Sixty-Two

**Anton**

I received a call from a new buyer. He wanted me to give a look at a new dagger he just acquired. He had never put his eyes on such a beauty, and it seemed oddly old. Everything different interested me a lot, not to say otherwise. Discretion with new clients was my protocol, and the initial contact was always in an open space of an undisclosed location.
I dealt with weapons, and sometimes my business shifted to the black market. My powers made my life a lot less stressful, but I wasn’t a seer. I didn’t get premonitions like others from my kind did, so I needed to secure myself. Even more with this guy, I didn’t get a positive vibe from him over the phone.
We set the meeting for three days later, at Fort Washington Park by the bridge, at dusk. I finished up my day at the shop. Right there, I was uncle Tony, the barber and tattoo artist, but who left the place was Anton, the immortal. I hopped on my bike and headed to the place, about six miles to the north.
The entire way up there, a negative energy followed me, the same one I felt several times hovering over Vlad and me all these centuries. It was an eerie feeling. A darkness that crept on my skin. I didn’t know how to define it, but it was there. Maybe it was the day I’d meet that puny little bastard who was behind all this mess.
My headlights were off once I got close to the location and parked my bike by some trees. I scanned the entire area, since I had my suspicions, and glided to the waterfront, blending with the shadows. The place was dark and empty, with a street light illuminating here and there, and I set myself against the lighthouse wall, waiting. The soothing murmur of small waves rolling to the shore lulling at my ears.
Footsteps reached my ears about half an hour later, but I kept myself in place until I saw who I was dealing with. “Tony? I know you’re there.” They were two, and I couldn’t feel if there would be more. “Can we get down to business?”
I left the shadows and walked to him, my eyes fixed on their faces. I knew one of them from somewhere, but he didn’t need to know. “Where’s the loot?” The surge of energy slithered around the place as I didn’t take my sight from him and put my other senses at work. This was no buyer and seller’s business.
“Skull.” The other guy stepped out from behind him with a small package in hands. His eyes glinted with malevolence. The man signaled and as he extended it to me, I got a glimpse of a long, thick scar on his neck, hidden under his collar. Jack. He was Alex’s friend, for Christ’s sake! We were in deep shit. The surge of power got stronger around us, and before he handed me the package, I knew what it was.
As soon as my fingers closed around it, I felt her energy flow into me, and when I unwrapped it, my dagger was there in its majesty. The pure gold handle with the insignia of wings, the encrusted quillon with the sky blue gems, and the intricate blade full of symbols etched in it. Beautiful. I had gifted it to Alex on her eighteenth birthday. How did it show up here, with this rogue? He knew it was mine, and I’d recognize it.
“Who are you and where did you find it?” I let go a low menacing growl, and I heard a few bats fly away.
“Let’s say, someone got shocked and lost it.” He grinned and my mind wandered to Alex! Those days she’d gone missing. “Oh, Anton, you look startled.”
He called me by my real name. That meant this asshole knew who and what I was. Well, maybe not to the full extension, but he was on to me. Jack never said a word, leaving up to the other one. The coward. My extra senses were fully on alert, and I had a pretty good idea of my surroundings. “Who the fuck are you? What the hell do you want?”
“What do you think, Anton?” The creep smirked. “You’ve been nothing, but a pebble in our shoe, since day one.”
“So?” I asked, putting away my dagger and once more I let my mind wander, searching for potential targets, but I couldn’t find anyone. Only these two traitors in front of me. I was dying to send a word to that Shadow freak. He was there. I sensed him, but I preferred to get him by surprise. He thought himself too smart, but he was in for a rude awakening.
My senses told me we were not alone and there were more men around as we stared at each other. It was a trap and time to get the hell out of there, as the darkness coming from behind me got worse. The Shadow lurked around like the wimp he has always been, and my only option to flee was the river. I had to go through them and I didn’t know what they had in store for me. The question bugging my mind was why the rest of those punks weren’t appearing on my radar if my guts told me they were there?
Then, with the slightest movement, Jack stepped away, and the guy shut his eyes. Not before I saw my death in them. It was my cue. I glided in their direction with all the speed God blessed upon me, taking creepy Jacko in a stronghold. “You’re such a traitor. My daughter trusted you as a friend, and you betrayed her in the most despicable way. For that I passed you a death sentence.” I whispered to him, but before I snapped his neck, fire engulfed us as he screamed in agony as I leapt away from him, letting him fall by my feet.
“Sorry boy.” I heard the sardonic tone, and the fire ended the way it started.
“That’s what happens when we hang with the wrong crowd, Jacko!” I didn’t give them time to think, and jumped as high as I could to the sky towards the river. It was then, a full blast of bullets coming from everywhere pierced my body, and I plunged into the freezing waters of the Hudson and I let myself drown. Bastards! Pain ripped at my tissues.
*‘Dad! Tony! What happened, I can feel your pain, you got shot!’* Alex’s frantic voice wailed in my brain.
*‘It’s okay, pumpkin. I assure you, I won’t die. It’s just a battle wound.’* I hate listening to her cries. She had seen too much already; I know she’s a strong badass, and I raised her to be such, but for me, she was still my little girl.
*‘What’s wrong with the two of you? Everything is a battle wound? What does that mean, not lethal?’* She chastised us, and I couldn’t smile at her antics.
*‘What kind of crap did you put yourself into, old friend?’* Vlad’s quiet voice followed Alex’s. But he didn’t fool me. He was diverting his concerns from her.
*‘It was an ambush, Vlad, and creepy Jack was here with them. Things are getting heavy. They know about Alex and I, they said nothing about you, but I guess they also know you’re around.’* I blocked Alex out. She was too distressed to feel the pain mauling at my body, and she didn’t need to listen to my conversation with Vlad.
*‘We’ll think about this later. How badly are you injured?’
‘Bad old friend. But be at peace. I’m going up and meeting you guys by morning. Wait for me.’
‘Give some news later. Liz won’t sleep unless she knows you’re alive.’
‘I will, I have to go now.’*
I learnt they thought of me as one of them, and it will work to my advantage as they have no clue who they messed with. Human weapons used only to do a lot of damage and hurt like shit, but that was all. These motherfuckers were in for an immense surprise. Thinking about that, I closed myself off as a lightning whip descended from the sky, making its way through the water as I opened my arms, welcoming its energy, its powers.
I glowed at the bottom of the river. My body seared, and the water boiled around me as all the bullets, one by one, made their way out of my flesh, sinking to the bottom, close to my feet. Crossing my arms above my chest, the tips of my fingers touching each of my shoulders, I put myself in a state of trance, healing my wounds. After some time my eyes snapped open, and I didn’t need a mirror to see them shining red. Red as the rage I felt!