I could hear him curse when he saw me right below him as he flipped himself over the side of the building and onto the roof. His foot falls echoed as he started running again. I flung myself over the edge and landed on the roof with my feet already in motion. He looked over his shoulder and gave a little smile as he kept going. He didn't even pause when he jumped.
I can jump about four or five stories and he looked like he could do about the same. I debated jumping after him, but I didn't know where he would land. I paused at the edge of the building to watch his descent and the strangest thing happened. Once he reached the apex of his arc, he didn't come down. I could hear the night winds buffeting him, keeping him aloft above the building tops as he was carried away to safety. A cold chill ran up my spine as I realized he could fly.
Sonofabitch,
I thought. Nobody told me vampires could fly. I smiled a little at the thought that I might be able to do the same thing. Then my smile turned back into a scream of rage as I realized he'd gotten away. Again.
Chapter 20
I called Thompson on the way back to the auditorium. After hearing the crash of glass as I jumped through the window, he'd grabbed the governor, shoved him in the limousine, and taken him back to the mansion. Basically, I killed the party, but got kudos from my partner for foiling the attempt before shots were fired. Joy. Thompson left the Suburban at the school, but had the keys in his pocket, where they didn't do me a bit of good. I debated calling a cab, but decided to take a walk instead. With a quick text to Thompson, I let him know I'd wait for him at the college auditorium. Let him worry about getting us back to the hotel.
I hadn't been paying attention while I chased the bad guy, but I vaguely knew the way back to the university. Lost in my own thoughts, I made my way street after street of closed shops without so much as a glance.
The Governor's Ball would be held in two days time. I don't know why, but I had a feeling that if we didn't get the situation under control, Greer wouldn't live through it. For the fiftieth time, I wished the stubborn ass would just cancel the damn thing. Didn't he know he had a death warrant out there on him and he'd signed his own name on it? In a fit of frustration I punched the corner of the building I was rounding and felt a little guilty when a large chunk of concrete shattered into dust. I looked around, but the streets seemed to be deserted, too deserted.
The hair on my neck rose as a feeling of
oh shit
washed over me. I put my back against the wall and listened. I couldn't hear anything, but I could feel something very, very wrong. I sidled along the length of the building and peered around the next corner. The trouble I felt stood in the middle of the street. He looked ordinary enough, except for the extremely long curls of blond perfectness flowing over his shoulders. I'd seen him only briefly, but every detail of him had been almost burned into my brain. I'd been trained to remember details of everything and everyone around me, but the way the scene around the corner etched itself into my head had a completely different quality.
"Come out, little one." The timbre of his voice slithered over my skin and settled into my limbs. I could feel it forcing my legs to walk and propel me around the corner to him. I closed my eyes and fought with everything I had. It didn't work, not even a little. Not only did my limbs refuse to obey, but they told me to shut the fuck up and do what I was told.
The closer I got to him, the more I could feel his power. I found myself staring at not only his hair, but everything else about him as well. He wasn't pale like a vampire, but he wasn't tan either. He simply had perfect porcelain skin. He definitely didn't look undead. "Who are you?" It took me a few tries to find my voice.
He smiled and stepped closer when my legs stopped propelling me into his presence. I expected him to strike and finish me off as I stood powerless before him, but all he did was walk a circle around me, taking in every inch with his eyes. I knew, because I could feel his gaze on my skin, soft and warm. I shuddered when he finally made his way to my front again.
"We are cousins, you and I, Ashlyn. My name is Raphael. I simply wished to meet the creature I have been hearing so very much about the past few years." He didn't use his commanding voice, the voice that made me do things against my will, but every word he spoke sent a chill up my spine. I was a predator of predators, but I knew without a doubt, if Raphael wanted me dead he would have little or no trouble making it happen. I smelled my own fear before he did.
"What do you want?" I tried to sound as brave as I could. My voice didn't crack, but it was more than a little shaky.
He didn't respond, but he did close the last step separating us. He gave me the tiniest of smiles and raised his hand, slowly sliding his knuckles along my cheek. The gesture made me shiver in its intimacy, and at the same time made my stomach slowly turn inside me. He flexed his index finger and trailed that back up my jaw and over the arch of my brow until it settled on the spot right above the bridge of my nose. The slow build of power sent tingles throughout my head. "Miraculous," he said under his breath as the world began to fade away and then burst in a flash of light.
* * *
I stood on a field of stone as the red clouds above rolled without spilling a drop of rain, and yet showered the tattered landscape below with bolts of yellow lightning. The thunder echoed, but the whole scene sounded as if the entire realm had been made of thin metal. There were echoes where there shouldn't have been and the sounds of battle had a sharper quality than should have come from the ring of sword on sword, and sword on flesh.
I looked down, seeing I wore a shift of the thinnest linen of white. The sun broke through the clouds and beat down from above, yet did not burn. In awe I looked up and for the first time in my life I gazed fully on its fiery brilliance. I knew our sun burned bright yellow, but the one above burned fiery red. Not knowing if I would ever experience it again, I held out my arms and let its warmth flow over my arms and face.
An anguished cry stole my attention from the sky. Below me on the plain a battle raged the likes of which had never been witnessed before by man or monster. Men the size of giants fought hand-to-hand combat with magnificent swords made entirely out of fire and light. They stood twelve feet tall and as they fought, they utterly devastated the landscape around them. Furrows formed in the dry soil from the sliding of their enormous sandaled feet as they wrestled and fought. I couldn't see as much as feel that those scars in the earth would never heal. Brother fought brother in a war that should never have been. Its very existence threatened the balance of nature itself.
Two of the giants closest to me fought ferociously. They didn't see my approach as walked toward them. How could they? I stood barely to the waist of the shortest of them. I looked up and saw his face. Raphael swung his sword in a downward arc that his foe blocked with a blade of blackened night. Raphael's blade sank into the earth at my feet and both men stopped fighting to stare at the creature below them. The one holding the blade of fiery night placed the tip of his sword into the ground and stopped fighting to gaze at me.
"What do we have here, cousin?" The one I didn't know looked at Raphael.
"I think she might be one of yours, Asmodeus. She smells like you!"
"This might be the one who causes me so much distress so many years from now. I wish I could dispatch her now and be done with it. What say you, daughter? Would you take your own life and save your father some trouble?"
I shook my head and started backing up, one step at a time. "Father," echoed in my head like the metallic thunder around me. I could feel the panic-stricken look on my face as he started to laugh.
I watched wings sprout from both of their backs, Raphael's pure in their whiteness, and Asmodeus' so black, they sucked the light from around them. Raphael said something in a language I'd never heard before. It reminded me of someone singing pure tones of different pitches. Asmodeus understood and let out a discordant bleat in the upper register. The feathers of his wings started to fall with the grace of autumnal leaves from a tree. I expected to see what looked like a featherless bird wing, but stripped from its downy plumage, the wing resembled the stretched skin of a bat wing. His perfect teeth darkened and his canines started to elongate into a fang curved the shape of a sickle. A fang just like mine.
I screamed, and for the first time, I needed to breathe to fight back the fear.
* * *
Suddenly, back in the middle of the street, I spun in a circle. Raphael's absence came to me like a breath of fresh air. I had no idea who, or what, he was, but I gave silent thanks to whoever had sent him that he was gone. I really should have called the cab. Next time I would.
By the time I made it back to the University, Thompson stood by the Suburban with a curious look on his face. I felt like somebody had drugged me. It wouldn't really work if they did, but I imagined how I felt right at this moment would be very similar.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I just had a rough moment back there."
"Sometimes they get away, kid. It's not a big deal." He opened his door and slid in the driver's seat. I opened the door and fell into mine. The SUV started and the cool air from the vents washed over me. I reached over and pointed the other one of mine and one of Thompson's full force on my face. I willed the cool air to wash away what I had seen. "You sure you're okay?"
"Just had an out of body experience and met my dad."
"Excuse me?" He did a classic double take.
"Nothing. Never mind."
"Ashlyn…"
"Please, just let it go, maybe later."
The sign of a good partner is that they care. The sign of a great partner is they know when to let it go. Thompson was better than great. He nodded and became very interested in the operation of the SUV. We rode in silence on the way back to the hotel while I rested my head against the back of the comfortable leather seats. I stared out the window at the starry night sky and thought about nothing in particular, or at least I tried to. I'd never known my mother, only her twin sister. I'd like to think they were very similar, but it's still not the same. I had never, ever thought I would find out who my father was, let alone meet him. Finally, I've met him and not only had he scared the crap out of me and asked me to kill myself, I didn't know if he was even real.
Chapter 21
The Governor's Ball was tomorrow night and Thompson and I hadn't even begun to get everything prepared. The only good news we got was that he and I would be staying in the mansion for the remainder of the night and during the daylight hours of the big day. That gave us plenty of prep time to thwart the attack we were sure would come. Greer wouldn't be the only major political player in the vampire world in attendance either. Every master of every major city in California was on the guest list, and if I knew anything about vampire pride, few had turned down the invite.
Thompson and I walked the entire exterior of the mansion with legal sized pads of paper making notes on possible weaknesses in the security of the governor and his guests. The list kept getting longer and longer, while my feeling of hopelessness got bigger and bigger. The words 'death trap' kept crossing my mind for some reason. Thompson, on the other hand, kept up his positive attitude. I tried not to make gagging faces.
We did settle on who would be doing what during the ball. Thompson would play the role of orchestra conductor while I played inhuman shield to Greer. Thompson didn't see the other masters of the cities as potential targets (or at least important ones), but after visiting the dead master of San Jose, I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for those on the guest list. Thompson called it collateral damage; I called it more of my people I would have to protect if I needed to. I gave a little gulp at the idea that I was starting to think of vampires as
my people
. Especially after the walking, waking dream I had on the Sacramento street the night before. That dream, or vision, had rattled what little I knew about myself and what I was.
"Ashlyn!" Thompson's shout snapped me out of my reverie. I looked up at him and blinked a couple of times.
"What?"
"Get your fucking head in the game, kid, or I'll have you sit this one out."
"My head is in the game. I was thinking about how hard it would be to get Greer to wear a stake proof vest under his tux," I lied.
"Good luck with that. Do you think four FBI SWAT agents will be sufficient to cover the rear entrance?"
"I think so; tell them not to engage unless they can get a clear shot from a distance and radio for back up immediately."
"I said that already, pay attention," he said and gave me a friendly slap on the head.
"Yes, Father."
He started to move on and I followed him. I refused to go back to my thoughts, so I actually looked around for the first time that night. A hundred weak areas caught my attention, and I jotted them down on my growing list of possible avenues of attack. Shit, for all I knew, the vampires were going to drop a nuke on the mansion. How the hell do you protect against that?
"You see anything else?" I looked up and found us where we'd started our rounds.
"Only about a hundred and fifty things."
"Yeah, me too. Let's go compare lists."
That's precisely what we did for the next hour and a half. Thompson saw things I hadn't even noticed. I'm ashamed to say almost every one of mine had already been marked down by him. At least I saw them. I might not be as good as Thompson, but I was getting better. Let's hope I would be good enough by tomorrow night. I really wanted this whole detail to be over.
A knock on the office door where Thompson and I had set up shop came just as we finished going over our lists. Thompson stood and walked over to the door and opened it, revealing a sheepish looking governor standing there. If a man who always expects things done for him and people coming to him ends up on your doorstep looking sheepish, you can bet your ass he wants something you won't want to do.