Dean's Online Fiction

The Greater Darkness

Chapter 17

Geoffry couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched. The vampire had doubled back several times in an effort to catch whatever was following him, but hadn't been successful in finding anyone.

Maybe I'm just paranoid after last week's ambush. Luckily I haven't gone anywhere that would give anything important away, so even if someone is stalking me, it doesn't matter.

On the other hand, this is definitely out of the ordinary, and the only other thing that has been unusual this week is the fact that Venice still hasn't stopped by to tell me that her ribs are healed enough to resume our training. I wonder if the two are somehow related.

Geoffry finally arrived at the designated meeting point in Central Park, arranged his trench coat, and sat down to wait. Venice arrived a few moments later.

The gorgeous vampire looked around to ensure they were alone, and then sat down next to Geoffry, leaning into him slightly. “It is good to see you, love. I was half afraid you wouldn't get the note.”

Geoffry nodded absently, wondering if Venice had really been a party to the decision on where to meet, or if Imastious had just dictated to her the same way he called all of the shots with Geoffry.

“How are your ribs?”

Venice shrugged. “They've been fine for a few days now, but Imastious had a number of chores that he wanted taken care of, so I've been too busy of late to stop by and let you know that you could try and beat me senseless again.”

Geoffry was on the verge of apologizing again for hurting Venice, but he knew that it would only goad her into giving him a worse time, so he remained silent.

“Six men were killed or seriously injured last week the same night as we trained. Descriptions of the one who did it to them had him using some kind of curved sword, and wearing a black trench coat.”

Realizing that Geoffry wasn't going to respond, Venice shrugged. “Suit yourself, but Imastious has hundreds of years to practice at reading people, and if I know about your little tussle, he'll know about it too. You may want to have a response prepared for when he asks why you're getting involved in fights that make you higher profile, and consequently less useful to him.”

Geoffry opened his mouth to respond, only to fill a chill run up and down his spine as a voice interrupted him.

“Indeed Imastious does know about the altercation, and I very much would like to know the reason for the conflict.”

Venice rapidly stood, pulling Geoffry to his feet with her.

“Master, I'm sorry, we didn't know you were there.”

Imastious waved away the apology. “I'm waiting.”

Geoffry felt light, probing touches against his mental defenses, and fought down panic at the thought of another confrontation with the older, more powerful vampire.

“Sir, I wasn't looking for a fight. One of them had attacked me days before. I dealt with him, but hadn't realized that I'd wandered back into the area. Once I realized where I was, I tried to leave, but they jumped me before I could get out of the neighborhood.”

Imastious stared at Geoffry with cold, dead eyes for several seconds, and then nodded. “You are fortunate that the accounts of the few witnesses back up your story. I'm satisfied that you are telling the truth, and that discipline will not be required.”

Geoffry clamped down on the sigh of relief that tried to escape him. “Still, in the future you will report all such encounters to myself or Venice immediately. You are insufficiently skilled at this point to determine when these types of attacks are the result of happenstance, and when they represent an attack by a vampire Elder attempting to weaken my base of power.”

Venice took a breath, and for a second Geoffry thought she was going to apologize to Imastious for not having already conveyed those instructions to Geoffry, but Imastious' gaze had already turned to her, preempting speech.

“And you my daughter, you should be mindful of where your true loyalties lie. I know that you have some infatuation with Geoffry, but if you ever let that lead you to crossing me in the slightest, we'll undergo another session similar to the one after the high rise incident, and I don't think you want that.”

Venice's breath caught for a moment, and she shook her head violently. Imastious smiled for the first time that night. “On the other hand, even allowing for the exaggerations to which witnesses are prone, it appears that you have done an excellent job returning our Geoffry to a state of readiness, so if your feelings lead to superior performance, they are not entirely unacceptable.”

Imastious gazed off in the distance for several seconds before looking back at the pair and handing Geoffry a packet of papers. “Your next assignment is in there. Although you shouldn't face any of our kind, this target is of much greater importance than your previous two, so don't be surprised if you find him guarded by some humans.”

Geoffry had noticed that all of Imastious' words came out in such a manner as to leave the hearer with the impression that the older vampire despised whatever he was talking about, but the emphasis placed on the last word seemed to convey a special brand of disgust.

Just before he turned to vanish in the night Imastious looked once more at Venice. “The nature of this assignment is such that you should probably be involved in the planning of it. Although Geoffry's capabilities are steadily improving, it bears remembering that he is still far from what he once was. Failure this time could be significant for all of us.”

**

Geoffry tried as much as possible to maintain a facade of calm as he watched the various VIP's leave city hall at the end of the day. Venice was involved in the planning stages of the hit alright, not that it ended up making much of a difference when all was said and done. Mostly it just made her extremely frustrated when I refused to do things 'by the book'.

As Geoffry's target came out and waited for his car to pull around, the vampire extended his thoughts. His range was steadily improving and it took only a heartbeat to locate and touch the councilman's thoughts. Forcing down the impulse to retch at what he found was more difficult. The sophistication on the outside covers up a rot the like of which I don't know if I've ever seen before. Greed is his primary motivator, it doesn't look like he's ever killed someone with his hands before, but he's agreed to many a decision that he knew could result in potential pain and death for residents of the city just so that he could line his pockets with even more money.

As contemptible as what he had found was, Geoffry wasn't sure that there was anything in there that would cause a court of law to deliver a death sentence. Wait. There, a wife or mistress. Jealousy, rage. He put a contract out on her love, and paid the death price with relish.

As the vehicle pulled away, Geoffry broke the contact and tried to settle his stomach, relieved that he would be spared the decision of whether or not to kill an innocent again.

**

Venice paced back and forth across the room. “I'm glad that you aren't hedging about whether or not you'll do the hit anymore, but I don't understand why you are insisting on doing this by yourself. I should be along to help out in case things don't go as planned.”

Geoffry shrugged, “Imastious gave the assignment to me, there isn't any reason for you to get involved now that we are done with the planning stage. At least look at the bright side, you finally convinced me that it would be foolish to try and use a gun on the hit.”

The slender vampire already looked like she was about to throw something at Geoffry. It was better not to let on that the alarm likely to be raised by gunshots had been the real deterrent. The idea of a passing pyromancer realizing that I was carrying a firearm and igniting all of that gunpowder seems too impossible to merit the kind of fear she's demonstrating. Venice appeared to be expecting some kind of additional explanation, so Geoffry continued on. “From everything you've indicated, this hit is dangerous primarily due to what will happen afterwards. If this guy really does have a powerful vampire patron, it makes sense to ensure that only one of us is on the chopping block in the event he manages to track me down.”

Venice shook her head, “We don't know that he has a vampire patron, and if he does, this guy is highly placed enough that it won't matter how the hit is accomplished, or who is involved. Any Elder with an interest is going to investigate things as thoroughly as he's able. If he does track you down, it's guaranteed that he'll find our connection and come after me as well.”

Geoffry reached up and gently stopped Venice from pacing. “This isn't like you, what's really wrong?”

Venice looked for a second like she would cry, and then she collapsed into Geoffry's arms clinging to him with all of her considerable strength. “I don't think you understand how big of a step this is. Imastious hasn't ever used one of us to go after another Elder's assets. At least not one that was this highly placed. I think he's had a few people killed here and there before, but he's always used humans to do it, humans that were completely deniable.”

Geoffry smoothed Venice's hair as she continued. “If he's really gearing up for some kind of bid to dramatically increase his power, we are both probably going to die. It just doesn't seem right that he can use us up like that, discard us without a second thought, not after all that we've done for him.”

For a second it seemed that sobs would overcome the slender vampire, but she fought them down with visible effort and continued on. “It isn't just that either. For all this to happen now, just as things seemed to finally be going the way that I'd hoped, is so typical.”

Geoffry cocked his head to the side and then gently pulled Venice's face around to where he could look into her eyes. “Are things really going where you think they are? I don't know if I could have killed again if this guy wasn't so deserving of punishment, what would you have done then?”

The brilliant blue eyes looking back and Geoffry looked confused for a moment, and became filled with frustration. “Is that all this is about? Every time I think maybe this isn't all just an act, you pull something just like this and prove that you are the same old cold, manipulative jerk you were before. I won't disobey Imastious, not in any way that will result in any kind of punishment. Both of us together, even when you were more powerful than you are now, wouldn't have been enough to defeat him, I'm not about to risk death or worse at this point.”

Venice let go of Geoffry and stood. “You can't stop Imastious, and pretending that you've become worried with the right or wrong of a given assignment won't shelter you in the least from his displeasure if you fail.”

After Venice had left, Geoffry mulled over her parting shot for quite a while. “And I won't be taken down with you, if that is how you want to play things, you're on your own.”

**

Geoffry had spent hours worried about what to do with Venice. Did she let more slip there than she meant to? Am I really a different person than I was before, is there some slim hope that I can become something other than what I was. If I do, what will happen with Venice, can she come to understand me, or will morality continue to baffle her? If only she had the innocence of Melody, this would be different. But if she were that clean and pure, she wouldn't want me, wouldn't be able to get past all of the things I've done.

Thinking about Melody awoke a different kind of worry. I shouldn't have gone there tonight, not right before a hit, especially not when I still feel like I'm being watched half of the time. I did everything I could to make sure that I wasn't followed, but it was still too risky.

Geoffry looked away from the residential building for a second to check his watch. It was slightly past the time when he expected the councilman's car to pull up to the stately, timeless building, but he wasn't too concerned by the delay. The council session must have just run a little longer than normal.

The vampire's hand brushed against a letter in his pocket, confirming its existence. There's the real reason that I shouldn't have gone by. Just seeing her would probably have been a distraction, despite having convinced myself it would put me at ease, but I never counted on the fact that there'd be another letter,this one carefully taped inside a plastic bag to protect it from the weather. I knew she'd be horrified by what I told her, but I thought she'd just cease communicating with me rather than writing something to rebuke me or tell me to stay away.

As despair tried to wash over him again, Geoffry wondered again just how scathing Melody's reply was going to be, but once again held to his resolve not to open it before the hit was successfully completed. Better to deal with the uncertainty than to know exactly how much she hates me.

A brand-new limo pulled up to the parking garage entrance, and Geoffry did a quick mental check to verify that the license plate matched the one on the limo in which the councilman always departed City Hall, and then he started towards the front door.

Geoffry had scouted the building a few days previously to verify that there weren't any security cameras, but he still pulled on a mask to ensure he couldn't be identified later. It makes sense that these people wouldn't want any record of the comings and goings of their mistresses, but a mistake in this regard will certainly result in my death.

Stopping just out of sight of the doorman, and leaning against a richly finished wall, Geoffry freed his thoughts from their physical moorings, and touched the unsuspecting man's mind. Yes, you're completely calm now, even a host of heavily armed men would not cause you to do anything other than sit there as they stormed past.

A few minutes later Geoffry had entered the building and climbed the sterile-looking metal stairs to the top floor. Pausing for a moment at the last landing, the vampire carefully reached out and scanned the minds on the floor. There is indeed a guard here.

Even just touching surface thoughts at this range was tiring, but Geoffry managed to infuse the guard with a slight sense of drowsiness. Nothing left to do now but rush him.

His previous explorations had revealed that the doorway to the stairs was hidden by a bend in the hall, so Geoffry exited the landing as quietly as possible and crept as close as he was able without being seen.

A few seconds later the guard was unconscious from a blow to the head and Geoffry was breathing heavily from his sprint down the hall. Poor sucker didn't even have a chance to yell. Now for you Mr. Councilman.

The condominium was large enough that Geoffry might have been in trouble if his target had been on the far side of the unit, but luckily the councilman was close enough for the vampire to gradually build an impulse to go check the door.

As soon as Geoffry heard the the chirp of the security system disengaging, he launched a powerful side-thrust kick that tore the door from its frame and knocked the councilman to the floor. Before the dazed man could fully register what was happening Geoffry had drawn one of the many knives he now kept secreted about his person, and the hit was finished.

A minute later, the guard had been dragged into the apartment, the door had been pulled closed, and Geoffry was on his way back down the stairs.