Invincible (A Centennial City Novel) - By Fionn Jameson Page 0,7
saw the wisdom in Jase’s suggestion. “People will think nothing of seeing us together. Most won’t care to listen to us, will they?”
“Nope.” He swirled the drink in his glass, having only taken one sip since receiving it. “Besides. We’re in this together. I want to know who you are before we start digging.”
“You know who I am.”
He lifted his head, and I watched his eyes follow a tall, slim girl with light brown hair as she walked to her pack of friends near the bathrooms. Interesting. If he was a vampire, I would’ve suspected his hunger, but as he was not, I had no idea. Perhaps he was into brunettes. None of my business. “Wrong. I know of you. But who you are? I don’t think anyone in the Fellowship knows who you are.”
I took a sip of the wonderfully astringent and sweet juice and set it down carefully on the cardboard coaster. “What is there to know? I hunt for the Elders.”
“For how long?”
That required some thought. “Five years, give or take a couple of months.”
He huffed out a breath. “From all the rumors, I would’ve thought a lot longer. But you don’t look older than me. How old are you?”
“None of your business.” I wasn’t against telling him, but this man was due to die soon. I had no intention of becoming close to someone who would soon die by my hand. I’m heartless, but I’m not evil. “Tell me about Shannon. That’s her name?”
He nodded. My ploy at changing the subject worked. Either that or he didn’t really care how about my age. “Yeah. Shannon Donahue. God, I miss her.”
“How long ago was it?”
It was starting to get difficult hearing him, as the noise level rose. Most likely due to the pack of frat boys and Brunette girl with her girlfriends playing a game seemed to involve a ping-pong ball and several plastic containers of beer all in various states of fullness. Fascinating and yet pathetically infantile.
I moved closer to him, close enough to brush my body along his.
He flinched. Hm.
“Don’t touch me.”
“I beg your pardon,” I said solemnly. “It was not my intention. It’s getting loud in here. I didn’t want to shout at you.”
The set of his shoulders seemed to relax. Barely. “Okay. Fine. But keep your distance.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I didn’t trust jittery people. “How long ago did she…disappear?”
“Almost four years ago.”
I blinked. I hadn’t thought he was that old. Unless he was the type to get engaged in high school. And yes, he did seem like the impetuous type to do just that. “That’s a long time. And you’ve made no progress so far?”
He shook his head and tossed down half the whiskey. “Couldn’t. That’s the whole reason I joined the Fellowship. Was told they would help me find the son of a bitch.”
The pattern become uncomfortably clear. “But they didn’t.”
“No.”
Ah. “They promised. They told you they’d help you find the vampire who turned her and bring him to justice?”
“Yeah.”
How familiar. “And now they’re sending you to die.”
“Basically.”
I rolled the half empty glass between my palms, warming up the chilled glass. How refreshingly metro in an establishment that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a decade. “They couldn’t find the vampire who did it. It could be they’re sending you because you’d be willing to take a chance at killing a vampire. It could be they’re trying to get rid of you before you make…problems.”
“Probably.”
He tossed down the rest of the whiskey, and I became aware of music beginning to filter through the large speakers placed over the shelves containing expensive-looking bottles. Low, throbbing, almost sexual in nature, it didn’t seem like the sort of music you’d play in a bar. Maybe a strip club, but not a bar. I kind of liked it.
“For what it’s worth, they probably tried.”
Why was I defending the Elders?
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Not anymore. I’ve got you now. You can help me.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Yeah, me too.”
It was strange, to see a man so resigned with death. In my years of hunting, I had never come across prey that fell on their knees to readily accept the end of their life. The chase always ensued and then things got messy. In truth, I was starting to expect it that way. “Tell me what you know about Shannon and…”
I didn’t know what to say.
He stared at the ice slowly melting away in his glass. “We grew up together. Went to the same