Chosen (The Chosen Few Trilogy #1) (16 page)

The garden buzzed with conversation. It was quite pleasant out here, in the midst of so many people at seven o clock in the morning. I sipped my coffee, feeling the cool breeze float over me. The finely cut grass was still damp from last
night’s
rain.

A commotion at the door caugh
t my attention. Belinda
strode out, fixed her eyes on me, and headed over. She
seem
ed fit and fresh, not like someone who had already driven to Manchester airport and back this morning. Today’s t-shirt read:
juicy.
Behind her I saw a self-assured
,
dark-haired woman stepping carefully across the grass in what looked like a very expensive pair of designer shoes. Her bearing and mode of dress shouted wealth at me louder than any black AmEx card.

Belinda stopped next to me and nodded.
“
Logan. This is Lysette Cohen. She is one of the Eight, and recently flew in from Monaco.
”
Belinda struck a pose in her tight leather trousers, looked me in the
eyes, then grinned
.

“
Careful, tiger,
”
she said.
“
This girl can read your mind.
”

Not long after that we were summoned through to
the kitchen. I quelled a
panic attack. Things
were starting to move faster
. More of the Eight were arriving every day. Could I
really
be one of them? So far as I knew only Kisami and I had yet to prove ourselves. And Kisami couldn
’
t even speak English.

Myleene spoke up as we all crowded into the kitchen.
“
First the good news,
”
she said.
“Aegis’ plan, is
working. Today, Lysette Cohen has arrived to join Devon, Kisami, and Logan.
”

Lysette smiled, but the expression didn
’
t touch her eyes. Her rigid body language spoke of nerves; maybe she was a loner and the group dynamic unsettled her.

“
What news of Cleaver?
”
Felicia asked
.

“
S
afe in Miami.
S
oon w
e will have a hundred clans in that area. Containment is our only option until we learn more of Gorgoroth and his Destroyers. Matt Black, another of the Eight, has been located in L.A. and is currently being sought by Eldritch. Hopefully, Ken Hamilton should arrive in York tomorrow.
”

I heard Belinda utter a low
grrr
and
tried to ignore her
.

“The remaining two,
”
Myleene flicked
at a wrinkle in her business suit.
“
Have not yet been found.
”

Myleene went on in sombre tones,
“
It is getting worse out there. Avalanche in Colorado. Mino
r quake in San Francisco. Black
out last night in Vegas,
”
I saw her eyes narrow with worry.
“
A f
ire in the Louvre
, with something uncatalogued stolen
. Our contacts in law enforcement say the big dogs are starting to
twitch.
”

I hardly heard her. I was wondering if Ken
‘
grrr
’
Hamilton had also freed his hidden power. There had been no sign of any training yet. Kisami stood next to me, nodding along to Myleene
’
s words as if he understood what she was saying. On
ly problem was, he smiled in
the wrong places.

At that moment I saw movement behind Myleene. Ashes fell into my mouth
as Ceriden entered
. His expression was grave, and he moved as if the weight of the world had been placed on his shoulders.
The change in him was
stunning. There was an instant silence, and all eyes fell on him.

The master Vampire cleared his voice.
“
I found out, only an hour ago, that
…
that-
”
Ceriden seemed to stagger. I saw Myleene reach forward to help, but Mai was already there, clutching his elbow. She had moved so fast I hadn
’
t even seen a blur.

Ceriden shook her off. He raised stricken eyes to all of us. He said,
“
Tristran is dead.
”

Ceriden
’
s voice grated through the room like a chime of doom, like the final thud of a guillotine, like falling buildings.

“
Tristran
has been murdered
.
”

2
4

LOS ANGELES, U.S.A.

The man called Loki motored through the balmy Californian night on the back of a big, silver Harley. This late, the roads of L.A. were relatively people-free, save for the few streets which catered for those
en-vogue
clubs, the kind that swallowed and regurgitated A-list celebrities and loser wannabes at an alarming rate.

Beyond Hollywood Boulevard, and then Sunset Boulevard, he began to climb into the Hollywood hills. The Harley’s heavy roar echoed back off the canyons, a sound of thunder and madness that soothed him.

He arrived at Matt Black
’
s house and climbed off the Harley. The big bike ticked in the darkness, a beast worthy of its rider. Almost on sight it had become Vice Number Three. Loki knew he was changing. America offered vice and virtue in abundance, and sometimes one disguised itself as the other. But he had the experience and intelligence to realise that change, for good or bad, was inevitable. And necessary.

Turning his attention to the house Loki wondered if he was too late. Lights blazed out of every window. Maybe the Aegis guy had gotten here first.

His
expression turned hard
. This one mattered. With Tristran dead the vampires were
in
chaos
. If he, Loki, Commander of Gorgoroth’s armies, could strike a telling blow against the humans too, the glory heaped upon him would be limitless.

His recalled Tristran
’
s death with twisted satisfaction. How he and the whore, Emily Crowe, had fought and murdered all who opposed them with skill and glee and unfettered bloodlust. How they had come upon Tristran and then watched the ages-old, almost-dead Vampire King try to relive his glory days. To be honest the old, dead bastard had done okay, felling Crowe and
even
catching Loki with a surprising burst of speed, but then Loki had switched into top gear and Crowe had conjured an image of the sun. Tristran, confused, weak and outclassed, had collapsed screaming upon his expensive, Italian-marble floor. Loki now grinned in the dark as he remembered Crowe taking out a syringe and injecting the vampire with a drug called Bram, the vampire-race
’
s own carefully-concocted drug of choice. A mix of caffeine, adrenalin, a herb called Crowsbane, and Absinthe, it was designed for mixing with blood. When ingested at the sa
me time as blood it induced a heady stupor
. Crowe had filled Tristran with the stuff and they had watched him start to float, then Loki and Crowe had fallen on top of him
, writhing, twisting, and quickly
becoming naked in
a
lustful
mix of ecstasy and violence. A short time later Tristran was dead and Loki was indulging himself in Vice Number One with Crowe beside the
vampire’s
broken body. Ah, the perks of leadership.

Now Loki kept himself to the shadows as the automatic gate that fronted Matt Black
’
s mansion began to open. At the same time the garage doors began to rise. Loki slipped deeper into shadow as a black Hummer shot down the driveway and out through the gates.

In another second Loki was back on the Harley, twisting the throttle in pursuit, pleased with the bikes instant turn of speed. The Hummer flew ahead, its own en
gine
roaring as its driver spotted the tail.

The roar of the two powerful beasts, like dinosaurs battling through ancient, benighted canyons, shattered the vast silence that normally settled here after midnight. Loki spotted a coyote running scared by the side of the road.
Its
eyes gleamed, connected with his,
and then
immediately disappeared. With a turn of speed he came up alongside the Hummer, cocked his Glock, and shot out the passenger side tyres.

The Hummer swerved
and skidded wildly
, turning back on itself in a slew of
spitting gravel,
coming to
a shocking sudden stop
.
Instantly
,
three doors opened.
Loki leapt off the still moving Harley, rolled, and came up with his Glock pointing forward.

He
recognized
his quarry, Matt Black, one of the Eight, instantly. A black-suited guy with a machine pistol was covering him. Probably the guy from Aegis. Then, surprisingly, a third person emerged from the other side of the Hummer. Loki couldn
’
t get a good view of him but- the height
?
..
the bearing..?

Loki had never experienced shock before. Thus, the adrenalin that surged through him turned his blood to fire. From the age of six he had known nothing but violence and combat. As a child he had been indoctrinated in battle, in bloodshed, in the hell of warfare- a modern Spartan warrior. Now, as he
recognized
the elven king, Eldritch, he saw one of the only beings alive who might be his equal in hand-to-hand combat. He didn
’
t want to kill Eldritch like this though. Not with a gun. The Aegis guy was clever, enlisting the help of the elf king.

Loki said,
“
I will let you go if Eldritch will stand against me now. In combat.
”

“
Not happening, freak,
”
the Aegis guy squandered his one chance to live and squeezed off a couple of shots that kicked up gravel an inch from Loki
’
s right arm. Loki fired the Glock with a sneer of disdain, laughing when he saw the bullet smash a hole through the Aegis
guy’s
forehead, snapping him back against the Hummer in a spray of bone and blood.

Aegis employed so many amateurs.

Matt Black was standing alone now, and terrified, fully aware he was the focus of Loki
’
s steady sights. In all probability the guy didn’t understand what was happening. Loki wondered what Black
’
s powers would have amounted to. The man looked like a lawyer.

He hesitated. His intelligence people had told him they had
a mole
inside Aegis. Maybe Matt Black was the one. But no, that was stupid. The traitor was deeply embedded- he had given them Blacks location, and Tristran
’
s, and the site of the fabled Aegis library, in
addition to the ultimate snippet
of information- the location of the house in England. Those issues would be acted upon shortly, but for now Loki enjoyed Matt Black
’
s terror for one more second.

Then he squeezed the trigger.

Eldritch, moving
faster than thought, almost taking
the bullet in the chest, but the long-haired elf was half a second too slow. The bullet ripped through his jacket, leaving a smoking hole, then crashed into Matt Black
’
s chest and destroyed his heart. Black was dead before his body hit the ground.

Eldritch stopped, staring aghast at the dead body, then turned to face Loki.

The Destroyer made a quick decision. His goal was accomplished. Glory was assured. Vices one, two and three would be heaped upon him in abundance.

He might as well enjoy them for a while.

“Until
next time,
”
he said to Eldritch, then swung a leg over the Harley, tweaked the throttle and roared away, leaving the elf and the human world to their new and desperate misery.

2
5

YORK, ENGLAND

We had begun our training.

Eleanor appraised us, appearing shy
and reclusive but with a
look of resolve on her angular features. It was only seven hours ago that we had learned one of the great Elven secrets.

Their species could communicate through telepathy.