Rebirth of the Seer (35 page)

‘
Peter!!
’

The voice of my watcher exploded in my mind, but an audible scream cut off the transmission, so ear-shattering I could make it out without my vampire hearing. I rounded the corner
and
the world before me
appeared
as though looking through a glass darkly. My hand pressed against the wall for support and immediately, I knew what was happening. The first vision.

I stopped just as I had seen myself doing. The voice spoke as it should have. ‘
She is delectable, Flynn. A bit of a burden on your conscience, though. Are you sure you really want this one?
’

I forced myself forward two more steps. ‘
You leave her the fuck alone or risk coming face to face with the angel of death himself
,
’ I replied. The sense of déjà vu the words brought with t
hem only disquieted me further.
This could not be actually happening.

‘
As you wish.
We will have our discussion, but later,
’
Ian said.
‘
When you recognize
I
am not your true enemy.
’ The chill lifted, as I knew it would, and when I came to a stand again, my heart drop
ped
the same way it had
a mere two days beforehand. I ran, knowing what lay ahead, and felt tears sting my eyes
.
I had failed her. After all of this, I could not keep her safe. I sped into the room I had seen myself enter, but this time, my mad dash was brought to abrupt halt at what I saw before me.

My tepid blood turned frigid. “Fates be damned,” I murmured, sword dropping to the ground and eyes wide with shock. For as much as my stomach still twisted in fear, the surreal drove me into a state of limbo from which I could not force myself even if I had all the focus in the world. My mouth hung agape. “What manner of beast has done this?”

The entire room had been painted in blood spatter, crimson tossed around haphazardly as though a crowd of young children had made the walls and tile their canvas. My fangs remained extended, the sheer gore of the scene more than my instincts could handle. While I had suspected Monica’s friends had perished, I could not have imagined their demise in my wildest dreams.

Wesley hung from the ceiling exactly as I had envisioned him, throat cut and still dripping blood. The ghastly expression
remained his death pose, eyes
open and staring into oblivion. Jesse’s limbs had been stretched to the side, suspended as though being drawn and quartered in midair. Gashes from his wrists and legs ebbed blood in a slow trickle. Mark’s head lay feet away from the rest of his corpse and of all the bodies, his looked the most dignified. Still, the brutality of his death meant his life’s essence had contributed more quickly than the others’ to the lake overtaking the rest of the room.

I stumbled backward, still failing to smell Monica’s scent in the midst of it all
, which registered enough for me to
realize that meant there was yet hope. Turning, I reached for my blade to pluck it off the ground, but slid on a smaller pool of blood and fell.
The puddle of sticky crimson called to my thirst,
ensuring I would not be able to retract my fangs. I
fought for
the wherewithal to come to my feet and stumbled for the doorway, hands and legs now covered in blood.

The saturation
wrapped
me in a haze. Drunk with desire, I clamored back into the hallway,
clinging to
one thought. I had to find her.
She
could not have gotten far. S
he must be in the building some–

“Oh, little vampire?”

The familiar voice knocked me from my stupor. I turned, an impossible sight filling my line of sight.

He smiled broadly, not holding his crossbow,
leaving
his hands conspicuously free. Another man strolled
to a stop beside him. B
efore I could do so much as squint
in their direction
, a psychic lock with more force than I had weathered to this point bound me and forced me to my knees. Julian reached behind his back, producing a set of chains which
he
hurtled at me, riding a telekinetic wave to where I knelt. I hollered in offense as the sting of silver enclosed my wrists and ankles, unapologetic in the way the shackles burned my skin.

“Still a demon after all,” the unfamiliar man said to the seer who accompanied him. His hair a salt-and-pepper color, he was clearly Julian’s senior, though I had no notion how. He stood at the same height as the German seer, a leaner build but no less an intimidating force. The two men closed in on me, both glaring through narrowed eyes.

I shook my head. “No,” I said. “Release me.
Julian, please. Whoever you are,
this is urgent. You must let me go.”

“We’ll do no such thing, Mr. Dawes,” Julian’s accomplice said. “You’re mine now.” His arms were raised and for the first time, it occurred to me it was his outstretched hands which kept me locked in place. Hate saturated his stare and his next words dripped with venom so thick, they should have pierced my skin to poison me. He
came to a stop
mere
inches away and looked downward, lowering his hands
.

“We’ve never had the chance to be acquainted,” he said, “So, let me introduce myself. My name is Malcolm Davies and I am the presiding chairman of the High Council. You are the vampire they call Flynn. And you are also the bastard who murdered my daughter.”

The Reckoning

“
My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
”

Emily Dickinson

“Mr. Davies, please listen to me. Your
larger
concern is elsewhere in this building. An elder vampire has taken Monica and I do not know what he
–
”

“Shut up,” Malcolm Davies said as he regarded me, loathe piercing through me like daggers. As his green eyes blazed fury at me, all I could think about were the green eyes of his daughter and the urgency which still screamed within my mind. It seemed far removed from the man staring down at me.

He continued to speak. “I’ve had enough of your lies and your trickery. You’re a disgusting creature that should have been destroyed years ago.”

“
Damn you!
” I shouted. “I care
little for what you think of me! Y
our daughter is in trouble! She walked inside this building with me and was abducted by our adversary.” A wave of emotion crested over me, my teeth gritted while tears of frustration welled in my eyes. I swallowed down the lump forming in my throat. “Please find her. I implore you
. You do not have to release me,
simply do not let him kill her.”

“Malcolm, come and look at this.”

Malcolm glanced up, regarding Julian who had disappeared somewhere behind me. With a nod, he strolled past, not acknowledging my words with so much as a grunt before disappearing. I bowed my head, focusing on my fangs and directing my attention away from the pervasive scent of blood. It took several moments, but they slid back into place at last.

This left my watcher. I sighed, building upon the focus I had already established and feeling for the link we shared with one another. While it could not confirm her status, it also did nothing to settle me when transmitting a message brought dead air in response. I needed to get out of there. If Julian and her father were going to be of no help to me, I would have to find her myself. I wriggled my wrists and fought the reflexive hiss the touch of silver against my bare skin brought with it. The last time I had been bound in silver, I had been at my watcher’s mercy. If the Fates were kind, this time I would have more success.

Indulging a deep breath inward, I fought to draw energy toward me the same way I had while feeling the walls. My first attempt to break the lock resulted in nothing but resistance. Still, I made another attempt and just as I
felt
the hold
begin to
relent, a set of footsteps raced toward me. “Oh no you don’t,” Malcolm said charging up from behind and grabbing me by the collar of my shirt. The force of his grip coupled with his superior psychic abilities brought me to my feet. In a sheer act of will, he hurtled me into the other room. When I landed in the lake of blood, my fangs descended again. I moaned when some splashed onto my face, but was spared from rolling onto my stomach and lapping at it like an animal.

Malcolm pulled me back to my knees and walked to my side. “You sadistic son of a bitch,” he said, “You knew he called me, didn’t you?”

I looked toward the gruesome sight of the dead trio once more. My head swam with the need for sustenance rearing its ugly head again. “I have no fucking idea what you are talking about,” I murmured.

“He called me!” Malcolm pointed to where Wesley hung. “He told us you were here. Mentioned the possibility of looking for some accomplice of your maker’s here… Ian was his name, I think. And I’d be willing to bet you were waiting for him, judging from how close to sunset we are.” He shook his head with disdain. “Didn’t count on getting caught, did you?”

I laughed. “I did not kill any of these men. I received a vision to be here and arrived as quickly as possible with Monica.” Monica. Evoking her name again reminded me of the panic. “We were trying to
stop Ian. Please, you must look–
”

“You didn’t kill him? Please.” He nodded at me. “You were covered in their blood when you walked out of the room.”

“I was searching for Monica and I slipped.”

While I expected another verbal jab, my normally-keen reflexes were dull to the action when Malcolm reared back and kicked me in the jaw. I fell backward, my glasses flying onto the floor when my head impacted with the tile. I slid when I wriggled and another whiff saturated with the scent of what I laid upon inspired a groan. It was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain any concentration. The pain afflicting my eyes until I clenched them shut only made matters worse.

Malcolm paced to the other side. “Stop playing games with me, Mr. Dawes. I’m not ignorant. You
r
little lie was dismantling and it was time for you to clean house before you moved on. If your crony made off with my daughter, I’m only blaming you for the company you decided to keep.”

I shivered. “That
is utterly absurd.
Please, there may still be time–
”

“No, you are absurd. Killing Lydia? Luring Monica into the dark with you? Making up some story about the High Council being in trouble to try and fool these three when your partner turned on you?”

“I did not touch
Wesley, nor did I harm Mark or
Jesse and I sure as bloody hell would be rescuing Monica if you would
fucking let me go
.” Drawing from the remnant of inner strength I had left, I rose to my knees again.
“You shall not stop me from try–
”

“Enough!” Malcolm kicked me again. I spilled to my side.

“Spiteful being!” Gods, each encounter with the blood on the ground was unraveling me. My teeth ached with wanton need. I became aware of what a mess I had to look like by then. All I could think about was licking myself clean. I stole so many breaths, I must have sounded to be hyperventilating. My voice became weak; pitiful. “You are so bent on exacting revenge you would kill your only child. Monica shall surely be dead if you will not listen.”

His foot landed on my stomach. I moaned, this time from pain. “
What type of a fool do you think I am??
”

“
One who
has sight, but no vision
!
” My head was pounding, room spinning all around me. I could not tell if the droplets running down my cheek were tears or remnant from the floor. “Run me through and end me as you wish to do. But gods, look for her. Look for her, Julian. Please…” My lips motioned to form words, but language was becoming hard to manufacture. I blurted the final thought I could manage to summon. “I love her.”

“You soulless demon
, as if you could know love.” Shoes scuff
ed on the floor, Malcolm and Julian’s voices becoming almost indistinguishable. I could not make out their actions
,
and
wondered
if a sword was indeed on its way to
end
ing me, but words like, “sentencing” and “trial” and “public example” floated through the air. I became aware of incomprehensible noises passing through my lips and finally ran my tongue around my mouth and wherever else it would reach to lap up what little blood I could manage. I could have swor
n I heard Malcolm say the word “pathetic”
.
Had
I been in his position, regarding my state
, I would have agreed
.

“I’ve had enough of him
. Sedate him and prepare him for travel. I’ll call in the others to take down these bodies and notify the families.”

“With pleasure.” I faintly heard the sound of someone crouching beside me and hissed when the prick of a needle pierced my neck. Julian chuckled. “Now, little vampire, don’t hiss at me.” A cool sensation surrounded the point where the prick originated. I envisioned a syringe being emptied into me. “You ran from me, but I finally won our cat and mouse game.”

A distant part of me almost congratulated him for getting the euphemism correct this time. That same part murmured the words on repeat. “Please, search for Monica,” I said. “Do not leave her here.” The last few words were slurred, produced with a great degree of difficulty. I felt the black of more than
merely my
shut eyes surrounding me, invisible hands reaching to pull me into an obsidian abyss. My tentative hold on consciousness faltered. Slumber came, whether I cared for it or not.

“Very good,” was the last thing I heard Julian say, “Go to sleep. We have a long trip ahead of us.”

***

The first thing I became aware of – as consciousness encroached upon me like an unwelcome visitor – was the slight jostle of the world around me in a strange, rhythmic fashion. Intermittent bumps interrupted a smooth trip forward and the more lucid I became, the more my bearings settled through the haze of grogginess. I knew I was lying on my back, and that the clacking sound I heard in the background bore a familiar cadence. It took me a matter of moments to realize I was on a train, undoubtedly headed for my place of reckoning.

My hands were bound and
my face devoid of glasses which ensured my journey would be spent
sightless
. With a sigh, I listened for any sign of company. A single pulse beat far off to my right side. “Have I been left alone, or is that a guard I detect?” I asked, not able to summon the energy for a telepathic prowl.

“Good morning, little vampire,” came the answer from the mouth of Julian.

I sighed. “Evening more like it, I assume.” My mind swam, attempting to measure the passage of time while unable to find a place to plant its bearings. “How long have I been asleep?”

“Over twenty-four hours. And mo
rning was
correct.” I could hear the smugness in his voice. “We still have a long way to go. Settle in and get some sleep.”

A sigh drifted past my lips
again. T
he details of the last few days
were
piecing themselves back together
in my mind
. I swallowed hard, my stomach sinking at the thought of what might have happened to Monica. The scent of blood still lingered potently in the air
around me
, but had dried enough to keep its siren taunt a low hum. I silently wondered if my watcher had gone on to the ether and I was soon to follow. “No rest for the wicked,” I said after a brief pause. “Care to pass the time with a chat?”

At first, Julian failed to respond. I shrugged, assuming this to mean I would be left in silence as well. A few minutes passed and then I heard a shuffle accompanied by him clearing his throat. After another few seconds, he finally spoke. “My orders were to keep an eye on you. Not entertain you.”

I scoffed. “Eve
n you have to be bored by now.”

“I pass the time.” I visualized the shrug which punctuated the comment.

“I am surprised to even still be alive. I thought your orders were to kill me.”

“The orders
were
changed
by the High Council
. They wanted you brought in.”

“To Seattle, if I am recalling correctly.” I flexed my wrists and shimmied. “These are hardly comfortable accommodations, though. Whose bloody idea was it to transport me via train?”

“Less questions on a train about an unconscious vampire.” A smirk lay in his words. “I would think you’d like the gesture after what happened in Philadelphia.”

“I am touched. You remembered our first date.”

Julian grumbled and failed to respond. I sighed again. “Apparently when the Order instruc
ts the lot of you, they remove your
sense of humor”

Another low murmur preceded his
reply. “I did
n’t find what you did
to those men in
Chicago amusing.”

“And you truly believe I was the one who did it?”

No response.

I shook my head. “Julian, you have faced me and even when I had the chance to kill you, I did not. I threw you around a trifle, but considering you were going to behead me, I thought it only turnabout.”

“It wasn’t convenient.”

“Leaving you as a potential threat, who could have uncovered our location and slaughtered us at any moment, was not convenient? I spent four years as an assassin. Do you think I simply let my targets slip away?” I
noted to myself that
Anthony
had been an anomaly
.

Julian scoffed. “You see? You just admitted you kill off your threats.”

“Yes, when I was murdering without impunity.
If that was my current
modus operandi
,
you would have been a crime scene left for the police department. Does
it
say anything that you were not?”

When he did not acknowledge the point, I continued, “Whether or not you choose to believe me, I am not the same being Sabrina turned. In fact, I am not even the same man you sought to assassinate both at the hospital and the train station. These days have changed me to the point that I hardly recognize myself, which is both amazing and confusing all at once.”

“You are deceiving yourself.”

“I disbelieve myself. But she was right.” I huffed, a bittersweet smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. “She has been right all along.” Indulging a deep, steading breath, I felt another pang of melancholy threaten to pull me under. The uncertainty left me hanging in limbo, though, unable to determine what to hope for or how much to resign myself. “Did you look for her? Or am I expecting too much for you to have not assumed I hid her body somewhere?”