Invincible (A Centennial City Novel) (23 page)

His face was close to me, so close I could have fallen into the startling blue, the sky in his eyes. “Do you like it?”

I refused to feel shame. “I like lilies.”

He moved closer, so close if he puckered up his lips, we probably could have kissed. “Then maybe I should wear it more often.”

Abruptly, he was pulled away from me as Shannon tugged on the collar of his shirt.

“For fuck’s sake, Ryder. Keep it in your pants, at least until we’re not in immediate danger of getting our heads taken off.”

Behind her, Jason’s face was immobile and he shrugged when I didn’t stop looking at him.

“Do you not approve?”

It was a silly question, but one I felt compelled to ask. It wasn’t as though I was trying to make him jealous, but still, it would have been interesting to see what sort of reaction, what sort of emotions he would have.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said quietly. “As long as it does not interfere with your duties, why should I care?”

How carefully worded.

But playing with the enemy, aka Vincent’s underling, certainly seemed as though it would indeed interfere with my duty to protect the one man the Vampire Lord was seeking to destroy.

I watched Ryder dust off the seat of his blue jeans. “Did you hear that, vampire?”

He raised his head. “What?”

“We are at opposite sides. Your Master wants mine killed.”

His blue eyes narrowed. “Yeah. No kidding.”

“So?”

“So what?”

Shannon let out a slow breath, putting her hands on her slim hips. “Idiot, she’s asking if she can trust you.”

He slanted a gaze at her. “What about you?”

“I’m supposed to be protecting her, dumb ass. Matthias owes Vincent nothing. If he wants the woman to survive, then I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her alive.”

How interesting. A bodyguard for a bodyguard. I’d certainly never had someone to watch my back before. Would I survive long enough to reap the rewards?

Or was it consequences?

Ryder was silent for a moment and then bent down again to pick up his coat, shaking it by the back to get rid of all the white dust disturbed from the fight. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

“That doesn’t sound promising,” I said.

He sighed. “I know. Look, I promised I’d get you out of here. So we’ll do that. Let’s get out of here and then I’ll decide what to do.”

Leaving the corridor was quick, mercifully, but if I had expected some sort of army to meet us at the mouth, I would be sorely disappointed.

For there was only one.

Hair glistening like freshly spilled blood, the Vampire Lord of Centennial City stood before us.

Ryder swallowed audibly.

“Um, wow. Didn’t expect you here.”

Vincent turned his green eyes to him. There was absolutely no emotion in those eyes that were as bright as polished glass bottles. “I expected you here. I’m pleased to see you’ve survived.”

Ryder laughed nervously. “Well, you know, I guess I’m kind of like a bad penny.”

A corner of Vincent’s lips relaxed. Or so I thought. “Funny. That’s what Eve always says.” He turned to us and I felt Shannon tense next to me. “You have my most profound apologies. This was not how I wanted events to progress.”

Jason held up his head high. For some reason, it was surprising to see they were evenly matched in height. For whatever reason, Vincent had seemed almost god-like, but as far as height went, he and Jason were the same height. “I regret leaving before I could fully explain my situation. Perhaps I have complicated matters.”

Vincent tilted his head to one side, a strange look in his cat eyes. “Complicated matters...what an interesting way of wording this political fiasco you have put my city, my people in. I have killed for less.”

“Much less,” Ryder said weakly.

His gaze fell on me. “You.”

I was glad I was not asked to assassinate Vincent. For I knew in that instant, even three hundred years would not have been enough to put him under.

“Ran...” he said, voice trailing away. He picked up something from the ground and held it out to me, hilt first. “I believe this belongs to you.”

I took my sword, still in its bag, gratefully and slung it over one shoulder. “Thank you.”

His eyes grew hooded. “That is a weapon with a history.”

I nodded, but said nothing.

“Much blood,” he continued, voice emotionless as though he was simply reading from a book. “A great deal of pain. A cursed blade.”

I matched him, gaze for gaze. With my weapon, I felt almost foolishly brave. “I have always considered myself lucky.”

“You would have to be, to be own such a sword,” he said and then took a step back, motioning up the great staircase, the wood varnished and shining in the faint moonlight from the skylight and french windows. “I believe the Committee will now discuss the matters of you and your Master.”

Shannon sucked in a breath. “They just tried to kill us.”

It was unnerving to see how calm Vincent remained. “And this was a mistake that I have apologized for. We were wrong for not hearing your side, and you were wrong to run away before proper judgement could be passed.”

Jason moved past me, put a foot on the first step, put a hand on the varnished handrail. “Then we must go. We shouldn’t keep the Council waiting, should we?”

Vincent nodded. “No, of course we musn’t.”

Shannon followed Jason as did Ryder and I stood at the foot of the stairs, watching the three vampires wind their way up the stairs that seemed much too grandiose, almost gaudy.

“Will you not go?”

Standing within arms reach of me, I swallowed the initial rush of discomfort of standing so close to a Vampire Lord. His power wafted from his skin like the scent of a flower and I felt the hair on my arms rise. “What would you have done if we had died in the passageway?”

He was quiet for a moment. “Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

“I don’t think I would have cared,” he said. “But you didn’t die. And so you are a mistake that we must now rectify. It’s like hanging someone, you know. If someone survives, they are considered strong. We vampires understand the strong.”

I couldn’t stop shaking. “Do you think I’m strong?”

He looked away.

“I don’t know, Ran. I don’t know.”

At that, I lost my nerve and ran up the stairs like the proper, cowed human I was.

14

Chapter Fourteen

The power they emanated flipped my stomach inside out and I had to put a hand on the wall to keep from falling face first into my own vomit.

I felt someone gather my hair up, keeping it into a loose queue at the nape of my neck. “Better in than out.”

Someone laughed. Shannon. “Really? How much more cliched could you get, Ryder?”

A hand rubbed wide circles on my back and even though my gut continued to clench and heave in the worst possible way, I pulled away. “Don’t touch me.”

I drew in a deep breath, and immediately regretted doing so as the sour-sweet smell of half-digested hamburgers and fries made me gag again.

“What’s wrong?”

I refused to feel shamed as Jason put a hand on my back.

“The power,” I managed to say through gritted teeth, determined to bring my body under control. Mind over matter. It really works...most of the time. “It’s making me feel sick.”

“I’m sorry,” said Vincent. “I forget. You’re human, so of course their auras would affect you in such a way. I suppose something like this has never occurred to me because, well, ordinary humans have never been called before the entire Committee before. I can see how this would be a bit...much.”

Breathing through my mouth made it easier to straighten back up, made it easier to take the handkerchief Ryder held out. “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” I muttered and tried to wipe the sick feeling off my lips.

I almost gave it back to him and then thought better of myself, stowing it back in my pocket, making a mental note to run it through some disinfectant before giving it back.

He winked at me. “Gives me an excuse to see you again.”

Shannon groaned, rolling her eyes. “Oh god, now I’m going to start throwing up.”

Ryder grimaced. “Please, don’t. Ran, I’ll try to comfort, but you, I think it’ll just make me sick too.”

They reminded me of siblings. “Please. I’ll be fine. I just...”

I swiped at the sweat on my brow and tried to ignore the strange, nauseating feeling that felt almost like I was standing on a boat in the middle of a squall.

So this was what power felt like.

I shivered and drew my coat closer around my body.

I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all.

But I didn’t think standing outside while they deliberated on Jason’s fate was an option. “I’m okay. I promise you.”

All four vampires stared at me with varying degrees of disbelief in their eyes and I pushed away from the wall, praying my knees wouldn’t start knocking together.

They didn’t, although it was a near thing.

“See?” I said and even managed a very weak laugh. “I’m okay. I just needed some time to adjust.”

The furrow between Vincent’s eyes did not fade nor lessen. “Adjust? And have you adjusted, hunter?”

I swallowed another rush of bile, but managed to walk away from the mess on the violet carpet. “I think so.”

“Hmm,” he said.

Jason put a hand on my arm. “Can you stand it?”

In all honesty, I wasn’t terribly sure. The power coming from the room at the end was almost too overwhelming. Something that felt close to a hot wind kept pushing the hair from my face, and my stomach twitched again.

I decided to just keep my mouth shut and nodded.

Shannon peered into my face as she fell into step next to me. The hallway was wide enough so that all four of us could have walked abreast without hitting any of the furniture or wall and there still would’ve been room for a few more people.

“She looks green.”

In response, my stomach rolled again and I stopped in place, unwilling to move, just in case I really did lose it again. “Please. Let’s not talk about this anymore. Being reminded makes it harder.”

Breathing shallowly through my nose, I felt shame flood through my body. What sort of Ailward was I be if I couldn’t even keep my stomach from rebelling? If they killed Jason while I was hacking a lung out in the corner, I was going to be exceedingly put out.

The walk seemed inordinately long, even though in all actuality it only took about a minute to make it down to that final room, the room with the gilded double doors, the shining handles that glittered like gold in the moonlight.

The closer we got, the more distinct became the small, uneven grooves set in the handles and I realized that it didn’t just look like gold, it really was gold.

A smile jerked up the corner of my lips. “Gilt simply isn’t good enough for you vampires, is it? You must have the best in everything, don’t you?”

Vincent looked at me and in his eyes, I saw a smile reflected back in those green eyes. “It comes with age. The older we get, the more we appreciate what is good. And the more we want it. There are some who say there can only be the best for the best.”

“And you?” I asked. “What do you say?”

His fangs glinted. A purposeful move. He had wanted me to know he was not human. “If we can have it, then why not?”

“Sounds like something your...” My voice trailed away. What was the word I should have used? “...people would say.”

Vincent laughed, a slow sound that made my skin tingle. Or was it crawl? All I knew was the longer I spent around these creatures, the less I saw them as the enemy. And that was dangerous. Noir had to be gone posthaste or else I feared my edge would be dull forever.

And once that happened, I was useless.

To be useless was worse than death.

I shook my head and tried to take a deeper breath. It was easier this time, and I took another breath.

A faint lightheadedness remained, but for the most part, the initial rush of nausea had faded away, as though it had never existed in the first place. “It’s gone.”

Ryder turned me toward him. “Are you sure?”

Eyes searching my face, he seemed...worried.

“Yes. I think I will be of use now.” There was something about the way his gaze flitted over to Vincent I did not, could not trust. “Is...something wrong?”

His smile seemed disingenuous, to say the least. “No. I mean. Why would you ask that?”

Jason cocked his head to one side. “Perhaps if you were a better actor, she wouldn’t have caught on.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, confusion warring with frustration. Why was it impossible to get a straight answer out of anyone? “Jason? What’s going on?”