Everlasting Flame

by Katelyn Anderson

  Chapter Nineteen

  I was certain that everyone on the planet agreed to the terms and conditions without taking the time to read what it was they were agreeing to. They just ticked the box and clicked accept. That’s how it was these days with technology. People didn’t really care. They had better things to do than read pages of tiny font. They just scrolled through it all until they found the accept box. To them, it was a bunch of unimportant gibberish. I didn’t have that luxury. I couldn’t skim over the contract and sign my life away. This was a binding document, set in stone by magic. If I didn’t read it carefully, something would bite me on the ass. This was important. This was a matter of life and death.

  Lorenzo and Dane were deathly quiet and were like statues. They paid no attention to me as I read through the contract. I knew because I couldn’t feel prying eyes on me. I always had an odd sensation when I was being watched, a slight chill, like a high alert reflex. Those two were too busy focusing on each other, making sure the other didn’t make a move. Caution hung in the room like a thick fog. It was better than tension. Tension led to conflict. I didn’t need that right now.

  The contract wasn’t what I had expected. There were no subtle traps that would force me to spill all the secrets I held close to my heart. I was grateful for that because of several reasons. I didn’t need to spell them out. I had expected there to be traps considering Dane made it clear he didn’t trust me. If I asked for that section – had it existed – to be amended, I might as well be telling Dane that I had a lot of skeletons in the closet, skeletons I didn’t want him to know about. I wouldn’t be able to talk my way out of that one. I don’t think anyone could.

  Traitors would be executed without trial. To be classed as a traitor: distribution of private information about the agency to the media and anyone who would use that information to compromise the agency, conspiring against the agency you vowed to loyally serve, and to murder colleagues without suitable cause or reason. If there was solid proof, evidence, eye witness reports of your betrayal, Dane was entitled to carry out justice. Framing a person for a crime they did not commit was also an offence punishable by death. I found that most curious. How would Dane know if a person had been framed if there was no trial? I didn’t want to ask in case I gave him the wrong impression.

  Screw it.

  “How do you know if a person is guilty or innocent if they’re executed without a trial?” I asked Dane quietly, keeping my voice low so Lorenzo didn’t overhear my question.

  “The rule that is broken on the contract turns red, the colour of the blood I’ll be spilling for defying me.”

  I resisted the urge to gulp. “Why is there nothing in here about fraternising with the enemy? Surely that should be covered in the traitor section?”

  “I had to alter your contract. I figured it would be best to exclude that section due to the knowledge I already hold. Cyrus can come and go when he pleases. I know what he is and what he can do. He doesn’t have to physically be here to break that rule. You fraternising with the enemy is currently not my concern. That may change, but for now, I’m leaving it alone. My concern is whether or not I can trust you.”

  “If that’s the case, I’m surprised you haven’t put anything in here that would make certain I was always truthful.”

  “It’s not my intention to take away a person’s free will. The point of this contract is when something goes awry and nobody owns up to it, I can easily track the individuals responsible without having to torture people I suspect.”

  That was actually kind of amazing. I wasn’t going to say that aloud. I wasn’t going to boost his ego. Now I could see why he was classified as an honourable person. He could have very easily made these contracts different, taking away a person’s free will. He had the power to do so but he didn’t use it. Despite that one positive attribute about him, he still scared the hell out of me.

  I continued reading. Thankfully, as far as I knew, the scary parts were over. Lateness wouldn’t be tolerated. Employment commenced immediately upon signing the contract. My eyes widened at the figure of my annual salary. Surely that was a typo? That was a ridiculous amount.

  “Is that salary figure correct?” I questioned, my sentence coming out in a splutter of disbelief.

  “Yes. I’ll be placing you within a high ranking team. They are the best of the best. The risks are phenomenal. It’s only fair to pay generously. You told me you were a risk taker. You’d be perfect for the team.”

  “What kind of risks?”

  “To name a few... severe injuries, capture, torture, death.”

  I gulped this time. “What sort of team?”

  “Keep reading,” Dane prompted.

  I had a feeling he wasn’t going to tell me because it was written. It had to be. He had answered all my questions without hesitation, questions that weren’t written in black and white before me.

  I wasn’t surprised with what I found further down the contract. I had suspected it. Dane was planning a team that specifically targeted immortal criminals. Since I had already wiped out the gangs in Chicago, the criminals who were likely to consider moving into the territories left behind would be our targets. After what happened back in the warehouse with the Russians, I never wanted to be put into an undercover position again. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to. There were no specifics of the job description, except for kill. It was broad, a bit too broad for my taste. I was trained to be prepared for anything. It was time to show Dane what I was made of.

  “Pen,” I requested, holding out my hand.

  “I hope you read it carefully, Joan,” Lorenzo warned me when Dane handed me a pen.

  “Word for word,” I promised, signing the dotted line where my name was printed.

  I flinched when magic zapped my fingers and nearly hissed with fright. How did agents not know that the contract they signed was bound by magic with a spark like that?

  “You’re sensitive to power. That might save your life one day,” Dane mentioned, reading my face with ease.

  Dane slid the signed contract into the folder and tucked it under his arm. He slipped off the stool and pulled back his sleeve to look at the time on his Rolex.

  “Come with me. I’m not done with you yet,” Dane said.

  Lorenzo took my bandaged hand. He must have left my room the moment he saw Dane move. His fingers were glowing with golden rays of magic. He unravelled the bandage to make it look like he healed me. Good idea.

  “Thanks,” I said, giving Lorenzo a small smile. “Finish up what you were doing in town. You can come back later if you want. I’ll call you when I’m home.”

  “Sure thing. Take it easy and be careful,” he said, squeezing my hand gently before letting it go. He leaned forward to whisper in my ear. “Don’t drop your guard down, not for anything.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I replied cautiously.

  “After you,” Dane said to Lorenzo, waiting for him to go to the door first.

  I gave Lorenzo a subtle nod to let him know I’d watch his back. I was sure Dane wasn’t going to pull anything but in case he did, I’d make sure Lorenzo was safe.

  Lorenzo returned the nod and went for the door without looking back.

  Dane didn’t budge or reach for his gun.

  I let out a silent sigh of relief.

  I rubbed my eyes. They were sore from reading the contract intently. I couldn’t remember the last time I had to absorb so many words.

  I retrieved my boots from the other side of the room and slipped into them, zipping up the sides.

  Dane was holding the apartment door open for me. I made sure I had my keys in my pocket before leaving. I didn’t want to get locked out, especially since I had left my cell phone in my room. I wouldn’t be able to contact anyone who had spares. The reception desk had a reputation to be jerks to those who left their keys behind. I didn’t want to get on their bad side when I had a lot of other things to be concerned about. If the situation could be avoided by not being forgetful, I�
�d always make certain I had my keys.

  “I’m curious. How did you get into this apartment block without a key card?” I asked Dane as we waited for the elevator.

  “I’m an exception for most places I visit, for obvious reasons,” he said.

  People would rather do as Dane asked than be shot. That was fair. I’d do the same thing. That calm and collective mask he wore was just a mirage. Underneath it all was a terrifying monster waiting to spill blood at any given moment. I needed to be mindful of that and try my best not to bring out that side of him. Currently he was quite civilised. That could change in an instant if I said the wrong thing. He had already held me at gunpoint today. I didn’t want to add more to that list.

  Lorenzo was chatting up the girl at the reception desk. He was leaning over the counter, telling her stories of his adventures. Once a flirt, always a flirt. She was laughing and practically drooling over him. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t paying any attention to what he was saying. She was too busy gazing stupidly at his handsome face.

  I flicked Lorenzo’s ear as I walked past and acted like I didn’t do anything when he glanced over his shoulder. He rolled those golden eyes at me when I stuck out my tongue. He continued chatting with the girl as if there hadn’t been an interruption. Smooth. Definitely smooth. Maybe I should have smacked him on the back of the head.

  I followed Dane out of the lobby. I had lagged a little bit behind after teasing Lorenzo.

  Dane opened the passenger side of his car and waited for me to get in before shutting the door. I was quite capable of opening and closing a door on my own, but I didn’t want to give him an excuse to shoot me, not when he was being so civilised.

  I sunk into the cushy seat. The car had one of those cute little air fresheners dangling from the rearview mirror. I didn’t see the point of having one when his car was swimming in the scent of his bittersweet cologne. Perhaps he was immune to his own smell.

  “Where are we going?” I asked curiously when Dane pulled out onto the road. The car drove so smoothly, as if it was floating.

  “Same building as last night. I’ve paged the agents you’ll be joining. You’ll be a team of hunters.”

  “Have you named the team?”

  “No.”

  “Are you going to?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “How about The Jerk Squad?”

  Dane gave me a sideways look before chuckling. “It’s refreshing having someone so laid back in my presence. Everyone else is too terrified to crack jokes.”

  “That’s what happens when you shoot people for speaking out of turn.”

  “I broke that habit with you,” he mentioned quietly, taking a left, passing the traffic lights.

  “Why was I your exception?”

  “You were my exception for many things, Joan. My first instinct was to kill you. It still is. But here you are, still breathing and unharmed against my better judgement.”

  Was it chilly in here or was it just me? My skin prickled with fear. Damn, he was scary. Cyrus was crazy. There was no way I would be able to maintain my composure around Dane. Cyrus believed I’d be fine. His definition of fine was far from it.

  Cyrus... I didn’t know what to say to him after what happened between us. I couldn’t think about it. It made my heart ache and my eyes water.

  “You seem like the kind of man who doesn’t ignore his instincts. Why am I still alive and why did you hire me?” I asked, watching Dane’s face.

  Dane was still wearing that calm mask, giving nothing away. His eyes were fixed on the road. He never glanced in my direction.

  “The closer you are to me, the easier it is to keep an eye on you. You are more valuable than you realise. I have no intentions to kill you, unless you give me a reason to. There are not many people in my company who are aware of the existence of magic. Naturally the world isn’t supposed to know. Only those who have been exposed to magic or possess power know it exists. The more people I have on my side who are aware of magic, the better, especially with what’s to come.”

  “What’s coming?”

  Those cold grey eyes fell on me for a moment before shifting back to the road. “War.”

  We were already at war but I didn’t wish to state the obvious. Immortals and humans had been killing one another for over a century. The only way to put a stop to the bloodshed was to eliminate the agency responsible for murdering countless amounts of my kind. Immortal was just a word. We bleed, we hurt, and we die, just like everyone else. Fear makes people do horrible things. Without the agency, my kind could finally live peacefully, providing those criminals who wanted nothing but war were wiped out. They were the only people who would jeopardise what I was trying to achieve. If criminals remained alive when the agency was brought down to their knees, there would be nobody around to stop them from rising up to revolt, nobody but me.

  Dane parked the car inside the agency’s parking lot, in a reserved spot, right next to the elevator. There was a sign on the concrete wall for everyone to see that it was Dane’s spot. Anyone who parked there would be asking for trouble.

  I got out of the car when Dane switched off the engine. I wanted to leave that confined space pronto because his cologne was making my head spin. I’d have to endure it again in the elevator but at least I had a small moment of fresh air. No one smelled that good. It must have been really expensive cologne.

  I followed Dane into the elevator. He had taken the folder with him, tucked under his arm. I resisted the urge to stand in the corner, away from him, knowing it wouldn’t help the head spins. Was I obsessed with his smell or what? Surely I couldn’t be the only one who noticed how nice he smelled. Perhaps hearing wasn’t the only heightened sense that Tainted Beings had.

  “Which floor would you like to access?” the elevator chimed in a robotic voice once the doors closed.

  “Top floor,” Dane answered; the elevator responded by moving upwards. “The elevator has voice recognition for employees. I’ll add you to the database later when you have proven I can trust you. We used to use key cards until we had an incident where the resistance swiped one from an unsuspecting agent and attacked us from the inside.”

  “How far did they get in?”

  “Too far.”

  I decided it would be best to change the subject. I was drifting into dangerous waters. “Will someone be assigned to me so I can use the elevator? I don’t fancy having to climb a million stairs every morning.”

  “It will be good exercise,” Dane replied with a sly smile. “Yes, I will be assigning someone to you.”

  “Who?”

  I silently prayed that the person assigned to watch over me wasn’t as scary as Dane. I doubt there was anyone in this building that held a candle to Dane. The person he picked would have to be smart and capable of looking after themselves. I was a rogue asset. Everyone knew that. I could be a liability. I was the risk Dane was willing to take. The person he picked would have to be on the very short list of people he trusted. He wouldn’t give that responsibility of watching over me to anyone. It would be someone close to him, someone he could trust with anything. Why did I get the horrible feeling that he would be the person watching over me?

  “All in good time, Joan,” Dane answered. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

  Dane honestly didn’t seem like a raging psychopath. Looks were deceiving. His face was handsome but his eyes revealed his true self. Those cold and piercing grey eyes stared right into your soul, contemplating several things, most likely a hundred different ways to kill you. Thankfully those eyes weren’t staring into mine. He was gazing up at the roof of the elevator, as if he was counting stars.

  “I’ve thought of another name for the team you’re forming,” I said, watching those eyes fall on me.

  “Oh?”

  “The Soul Reapers.”

  A darkness gleamed in his face. The calm mask he wore cracked for the smallest of moments. If I blinked, I would have missed it.

  “No naming,” h
e finalised, tone strict.

  “Jerk Squad it is,” I muttered under my breath, not loud enough for him to hear. I decided to stare at my feet when I caught his eye. He looked pissed.

  Hey, I didn’t say anything bad. No need to look at me with such attitude.

  The elevator doors opened. That had been the longest elevator ride in history. I had almost forgotten that there had been so much more beyond the metal and glass box. All I had been stuck with was bittersweet cologne and a lion who would rip your limbs off in five seconds at the slightest hint of betrayal. I really hoped I lasted long enough to see my twenties. I didn’t want to die as a teenager. I hadn’t lived long enough. I hadn’t seen enough of the world. Was I having an early midlife crisis?

  I found myself standing in a waiting room, soothed by the baby blue wallpaper. It was the colour of the purest ocean, or perhaps the clearest sky. There was a receptionist desk and a handful of empty seats on the opposite side of the wall.

  The receptionist looked over her glasses and tapped her manicured nails on the surface of the desk. “They’re in your office, waiting,” she spoke to Dane, paying no attention to me. She didn’t even acknowledge me. Sometimes you could tell a lot about a person just by looking at their face and posture. She was a class A bitch.

  “Outside would have been better,” Dane replied coldly, moving past the desk.

  Dane had a natural strut when he walked. How else would he carry his authority and arrogance? I hadn’t noticed it earlier. I had a lot of other things on my mind.

  “They were making me nervous. I’m sorry,” she admitted shyly. “It won’t happen again.”

  “Good,” Dane said, unlocking the door to his office. “Joan, after you.”

  I ignored the butterflies in my stomach and went to him, holding my head high. I expected his office to be several things. The first image that popped into my head was a torture chamber. Stone walls with blood splatters. Skeletons hanging from the roof. Maybe a half-dead person passed out on the floor. The last thing I expected was elegance.

  Expensive paintings hung on the walls. They looked like they belonged in a museum. The carpet was the colour of blood, undoubtedly to mask the blood splatters of the people he shot in here. There was no need to clean up if it added to the decor. The windows behind his desk touched the floor and reached for the roof, spanning across the room, creating a wall of its own. I expected nothing less than a comfortable leather chair behind his desk, as well as a high tech computer system. Very shiny. The rest of the room was occupied by grey filing cabinets and bookshelves. I could feel a faint burst of magic oozing from those cabinets. They were locked. I knew that’s where he kept the contracts and other important paperwork.

  There were six agents in the room, standing awkwardly around in different areas, not sure what to do with themselves. It was nice to see I wasn’t the only female in the room. None of the agents were near Dane’s desk. It was as if there was a large don’t touch sign plastered to his desk and chair.

  “This won’t take long,” Dane started, sitting behind the desk. He placed the folder he was carrying on the desk and leaned back in his chair. “Your team has been promoted. I have chosen your group to become an elite team of hunters. Your job will be to wipe out threats before they have the chance to take root and overrun my city.”

  “What does she have to do with it?” one of them asked, gesturing to me with a quick head flick.

  “She is the reason why I have paged you all. Meet the Angel of Death.”

  They all thought Dane was pulling their leg. I could see it in their faces. Here I was, looking like the most innocent and sweetest eighteen-year-old you’d ever meet, surrounded by adults who held battle scars. I was far from sweet, and I was fresh meat.

  I didn’t look like a killer. I never did look like one. That didn’t stop me from becoming one. There was a reason why people called me a princess. I looked like a delicate doll. That was far from the truth. Everyone always underestimated me. I forever used that to my advantage. They couldn’t take it back when it was too late.

  “She’s just a kid,” another one of them said.

  All the agents in the room looked thirty and over. To them I was just a kid, even if I did look twenty something.

  “A kid who’s probably got a higher kill count in one day than you have in one year,” I countered, folding my arms so it made me less tempted to show them what I could do. He’d be on the ground if I lacked self-control. “I don’t think it’s necessary to prove what I’m capable of right here and now. I don’t want to put someone in the hospital on my first day.”

  “Don’t even think about it, Winters,” Dane warned when one of the agents contemplated taking me on. I found it interesting that he addressed them by their last name. He spoke to me on a first name basis. What did that mean? It’s not like we were buddies.

  Winters ignored Dane’s warning and came at me. I ducked and just avoided the punch. I felt the air blow over my head. He wasn’t the type of man I fought in the fighting ring. His moves were calculated. He had been trained to fight and kill. I dodged and blocked, observing the way he fought to look for an opening. I found one.

  Winters was on the floor in less than ten seconds with a dagger held to his throat that I had taken from his person. Cyrus taught me to use anything I could get my hands on if I didn’t have any weapons of my own. He would have been proud.

  Blood dribbled down Winters’s neck. His hazel eyes were wide with shock. His body went slack, losing the will to fight me with a blade resting against his throat. He hadn’t expected me to turn the tables so effortlessly. The room was silent.

  “The next time you disobey a direct order, Winters, I’ll let her slit your throat,” Dane mentioned sharply. “Joan, ease off him. Slowly.”

  I glanced up and noticed that everyone in the room had their guns on me. It was good to see that they protected their own but Winters asked for it. Dane was the only one who didn’t have me at gunpoint, probably because he knew it wasn’t necessary. I wasn’t going to slit Winters’s throat.

  I dropped the dagger on the floor and stood up slowly, hands raised to show I wasn’t going to do anything else. I had already proven my point. I didn’t need to spill any more blood. Adrenaline made my heart race. I always did enjoy a good fight, even if it had only lasted mere seconds.

  The agents lowered their guns. One of them helped Winters up off the floor after he grabbed his dagger and tucked it away from sight. They all gave me a wide berth after that. I didn’t blame them. I made them uneasy.

  Something told me that Winters was the leader of the group, judging by the way the agents all gunned for me the moment I had a knife to his throat. That sort of loyalty wasn’t a sign of friendship, it was a sign of respect, respect earned by being an admirable leader. That’s the vibe I got. I wasn’t certain. It was an educated guess.

  “Joan is still on probation. I’ll be her supervisor until I decided which of you will takeover that position. She will attend your meetings and training exercises. I won’t intervene, only observe. Treat her like your own. I have given her permission to kill if someone threatens her life. Don’t be that person.”

  “Duly noted,” Winters said, unfastening his tie. The pressure was making the cut on his neck ooze blood quicker. He folded the tie and held it to his neck to stop the bleeding. I hadn’t meant to cut so deep. I admit it. I got carried away.

  “Joan will be joining your team tomorrow. Finish off your remaining missions today. Whatever you don’t get done, I’ll assign those cases to other teams. I want you all to have clean slates, no back burners. Your full focus will be required for the task ahead,” Dane continued; his eyes flicked between each individual. “That’s all. You’re dismissed.”

  “Yes, sir,” everyone replied, apart from Winters.

  Winters stayed quiet. He had his attention on me the entire time, eyes narrowed. He was still pressing his tie to his throat. Blood soaked through the fabric.

  “Winte
rs?” Dane questioned coldly. Just by the tone of his voice, I knew if Winters spoke out of turn, there would be a gunshot ringing in everyone’s ears.

  Winters didn’t want me on his team. It was obvious. I made him look weak in front of his subordinates.

  Winters dropped eye contact with me to stare at Dane, making his expression neutral. The last thing he wanted was to be glaring at Dane.

  “Yes, sir,” Winters replied, the reluctance barely visible in his voice. His attention returned back to me. “Be here before eight tomorrow. We go for a run every morning, rain or shine, so bring appropriate gear. If you lag behind, you’ll get left behind.”

  “That won’t be a problem,” I assured him. “I can keep up.”

  “Good,” he said before following his team out of Dane’s office. The door clicked shut behind him.

  I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I had been holding. “That could have gone better.”

  Dane smirked and raised himself off his chair, taking my contract with him. He filed it away in one of the grey cabinets, twisting the lock shut with one of the many keys he kept on his person. I wonder if he colour coded the keys or just knew from memory what they opened.

  “At least they will think twice about trying to kill you,” Dane mentioned, absentmindedly flicking through other files. There were hundreds.

  “That’s reassuring,” I replied, a sarcastic bite to my sentence.

  Dane closed the cabinet he was snooping through and made his way towards me. “It will be interesting to see how you do in a team. Something tells me you’re a lone wolf.”

  “I work better independently but I’m flexible. Adapting will be no problem.”

  Dane seemed to be thinking about something. It was difficult to see past that calm mask he wore. His expression meant everything and nothing at the same time. I wasn’t sure how he pulled it off. Maybe it was his resting face.

  “I’m curious, Joan. What were you like before Cyrus moulded you?”

  “Afraid and weak.”

  “Being afraid isn’t a trait that disappears. You grow accustom to the things that scare you,” Dane paused, gazing at me with those cold eyes. “You are afraid of me. I can see it in your eyes.”

  “I’d be a fool if I wasn’t. You’re not like the rest. You’re different.”

  “As are you. You’re not like any other woman I’ve met. You are unique and that is why I ignored my first instinct to kill you. That uniqueness is something that cannot be replaced...” his sentence trailed off and his eyes became darker as they stared right into my immortal soul. “Until you prove you can be trustworthy, know that I will be watching very carefully. The day you betray me will be the same day you meet your end. Your uniqueness will not save you from my wrath. Pick a side. You can’t work for me and remain loyal to a man who is being hunted by the organisation you belong to. There may come a day where you have to choose between Cyrus and the agency. Make the right call or you will be joining him six feet under.”

  “That won’t be an issue. I don’t pick sides. I do what’s best for me. That’s how I’ve survived this long in the cruel world we live in.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Dane said, making his way to the door. He glanced back at me when he realised I wasn’t following. “I will give you a short tour, issue your new gear and weapons, then take you back to your apartment. Try not to beat anyone else up along the way.”

  I smiled and laughed a little. “Winters came at me first.”

  “You provoked him.”

  “Alright, I’ll play nice. No sass from me. Promise.”

  Dane shook his head. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”