A Life In Blood (Chronicles of The Order Book 1) Read online

  “Shit,” was all I managed, burying my face in my hands.

  “You didn’t know Deimos, it’s not your fault,” she said politely, but that didn’t help.

  “Shit,” I said again. “Oh, god, I am so, so sorry Corvi, it’s just-”

  “Deimos.” She reached out and peeled one of my hands away, and I squeezed my eyes closed as shame burned my cheeks. She held on to my hand, a gesture I didn’t understand until later. “Deimos, listen. I’m flattered, honestly. And you couldn’t have known, since you had never had the mental discipline training - it’s something the hunters might want to consider, but then we’d have problems - but I understand how it must feel for you.”

  “I highly doubt it,” I replied. After all, I had humiliated myself to the base commander and a peer of the realm. I’m sure there are laws against that.

  “Deimos, stop it.” I had to admit, I liked the way my name sounded when she said it. Not that that was foremost on my mind at that time. “Look, both of us have had problems with relationships. Your brother has ruined many of yours, and mine have often been...less than kind.” I looked at her at last, stunned that any vampire relationships could be abusive. “The Eleventh Century did not breed kind men, Deimos,” she said as if sensing my thoughts, “and it bred crueller vampires. I won’t go in to too much detail, but let’s just say my first time was not by choice.”

  “By god, Corvi, I’m sorry.” As I looked at her, I didn’t see pain or sorrow in her eyes, I saw determination - to not let it affect her, perhaps, I couldn’t tell.

  “Don’t be, it’s history now,” she told me, then laughed. “Quite literally, actually. But I’m thinking, perhaps now...perhaps now we both have a chance to change our luck. To finally have something for ourselves.”

  That was when I noticed her hand holding mine again, seeing it as if for the first time...and understanding the gesture at last.

  It was affectionate, caring.

  I cleared my throat, not entirely sure what to say. I squeezed her hand slightly, to let her know I was still in the room.

  “That...that sounds like a pretty good idea,” I managed to say at last.

  “Excellent! When’s your next day off? Actually, forget I asked, I’m the boss, I’ll arrange something. Saturday good for you?”

  “Sorry, what?” Her sudden animation, yet another reaction I had never seen in her before, was hard to keep up with.

  “Dinner, you fool. This hardly constitutes a proper date, so I think we should arrange something. Saturday?”

  I thought quickly. “Um...yes, Saturday. Sounds good.”

  “Good, I’ll get in touch soon,” she said, finishing her ‘drink.’ We both got up, placed our used items on the rack for collection and headed out into the hallway.

  “One more thing.” I paused, just about to head to my quarters for another sleep - the last few hours seemed to have gone quicker than I thought.

  “What is it?”

  “I’m not that quiet.”

  I swear she must have been taking lessons from Lev, because she gave me a dirty wink as she walked away. Unlike Lev though, with Corvi it sent a shiver down my spine.

  I needed a cold shower. Maybe after that, I’d be able to sleep.

  CHAPTER 5

  No normality allowed

  That Saturday came around quickly. I hadn’t said anything about having a date with Corvi, because quite frankly I didn’t want to cause any problems that might arise from accusations of favouritism and the like.

  Not that it meant a damn. Stevens had indeed begun spreading rumours, which I furiously denied, and stuck with the cover of discussing “business.”

  I don’t think anyone really believed me, but at least it gave her deniability if she needed it.

  It was in the afternoon, while I was making sure the suit I had ordered fit properly, that I got a knock at my door. It was too early to be Corvi - we were meeting later in the evening, so I opened it.

  “Lev?” The white-haired vampire bowed with a flourish. She never seemed to be serious, a trait which could be both endearing and annoying.

  “Mister Black. Can I come in?”

  I stepped away from the door, and gestured for her to enter. I didn’t say much, because at this point I was still not sure about her.

  She closed the door behind her as I took the suit jacket off, hanging it up and then unbuttoning my shirt.

  “Hey, I didn’t come here for a personal strip-show,” she mocked, her hands up in a warding motion.

  “Oh shut it, you wouldn’t complain.”

  “No, you’re right, I-” she stopped mid-sentence, her nose twitching. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me, and once again I became concerned.

  “Yes?”

  “No,” she said slowly, in that elongated way people do when they don’t believe something. She appeared beside me in an instant, grabbing my arm and pulling the shirt down over my shoulder.

  “Hey, careful!” I warned, though she was more interested with what she found.

  My goddamned mark. Again.

  “Fuck me sideways, you’re Reggie’s new pet!” She laughed as she moved away from me. “Nice one, D, truly nice one! You let the Crow claim you, that is priceless!”

  I finished taking the shirt off - carefully - and pulled a normal t-shirt on instead.

  “First of all, her name is Corvi, kindly use it.” I know, I know, I had no right to act that way really, since we weren’t exactly in a proper relationship, but I’d had enough of what I considered to be Lev’s disrespect. “Secondly, it simply shows that she’s my patron, responsible for my training and protection.”

  She snorted derisively.

  “Right. Says who?”

  “Says Corvi.”

  Lev shook her head, a stray lock of hair waving in front of her face.

  “Sorry, D,” she told me, brushing her hair back behind her ear, “she lied.”

  My anger flared for a moment - then I remembered what Corvi had said to me a few days previously. I decided to talk to her about it first, before I jumped to conclusions.

  Besides, now I wasn’t too averse to the idea of being ‘claimed.’

  “Well, I’ll see what she says about it. What did you want?”

  She ignored the question, adopting a defensive stance.

  “Look D, I know you think your girlfriend is flawless, I get that-”

  “She isn’t my girlfriend.”

  “No? So it wasn’t you two I saw having a very friendly breakfast together?” The cheekiness was back in her tone, the glint back in her eyes. Damn, that woman’s moods shifted fast.

  “Yes, we had breakfast. So do a lot of other people. It was nothing special.”

  “Oh, for other people, sure. But for you two?” She shook her head again. “No, I saw her looking at you, D. There’s more there than you know - I should know women, I am one and I’ve dated them.” I didn’t respond. I wasn’t going to argue over what might or might not be there.

  “Look, I know you care about Corvi,” she repeated, being more tactful with her words now, “but she did lie to you. She is a great woman, I agree, but she has her own agenda, and I worry about how you fit into that.”

  I couldn’t reply. I had nothing to say to that. I turned away, leaning against my chest of drawers. My mind was filling up with thoughts of betrayal, and we weren’t even together yet.

  It hurt. It hurt a lot, more than it should, deep down where I thought I would never hurt again.

  I don’t know when I fell in love with Corvi, but that was the only reason for the strength of my emotion at that time.

  “What did you want Lev?” I a
sked her again, quietly, to try and hide the pain.

  “I, um...I came by to let you know...I’m going to be your Sentinel trainer.”

  I turned around at that, unsure if I should be glad or if I should ask for someone else.

  She made my mind up for me when she gave me a hug, the embrace of a friend.

  “Look, I’m sorry for what I said, and...I hope I’m wrong. I do. I think you two would make a hell of a couple.”

  She let me go and extended her hand.

  “Friends?”

  I grasped her hand and shook it, ending my hostility towards her.

  “Friends - just be nicer about Corvi, okay?”

  “Done deal. I best get going, but we’ll meet soon to talk about your training.” She moved to the door to let herself out, but stopped before opening it.

  “And good luck with Corvi. I mean it, you two would be great together.”

  With that she let herself out, leaving me alone with a whole array of unpleasant thoughts.

  After spending some time on the shooting range and doing exercises to clear my head, I returned to my quarters and got dressed. I thought I looked rather presentable, a black suit with a midnight blue shirt, and a thin black tie to match. I was a little ahead of schedule, so I decided to stop by the armoury.

  “Going out somewhere nice, Mister Black?” our quartermaster asked me cheerfully. He was always cheerful.

  “Yes, I am actually, I’m going on a date.” I was very pleased about the fact. I wanted to tell people. Big mistake.

  “Ah, would this be with our fearless base commander?”

  “Oh for gods sake Jack, not you too. No it isn’t, I’m sure there are rules against that sort of thing.”

  “Maybe,” he replied with a shrug, “but Stevens said-”

  “Stevens is full of crap. Look, I need to take a weapon. I haven’t been out for a while, and I will be pissed off if any unpleasant types try and put a dampener on it.”

  “Expecting trouble?” He reached down to get his keys to the weapon cages, and walked out from the desk.

  “No, but I’m not taking chances.”

  “Alright, what will it be then?”

  I figured I didn’t need anything too ridiculous, and I hardly had the strength to effectively use the hand-cannons that Lev had.

  “Standard sidearm and a spare mag, please, and a shoulder holster.” That way I could keep it hidden under my suit jacket.

  “Here you are,” Jack said, handing my requested items - a Heckler and Koch USP, chambered for the .40 S&W round, a spare magazine of 14 rounds and my holster. “Here’s hoping you don’t need it, eh?”

  “Aye, but I won’t hold my breath.” Good luck was rarely on my side.

  I signed out the items, pulled the holster on, checked the weapon over and loaded it before slipping it home in the holster. I tucked the spare mag into its compartment on the holster, did my jacket up and checked myself over to make sure it was hidden. I said goodnight to Jack, left the armoury and headed back towards my quarters.

  On the way though, I received a phone call. The organisation had supplied me with my own phone again, now that I was deemed to be trustworthy. Corvi was the first person I gave the number to, and it was she who called.

  “Hey Deimos, slight change of plan - meet me in the car park. Let’s not have people talking until we’re ready, eh?”

  “Bit late, half of Omega Company already thinks we’re dating, thanks to Stevens. There’s only so long I can keep denying it,” I told her, keeping my voice down so as not to arouse further suspicion.

  “Well, just keep playing it down for now. This our first date for crying out loud, even we don’t know where it goes from here.”

  I sensed a smile in her voice, and just hearing it made me smile as well. Despite what Lev had said, I really thought that Corvi had no ulterior motive regarding me.

  I would eventually be proven wrong, but in a way and for reasons I did not expect.

  “Okay, well I’m almost at the car park, I’ll see you in a minute. Bye for now.”

  I hung up, entered the car park and quickly found her car, a beautiful classic Jaguar in glossy British Racing Green. The woman had taste, I have to admit.

  Although it felt really weird being the one getting ‘picked up’ so to speak.

  “So where are we headed?” I asked, not looking at her. I wanted to wait until we were in proper lighting to see how she looked, although I caught a glimpse of a floor-length dress.

  “A restaurant on the edge of town, Gadney’s. We own it - A lot of The Order’s staff eat there, it’s small, out of the way...perfect for us.”

  Us. A simple word with a world of meaning, and her use of it in reference to me and her made my pulse quicken. Did she possibly think there was something for us? Or was I reading into it too much?

  The short journey passed pleasantly, as we talked about things other than work. She called me ‘sweet’ for not wanting to see her in, as I put it, “imperfect light.” I think she blushed again when I said it’s like a christmas present - you want to see what it is before the day, but you don’t want to ruin the surprise.

  Then she made me blush by saying nothing will get ‘unwrapped’ until at least the third date.

  We pulled into the private car park and walked up to the restaurant, a small white building with wide, ground-to-ceiling windows. It looked like it had enough space to seat maybe fifty people at the most, and even then there weren’t many in there. Perfect for us, like she had said.

  “Are you going to look at me now?” She asked, and I figured that the light emanating from the cozy restaurant would be enough.

  My breath caught in my throat and my jaw very nearly dropped. As I thought, she had chosen a floor-length off-the-shoulder dress, a rich, deep blue in colour - almost matching my shirt. She had found a matching pair of heels, a black clutch bag, and a blue exotic flower corsage fixed in her hair, which she’d had braided. Her usual crow hair clasp had made an appearance as a brooch, fixed at the top of her dress in the middle. Around her neck she wore a blue satin choker, in the centre of which hung a small sapphire set in pewter.

  For once, I was no longer seeing her as a vampire, as a commander or even as a member of an organisation or a peer of the realm - I saw her as a woman, one who just happened to have sharp teeth and a title. She was, in that moment, nothing more than Corvina Delacore, my date and the woman I cared most about.

  “You look...beyond beautiful,” I managed, and she definitely blushed that time. I guess she wasn’t used to compliments anymore.

  “You scrub up pretty well yourself, soldier,” she replied with her familiar smile. I smiled back and offered her my arm, which she willingly took as we walked in.

  As we ate, we talked more. She was such a pleasant conversationalist, and we had a similar sense of humour. I knew she only ate out of politeness, since she was definitely not getting any sustenance from it - her metabolism craved only blood now. Despite that, the evening was thoroughly enjoyable.

  “So, if you don’t mind me being sensible for a moment,” I asked, after we had just been sharing a joke about poor depictions of vampires in movies - yes, including that one. “Aren’t you worried about being accused of playing favourites?”

  She shook her head, chewing a piece of the salmon she had politely ordered with me.

  “I think those comments will die quite quickly when they learn you’re joining the Sentinel programme.”

  I frowned in question, already chewing my next bite. Salmon was one of the few fish I could eat quite readily.

  “Well, think about it. The Sentinels have the most high-risk missions, the most dangerous - people
would soon realise that if I wanted to play favourites I would keep you in some cushy desk job back at base, instead of putting you in harm’s way.”

  “Fair point,” I conceded, but it was one which raised a further question. “Okay, forgive me if this sounds a bit...presumptuous, but if we become seriously involved-”

  “Which I would like.”

  I paused a moment, as I let that sink in.

  “So would I, so let’s assume that happens. Sentinels are very solitary by nature, they live and work alone almost all the time. So how would we see each other?”

  She seemed undisturbed by the idea.

  “Sentinels routinely report back to their parent base for updates, fresh intel, supply orders, all that sort of thing. We could spend some together on any of those occasions. Plus, I’m the boss,” she announced again, “I’m sure I can slip away from the base for a day.”

  I laughed at that, finding it funny how we were acting like kids sneaking away from our parents for a forbidden tryst. She laughed as well, whether at the same thing or her own joke I didn’t know, but suddenly she sobered. She moved her head as if she was listening to something, and I instantly figured something was wrong.

  Which was confirmed when a searing pain knifed through my head and my nose spurted blood, as Corvi forced her way into my mind to give me what felt like a live broadcast of her mental processes.

  She had picked up the errant thoughts of hunters. Independents, seven of them, and more on the way.

  Fuck.

  We acted normally for a few moments, until she could tell they were coming through the door, at which point we overturned the table and ducked behind it - although not before Corvi had hurled a chair at one of them.

  “Fuck’s sake, I hate being right,” I muttered, pulling my jacket open and drawing my pistol. I leaned over the makeshift barricade and fired four shots, dropping one hunter and wounding another before I had to duck the return fire.

  “You brought a gun to our date?!” Corvi yelled at me over the sound of gunfire and screaming. I guess we were the only combat-trained diners.