a barely discernible click.
The darkness pricked the edges of my consciousness and I fought the urge to pull open all the curtains, let the growing fingers of sun creep across the dark brown carpet to banish the shadows away.
I didn’t think Jason would appreciate it.
So I did the next best thing.
There was a grimy, yet warm fast-food joint specializing in catering to geriatrics three blocks away in a run-down strip mall. There was a cell phone store next door, although it wouldn’t be open for another four hours.
I wouldn’t mind the wait. It wasn’t as though I had anywhere to be anyways.
After making a quick phone call in a dilapidated phone booth at the end of the strip mall, I took a seat at the very back of the diner, next to the restrooms. Gabe’s Diner was stuffed with seniors taking advantage of the Seniors eat 50% off deal going on and I remembered seeing an assisted living facility at the outskirts of town.
An old man shuffled past me on his way to the bathroom and a tall, dark-haired man with a scruffy beard pushed open the front door.
Our eyes met.
Of course I should have expected such a meeting.
He slid into the seat across from me, eyebrows furrowed deep over his deep-set blue eyes. “Talk to me.”
I stared down at my hands clasped on the scarred Formica table. “Did Elder Chang call you?”
Adrian sighed, covered my hands with his. His hands were always warm, a fact I always found to be quite interesting, as my hands never seemed to get warm enough. “Talk to me, Ran. What the hell is going on?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can.”
His eyes narrowed. “I know why you wanted me to go on vacation. Chang put you on one of the vampire lords. You were worried why he didn’t delegate the task through me.”
I curled my fingers through his, relished the warmth flooding up my arms to settle comfortably between my shoulder blades. “I thought the Fellowship was going to get rid of you.”
He snorted. “Yeah right. I’m the best fucking handler they’ve got. I helped train you, didn’t I?”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Of course, there wasn’t a whole lot for me to train,” he acquiesced with a soft laugh. His smile faded away, almost as though it had never been there in the first place. “Look, before you came, there was…” He drew his hands back. I missed the warmth. “Like I said, I’m the best Handler they’ve got. Unfortunately, that means I get paired up with a lot of hunters. You know, people die, Ran. To be honest, you’re the longest-lasting hunter I’ve been paired with. And you know, I kind of like it. You think I’d get use to people dying on me, but I really don’t.”
Much as I appreciated the sentiment, I wasn’t sure where he was going with this monologue. “I’m sorry to interrupt you, Adrian, but do you have a point?”
He coughed, gaze sliding sideways at the elderly old man who shuffled out of the bathroom, hands in his corduroy pants, a greasy leather hat atop his feathered white head. “The point is, I’ve lost hunters. To Noir.” He covered his head with his hands for a moment, slowly drawing them down, eyes heavenward. “I don’t know what their obsession is with Noir. It’s always him. Do you have any idea how many people we’ve lost to him and his House? Christ, it’s like throwing people in front of a fucking machine gun.”
A rather interesting turn of phrase. “Elder Chang told me Rammstein had failed.”
“Of course Rammstein would fail,” he replied. “It’s a wonder Rammstein’s survived as long as he did. But that’s not the point. The point is, if I knew what task they had given you, I would’ve done my damnedest to turn it down. I care for you more than that.”
I cast my eyes down, growing uncomfortable under the heat of his gaze. “Be that as it may, the task has been given. I will go through with it.”
He shook his head and stood up. “No. Don’t think so. You’re coming back to the Sanctuary with me. Elder Chang wants you back.”
Elder Chang wants you back.
Wants you back…
“No,” I said quietly. “No, I’m not going.”
His eyes widened and he sat back down heavily, making the table tremble under my hands. “For Christ’s sake, there’s no shame in going back, Ran. Better to live and fight another day than just fucking dying. You’re too