Rebirth of the Seer (29 page)

I perked an eyebrow. “Quite a stringent condition, though.” As we stared at each other, I
risked
a slow crawl into his mind; smooth and subtle, lest he feel me doing so. “How would I convince Monica to be turned if she stood the risk of being weighed and found wanting?”

Pathways through his mind darkened. Some began to open. Ian gave no indication if he detected what I was doing. “Don’t worry, Peter, I like your style. You’re an agreeable and mischievous man and downright brash even in the face of a vampire of my years. That’s the sort of spirit I want in my house. If you agree to join us, I’ll see to it that she’s made the yin to your yang.”

“And you think she would be willing to accept being turned?”

“I think if she loves you, she should know it’s inevitable.”

‘…
t
he witch, she seems to be the key
…’

Thoughts
slipped
through the cracks, floating
through
like whispers.

‘…
w
ill never understand an immortal being so fixated on a human girl
…’

Ian raised an eyebrow. “Peter?”

I blinked twice and drew from my cigarette again. A chill to rival the one I had experienced outside paralyzed me from head to toe. I struggled to maintain my composure. “Apologies. I
was considering the notion that
your assurance seems to be the only form our kind is capable of.”

He nodded. “Duplicity is in our nature. We are the world’s attorneys in our heart of hearts.” The smile on his face faded slowly. “Peter, I would like to speak with you alone, if you wouldn’t…”

‘…
b
astards in the Council wouldn’t see it coming
…’

“… mind.”

“Not at all,” I said as coolly as possible while abstract images flashed through my mind. Without
form, they passed through like
the shadow of a ghost. There were plan
s afoot. Large plans. W
hat they were eluded me
, but would perhaps be revealed
so long as I continued to play this game. “What did you wish to discuss?”

Ian kissed Talon’s cheek, then slid out of the booth and plucked his cane from where he had it propped. “I don’t want to burden the others with the details. Allow me to entertain you in my office. We can take a tour of the coven when we’re finished.” He pause
d, his gaze possessing
a dare. “You wouldn’t mind that,
right
?”

I counted the breaths our eyes remained locked, noting that Ian had an uncanny ability to seemingly see through my glasses.
The
idea unnerved me, but still I waited as the silence border
ed
on rude.
Finally, I nodded and extinguished my cigarette.
The part of me that was Flynn was satisfied we had proven our mettle.
“I do not mind.” As I stood, I shot him the most amiable grin I could manufacture. “It is not as though I have any pressing duties toward which I must attend.”

“Excellent.” Ian shot a quick glance to Virgil before he started to walk, leaving the implied command fo
r me to follow. I did so, heading
with him in the direction of
a pair of
doors. Instinct told me to guard my thoughts, which also required me to release the very surface hold I had on Ian. More delving would have to follow when he and I were alone.

The
beings
we passed nodded once again to me, but
bowed to Ian
when
they
sighted
him. He reciprocated the gesture
s
, an unreadable expression on his face. “Enjoy the rest of the night, my children,” he said. “Relish what it means to be a vampire.” His eyes failed to meet mine as he turned away from them. The rest of the journey to the corridor was spent in tense silence.

I looked in his direction when he exited the common area and indulged a deep breath. The two guards framing the entryway nodded in recognition of him. He reciprocated the gesture, but his next words were directed at me. “I love being an immortal.” Ian assumed a place at my side and led us in the direction of a large staircase. I followed, ascending the stairs ahead of him when he signaled me to take the lead. “The more years I’ve weathered, the more distant the memory of my human life has become. Theirs is the land of the deaf, dumb, and blind. I traded it willingly three hundred and thirty years ago.”

My mind flashed to his cobalt stare, aware suddenly of how much it reminded me of Sabrina. She had been almost a century his junior, but they both held the sands of time in their gazes. “
You can often tell a man’s age in his eyes.”

“Very true, th
ough yours reads of a soul
older than your naïveté suggests.”

I perked an eyebrow as we reached the top of one flight. Ian moved ahead of me, following a plush crimson carpet toward a long hallway. “How do you reason my age when I have not even told you it?” I asked.

“For one, I knew all of Sabrina’s immortal children older than three decades, and met some of her children after she settled in Philadelphia.” He smirked, twirling his cane once before resting the tip on the ground again. “Beyond that, you fail to see what immortality truly is, Peter.”

“And what is it to you?”

“It’s evolution – a shift from
lower being to higher being,
from prey to predator. It’s a world the mortals can’t imagine with their hindered eyes and dull ears, and far beyond mere transcendence of death.” He stopped walking, turning to look at me. “We are masters over death. While they are ruled by it, we
are its masters
.
This
is why we’re the higher beings.”

My confidence seemed to waver
as his words rang in an unwelcome echo of beliefs I once held
. Despite my best effort to mirror Ian’s contemplative pose, I could do little more than nod
and attempt a reply which sounded hollow even to my ears
. “Yes. We are the ones who conduct its dark orchestra.”

“Yo
u speak the words, but lack
conviction.” Ian smirked and resumed his stroll. “Tell me, how long ha
s it been since you relished a
kill? Savored the taste of blood without the weight of your conscience resting on your shoulders? Peter, we are the sovereigns. They rule from their ivory towers only because we allow them to.
We
should be their gods.
We
are the ones who determine when they live and how they die.” The look he shot from across his shoulder bore a deliberate gravity to it. “This is why things are going to change soon.”

My blood ran cold. With a single evocation, Ian made the hair on the back of my neck stand upright, forcing me to draw in a steadying breath. Flashes of Monica in peril raced across my mind as though the Fates were bound to unravel me on the spot. I struggled to regain my composure, rounding a corner with him and approaching a set of double doors which mirrored the ones downstairs. “Per
haps you are right,” I said, “B
ut we could not begin to accomplish this feat. Not with their Order and their seers watching us.”

“Yes. The humans do hold us under lock and key for now.” We paused in front of the doors, Ian’s fingers wrapping around their handles without losing his grip upon his cane. Still, he made no motion to open them. “This unfortunate reality has plagued our kind for more centuries than I’ve walked the earth. Their hold on us has always depended on their strength, though. And right now, they’re weaker than they’d like to admit.”

Ian
finally
pushed o
pen the barriers before us
, revealing a luxurious suite I could only assume was his private quarters. Before us sat a mahogany desk, its top completely devoid of any personal effects, save but for a short stack of books. To the right, I spied a short walkway leading to a lounging area and beyond that, another closed door which might have contained his bedroom. The carpet bore the same deep red tones with the walls a parchment color broken up by the occasional piece of art. The décor resembled the tastes expressed in the coven’s foyer.

My host rounded his desk and sat in a leather executive chair. I took my place across from him, in a more rigid chair with most of the back carved out of the wood
en frame.
“You believe them to be in a weakened position at the present?”
I asked, shifting into a comfortable position and resting an elbow on an arm rest.

“Oh yes,” he said, placing his cane atop his desk but just out of reach. “Things you wouldn’t know about, I admit.”

“E
nlighten me.”

“
That
has been my goal all evening.” Ian reclined back in his chair, both hands meeting in a steeple in front of his mouth. “Their Order is in disarray and has been for some time. Internal strife to rival the most brutal segments of vampire politics with almost as much posturing. Men are in power who don’t know how to rule. Champions aren’t fully trained before they’re sent out onto the battlefield. And their seers themselves have been lackluster at best.” He huffed derisively. “A formidable one hasn’t risen in decades. They all have no idea how to wield the power they possess. While their kills have been many, we’ve claimed many of them in return. They haven’t done a thing to deter our plans.”

“You would consider them i
neffective, then?”

“To put it mildly.” His grin broadened. The look in his eyes took on a wicked glint, dancing with mischief and
conviction
all at once. “But then, we have the assassin. The one turned before he realized his human calling. The one not tarnished by the High Council and not tainte
d by its prejudicial laziness. W
ho killed first as the devil, then as a pilgrim on the path to redemption. The one threat we’ve had to worry about in some time now, and you appear in immortal form, Peter. Or… should I be addressing you as Flynn?”

Pretenses fell to the ground and shattered into dust. At once, the air shifted and the invisible chess board became
almost tangible
. The challenge had been levied with no choice but to be acknowledged. “Ian… we are
better
acquainted
than I thought if you intend to start calling me Flynn.
”

He snorted. “You seers always think you have the upper hand.”

The corner of my mouth curled upward as my nerves began to settle. “I
merely
wondered which of us would tip his hand first.”

“The dance was becoming a bore.”

“Agreed
I was becoming loathe to play ignorant.”

Ian laughed, lowering his hands onto his lap. “You’re giving yourself far too much credit, I’m afraid. You’re still ignorant of many things.”

“Very well.” I flipped my hand, palm facing upward and fingertips pointed toward him. “Educate me as you’ve sought to all night. I have until sunrise to hear you regale me a story.”

“Let me guess, and then
you’ll put me to death?” He shook his head, but his eyes never left mine. “Look at you, sitting in the lion’s
den. Overconfident
. Unprepared. If you truly understood the name of this game, you would’ve brought your little friends and your witch in with you and just been the executioner. Instead, you thought you could stand toe-to-toe as my equal
.
I expected more from the Black Rose Assassin.”

I bristled. “You sit in the presence of a seer, sir, not an assassin. And my motive? To know your plans against the Order.”

“Who sends you?”

“The Fates themselves. They have spoken to me of an evil which must be eradicated.”

Ian smirked. “And you think I’m that evil, just because your little troop of boy scouts has been following me around for the past few years like a swarm of pestering gnats?” His eyes shifted away. “If your Fates were the ones commissioning you, they should’ve revealed the true monster in this equation. Maybe they have, and you’ve been too stupid to understand it.”

I gritted my teeth. “Once again, I implore you to educate me.”

“
You
are the villain of your own story, Flynn, not me.” His gaze flicked back to me. “Make no mistake about it, seer, according to your natural order, I’m evil. I don’t pretend otherwise. But you don’t know true evil, dear boy. The sinister deeds I’m capable of injure only a few.” He sat forward in his seat and flashed a fanged grin. “The form of evil you fear will murder by the millions. He will restore our place onto the seat of power for this plane. And
you
could be the one leading his chariot into battle.”

I laughed. “You think yourself clever, attempting to unnerve me.”

“I think you blind to what’s right before your eyes.”

“Tell me truly how you plan to exact your scheme, Ian.”

Ian scoffed. “You ask me as though I’ll draw the map for you. And what’s the fun in that? No, I won’t be so idiotic, but I will tell you this much. You’re about to be shown the light.”