Invincible (A Centennial City Novel) by Fionn Jameson Page A

can sit here and snipe at each other, but what would that even achieve? Nothing beneficial, I’m afraid. Ran, you will rest.”
    “And you’ll be able to protect yourself?” I sounded skeptical. I was.
    He smiled. “Rest.”
    He left then, leaving me alone with the last person in the world I wanted to be alone with.
    Reiko stared down at her small, pale fingers intertwined in her lap and got up in a rush of perfume and satin skirts. “Sleep. We will look after you this time.”
    Fully aware of how important it was that I sleep off the effects of the precog, still, it made me uncomfortable in how they sought to protect me. It should’ve been the other way around. Although, the idea I could possible protect a Domina… “Look, I’ll be fine,” I said. “I just need to rest for an hour. Maybe two. But no more than that. I’ll be up soon.”
    The vampire nodded tightly and slipped out the door, leaving me alone with the single burning candle and nothing but the swiftly encroaching darkness.
     
     
     
     
    ***
     
     
     
     
    The next two nights passed without incident.
    The disposal of Michael’s body had been handled by the large, muscular human servant of Reiko, Marcus. The body was moved to the room next to mine, a sheet tossed over his broken body in a semblance of respect and I watched Marcus heft the driver’s body onto one shoulder like it was a bag of rice. He walked down the stairs and out the front door.
    It had been a little past midnight when he carried out Michael’s body. That probably explained the lack of screams from the neighbors. Humans can get rather… tetchy around dead people.
    And during the two nights, I watched Reiko train Jason in the basement.
    I had known he was no stranger to martial arts, having witnessed his speed and strength on the first night we met, but she wasn’t just forcing him to become better.
    She was training him to be a killer.
    “Again!” The diminutive Domina grabbed him by the neck and shook him like a terrier with a rat. “Stand up!”
    I almost felt sorry for him.
    He staggered on his feet, a thin sheen of blood spotting on his temples, breathing heavily. “Let me catch my breath.”
    She took a few steps back, face fixed in a thunderous expression. “As you wish.”
    Contrary to belief, vampires do breathe. Albeit at a slower and less frequent rate than humans. It’s possible to suffocate vampires…provided you’re strong enough to keep one pinned down and you’ve brought a book to read, because it was going to take a while.
    I leaned against the wall next an authentic weapons rack holding up several very authentic weapons. I almost cut myself on the blade of a curved axe that still had dirt on the wooden handle.
    Marcus sat down next to me, arms crossed over an impressively sized chest. To be honest, looking at him, you would’ve never figured he could get his arms crossed over pectoral muscles as large as his. “Quite a change.”
    He didn’t talk a lot, so every time he did, I was half tempted to check and see if it was raining fish. In the basement, I had no such luck. “You ever see her like this?”
    He shrugged. “Sometimes.”
    Or maybe it was a good thing he didn’t talk a lot. His voice was low and guttural, like he was a chronic smoker, but I didn’t think he was. Most smokers smelled like ashes, no matter how often they bathed, and Marcus didn’t smell like nicotine.
    He just smelled like blood.
    Lots of it.
    It was more than little disconcerting, the fact he smelled more like a vampire than Reiko and Jason did.
    Jason let out an explosive breath and shook his arms out, rolling his head from shoulder to shoulder. “I’m ready.”
    Reiko hissed, her canines jutting past her narrow chin and they met on the middle of the training mat in a blur of movement, a blur of color.
    I couldn’t follow their movements with my eyes. The precog was always an option, but I wasn’t so gung-ho about following their fighting that I wanted to have a