Invincible (A Centennial City Novel) - By Fionn Jameson Page 0,71
you are not against us, and if you are truly his Ailward...” Matthias smiled. “Quite frankly, I find your ability to be quite useful.”
Vincent made a sound deep in his throat. “She is not your Ailward, Matthias.”
The other vampire nodded. “Indeed she is not. But what a shame she is not. Surely, you can see what an asset she can be to you, to me, to all of us.”
Annabelle looked at me with a scrutinizing expression that scared me even more than her attack on Jason. “We have not had someone like her in such a long time, Matthias. Was Betrand our last champion?”
Champion? Over my dead body.
Fenrir clucked his tongue. “What a shameful way for the man to go. I wouldn’t wish his death on anyone, not even an enemy.”
Image after image played through my mind, none of them appealing in the least. “I am no champion. I only want to protect Jason as is my duty. That I have grown used to your auras is a fluke.”
“But ours would be the greater mistake, if we were ignore such, as you said it, fluke.”
Jason’s arm tightened around my waist, breathing a gasp to my lips. “I will not give her to anyone.”
Noir’s glasses glinted and a strange smile graced his pale lips. “I fail to see how you can stop anyone of us. A Sanguinate you may be, but you are still young.”
“Enough,” said Vincent. “We have come here to discuss their fates. There is little doubt he is a dangerous presence, but surely, we can come to some sort of arrangement.”
Annabelle laughed. “Arrangement? What sort? I thought he was to die. Have we decided otherwise and I am not yet aware of it?”
Fenrir shot a sideways glance at her. “I have yet to see a Sanguinate so...articulate. Weren’t they supposed to be nothing but ghouls? Why does this one looks so normal?”
Noir nodded. “It is interesting, isn’t it?”
“Do you want to study him?” asked Vincent, voice dry.
The object of my most intent attention nudged his glasses up with a slim index finger. “I must admit to a certain curiosity. I have never gotten the chance to observe such a specimen under these circumstances before.”
The breath caught in my throat.
Surely...surely not...
He drew in a quick breath. “Yes, I think I have made up my mind. I will take him under the guidance of my House.”
That my jaw did not bounce on the thin indigo carpet was surprising.
Jason let out a small laugh. “You would be my Dominus? I regret to tell you I already have a Master.”
Noir tilted his head to one side. “Do you know where she is, so that she may vouch for you? Without someone to lay claim to you, you are anyone’s meat. Without someone’s sponsorship, you would not survive a night out there. Not when we have seen your face, not when we know you are the Sanguinate we have been searching for. You would not last another moon.”
And that, regrettably, was the truth, and I did not think I could survive.
After all, I had to protect him every time while his killers only had to succeed once. The odds were not on our side.
Jason’s jaw tightened. “I have one condition.”
Noir nodded magnanimously. “And that is?”
“You are aware of my beginnings,” he said quietly. “I am Jason Eldridge. I had a fiance, a pregnant woman who had turned vampire.”
Not a flicker of emotion ran across Noir’s face. “Go on.”
“The vampire who turned her,” he continued. “I want his head. I don’t care how I get it.”
Shannon froze “Jason. Stop.”
Jason did not stop. “Her name was Shannon.”
Noir raised a brow. “You mean, the female vampire next to you?”
“She was pregnant with my child.” Jason continued as though he couldn’t hear a thing. “She was pregnant with my child and kidnapped one night. I was going to ask her to marry me.”
I watched the tears coarse down her cheeks as she fell to her knees. “No, no, no, no. Please don’t. Please stop. No more, Jason. I’m begging you!”
“Who is the one that took my fiance and turned her into a vampire? Who is the one who killed my child?”
Matthias walked a few feet forward. “Are you looking for the one responsible for taking Shannon?”
“Matthias, no!” screeched Shannon and I could only stand and watch as he wrestled a skinny, dark-haired vampire out of a chair. “Stop!”