Endless

Honesty | Nick

My sleep would have sucked if I had managed to sleep at all. I couldn't sleep a wink, even though I was in my own bed. Not when I'd spent the whole time worrying about Alya. Had she woken up? Was she even alive? Ryan hadn't phoned me yet, which worried me.

Alick was in the next room, slowly healing on the bits of power I fed him. As soon as he could walk on his own, I'd drop him off in the middle of nowhere to fend for himself. In the meantime, I had to wait for Ryan, since he'd moved too far out of range to sense.

I sat up and smoked while watching my clock's digits pace their way to 6 a.m. Vince had said he'd be by with coffee for me. I ran my hand through my hair.

If Alya had woken up, we'd need to figure out a way to get her to the protectors. Explaining her to the Firm was a bit much for Ryan and me to handle on top of all the other shit going on. The only way I'd ever really been sure she was safe from griffons was when she was with me. I'd forced myself to walk away when she'd learnt to hate me, but it made me want to die. I didn't know if I could ever do it again. And I'd have to, if she went to the protectors. The hatred between our kinds ran too deep.

Fuck. If only I'd convinced her to marry me.

The doorbell rang just as my alarm went off. Good old Vince. I shuffled to the door, rubbing my face. My stubble felt coarse under my palm. Screw it, let it grow. Who was I trying to impress anyway? In the nanosecond before I opened the door, it struck me that whoever was on the other side was human.

Romano stood before me, wearing the scowl he reserved only for the suspects he nailed to the wall. Oh damn, I couldn't deal with this right now. And the asshole didn't even have coffee. I glanced over his shoulder, checking to see if Vince was around. There was no sign of the vamp. That was good, but I needed to get rid of Romano before he arrived.

"You look like hell." Romano shoved his way past me. He went straight to the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine.

Fucking A. I trudged in after him. "Hey, listen. I uh, have a visitor over—"

"Cut the crap, Nick." Romano pinned me with his best bad-cop stare. "I need you to tell me how deep in you are."

What? I shook my head as if I'd gotten water into my ear. "What exactly am I supposed to be in?"

"Terrorism. Murder. Conspiracy."

My stomach did a rough tumble. "Me? Come on. Romano. You're my friend. You know I don't—"

"I know you wouldn't, but I need to know how they got to you. Was it Blake Ryan? Because I've been seeing connections to everything big that's been happening lately, and they're tying you up nice and neat for a conviction."

Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit!

"First cop at the arson scene was plain clothes, Nick. He saw you leave with a seriously injured man. Soon after that, there was an explosion." He narrowed his eyes. "It was Ryan's flat, Nick," he said, punctuating his statement with a pointing finger. "I checked. Had to do some serious digging though. There were a lot of empty shell companies and shit to wade through. So what is he? A drug dealer? Strong man?"

I dropped into a chair and had to laugh at that. "Dean, stop. Seriously. Stop."

"You've been covering for these bastards all along!" Romano exploded at me.

I rubbed my face with both hands. I was too exhausted to lie. "Dean, why do you think I'm covering for them?"

"'Griffon Scum!'" he roared back at me. "Remember? The two terrorists? Well the same message was on Ryan's wall. Done in fire with some sort of unknown accelerant. Oh God. Is that a threat?"

Sure it was. To me and to Ryan, but Romano couldn't know about it. "No. No it's not. It's just—" Fuck it. Both my worlds were crumbling. Why bother? I checked on Alick through our power bond, then glanced back at Romano. Alick had passed out the moment I pulled the barstool out of him, and he was still out of commission. I sighed and sat forward. "Okay. I admit it. I'm in way over my fucking head, but Romano, you're better off not knowing how."

"Start talking or I'm putting you under arrest."

Fucking hell. Why did it have to come to this? I shrugged and leaned back in my chair. "Fine, but you better forget this the moment I've finished talking. Or you and I are both dead." I watched him, but he seemed unimpressed. "I'm a griffon. Have been my whole life, and will remain one until the day I die. Which...isn't any time soon. My real name is Prince Nikolai Yurevich Tyrov. I was born in Moscow in 1256. My mother was a mortal. My father wasn't. I got his genes. Ryan's my half-brother."

Romano's swarthy face went gray. "You're insane."

I held up my hand. We'd talk about my sanity soon enough. "There are two types of true immortals: griffons and phoenixes. Griffons can live for a fucking long time, but we have to kill phoenixes to live forever. Then there are the phoenixes who drink griffon blood in order to turn into protectors. They pretty much kill any griffon coming within range of their wards.

"The worst of all the protectors is on a killing spree because Ryan went and faked Aleria Tyson's death, so he could sneak her out of the hospital without the griffons knowing. She's a protector, and their chief's daughter, so you can see why they'd be a bit pissed at us. We don't talk, and they assumed either me or him killed her for her power.

"In the meantime, the Firm, a griffon organization that makes your idea of the Illuminati look like a playpen, is falling apart. As a result, two griffs went and took down the plane because their faction don't feel like hiding their immortality anymore.

"The Firm wants Ryan and me to clean up their huge ass mess, which is why Alick showed up, and indirectly why he's in my spare room recovering from a meeting with a high-speed barstool. Thrown by Aleria by the way, who is alive and well and who'd set the place on fire with her mind in order to match his power. So yeah, I'm in deep, and I probably won't be getting out of it any time soon."

Romano gaped at me through the whole thing.

"Two more things," I said. "Drinking our blood turns people into vampires, and my telling you all this is treason. If you tell anyone about this, a griffon will be dispatched to kill you. From what I've seen, it's not a pleasant way to go."

Romano shook his head, reaching for his service pistol. "You're insane."

I tilted my head, preparing to take the gun out of the equation. I was so not in the mood to be shot. "No, I'm not."

"Then you're lying. Because none of that is even remotely possible. You're under arrest."

The pistol slid against his holster as he drew. I was next to Romano before he could take aim. I grabbed his hand and twisted it, pressing his trigger finger back until he had no hope of shooting. Then I took the gun with my other hand.

Romano blinked. "Resisting arrest—"

I had to roll my eyes. "What can you do about it?"

His face grew hard. "How did you—"

"Griffons have powers superior to pretty much anything else in the world." I tucked his gun into my waistband and walked over to the coffee maker. It gurgled softly, squeezing out the last few drops of earthy, brown liquid.

Wait. Coffee.

"Uh, Dean? You might want to reconsider that," Vince said.

Guys, I might not have mentioned before, but man I love Vince. He's just one of those characters who walked into my life like a living breathing person. And I LOVE the banter he has going with Nick. 

What did you guys think about this part? Any other Vince fans out there? 

And welcome to all the new readers. (Yes, I saw you guys voting like the awesome people you are.) Welcome back to the old fans too. Don't worry, I'll be much more regular in posting updates from here on out. 

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