Excerpt: Victory

Prologue
Nanissa

It began with a night like any other. It was an ordinary night; the kind of night that one might let pass by with no comment at all, in fact. The sky was dark, the air was cold, the earth freezing beneath Victory City - and inside the gala was rubbing by with its usual mediocrity. The arrival of an old rival of mine, a certain villainess by the name of Farleen, with a crack of faux lightening and a tacky production of some paper flowers, sparked a slight conflict among us, but like the grown adults we were we settled back in our seats and paid her no heed. Until she spoke.

“Nanissa, darling, have you heard the news?” She settled herself comfortably onto the edge of the armchair occupied by Chairman Gent and leant towards me, her eyes glistening bitingly.

“Good news?” I took a sip of my drink slowly, letting the alcoholic liquid slithering down my throat calm the bitter comeback that might emerge if I wasn’t careful.

“Oh yes,” she breathed, rosebud mouth pouting with glee. “You have heard, haven’t you?”

It took me a moment to decide whether I should respond. The last time Farleen and I had shared words, it had been over a year ago after she had landed me in the county jail for petty theft. The woman sitting by my side, currently a close friend, shrugged her shoulders nonchalently in order to divert the attention from me.

“I haven’t heard,” I mentioned briefly, “and I’m not sure I want to.”

“Yes!” my friend cried shrilly, rubbing her hands together. She was new to all of this villain stuff, having not been born into it, and sometimes rubbed people up the wrong way. “You should leave. You’re not welcome.”

“Oh shut it, Linnda,” Farleen bit back. “You’re hardly one to talk about welcome. Besides, I was addressing Nanissa.”

“And you got your response,” I warned, putting my wine down on the table beside my chair and getting ready to rise to my feet. It was difficult to know one’s boundries in this place, so filled with villainous people as it was. The police had tried to shut us down once, but had conveniently forgotten its location not long after. I still didn’t know where I stood with most of these people.

“It wasn’t a happy one.” Wistfully Farleen twisted a strand of her jet hair around her index finger. “It’s a shame, really, because it is such good news. You’d be hard pressed to find something more enjoyable to hear.” She smirked slightly, her apple-red lips twisting upwards coyly. “Oh well, I suppose you’ll have to find out about it the hard way...”

She also readied to stand, drawing her light cloak around her shoulders in preparation. This had piqued my interest, however, and I didn’t want her to leave just yet. I cocked my head to the side a little and waited, knowing that she wouldn’t leave without reporting the information she had come here to deliver.

“Well?” I prompted eventually.

She licked her lips, and then got to her feet. Hovering by the doorway, she allowed herself another self-indulged smile, and then shrugged her shoulders.

“I just thought you should know,” she murmured seductively, “with it being in your personal interest and all...”

“Yes?”

“Hale White is back in town.”

With that she tucked her cloak closely around her shoulders against the cold of the coming winter, and left the club before anybody could make any further comment.

The room was silent for a moment, until the usual self-absorbtion meant nobody cared any longer why this piece of news should be so important to me. I sat, perfectly still in my chair, absolutely smarting. Linnda was the only one not currently preoccupied, and turned to me with a confused look plastered on her face. For once I was glad she hadn’t yet adopted the villains’ unquestioned moral of Not Getting Involved In Other People’s Business, and found the attention quite flattering.

“Wow,” she muttered, her blonde curls bouncing. “You look like hell. Suddenly.” She paused to peer closely at my face and then shook her head. “Cryptic much? What was that all about? And who in Sin’s name is Hale White?”

My heart leapt at the mention of his name; a bitter longing mixed with hatred broiled in my stomach at the thought of his face. I dug the nails of my finger deep into my thigh before answering, fighting as hard as I could to keep my face passive and my voice down. Hale White: How could I describe Hale White? Flawlessly evil; a wonderful dancer; a master thief; his father’s son?

“Hale White,” I spat angrily despite my controlling efforts, “is a beast of a man. He is back in the city, which brings me great horror. You ought to wish you never meet him.”

“But why?” Linnda questioned innocently, her grey eyes widening with an imagined sorrow. “He sounds dreamy.”

“Oh, he’s dreamy,” I warned her. “But be careful. He bites.”

“Why do you hate the poor villain so wretchedly?”

“Because,” I said simply, “Hale White is my ex fiancee.”