Invincible (A Centennial City Novel) - By Fionn Jameson Page 0,83
take everyone in gladiator style. “But before you put your hand up, let me at least appeal to your common sense. I have given everything to the Fellowship. My mother was killed by a bloodsucker. My father was turned into one of them. I have nothing to gain by following their orders. Indeed, I would have everything to lose.”
A stout, bearded man with a chest as wide as he was tall spoke up. “Oh yeah? Then why are you protecting one of them?”
Frustration turned my voice hard, sharp. “Accuse not, unless you know the full truth. The one I protect was a human until five days ago. He was part of the Fellowship, looking for the vampire who turned his fiance and killed their unborn child. Like me, he seeks the downfall of the entire race.”
“So he turned into a vampire?” Beth asked, sarcasm turning her words sour.
“I sought entrance into Noir’s house. He provided me with an entrance. Together, we’ll take them down. But if you kill me here, everything will have been for nothing,” I said and then drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “But if you want to try your luck and see if killing me will bring your friends back, then by all means. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a match like this.”
I was only half-bluffing. But a half-bluff is still a bluff. I didn’t want to fight, didn’t want to waste energy on a pointless fight, but if it meant the difference between walking out of the “interrogation” room and being a stain on the floor, then I would fight.
No one could accuse me of being bloodthirsty, but if it came down to it, I would fight to kill. Experience taught me that people in the Fellowship, or maybe just people in general, did not take to defeat kindly.
Would anyone take my bluff?
“If I kill you, they’ll quit hunting us,” said Beth, a disturbing finality to her voice. “I know it.”
I’d known she probably wouldn’t back down, not when she looked so sure of herself and her misguided convictions. But if I could just get to everyone else... “Well? Anyone else think she’s right?”
No one met my eyes, not even the guy who almost scalped me.
That was reassuring. Somewhat.
“Don’t be fucking ridiculous.”
The voice had changed, rougher than I remembered, but the soft drawl was the still. “There’ll be no fighting, not on my watch. Williamson, you’re on probation. No, on second thought, get the hell out of here. Don’t come back until I call you. That’s an order.”
It hurt to turn my head and my cheeks felt hot, heavy. I was going to look like I’d been hit in the face with a van which I guessed wasn’t entirely far from the truth. “Trent. It’s been a while.”
It wasn’t just his voice that had changed. The scars were new, almost painfully new.
His trademark sparkling smile didn’t look the same. Not with a scar bisecting the left side of his face, starting from under a startling silver eye and ending somewhere past his high Chinese collar.
“It’s pretty bad.”
Guiltily, I drew my gaze back up to his face. Was this how a man felt when he got caught staring at a woman’s chest? “I was just thinking how painful it would’ve been.”
His smile widened until he was practically leering at me. “Bet you weren’t.”
I almost rose to his bait. But almost is a far cry from actually doing so. “Is this how you greet people now?”
The smile faded away in an instant and he took another step into the room. The temperature seemed to drop a few more degrees. “I’m sorry, Ran. This wasn’t how I wanted you to be welcomed. I heard from...” he stopped and then shook his head. “I heard from Adrian what you were doing. If what he said was right, then you should be given a hero’s welcome, not...not this,” he said and nodded at my blazing face. “Beth will be punished, make no mistake.”
“Now, hold on just one second. The Elders--”
“Never told you to turn this into a blood bath,” interjected Trent. “It was supposed to be an investigation. Threatening your own team members is not an investigation. As of now, you’re off. Pack your bags and find somewhere to cool your head.”
She looked away but not soon enough to hide the shimmer in her eyes. “They have to pay. Someone has to pay for what they’ve done.”
Something in Trent’s face softened. Not much, but the furrow between