Endless

Phoenix Vengeance | Nick

Air rushed over my body and tugged at my hair as I ran. Everything around me was quiet except for the wind whistling by. It was a peace I hadn't realized I missed, but no matter how much I wanted to enjoy it, my thoughts kept going back to Alya.

After a quick detour to my flat for a change of clothes, I stopped in an alley next to the FBI building. I straightened out my suit and ran my fingers through my hair to ensure it was mostly in place. Wouldn't do to look like I'd survived the inside of a tornado. Once presentable, I headed into the office.

A wall of noise and chaos brought me to a halt. I winced and waited for my body to readjust. Keen senses sucked when everything around me was almost too sharp to bear. I'd been playing the mortal for too long.

Romano approached me, frowning. "Do you have a hangover?" He held up the file.

"Maybe." I took the file from his hands and scanned over it. "Anonymous informant?"

"Yeah, he found me at the gym. Said I'd be intrigued by this address if I wanted to know what happened on the plane. Even mentioned the suspects walking off the crash site unharmed."

Oh no. Alick should have taken care of this. Our little run-in must have prevented him from getting around to it. "You trust him?"

Romano shrugged. "He—I don't know. It just felt like he knew something."

"What did he look like?"

"Six foot four. Early to mid-twenties. Black hair, blue eyes."

Fuck. It sounded like Davenport. Looked like my luck had once again turned for the worst. Romano's keen eyes didn't miss my reaction, even when I was careful not to show my feelings.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. I get the feeling something changed last night."

A lot had changed. And kept changing. In fact, this felt like being stuck on top of a mud slide.

"No, I'm fine." I skimmed the rest of the report.

The information was thin, neither confirming nor ruling out my suspicion. God, please let it not be Davenport. If there was ever a protector the griffons feared most, Davenport was it. He was fanatical in his hatred of us. With good reason. Ryan and I had killed his brother. In retaliation, he'd single-handedly captured and killed the strongest griffon he could find so he could drink the poor sod's blood—risking his life to become a protector. All to have the maximum chance of taking me and Ryan down.

We headed out in silence. Romano drove. I sat in the passenger seat, worrying about what we'd find. About what I'd do when we found it.

I closed my eyes and let my senses rove about, searching for any griffons in the area. No use looking for protectors. They were always careful to mask their power to a near whisper. Even Davenport. And Aleria.

Did Davenport know she was alive? Probably not. Her automatic response had always been to mask her power, so not even the protectors would know she'd survived the crash unless they saw her. If—no, when—they figured out she'd been hospitalized, they'd find Ryan's report of her death. Ryan, who hadn't bothered to change his name.

Ryan, who up until his very recent change of mind, had been hunting Aleria almost obsessively for centuries.

Oh fuck. I should have thought of this sooner.

I had to assume they hadn't found the records yet, because when Davenport did, we'd have to deal with him personally. Would Alya even remember how much she despised him? Did she still despise him?

We stopped before a glass monolith similar to Ryan's building and I forced myself to concentrate on my present surroundings. Nothing felt untoward. In fact, no power stirred about me at all. It gave me the chills.

Davenport could be here, watching me walk into his trap. He'd recognize me instantly. I was a rogue, would anyone even bother to come if a pack of protectors ambushed me? I rolled my shoulders and entered the building, flashing my badge at the porter. He led us up to the floor Romano requested, and at our order he stayed by the elevator. We headed up the corridor, toward the number we were looking for.

Someone had dripped blood onto the handle and left the door ajar. How nice of them to keep us within the law. Filling out the paperwork for a search warrant had always been such a pain. A shiver ran down my spine.

Davenport was making this too easy.

Romano gave me a look and drew his gun. I followed suit and went in first, making sure all the rooms off the short hallway were clear. I reached the end of it and turned the corner. The sight greeting me made my hope sink to my shoes. I lowered the gun and just stared.

Two corpses hung upside down, throats slit, disemboweled and charred. Their power remained, soaking into me. The stench of burned flesh and hair hung thick in the room. Despite the window being open, smoke threw a haze over the gruesome scene. On the wall behind the corpses, written in blood, were the words Griffon Scum.

Davenport had been so kind as to nail a business card onto each corpse's forehead to help us identify them. These were the griffs who'd crashed the plane. Romano bent closer to examine the business cards. I gripped my hands behind my back and fought the urge to throw up. My worlds had crashed together and I didn't know what would be left at the end.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Romano asked, frowning at the message on the wall. "Gangs against terrorists?"

No. I knew very well what it meant. Davenport knew. He knew about Aleria's fake death, probably from torturing these two griffs. From there, he probably made enquiries on the air crash case and found me. He then drew his own conclusions. Especially if he found Ryan's records at the hospital.

Instead of attacking, he'd sent me this message. He specifically did it through my partner so I'd know how close he was. To make me extra aware of the fact that he could be coming up right behind me at any moment and I wouldn't know it.

This was his twisted method of getting revenge. He wanted me to look over my shoulder all the time until the real attack came.

I stared at the corpses, trying to figure out what to do now. I wanted to call Alick to come clean up the mess, but couldn't do that with Romano watching me.

Suddenly, a huge blast of life force hit me. I turned towards it instinctively, recognizing Alick behind it. Then I realized the direction it came from.

Alya.

I ran.

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As I mentioned last week, I'm planning to post an Endless-related short story on Patreon. I had a little bit of time earlier this week, so I made this...