Trinity: The Complete Trilogy (The Twin Cities Series)

by Drew Avera

"I want to see my daughter. Will you bring her to me?"

  She inhaled deeply and let it out slowly as if she were about to give me bad news. "I'm sorry, but I am not allowed to do that." I could hear the regret in her voice.

  "Why the hell not, is it because of this guy called The Raven?"

  "It is," she whispered and glanced from side to side as if she were afraid we were being watched.

  "To hell with him, dammit! Bring me my daughter, please," I urged, pleaded even. Beads of sweat built upon my brow as the temperature of the room felt like it was rising.

  "I can't."

  "Please do it!"

  She hesitated. Perhaps I could win her over yet. "I..." She stopped and looked down the hallway, into the darkest recesses where I could not see. My eyes strained to make out any shape that might have her acting all nervous now. I couldn't see anything.

  "Tabitha," I started to say, but when I looked back to see her she was gone, and once I again I was alone.

  Chapter 7

  Days passed where my visitors kept their distance. Thrust in a seemingly eternal darkness was beginning to affect my mind more than I thought possible. I caught myself talking to the shadows for company. The scary thing was that I usually heard the shadows speak to me. Often times it felt as real as talking to my wife before everything went to hell.

  By my best calculation I would say I had been locked in this cell for at least three weeks. Food was becoming scarcer each day and they had pulled me back to eating only twice a day. I imagined this was what being a prisoner of war was like. The thought broke me even more as hope faded faster. I truly didn't know if I could carry on like this any longer; with nothing to live for I was content to die. I felt like a bastard for essentially condemning my daughter to the same fate. I could only hope that God would forgive me, if He even existed.

  "Are you willing to serve me, Mr. Grimm?"

  The voice was so harsh against the backdrop of silence. It almost seemed like a disembodied voice from some poltergeist, but I thought it ridiculous to believe in ghost. Then again my world had been turned upside down at the reality of my captors being vampires.

  "Why should I serve you?" I asked. My own voice sounded strained and hopeless. It matched how I felt on the inside.

  His voice was closer when he answered. "I have something very important to you and if you wish for your daughter to grow to old age, then it is only fitting that you pay for her life with your own. Let us not forget you killed my child. Why should I not return the favor?"

  The Raven spoke about my wife as if she were endearing to him. It made me sick to hear it. "You mean my wife. You stole her from me. You're a monster and I could never serve you."

  "If that is your position I understand. Perhaps we shall carry out the execution of your daughter first. That way you can experience the result of your failure as a man and father." He snapped his fingers and I heard footsteps approach from behind him. I could tell by the clacking of the heels that it was Tabitha.

  "She's innocent, just kill me! A life for a life, just like you said." I stood up hoping to face him and gauge his intentions. I wondered if he was trying to trick me into submitting or if he was deadly serious.

  He approached me and a dim glow emanated from the lights above, but it was not intense enough to blind me. He only made it bright enough for me to see him, and Angelica cradled in Tabitha's arms. She was sleeping. "Make no mistake, I will kill you, but I must make you suffer as I have. An eye for an eye, I'm sure you understand the concept."

  I made eye contact with Tabitha and I could feel her nervousness. She shook her head lightly to discourage me from standing up to him. Tabitha brushed Angelica's hair out of her face lightly and I could see the gentle rise and fall of my baby's chest as she breathed. I swore under my breath. I could no more condemn my child to death than I could my wife. It had all been a fluke. Natalie had assisted me in her death. She practically fell upon the blade in my hand in order to protect Angelica and me. I couldn't let he die in vain.

  I took a deep breath and stepped closer to the cell, placing my hands on the cold bars. The Raven was only inches away from me, but he felt larger than life as I stood in front of him. There was no glint of a smile, nothing in his eyes that suggested he was toying with me. There was only the stoic expression of superiority and the steely gaze of a killer. I was at a loss.

  "I'll do it."

  "What is that?" He stepped closer. I knew he heard me, but was festering the wound in my heart by making me repeat myself.

  "I said I'll do it. I will serve you in order to save my daughter from death." My heart wanted to explode. I was making a deal with the devil and it was one that I surely would not win.

  I looked up at him for his response and all I saw were his teeth, his lips curled back in an evil smile. I knew then I had condemned her to something better than death, but it wasn't a life of freedom. What have I done?

  The doors to my cell opened and he quickly turned around to lead the way from the dungeon. Tabitha fell in behind me and I reached back to touch my child for the first time in weeks.

  A hand clasped my wrist and pulled me menacingly close. The Raven snarled. "She is mine. The deal was a life for a life. She will live, but she will not know you as a loving father. You will live outside The Realms and be forbidden from ever seeing her again. What I lost by your deeds I have regained by your service. I assure you she will live, but you will not see her grow up."

  I fell back, not seeing where his trickery had brought me until now. I didn't know which would have been worse, to die now, or to live never knowing my daughter? "Please reconsider. I can't bear to live without her," I pleaded.

  He turned his back on me and started walking away. "We can negotiate terms once I am satisfied with your performance, Mr. Grimm. Until that time you will obey, or she will die."

  I stood still in the hallway and watched him disappear into the shadows. Tabitha stood near me and I felt her staring at me. "What?" I asked.

  "It is better this way, Alexander. Angelica will live and I will protect her. I urge you to do as he says. It is for everyone's best interest."

  I thought about her words and wondered what she meant by everyone. Perhaps I didn't really want to know. "How am I to serve him?" I asked.

  She swaddled my child and rocked back and forth as Angel slept. Her eyes met my own and she answered. "You are the death dealer. You will kill anyone The Raven sees as a threat to his rule. Your life means the end of many other lives. It is a wicked thing, but at least you were able to protect this sweet child." Tabitha lowered her lips and kissed Angelica on the forehead.

  The idea of being a killer for hire was repulsive, but it made sense. Out of all of my experiences with these vampires I had come to the conclusion that nothing is as it seems. I just hoped that one day I could use it to my advantage. "Do you have anything to eat?" I asked as my stomach rumbled.

  She smiled and nodded her head. "Let me put her to bed and I will see that you are fed. After that your training begins." Her words floated in the air around me as she walked away carrying my child.

  Training; perhaps I would learn something I can apply later, I thought to myself. The seeds for revenge had been planted this day and I would stop at nothing to assure that Angelica and I would one day be reunited. With those thoughts I followed her into the shadows.

  THE TWIN CITIES SERIES

  MR GRIMM

  Chapter 1

  The labored breath of an old man escaped my lips as I sauntered over to an even older desk. It was perched atop three sturdy legs, the forth was braced with an old Webster's dictionary. The damned thing still didn't sit level, but I honestly didn't give two shits about that. It was the ringing phone that drew me over to this side of the room, the side that I often neglected because of the window that was open to a street view. One never could be too careful these days.

  I picked up the receiver, "Yeah," I answered in my general gruff demeanor.

  "Mr. Grimm, I see you h
ave returned from your last...contract," the French accented voice said with an air of superiority over someone of my class.

  "It's done," I answered in an attempt to end the conversation more abruptly.

  "That's good to hear, though it seems that you were not as successful as we had hoped for."

  This was news to me, "What do you mean?" I asked, knowing that failure was unforgivable in this line of work and I had worked too hard, had too much on the line for failure to be an option. I thought of my daughter, the reason why I had been so willing to take this life of punishment, just to save her. If I failed and was killed, what did that mean for her?

  "I mean, my dear, Alexander, that there was a witness this time and you have exactly two hours to silence them, or maybe I will let the appeals process take effect and we can renegotiate the terms of your sentence. I think we both know where that will lead, don't you?"

  Son of a, "I'm on it. What's the name?" I pulled out an old yellow legal pad and pencil to take down notes.

  "The witness is a black woman named Genevieve Le Fortier," he said over the line, a slight hiss of static punctuated his words.

  "Not a common name nowadays," I said. "She must be one of your kind."

  "Don't fail to silence this one, Mr. Grimm," he neglected to confirm my suspicion, yet it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that I succeeded in removing this threat to my master's society, or else the repercussions were not going to be in my favor.

  I went to speak only to have my thought interrupted by a dial tone. It was just like him to hang up on me, treating me like I was beneath him. I guess the truth is that I was. I was nothing more than a food source for his kind. My only clout now was that I was good at killing them. That granted me just enough respect in his dark, little world.

  I set the receiver back in place and pulled out my .38 and reloaded the silver hollow point bullets into the cartridge. Once satisfied, I rolled the cylinder and reengaged it so that I could pull back the hammer and be ready to discharge a round into one, Genevieve Le Fortier. I holstered the pistol into my shoulder holster which was hidden under a black suit jacket. My master required all of his minions to dress to the nines. This apparently included contract killers. My years of service had diminished the burden of my attire at completing my job, still I felt ridiculous wearing it, knowing that I was more of a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy.

  I walked over towards the front door to leave my apartment behind yet again. I closed the hard, wooden door shut behind me and engaged the three dead bolt locks before leaving it behind. To say that I was careful was an understatement. I took obsessive compulsive to the next level.

  I labored down the stairs and felt each step ping the lack of cartilage in my knees, the bones rubbed against their neighbors with each step and no amount of medication dulled it enough to make me not care. That was a lie actually, Valium and vodka were my two best friends, but I'd have to wait until the job was done before having them over.

  I stepped out of my apartment building and into the twenty degree weather that stung my nostrils with each breath. I hated winters in Minnesota. I never acclimated to it after moving up from Florida more than thirty years ago. I doubted that I ever would. The small blessing was that the Buick parked in my designated parking spot had never fully cooled since my last excursion into the night.

  I sat down with a huff and groan and cranked the engine, the defroster was already set at full blast and the cool air wafted up from the dash before the heat of the engine warmed it up enough to be useful. I sat in the driver's seat for about three minutes before putting it into drive and heading back towards the highway. I knew that any witness to my previous activity might still be lurking, waiting for the authorities to arrive. I would just have to beat them there was all.

  I punched the gas and the Buick fishtailed to the right slightly before I eased off of the gas. Did I mention that I hated winter in Minnesota? Driving in snow and ice was a bitch. I looked at the clock on the radio and saw that I had an hour and forty five minutes to silence my next target. With that information I shrugged my shoulders and popped my neck. The stress of time had done a number on me, and my battered body suffered the most for it.

  I looked through the rear view mirror to see if I was being followed. The only thing looking back at me was my cold, blue eyes. My bald head with a gray stubble beard and hard lines in my face showed just how weary I really was. I may have been dressed to the nines, but I felt like I would have been better off buried six feet under. If nothing else, I looked like a good candidate.

  I blinked and looked away from the ghastly form that I recognized as a former version of myself. I had a job to do and only a short amount of time to do it. I squinted against the light that reflected off the snow and drove on, with nothing else on my mind than killing.

  As usual the dark thoughts of mind were intertwined with the still images of my daughter, Angelica. She was once a spitting image of her mother, before the monstrous acts of that night. I shook my head, but the images were burned in my mind, a penance for my sins. I often wished that the mercy of God would rescue me from my torment. I reached over to the silver rosary that dangled haplessly on my right wrist. I had never been a religious man throughout my life, but if God did exist, then I knew he probably hated my employer as much as I did; he and all of his kind. It was the only hatred that burned brighter and hotter than the contempt that I held for myself.

  Suicide would have been a much easier price to pay, I thought as I choked back a sob of sorrow that threatened my composure.

  I turned east on the highway and headed away from the city, the Realms waited, the mirrored image of a modern city, caught between St. Paul and Minneapolis. That was where the term "twin cities" truly emerged, though most lay folk thought it was a reference to those two similar cities. I thought the same thing prior to my conversion. How I wished I could have that life back.

  The highway was sparse, save for a few vehicles headed in the opposing direction, one idiot traveled through the snowy terrain with his high beams on, I wondered if he fought the glare reflected back from the ice and snow as much as I did having it face me. I contemplated a middle finger gesture, but I knew they wouldn't see it so I kept my hands on the wheel.

  The drive was only twenty minutes or so from my apartment, but the world was completely different. The gravel road that took me to the entrance was well hidden and neglected based on the numerous potholes that filled the road. It was like driving on a collapsed mountain. I pulled forward and stopped at the gate that prevented the curious trespassers from crossing over by accident. The otherworldly beings on the other side had a rash way of handling those people. Let's just say that they never set foot in this world again.

  I closed the car door behind me with a creak and stepped away as the engine cooled from the brisk wind. The snow bit at my lips and the cold air was hard to breath, but I managed. I stepped over the closed barricade and walked forty yards over to a weeping willow tree that stood out of character for this time of year. I ducked under its tendrils and looked up in the canopy of green that defied the cold wasteland of this place. That was when the emerald light covered my form and I felt the world disappear a second later. I was weightless for a moment before I felt my feet touch the stone pavement of the Realms.

  I was met by its watchman.

  "Good evening. How's my favorite human doing tonight?"

  "It's a shitty, cold night. And regardless of your affection for me, you realize that I hate every last one of you bastards don't you, Remy?" My words would have stung anyone else but him.

  He smiled, "That's what I love about you, Grimm. Your hate runs so deep that it can be mistaken for love in this camp, albeit a sinister, molesting love. I think we can both agree on that," Remy had a way of taking the words right out of my mouth. He was a decent guy, as far as vampires were concerned. He actually refused to kill any human life for his blood lust. He looked the worst for it, cheeks sunken in, emaciated and weak lookin
g. Definitely not like the master whom we both served. If I was honest with myself, Remy was the only one who I tolerated with any kind of mutual respect.

  He was right though, my hate ran deeper than anything else in my soul. It was damn right shameful to be honest.

  Remy shifted his body out of my way and let me proceed into the Realms, unchallenged as it were. He knew as well as I did that I was nothing more than a puppet. The blood taken from me allowed me to constantly be monitored by my master, the one who called himself the Raven. That was why I used blood transfusions as often as I could, to break the chain, to silence the voices in my own head. He was not deterred by my hatred. In fact I think it nourished him as much as blood did.

  I took a deep breath as I stepped onto the main street of the Realms. I had been here only a few hours prior, but the night sky was even darker here than it had been before. This was a place where sunlight lasted only four or five hours per day, just enough to enrich the plants that grew here, and short enough for the dark ones to do their bidding, a bidding that led to why I was here now. It was a bid for death.

  Chapter 2

  The streets of the Realms were like a blend of the past and the modern world. Cobblestoned roads greeted the soles of my feet with the clattering sounds made by the heels of my boots while neon signs glowed from the windows of the shops. This was the place where the evil and obscure of the world made their safe haven. It was called the Realms because this was the centralized point where all of the dimensions of time and space touched Earth. This was why the magical and the supernatural had a threshold in reality, no matter how much I hoped that it was not true.

  There were other access points to the Realms scattered across the world, but I was a creature of habit. Most of the points coincided with ancient Native American burial grounds in this area. I had heard that pyramids provided access as well, and scientist had discovered many more outside of the ones in South America and Egypt over the years. I didn't know the validity of their origins as access points, but I suspected that it was most likely true. All you had to do was follow the myths of ancient societies to connect the dots.