Chapter Eight
I lingered in the vestibule for an additional moment, knowing I did so to my own peril. To keep Sabrina waiting could mean my execution rather than my admonishment, but I found myself attempting to interpret Sabrina’s tone and read the tea leaves in the cup. Her voice did not give me any hope of knowing what I might face when I finally stepped into her sitting room, so I glanced into as much of the living area as I could see from this vantage point. I perked an eyebrow at what I found.
In all of the times I had visited the palatial penthouse on the top floor of our building, a sparse collection of lamps always seemed to be illuminated. Enough that I knew never to remove my sunglasses for fear of burning my retinas into blindness. This time, however, the darkness staring back at me caused me to perk an eyebrow. I stepped forward just one pace. I hesitated once more, casting a wary glance at the soft glow emanating from the corner of the room. When I saw it flicker as if caught by a gust of wind, I reached up and did something I had never done before in there.
I touched my sunglasses and slid them from my face.
My eyes registered a slight tinge of pain from the candlelight, but not enough to burn. As such, I pocketed my glasses and stepped around a corner, into the sitting room where Robin and I met once with our immortal mother; where she presented me the charge to become her assassin. Thrusting a hand through my hair, I walked further into Sabrina’s personal quarters. When I finally caught sight of her, I paused my steps on instinct. My feet refused to budge any further.
Sabrina stood near a heavily draped window, her back to me, and raised a hand to part her curtains just enough for her to stare into the night. Her posture did not speak as many volumes as her manner of dress did. A blouse clung onto her slender, yet shapely, frame and even from my perspective I noticed a few buttons undone and a collar parted that hinted at how much cleavage I would see when she turned around. I swallowed hard at the tight skirt formed to her hips, ending inches shy of her knees. The stiletto heels raised her calf muscles into sensual curves.
Suddenly, I began to suspect I was being seduced. And I did not mind it in the slightest.
“What is it, my son?” she asked, her voice soft and smooth as silk.
My skin prickled. I studied her, regarding the red hair cascading down her shoulders, and fought the compulsion to follow the sight of her into decadent thoughts. “Nothing, Mistress,” I said, surprised at how subdued my voice proceeded forth from my lips. “Why?”
“You hesitated. I called you in here, didn’t I, Flynn?”
“Yes, you did.” I nodded as she turned her head to line me in her periphery. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to expect.”
Sabrina released her hold of the curtain, allowing it to fall closed while she faced me. The open blouse I fantasized about stared at me, presented forth as though meant to be a gift for my eyes. I shifted my gaze quickly, hoping she did not see where I had been looking while hoping she did at the same time. My blue eyes had nothing to hide behind now. They looked directly into her chocolate-colored irises and had I a pulse, it might have seized at the moment from the tension building in the air between us.
My mistress pretended she was unaware of it. “When I bid you to come,” she said, “You are to come. Are we clear on this matter?”
I nodded. “Yes, Mistress.”
“Good.” Sabrina nodded. She pointed toward one of her couches. “Sit. I wish to speak with you.”
Nodding once more, I walked almost precisely to the place where she directed and sat, settling back against the leather upholstery and listening to it creak underneath my weight. Sabrina sat across from me, her legs crossing and her arm raising to recline against the complimentary sofa that was at once so close, and yet, so far away. Her hand touched her lips, which pursed while she studied me. “Do you know why I called for you?” she asked.
I suppressed the urge to jerk at the collar of my shirt. “No, I don’t,” I said.
“You don’t?” The corner of her mouth curled upward. “You don’t even want to guess, my dear?”
Indulging in a deep, steadying breath, my mind traced across the events of the night prior. I scratched the back of my neck, engaging in an internal debate. Come clean or hold my cards close to my chest in the event she did not know what I had done? I relaxed in my seat more and permitted the ghost of a smile to surface. “I believe I know what this is about, but I’m not sure.”
“You believe you might know?” An eyebrow perked as her eyes locked onto mine, refusing to relent in their scrutiny. “Then enlighten me.”
“You heard about what happened last night?”
“Did something happen last night, Flynn?”
“Yes.” The ghost grin vanished, dissipating like smoke. Yet I held a steady gaze with Sabrina.
Sabrina nodded. “Assume I have no notion of this and tell me what happened.”
I nodded in turn and sighed. “I ran into three immortals from another coven,” I said. “We exchanged words and things ended… poorly… for them.”
“And what does that mean?” I could have sworn I saw the smile return to Sabrina’s face, but it may have been a hint of amusement present in her eyes and nothing more. Or simply my imagination. “Did you do something to them?”
“I was armed.” Dipping my toe into the pool, I created a ripple to see where it would lead.
Sabrina did not crack a smile, but did not cast a frown. “You were armed with a blade?”
“Several. Throwing knives.” Well, she did not need to know about the sword.
“Why were you armed?”
“Protection. Self defense.” I paused. “To become used to carrying my weapons around with me.”
Sabrina nodded. “And what did you do with these blades, Flynn?”
“I murdered two of the three.” Inching forward in my seat, I held up a hand to stop Sabrina before she could shoot furious words at me. “But only because they were insulting you. They called you terrible names, Mistress, and insulted me in the process. When they threatened me, I retaliated. And…” I hesitated, but only momentarily. The time had come to be truthful. “I don’t regret it. Not at all. I would do it again, in fact.”
“How did it feel?”
I furrowed my brow. “How did it feel to kill them?”
Sabrina nodded, but said no more. I looked away, my brow yet knitted and considered the question for a few seconds before my gaze returned to Sabrina’s and a sinister smile spread across my face. Her eyes glinted a recognition of this, almost reflecting evil as though a pool of water with me yet possessing a reflection. “I must confess,” I said, a tone inhabiting my speech that hearkened back to the first mortal I ever consumed. “I liked it.”
She perked an eyebrow at me, but her lips betrayed the gesture, curling into a grin with my mistress nodding and placing a finger across her mouth. My mind conjured wicked thoughts of her licking the digit in a sensual manner, double entendres flying between us until I took her into my arms and did the most erotic things to her. I swallowed hard. The thoughts seemed to be outside me and yet, I could not help but to succumb to their taunting. Her eyes melted into mine and although we both remained seated, I felt her presence overshadow me.
“I can tell,” Sabrina said. “I see it in your eyes. I have seen it in your eyes from the beginning, though. I still remember the first time you took that girl into your arms and finished her off. I knew I had a killer, Flynn. And a killer is what I see before me.”
I stared, attempting to discern what it was I felt; what it was I wished to say in response. “Thank you, Mistress,” I managed, “But I have only just begun this journey.”
“I know you have. And you desire more.” She nodded and stood, walking toward me while extending her hand. I placed my hand within hers and furrowed my brow while she smiled. “Come with me, dark son. I have something I would like to discuss with you.”
Standing, I nodded. “Where are we going?”
“To the balcony.” Her footsteps slow, her she walked me in the direction of two french doors. “You may want to put your glasses back on, lest the moonlight hurt your eyes.”
My free hand slid into my suit jacket, producing the dark spectacles again which I secured over my eyes before we reached the exit to her balcony. Sabrina relented her hold on me to open the doors and as they parted, a gust of cold air blew past us, touselling my hair and kicking hers up behind her like a cape taking flight. I stood in the threshold while she strolled to the railing and only when she turned to peer back at me did I assume a place beside where she stood. Her gaze shifted to the distance and I looked in the same direction as well, losing myself in the sight of moonlight reflecting off the windows of a skyscraper.
“It’s a rather interesting city, isn’t it?” she asked. “I’ve been to Hong Kong and New York City – wreaked havoc in Los Angeles and Chicago – but none of those cities enamored me as much as this place has.”
I nodded, allowing my eyes to drink from the sight as though just as enthralled with it as Sabrina. “I haven’t traveled much,” I said. “Only from home to my aunt’s house and then to college. This is all I’ve known for the past decade.”
“And to think. . . you have forever to examine it all.” Sabrina shot me a smile, directing my attention back to her as an amiable grin touched the corners of my mouth. No sooner did I gaze at her, however, than did her grin dissipate, a frown taking its place while her eyes lifted toward the concrete jungle surrounding us again. She sighed. “I have many enemies,” she said. “You could live over a hundred years like Robin and not have my list, and I have only had thirty years in this place to develop such adversaries. They, in turn, have had thirty years to plot my demise.” She paused. “Jealousy amongst vampires and the heads of the seven covens are not immune to it themselves.”
I furrowed my brow. “I didn’t realize there was so much competition.”
Sabrina issued a sardonic laugh. “We are a lot like the mafia. Our peace with one another is always tentative and the slightest thing could snap our precarious coexistence. We maintain order only for the sake of common interests. No other reason.”
“Why don’t they like you?”
“They fear me.” A smile surfaced on her face again. “They know I did not come here to be some subjugated puppet on a string. I came to lead a coven and to protect the interests of my immortal children. They see me as a threat because they are too incompetent to manage their own affairs.”
I huffed a chuckle. “The three I encountered were definitely incompetent.”
Sabrina turned her head, her eyes meeting mine. “Were they truly?”
“Oh gods, yes.” I laughed again. “I only spared the third one because I didn’t think he was worth chasing after. I could have easily caught up with him and slit his throat.”
“Yet, you didn’t.” She paused. “Isn’t it strange how fate works sometimes, my dear Flynn? How it brings us into these impossible situations and leaves us with an entirely different future as a result?”
“I don’t understand,” I said, my voice coming out sounding small.
“Because you spared the one, he returned to his coven master and informed Matthew of what happened. My shadow in the night, you must not spare a one again, but this time, it was for a purpose. The name of Flynn has been spoken on the lips of an immortal quaking with fear. You have given them a reason to tremble.”
Our gaze remained fixed, one onto the other, with Sabrina looming over me again without stepping forward one pace. Rather, her eyes met mine and sank in deep, becoming two fangs plunging through flesh to imbibe the lifeblood contained therein. I felt a chill run up my spine, but confused warning with pleasure, allowing it to consume me. Our bodies drifted closer and Sabrina nodded as if to confirm we were locked in this death dance, mistress to fledgling.
“Your aptitude has proven your readiness,” she said. “I have seen it with my own eyes as you and Robin have sparred and heard it from the mouths of your instructors. But now I must hear it from you. Are you ready to be my assassin, Flynn?”
“Yes.” The one word drifted outward with ease. “I am.”
“They underestimate us both.” Sabrina’s hand touched my shoulder. It slid across my back as she circled around me and this time, I closed my eyes when another shudder assailed me. Her voice continued wafting into my ears; a wicked lullaby. “Matthew thinks you merely a neophyte in need of scolding, but you are so much more than that, are you not?”
“Yes, I am.”
“What are you, Flynn?”
“I am a killer. I am your assassin.”
“You live to serve your mistress, do you not?”
“Yes.” My fangs slipped from their slumber. Her body pressed against mine, her lips touching my neck as she leaned in close to me.
“And you desire me, do you not?”
“I do, Sabrina.” I exhaled a shaky breath.
“You have for some time.” I felt her tongue on my ear, caressing the lobe before she began to nibble on it. “Tell me,” she added. “Tell me what you desire.”
My hands gripped onto the railing, knuckles white from how tight I took hold of the metal. “I desire you, Sabrina. I want you more than I have wanted anything.”
“No truces,” she said. “No survivors. No mercy. Punish those I tell you to punish and I will reward you. Stain the streets red with the blood of my enemies and you will have all of those carnal desires you harbor. You are ready to be my killer and I will give you a taste of what your reward shall be.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “Turn and claim what your loyalty has earned.”
Eyes opening, I felt drunk, pivoting to look at Sabrina with my lids lifted to mere slits. Enough to line her in my sight and see her looking at me, lust dripping from her gaze, her lips more of a temptation than I could resist. I captured them as though starved for sustinance. Sabrina thrust her body against mine in response and as she wrapped a leg around my waist, I consumed her in violent, passionate kisses, tasting nothing but poison and yet, craving each embrace with intense need. Sabrina grabbed hold of the lapels of my jacket and ground against me once.
Then she lowered her leg and threw me onto the balcony floor.
Jumping on top of me, Sabrina kissed me once more before pulling away. I craned my neck to capture her lips again, but she used the opportunity to plunge her fangs into my throat and send a howl of pleasure resonating into the air straight from my lips. At some point in the manic, tawdy episode which followed, my glasses were removed. I clenched my eyes shut, my remaining senses left to experience the thrill of having every unspoken desire consummated through Sabrina. Clothing was shed. Bites littered my body and my will found itself at Sabrina’s mercy, subject to her whims with the moaning, thrusting, and release that followed a precursor of things to come.
Oh yes, she had my loyalty. She had me wrapped around her finger and I was but a puppet on a string.
Later that evening, that sense of something changed carried with me while I hunted. As I took mortal life, it felt as though I had tasted the fruit from the tree and could not retreat now on a pact made with the devil. Not that I had any desire to; in fact, she could have ripped my soul from my body and cloaked me in eternal darkness and I would have begged for more. She smiled the wickedest smile at me when I returned to the coven house and I grinned at her in turn, now her co-conspirator. Her assassin. No other being on the planet held my affections so pointedly.
None other, with the exception of my brother Robin.
I returned to my room to find him standing by my door, leaning with his back against the wall as though he had been waiting all night for me to return. The vexed look remained a fixture, consuming him in the most visible manner possible. I hesitated for a moment, then marched forward with renewed confidence. “Robin?” I asked, my voice more cold than it had ever been to my brother. “What brings you here?”
Robin regarded me in silence until I stopped a few feet shy of him.”How did your talk with the Mistress go?” he asked. Robin did not flinch at my tone. His remained just as even as mine.
“Good.” I paused. “She agrees that I am ready to assume my responsibilities as her assassin.”
“Because you slaughtered two immortals in cold blood?”
“Because I defended her honor, dear brother.”
Robin nodded. His hands slipped into his pants’ pockets while his eyes shifted to the wall opposite him. “I see how little my opinion matters in this coven.”
“With all due respect,” I said, “I don’t think I need to be as coddled as you want me to be.”
“This has nothing to do with being coddled.” His gaze returned to mine. “Flynn, you think, with all of the wisdom of a one year old immortal, that you understand the way this world works when nothing could be further from the truth. I walked the streets of Kilkenny before cars occupied roads. I sailed on ships when flying machines were the things of fiction. I am much more worldy and experienced than you.”
I perked an eyebrow in defiance. “And you don’t think I’m ready for this? Even after I’ve proven I can hold my own in a fight?”
“This has nothing to do with holding your own in a fight and everything to do with the type of wisdom you lack.” His eyes flashed anger. His finger raised to point at me. “The Mistress may not give a care about this sort of thing, but I do. You are being thrown into a world of enemies without beginning to understand the ways of this world. You are being sent out there like sheep to the slaughter and not because you have no notion of weapons and fighting. We have already established that the student eclipsed the ability of his master far before this present reality. I hold no egotism. I admit my place as your inferior, but that is just it. You haven’t the foggiest notion of why things are the way they are.”
“And neither do I care to know!” I said, shouting back at him. I gritted my teeth, holding back the compulsion to bare fangs. “I am through with this cloak and dagger bullshit.”
“Lang…”
“Fuck off, Robin.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I think you’re jealous and are being spiteful because of it. I have proven and will prove myself. If I need a tutor at this point, it’s trial and error.”
Robin nodded. “Very well.” The words spoken softly, the subsequent statement was issued with harshness as a stark contrast. “Since you have no further use for me, I shall find some place in this coven where I am needed.”
He stood straight and began a brisk stride away. A frown surfaced in a flash moment of clarity, long enough for me to say, “Wait,” to him without moving to follow.
Robin stopped. His back remained to me, but his head turned to line me in his perephery. “What is it, Flynn?”
“I never said I didn’t have any use for you.” My statement was enough to coax him toward facing me fully. He stared, but did not speak, so I continued. “You are the only one in this coven who teaches me anything. I am going to need help, I just don’t want to be treated like an infant.”
For a moment, we regarded one another in silence. Until Robin nodded. “I will not leave you destitute,” he said, “But you are to understand this.” A pause punctuated his words. His stare became severe. “You will have to deal with the consequences of your actions from this point forth, Flynn. You chose this path. Now it is your burden, not mine.”
“I never asked it to be yours in the first place.”
“Indeed.” Robin issued a short nod. “Now, sleep well this morning, dear brother. Savor every moment of it. Because I promise you, it is the last restful sleep you will enjoy.”
He turned again and this time, I did nothing to stop him as he made his way to the end of the corridor and turned for the stairs. Instead, I remained standing in the same place, puzzling over his warning for a few seconds before shrugging it off and entering my room. Once inside, I closed the door and removed my sunglasses, sighing from relief over the darkness which wrapped itself around me like a cocoon. I leaned against my door. A sadistic smile spread across my face. I did intend to enjoy resting that night, but planned to do so every night from that point forth, regardless of what Robin had to say.
My dreams were not to be so accommodating, though, and Robin’s warning not to be the final word. As I laid in bed, I tossed and turned while the vision of a white room materialized in my subconscious and the chill of dread settled into my bones, so much like the dream I had weathered a mere two mornings ago when I destroyed my old apartment. No familiar furnishings surrounded me this time as I opened my eyes to behold the sterile, vacant place where my dreaming form found itself standing. I spun around to survey my immediate area.
That was when I saw her.
Standing across from me inside the void, holding one of my swords, the ghost of Lydia regarded me with far more disdain than even Robin had. On her chest were bloodstains, crimson-colored patches on clothing hiding the wound I inflicted when I shoved the butcher knife into her body. She lifted her chin, sizing me up. “I’ve been watching you,” she said. “My eyes haven’t left you even though I haven’t said anything to you recently.”
The sight of her brought loathe to the surface like bile rising to burn the back of my throat. I sneered. “Well, well, well… how fortunate does that make me? To have an audience?” I raised my arms to my sides and bowed. “I hope you’ve enjoyed the show, Pet. Especially the night before last.” Standing straight, I adjusted my suit jacket, a snide grin surfacing on my face. “That was for you. I thought if you wanted to fuck with me that turnabout was fair play. Lovely touch, placing me inside my old apartment, by the way. Especially with those pictures of you and my parents.”
Lydia held an even gaze. “You speak just like a demon.”
“I am a demon, mortal. You’ll do well to remember that and leave me alone from now on.”
“You used to heal, Peter.” She shook her head, lifting up the sword as she spoke. “Now, you kill. You’ve been given unspeakable gifts and you’re wasting them.”
“So wrapped up in the past. Allow me to help you with that.” I strode toward her. Lydia did not move and relented her hold on the sword, shocked as I grabbed it from her hands and impaled her with it in one swift motion. Holding her close, I spat venom as I filled her ear with the harshest whisper my lips ever produced. “Hear me now, you adulterous bitch, Peter is dead. He no longer owns this body and neither do you. I suggest you enjoy your afterlife and leave mine alone, or more people will die. Each time I sense your shiver or see your ghost, I will murder like a tyrant until you relent. Are… we… clear on this?”
“You have no idea,” Lydia said, a pained grin on her face as her eyes returned my look of severity tenfold. “You don’t see it yet, but you will. When we come back to finally deal with you.”
“Lovely, do be sure to drop in any time.” I twisted the sword. “So I can continue doing this to you.” As I pulled back to stare into her eyes, I did not expect her hands to raise, but they grabbed me by my jacket and pulled me even closer, noses a hair’s breadth from touching while she shook her head at me.
Her green eyes appeared almost ethereral. Her tone became sharp; stern. “You can’t outrun your destiny,” she said, pausing to cough before continuing to speak. “It’s looking for you and it will find you… when you least… expect it…”
Lydia’s grip on me relented. Her body slid from the blade as gravity worked its wiles on her corpse and forced her body to fall limp at my feet. I watched her crumple to the floor, an inner voice attempting to speak; a dying flame staring down at her and wanting to ignite again while failing miserably in its task. The ember surrendered its life in a puff of smoke. Within a few seconds, it was no more.
I flicked her blood from the blade and strode off into nothing, satisfied with myself, thinking now this would be the end of my entanglement with the shadows of my past. Her threats held no merit and did nothing to sober me as had been Lydia’s intent. I saw nothing more than the last breaths of a dead woman and regarded it with far less concern than I did Robin’s words to me. When I woke, the evil consuming me yet thrived beneath my skin. I rose to greet the evening and plunder it once more.
A few days later, as I rummaged through my pants pockets, I found the necklace I ripped from Lydia’s throat shimmering inside, staring at me as though possessing the stern gaze of its former owner. I held it in my fingers for a matter of seconds before thrusting it back where I found it and making a detour to a pawn shop on my way to sate my bloodlust for the night. Only days afterward, I received orders for my first hit and the vicious glare in my eyes became a permanent fixture; a callous expression I wore that night and each night forth with every murder I executed.
My sword stayed by my side. My coat concealed the knives I kept always on my person. My senses were attuned; my will as cold as steel and as sharp as a blade honed by the most skilled craftsman. I became the hitman of the undead, death personified and a force with which to be reckoned. Over the next four years, I established the name of Flynn through my actions. All who stood against Sabrina feared the day when they would meet me face to face. I reveled in it. I thrived within its confines.
The adage remained as true to me, however, as it does to all who possess a special calling. Eternity does indeed catch up with you. And found me, it did, in the most unlikely of manners.
