Immortal: Eternal Flame

six : another gunshot wound

I stood next to Tristan, long golden architecture stretching out above us. The mansion was beautiful, with rose bushes planted on the sides of his infinity pool. We stood outside in front of a sleek white lit bar, Tristan dressed in sleek black dress pants with an unbuttoned polka dot dress shirt. He has a thin gold chain dangling around his neck, swaying as he checked each waiter's name tag as they passed by. Every time I looked at him I could see the layers of life he had been hiding deep inside of him. "Any minute now." He says as he places a hand on the small of my back. I notice Sabine behind a crowd of people collected by the entrance inside. Three fingers held up before disappearing behind the large door frame.

"I think Sabine said three o'clock. He's to the left approaching soon." I put the margarita glass to my lips taking a long sip as he looks behind me scanning for Yousef. During Amiri's debriefing, he explained to us that we would only have a short amount of time as the waiters are being rotated through the kitchen.

"Got him." He whispers before walking up to a tan man with a pink bowtie, dressed in an all-black suit. His fingers reach up to the tray plucking one of the small appetizers of deep-fried macaroni balls off of it. "Hey, I have a question for you real quick." He says as I listen with my back turned, "My wife here wants to try some food but she has some severe allergies, what exactly are you serving tonight?" He says as I look through one of the large windows, noticing her heels disappearing behind a door. We're in. I turn over my shoulder and flash Yousef a smile as he gulps.

"Yeah there's..." As he continues listing an ongoing menu of foods available throughout the night. Tristan nods as he continues, making sure to remain interested in every choice until I notice a pink silhouette waltzing out of the door, turning my head to see Sabine exit through the doorway. I flash her back a hand signal before watching her disappear amongst the other warm bodies inside. Soon enough she would be with one of our drivers en route to the safe house. After this, I had to cover for Tristan while he grabbed the last thing on Amiri's list.

Tristan pats him on the shoulder before smiling wholesomely, "Thank you, I'll make sure to grab some avocado and turkey sliders for her. Appreciate you." He smiles before continuing to serve the guests around us, shiny black shoes clicking against the cobblestone. "She's out. Come with me in a second. We have to be discreet." I nod at him, pulling the slice of lime off the side of my glass and putting it in my mouth. We wait a few moments in silence. I watched the girls passing in their array of mini-skirts. Tristan's eyes glued to the bottom of his glass as if to drown everything else out. The more I looked at him the more I could see the words he was holding back. Almost like they were appearing in front of me like lost memories. "Now." He says as he notices a man walking through the door. We both set our glasses down before intertwining hands and waltzing inside. There were long sleek hallways, one leading to an open bedroom door. A lust-filled man sprawled on top of the bed with three women around him. Black lingerie clinging to their almost bare bodies as I break my focus away from them.

Tristan lead me towards the front of the house, pulling a gun out of his waistband and tucking it into my hands. He kisses me on the forehead before opening the door behind me which seemed to be an office, a set of monitors facing my direction. He closes the door and I hear the nob turn as footsteps begin approaching. I push the gun behind me and lean against the door frame. A slender man turns down the corridor approaches me, hands tucked into his suit jacket pockets. "What are you doing here?" He says, raising his eyebrow.

"Someone's taking a shit." I point at the door across from me hoping with everything in my body that it was the bathroom.

"You alone?" He says with a smirk, letting his eyebrows drop. He pulls his hands out of his pockets and approaches me slowly, "I saw you with a man earlier but, my God, are you beautiful." He slithers, leaning closer to me before halting where he stood. "Now he's gone and it's just us."

I let out a nervous laugh, keeping the gun tucked behind me. "My husband wouldn't like you talking to me like this."

"You didn't hear me? I said he's gone." He says, reaching for my waist as I pull away, backing into the corner of the hall. As I move back he moves forward, bulge growing in his pants as he approaches. His hands grab my waist strongly and this time I cannot push him away. I can feel the heat rising to my face as he touches me.

"Stop..." I say louder as he tucks his lips closer to my neck with a strong alcohol scent, resisting my shoulder wedged in his sternum. He was so drunk, no matter how far his hands roamed I don't think he could feel the gun. What the fuck is this?  I think to myself. In the corner of my eye I notice the office door begins opening slowly and Tristan creeps out behind him. Wrath fills his body unlike any other emotion as he places his hands over the man's mouth. Muffling his screams by stuffing the man's tie into his mouth, he begins twisting his neck in a way it was not made to turn. Tristan grunts as his neck snaps. Letting his head drop onto the tile with a thud. His jaw clenched so tightly I am frozen in place.

He grabs my hand and pulls the gun out of it before dragging me behind him towards the front door. I hear a creak before screams behind to fill the mansion. I guess someone really was in the bathroom. I snap my head towards Tristan before he starts sprinting. I let him pull my arm with every stride panting to catch up with him as we push through the door. Soon enough men are scouting the mansion with guns hoping to get a glimpse of us. We stand outside waiting on the freshly mowed lawn as the headlights of one of Amiri's drivers begin flashing us. "I'd do it again for you." He says, allowing the image of him breaking someone's neck to replay in my mind. I look down at my hands, relieved that at least this time there is no blood on them. As the car pulls up Tristan opens the door for me to get in and a loud bang echoes throughout the front yard and I collapse to the ground in agony. A groan escaped from my lips as my eyes roll backward. He shoots forward to grab my body tossing me into the car as I gather the strength look down at the blood spilling from my leg. "GO!" He screams at the driver before firing his gun repeatedly out the window before we pull out of the driveway into the protection of the walled area around us. Gunshots continue echoing as the driver starts making his way back to Juneau. Soon enough the blurred streetlights in the distance are the only view I have as I fade away into the darkness once again. Tristan's words echoed in my mind. I'd do it again for you.