by J. Armand
“The Devil.” He was so serious it made me question how far he was prepared to take this whole act. What could this guy possibly know about evil demons? “This place is a nest for the damned.”
“I don’t see anyone.” I looked around skeptically.
“Because it looks like the place has been cleansed. Someone was here ahead of me. All the hellspawn are gone.”
“Oh? Who would that be? A friend of yours?” I hoped he didn’t have friends with him. All I needed was some guy dressed in a wizard outfit joining in.
“No. I don’t know who it was, but you should thank God for watching over you. Whoever sent you here was leading you into a trap. What did they look like?”
“I don’t remember, but they seemed nice.” I forced myself not to cringe as he walked over the ashes of a poor Outsider.
“That’s how they lure you in. They play to your sympathies and tempt your desires.”
He wasn’t wrong. The problem was that not all of them were like that. “Look, I don’t know about all this demon stuff. I’m new to the area and was just here for a place to sleep.”
“Take my advice and go back to where you came from. This city is a hotbed of sin.” He took something out of his pocket and shoved it into my hand on his way out. “There is a church close to here if you need somewhere to go. I’ll pray for you.”
“Thanks.” He’d given me some bills and a few coins. Eight dollars in Euros. What was I supposed to do with Euros in Manhattan? Still, it was a nice gesture of charity. I pitied the poor guy, hoping he never ran into any of the “damned” he was looking for. I doubt he’d have even been a match for Octavio.
There was a loud crash over by the entrance. I headed over to see what the man was up to now and found him pushing broken furniture away from the door.
“By the way.” He addressed me without turning around. “How did you get in here? I barricaded this when I came in and the windows are too high to climb to.”
“Yeah, I thought the door was locked so I used the fire escape.” I hurried outside to end the conversation as quickly as possible. All this lying was making me feel guilty. But how would he react if he found out what I really was? Or was his distain reserved for the undead alone?
Daylight was almost finished encroaching on the horizon. My body decided that had I put off sleep long enough. I waited alongside the apartment building to be sure I hadn’t been followed. The streets up in this part of the city were coming to life again. No one stopped or was even aware of the murders taking place right in front of them. The supernaturals’ own veil of anonymity was causing them to suffer and fall in silence. My hands were also tied by that charade, making it impossible to find the same help afforded to the masses we interacted with every day. They controlled our fate, while most of them were none the wiser as to who we really were on the inside. The hatred of the few had poisoned the minds of the many into apathetic quiescence over the years.
I sat against a dumpster and stared vacantly at the ground, too tired to get up and find a safer place to rest. I had been looking at the same manhole cover for ten minutes when I was reminded of the Archios by Times Square. What if some of the Outsiders had managed to escape? I had to take the chance and go down there.
The cover flipped into the air and I was gone before it landed back in place. I hit my head in the first tunnel and lost Noah’s sunglasses in the sewage. The ceilings were too low to levitate in some areas, forcing me to wade through muck up to my ankles. It wouldn’t have been an adventure without me smelling like something nasty; the stink indicated that coming down here was the right decision. I wished I didn’t have to search for survivors alone, but waiting for Noah would waste precious time.
Maintenance lights scattered along the winding paths provided a momentary respite from the darkness. I had no idea what direction the Outsiders would take or if they had an emergency hideout. I’d probably have tried to leave the city altogether, but I doubted they were organized enough to have any formal escape plan.
Venturing into the subterranean labyrinth of New York City was as fruitless as it was foul. I couldn’t find anything besides rats the size of a small dog. There was no way for me to tell how long I had been in the sewer tunnels, but the further I traveled the more hopeless finding anyone seemed. What would that Archios from before even do down here? They weren’t the most robust and would probably have a meltdown if they got dirty, even if their life depended on it.
I was definitely going about this wrong. I should have found other Archios to question when it was still nighttime. With all their connections they must have an idea of who was after them and how to stop it. The only other covens were the Strigoi and the Carpathians, but the Carpathians had to still be licking their wounds from their defeat three years ago… right?
I crawled out from the sewers and into the raw morning air to find I had only traveled about thirty blocks north. I was hoping to have covered more ground. Doubts plagued my mind. Should I have kept searching underground? I needed some rest and a change of clothes before I could gain an audience with the Archios. I hated stealing, but I’d have to do it again to get by as I had in the past. The opportunity presented itself a block away with a clothing donation box. I supposed that was better than taking from someone trying to make a living.
After donning a white hoodie, a pair of unintentionally ripped jeans, and beaten-up sneakers, I was set to find somewhere to sleep – preferably someplace warm. I was right outside Highbridge Park, but it would be too cold to stay there for any length of time dressed like I was and I didn’t want to take warmer clothes away from anyone who needed them more. Except for the noise, the subway tunnels were a great place to take refuge.
I wasn’t too familiar with this part of the city, but it didn’t take long to find a subway stop nearby on 168th street. I settled in on a bench and had barely closed my eyes for more than a few minutes when I felt a tap on my shoulder.
“You can’t sleep here,” a man in dark blue pants with a handgun and handcuffs at his waist announced. “We’ll talk more when I’m home. Go back to the apartment for now. I need to train this newbie.”
“Wh-what did you just say?” By the time I looked up and my eyes adjusted to the light, the man was walking away.
“Lyle?” I shouted at the back of his blond head as he left through a turnstile. He didn’t stop, but I knew it was him. Those were the last words he said to me. The turnstile stuck when I tried to follow him. People were standing around, but I didn’t care. I forced open the gate with my powers and ran until I caught up with him. He turned. Before I could see his face, the flashlight in his hand blinded me.
I woke up back on the bench, disoriented and drenched in sweat, as a train roared by. It had been a while since I’d had a panic attack in my sleep and I didn’t miss them. I told myself that it was only a dream, but it still left me rattled. Even after all my recent training I was losing people and had no control over it.
The clock above me read 4:34 PM. I had slept through a good part of the day. The sun would be going down soon, and that meant the Archios would be awake and I could finally get some answers. I hopped on the next train going downtown to avoid being seen. The dream still had my mind scrambled and I was distracted by guilt. When staying with Lyle after the war I had made the same immature mistake that cost my parents their life by bringing trouble to their doorstep.
I got to Times Square by sundown, but out of the millions of people not one Archios was to be found. Circling the area brought me to Fifth Avenue. There had to be Archios here. Fifth Avenue was the epicenter of luxury and extravagance; they ate this stuff up. An uneventful couple of hours staked out along the strip paid off in spades. A black Lexus pulled up in front of a Tiffany’s jewelry store across the street right as the lights turned off inside. Like clockwork three impeccably dressed people emerged from the store and marched to the car. A petite blonde woman in a business suit and glasses locked up behind her while she talked on her cellphone, a tall
African-American man carrying a briefcase and wearing an earpiece opened the back door of the car, and between them a rather fit and well-manicured gentleman in his early forties locked eyes with me for a moment before entering the car.
Jackpot.
I shot up to the rooftops in private to tail them more easily. Now my only hope was that they wouldn’t take me out of state. It looked like tonight was my night, though; after only three blocks the black Lexus pulled into the parking garage of a very fancy high-rise. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but this guy really needed an entourage to go three blocks? From what I could tell they were all human except for him, which meant the escort was more for show than security. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the penthouse was his so I went up ahead to the balcony.
I perched on the head of a stone gargoyle, from which I could see perfectly into the penthouse. The apartment door opened after a few minutes and in walked my Archios. His eyes went to me immediately and before his assistant could walk in behind him, he ushered her back out and closed the door.
“Not very subtle,” he mocked and went to his bar to pour a drink as I let myself in through an open balcony door.
“I wasn’t trying to be. I’m here for information that could help us both.”
“I would ask you to sit, but the help just finished cleaning the upholstery this morning and we’re fresh out of plastic covers.”
His attitude was getting on my nerves, especially because of how undeserved it was. I shattered the glass in his hand to show him I meant business and his reaction was worth every overpriced cent that glass must have cost.
“I see a bit of civility is out of the question. I don’t suppose the Strigoi could have programmed you with some manners in their laboratory.”
I raised an eyebrow and shattered the wine bottle he was pouring from, letting wine splash all over his suit.
“Do you have any inkling of how much this suit cost?!” he bellowed. “What am I saying? Of course you don’t.”
“You know who I am?” I asked.
“Not by choice. I was one of those in charge of cleaning up the aftermath from your brawl with the Carpathians that almost ruined the city. Did you think that sort of evidence would just erase itself? Humans are everywhere and they get into everything you don’t want them to. Social media has only made it harder on us. Mortals may have short, fragile lives, but the Internet never forgets.”
“Fragile? You’re not supposed to kill them, you’re only supposed to erase their memories.”
“Yes, yes, absolutely. Time is money, though and when you are in the diamond industry like myself money is everything. The needs of the many outweigh those of the few. Unfortunately for them, I have just too many in need of my time.”
“I was worried about saving the city, and all you were interested in was hiding behind a computer. It’s easy to pass judgment when you’re at a keyboard and not out there facing the world.”
“My apologies. How ever can I help you then, great hero? Maybe you would like to break a mirror or two?” There was an undertone of necessary caution in his sarcasm. I wanted to deck him.
“Just tell me what you know about the killings that started last night. I’m sure you must be in the know about everything happening around here.”
“There isn’t a bounty out yet, but I admire your ambition. I should think you’d know more about that matter than me, anyway.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Rumor has it the one hunting us is one of us, a particularly swift and stealthy hunter with an eastern flair. That should sound familiar to you, no?”
“Your sources are wrong. I’ve heard better rumors in a high-school cafeteria. He’s been with me the whole time,” I lied to see what else I could get out of him. “What reason would he have to start randomly killing his own kind?”
“Orders are orders, I suppose. I try not to question things over my head; it’s bad for business.”
Orders? Noah wouldn’t take orders from anyone except Aurelia, and that hadn’t wound up going her way in the end. Did this guy not know that Aurelia had finally been destroyed? I thought news spread fast, but I supposed it was possible people thought she had just hidden away after her mansion was demolished by her sister.
“Now, if you’d be so kind as to uninvite yourself, I have dinner guests on the way.”
I left the balcony without a word and headed back to Fifth Avenue. Could Noah really be doing this? Was that why he had wanted to come back so suddenly, and why everything had started as soon as we returned? I had seen his sword kill the Archios in Times Square with my own eyes, but since then I’d been trying to deny it. I didn’t want to believe he could be responsible for something like that of his own volition.
Finding more Archios wouldn’t be worth it if they didn’t know anything, and I couldn’t deal with another attitude like the last one in the same night. I could trail the jeweler instead and wait for him to be attacked. But sitting around like one of his bodyguards felt demeaning even if it was for a good cause.
“Urgh!” I couldn’t withhold my disgust as something soggy whacked me across the face and then plopped into my lap. “What the hell?”
“Nice catch.” Noah was crouched on a parapet above, looking quite amused with himself as always. “If that had been an enemy you’d be dead right now, or at least temporarily in a few pieces.”
Whatever was in the wet paper bag smelled good. Inside was a mess of melted cheese and tomato sauce. “Is this… pizza?”
“Yeah, I didn’t want to hear you whining about being hungry all night like on the flight here.”
“I said it once. That’s hardly whining. But thanks.” I was starving. Even if I didn’t have to eat to stay alive, I still got hungry, and right about then I would have eaten out of the garbage if I had to. “I’m just going to ask straight out: have you been killing people?”
“I’m always killing people. It’s what I do. How do you think I got that pizza?”
“I’m being serious. Someone has been killing both the Outsiders and the Archios in the city and they seem to think it’s you. I saw someone with a sword like yours killing Archios in Times Square.”
“Did you get it for me?”
“Get what for you?”
“The sword.”
“No. They disappeared before I could even see who it was, which made me think it might have really been you.”
“I get you pizza and that’s how you repay me? You know I like sharp objects. Where are my sunglasses, by the way?”
“In a sewer uptown.” I lowered my eyes guiltily as I picked at the pizza.
“I’m going to strap you to a boulder and throw you into the ocean. But first we have a flight to catch.”
“We can’t leave yet. Someone might be impersonating you and killing a lot of innocent people.”
“So what?”
“You seem like someone whose reputation would matter to him. Unless it really is you.”
“It’s not me. When have I ever misled you?”
“Okay, fine. You have to help me solve this, though. Lyle is missing and may be in trouble too.”
“I don’t have to do anything.” He jumped down and loomed over me with his arms crossed, trying to intimidate me. “I don’t answer to anybody, especially you. And who gives a fuck about that cop or this city? Let them handle their own problems.”
“I care.” I stared back at him defiantly.
“Then I guess this is where we part ways. Probably for the best. It’s grossing me out watching you eat that slop.”
Appealing to his sense of humanity was the wrong approach. I should have known that from the start. “What’s the point of training me if we just run away at the first sign of a challenge? Why are you so anxious to leave? Are you scared whoever is impersonating you might actually be better?”
Noah turned back toward me and glared. “Seriously? You are trying to manipulate me?”
I hadn’t been scared of Noah
for some time, but the way he was looking at me made me slide back as he advanced. “Did it work?” I asked, hoping some humor would interrupt his pending rage.
“Was it a nice sword?”
“Um, I don’t know… maybe?”
“Useless. I guess I’ll have to see for myself. I wouldn’t expect you to know quality if it stabbed you in the forehead anyway.”
“Thanks,” I said, unsure whether it was greed or sympathy that had changed his mind.
“I meant what I said about the cop. Forget him.”
“He’s the only other friend I have besides you.”
“We’re not friends.” I expected him to say something like that. I wasn’t sure if he even meant it or if he was just taking another dig at me to cover up the fact that he was doing something nice. “People you like tend to end up dead or missing, so for my own sake let’s keep this strictly business. The cop either moved on with his life, or he’s dead. Either way, you can’t change that. If you go after him when he doesn’t want to be found you’ll just be causing him trouble. I say good for him if he managed to escape this life.”
“What if he was kidnapped to get to me?” I asked.
“Don’t you think if someone went through the trouble to set a trap like that they’d know where you were already? If he’s still alive he’s probably got a new life and forgotten who you even are. Don’t be so self-centered. Not everything is about you. It’s about me.” He smirked. “Now show me where you last saw my new sword.”
“Follow me,” I told him. I didn’t realize it sounded like an order until it slipped out. He didn’t react and we made it to the street without an issue. “He was right there. At least I think it was a he.” I pointed and retraced my steps into Times Square where I had last seen the person on the billboard.
“Then what?” Noah asked at the end of my tour.
“Then I went back to the Outsiders who asked me for help.”
“And they were all dead?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. You’re either a cold-blooded sociopath or an idiot, and the fact that you have me out here trying to save some nobodies has me think it’s the latter. You keep making the exact same mistake. How many people have to die before you learn not to bring trouble back with you?”