TARNISHED (Book 5.5, The Caged Series (Novella)) (10 page)

“And Sophie?”

“What about her?”

“Where will she go? Will you make her journey there with me to indulge your ridiculousness when there will be no danger to me or the others?”

“Others?” he asked, a look of sheer enjoyment taking him over. “Who said you were going any other way than alone? Does the great Aniketos suddenly now require the assistance of others to take down a single being?”

“I assumed I would be provided with assistance,” I ground out through nearly cracking teeth. I watched as his expression darkened and swelled with pride. It appeared that the Chameleon was not the only master of illusion.

“You don't need it.”

“Sophie...?” I asked again since he seemed steadfast on not answering my initial question.

“She will remain here,” he informed me. “With me...”

I could see that he was set on his plan and all that it implied, but instead of continuing to fight him, I silently fumed instead. He bought my act without question. The irony was that, for once, he was giving me exactly what I wanted, although unknowingly―
freedom
. No Ares. No Sophie. No hunting the Rouge et Blanc. I would have the time and the space I needed to search for answers regarding my mother.

“Is there anything else?” I asked, feigning respect for his position and interest in his response. That act he saw right through, as was intended.

“No. You will leave at sunrise tomorrow morning.”

“And who will protect you in my absence?” I asked, unable to mask my mockery.

“You know you are not the only one capable of the task,” he sneered. “I have released you from your protective detail―
officially
. Phobos and Deimos are set to return any moment. I have called for others as well. Others you know nothing of. But do not get any ideas, Aniketos...,” he continued, a smile widening across his face. “I may have undone that particular part of the deal, but the other remains. My death at your hands is still not an option for you. Not if you wish to live.”

His words stumped me momentarily. He was severing our ties, if only partially. Either my presence truly disgusted him on a level no longer tolerable or he was scheming. What was even more puzzling was my knowledge of everyone and everything involved with the PC and Elders. It seemed impossible that he had something hidden away from me—that there was someone or something completely unknown to me that he valued enough to call upon. I did not enjoy his enigmatic response, but knew that he would not elaborate, even if asked. He most likely did it to irritate me as I was irritating him.

“Then I will leave as you have ordered.” I turned to walk away from him, needing to hide the growing smile that was overtaking my face, knowing that I'd played him.

“You will meet Jaysen and Trey over there,” he called after me, halting me immediately.

“You said I would do this alone.”

“You will, but I have no need for them. They are virtually useless here so I have already dispatched them. Perhaps they will prove to be better hunting dogs than warriors...”

I didn't bother to respond to his insults, but resumed my exit, wondering what they had done to be relegated to such a menial task. Jaysen had always been seen as weak, his temperament and abilities long overshadowed by his brother Jerzyr, but Trey had both skill and intelligence. He must have done something to fall from favor, and I was extremely interested to find out exactly what that was.

* * *

After days of travel, I arrived on the shores of what would much later be known as the United States of America, in the state of Massachusetts. I was surprised to find a smiling Jaysen awaiting my arrival.

“I see that Ares made you travel the...
difficult
way as well,” he said, slapping my back in greeting.

“I never expected anything less.”

“We followed up with every lead there has been regarding the Chameleon, but so far, nothing.”

“And there will be nothing because there is no such being.”

“Marcus seemed to think otherwise...”

“Marcus is a narcissistic power-monger.”

“True,” he countered. “But he's one of the oldest around...sometimes he knows things.”

“Things that can benefit him, Jaysen. This can't further his station.”

He shrugged.

“Maybe you should meet with him. You know you have that...
persuasive
thing about you.”

“Maybe...”

“Well, it can keep for a bit. Trey has acquired a few residences for us. You can choose whichever you like. We haven't settled in to any yet.”

“I don't plan to settle here at all,” I said aloud, though I'd meant to keep that to myself.

“You know he won't let you back until you do as he asks...”

“I'm aware of that.”

“Then why not just make the best of this?”

“I am. I'm thrilled to be here, can't you tell?”

I let my words hang in the air between us until I finally broke, allowing a rare moment of joviality to break through my stoic demeanor. My lighter persona was a vast improvement from my dark side, but I was still not known for my levity or humor. Jaysen picked up on it immediately and tension released from his body at the sight.

“You really are happy to be here, aren't you?” he asked with the childlike innocence he was known for when he wasn't disposing of supernatural waste.

“You have no idea,” I replied with a wry grin. “We're going to reinvent ourselves here...and we're going to reinvent the PC as well.”

The Darkness

And that is precisely what we did. It took time and creativity, but slowly, I wove my way around that vast new world and familiarized myself with all it had to offer, supernatural or otherwise. As the need for more policing was realized, more and more of the brothers were sent to maintain the balance, all while I searched for the Chameleon—the greatest cover story ever known. Ares knew nothing of what I was doing until it was far too late. The brothers' allegiance had methodically turned to me, not him. They would ultimately follow his rule, but those in the New World answered to me and me alone, and he knew it. The look on his face when he came to the Americas for the first time was worth every minute of scheming and conniving I'd spent. He'd trained me to be his ultimate weapon, but what he failed to realize was that, in the process, he’d also trained me to be an equally talented strategist. That bomb dropped on him hard, his expression giving him away for one of the first times ever.

The look sang to my soul.

Over time, I came to really love being in the US. I adopted a new name, a new life, and, to a certain degree, a new persona. Sean didn't have the same history and baggage that Aniketos did. It was an opportunity for me to be my mother's son for once. A rebirth that let me start anew.

But even I couldn't evade a past so tarnished.

My reputation had long preceded me, and my dark side would never be truly silenced. Muted and stifled for the most part, it made an appearance when the situation warranted. When something evil enough called to him.

Like the night we stumbled upon another RB.

We hadn't encountered one for longer than most could remember. Our goal had always been to wipe them from the face of the Earth, and we thought we had accomplished exactly that. Apparently, our judgment had been in error.

I could sense him immediately, as could the others. When we surrounded him, closing in, he smiled. He looked wild and feral in human form. We'd never seen one that way before—we'd only ever killed their wolves. There was something about him that reached deep within me, begging for my black-eyed monster to show himself. It was as if he wanted a challenge and knew that I had one for him. He appeared to be only a child, but it mattered not. He was a cold-blooded killer.

It would take one to put him down.

Even in human form, his eyes burned a bloody red as he growled at my approach. His concern wasn't with the others. He knew I was his adversary and treated me as such, taking a crouching position in preparation for his attack. That was as far as he got.

With little effort, I snared him when he lunged at me, Changing in mid-leap. His teeth snapped just before my face, coming closer to harming me than any of the others ever had. He was by far the strongest that we had encountered, but it did nothing to change the outcome. Before long, his body lay in two different places, his form reverting back to human. I went over to look into his dull, blue eyes, needing to see what I knew to be true. He was dead beyond repair, and I was going to ensure that he stayed that way.

“Burn the body,” I barked to Jaysen, who at that point went by the name Jay. “Trey...do your thing. Get rid of anyone related to him. You know the drill. And whatever you do, keep it quiet. We cannot risk any exposure here. We still lack the talents of some of our brothers...”

They both nodded and went about the tasks I required of them. As they did, I wondered if we would ever purge the world of the Rouge et Blanc and their feral killing nature. They appeared older with every one we found, as if they were somehow containing themselves or being restrained. I liked neither implication.

If someone knew how to subdue the RB's killing tendencies, it meant that this aberration was neither a mistake nor a mishap. It also meant that the same person had been around them long enough to learn from the deaths of all the others. Had we somehow missed a relative in our hunting? I couldn't see how that was a possibility, but still my mind reeled with potential reasons for the slight evolutions we were seeing in the breed.

The fact that we were seeing them at all was cause enough for concern.

What disturbed me more was how quick my dark side was to respond to the threat. I immediately feared that my visions of the blonde one would start to fade yet again. I couldn't have that; it was not an option. For centuries, the very sight of her face had spurred me on. I had no clue who she was, what she was, or when I would ever meet her. Maybe I'd already missed my chance.

As I shook off that thought, Jay approached me, looking concerned.

“It's done,” he said in his business tone. “Is there something else? You look like something is weighing on you.”

“We're done here?” I asked, wanting to brush off his always-astute observation.

“With this, yes. With what's on your mind...I don't know.”

“It is an issue all my own, Jay. It is not for you to fix.”

“You know that my gifts—“

“Jay,” I barked more curtly. “It is not for you to fix. Understood?”

He frowned, not appreciating my refusal to tell him.

“Hiding things from those around you isn't always the best course of action, Sean. Secrets can kill.”

Without being dismissed, he walked away from me, obviously frustrated by my unwillingness to share with him what I'd kept secret for centuries.

“This one cannot, of that I can assure you.”

“That will remain to be seen,” he replied.

I should have known that he would be right.

Jay always was.

The Calling

It was decades after that night when Jay and I revisited that very conversation. The night my visions of her forever disappeared. Lightning struck down around us violently in a way that rarely, if ever, occurred on the East Coast, but that night the skies were alight with the turbulence I felt inside. Something was brewing other than the storm.

A growing pulsation surged through me, starting slow and steady until it finally erupted, nearly physically pulling me toward the direction of whatever had caused it.

“Did you feel that?” I finally asked the others as I searched our surroundings for something approaching. The presence I felt was so clear that I could only assume that it was nearby.

“Feel what?” Jay replied, trying to follow my tracking eyes with his.

My brow furrowed as I focused on the energy while its intensity slowly faded. Then, without precipitation, it suddenly dissipated. I felt instantly empty and fought to regain my composure.

“Perhaps it was nothing.”

Jay's scrutinizing eyes fell on me hard, reading through my calm façade.

“You're like a walking supernatural radar,” he countered. “If something went off, it wasn't 'nothing'.”

“That may be true, Jay, but I feel nothing now.”

But even as I said those words, my eyes instinctively fell to the west, in the direction of the Green Mountain valley. Something had called to me from that direction, and though I could not place what it was, it would not be denied. That momentary flash was like a beacon—a homing device—implanted in me.

“And that 'nothing' you feel now, it wouldn't have anything to do with the thing that is not for me to worry about?”

As I assessed him, I could tell that he would not be so easily derailed from what he knew was true. Though the details eluded him, he clearly had pieced things together.