by Sedona Venez
I choked on my water, “Did you say billion dollar?”
“Yes, ‘b’ as in billions.”
Shit, there goes my theory that he was only after my money. My eyes narrowed as I chomped on chips, “Vigari, that name sounds familiar.”
She leaned forward excitedly, “Oh, it gets better. Guess what the name of his firm is?”
My heart was thumping as I slammed the bottle on the table. “Come on, come on. You’re killing me here.”
“Channing & Vigari Enterprises.”
I sputtered sending bits of chips flying landing on Zoe. “What? I can’t afford them.” They were the elite of the elite in security firms. Only the extremely wealthy like foreign leaders, owners of billion dollars conglomerates, and dynasty families could afford their services. “I’m rich, but not that rich. Besides, I thought they were very picky about whom they took on as clients?”
She flicked away the bits of chips with disgust. “They are, that’s the frigging point. I couldn’t find any, and I mean any, instances of them taking on a client like you.”
My bottom lip jutted out. “Uh, why did you have to say it like that? I’m not the bottom of the barrel you know.”
She slapped my arm playfully, “You know what I mean. Singer. Young. They don’t take on actors, singers any of that. I got the impression it was beneath them.”
With wide eyes, I asked, “Then why are they are protecting me? Better yet, why is the president of the company here leading the team?”
She grabbed some chips. “He’s not the president, he’s the VP. Are you going to let me finish?”
I waved her on with impatience, “Yes! Go on damn it.”
“Torch Channing, President of C&V, age 30, speculated. Boulder Vigari, Vice President of C&V, age 29, speculated.”
I arched a brow, “What do you mean by ‘speculated’?”
“Uh, it means that no one knows anything about these guys. It’s all rumors, gossip and everything in between. They keep their personal lives very tight. No info on family, girlfriends, affairs, nothing. In our world, you know how hard it is to keep anything private.”
I jumped up with my heart in my throat. “I don’t get this. The VP of C&V is out there.” I pointed to the door, “Leading a team of his elite security team for me, ‘Superstar’” I did air quotes, “Uh, is it me, or does this seem strange?”
Her eyes widened, “Uh yes! I mean, I love you and everything, but guarding someone like you is not even on their radar. My source was shocked that they were even here. They don’t do this type of security.”
I bit my bottom lip nervously, because as with everything weird in my life, all roads pointed to mom. Wolves, Vampires....something nudged my memory. “Well, it’s got to be some sort of favor for mom. She travels in some tight circles. Plus, she’s been real uptight about the concert. This has her written all over it.”
“Sounds about right.”
Someone knocked on the door. I looked at the clock. “That would be my body artist. We’ll talk later?”
“Definitely. Now go get hot.” She walked out the door as, Rule, the most sought after tattoo and body artist in the business, walked in.
“Hey, Rule.”
Gorgeous, tall, and heavenly chocolate Rule kissed me dead on the lips before winking. “Ready to get the art work of your life? It’s going to be absolutely beautiful, love. Raven soaring.”
I always wanted a raven tattoo on my back, so Rule came up with the idea of putting a semi-permanent raven tattoo with an over the top Swarovski crystal beak. The tattoo would trail from my left shoulder to my back. “I’m happy to hear it. We’ve been working forever to get the concept right. I hope it looks just as beautiful on my back.”
Rule smiled with pearly whites, “On that beautiful skin, anything would look like a masterpiece. Strip and let Rule rock your world, baby.”
CHAPTER NINE
Infinity
The Forgotten
I took off my top and laid face-down on the ivory chaise while Rule pulled out his art supplies and starting working. My mind drifting, my lids getting heavy as I sunk into the chaise and fell asleep.
My eyes snapped open to a low, gurgling croak, rising to a deeper and more musical sound. I groaned, not now, I didn’t want to see any more of the strange lady’s predictions, especially not before I had to perform, but like everything in my life lately, I had no freaking control as I found myself lying in a dark alleyway in something wet.
I curled onto my side. I was cold, and praying that this would be over soon, when I noticed the stickiness of the liquid. Looking at my hands, I scrambled to my knees, blood, I was lying in a puddle of blood. I heaved, trying to throw up as panic consumed me.
“Okay, calm down,” I tilted my head back, taking a deep breath, only to smell the decay and death in the air. “Oh bad. This is freaking bad.”
My eyes narrowed warily at the dark clouds that were moving in an unusual pattern as I crawled towards the wall, pressing my palms against it to pull myself up. The harder I tried, the more I slipped against the slick walls. My eyes welled with tears as I slipped down, looking at my hands that were covered with blood.
I wailed, looking at the sky with despair when the sky suddenly opened up and hundreds of big, sooty birds swooped down making a rapid series of loud knocking sounds. I pressed my back against the wall, sensing something was coming from the sky. Taking a deep breath, I looked skyward and saw two bodies being carried by a swarm of ravens. As if on cue, they released the bodies with a thump before me.
My heart raced frantically as I crawled over to the bodies. Diego and Zoe’s corpses were torn and bloody, their eyes open and laced with terror. Tears streamed my cheeks as I wailed, but my wails were low, and gurgling like the croak of a raven.
I could save them, I felt it in my, soul, but I didn’t know how or what I needed to do. I looked down helplessly, my fingers coated with their blood. It was useless, for that matter, I was too.
The ravens flapped their wings frantically, their loud, angry croaks stirring something deep within me. Breathing in deeply, I closed my eyes, mentally reaching for that mysterious, mystical something. It stirred again, feeling its presence like a second skin wrapping itself around my mind.
“Spirit,” I uttered with reverence. That one word was the key that opened a flood-gate within me. The warmth of power unleashed, strengthening my resolve, my spirit. Pressing my palms against Zoe’s forehead, the power trickled out from my fingers, then pulsed, then pulled. A gold flash of light pulsed around my fingers, twirling, curling, clinging. Then I knew exactly what my spirit wanted, needed and demanded.
Not to heal, or save, but to take. To take her spirit from the cold tomb of her body and release it to soar, to soar like the ravens above me. This felt familiar, a sense of déjà vu surrounded as I tried to place the niggling of worry at the back of my head. Then it clicked.
“Valkyrie” I uttered softly. “Chooser of the slain.”
I awoke with a start. My hands clutching the chaise with a death grip as I unsuccessfully attempted to calm my breathing. I squeezed my eye-lids tight as a strange pulsation of something foreign, something mystical throbbed as fingers brushed through the curly strands of my jet-black hair. It prodded me to open my eyes, to face my demons.
Zoe looked at me with eyes widened. “Are you okay?”
Arching my back, I turned to her, grateful that it was just a nightmare and that she was here, alive. I scrambled to sit, grabbing her and hugging her tight. “Zoe, oh Zoe. I love you.”
“Okay. I love you too.” She pulled my hair away from my face. “Are you okay?”
I just sat there staring at her, trembling as I grappled with the doom looming.
She shook me, “Answer me, sugar. Are you okay?”
I searched her eyes, something was different about her. Or maybe, something was different about me. I gave her a wobbly smile before jumping-up to grab my crème robe.
She pointed to my back with
wide eyes, “Whoa, that’s a wicked hot raven on your back, girl.”
Catching a glimpse of it, I smiled slightly before pulling on my robe quickly. My chest seized from the sudden ache deep inside me. The feeling of foreboding rattled my body. Something bad was going to happen, I felt the warning pressing against my mind.
My hands trembled as I poured hot green tea into a cup. Taking a calming breath, I walked over to the plush leather sofa, sipping my green tea calmly.
“Notice anything?” Zoe smiled and posed dramatically wearing her body hugging all black costume. She pouted giving me her best sexy look, then burst out laughing, plopping down beside me.
I couldn’t even look at her; but Zoe didn’t even notice my silence. “It’s a full house, sugar. Not an empty seat to be found.” She lifted my legs and laid them across her lap. “Are you okay? I’ve never seen you so somber before performing.”
Taking another sip of tea before answering, I said, “I’ve just been doing a whole lot of thinking.” I paused before looking at her somberly, “I feel it in my gut that after tonight, things are going to change for me; big time.”
Zoe pursed her lips. “Like how? You know they can’t kill your career if that’s what you’re worried about. Your fans love you. The full house out there proves that.”
I wrung my hands. “Not on the career front, but it’s the other stuff that is gnawing in my gut. Like all the energy the Collective wasted trying to stop this show from happening. There’s something just so seedy about all the opposition against helping those that no one seems to care about.” I sighed looking into space. “Oh hell, I might as well tell you.” I looked at her apprehensively. “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I don’t care.”
She pinched my ankle, “I think half the things you tell me are off the wall, but I always listen.”
I sighed, here it goes, “Zoe, I have dreams of events, sometimes future, sometimes past and sometimes about the little void in between. And these dreams are not pretty little ones either. I’ve had them all my life. The only problem is that they’ve been getting more morbid.” I decided to leave out the part about the strange lady and the raven lady because that was way out in crazy land.
Zoe just stared, so I continued. “Like the dream I had on my sixteenth birthday that nagged me for months—a dream of the life of a teen boy and a girl that I didn’t even know.” My eyes shifted to my cup then back to her. “It was of you and Diego. About what life was like for both of you, it was bad, real bad. You lived every day worrying about if you would make through the night, if you were going to find something to eat. After a while when your belly was so empty and the delirium set in, you started selling your blood for food, just hoping to hang in there one more day.”
“How the fuck do you know that?” Zoe’s hands trembled. “We never told you about our past and you never asked. How do you know all of that?”
Tears slipped down my cheeks, “I didn’t have to ask, Zoe, because of my dreams. I knew. I knew that one day our lives would intersect because of fate.” I looked at her with sad eyes. “And from that day on, I knew what the Collective didn’t mention in their pretty little commercials glamorizing the beauty of blood donation system, the forgotten. No one talks about the forgotten, people that go missing every day, the forgotten that slip through the cracks of our pretty little society, poor and hungry. These dreams gnaw at my soul because I did nothing to help them.”
I blinked back the tears. “I started to resent my dreams and the forgotten for being a burden. For making me feel guilty for something I had no part in creating. Every night I hoped for a happy ending for them, but that was useless. Because the happy ending was them realizing that what’s the use of worrying about getting Rejuvenators to protect against disease when they were dying from starvation.”
Zoe looked at me with sad eyes.
I swallowed over my dry throat, “Do you know how many of the forgotten choose Rejuvenator over food? All of them.” My voice was ice hard. “That’s what the Collective forces them to do, give up their lives, food, and happiness for a damn pill.”
Tears ran down Zoe’s cheeks. “That’s why you do it. That’s why you use Rejuvenator, to cope with the weight of the dreams.”
“Not anymore, Zoe. I’m done using them to hide.” I looked into space, blinking back the fear and embracing my courage. “So everyone can think that I lost my damn mind by doing this concert, but you know what? I don’t care. You see this charm?” I pulled the charm from beneath my robe. “On each wing is etched three words; courage, character, and commitment. It took me forever to realize that that’s all I have in the end. Not the money, not the fame but those three words.”
Zoe reached over and hugged me tight. “Do you know how much I love you? Lots and lots, sugar.”
I smiled through the tears. “What can I say, there’s a lot to love.” I grabbed her hands tightly because I knew that there were troubling times ahead for both of us. “I love you. And no matter what happens, know that I will never let go.”
She squeezed me, “I know, sugar. That goes for me too.” She smiled sadly, “I may not have your psychic mojo, but I can sense when the shit is about to hit the fan.” She looked at me without blinking, “But this too shall pass, Infinity. Just don’t give up, no matter what happens, okay?”
“I never have, nor ever will. Trust me, I would go to hell and back for you and Diego.”
“Well for me, that’s a given, but Diego?” She smiled widely, “He needs a little hell time.”
“You’re shameless. Now get your ass out of my dressing room. I’ve got to get dressed and get all hot and sexy for my fans and critics.”
She jumped up and moved her hips from left to right, executing a salsa move. “See you in a few.”
CHAPTER TEN
Infinity
Go Hard or Go Home
The noise level was deafening as my white-laced, Zen like dressing room turned into party central. I stood looking at myself in the mirror scowling as a flurry of the members of my glam crew buzzed around me, putting on the last finishing touches to my makeup and hair.
“Darling, the dress is lovely. Thank you for finally allowing me to dress you in something that doesn’t involve leather, spandex, low riders or barely their shorts.” Wind, my stylist, smiled warmly as she adjusted my ink-black gown drenched in sequins that boasted a halter neckline cut so low across my torso that it left the curve of my breasts, affectionately known as side boob, on display.
“Yeah, well don’t get too happy. Remember, I have five costume changes and there will be all of the above.” I responded with a smirk.
She sighed, “Don’t remind me, sweetheart.” She fussed over the dress like it was a work of art, finishing off my look by slipping on sparkly ink-black stiletto pumps with a spiked leather upper and elevated sole.
Leaning forward, I examined myself in the mirror, taking in my Smokey eye makeup and shiny locks styled into waves that pooled over one shoulder that enhanced the lines of my face and the lean curve of my neck and shoulders.
Mason came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “You look gorgeous.”
I looked down at his arms with a frown. He smiled tightly, reluctantly pulling away.
“Yeah, but I feel like crap.” I mumbled before biting my bottom lip, contemplating the thousands of details that I had to remember the second I stepped onto the stage. This was it, all the hard work, stress, and anxiety all boiled down to this moment. I needed something to calm my nerves, I needed, him, and like clockwork my eyes widened when Boulder strolled in. Like he knew what I wanted...needed...him.
His eyes narrowed on Mason before striding over. He looked at me as if there was no one in the world but me, and I loved it. “Absolutely beautiful.”
My pulsed raced as I looked at him from head-to-toe, taking in his expensive black pants, fitted black dress shirt and expensive black shoes. “Wow, Big Red, you clean-up really nice.”
He kissed my hand whi
le not breaking eye-contact. “So do you beautiful. So do you.”
Piston, my vocal arranger, sat strumming his acoustic guitar. “You ready, darling? We need to rehearse your first song before going out on stage.”
I nodded as I stared into Boulder’s eyes. Shit, this wasn’t good, how in the hell could I be falling for him so quick. The truth couldn’t be denied, from the minute I stepped into his arms, I was claimed. He knew it, and now so did I. So with no microphone, no computers, just live, raw, natural talent. I sang to him. My voice soaring, rolling, dancing with the guitar just like it was only us in our own world, lost.
He pulled me against his body, with eyes sparkling. Yup, this was it. Sealed and delivered by fate, me as a gift to him. The loud thunder of clapping erupting was the only signal that I finished the song and was standing there embraced by him.
“Well everyone. Let’s give her a couple of minutes to pull it together.” Zoe said before shoving everyone out.
I winked at her. “Thank you.”
She winked back. “See you on stage.” She shut the door with a resounding click.
Deliberately, I spun around real slow, facing the mirror. Watching as his eyes trailed down my bare back to my butt-cleavage. He smiled at the raven tattoo on the left side of my back.
I smiled with satisfaction when I heard his low growl. “You like what you see?”
“Absolutely,” He stepped behind me but didn’t touch. Our eyes locked in the mirror; he was giving me the opportunity to make the first move. I smiled, knowing that if I didn’t want to, he wouldn’t push me to take this any further. I leaned back against his broad chest, allowing him to wrap his muscular arms around me. There was something so damn erotic about watching us in the mirror.
He spun me around, sliding his big fingers across my cheek. “This is your last chance to run.”
Our eyes locked, taking in his mouth-watering scent in one long inhale. My clit throbbed, swaying from the intoxication of his essence. Mesmerized, I brushed a lock of cinnamon hair away from his brow.