“What.” Vincent pulled the door to his bedroom open and glared at the Brute on the other side of it.
“You have a visitor.”
“Who.” He stated it more as a statement, because it was too damn early for questions.
“One of those desert beasts,” it said with disgust.
“It can wait.”
“With all due respect, master, I do not think it can.”
Vincent nearly smiled at the distaste that laced the word master. Brutes did not appreciate being made to feel like lesser beings, so the fact that he controlled them was a fantastic show of his power.
“I’ll be out in a moment.” He slammed the door shut and began dressing. Damn desert-dwelling beasts and their lack of appreciation for what time of day it was. They simply perused the desert, searching for any scraps they might find. The damn things were practically starving to death until he found them. Personally, he found them gruesome, but with their strength and blood lust, he knew they would be formidable allies.
He had given their leader, whose name he chose to not remember because he didn’t give a shit about them, a vial to conjure a portal in case of an emergency. Which this had damn well better be, because he didn’t have the time or patience for this shit.
“What is it?” Gwen sat up lazily and stretched, the sheet falling down to bare her large breasts. Vincent growled with a mix of appreciation and frustration that he had to leave.
“Nothing, just a pest that needs to be dealt with.”
“Okay.” She smiled and lay back down.
“Don’t go anywhere.” He winked.
Vincent stepped out into the hall and walked the short distance to his office. He had taken over this apartment building, which he used for himself and those who were high enough up in his ranks that he felt the need to make them feel appreciated. The docks served as his base for operations. It was there where he housed his weapons and anything or anyone who got in his way. A fresh wave of anger spread over him as he thought to his most recent escapee. Perhaps he should find a new location for those who got in his way.
He pushed open the door to his office and was immediately assaulted with the stench of death; these damn desert beasts reeked of it.
“What could possibly constitute as an emergency this early in the morning?” he asked, irritated. It was a damn good thing he hadn’t eaten yet. Because of the size of his office, the damn beast’s stench assaulted his senses even more so than normal.
“We’s had a visitor.” The deep voice filled the room, and Vincent forced himself to look in the beast’s black, soulless eyes.
He had grown up on horror stories of their bloodlust. It was why Monique’s predecessor had banished them to a desolate world, and why he had gone to them in the first place. Theirs had been the second world he had visited, once he had the Brutes behind him.
“And that concerns me why, exactly?”
“It was the Phoenix.”
Immediately interested, Vincent straightened in his chair. Why would his niece be visiting the world of these pathetic creatures?
“What did she want?”
“She offered us help.” He sounded offended, and Vincent nearly laughed.
“Help against me?”
The thing nodded.
“Well, well, well. This does prove to be quite interesting.” He rubbed his jaw. So Anastasia was seeking alliances with the other worlds. She was more like him than she cared to admit. It was something that would have concerned him if he hadn’t already allied with those who proved any sort of threat. Still, there was power in numbers, and if she got to the other worlds before he did, it might prove to be problematic.
He stood. “Thank you for letting me know. You may leave.”
“But we’s hungry. You promised us food.”
Irritation swept over Vincent’s face. “When this is over you, will have your fill of any of the worlds we previously discussed. As of now, you have not fulfilled your obligation to me.”
The beast stood as well, and even though it towered over him, Vincent held his ground.
“It won’t matter if we’s starve to death first!” Its voice boomed, and a lesser man would have cowered. Good thing Vincent wasn’t a lesser man.
“You will not come into my office and make demands, beast. Don’t forget who has the power to take everything away.”
If the beast had possessed lips, Vincent imagined they would have been pulled back in a scowl. Instead, it bowed angrily, and bent over to step from the room.
Vincent let out a breath and took his seat. Damn, he needed a drink. He stood again, and left the stench behind in his office as he made his way to see the person he cared about most in this world.
She was curled on the bed, and he could feel the magic that surrounded her as it pulsed in the air, even if he had been able to block her from using it. She was more powerful than he expected she would have become, and he had taken an excessive amount of magic to keep her blocked.
“Morning, my love.”
“Do not call me that,” she said without looking at him.
“But you are. What can I do to prove that to you?”
“Nothing.”
Her continued rejection was beginning to wear on him. Why couldn’t she see that he had changed? That he was no longer afraid of the magic she possessed and only wanted a chance to show her how much he loved her?
“Would you like to explain to me why my niece is traveling to different worlds seeking allies? What is she planning?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Monique’s snarky tone had the tether on his anger stretching dangerously.
“You would be better off if you would stop testing me, Monique. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You keep saying that, and yet everything you have ever done to me has hurt.”
“When we made love under the stars, you weren’t complaining.”
“Well, that was before you slit my throat out of jealousy and fear, wasn’t it? Oh, and let’s not forget the part where you left me there to die,” she retaliated dryly.
“I have changed.”
“No, you haven’t.”
“If you won’t tell me, then I suppose I will just have to tear the information from you.” He placed his hand on her head and did his best to block out the jab he felt to his heart when she screamed from the pain.
Images played in his head of Anastasia being brought to her, and he sorted through the ones he deemed unimportant. He learned that she truly had no knowledge of what Anastasia’s plan was. He was about to pull away when one of her memories caught his attention, or rather what she had said in it.
“I fell in love, and it nearly killed me.” The pain he felt as her words rang out in his head had him ripping his hand away. He looked down at the only woman he had ever loved, and felt the tears stinging in his eyes as he saw the ones falling down her cheeks.
“You will never change!” she screamed at him, and he backed towards the door as the realization hit him.
She would never forgive him.
Vincent practically ran back to his office. Tears began to fall down his cheeks and he wiped them away angrily. Why couldn’t she see that he loved her?! He yelled and threw a ball of flame at the chair in the corner of his office. It burst into flames and disintegrated before him.
He sunk to the floor and covered his face with his hands as memories of his biggest regret washed over him.
“Vincent!” she called for him, and he closed his eyes.
He had to do it, HE HAD TO! He repeated it over and over again, hoping that it would make sense to him.
“Vincent, I’m here! Where are you?”
He had seen the vision of her defeating him. She was becoming too powerful to risk keeping around.
“I’m here.” He stepped out from his bedroom and smiled at her.
Her smile was what he would miss the most. There was such a beautiful innocence about her, one that had called to the darkest parts of him.
“I missed you,” she said as she moved towards him.
He embraced her and felt the weight of the dagger in his robes threatening to drag him down. Maybe they could find a way! Maybe she didn’t have to die! The girl has to die, a voice inside him said. You will never succeed while she lives. He closed his eyes and inhaled her scent. She smelled of spring, and had his heart not already been broken, it would have shattered upon knowing he would never experience another sunset holding her in his arms.
She pulled away as if she sensed a shift in his mood. He knew her powers were still growing and wondered if this inner battle would matter. Would she kill him first? he wondered. A part of him hoped she did, hoped she would see what he was going to do and end this madness he felt growing inside of him.
“What is it?”
“Nothing, my love. I’m only tired.”
“Are you sure? It’s not what I told you—”
“No.” He interrupted her. “I appreciate that you trusted me enough to confide in me what you were becoming,” he lied. Truth was, he wished she had never said a word. You would have found out eventually, that voice reminded him again.
“Okay.” She let out a breath. “So, where are we going?”
“I’m going away.”
“But I thought—”
“You can’t come with me.”
Tears filled her eyes and he reached into the pocket of his cloak. His hand wrapped around the handle of the dagger that now felt like lead. He had never killed anyone before, he could still turn back. No! the voice yelled. There is no going back, do it!
“I’m sorry, Monique. I truly am.”
“Vincent, please don’t leave me!” she cried.
“It’s not me that’s leaving you.”
Her eyes widened when he pulled the dagger out.
“No, please don’t.” Her voice was a whisper.
“I have to.” He pushed her back on the bed and fought her arms down.
“But I love you,” she cried.
“I love you too, it’s why I have to do this.” He sliced the blade across her throat and jumped back in horror as her eyes widened.
“I’m so sorry.” He looked down into eyes he knew better than his own. “I have to do this, I cannot risk you getting in my way.” He kissed her forehead and then fled from the room.
His brother had saved her. Was that what stung the most? That Gregory had been the one who stepped up in her time of need? To this day he still wasn’t sure exactly what had pushed him to kill her. What had caused that voice inside his head to convince him that she was too much of a risk to keep around.
Was it that she kept making him believe he was enough? That he didn’t need the rest of the worlds at his feet?
Vincent stood and wiped the wetness from his cheeks. He pulled a satchel from his desk and headed for the armory where Danu, his Brute leader, was instructing his beasts on their next move.
“Danu,” Vincent said, and the Brutes all bowed.
“Yes, master?”
“My niece has been visiting the other worlds trying to grow her numbers. While I am not particularly concerned, it would still be a shame if she succeeded.” He handed him the satchel filled with portal vials. “Make sure she doesn’t. Go to the other worlds, tell them that if they don’t fall in line with me we will slaughter them all.” The anger he felt at his encounter with Monique was making him particularly vile.
“Yes, master,” it repeated with a grin.
He left the armory and stepped out of the elevator and into his hall. He walked past Monique’s bedroom and straight into his own, where Gwen still lay waiting for him.
It was time he stopped living in the past and continued moving towards the bright future he had so patiently crafted for himself.