Rebirth of the Seer (15 page)

Move two commenced.

‘
Of all the mortals they could have sent
,
’ I projected, ‘
I wonder why it was that they conjured the most loathsome, narrow-minded being fashioned by The Fates. By the way, dear Julian, you need to work on your aim. I could have plunged a dagger into you from much farther away
.
’

Abrupt
ly, I felt a tug on the proverbial line. ‘
The little vampire has come for a challenge
,
’ Julian said, his thoughts entering mine in a manner which felt more intrusive than I had suspected. My only consolation was that I had been inflicting the same insult against him. He paused before continuing. ‘
You are a clever demon. How
did you know I would be here?
’

My eyes darted around, searching for anything standing out in the midst of the crowd. A mother struggled to keep her children close and a businessman nearly collided with her youngest son. The two engaged in a brief exchange of words before the man turned and strolled away in a huff, bringing a cup of coffee to his lips
while
brushing at a few drops which had spilled on the front of his coat. Teenagers laughed and some of the seedier lot huddled in their coats, avoiding direct contact with anyone who passed. The panorama of humanity opened up before me, but not a blessed soul resembled the master seer with whom I was entangled.

I sighed. My hand touched the sword poised by my side as I continued scanning the crowd. The bantering would have to continue until he exposed himself. ‘
We have not had the chance to become properly acquainted
,
’ I thought, ‘
With you shooting bolts at me a
nd what not
.
’

‘
I know all I need to know about you. The Council has told me
in detail
what you’re capable of doing
.
’

‘
Then you only know half the tale. Rest assured, murdering me would be a grave mistake
.
’

Julian scoffed, just as I knew he would. And they called vampires predictable. ‘
The mistake would be trusting you. Now, tell me where you are, little vampire, so we can play
.
’

‘
And give you the advantage over me? What kind of fool do you take me for?
’ Still, the mention of location only commenced to tie a knot inside my stomach. The more time which passed without me spotting so much as a glimpse of his hair, the more vulnerable I made myself. Furthermore, the notion nagged at me that while I knew this area better, he could have been waiting for hours, which would have given him ample time to find an ideal hiding place. I needed something better than a mental taunting match.

Indulging in a deep breath, I shut my eyes and felt for whatever parlor trick might be of some benefit to me.  “An instruction manual would have been useful for this, witch,” I said, whispering harshly as my imagination struggled to conjure any experiment worth attempting. Try as I might, tho
ugh, I could only think of one
in particular to build upon from my shallow bag of tricks. It was the very first thing taught to me by my watcher.

Opening the connection between me and Julian, I let my mind find his and surge
d
past his mental blocks into what his eyes beheld. To my horror, I discovered two things to be true, one right after the other. First, the scene he gazed upon happened to be none other than the place where Monica and I had entered the train station. He stood nearly by the same column, his attention set on the very same door I used to step inside the imposing monolith. I jumped away from the mental connection, but not before realizing I had forced him from my mind in the process. My eyes were open where they had been shut and I was peering right at the hall which led to the first path my footsteps trod.

That was when I figured out the second truth. In entering Julian’s thoughts, I ha
d allowed him right into mine, which meant h
e
knew exactly where I stood
as well.

“Fuck.” I remained pointed toward the adjoining corridor while
pacing
backward. Whether or not it was my nerves imagining it, I swore I heard the door slam open and a pair of feet charge into the 30th Street Station. Pivoting enough to see what lay behind me, I motioned more swiftly to put distance between me and the plac
e where I had been standing. N
o sooner
did I enter
the main thoroughfare than I finally spotted him, rounding a corner and stopping dead in his tracks when he saw me straight ahead.

‘
Catch me if you can.
’ I punctuated the taunt with a wink
before twisting
around fully
.
Foreign words I recognized as profanity echoed behind me, my pursuer giving chase the second I entered into a sprint for the ramp on the other side of the room.
The density of the mob before us
prevented
me from accelerating to the full measure of my vampire speed. It was just as well, though. Fate smiled in my direction after we dashed past the frazzled mother, and a young couple who spun to watch when I almost ran them over.

The businessman from earlier stepped into my path and I indulged a smug grin as I sidestepped and clasped his arm with my hand. Without stopping, I turned him to face the opposi
te direction and shoved him down
, sending coffee splashing which fell in time with his unceremonious descent onto the hard, tiled floor.
A girl shrieked in horror – victim to
the coffee tsunami – and I risked losing precious moments to glance across my shoulder when the sound of another human colliding with the mess added to the cacophony. Julian slipped on a puddle of liquid in the effort to avoid the fallen man and landed right beside him.

‘
Playing dirty, little vampire
?
’

‘
I shall take
any
boon I can get.
’

Without sparing another look, I set my sights on the ramp before me and rounded the corner in one, fluid movement. The wall which ran along the upward slope was deceiving, at best. Julian had already clamored to his feet and would soon be hot on my heels. And
I knew
following the length of the ramp would
only
bring me i
nto another crowd of humans
closer to the
local
transit trains.

As I sprinted up the ramp, a set of stairs leading back toward the east emerged, and I felt just enough in the mood to improvise not to question the split second decision. Clutching onto the railing, I sprung off the ground and vaulted the short flight of stairs down to the lower level of the station again.
I
t was the other end of the
hallway
I had first trod upon and would lead me around in a circle if I chose to continue. Signs for the restrooms came into view, however, and my instincts honed in on the sight, making one last improvisational decision. I ducked into the men’s room, pausing once inside to take a steadying breath and survey my surroundings.

T
iled floor beneath my feet, the area resembled a standard public restroom, replete with stalls, mirrors, sinks, and urinals, all arranged as though the travel
er
s who entered gave a damn about the
ambiance
. A few marks of disrepair denoted the age
of the room
enough
to
at least t
ell
me
how easily
a catastrophe
could be made
out of the place. “My apologies to the City of Philadelphia,” I murmured as I parted the folds of my coat and pulled my katana from its sheath.

Now, all I needed was a place to hide.

For the lack of any place better, I kicked ope
n a stall and shut it behind me. J
u
mping onto the toilet sea
t, I crouched
low enough to keep the crown of my head from view. The silence which settled around me proved to be more unnerving than I
appreciated
, another marked difference from my tasks as an assassin. I was almost grateful when Julian’s voice floated into my head again. ‘
You and your kind are all alike. Run away and hide rather than facing the inevitable.
’

‘
I simply like a bit of foreplay with my sex, Julian
.
’

‘
You are vile
.
’

‘
No more vile than the hypocrites who would claim to protect humanity and yet murder an innocent girl
.
’ My breaths were stilled; my ears attuned toward any sound which entered the immediate vicinity. ‘
Ironic that I am the one drawing your attention so that you do not harm a mortal, is it not?
’

‘
One you’ve seduced into your ways, speaking of foreplay
.
’

I fought the urge to growl. ‘
And you call me the perverse one. The girl is my watcher, nothing more. Speaking of which, where is yours? Has she since become bored of your rhetoric and hung herself rather than endure any more of it?
’

‘
I don’t need one. I am a master seer
.
’

‘
Ah, not only is he more righteous, he is also more skilled. Dear Julian, can I be like you when I grow up?
’

‘
I will relish when your dust is on my shoes
.
’ Footfalls closed in on the bathroom, a noise I knew could be deceptive given the amount of traffic the train station boasted. Still, their cadence was uncertain, hesitating once or twice before resuming a swifter pace and growing louder. If the steps belonged to him, he had at least seen the path where I veered. ‘
Where are you hiding?
’

I grinned. ‘
Better for you to find out on your own. Peered around any corners lately?
’

The footfalls ceased. My grin blossomed into a full-blown smirk in all its smug glory. His shoes scuffed against
floor
and my skin prickled as I felt the presence of a human draw closer, his pulse betraying the cool of his words with an anxious cadence. As he entered the bathroom, I heard the same reserved caution punctuate his movements as had his path down the hallway. He knew it the same as I did. A thin
line separated us from our
battle.

I listened to something click and visualized my opponent’s moves as he orchestrated them. Julian freed his crossbow from the sling which held it close to his side, his actions methodical albeit comical if he thought it made them hard to hear. Cocking the
weapon
, he slid a bolt into place and snapped it secure
before
taking his first few tentative steps deeper into the bathroom. As he headed in my direction, I
detected
the chill he felt crawling up his spine. This time, I was the evil lurking in the shadows.

Still, he must not have gotten a clear enou
gh picture of where I hid. T
he sudden charge he made was not for my stall, but
the one
beside me. H
e kicked the door open and paused when greeted with nothing. I savored the schadenfreude for just a moment; the way he glanced around read of a man confused when his
instincts
had failed him. As he retreated, he stopped and then, I knew he had finally seen me through the spaces between stalls. I threw the door to my hiding place open and tossed the bag slung across my shoulder in near-synchronized movements.

The actions had the intended effect. The black duffel bag sailed toward Julian ju
st as he reared back to fire, causing
the bolt to fly wildly for the other side of the room. I
t ricocheted off the wall, landing
somewhere out of sight at precisely the same moment Julian threw the bag angrily to the floor and swung his crossbow at me. I bent enough t
o dodge the attack and used my
momentum as I sprung back to drive
a knee
into his stomach.

Julian stumbled backward. I smiled wide, unabashed about the way my fangs crept downward. “You requested a demon?” I asked. A laugh
bubbled
past my lips as Julian scowled and I tightened the grip one hand maintained on the hilt of my sword while swinging the other fist for his jaw. The
blow
impacted without anything to
cushion it
and sent Julian
sprawling
onto the hard tiles be
neath
us.

I had no time to relish the conquest, though. The master seer flicked his wrist and an invisible force impacted with my legs much more violently than my fist had met his face. I felt them buckle and tumbled to the floor while Julian
vault
ed to his feet. He drew a sword from its sheath and as I looked upward, I had enough thought to raise my katana to block his first untempered swing.