Endless

Penance | Nick

Me and Vince sat in Romano's apartment, waiting for him to come home. I itched for a smoke, but since Romano had quit, I couldn't smoke inside without him kicking my ass. I'd get a drag when I was away from here and on my way to the Firm's New York HQ.

"Never thought I'd help out some griffs," Vince said.

"Me neither, bud. Me neither."

"How are you doing?" he asked after a moment.

"I'll live." I actually felt like crap. Losing Alya again felt like a kick to the chest. Even if I never technically had her this time. "What's keeping Romano?" I asked, aiming the subject off of Alya.

Vince shrugged. "Probably following up some sort of lead."

Moments later someone fidgeted with the lock and the door opened. Romano came walking in, carrying a Carnevale mask. A buzz shot through me. It was my mask, the one I'd kept at my desk.

Romano paused for a moment before recognizing us. "Breaking and entering now?"

I sank back into his sofa, smiling. "Lifestyle of the infamous outlaw. Can I have the mask back?"

"Sure. I managed to sneak it off before my new partner swooped onto your desk for evidence. Always seemed to mean a lot to you."

"Yeah," I said.

He handed the mask over. "What's with it, anyway? Looks real old."

"Italian Renaissance," I said and carefully laid it on my arm rest.

Vince whistled. "You must be real attached to it."

I was. Alya had worn it the first time we met without trying to kill each other. "So. How's the partner?"

Romano grimaced. "I'll have my hands full. Not only is she a tenacious little fire-cracker, but Righetti doesn't seem to believe a single word I'm saying to lead her off your scent."

"Righetti?" Vince repeated, sounding tense. "As in Sylvia Righetti?"

"You know her?" Romano asked, frowning.

"Shit. Yeah, I know her. She's in the NSA's paranormal division."

"What?" Romano and I both shouted back.

I shook my head to clear it. The NSA had a paranormal division? "How do you know?"

"She's been on my back for some time to go find out where New York's Arch Vamp is."

"What the fuck is she doing in the FBI, then?" Romano demanded.

"Assessing paranormal risk," Vince said, making air quotes with his fingers. "I don't think they know about griffs and phoenixes, but if one of them ever does find out, bet your ass that it'll be Righetti."

I scowled. Trust mortal bureaucracy to be an extra annoyance in this whole war. "Then I guess you better talk to her, Vince. Give her false information or something."

"No fucking way I go near her. She'll shoot me between the eyes. with a silver bullet."

"What?" I asked. "I thought she needed your help."

"Let's just say my 'help' led her to a demotion. And she's one very career orientated lady. No. No thank you."

Romano sighed and swiped his hand down his face. "Great. I guess I'll have to find a way to keep her off the trail. Short of killing her, I mean."

"Sorry, man," I said. "I'd offer to help, but that would be complicated. In the meantime, I'd better go. Wouldn't want her to track me down in your apartment. Meet me in Central Park next time."

"Okay," he said. "I'll keep you posted."

"Thanks. See ya." I tucked the mask into my jacket before heading for the door.

Vince patted Romano's shoulder farewell and followed me. Once we were out of sight of any mortals, we shot over to Firm HQ.

The whole time we ran, my thoughts wandered back to Alya. To that night in Montmartre, when I'd destroyed what we'd had. When the moment of truth had come, I couldn't go through with watching her die.

I had convinced Ryan to let her go so she could regain her power. After all, I'd reasoned, she wasn't worth all this effort if most of her life force had already been leeched out. It had worked, but my act of mercy had only enraged her, and she had promised us she'd hunt us down.

Now she probably hated us even more for lying to her.

I arrived at headquarters and lit up a smoke at the front door. Vince caught up just as I took my first drag.

He scowled. "Those things'll slowly kill you."

Yeah, I knew that when I started. But there wereonly two options for penance of what I'd done: an excruciating, slow death ormy true love killing me. Nothing else. 

There you have it, guys. The reason why Nick smokes. What did you think about this chapter? Please do let me know in the comments, and if you enjoyed this chapter, please don't forget to vote. :-)