The Immortal Coil (27 page)

“Oh — I’m sorry, did you love her?” A woman’s voice cackled at Noah from behind The Blighted One who was thrashing wildly to extinguish the flames. Noah was on his knees trying to scoop what was left of Vivi into his hands.

“We killed you!” I screamed. Minerva emerged from a portal on the ground. Her new look better matched the evil soul inside her. Her eyes were bright red with cat-like irises, curved horns extended from each side of her skull, and leathery crimson wings kept her aloft before us.

“Then it should come as no surprise to you why I’ve returned. But, I’m not here only for you …”

“Traitor!” The Blighted One’s melting carcass hissed. “You failed our master and yet you get a second chance only to betray him?”

“On the contrary.
My
master has sent me to release you from your contract. It is you who have failed him. Your army is broken and the parasitic plague meant to contaminate mankind could have been better spread by a child with a cold. I, on the other hand, have succeeded in my task at creating perfect vessels for him. He was most pleased after seeing the destruction and resilience that this one possesses.”

“My people … will know justice. They … will hunt you … to the depths of Hell and back to avenge me.” The Blighted One’s voice faded out between the crackling flames. “We will not fall … we will be free …”

“Splendid. I could always make use of more sacrifices. You are no less pathetic than the witch who only sought power for something so short-sighted as revenge against her sister. There is a world ready to be taken and you pine for mere freedom.”

Minerva unleashed another gout of balefire upon the Blighted One and soon his body crumbled to ash too. Noah had vanished amidst the squabbling. I was hoping he would return because right now I wasn’t sure if I could do this alone.

“We’ve already defeated your demon once and I’ve only gotten stronger since then.”

“You speak of that infernal fodder; an insult to compare him to my master. That was nothing more than a servant.” Minerva paused and with a flap of her wing deflected Noah’s aerial ambush. “That won’t work twice.” She smiled. “I’ve been looking forward to returning the favor you did me by reuniting me with my master.”

Noah’s eyes were still berserk with rage. He disappeared again, but Minerva caught him with her flames forcing him to transform into mist several times to avoid taking damage. Lyle took a step toward Vivi’s
katana
. I couldn’t let him fight even if he was willing to throw away his life to be a hero. I threw him as far away as I could without hurting him. Minerva was busy taking delight in having the upper hand on Noah this time around. Despite still being faster than her he wasn’t able to get close with her constantly spraying flames in his path. Noah was unrelenting, but so was Minerva. She had yet to land a blow until he got too close and was forced to drop both his
wakizashi
as they melted from the intense heat.

I thought of what Vivi said before she died about him respecting me and the time he taught me how to fly. They weren’t all bad, it was the ones that were who have been ruining it for the rest. But, I have the power to change that starting here and now. It isn’t just about me and my revenge anymore. I can’t let this cycle start over again. There’s already enough hatred and war in the world, we don’t need to add anymore fuel to the fire. Minerva and the demons’ unholy crusade will only lead to genocide for both humanity and the supernatural. It won’t bring balance and neither side will accept the other anymore than they do already. If I was created for destruction then that’s what I’ll have use to put an end to this before it can begin.

My mind was clear, centered even. I felt lucid again for the first time in a while. The anger was still there, but it wasn’t in control. The world seemed to slow to a crawl around me as I honed my sights on Minerva.

The earth beneath me started to quake. It wasn’t in my head though. With a wave of my hand the pavement cracked open and apartment windows shattered in a line toward Minerva. She glanced away from Noah too slowly to avoid the oncoming tsunami of cars and concrete. The green flames extinguished from around Noah instantly upon her loss of concentration as she was sent barreling down the street with the avalanche of cars.

“My nephew’s pitiful sentiment to spare your life won’t save you from the coming apocalypse. You and your pathetic allies will burn in hellfire with the rest of mankind.”

Minerva flew into the air, throwing back all the cars in a fiery green explosion. She was many times more resistant against the direct effects of my telekinesis than anyone else I had fought. I would need to be creative to weaken her first. Water was still spraying from the fire hydrant I used earlier on the Carpathians. I angled the stream with the help of a manhole cover, but it failed to put out the oncoming flames.

“Water has no effect on the fires of Hell, fool!” She laughed.

My skin burned away in the tempest of unstoppable flames. The dead tissue reknitted itself with a temporary display of blackened blood vessels pumping life back into my body. The healing process wasn’t without pain, but it caused an even greater surge of energy within me.

I flew through another burst of fire to take Minerva by surprise. We were inches apart when she flapped her wings to retreat. Everything I had stored inside me erupted outward in a shockwave that sent her ricocheting helplessly down the street.

Minerva was stopped abruptly by a sword through her heart. Noah had been waiting to greet her at just the right moment with Vivi’s
katana
. He remained expressionless as he kicked her off the blade and into the flooded street. She cackled at him when he swung the beautifully engraved sword down like a guillotine.

“Soon you will bear witness to the depths of your folly! Humanity’s reign is at an end and there is nothing any of you can do. Do you think such weak ideals as love and hope can break the cosmic cycle? I will return and I
will
rule —”

The malicious laughter from her severed head wouldn’t cease until a gunshot finally brought us silence.

“I thought you’d be out of bullets by now.” I looked over at Lyle. “I had one saved for myself. Just in case.”

The same pentagram portal she came from opened beneath Minerva and returned what was left of her to Hell.

“Tell me it’s over.” Lyle sighed.

“For now, hopefully. Maybe even for the rest of your lifetime.”

“Don’t say that …”

“It’s fine. It gives me a purpose right?”

Noah bent down on one knee in Vivi’s ashes holding her
katana
. “I never blamed you,” he whispered to her.

He vanished in a gust of wind that swirled the ash along the street. Lyle walked up beside me as I healed away the rest of the burns. We watched the ashes dance around us until the breeze carried them away.

“I thought I wanted revenge, I thought I’d be a hero for killing everyone who wronged me, but this isn’t what I imagined victory would feel like,” I said, breaking the silence through a lump in my throat. “Why don’t I feel like we’ve really won the war?”

“Heroes fight wars to end them. Only monsters fight to win, and you’re no monster.”

“Damn, Sarge, you’re on fire,” a young police officer exclaimed by the park gates. “Night shift just started and that’s the second mugging you stopped by yourself. Someone upstairs must have really got your back.”

“All about being in the right place at the right time, rookie,” Lyle told him. “Hang back here a minute, all right?”

“You can’t keep doing this,” Lyle whispered to me as he walked up to my seat on the park bench. “People are getting suspicious.”

“You mean your partner?” I peered over to where he was standing. “He looks like he hasn’t even graduated high school. Anything would impress him.”

“Since I’ve been back I’m filling my quotas for the month during the first week. I’m booking people faster than they can process them.”

“And that’s bad how exactly?” I asked. “We’re cleaning up the streets, you’re getting all the recognition. What’s the problem?”

“I didn’t take this job for the recognition. I appreciate what you’re doing, but I’m going to get investigated if my bosses start doubting the validity of my arrests.”

“Fine. I’ll go help another cop who isn’t so modest.” I took another sip of my caramel latte and got up to leave.

“You know that’s not the point, Dorian.” He grabbed my arm to stop me. “I’m really glad you want to use your gift to help people, but you can’t live your life in my shadow. You know you’re like a brother to me. I wanna see you do your own thing and be happy.”

“I am happy,” I assured him. “Helping people is therapeutic and the shadows are where I feel most comfortable.”

“It’s been almost a year. The city has moved on, now it’s time for you to. What about the modeling thing? Now’s the perfect time to try that again. At least you’re living with me if it falls through.”

“I never wanted to do that to start with. I want to do something fulfilling.”

“We’ll talk more when I’m home. Go back to the apartment for now. I need to train this newbie.”

“Whatever you say, Sergeant Turner.”

This wasn’t the first time we’d had this conversation in the past year. Lyle got his job back with an award and even a promotion, but still felt he failed to become the hero his father was. It took him a lot to get over losing Vivi and everything else we experienced. For months he talked about how he wished he was supernatural so that maybe he could have saved her. I reminded Lyle that if it wasn’t for him I would have never made it out of my apartment alive that first night.

The city had returned to normal as if nothing ever happened. The very next day most of the quarantined areas were up and running with no one the wiser. It made me wonder how often this stuff happened right under our noses, like the homeless old Outsider said.

We visited my parents’ graves in Boston and I used the money they left for me to contribute to an apartment I shared with Lyle. Every week we would go to the spot in Central Park where we had lost Vivi. It was depressing at first, but we both felt it necessary to not forget that there was good on the other side of the curtain, in their world.

Whenever we hung out, Lyle and I would try picking out who might be supernatural in the crowd. Somewhere out there I had brothers and sisters just like me, and I wanted to meet them. Part of me wanted the family, the companionship, and the safety in numbers for when the peace was inevitably disrupted. Part of me hoped they were as far away as possible, so I would never have to deal with the guilt of bringing them into the chaos.

After some time I started using my powers to tip the balance in the favor of good on the streets. Lyle had his new partner, but the two of us were the real team. I’d walk the darkest corners of the city looking for trouble, then call Lyle so he could make the arrest after I took care of business. I had guns and knives pulled on me so many times, but the expression on the criminals’ faces when I’d bend their weapons like rubber with my mind never got old. Lyle got as much amusement out of it as I did. He would cover for me when they rambled to the police about me, saying they were intoxicated or high on some drug, but eventually all the stories that came in sounded the same and it caused tension between us. He wanted me to move on and I just couldn’t let go.

There was so much out there for me to do. I wanted the road I walked through life not to be paved with the regret that I could have done more. Preventing the loss of any more good people trumped the risk of being found out for what I really was. I never admitted it to Lyle, but a very small part of me sympathized with what The Blighted One was trying to accomplish. Nobody should be forced to spend their life hiding who they are. I can understand how existing as victims of discrimination for all those years might drive someone so mad that they’d jump at the chance for the power to change it all. It made me wonder what the world would be like without the persecution of my kind, or anyone for that matter. Could mankind ever get over their hatred for those that are different?

I turned down the block to my apartment when I felt something hit the back of my head. I looked around, but there wasn’t anyone else there. I was going to ignore it when I spotted something on the ground. It was a book:
The Art of War, English Edition
.

“It’s a good read.” A voice from behind startled me. I turned around to see Noah sitting on the hood of a car and stared at him in disbelief. “What? Still not used to my good looks?”

“I just never thought I’d see you again.” There was something different about him besides his clothes. He was wearing a black sleeveless hoodie and sunglasses, with his hair tied back. “I didn’t think you owned a shirt, either.”

“You sound disappointed.” He was talking the talk like his usual pompous self, but something was missing from the act.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” He shrugged and crossed his arms. That was it: he was still heartbroken.

“What are you doing here?” I asked to change the subject. “I thought I’d get more than a year of peace.”

“I’m not here for you, I was stopping through.”

“This is kind of a far trip from France to stop through. Did Aurelia send you?” I figured he was here to pay respects to where Vivi died, but it seemed out of character for Aurelia to send him here for that.

“No. So you really want to live like this?” It was his turn to switch topics now.

“Like what?” I asked, knowing he meant as a human. “I made a choice and I’m happy with it.”

“Really? Because to me it looks like you haven’t chosen anything. You’re living between two worlds without standing firm in either one. It’s like you’re still afraid to be yourself. People only choose to hide if they’re lazy, stupid, or afraid. Maybe even all three.”

“Maybe I want peace and quiet. I don’t want to live a life where I’m somebody’s soldier, or their puppet, or pet. I’d think you of all people would understand that.”

“I do, but how long can you keep this up until someone finds out what you are? Our kind are everywhere, and given your potential you won’t go unnoticed forever.”

“Then I’ll move.”

“So you’re gonna keep retreating any time someone calls you out and drags you back into the same mess? Running and hiding aren’t freedom, kid.”

“What do you want me to say, Noah? What do you want from me? I’m not going back to France with you because now Aurelia thinks I might be useful again, if that’s why you’re here.”

“Not France, and this has nothing to do with Aurelia. You don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

“What are you talking about? What did you do?”

“I took care of things, you’ll just need to trust me. You’re coming to Japan. The mountains where I trained should still be pretty isolated. Who knows, I might make something out of you yet.”

“I’m not going.”

“Yeah, you are. Until you’re strong enough or fast enough to stop me you don’t have a choice, and that’s exactly my point. Live up to your potential so no one can stop you from doing what you really want or take away what’s yours.”

I could stop him — at least, I thought I could — but this must have been his twisted way of expressing his respect or concern for me. The only thing keeping me here was my friendship with Lyle, but if I was already drawing attention, it might cause that friendship to end tragically.

“I’ll go if it means I get to kick your smug ass.”

“You get to try,” he laughed with a big smirk across his face. “You’re gonna need every second of your immortality to even come close. First you have to admit what you’re so scared of so you can get over it and move forward.”

“I’m not …” I started to disagree, but then thought about it more seriously. “I guess I don’t want history to keep repeating itself every time I have people important to me. Maybe I can’t hide who I am forever, but I’m worried about my inner demons taking over whenever I do lose someone I care for. I’ve already seen myself becoming that monster, and it scared me.”

Noah was listening intently without his smirk anywhere in sight. It was more of a relief to get that off my chest than I would have imagined.

“When can we start?”