Invincible (A Centennial City Novel) (10 page)

“I’m stronger,” he said. “I’m stronger than most young vampires. My self-control is better. My senses are better. A very distinct advantage when you are turned by a Domina.”

Domina.

Reiko was a Domina.

I wanted to laugh, if only to keep from screaming. “She’s head of her own House?”

She nodded. “I am.”

Instead of abating like it should have, my headache got worse. “I knew you were older than you looked. But you didn’t seem to be particularly strong…”

She looked down demurely. “I have always prided myself on shielding my aura.”

I wanted to laugh. A Domina. Shielding her own aura. “Why would you do that? The only reason a vampire would do such a thing was because they’re afraid of being found. But why would you be afraid of anything? Head of your house, you could take down an entire ten-story building in less than half a minute.”

And it was frightening, to see this pretty little girl, all blushes and giggles. I had little doubt that just by thinking it, she could will me to death. Just imagine that all my blood cells would dry, shrivel and it would happen.

Her dark eyes narrowed. “You are not my enemy. Indeed, I am quite indebted to you. You saved Jason when I could not. Were it not for your actions, we would be right back where we started. I will not hurt you, Ran.”

“I only have your word, don’t I?” I didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but it was better than letting her see just how scared I was. Vampires could taste fear…although I had the not-so-sneaky suspicious Reiko already knew the effect she had on me.

Jason sighed. “We can sit here and snipe at each other, but what would that even achieve? Nothing beneficial, I’m afraid. Ran, you will rest.”

“And you’ll be able to protect yourself?” I sounded skeptical. I was.

He smiled. “Rest.”

He left then, leaving me alone with the last person in the world I wanted to be alone with.

Reiko stared down at her small, pale fingers intertwined in her lap and got up in a rush of perfume and satin skirts. “Sleep. We will look after you this time.”

Fully aware of how important it was that I sleep off the effects of the precog, still, it made me uncomfortable in how they sought to protect me. It should’ve been the other way around. Although, the idea I could possible protect a Domina… “Look, I’ll be fine,” I said. “I just need to rest for an hour. Maybe two. But no more than that. I’ll be up soon.”

The vampire nodded tightly and slipped out the door, leaving me alone with the single burning candle and nothing but the swiftly encroaching darkness.

***

The next two nights passed without incident.

The disposal of Michael’s body had been handled by the large, muscular human servant of Reiko, Marcus. The body was moved to the room next to mine, a sheet tossed over his broken body in a semblance of respect and I watched Marcus heft the driver’s body onto one shoulder like it was a bag of rice. He walked down the stairs and out the front door.

It had been a little past midnight when he carried out Michael’s body. That probably explained the lack of screams from the neighbors. Humans can get rather…
tetchy
around dead people.

And during the two nights, I watched Reiko train Jason in the basement.

I had known he was no stranger to martial arts, having witnessed his speed and strength on the first night we met, but she wasn’t just forcing him to become better.

She was training him to be a killer.

“Again!” The diminutive
Domina
grabbed him by the neck and shook him like a terrier with a rat. “Stand up!”

I almost felt sorry for him.

He staggered on his feet, a thin sheen of blood spotting on his temples, breathing heavily. “Let me catch my breath.”

She took a few steps back, face fixed in a thunderous expression. “As you wish.”

Contrary to belief, vampires do breathe. Albeit at a slower and less frequent rate than humans. It’s possible to suffocate vampires…provided you’re strong enough to keep one pinned down and you’ve brought a book to read, because it was going to take a while.

I leaned against the wall next an authentic weapons rack holding up several very authentic weapons. I almost cut myself on the blade of a curved axe that still had dirt on the wooden handle.

Marcus sat down next to me, arms crossed over an impressively sized chest. To be honest, looking at him, you would’ve never figured he could get his arms crossed over pectoral muscles as large as his. “Quite a change.”

He didn’t talk a lot, so every time he did, I was half tempted to check and see if it was raining fish. In the basement, I had no such luck. “You ever see her like this?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes.”

Or maybe it was a good thing he didn’t talk a lot. His voice was low and guttural, like he was a chronic smoker, but I didn’t think he was. Most smokers smelled like ashes, no matter how often they bathed, and Marcus didn’t smell like nicotine.

He just smelled like blood.

Lots of it.

It was more than little disconcerting, the fact he smelled more like a vampire than Reiko and Jason did.

Jason let out an explosive breath and shook his arms out, rolling his head from shoulder to shoulder. “I’m ready.”

Reiko hissed, her canines jutting past her narrow chin and they met on the middle of the training mat in a blur of movement, a blur of color.

I couldn’t follow their movements with my eyes. The precog was always an option, but I wasn’t so gung-ho about following their fighting that I wanted to have a hell of a metaphysical hangover. I’m not that much of a sadist.

The sparring session was fierce but short. It almost always is, between creatures of the underworld.

Droplets of blood sprayed in a wide arc and next to me, Marcus cursed softly.

Reiko took a step back, licking the crimson from her fingertips. “Too slow, Jason. Much too slow.”

Jason swayed, and I watched as the flesh from his right shoulder to the middle of his chest begin to mend, the skin coming together right before my eyes. But no matter how fast he was healing, the tightness in his lips, the way his brows furrowed, the hand on his collarbone…he was in pain, a great deal of pain.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly and fell on the mat as his legs refused to keep him upright anymore. “I will work on this.”

She let out a contemptuous little laugh. “Will you? I certainly hope so. After all, I highly doubt any enemy of yours would back away having already struck you like I have. Had I gone through with the blow, you would be dead.”

I very rarely entered into any argument not my own, but this time, I felt the need to interject. “Yes, but you are older. He’s only been undead for two, three nights. Surely, you can see the folly in such brutal training?”

The look in her dark eyes stopped me from saying anything more. One more word and she could not be held responsible for my safety. I fought the urge to run back upstairs.

“You know nothing of our ways. The weak do not last. If Jason truly wants retribution, then he must learn to discard everything but his will to survive.”

I wasn’t going to argue. Not with that look on her face.

“I’m fine.” Jason levered himself up to his feet, wiping the bloody sweat from his temple. He swayed on his feet, clearly the opposite of his words. “Ran, I appreciate your kind words, but this is something that must happen. Before Reiko introduces me to Noir, before we are admitted to his court, there’s a chance there will be a battle. Noir will not allow anyone weak. I need to make sure I survive long enough to reap the benefits of being within his fortress. It’s the only way we’ll get what we need. I can petition for the bastard who took Shannon. Once that happens, you can do what you wish with Noir.”

This was a dangerous game, perhaps too perilous. “I still don’t understand why I have to be the one who exacts Reiko’s revenge for her. She’s strong enough to do it herself.”

Said vampire snorted. “Be that as it may, I am a vampire. A Domina. Were I to be discovered, my entire House would be in danger. I am not so foolish as to exact such punishment on those under the protection of my name. However, if you were to do it…”

It made sense. I suppose. “If I do it and I’m discovered…what’s to stop Noir from tearing my head off?”

She shrugged. “That is not my problem.”

Said like a true
Domina
. “Right. Of course. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Jason shook his head slowly, almost as though he’d been hit too many times in the forehead. Then again, who knew if he had? I certainly couldn’t follow Reiko’s movements fast enough, not with my human eyes. “Reiko, we’re not finished yet.”

“No?” With one fluid, almost elegant flick of her small hand, she touched his shoulder and he flew into the wall, the plaster raining down as he fell with a jolting thud on the stone floor. “I think we are, my son.”

My son. This was just too strange, even for me. “Was that necessary?”

One day, my mouth was going to get me killed.

“He must learn,” she said slowly, watching her
son
push himself up to his feet and then fall down again, a stream of blood dripping from his hairline. “He’s an idealistic fool who’ll get us all killed if he does not learn. We are, I must admit, nothing more than creatures with no remorse, no soul.”

This was said with no expression, no emotion in her bleak eyes and I resisted the urge to pat her on the head. “I am sorry.”

She shook her head. “Do not be. I made peace with what I was a very long time ago. Jason too must do the same if he wants to live.”

Did Reiko know the deal between Jason and I?

Did she know Jason’s life was mine as soon as I eliminated Noir?

Strangely enough, I did not want to enlighten her. She was volatile, and in this state of mind, with Jason’s blood splattered across her front, I didn’t want to surprise her. Not when I was within arms reach. And even then…

“Marcus,” she said, straightening her narrow, slight shoulders. “Help Jason up. Get him clean, if you can. We’ll hunt tonight.”

A new development. For the past two night, Marcus had brought someone into the house to feed Jason. I could only watch, fingernails curled into the palms of my hand, as he marched two women, one for each night, both of them brunettes, up the stairs.

The old me would have cut him down before he even made it to the base of the stairs.

The old me.

Saying much had changed seemed a gross understatement, at best.

I never saw the girls come back down.

Ignorance is bliss, they say.

I’m apt to agree with them.

I cleared my throat. “And what about me? What should I do?”

She quirked a faint brow at me and then looked me up and down, hands on her hips, in a very adult manner. “Would you like to come? It’s probably best that you do. You are, after all, his Ailward.”

“And Marcus is yours?” I asked.

“I don’t need one,” she said, smiling. “Marcus is just there to…persuade people.”

I had to admit, his girth was persuasive. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but think a pretty little girl walking alone in the dark was hell of a lot more frightening than a walking Goliath.

They do say the most frightening things come in small packages.

Or something like that.

She moved aside as Marcus assisted Jason out the double doors, the latter’s head down and very still. Had he passed out? Were vampires capable of being in an unconscious state? If I ever got out of this alive, all this knowledge of vampires would do me very well.

If I ever got out, that is.

“Where are you going?” I asked, as though I even cared.

Her fangs flashed in the light as she turned on one hell, her long black hair swirling perfectly about her shoulders.

“The Black Masque, where else?”

8

It was loud.

So loud, my teeth chattered.

Dressed in mostly black attire with a black coat procured for me by Marcus from who-knew-where, my hands itched. The hwan-geum had been confiscated at the door by a tall, lanky vampire with shockingly blond hair that looked almost too bright to be real, but had to be, since vampires didn’t take to dye very well.

He winked at me as I reluctantly handed over the scabbard.

“Don’t worry,” he said as one of the other security personnel began to open up the wide double doors to the converted warehouse that was, judging from the line that extended past the building and down the street, a very popular nightspot for most of Centennial City’s populace. “You’ll get it back. Promise.”

I nodded.

He lifted up a hand, as if to touch me and I’m ashamed to say that I flinched.

His bright blue eyes widened. “Wow, scared much?”

I had to hand over the sword. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to hand over the wrist dagger as well. And if I drew it on the vampire in front of me, then I would get it taken away. Not the most ideal situation. “Don’t touch me.”