by N. P. Martin
I turned to shake my head at him and then walked out of the shop.
Back in the car, I took the stake out of my jacket and put it inside the glove box, my mind already starting to shift toward thoughts of taking down Constantine.
"You’re really going to go after him, aren’t you?" Dalia said.
I stared at her a moment then nodded. "Yes," I said as I started the car. "I am." As I pulled out into traffic, spots of rain began to hit the windshield as the sky darkened above the city.
"Fine then." Dalia set her dark eyes on me. "I’m going with you."
I shook my head. "No, you’re not. I’m taking you to Davey’s and you’re going to get to work…start following that purpose we talked about."
"What are you my dad now?"
"What? No. I’m just saying, I’m not dragging you into this thing with Constantine. It’s too dangerous."
"But it’s all right if you die?"
"If I die that’s down to me. I’m not risking your life as well over something that has nothing to do with you."
"Screw you," she said.
"You know what I mean, D. I have to do this alone."
She huffed and folded her arms, muttering to herself as she stared out the window at Parnell Street. Neither of us said anything else for the rest of the journey. When I reached the North Circular Road, I pulled the Spitfire up outside the house, just as the rain began to come down heavier. "Tell Davey I said hello."
Dalia shook her head as if she didn’t want to go in, or more precisely, as if she didn’t want to leave me. "If you think I’m just going to let you swan off up to Belfast to die at the hands of some vampire, you’ve got another thing coming, Corvin Chance."
I couldn’t help but smile, touched by her concern. "Look," I said, turning slightly in my seat to face her. "I’m not going off half-cocked here. When I get to Belfast I’ll be keeping a low profile until I sort out what I’m going to do."
"You say that, but I know you. You’ll bull in anyway, no matter what the consequences."
"All right, how about this then. I won’t make a move on Constantine until I have a solid plan in place, and then I’ll call you, and you come and help me."
She stared at me for long seconds. "You’re just saying that to get rid of me."
Truth be told, I wasn’t sure if I was or not. "It’s the best I can do."
She suddenly leaned over and threw her arms around me, squeezing me tight. "I can’t lose you," she whispered.
Tears stung at my eyes as I stared intensely at the rain running down the windshield. "You won’t," I said, and despite myself, finished with, "I promise."
Though it was a promise I wasn’t sure I could keep.
Chapter 8
After I dropped Dalia of, I gave Amelia a call and arranged to meet her at her penthouse apartment in the city center. When I found the place, I knocked on the door and Amelia answered wearing a tight black top and even tighter leather pants. Her silvery-blond hair was tousled slightly, as if she hadn’t bothered to do much with it today. "Hey," I said smiling as she opened the door and stood aside to let me in.
"Hey yourself," she said, a slight smile on her own face, her blue eyes seeming particularly magnetic today. When she closed the door she asked if I wanted a drink. I thought for a second and decided to forgo the whiskey and asked her for a coffee instead.
"Are you sick today or something?"
I shook my head at her. "Just trying to keep a clear head, that’s all."
She walked into the adjoining kitchen area and started making the coffee as I looked around. The place was huge, and expensively furnished. You could fit my whole flat into the living room alone.
"Milk or sugar?" she asked staring over at me, seeming a bit uncomfortable that I was judging her private space.
"Milk, three sugars," I said.
She shook her head. "Still on that health kick I see."
"I eat salad once a week to make up for it."
"I’m sure that really helps."
I chuckled to myself as I spotted the desk near the window, on which a computer sat. On the wall above the desk was a shelf filled with books, which I walked over to examine. "Ursula O’Dowd," I said reading the cover of one of the paperbacks. "Is that you?"
"Yes," she said as she walked over with two cups in her hand, handing one to me.
I shook my head as I looked at all the books, over a dozen of them. "It’s awesome that you wrote all these." I took one form the shelf and read the title. "The Empress of the Glenn. Is it raunchy?"
"It’s set in sixteenth century Ireland. What do you think?"
"People had sex back then I’m sure."
She took the book off me and put it back on the shelf. "What brings you here anyway?"
I watched her walk to the sofa, her ass delightful in those tight leather pants. "Do you always look this magnificent on your days in?"
She stared at me a moment, then shook her head. "Is that your attempt at charm?"
"I’m merely stating the facts," I said as I went and sat beside her. "I’m always amazed by how amazing you look."
A smile crossed her lips as she became flattered despite herself. "Thank you."
I tasted the coffee, nodding appreciatively afterward. "With coffee this good, I might come around here more often." She smiled, seeming unsure of how to react. "You aren’t used to visitors, are you?"
"Not really," she said, shaking her head. "Besides Iolas, you’re the only other person I’ve allowed in here."
I nodded. "Well, I’m privileged to be here then."
A slightly awkward silence developed between us for a moment, which she finally broke. "So are you going to tell me why you’re here or not?"
I took another mouthful of coffee before placing the cup on the coffee table, which Amelia immediately picked up again and placed a coaster underneath, though I didn’t pull her on it. "I’m heading to Belfast soon," I told her. "I just thought I would come and see you before I left."
"Belfast? You’re actually going to go after Constantine?" She shook her head. "You’re mad. The Ó Duinn brothers are even madder. They’ll kill you without hesitation."
"So everyone keeps saying."
"That’s because it’s true. You don’t know them, Corvin."
"I know what I’m facing."
"And you’re still going ahead?"
I nodded. "I have to."
"No, you don’t."
"Constantine murdered my father," I said. "It’s no different to me wanting justice for my mother when I went up against your uncle."
"Of course it’s different," she said. "The Ó Duinn’s are vampires, very old vampires. They won’t be as tolerant as Iolas was if you cross them."
"Then I’ll just have to be ready for them."
She snorted slightly and shook her head at me. "You’re even crazier than I thought you were."
"You sound like Dalia."
"She couldn’t talk sense into you either then?"
It was my turn to shake my head. "It’s just something I have to do. Nothing is going to change my mind."
Another silence developed, this one a bit more tense as Amelia stared hard in front of her. "Fine," she said eventually, hardly looking at me now. "You should probably just go then."
I stared at her, unsure for a moment if she meant I should go to Belfast or leave her apartment. "Amelia…"
She stood up, still hardly looking at me. "Just go, Corvin, please."
Sighing heavily, I stood up and walked to the door, turning round to look at her before I left. She was standing with her arms folded as she stared toward the window. The discussion, if that’s what it was, was clearly over. Opening the door, I waked out of the apartment, closing it behind it me and then standing in the hallway for a minute, wondering if I should go back in.
"Shit…" I said as I walked away.
I had almost reached the stairs when I heard the door open again and turned to see Amelia coming toward me. Before I could ev
en say anything, she grabbed the back of my neck and started kissing me hard. Then, before I hardly knew what was happening, she dragged me back inside the apartment and shut the door behind us.
"Well, that was unexpected," I said as I lay in bed beside her sometime later.
Amelia lay with the white Egyptian cotton sheets half over her, her smooth skin flawless in the afternoon light streaming through the window. "Are you telling me you came here not expecting sex?"
I shook my head. "No…maybe a little. Especially not when you threw me out."
She stared at me a minute and then looked away. "Just because we had sex doesn’t mean I’m not still pissed at you."
Sitting up in the bed, I folded my arms and sat there for a moment. "I don’t know what you want me to say. Do you want me to ask you to come with me? That isn’t going to happen. I’m not risking anyone else’s life over this."
Sighing, Amelia reached over and opened the drawer on the bedside table, surprising me by producing what looked like a joint, which she lit with a silver zippo. "What?" she said when she saw me staring. "It relaxes me."
I ran my hand over her leg. "I thought you’d be relaxed enough."
"Your stubbornness is stressing me out again."
I snorted in amusement, refusing to let things get serious again. "Give me a toke on that." When she handed me the joint, I took a few deep drags before handing it back to her, the effects of the weed being almost instant as I felt myself relax into the bed and some of my previous worries melt away.
We lay in stoned silence for a while before Amelia finally said, "Why now, Corvin?"
Frowning, I asked her what she meant.
"Your father was killed twenty years ago. Why chose now to get revenge?"
"It’s not revenge, it’s justice."
She shook her head. "Same thing."
"Not really, but anyway. I’m not going to argue with you over it."
"You didn’t answer my question. Why now?"
I shrugged as if the answer was obvious. "Because it wasn’t the right time before. I’m a different person now since my mother died, or at least feels that way."
"You’re still grieving, Corvin. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe your behavior lately is because of that?"
She may have had a point, but it didn’t feel that way to me. I ended up telling her about the visions shown to me by Drakkar, and about the robed stranger in the woods. Then I went to my jacket and took out the gold medallion, handing it to her. "You ever see anything like that before?" I asked her.
She stared at the medallion for a moment, then shook her head. "I don’t think so. What is it?"
"That’s what I’m trying to find out. I’m convinced it’s the symbol of whatever group my mother was involved with."
"Assuming she was involved with any group at all."
"She was. Too much has happened lately for me to think otherwise. You think Iolas would talk to me about it?"
She snorted as she threw me a look. "Are you kidding? You took everything from him. He’d kill you first. Besides, I don’t even know where he’s being kept."
"If anyone would know something, it would be him. He insinuated as much last time we spoke."
"Before he tried to kill you, you mean?"
"Yeah."
"You’ve got no chance of Iolas telling you anything." She handed the medallion back to me. "Where did you even get that?"
"I stole it from a werewolf. Long story."
Amelia shook her head, smiling despite herself. "Only you, Corvin."
"Do you think you could do some digging for me?" I asked her. "There’s that extensive library at your uncle’s mansion. You might find something in one of those books."
"Maybe," she said. "Assuming I had the time to look through thousands of books. I have my own shit to do, you know."
"Like what?"
"Like deciding what to do about the criminal empire left behind by Iolas for a start. I’ve got orcs coming to me expecting orders."
"So give them orders."
She sighed and shook her head. "I don’t know if I want to be a part of that world anymore. That was all Iolas, not me."
"So what to you want to do instead? Write novels?"
"For one thing."
"And for another?"
"I’m still figuring that out. I’ve been looking into a few things lately, unravelling threads."
"Sounds interesting. What kind of threads?"
"Threads that lead back to my parents’ deaths…and other strange places."
"Dangerous as well?"
She shrugged. "I don’t know yet. Iolas kept a lot hidden from me. It’s going to take a while for me uncover it all."
"Are you sure you want to?"
She turned her head slowly to look at me. "Really? You of all people is asking me that?"
I laughed slightly. "Fair enough."
She handed me what was left of the joint inside a glass ashtray. "So do you have a plan to take down Constantine, or are you just going to go to Belfast and see what happens? If the latter, I can probably tell you what will happen."
"What then?"
"You’ll get to Belfast and the Ó Duinn’s will hear of your arrival within hours, because they run that city and have eyes and ears and everywhere. Constantine will be pissed because he already told you stay away, and he’ll have you brought to him by his royal guards. You’ll probably get mouthy and defiant as you’re want to do, and then he’ll simply break your neck or rip out your heart, or if he’s feeling particularly sadistic, he’ll turn you instead, forcing you to serve him for the rest of your immortal life."
I stared at her for a long moment after she’s finished, not knowing whether to laugh or shake my head in despair. There was no denying the outcome she described seemed plausible, especially since I didn’t exactly have a plan, and was indeed planning on arriving in Belfast and seeing what developed. "Damn you," I said only half-jokingly.
"Damn me? For telling the truth?"
I shook my head. "Fine, maybe you’re right, but you’ve only expedited my need for a plan."
"Unless you’re planning on nuking the whole of Belfast, I don’t see any plan working."
"I’ll think of something."
She turned her head to stare at me. "That’s precisely what I’m worried about, Corvin."
Chapter 9
The next day, I packed a bag and my guitar and started to drive up to Belfast. Before I left, I told Margret that I would likely be gone for a few days, and that she would have to look after the shop herself, as she had been doing anyway. As I was heading out the door, she stopped me by saying, "Corvin?"
"Yes?" I said turning around.
She stared at me a moment. "I don’t know where you’re going, but I can feel you’re heading into danger."
I stared back at her, saying nothing.
"Just be careful," she said. "You’re no good to anyone when you’re dead, least of all to yourself."
"Thanks for the advice," I said nodding, and walked out the door.
On the motorway, I called Monty, putting him on speaker. "Yo," I said by way of greeting. "How’s Edinburgh?"
"Yo, bro!" Monty said, sounding like he as in the middle of having great fun. In the background, I could hear what sounded like a group of girls giggling amongst themselves. "It’s bleedin lethal here, I love this place. Love the people too…" His voice faded out slightly as I heard the girls in the background giggling again. "Isn’t that right, ladies?"
Smiling, I shook my head. I wasn’t really the envious type, but I couldn’t deny that I sometimes envied Monty and his ability to have fun wherever he went, and to generally live life to the fullest. With Monty, there was never a dull moment, and he was always cheerful no matter what else was going on. "Getting to know the locals as usual?"
"Oh aye, t'be sure, bro…gimme a second, girls, me best mucker is on the phone…you’d love him by the way, his name’s Corvin…he’s a bit serious at times like, but you
know, he makes up for it in other ways…a deadly guitar player…."
I couldn’t help laughing at his antics. "Stop it will you?"
"I’m just biggin' up me mucker to the ladies. You should totally get a flight over and have some fun with me for a change, you deserve it after everything."
"I wish I could, but I’ve got other stuff to sort out."
"What stuff? You’ve always got something on these days. You need to let go on occasion, bro, like we used to."
I slowed the car down slightly to let a truck in front of me. "I know," I said. "Different times, though…"
"Aye, maybe," he said, seeming to have moved to a quieter spot as I could no longer hear the gaggle of girls in the background. "Still, we need a night out, you and I."
"Agreed. We’ll get one soon. Listen, can you do something for me?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I’ll send you a photo later. I need you try and identify the symbol on it."
"A symbol? I can run it through a few databases, see what comes up. How important is it?"
"Important enough."
"Isn’t it always? Just joking, bro. Consider it done."
"Awesome, thanks Monty."
"You can thank me by coming out with me when I get back."
I smiled, not exactly hating the idea. "Okay, sounds good."
"Glad to hear it. Ye driving? Where you heading?"
I hesitated before answering. "Belfast."
He went silent for a second. "That doesn’t sound too good."
"Relax, I just have a gig there, that’s all." It wasn’t a complete lie, as I did have a gig lined up for later tonight.
"A gig? If you’d told me I would’ve arranged to be there."
"It’s just half an hour in the Limelight," I said. "There’s a few other playing as well."
"Still, I’d liked to have been there."
"You can be at the next one." If there is a next one.
He went silent again for a moment. "And what about our favorite vampire?"
"Constantine? What about him?"
"Didn’t he tell you to stay away?"
"He did, but it’s just a gig."