Rebirth of the Seer (16 page)

I clamored to a stand. Julian clutched his sword and stepped back enough to give us a chance to weigh each other. My eyes flicked toward his weapon, noting the European styling of his blade as a start contrast against my Japanese-crafted steel. East meets west; we were much the same and yet, irrevocably at odds.

My adversary seemed not to appreciate it as much as I did. “I see you now wear Satan’s colors,” he said as he reared back and swung at me. I stepped out of the way, avoiding the blow by a hair’s breadth and giving myself only precious seconds to flip the sharpened edge of my sword around, facing it toward Julian. He smirked. “Only fitting for a demon.”

We both swung for each other at the same time, creating a loud crash of metal which echoed as it reverberated around the room. “Do you like it?” I asked as I thrust my blade forward, only to have it blocked by Julian. “A peculiar choice for a seer, I am certain, but I fancy it regardless.”

“You’re deceiving yourself if you think you’re anything but evil.” Julian gritted his teeth, parrying my next blow and responding with another swing. I moved to the side, dodging the assault. “You aren’t a seer.”

“I never thought myself a saint, but I am a seer whether you like it or not. And I have a mission to complete.”

“I’ll be damned before I let you leave this room.”

“Then let us both be accursed and vow to meet each other in hell.”

Our blades crossed once again, but my pati
ence had begun wearing thin. A
s I stepped back, I prepared to attempt a more aggressive assault. Teeth gritted, I swung for his arm in a violent arc,
leaving
myself exposed and at the mercy of a much more gifted swordsman than I was used to facing. Julian thrust his blade toward my chest. It forced me to lean back
abruptly, throwing
my center of balance
off.
I slipped and spilled out onto the floor, finding myself looking up at my attacker without realizing what had happened at first. I regained my bearings quick enough to exploit a moment of weakness, however. Rolling onto my elbow, I kicked for Julian’s wrist and knocked his sword onto the floor beside me.

Put at a disadvantage, he did not stop me from coming to a stand again. Both hands wrapped tight around the hilt of my katana and a menacing growl rumbled from my throat, escaping past the points of my fangs as my lips parted again. “I extend this mercy to you only once. Flee from here and tell your employers we are long gone from this city. If they even attempt to follow us, my wrath shall be swift and furious.”

Julian scoffed and surprised me by launching a boot-clad foot upward, compensating for what he lacked in finesse with brute force. My katana flew to the side, landing on the tiled floor with a clang and clattering into one of the stalls. “Just bloody splendid,” I murmured as I suddenly realized we had been reduced to hand-to-hand combat. No sooner did I say that, however, than my adversary took advantage of the moment to throw a punch at me.

I twisted out of the way, but could only raise a hand to block the next swing he attempted. He absorbed a blow to the stomach, and hollered at a well-placed kick to the knee, but finally landed one blow when he aimed for my blind side and connected with my chin. The force knocked my head to the side, but failed to hurt as much as I am certain Julian hoped it would. Instead, it only served to piss me off.

He threw another fist in a spirited arc, but I caught his hand in the palm of mine and applied a crippling amount of force to the bone and skin within my grip. Gritting my teeth, I did not bother even attempting to mask the sinister grin which crept its way onto my face, meeting the corners of my eyes to form a grotesque and wicked expression. Julian cried out in pain and fought a pair of shaky legs about to collapse under the weight of his agony.  “I take it none of your other fights have come to blows, Julian,” I said, my tone condescending.

Julian winced, but forced his eyes to meet mine. “I have killed more of you fanged bastards than you could imagine.”

Applying another ounce of pressure, I allowed a sneer to cast a shadow across my face. “You have not looked at my resume. You mortals
and your limited imaginations. Y
ou cannot begin to fathom the depths of my depravity.”

“Which is why you must die.”

“Which is why I must live. I have much to atone for.”

Julian laughed, defiance in his eyes as he stubbornly remained on his feet. He shook his head. “You claim you want redemption, but even throug
h those glasses
I see the murder in your eyes. You still want it. In your heart, you’ll just keep fooling yourself into thinking you could be better, but this
is what you are, Flynn. N
othing but a murderer.”

His words ran through me like a blade, piercing my soul with the very root of my internal conflict. Frozen in place, I could not bring myself to deny the veracity of his words; I did want to murder him. And I knew, if I gave in, for a moment I would genuinely revel in it. A pang of guilt
crippled
me at just the
wrong moment. Opening my mouth to speak
,
I afforded
Julian his
chance to turn the tables
.

His other
fist
flew up – seemingly out of nowhere – and c
onnected just above my ear. It forced me to relinquish my grip on his hand, stumbling back out of his reach only to realize I felt
my sunglasses slid
ing
from my nose
. My attempt to prevent their removal merely
jostled
them
onto the floor
,
where they landed
with eerie finality. I hissed against the sudden assault of light, clenching my eyes shut and flailing blindly, knowing Julian would give me no opportunity to recover.
‘
Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it
.
’

Robin’s voice entered my mind for the first time in days with the old taunt of keeping my guard up. I growled and sacrificed one hand in the effort to shield my face while dropping to my knee
s. “Fucking bastard!” I yelled.

“All’s
fair in love and war.
” I heard the rush of wind before feeling the force of Julian’s boot crunch my nose
, which forced
a spurt of tepid blood from my nostrils. Spilling fully onto the hard tile, I stole precious seconds to regroup before rolling onto my back and listening for what the master seer was about to do. I made out the sound of metal scraping the ground before being lifted from it. He had found his sword. Another surge of profanity threatened to escape my lips.

“Now, little vampire,” Julian said, taking his turn to be smug. “Would you prefer me to decapitate you or should I drive my sword through your heart instead?”

“Surprise me.” I took a deep breath, attempting to calm my thoughts enough to focus. If he was going to pause to be cocky, it
was
only fair to use the chance to engineer an escape.
How I rued having
such a debilitating handicap
, though
. At that moment, I would have pre
ferred anyone else’s eyes above mine
.

Anyone
else’s
. I perked an eyebrow as an unlikely presence made herself known – someone who stood by the entryway to the bathroom and watched from around the corner. She whispered to me in our shared connection and I fought the smirk wishing to emerge. ‘
My dear, I shall have to chastise you some other time
,
’ I responded. ‘
For now, I am so very glad you chose to disobey me.
’

My focus turned back to J
ulian. “Please honor the dying’s
last request,” I said, allowing Monica’s eyes to paint a picture of Julian’s position. Guarding my thoughts, I slid a hand into my coat and waited.

Julian walked forward,
stopping
only a few feet away. “What request?”

“Hold still.”

In one, swift motion, I
withdrew
a knife from my coat pocket and flicked the sheath off.
With Julian’s back turned to Monica
, I could not make out his facial expression, but I saw all I needed to in order to whip the dagger for his shoulder and force the master seer to drop his sword. He lifted a hand to fumble for the blade while issuing a wail of pain. I came to my feet as his blood dripped to the floor and felt the vampire in me clamor for control.

Instead of giving in, I lifted a hand and summoned all the telekinetic energy I could muster. It collided with Julian, lifting him into the air and sending him across the room until a mirror brought his flight to an abrup
t halt. The glass shattered,
shards of
it falling
with him as he toppled down
onto the floor. Taking a
steadying breath, I used my borrowed eyes to co
nfirm that Julian was indeed
unconscious.

“Thank you,” I said, placing a hand over my eyes
again
. “Could you help me locate my sunglasses before I wish for death?”

Monic
a strolled
into the room. I disengaged from her vision when she shifted
her gaze
away from Julian
“You might want to wash that blood from your nose while you’re at it,” she said as
her fingers
touch
ed
mine,
guid
ing them to
place my spectacles into my palm
.

I secured them into place and
lifted my lids
, blinking twice to rid myself of the ambient burning.
“Once again, I am in your debt.”

“You looked like you could have used some help
.” A subtle smirk curled
the corner of her mouth
as our
gaze
met
. She turned her head, regarding Julian with an upturned eyebrow
while I walked toward a sink and turned on the faucet
. “Glad to know I haven’t lost my touch.”

“Lost your touch?”
A splash of water brought
on
the urge to wince,
and not for the first time I wished I had a reflection. As it was, I washed my face as thoroughly as possible and wiped it dry using a few paper towels. My eyes scouted the floor for my sword as I tossed the refuse into a trash receptacle. Within moments, I had its hilt in hand and
slid
the katana back into its scabbard.

Monica nodded when I glanced in her direction again
. “A little hocus pocus to make sure he didn’t sense me coming. Funny, but I usually use it against vampires.”

I could not help but to laugh. “I noticed you left me to clean up the mess.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

I pointed at her skirt. “I know you yet keep that blade strapped to your thigh. Did not fancy an attempt at Julian?”

“Considering the idea was to maim and not to kill, no. I think I’ll let you have the corner on the knife-throwing end of this relationship.” A playful glint ju
mped across her eyes. “
I’m saving the dagger for the next time you get on my nerves.”

“Devilish little imp.” Strolling over to Julian, I plucked my knife from his shoulder and flicked the blood away before
sheathing it
. Monica fetched the black bag and handed it to me as I smoothed out the folds of my coat. “We best
depart
,” I said. “Someone is liable to walk into this mess any moment.”

“And the train’s about to leave.”

“
Let us
hurry, then.” In a fit of spontaneity, I grabbed Monica and swept her into my arms. She produced a squeal of surprise and stared, wide-eyed, at me once I had her settled into place. I smirked. “You are entirely too slow while injured.”

My watcher blinked, still visually taken aback. “Flynn, I have two working legs.”

“And your point…?”

“Put me down.” She issued the demand half-heartedly.

“Oh, silence yourself before I leave you to deal with Julian.”

Monica rolled her eyes and I smirked in response, overcome with relief that we could finally put one problem to rest for the moment. Once we emerged into the main thoroughfare, I set my watcher down and adjusted my coat to ensure it kept my katana concealed. Without any word spoken, I offered my arm and she held onto me as she had during our walk to the train station. A subtle grin tugged
at the corners of my mouth,
the sensation of her gloved hand br
inging
warmth with it I could not know was real or imagined. I only knew our steps seemed more confident, and hers far less labored as they walked in tandem with mine. A few stray thoughts danced across my mind, quickly brushed aside for the time being.

“You’re not the slightest bit curious where we’re going?” she asked as she stole a glance my direction from her periphery.