Sixty-Eight

My heart came to a complete stop when I snapped my eyes open, and I couldn’t feel Liz anywhere closer. She broke her promise; she broke our deal. Dread crept into me. I loathed this foreign feeling, but with Liz it has always been this way. Fear was always knocking at my door, skulking around, and the maddening sense of helplessness. My demon sneered in my head, outraged by her disobedience, feeling betrayed and abandoned by the woman he fell for.
I strode through the house like I was preparing for the battlefields to find Anton in the living room, eyes closed and concentrated, with a bluish glow around him. If I wasn’t already furious, now I was beyond pissed off. Who the hell was he? It was time for him to come out clean and stop with all the shit and charades.
“Anton!” My voice boomed through the house like thunder. “Who the hell are you?” He didn’t flinch and kept concentrating as I let myself collapse in the chair. The creature in front of me became shinier, the glow filling the room, making me squint, the shitty blue light blinding me. The next minute he rose from the floor about five inches, floating in the air. Anton wasn’t a product of a curse and puzzled me even more. I had to put my hand in front of my eyes to spare myself from the light. His eyes snapped open, red as fire. Then everything went back to normal, and he was himself again. “I had assumed I was the sole deviation of nature, but I was wrong!” He turned in my direction with a smirk on his face.
“It doesn’t concern you who I am.” He dismissed me, sitting in his armchair and lighting a cigar.
“Cut the crap! I deserve to know who you are!” I jumped on him, my demon flashing in my eyes. How could he be so relaxed when he clearly knew my little devil bailed on us? “I’m tired of this shit, old friend.” I growled at him. “Give me the truth!”
“Sit down!” He barked at me, and with the wave of his hand I flew to the armchair in front of him. I didn’t recognize him, his semblance changed as I had never seen before, devilish but serene, observing me, studying me as if I was an annoying bug.
“Give me a reason I shouldn’t kill you!” Seeing him on that chair like a king on his throne, dragging and puffing that shit, just added to my rage. I had to move, do something, I would not sit around and wait until the pain took me again, announcing once more I lost her. “Suit yourself!”
“I said sit down, Vlad.” I heard him when I tried to leave. It was only a low growl, but it vibrated all the windows, and once more I found myself stuck to the chair. How could he do that? “Control yourself, I can hear your heart from here and also feel the panic swamping over you.” The room expanded under the rage filling my mind. I wanted to rip that calm look out of his face and slay him right there at my feet! I wasn’t a boy to be disciplined, far from it.
“What’s got into you? She’s left, don’t you see it?” I yelled at him at the same time my demon hissed, insulted.
“Don’t you think I know?” For the first time, he looked at me with defiance and annoyance. “I learned that, the moment she put her ass on that bike and took off.”
“And you just let her go?”
“First things first, Vlad! Who or what I am is not your concern. Just know one thing, all these centuries I stood by your side purely on friendship. I have my limitations, but my powers surpass yours and I can squash you like a bug if I chose to.” He dragged on that stinky cigar, eyes fixed on mine, daring me to challenge him.
“I’m out of here.” Even though everything in me wanted to put a spike on his rear end, I wasn’t a traitor. I wouldn’t put myself in that position. I had my values, and if he chose this path, it was up to his conscience. Mine was at peace.
“Wipe that look from your face, Vlad. Wake up! You are so out of your element around Alex, that you lost communication with the warrior in yourself! Even your beast is ineffective, as he’s also enamored by her.” His voice reached me when I was about to leave the room, making me stop and turn to him.
“Anton, don’t go there!” I sneered at him, and he came onto me in a jump, his face inches from mine.
“I’m your only friend, and I’m telling you, cut the crap and get yourself together, if you want to save her and end this curse!” He roared at my face. “Where’s your logic? The sharp mind of a warrior? We have a battle ahead of us. She’s your weakness and always has been.”
Anton was right. My fear of losing her was so great it clouded my judgement of things. Since we met weeks ago, I had the feeling of floating into a hazy dream I couldn’t get out of. I felt lost around her as if an impending doom was about to unleash itself anytime I dared to blink, and I thought of nothing but keeping her safe at all costs, even if it was from herself. I didn’t trust her, because I didn’t trust myself and my actions if something happened to her.
Maybe she was right all along, she didn’t need saving. I still thought of her as my Liz from the beginning. She was, but with a plus, and I needed to remind myself of that. She knew her way around, had trained for it, and knew most of the people she dealt with. I had to admit, Liz was an exceptional woman. Maybe what I needed to do was only to make sure she didn’t lose herself. Her past self had to be intact inside her. I had no more time to lose as I needed to find her, and fast. Whatever she was doing, she would have my blessing, but with me on her side.
“It’s hard to admit, but you’re right. I’m so messed up I couldn’t even sense her sneaking out like a mouse.” I growled, furious at myself.
“Don’t get yourself all worked up. Sneaking around is a second skin to her. Why do you think they call her a ghost, phantom, shadow, and I don’t know what else? They trained her for that skill.”
“But if you knew she was bailing on us, why?” I was so frustrated with myself. Having a weakness wasn’t an option in a battle.
“Think, old friend, use your warrior’s mind. She was listening to our private conversation. I felt her in my mind, and she was also in yours.” The proud smirk on his face was priceless. I didn’t feel her there. How could it be possible? I didn’t have the courage to voice my indignation, but he saw it on my face. “Yes, my friend, she is stealthy, even in our minds. I almost missed her on mine also, if it wasn’t for the annoyed short of breath, giving her out.” He laughed. If there was a joke, I didn’t see what was so funny. “We pissed her off by wanting to double cross her.”
“I told you so, we have a disrespectful, bossy woman on our hands!”
‘No, I’m not, you’re the ones who didn’t find your way out of the caves yet…’ It echoed in my mind with a mocking laughter, caressing all the corners of my body.
‘I’ll find you, little weasel. Your punishment will be great.’ A smirk curved my lips when she gasped, aroused.
“Vlad, if she is in your mind, lose the link,” he asked, puffing the smoke up. “When you came into the room a few minutes ago, I was pinpointing my dagger. It works like a GPS, a tracking device, but she didn’t need that knowledge. I gifted that dagger to Alex on her eighteenth birthday. It was my way to keep tabs on her. Last night, I left the dagger in the kitchen on purpose, and she took the bait.” The sharp, cunning look Anton sent my way told me everything. He knew exactly where Liz was, and she would deliver our enemies to us.
“About Mister Lucard Udar.” I couldn’t help the sneer and mocking tone that left my mouth. He was so pitiful. “What do you think he became?” All this time, that little brat was behind everything. Why? What did I do to deserve such hatred from him? It wouldn’t take long for me to find out, would it?
“I may have an idea, but it all depends on the sins one carried.”
“How about cowardice, villainy and treason? Are they enough sins for you?” Anton grinned at the aggravated tone of my voice.
“I believe so. Why don’t we go find out?” He smashed the rest of that crap in his palm and threw it in the trash. “So, old friend, put yourself back together and let’s do this like old times. I know where she is, she’s paying a visit to her old man.”
“I can’t wait to have some brotherly time with him. We have a lot to catch up on!” My eyes glowed. I couldn’t wait to put my hands on that puny brat and teach him how to bow down to the rightful prince, traitor. Also, on that little devil, she didn’t know what would come on her way.
“Not before we stash ourselves with a few toys from the basement. I believe Alex showed them to you?”