by Peter Dawes
“And you all acquiesced?”
He barked a laugh. “What were we supposed to do, Flynn? As far as we knew, her assassin had destroyed the entire power structure of the region. She held you as a card and flaunted you, making you seem not only indestructible, but waiting to slaughter anyone who either dared to leave the area or defied her. Maybe we bent the knee sooner than we should have, but there weren’t enough of us left to fight. You’ve made sure of that throughout the last few years.”
Even if the malice was unintended, it cut and left a bleeding wound in its wake. I tried to pay it no further mind, but found myself lingering on his words for a moment before nodding. “I imagine I have,” I said. Rather than indulge the thought any further, I shelved it for further consideration later. “Is yours the only coven to have abdicated?”
“No, two others have. The rest have been granted a stay of execution to consider where they stand.” He paused. “Nobody can find where Matthew hid his coven before the other evening, but I think they’ve been counted as a loss.”
“I do not doubt that. Of all the coven masters, Sabrina seemed to hate Matthew the most.”
“Because he didn’t want her here. She strong-armed her way through.”
“That leaves two remaining covens, though, whose fate have yet to be determined. How long have they been given to make up their minds?”
Christopher shrugged. As he produced his own cigarette, he cupped his hand over the fledgling flame of his lighter and waited until the tobacco glowed orange before responding. “I’m not sure,” he said, “but I suspect not long. Sabrina seemed impatient to tie up loose ends.”
“She doesn’t want anyone finding out she lost you,” Monica said, breaking the silence while looking up at me.
I frowned, nodding. “I do not know how she intended to maintain that façade.”
“Kill you or convert you back into the Dark Side, I guess. Either way, she wins. If she could snuff out the best assassin in vampire kind, she’s a true force of nature. If she lures you back, then she can carry on like normal.”
“Indeed,” Christopher said. He admired Monica for several lingering moments, raising an eyebrow once he had satisfied whatever he had been looking for. “What is a sorceress doing, taking company with one of our kind?”
“Mutually beneficial situation.” She flashed him a quick smile, laden with sarcasm, before sobering and looking at me again. “Well, this explains why I couldn’t find her at the coven house. I admit, the hospital was a little bit of a shot in the dark, but now I’m glad I took the gamble.”
When I stared at her in confusion, she rolled her eyes and sighed. “It wasn’t just about getting you to reconnect with your long-lost humanity, Peter. Word on the street was the local vampires have been picking off easy targets and that the bodies weren’t surfacing. The police reported an attack that sounded suspicious and I found out where they took the victim. Seemed like a good excuse to kill two birds with one stone.”
“I was tempted to accuse you of bringing me there deliberately to confront a victim, but I would have actually done so facetiously.”
“Rubbing your nose in it isn’t my style. I think you’re probably doing a good enough job beating yourself up, deep down inside.”
Nodding, I fell silent afterward. While the safe house in which we had been residing still lay southeast of our position, Monica continued eastward without giving any indication she intended to lead us south. We stopped outside an abandoned warehouse, where she pointed at Christopher first before gesturing at the building. “You first,” she said. “And out with whatever else you know once we’re in. Sound good?”
He nodded as well and strode ahead of us. Holding back any commentary for the time being, I walked with Monica to the front doors and retreated indoors once Christopher had broken the lock. It took a moment for us to find an empty office area, but once we had, we entered it and sat on what study surfaces remained. While I had tossed aside my cigarette outside, Christopher dropped his onto the floor and ground it out using his shoe.
Perching on the corner of a desk, he peered around the dark office and sighed. “Some junkie sleeping off a bender probably found any liquor that got left behind,” he said. “Doesn’t stop me from being curious enough to start looking.”
I bypassed a file cabinet, settling inside one of the few remaining chairs. Monica took another, and as she sat, she folded her hands on her lap. “You’ll forgive me if I didn’t exactly want to show you where I’m sleeping. Just in case Sabrina gets her paws on you,” she said.
Christopher frowned. “I thought you were going to protect me in exchange for information. Has your deal been rescinded?”
“More so that protecting you is going to have to come in the form of stopping Sabrina.” Monica crossed her legs. “Though, to be honest, I’d recommend slipping out of town for a while, until you’re sure it’s safe. If you know anything else, it’ll make our jobs a lot easier and faster.”
Christopher nodded, but as he looked at me, I saw a hint of suspicion, like he knew he had been denied a piece of the puzzle which would make sense of the evening. Rather than pursue that, he produced another cigarette and smoked it for a few seconds before saying anything else. “She wants us to rebuild the area covens,” he said, “but with new vampires who can be more easily controlled. The ones she likes, she plans on taking to expand her coven. Any others we turn, we can keep, so long as they prove loyal. I don’t know what her end goal is, except to say I had my reservations. You undoubtedly discovered that if you spoke to the woman I almost killed.”
“I did, and afterward, I removed her memories,” I said. “Shoddy workmanship on your part.”
He scoffed. “I was interrupted, for the record.” As Christopher became more solemn, however, the half-hearted attempt at self-defense faltered. “My gut tells me no good will come of this. Matthias insisted we return and clean up after ourselves, despite my feelings on the matter. As little as I relish the death of an immortal, it was better that you killed the lot of them. They were all loyalists, whether it be for power or to save their own necks. They would’ve found a way to tell Sabrina they saw you.”
“Yes, but as it stands, this also means Sabrina will notice their absence, and that alone will probably lead her to believe I am around. She will come looking for me. And Timothy will ensure her spies find where I am hiding.”
As I groaned, I removed my sunglasses, rubbing my eyes first before looking up at Christopher again. “You said ‘found a way to tell Sabrina’ –” I began, but stopped when the look on Christopher’s face faltered.
He shot to a stand, dropping his cigarette on his pant leg and yelping first before kicking it off and stomping it into embers. As he peered at me once more while leaning to brush off the ash, I saw what looked like pure, unadulterated fear in his eyes. “You’re one of them,” he said, straightening to a full stand the moment he was able. “Oh, Jesus Christ, no wonder she wants you back. Somehow, the paranoid bitch bottled lightning.”
I furrowed my brow, but when I looked at Monica, she tapped the side of her face right near her eyes and then, I knew what had alarmed Christopher. Immediately, I thrust my sunglasses back onto my face. “I do not work for her any longer,” I said.
“Yes, for a week, if what she said about the meeting was true. Do you think hiding your eyes will make me forget what I’ve seen?” Slowly, he inched closer to the exit. “You’re an atrocity in vampire form and I’m dead the moment you fly back to Mother Dearest.” Spinning on his heels, he looked ready to dash out of the office.
When the door slammed shut, even I jumped.
It whipped closed and came within inches of impacting him. The lock clicked into place and as he stepped away from the doorway, I glanced at Monica, who was suddenly standing, her hand pointed it at the fleeing vampire. She scowled, her eyes screaming intensity at Christopher when he turned around to face us again. “Where is she?” Monica asked. “Speaking of Mommy Dearest.”
“You’re both mad,” he said. His eyes shot from Monica to me and back. “What does the Order have up its sleeve, I wonder, if it’s allowing this to continue?” Slowly, his hand lifted, a shaky finger pointing at me. “They won’t allow that to stand for long. So, you’ve either gone rogue or you’re bound to double-cross him.”
“I asked a question. I don’t want to repeat it.”
“Nobody knows where she is. Okay?” Christopher barked a laugh. “She’s probably moving around the city if she’s smart. If I was going to attempt a message to her, I’d leave it on her doorstep and wait for one of her ilk to show up for a chat. There isn’t some secret drop site or light we can shine into the clouds. She’s a ghost.” His gaze returned to me. “Just like you’ll be soon.”
“What sort of nonsense –?” I began, but Christopher interrupted.
“You’re an atrocity,” he repeated. “And the Supernatural Order would sooner kill you than welcome you into their ranks.”
I raised an eyebrow, set partially aback by the emphatic way he spat out his declaration. Reaching inside my coat, I pulled out one of my daggers and as he whipped around to beat at the door, I rushed upon him and shoved the knife through his back. While necessity told me killing Christopher would be inevitable, I found his final words unsettling, lingering on them even after he had turned to dust and I had produced a cloth to clean the blade.
‘One such as you was never meant to be one of us.’
While I resisted the urge to touch Robin’s pocket watch, his words still echoed in my thoughts.
“What was that all about?” I asked, my feet shifting in such a gradual manner, it took several paces before I found myself standing near Monica. I slid the blade back into its holster, distracted only momentarily by the cigarette left burning on the floor before looking at the woman who called herself my watcher. My shoe stomped out the embers before they could catch fire.
Monica sighed. Meeting my gaze for a moment, she shook her head and pointed at the remains of what had been Christopher. “Vampires are all paranoid about the Order, Peter,” she said. “Let me worry about it. You have more important things to think about.”
We stared at each other, locked in a silent stalemate. If not for how late the hour had become, and how overwhelmed I felt attempting to process everything I had discovered, I might have felt inclined to argue the point. Her hand settled on my shoulder, though, and brought my focus back to her without me realizing it had strayed. “Let’s get out of here,” Monica coaxed. “I need to figure out how we’re going to scare Sabrina out of hiding.”
Nodding, I adjusted my coat, ensuring the folds covered my weaponry while following Monica back onto the city streets. Most of our walk was spent in silence, with a noticeable amount of discomfort floating between us, begging to be acknowledged. We did not, however. I retreated into my room once we returned to her safe house and Monica allowed me to be alone without issuing any sort of objection. I stripped off my coat and my knives before removing my glasses and sitting on the bed.
Though the call to sleep had started its rise into crescendo, I fought against the urge to disrobe further. My eyes settled on the sword still propped against the wall and, without further thought, I rose and walked toward it, pulling it from its sheath the moment I lifted it. It had only been a week, I reminded myself. Less than two months since everything had come to life about my hidden abilities. I had turned the corner from a homicidal sociopath to something resembling my former self, but such a wide gulf remained between the two.
And there I stood, hovering in midair.
I tossed the scabbard aside and swung the sword once. Rotating it at my side with only one hand on the hilt, I paced around the room, stuck in the collision of so many thoughts, I did not know where to settle first. Did I dare sulk in the shadow of all my sins?
Taking hold of the hilt with both hands now, I swung it again.
Perhaps I should ponder the last words of the dearly departed Christopher, I mused. Whipping the blade in another perfect arc, I temporarily revisited the notion that, once more, I had been thrust into a world in which I did not belong. Nothing about my immortal life had been typical, compared to the other vampires with whom I had interacted in any coven. And, even if he had been exaggerating, Christopher opened wide the suspicion that even redeeming myself might not endear me toward a society of vampire hunters. I had become the thing they undoubtedly hated. This left me without anyone I could trust.
Anyone, that was, outside of Monica, I corrected.
I paused the impromptu form exercise, and while prudence argued that I should consider our alliance with more gravity, something about the notion of allies stuck. The echo of Christopher’s answer to my question – ‘Is yours the only coven to have abdicated?’ – seemed to contain a key and though the idea could have been considered madness, it also formed an elegant solution to that problem. Who could we trust when the immortal world was set to crumble around us?
“You okay?” Monica asked from the doorway, directing my focus back to her. As she entered, she nodded at the sword I held, stopping a safe enough distance away from me and folding her arms across her chest. “Not that I don’t approve of the sword swinging. You look super intense doing it.”
Offering a small, short-lived smile in response, I walked over to where I had dropped the scabbard and picked it up. “Might I ask a question?” I said. “And pardon my ignorance as I ask it. I know nothing about magic and sorcery.” Slipping the sword back into its sheath, I walked it back to where it had been propped and leaned against the wall after doing so. “You seem to have achieved a lot with your spells. Yet, you cannot locate Sabrina?”
Monica frowned. “No, it’s not that easy.” She freed a hand to tuck the blonde strand of her hair behind her ear. “She dabbles in dark magic. This means she can mask her trail and if she’s smart, that’s what she’s doing. To answer your question, though, no. I can’t use magic to find her.”
“Somehow, I suspected that might be your answer.”
I took a deep breath, glancing away as I once again considered the absurdity of what I was about to suggest. When I looked back toward Monica, it was because I had summoned the courage with which to do so. “Get whatever you use to locate people. If you cannot find Sabrina because she masks herself, I assume this means you could find someone who does not.”
“Theoretically.” She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, and though I felt her crawling around in my thoughts, she asked the question anyway. “What did you have in mind?”
A smirk touched the corners of my mouth. “Allies. If Sabrina is moving around the city, you and I are going to have a difficult time tracking her, but with help, this could be much easier. It might connect us with the only people who want the same thing we do.” Slowly, I sobered and nodded toward the stairs. “We have until dusk again to devise a fuller plan, because this is not going to be simple.”
“If it pays off, though,” I continued, “Then we might find a way to corner my absent maker.”
Part VI
The Final Challenge
“Lust is to the other passions what the nervous fluid is to life;
it supports them all, lends strength to them all.
Ambition, cruelty, avarice, revenge, are all founded on lust.”
Marquis De Sade
Chapter 30
He had blond hair, and though I had not ever laid eyes on him before, I knew the man by reputation. That he looked over his shoulder several times as I followed him came as no surprise to me – in fact, I considered it intelligent even if it forced my wits to be sharper. Monica’s spell had tracked him to the heart of South Philadelphia and at the point when I located him, I had only a few blocks to determine where and when I would confront him.
My only comfort came when I realized he was unarmed.
Allen Hughes walked with a slow gait, dressed in jeans and a jacket to blend in with the scant few humans walking the streets with him. When he did not spar
e a glance toward ensuring his safety, he seemed lost in thought, his stride slow enough for me to keep a sizable distance from him without losing him. I only deviated from his path to cut down an adjoining street, racing to cut him off at the pass.
‘Are you still nearby?’ I thought while summoning a mental image of Monica.
The fledgling attempt worked, much as she had said it would before we left the house. ‘Yep, I’m closer to their safe house, though,’ her voice chimed in my head. ‘When are you planning on making your move?’
‘Soon. I am moving to intersect him now.’
‘I’ll keep an eye out. Just like we planned.’
While I did not respond with words, I nodded – more to myself than her. Sidestepping a couple walking in the opposite direction, I sprinted once I passed them, cutting down another alley with the hope that I had moved fast enough to get ahead of him. The sounds of a kitchen filtered from a metal door as I dashed past it, and as I approached a dumpster overflowing with trash bags, I slowed to a stroll again. Making as little noise as possible, I inched closer to the edge of the building, listening for his steps while not daring to look around the corner.
As if answering a silent prayer, the Fates granted me confirmation. A rock kicked from the tips of his shoes, rolled and collided with the brick edifice of the monolith beside me. Taking a deep breath, I left the knives I had brought with me holstered, not certain how to play the part of diplomat, but not willing to use that form of threat just yet. Instead, I shut my eyes, counting his steps until he strode beside me. Reaching for him, I took hold of him with both hands, dragging him into the alley with me.
I opened my eyes as he barked a startled yelp. As I threw him up against the wall, I covered his mouth with both hands, pressing him against the wall using only the force of my body. As he looked at me, his eyes widened. I, in turn, frowned. “We need to talk,” I said, “for as little as I suspect you want anything to do with me right now.”
