One Week Later.
I was attempting to eat my third hot-dog, but Victor's eyes on me were extremely unsettling. It's amazing how different a person can look in broad daylight compared to almost complete darkness. I could see features and quirks about Victor that I hadn't been able to place before. And all of them sent little alarm shivers through my nerves- screaming Run! Danger!
Like the way his eyes never stayed rooted to one thing for long, they were always scanning, searching for something. And his face was always breaking into random, disturbing smiles that immediately disappeared, as if his thoughts amused him. And then there were times like right now, when he was staring at me with so much intensity that it was disarming. I finally gave up and with a sigh put my hot dog back on my plate.
"What?" I demanded, somewhat coldly. Victor seemed to relax and leaned back in his booth.
"I was just wondering how long this was going to take," He supplied "I'd prefer we didn't spend another hour in a run down diner in the middle of nowhere and I'd prefer that you take a shower before we board the plane to the states. We can't have you looking like that"
I glared at him indignantly.
"And why are we going to the states?" I asked through clenched teeth. Victor stared at them for a moment before bringing his eyes to mine. And with a slow, infectious smile he replied.
"It's where we need to go. And I have a place there that you can stay while I prepare everything."
My glare didn't falter. Just when I was starting to like Toronto, we had to leave. And just where did he get off, dragging me out of my cage without telling me why or what he needed me for? The other jobs had been fairly easy, like searching for ghoul thieves or forsaken humans but Victor's secrecy was making me think this was a whole lot bigger.
"Are you ready to tell me what we're doing yet?" I hissed. Victor raised an eyebrow at me and then went back to folding his napkin into a tiny sailor's hat.
"No" he replied. My brow furrowed.
"And. Why. Not?" I snarled. This amused Victor and I watched as a small smirk tugged at his lips.
"Because, if you knew what we were doing, you probably wouldn't help me. You already know what my job is on the Other Side - to keep order. But what's happening there now goes beyond my jurisdiction. That's where you come in" He replied cryptically. I rolled my eyes.
"Victor, cut the bullshit or I am walking out of here. I already said I would help. But I need to know what it is I'll be helping with" I said solemnly. I saw something flash in Victor's dark eyes, but it was gone before I could tell what it was.
"Fine" He conceded bitterly and then continued in a hushed voice "The Other Side is being taken over by Death Walkers. Death Walkers, are exactly like you- I mean, you are a Death Walker. In other words, A person whose soul has been split, half on the Other Side, half here. Able to walk the paths of life and death without having to choose between them, blah blah blah. These ones…are different from you. They were more dead than they were alive when their souls split so there is a bigger pull towards the underworld for them. They're using their abilities to overrun the Other Side and we need them destroyed or gone forever. That's where you come in, you need to infiltrate them, learn their skills and weaknesses and then report back to the council and me when you have enough information to conquer them."
He stared at me, probably waiting for me to say something but I couldn't. The words were frozen in my mouth.
I couldn't do that!
I couldn't go somewhere and pretend to be everyone's friend and confidant and then betray them.
They've killed people. A voice in my head argued. Yes, I hear voices- it doesn't mean I'm crazy.
They weren't people, they were either dead or undead. I replied.
I bit my lip and a deep frown creased my forehead as I felt a churning in my stomach.
I've never been a good liar. I always blush and give myself away…
"Victor-I…" I couldn't force any words out. Victor, probably sensing my stress, rolled his eyes and leaned towards me.
"Problem?" He whispered. I nodded.
"I can't- lie!" I nearly shouted "And I can't betray them. I've seen it in movies, it's impossible. I'll learn to see things from their perspective, you'll doubt my allegiance- in the end they'll find out that I was planning to betray them but they'll forgive me because I'll redeem myself by saving everyone. And then you'll feel you have no other choice but to kill us all, but we'll kill you first and then they'll get what they want and I'll be on their side and you'll be dead" I said quickly.
A real smile graced Victor's face. Not one of his disturbing ones or a snarl, but a real-amused-smile. It was beautiful, and then it was gone.
"Okay-" Victor paused, looking like he was trying not to laugh "Okay, look. That would never-" He started laughing, and the sight of him laughing made me laugh.
Once he had calmed down, he looked at me expectantly and I blushed.
"Stupid, I know. I just don't want to mess this up." I said
Victor looked pleased.
"Yeah, you don't have to worry about any of that happening. There's enough destruction going on over there that it would be impossible for you to see from their perspective. And if you somehow did, I'd kill you before you could betray me. And if that, somehow, didn't work. I wouldn't be anywhere close to getting myself killed- he flashed a disarming smile- I look out for me and me only."
I half huffed, half laughed.
Vampires…extremely selfish creatures if you ask me.
"Alright let's go find me a shower" I sighed, rising from the booth seat. Victor sighed too.
"I thought you'd never ask"
I was lounging on one of the beds in our motel room when Victor walked through the door and, I could almost swear, he gaped at me for a fraction of a second.
I smirked and raised a sarcastic eyebrow.
"Amazing what a shower can do, hm?" I stated.
And I wasn't kidding. My hair fell down my back in thick, snowy waves. No more rats nest. And both my skin and eyes seemed to be glowing. Victor raised his own eyebrows appreciatively and made a deep 'huhm' sound.
"You smell like lavender and jasmine" Victor commented
I shrugged and lay back down.
"Oh no, no, no" Victor cooed walking towards me "No resting. You have studying to do"
I fought the sneer that was trying to force its way onto my face.
"For what?" I demanded. Victor rolled his eyes skyward and threw a stack of large books at me.
"Believe it or not, your kind can do a lot more than simply traveling between realms and 'seeing dead people'"
Victor said the last part in a whisper of mock fright. My eyes narrowed.
"Such as?" I tempted.
Victor made a swatting motion with his hands as if my question annoyed him and he could swipe it away.
"Necromancy, Possession, Summoning, Astral Projection, you name it." He said in a strained voice "At the moment, your brethren have raised an undead army and made rubble of the city Tauran in the underworld- in case you were wondering"
I bit my lip. And he wanted me to go in there? Where they could raise armies of the undead?
Victor stared at me coolly.
"Whatever" I grumbled. He smirked at me and walked to the door.
"Come on, you can read those at the airport. We have a plane to catch."
By the time the cab pulled up to Victor's penthouse apartment in New York my stomach was doing nervous little flips and I was shaking slightly. From the adrenaline, or fear I couldn't tell.
Victor glanced at me from the side as he opened his door.
"I have a present for you" He said as he stepped into the apartment, I followed and had to resist the urge to run back out into the hallway screaming. Bounding toward me was a huge, huge vicious looking black dog with glowing yellow eyes and three spiked tails. I knew I wouldn't make it to the door so I just ran and screamed until I was behind Victor, and he was between me and the dog…thing.
"Cilla- Stop." Victor said calmly. And almost instantly the dog sat and let its tongue hang out of its mouth. I peeked around Victor and stared at it. I noticed that its tails were almost as long as its body and looked like they could cause some real damage. The dog's body was pure muscle and it would have easily towered over me if it were standing on its hind legs.
Victor turned to me.
"What do you think?" He asked.
"What is it?" I answered with my own question.
"Cilla, here, is a hellhound. Extremely rare and very expensive. If you take care of her, she'll take care of you. She is smarter than most humans and can understand everything you say, so don't insult her. She has all the basic commands down; watch, sit, kill, attack, heel, run, chase, etc. etc." Victor rambled. I quirked my mouth up and looked at the dog. She might be fun.
"Cilla, let me see you use your tail…on Victor" I said smugly. I still hadn't gotten to avenge my parents. So that was my own little passive aggressive way of doing it. Well, passive aggressive according to me. I'm sure to anyone else it would have looked just plain hostile.
Victor whipped towards me with fury and shock evident on his face but before he could step towards me there was a whooshing sound then a crack and Victor flew a good ten feet back. I let out an impressed whistle.
"Good girl" I told her. I turned to see Victor standing up, rather gracefully, and brushing invisible dirt off his shirt. His eyes met mine and they held pure rage. I brought my hand to my mouth to cover my smile; molding my face into that of mock apology.
He appeared inches in front of me. Black was emanating from him like and aura or a form of dark smoke. The dangerous look in his eyes wiped the smile completely from my face. Ohmigod. He was going to kill me. After a few seconds of standing in paralyzing fear- something just clicked in my head. I didn't care if he was about to kill me. I knew death better than anyone and I sure as hell wasn't afraid of it. It's not like I had anything to live for…
Victor sensed my change of emotions and softened a little. And by a little, I mean not at all.
"Apologize" He half snarled, half hissed.
"I'm sorry" I mumbled. I couldn't look at his face anymore so I just stared at his chest. It was then that I noticed that his black shirt had large gashes in it.
"You are paying for the shirt" He growled, then snapped his hand out and grabbed a handful of my hair, tugging me roughly against him. I whimpered and glared at him.
"And if you ever try anything like that again" He said in a menacingly quiet hiss "I'll make you beg for death."
With that said, he pushed me away from him and I fell to the ground. I stared indignantly at him but he was already walking to the back of the huge apartment with his back to me.
"Get something to eat, and continue your reading. We have a realm to save" He growled over his shoulder.
I rubbed at the place on my head that he had grabbed and flinched when I heard his door slam shut.
Note to self; Never piss Victor off again. He's scary.
After staring at nothing in numb shock for a few minutes Cilla walked up to me and nudged my shoulder with her nose. Right, food for the both of us- and then reading. I stood up and brushed myself off. After sweeping my eyes over the large, airy building I turned to Cilla.
"You like steak?" I asked
