to know people who can educate you. Everybody wins.”
“Except me. All these people who claim to know are just going to use me for their own ends.”
“You can only be used if you allow yourself to be. Knowledge is power.”
He did have a point there. She was walking blindly through a world she had not yet learned the rules to. Other than the books she’d taken with her, there was little else to teach her the way of things. “True enough. But what I’ve learned from you is not to trust anything you say.” She scoffed. “You’ve already outed yourself as a player for both sides.”
“Good and evil aren’t sides to be played. Thinking that is your first mistake.” He tapped her on the head lightly with his finger. “No one wakes up in the morning eager to check off their evil to-do list, though plenty of righteous people will never let you forget their victories. All people are self-serving. Good and evil are just labels.”
“Well, I have no money to assure your service. So… Thanks, but no. I’ll figure it out on my own,” Sage said, defiantly stepping backwards to put a few feet between her and the vampire.
“Suit yourself. But a word of caution before you go. Your people’s strength relies on teamwork. Alone, you’re nothing but tasty prey for those with a…discerning palate.”
She fought to hold off the shiver working its way up her spine. “I should be glad you’re no connoisseur, then?”
“If I were, you’d already be in my thrall, keeping that loud mouth shut.”
Fear was the greatest enemy of all, and despite the brave face she tried to show Zack, when she opened her mouth to throw an insult back at him, all that escaped was a squeak as she remembered the creature her mother had be
en turned into.
Zack’s brows pulled together as he closed his eyes. A moment of silence passed, only breaking with the sound of his frustrated sigh. Maybe he regretted his last remark.
“I’ve been in your place.” Zack surprised her with sudden gentleness in his tone. “New to a life I couldn’t possibly understand. Uncertain of what lay ahead of me.”
“You stole your immortality,” she threw at him, unable to control the tremble in her voice. Sage balled her fists in anger, part of her wanting to take a swing at the asshole for threatening her, the other part realizing just how much she should fear him for what he could do. Thankfully he hadn’t, but how much of that was because he’d been paid not to?
Annoyance flashed across his face, but to his credit, Zack held to his softer tone. “I stole nothing. I was gifted it… by my lady love.”
“The same lady love I saw you dismissing the other night?”
“No. Dead more than fifty years, but I can still remember her sweet smile.” Zack gripped his chest, wincing as if the memory caused him pain. “Ours was a love that spanned more than a generation before she was taken from me.”
Anger and distrust morphed awkwardly into a sad sympathy, but Sage held firm where she stood. “I’m sorry.”
“I was the poor farm boy to her Buttercup.” He paused, allowing Sage to make the connection. The last time they’d met, she’d had a laugh baiting him with fantasy references. Now it was his turn, and the effect disarmed her better than anything else he had said. “When she was turned and taken from me, I searched night and day to find her. She was my true love.” He took a breath and let go of his chest. The bad boy façade melted away, revealing pain and loss that gave truth to his words. “When I finally found her, she had been changed, but I loved her no less. I had promised my heart to her, and she took it willingly. In return, she gave me the gift of immortality. We shared our hearts in the truest of senses. So don’t speak to me as if I’m some thief in the night, stealing magic I don’t own.”
Embarrassment replaced the haughty sense of importance she’d thrown at him moments before. She’d been a Terra for only a few days, but had already developed prejudices from her ignorance. Zack might not have been the most trustworthy of people, but he had been more honest than Grey.
“I wasn’t always a vampire,” Zack reminded her sternly. “The learning curve was steep when I was turned. I can appreciate where you’re at now, being unaware for so long of what your destiny had in store for you. Mock me if you want, but no matter what I gain from helping you, ultimately it is you who will benefit most.”
“How did your lady love die?” she asked, gauging his response for truth.
“She developed a discerning palate.” He smirked, all the reminder Sage needed to keep on her guard. “Will you come now and let me lead you toward a new mentor?”
“I’m sure you can understand if I don’t trust you to be my guide.” Honest as he’d been, a nagging worry still lingered, made more real every time she saw those sharp fangs poking out below his lip as he smiled.
“Trust the streetlight above us. Or the people walking along the roads with us. I’m not leading you into the dark. Where we are going, you’ll find more light than even I can stand to be around.” Zack waved a hand as if to say follow me.
On a restrained sigh, she followed –praying she wasn’t walking into a trap – keeping to the glow of the streetlamps. Ten minutes later, they arrived at the Bulwark gym. Devon’s place. “Here? This is my trainer’s place.”
“You trust him, then?” Zack asked, as if he already knew her answer.
Of all the people she’d met, Devon had been the most open with her, but being connected with Zack really didn’t sit well with Sage. “I guess.”
“If you can trust him, then you can trust I’m not leading you into another trap.”
“That remains to be seen,” she replied, wondering who else was in on this double-dealing business. Grey, Zack, and now Devon. Of the three, Devon was the least likely to blow smoke up her ass. And he’d already given her more information than the others. She supposed he was the lesser of three evils.
The doors were closed, but the inner lights were still on.
“Have fun storming the castle.” Zack attempted to bow out before Sage knocked, but as her hand touched the glass, Devon appeared as if blinking into existence.
Looking both shocked and relieved, he pulled them both inside his gym. “I thought the worst when Grey said you’d disappeared.”
He had to mention that bastard! “I didn’t feel safe there,” she replied sourly, wondering how closely linked the three of those guys were.
Devon and Zack eyed each other as if having a silent conversation she couldn’t hear.
“Don’t you work for ASSET?” Sage broke the silence with her accusation.
“With them, not for them,” Devon replied. “I come in to help with training and assessment of new recruits.”
“Because you believe what they do is good, right?” She repeated the same words he’d said to her earlier, hoping the meaning might elicit some real truth this time.
“Generally, yes.” Devon responded with more reservation than he had earlier. Doubt had settled in. Even now she could see the seeds of it spreading across his face. There was more to be said, but just like with all the others, Sage knew it wouldn’t be knowledge easily gained.
“Well obviously, not everyone else holds your same viewpoint of that organization.” Sage began, hoping to lead him into a better explanation.
“Yesterday’s attack was unprecedented, I’ll give you that.” Devon agreed. An air of suspicion soured his words, but his answer gave no further insight.
Zack scoffed. “ASSET is responsible for the recent attacks on my clans.”
“ASSET only goes after problems,” Devon said defensively.
“Depends on your definition of a problem.” Zack all but rolled his eyes. Clearly no love lost there for the organization, and yet Sage wondered why he too seemed to ally himself with those who worked closest to it.
None of it made any sense. But the way they talked further solidified her position. Leaving ASSET had been the right choice. Whatever was going on, she was not safe there. But was she safe anywhere?
“Enlighten us then.” Devon speared Zack with a look that chilled Sage’s blood. As predatory as the vampire was, she’d put her money on the ogre to come out on top if they came to blows.
“There are whispers among my kind.” Zack took a step backwards, edging toward the door. “The word on the streets is, agents have been clearing house without provocation. They have a new kind of weapon. A week or so ago, a whole coven of ‘em were just reduced to dust.”
“I’ve heard of no such thing,” Devon retorted.
“Why would you? You’re not an agent. You’re just hired help.” Zack continued his slow backpedaling toward the exit. “Go ask your pretty boy, Grey. Bet he knows.”
If she didn’t know any better, Sage might have thought the vampire was scared, but learning of his entrepreneurial aspirations, she guessed he wasn’t being paid to divulge the juicy details. “What kind of weapon could do that?” Sage moved to block the vampire’s exit.
Zack shrugged as both she and Devon glared at him, waiting for answers. “I’m not sure, but if the rumors are true, ASSET is overstepping their mandate. Good reason for the plebs to fight back.”
“By turning agents into mindless meat shields?” Sage found herself shouting as the memory of her mother resurfaced. “My mom was in that group sent in to attack us.”
“I had no part in what happened there.” Zack held his hands in surrender, looking as frightened as Sage felt. “I want that made very clear.”
“Above your pay grade?” She threw the words at him, finding strength in her anger. She rose up to her full height as she glared at the vampire.
Even at her full height she was still a head shorter than Zack, but he cowered all the same at her aggressive stance. “I ma
y not be in love with ASSET, but I’m not stupid enough to be party to an attack on them either. I did what I came here to do: I delivered you to someone who can help you. Consider it a freebie. I did my good deed, and now I’m done.”
“I think you have more to tell us.” Devon moved with impossible speed, as if blinking in and out of form, appearing at the doorway and completely blocking Zack’s retreat. “If what you say is true, and ASSET has a destructive weapon, wouldn’t it be prudent of you to make sure you’re seen as being on their side?”
“You might as well let him go.” Sage had nothing more to say to the sleazy vampire. “Informants are only interested in how much profit they can make by playing sides. I bet he doesn’t even have any information to sell.”
Devon stepped aside, but made sure Zack heard his final words. “There is always a reckoning. Remember that.”
Zack scooted through the door without another word.
“I’m surprised you let him go.” Sage laughed as she saw the vampire disappear into the night. Run, you bastard.
“He’ll be back. Spineless as that one is, he knows how to ally himself with the winning side before the axe falls.” Devon turned to face Sage. Exhaustion hung like heavy luggage under his eyes. He heaved a sigh and joined her, taking a seat on the benches along the wall. “If what he said is true, I’m not sure which side is which.”
“Truth time. What exactly is your role in all of this?”
“I’m a combat-readiness trainer.”
After all that, he dared to give her such a vague answer? “Okay, then, I’ll be on my way.”
“Where you going to go, Sage?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Somewhere where people are honest and tell me what the hell is going on.”
“ASSET is not an evil agency. It is, however, a very large organization, and because of that, is sometimes subject to the whims of the higher echelons of power. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“Better than what I have been hearing.” She hadn’t meant to sound so mean, but frustrated as she was, her ability to sugarcoat her thoughts had all but vanished. “I read that book you gave me. My…people” – she struggled to say the word – “were created to solve problems.”
A Weapon Of Magical Destruction Page 15
