07-27-2018, 09:08 AM
The sound of his name passing her lips would unravel him. It took every last shred of control to not return to the invitation implied in her tease. He thought about it. Walk away, he should have told himself. But he feared that a single step, even one intended in the opposite direction, would carry him back to her instead.
Luckily, the choice was snatched before he made it. Slender fingers slipped into his arm, he swallowed, half relieved and half disappointed. It was time, his head knew it, but god he wanted to stay. Her warning wrenched him back to the real world, though. He found himself studying the distance as though peering through the walls themselves. She saw the threat hidden in gowns and tuxedos. Money rippled through the room like air. Power an identical twin to money; inseparable. If she didn’t know half the people in the room, he didn’t know a single one apart from the Dominions, the other Legionnaires, Nox and Jared. Light knew that three-fourths of that group was dangerous, if only to be proven to follow their own agenda. Jared was a soldier. While he was a good man likely to follow his heart, he rode alongside Jay in that same vehicle that drove away from Masaika. He turned his rifle upon the enemies deemed so by Danjou. Suffice to say, he would follow orders. Nox was likely the only true ally, but Jay wasn’t naïve enough to really believe that the weak bond between them was strong as the cords of blood. Nox’s priorities were elsewhere. Jay would be pissed at him if they were directed at anyone other than his family.
Money, power and memory flowed deep as ocean currents in that room. Jay had no reason to think anyone would consider him for more than anything than the uniform and pin on his chest. This wasn’t the US. This wasn’t Nicaragua. He had no enemies in that room.
Natalie, though, was a much more realistic target. Easy bait, or so they would imagine. Jay knew that she was no prey. In fact, he would not be surprised when she turned the sharpness of her mind into the strike of a predator should she ever be cornered. He could almost feel sorry for anyone stupid enough to think to cross her; at least cross her where she did not want to be crossed.
Regardless, he wondered if her proximity to himself may attract or discourage the kind of attention she referenced. Suppose they’d find out eventually. He grinned with morbid encouragement, “it’s a good thing you’ll be visiting the US. Gives the common folk some good rumors to circulate in our absence.”
Ascendancy and Evelyn didn’t make it far, he soon learned. But it was the man in their company that demanded Jay’s attention.
He recognized another operator at twenty paces. It had nothing to do with the thick hide of scars masking his face. It had everything to do with the comfort in his stance, his presentation to Ascendancy, and the roam of his studious gaze as it absorbed Jay. Jay recognized it immediately. It was his own.
In a moment’s glance he knew the man’s strengths. Which were pretty much everything about him. But there was power in awareness. Jay recognized one of his own kind, but there was something far more calm about the man than what churned in the depths of the everyday grunt. He wasn’t just the everyday operator. He was more.
Returning to the grandness of the ball was like emerging into sunshine after a week below ground. An ironic metaphor given his recent accommodations. Locating Jensen wasn’t as easy a task as he hoped. The sea of black and white tuxedoes were mindlessly homogenous. Jensen didn’t exactly stand out in a crowd.
He seized their power, letting a trickle that would mostly go unnoticed but by any channelers in arms’ reach, and let the senses of sight and sound flood his head. The moment flickered his expression with the darkness of dangerous concentration, only to fade moments later. Those first few seconds were always a struggle. Given those he’d talked to, it was likely to be a struggle for the rest of his life. There was always standing on the edge of a precipice, where a heartbeat separated the abyss from solid ground.
“There,”
he nodded in Jensen’s direction as he returned the earpiece to its place. There was some motion across the room, and suddenly his ears flooded with warnings.
Jensen forgotten, the power was drawn like officers drawing their weapons.
Karim’s voice dominated the chaos of communication filling his ears.
“Something’s happened,”
he warned Natalie, just as the music dropped and the crowd grew quiet. A scream punctured the evening of all color.
Two dominions cornered the risen threat. A girl was hurt. Jay didn’t rush forward as his legs demanded he do. Something about this didn’t settle well in his gut. If there were threats here, they would not lash out at some random female guest. It was too risky a night to make an attempt on anyone’s life except Ascendancy, or maybe Secretary of State, either of which were ultimately a suicide mission anyway.
Jay planted himself in place and scanned the remainder of the room. The places others ignored. He spoke to the remainder of the Dominions. “This could be a distraction. Someone stay close to Ascendancy. I’m watching the perimeter.”
Edited by Jay Carpenter, Jul 27 2018, 09:36 AM.
Luckily, the choice was snatched before he made it. Slender fingers slipped into his arm, he swallowed, half relieved and half disappointed. It was time, his head knew it, but god he wanted to stay. Her warning wrenched him back to the real world, though. He found himself studying the distance as though peering through the walls themselves. She saw the threat hidden in gowns and tuxedos. Money rippled through the room like air. Power an identical twin to money; inseparable. If she didn’t know half the people in the room, he didn’t know a single one apart from the Dominions, the other Legionnaires, Nox and Jared. Light knew that three-fourths of that group was dangerous, if only to be proven to follow their own agenda. Jared was a soldier. While he was a good man likely to follow his heart, he rode alongside Jay in that same vehicle that drove away from Masaika. He turned his rifle upon the enemies deemed so by Danjou. Suffice to say, he would follow orders. Nox was likely the only true ally, but Jay wasn’t naïve enough to really believe that the weak bond between them was strong as the cords of blood. Nox’s priorities were elsewhere. Jay would be pissed at him if they were directed at anyone other than his family.
Money, power and memory flowed deep as ocean currents in that room. Jay had no reason to think anyone would consider him for more than anything than the uniform and pin on his chest. This wasn’t the US. This wasn’t Nicaragua. He had no enemies in that room.
Natalie, though, was a much more realistic target. Easy bait, or so they would imagine. Jay knew that she was no prey. In fact, he would not be surprised when she turned the sharpness of her mind into the strike of a predator should she ever be cornered. He could almost feel sorry for anyone stupid enough to think to cross her; at least cross her where she did not want to be crossed.
Regardless, he wondered if her proximity to himself may attract or discourage the kind of attention she referenced. Suppose they’d find out eventually. He grinned with morbid encouragement, “it’s a good thing you’ll be visiting the US. Gives the common folk some good rumors to circulate in our absence.”
Ascendancy and Evelyn didn’t make it far, he soon learned. But it was the man in their company that demanded Jay’s attention.
He recognized another operator at twenty paces. It had nothing to do with the thick hide of scars masking his face. It had everything to do with the comfort in his stance, his presentation to Ascendancy, and the roam of his studious gaze as it absorbed Jay. Jay recognized it immediately. It was his own.
In a moment’s glance he knew the man’s strengths. Which were pretty much everything about him. But there was power in awareness. Jay recognized one of his own kind, but there was something far more calm about the man than what churned in the depths of the everyday grunt. He wasn’t just the everyday operator. He was more.
Returning to the grandness of the ball was like emerging into sunshine after a week below ground. An ironic metaphor given his recent accommodations. Locating Jensen wasn’t as easy a task as he hoped. The sea of black and white tuxedoes were mindlessly homogenous. Jensen didn’t exactly stand out in a crowd.
He seized their power, letting a trickle that would mostly go unnoticed but by any channelers in arms’ reach, and let the senses of sight and sound flood his head. The moment flickered his expression with the darkness of dangerous concentration, only to fade moments later. Those first few seconds were always a struggle. Given those he’d talked to, it was likely to be a struggle for the rest of his life. There was always standing on the edge of a precipice, where a heartbeat separated the abyss from solid ground.
“There,”
he nodded in Jensen’s direction as he returned the earpiece to its place. There was some motion across the room, and suddenly his ears flooded with warnings.
Jensen forgotten, the power was drawn like officers drawing their weapons.
Karim’s voice dominated the chaos of communication filling his ears.
“Something’s happened,”
he warned Natalie, just as the music dropped and the crowd grew quiet. A scream punctured the evening of all color.
Two dominions cornered the risen threat. A girl was hurt. Jay didn’t rush forward as his legs demanded he do. Something about this didn’t settle well in his gut. If there were threats here, they would not lash out at some random female guest. It was too risky a night to make an attempt on anyone’s life except Ascendancy, or maybe Secretary of State, either of which were ultimately a suicide mission anyway.
Jay planted himself in place and scanned the remainder of the room. The places others ignored. He spoke to the remainder of the Dominions. “This could be a distraction. Someone stay close to Ascendancy. I’m watching the perimeter.”
Edited by Jay Carpenter, Jul 27 2018, 09:36 AM.
Only darkness shows you the light.