Invincible (A Centennial City Novel) - By Fionn Jameson Page 0,31

and then up again. I didn’t like it. “How…novel. And yet, if half of what I hear is true…perhaps not such a novel idea, after all.”

His human emissary cleared her throat. “Vincent.”

Just a single word and he stopped.

Strange.

Wasn’t she his human servant?

He walked back to his entourage, hands held behind his back. “I apologize. You are guests, after all.”

Why was he acting like he was her servant?

Vincent turned on one heel. “Reynold never arrived.”

Jason titled his head to one side. “Pardon?”

“As a Lord, I am privy to certain information…” He stared at me blatantly and my skin crawled. Beautiful or not, he was frightening. “Reynold was a contract killer. A rather infamous one, at that. He took hits from various people, be they human or otherwise. Yesterday, I received word he did not return back to his keeper. A well-known killer disappearing…rather curious, wouldn’t you say?”

My face was immobile. “What are you trying to say?”

“I presumed his hit had, in turn, eliminated him. But a vampire strong enough to dispatch Reynold…certainly, there are not many in this City that is able to dispatch a three hundred year old vampire who’ve been trained by the best killers of the millennium.”

I didn’t think he was that good. But I wasn’t foolish enough to admit to anything unless there was damning evidence. And even then, perhaps I would play deaf. “And what makes you think I know anything about him?”

“Nothing,” he said in a contemplative manner. It didn’t fool anyone. “Except I know who the contract was for.”

Jason wasn’t smiling anymore. “I don’t understand why you are trying to be so subtle. Do you want me to admit a vampire came looking for me?”

I wanted to bash my head against the metal wall. Or his head. It didn’t really matter. “Don’t. Tell. Him. Anything.”

“Too late,” he said and turned his gaze back to Vincent. “Yes, I’ll admit it. He came for me on the same night Reiko decided to turn me. Ran was simply defending me. Nothing more.”

Idiot!

“Normally, I would applaud such efforts,” replied Vincent in a hushed undertone. “However, I know about Ran’s history. I know where she comes from. A skilled hunter becoming the Ailward to a vampire? A new one, at that? One to which she had absolutely zero contact with? If you were me, don’t you think you would find that slightly…suspicious?”

He whispered the last word, but he might as well have screamed it for all the effect it had.

His emissary’s brows rose and the blond vampire’s mouth gaped open. The brunette flipped her hair back and regarded me with cool eyes. If I’d been prettier, I might’ve mistaken her look for jealousy.

But not the way I was dressed.

Jason let out a slow breath and I saw his hands clench at his sides. Surely he wasn’t an idiot enough to throw himself at Vincent?

But no, he unclenched his fists and squared his shoulders. “May I ask how you know about my personal history with her?”

Vincent smiled but it was like how Jason smiled. Lips curved upward, but no mirth in the eyes. “When I learned about Reynold and the contract out for you, a mere pup of a bloodsucker, I thought it was quite strange. He had been offered quite a bit of money, if you must know. I couldn’t help but wonder why someone would put out a hit on a newborn, and not only that, but put a large sum of funds on it. As of yet, I have not found out why. I’m sure, given enough time, I will. But can you see where I am coming from?”

I didn’t, but this was not a conversation I could interrupt. As Jason’s Ailward, it was my job to look tough and menacing.

But without my weapon, I wasn’t sure how I was pulling it off.

“I’m a rich man,” Jason said with a straight face. “To Reiko, I think I am a formidable ally. There are many who would think nothing of knocking an entire House down, if only to advance their own families. No matter how you try to hide it from the humans, there is always internal strife. Each House battles another for prestige and honor. Every year, more vampires die at the hands of their own brethren than from human hunters.”

Vincent inclined his head. “This I can attest to.”

“Then why is it so wrong for me to have a bodyguard?”

Vincent looked at me and in his eyes I read the mind of a man I hoped never