Smoke {MJ SLASHFICTION}

Chapter 6

The best place to hide is in plain sight.

Smoke had rolled through the grand barriers and his driver had driven for about another 3 miles before finally reaching the estate.

In the distance, it looked like an old castle, standing alone in the centre of a vast and neat, immaculately kept garden. His breathing was restricted against the thick plastic mask shielding his entire face from forehead to chin. His bare flesh felt more than a touch vulnerable beneath the long silk black gown strewn over him. He caught glaces at himself through the rearview mirror. His driver remained nonchalant and fairly vacant as he rolled across the smooth pathway up to the house, following the gravel slope dotted with instructional arrows directing them around to an expansive area where several cars were parked, each space was allocated a fictional name. M Grassy. D Sunflower. R Stalk.

Smoke knew this could only be for anonymous VIP's, if your name wasn't there he could only guess that you had to drive back out and walk the 3 miles in on foot or get dropped off, but as promised Viktor's fictional name was printed in open view, illuminated by a small circular light on the ground in a vacant spot.

V Thorn.

"Over there." Smoke directed. The driver did as instructed and came to a dead standstill in a parking space. Silence filled the atmosphere around them and nervous thoughts began to kick in but Smoke had no room for it. Not now. He'd come too far. There was no turning back.

He regarded the grand manor through the mirror and felt a sudden feeling of belittlement to his very ego. Feeling particularly naked without a single weapon to his name.

Right away Smoke could tell that this wouldn't be just any party.

There were no guests dotted carelessly outside for the world to see. There was no thumping music shaking the windows of the car. No drunken chants on the air. No passengers or party goers in sight Nothing.

As a matter of fact, he almost had to second guess whether there was any party being held here at all. Inside of the grand palace style estate, the lights appeared dim and despondent behind the thick closed curtains. The black trees coldly loomed over the driveway into the carpark.

He swallowed thickly.

Nevertheless, he did not let the sleeping manor deter him.

Not long ago they'd found themselves stopped at the gates and forced to give a verbal password, he had seen an ivory white limousine trailing the way ahead of them. It was perhaps the only validation of other guests arriving.

The limo had since disappeared into the distance giving the illusion of having been swallowed into a black hole and Smoke could not see it here in the parking lot. There were no car lights around when they'd gone in. Perhaps the people in the limo were not VIP's.

"Wait here for me." He uttered to the driver who simply nodded. In the distance, Smoke could see the dark walkway up to the enterance.

He stepped his bare feet out of the car, pulling taught his black gloves as he finally stood up in the uncomfortable chill of midnight.

Somber, cold and completely naked under his cloak, Smoke assumed a new identity. He was arriving as Viktor Tyranni, executive assistant to a community of ghost writers who mainly spent their days drafting world changing speeches to be witnessed by the public through the mouths of some of the most globally influencial people of all time. Rumour had it those guys had even tweaked parts of the bible.

It appeared the Russian boy Viktor was up for a promotion and as a reward, was about to be baptised into a whole new world of frivolous fun. More importantly though was the fact that Viktor in particular had received a special invitation to personally meet with Solomon at some point during the party.