The Dark Path (13 page)

“Why do you live here Dark Man?” Sebastian asked innocently.

“I have to live somewhere,” answered Vain simply, sliding the panel back into place.

“That’s not what I meant. I get the feeling you are very good at... the things that you do. Surely you must get paid well. Why do you choose to live in such squalor when you could live somewhere... nicer?”

Vain stood silently with his back to Sebastian. “This place is where I live. That is all.” He spoke quietly, facing the wall. “Other places aren’t designed for people like me.”

“What do you mean, ‘people like you’?”

“I’m an
assassin
!” snapped Vain, spinning around to face the shocked boy. “Don’t think for a second that I’m some storybook hero you can rely on to save you from these people every time. I don’t ride a white horse and I don’t wear silver armor. I hunt people down, torture and slaughter them, for money I’ll never use.” 

Sebastian grew silent, knowing he should say no more, yet the weight of his thoughts became too much and he finally gave in to the temptation. “But you saved me. That ought to mean something.”

“Bah! I saved you on a whim!” spat Vain, waving his hand dismissively. “Tomorrow I might kill you on a whim!”

“I don’t think you will.” Sebastian’s voice seemed small, but confident.

Vain looked around the room for something to absorb his rage. His first instinct was to kill the object of his frustration, but every time he gazed at the boy he remembered Angelique. Calming himself, he turned back to where Sebastian sat on the corner of his mattress.

“Don’t try to save me boy,” he said sadly. “It’s too late for that.”

“Maybe,” Sebastian mused oddly. Without explanation he rolled over on the mattress and went to sleep.

Vain gazed intently at the boy and shook his head slowly before lying down on the ground. He removed his pistols and placed them on the floor beside him. He hoped the dreams might stay away for just one night, but knew they would be waiting.

* * * *

Vain sat bolt upright, the twin silenced Glocks seemingly sliding into his hands of their own volition. A noise he’d never heard before had awoken him:  the sound of knocking on his front door.

Silent as a spirit, Vain moved to the door and waited. The knocking came again and he peered through the peephole to see who stood on the other side.

An extremely ragged Priest leaned against the opposite wall. His face was cut, and his clothing torn and soiled. Vain backed away from the door and into the bathroom, praying the knocking wouldn’t awaken the still-sleeping boy.

Climbing through the tiny bathroom window he edged his way along a thin ridge of brickwork that led around to an external stairwell. Leaping silently onto the stairs, he moved along to the corner and quickly glanced to where his front door lay.

Priest stood alone and exhausted outside the apartment. After a quick check to make sure nobody else hid nearby, Vain approached the black man with his pistols drawn.

“What are you doing here?” asked the Dark Man, making Priest jump in surprise before wincing in pain.

“Dark... Man!” he gasped. “We must... talk, inside... quickly.”

“I don’t think you’ll be doing anything quickly for a while Priest,” said Vain, unlocking the door and half-carrying the other man inside.

Sebastian awoke with the noise of the door and looked alarmed at the sight of Priest. Quickly recovering, he helped Vain carry him to the mattress.

“Who did this to you Priest?” demanded Vain once they had lain him down. Sebastian moved away and watched Priest with an odd look upon his face, saying nothing.

“Em... peth,” he gasped. “He tricked me. Made me think the Avun-Riah was in danger….”

Vain’s senses began to prickle. “How did you get free?” he asked urgently.

“Don’t... know. Too... much pain.”

Vain’s instincts suddenly screamed at him to flee. “Priest, how did you find me?”

“Read... it. When I... first... met you.” Priest’s voice cracked as he tried to force out the words.

A trap!

“We have to go.” Vain hustled Sebastian, moving to the hidden panel, rapidly loading weapons into a large black bag. The boy nodded and moved to help Priest.

“Leave him!” snapped Vain. “We can’t get away if we have to carry dead meat as well!”

Sebastian moved to argue, but Priest stopped him. “Must go... Avun-Riah. Must... survive. Your task…is more important…than me.”

“I won’t let you die! We can all go together!” cried Sebastian.

“No, the Dark Man is... right,” panted Priest. “I can... delay them... here.”

Sebastian moved to argue further, but Vain grabbed him roughly by the arm and lifted him to his feet. “You heard him, let’s go!”

“Vain...,” breathed Priest. The Dark Man glanced down at the dying man. “Take Avun-Riah to... Rome. Saint Peter’s... basilica. Father... Armadeuso will help you.”

“Rome eh?” Vain contemplated the dying man before removing a sawn-off, double-barreled shotgun from the bag and passing it to Priest.  “Good luck black man.”

Vain half-dragged the crying boy away from the door, escaping down the staircase just as the ancient elevator doors opened in the hall. A tall man dressed completely in white slid from the elevator and made his way to the Dark Man’s apartment.

Walking through the open doorway, the tall man smiled menacingly at the dying man.

“Well Priest, it seems you were no use to me after all. I’m afraid I
won’t
be able to let you die now.”

Priest peered up from the mattress and managed a thin smile of his own, “I wish I could say the same for you, Empeth.”

He fired two blasts from the shotgun hidden beneath the blanket. The first hurtled by Empeth’s face and into the ceiling of the apartment, but the second ripped straight into his stomach, knocking him back against the wall.

Priest’s smile grew a little wider, but dropped altogether when he heard Empeth’s laughter. The man drew himself back up to his full height and laughed even louder, so much so that tears began to roll down his angular face.

“My goodness, Priest,” said Empeth with sickly sweetness, brushing the smoldering threads around the small holes in his white shirt. “I really thought you knew better than that by now.”

Empeth pounced with the speed of a jaguar onto the helpless Priest, and the black man’s screams echoed through the walls of the apartment and out into the night sky.

* * * *

Vain and Sebastian encountered two men moving up the stairs towards them. Without hesitation Vain drew one of his pistols and dispatched them both, not even breaking stride. He bypassed the street level exit, continuing to the complex’s basement garage. Throwing aside a large tarpaulin, he revealed a jet-black Ferrari; its gleaming paintwork and low, aerodynamic features throwing a stark contrast against the musty garage.

“Get in,” he commanded Sebastian and the boy obliged without comment, too stunned by the car’s appearance to speak.

Vain noticed the expression on the boy’s face. “It belonged to a drug dealer I met once and I took it when I left. He didn’t need it anymore.” A malevolent smirk crossed his lips.

Sebastian couldn’t believe the Dark Man’s calm as they sped down the street. Even fleeing the apartment in fear for their lives, the assassin had barely broken a sweat. He held not the slightest bit of tension in his being. Apart from the fact they were driving nearly ninety miles per hour, they could simply have been cruising for the sheer enjoyment of it.

Suddenly sirens blared behind them. Vain cursed, glancing into the rear-view mirror and seeing the flashing blue and red lights following them at speed.

“You’d better put on your seatbelt boy.” Vain grinned. “I’d hate to have gone through all of this to have you die in a car crash–airbags or not.”

Glancing ahead, there were now two more police cars pulling into the lanes on either side of them, trying to box them in.

“Pick up the black bag from the floor,” said Vain. Sebastian tried, but found it too heavy. “Open it instead, and pass me the large gun near the top.”

Sebastian unzipped the bag and gasped in shock. The arsenal of weapons would make Dirty Harry drool. Putting aside his surprise, he quickly searched through the cache and soon found the gun Vain had requested. He recognized it easily. How could he not? Clearly the largest weapon in the bag–apart from the rifles—he wondered absently why its barrel yawned so wide. He hoisted the gun with both hands and heaved it into the Dark Man’s lap.

Vain managed the grenade-launcher comfortably with his right hand, waiting for the right moment. One of his Glocks would probably have sufficed, but he wanted to put a scare into the police in the hope they would back off altogether. He’d never had to use the launcher before, preferring the silent approach, but he’d heard what they could do and hoped it would be enough.

Waiting until the car to the left of him pulled slightly in front of him, Vain suddenly swerved the Ferrari to the right, jamming it into the police car positioned there. At the same time he fired the launcher through the Ferrari’s open driver’s-side window, hitting the police car on his left side perfectly.

The resulting explosion proved
too
effective, blowing Vain’s car sideways and almost off the road. Luckily, he had still been maintaining their speed; otherwise they would have probably both been killed in the resulting blast. Instead, he sped away along the highway, leaving the remaining police cruisers screeching to a standstill and screaming into their radios for further instructions. For the time being, the pursuit ground to a halt.

“Remind me to never use that thing again,” rasped Vain dryly, throwing the still smoking grenade launcher on top of the bag.

Sebastian sat speechless. How could the Dark Man be so cold when he had just done something so horrible? Tears flowed freely down the young boy’s face.

“Pull the car over now Dark Man,” said Sebastian between sobs.

“I am,” said Vain calmly. He soon slowed and moved off the road into a busy car park before winding down the ramp to the underground level.

“You killed him!” screamed Sebastian when they stopped.

“We don’t have time for this boy; we have to get another car before they find us.”

“I’m not going any further with you,
murderer
!” spat the boy. “Leave me here so I don’t have to witness any more of your killing.”

Vain sat silently and contemplated the idea. The boy would probably be safe with the police. But even as he thought it, the image of Priest lying wounded on the mattress came back to him and he felt a strange tug inside him. Turning it over he realized it was guilt. Priest had entrusted him with the boy’s safety and now he pondered casting him to the wolves. The police couldn’t protect him from a fanatical group like the Souls of Sordarrah any more than the lost souls of Chapel.

“Damn you boy!” roared Vain suddenly. “What are you doing to me? What kind of spell have you, and that black bastard cast on me?”

“Spell? I don’t know any spells, Dark Man,” said Sebastian, fighting his shock at the Dark Man’s unexpected burst of venom.

“Bullshit!” Vain bellowed. “Ever since I met the two of you I’ve been...  confused. My life never seemed complicated before. I killed people and felt nothing; now I’ve got you whining to me every time I do something to keep you alive and it’s driving me crazy.”