by A. C. Arthur
“Shit!” She stepped closer to the guy, staring down at him and then back at the knife in her hand. “I didn’t cut him that deep.”
Steele stepped back into the shadows, his leg bumping a trash can as he moved. The last thing he wanted was for her to see him, especially if his beast was adamant about making an appearance. There’d been whispers of preternatural beings on the Human Realm for at least the last forty to fifty years, yet most humans didn’t believe and had never seen any for themselves. Because of their size, lethal strength and the fact that they were on this realm to protect the humans from said preternatural beings, the Drakon opted for secrecy.
She whipped around to stare in the direction where he stood, but she didn’t see him. It was too dark and he was pressing his body so hard against the wall that his completely black outfit most likely blended in. He turned to the side so that his long locks covered half of his face.
She didn’t speak and Steele didn’t breathe for seconds that dragged on like eons.
When she finally turned and ran down the alley Steele released the breath he’d been holding. She was gone.
But she was safe.
For now.
Chapter Two
Slamming the door wasn’t going to make what had just happened any better. Nor was it going to stop her death, which he’d seen in his dreams. Helplessness gripped Steele like a fist, choking the life out of him.
Yanking his jacket off, he tossed it onto the leather love seat across the room. His boots clunked across hardwood floors as he headed to the kitchen. The refrigerator door opened with a jangle of every item that was stored on the narrow shelves as he reached inside and grabbed a beer from the top inside rack. Twisting off the cap and chucking it into the trash can he tossed his head back and let the cold brew slide down his throat. The bottle was empty in seconds and he still felt like hell.
The vibration of his phone in his back pocket wasn’t going to help either.
“Yeah?” he answered gruffly.
“Where you been, out playin’ with yourself? Theo and I’ve been trying to reach you for the past couple hours.”
Magnum was the smartass otherwise known as Steele’s brother. As the younger brother, Steele presumed that made him just an “ass.” He was good with that assessment but wasn’t really in the mood to answer questions right now, not from Magnum and not from Theo—their boss.
Adrenaline from a combo of holding back the urge to kill that persistent bastard in the alley and the act of fading away from the scene minutes later still buzzed through his body. He needed to walk it off or he might be tempted to go back.
“I was out,” he replied and left the kitchen, heading to the living room once more.
There was too much junk in here—a love seat here, a couch there, tables, rugs, lamps, shit that just got in his way.
Magnum grumbled on the other end of the phone. “Yeah, I figured as much. Did you see anything interesting while you were out?”
Standing at the window now, looking out at the bright lights on the myriad of buildings in downtown Burgess, Steele nodded even though his brother couldn’t see him.
“I saw a few things.” But none of which his brother needed to know about. “No sign of those two vamps that slid into the drain months ago.”
Three months ago, to be exact—when the legion of Drakon were hunting a sadistic demonic named Hoan, who’d escaped from the Spirit Realm. One minute he and Magnum had been standing in the alley, prepared to learn more about the vamps’ alliance with Hoan by any means necessary, and the next they were watching those same vamps being pulled into the ground by some eerie black sludge. The two were supposedly dead, but in their world, dead didn’t mean dead until you had a stiff body lying out for all to see.
“But you went to Twilight, didn’t you?”
Magnum knew him well, so no answer was required.
“They just reopened a few weeks ago and you’ve been staying downtown ever since. You plan on staking the place out forever?”
“Nah, I plan on making sure they don’t have a chance to pick up where they left off.”
“Not possible. Their leader is dead.”
Steele frowned. “Yeah, well, sometimes death doesn’t stop evil.”
And sometimes death stopped everything else.
“True. That’s what I told Theo, but you know he kinda wanted more of an explanation for why you’re there. That’s how it goes when you work for somebody.”
“I work with him, not for him.” He reminded himself on a daily basis that there was a difference.
Theo Masters was the Drakon emperor, a role he’d just assumed a few months ago when they’d all returned to their home on the Far Realm. On the Human Realm, Theo was the owner of the Legion Security Company, a place he’d created to carry out the Drakons’ first and most prominent duty—to protect humans from preternatural beings. Magnum and Steele had come to the Human Realm one hundred years ago, and knowing who Theo was meant to be, pledged their loyalty to Theo and his mission on this realm.
“You cash that paycheck the same way I do so that means you work for him. And anyway, that’s how it’s supposed to be. He’s the emperor,” Magnum reminded him.
“I don’t need that money any more than you do and you know it.”
Their clan had access to billions of dollars in diamonds, so there was no need for him or Steele to work for a paycheck. What they did with Theo was out of duty. All of Steele’s paychecks went into a bank account he barely ever touched.
“Besides,” he continued. “Theo only took the throne because his father died, and we’re not on the Far Realm. Anyway, I’m cool with what I do.” At least he had been before he’d seen her die in his dream.
He glared out the window. From his view on the twenty-fifth floor he could see the rooftops of most buildings on this side of the city. She wasn’t on any of them and she hadn’t been on any of the nights he’d stood here watching for her.
Magnum continued, interrupting Steele’s thoughts again. “Me too and it’s so much better than what we were doing before. But Theo wants you to check in, so come by the Office tomorrow and fill him in.”
“I will, even though there’s nothing to report.” Because on this realm sometimes it seemed their hands were tied. For one, Theo didn’t want them taking their dragon form unless it was absolutely necessary. And two, they weren’t allowed to kill humans. Tonight, for instance, he hadn’t been able to just kill that idiot bastard who obviously didn’t understand that no meant no. Instead, he’d been forced to use dream dust, which—according to the small amount he’d used—would only put the guy into a deep slumber for about one to two hours.
“Then why are you hanging out in the city so much?”
Steele didn’t respond. It wasn’t any of his brother’s business. And it definitely wasn’t Theo’s business since it didn’t involve any of the clients at the security company. No, the reason Steele was paying a small fortune to stay in this posh hotel that served the bullshit hot wings was purely personal.
“Needed a change of scenery,” he finally replied when it was clear Magnum wasn’t just going to hang up the phone and carry on with his night.
“You sure that’s all you need?”
“I’m good.” Steele’s reply was curt and so was his quick bid good-night before he disconnected the call.
He was good. Sure, his chest was still tight from seeing her so close up, wielding a knife like some sexy warrior princess dressed in a half shirt and tight-ass jeans. But she’d been safe and that was all that mattered. Now, if she went to her home and stayed there all night, she’d remain that way. He could worry about tomorrow night when it came, because it would come. Just as sure as the sun would shine, night would fall and when it did, danger would lurk. He’d seen death before and in his line of work, would definitely see it again. But not this woman, not on h
is watch.
* * *
Enes turned, fangs bared, eyes glittering gold as she stared at the intruder.
“Calm down,” he said. “It’s just me. And you know what time it is.”
It was time for her to close the club and head back to the new townhouse in the financial district where she now lived. In fact, it was fifteen minutes after four in the morning and she was positive she’d locked the front door.
“It’s time for you to get lost,” she countered, without making any effort to withdraw her fangs.
Enforcer Edward Barrington knew who and what she was and he didn’t care. While other humans on this realm chose whether or not to believe the stories that floated around them referencing preternatural beings, this guy knew they existed and he didn’t give a damn. He could take money from a vampire just as easily as he did a human, at least that’s what he planned to do tonight.
He shook his head as he came deeper into the club, passing the tables with chairs neatly stacked on top and making his way to the bar where she stood.
“You know the amount,” he said before sliding onto a bar stool beside her. “Count it out and I’ll be on my way.”
“I don’t have any agreement to pay you for so-called protection. Now that Warrick’s dead, we plan to protect ourselves. So, whatever you two had worked out died with him,” she said, inhaling the sour stench of his blood. It turned her stomach and she wanted to barf all over him and his pristine enforcer uniform.
He was fast, his hands going immediately around her neck as he squeezed tightly and yanked her off the stool. The action lifted her up so that her feet didn’t touch the floor.
“This was his club, so as long as those doors are open for business, the agreement he made stands. I don’t give a damn if he burned in the sunlight or somebody put a stake in his heart. You’re all fuckin’ freaks and the only reason I don’t just kill you is because you can make me some decent money.”
Edward Barrington had some strength to his six-foot-one beefy frame. He also had a crooked nose and bad breath.
Enes eased a hand between them, flattening her palm on his chest before giving a slight push. His body jerked back with such force his hands immediately fell from her neck and he knocked over the chairs on two tables before slamming into the wall.
“You wish you could kill me,” she said, slowly lowering herself to the floor. She walked over to where he was now struggling to remain standing. “But you can’t, so your threats are useless.”
“Bitch!” he yelled and reached for the gun in his holster. “You’re gonna pay me my money or die!”
He pulled the trigger multiple times before she could reply, sending a spray of bullets her way. Two of them pelted her chest, but the other three, she caught midair, dropping them to the floor as she continued to approach him.
“Shit!” He was scrambling now, dropping the gun in his nervousness and trying to get his feet to carry him out of here, but nothing worked. He remained in that spot as the air around them seemed to stand still.
“Kill him quickly and be done with it,” she heard the chillingly calm, heavily accented voice behind her say.
Without hesitation Enes leapt forward, landing with her hands on his shoulders, legs wrapping around his waist, fangs sinking into his neck.
Enforcer Edward Barrington yelled out in both horror and pain as she swallowed enough of his foul-tasting blood to kill him—not change him, as she’d been changed some years ago. And when she was done, because she knew his blood would sit like lead in the pit of her stomach for the remainder of the day, she pulled away from him without releasing her teeth’s hold, taking a chunk of his neck with her as she turned around to face the Chief Lord.
Turning her head to one side, she spit the flesh onto the floor and stomped over to the bar to grab a wad of napkins to wipe her mouth. She wanted to leap over the bar and find a bottle of whiskey to wash her mouth, but she refrained. If the Chief Lord was here, there was something he wanted to say.
Hikeen Montoy was a tall, slimly built Royal Blood vampire. He had silver white hair on top of his head and his mustache, but his goatee was snowy white. His eyes—the ones he showed most often to the human world—were an icy, almost iridescent, blue, which was in no way descriptive of just how cold-blooded this particular vampire was. Tonight, he wore a long winter white wool coat, cream-colored dress shoes and a matching suit. His tie was bloodred, his smile was small and insincere.
“It’s late and I don’t wish to be here at dawn. I’ve come for a report, but the visual has given a little of the knowledge I sought.”
The accent was brisk and possibly Australian, the chill it sent down her spine each time she heard it was real and pissed her off more than she could explain.
“This was the first time he came in to collect. In the weeks since we’ve reopened no enforcers or drug lords have shown their face around here.” She finished with the napkins, pitching them across the room until they landed in one of the trash cans she’d lined up to be taken outside.
“You think that’s because they fear the Drakons who set the place on fire before?”
Enes didn’t want to think about those dragons that had run her and Prinze out of here that night, nor did she want to recall the sound of Prinze’s screams as that sludge that sucked them both into the sewer had strangled the life out of him because he was Warrick’s son and Warrick had betrayed Hoan. The Chief Lord was the reason she’d survived and because of that, she now owed her allegiance to him.
“One of them was here tonight. He stood in the back watching some chick, but then he left before she did.”
“Did he confront you?”
“No.”
“Then what was he doing here?”
She shrugged. “Just standing there, like I said.” There was no other answer to give and she was getting tired. “Look, I’m doing what you said, going on with business as usual. There’s no need for you to pop in for daily reports.”
“Would you have killed that pesky human if I hadn’t ‘popped in’? No. And that is why I’m here. I never agreed with anything Warrick did. He wasn’t of the Royal Blood. And neither are you. But you will do as I say and run this club the way I tell you to.”
It took everything in her not to roll her eyes and suck her teeth like a petulant child. She’d heard all this before—all vampires were governed by the Royal Court, which consisted of the King, Queen and the global council who were all housed at the Royal Capitol. Lords, descendants of the King and Queen, were given rule of different areas on the Human and Far Realms. Only those born of a Lord were considered of Royal Blood, all others were just vampire scum in the eyes of the Royal Court.
Hikeen ruled Pennsylvania and a few other states along this stretch of the U.S. He believed his words could brainwash someone into doing his bidding. That wasn’t the case with her. She was going along with him because right now, she had no other choice.
“Yes, sir.” Those words were just as sour tasting in her mouth as Barrington’s blood had been.
“Now, I want you to keep an eye out for more Drakons and report to me each time you see them. If another enforcer or anyone comes trying to extort money from you, kill them. Those are my terms and I want the word to spread far and wide.”
“Killing so haphazardly will bring exposure.” Something Warrick hadn’t cared about either, but Enes believed there was power in autonomy.
The Chief Lord moved with the flash of light, stopping when he was just inches away from her, towering over her as if he could crush her at any second. He could, but Enes wouldn’t go without a fight. She’d bet the arrogant sonofabitch Chief Lord wouldn’t expect that from her.
“I want them to know we’re here!” he yelled down into her face. “I want them all to know and to fear, because that’s the only way they’ll survive.”
His eyes turned a glistening vampire
gold at that moment and that cloying paralysis she knew Barrington had felt just before she’d bit him circled her, rendering her immobile.
“Don’t make me regret saving you, Enes.”
She didn’t bother to speak, but on nights like these, Enes regretted that time when she’d been human, on her deathbed in a hospital, with no family and mounting fear. That was the night she’d been at her weakest and the night she’d begged Warrick Camden to save her.
Now, she wondered if a longer life of drinking blood and acting as a preternatural hitman was the better option.
* * *
Ravyn should be tired. She hadn’t slept again last night. Truth be told, it had been much longer than the last twenty-four hours since she’d had a full night’s sleep. A person would have to feel safe in order to relax enough to sleep for hours on end. Ravyn hadn’t felt safe in...well, never. She’d learned long ago that to stay safe she needed to always keep an eye out for her enemies, and now as the founder and manager of the secret underground society Safeside, she was tasked with the safety of more people than just herself.
“When will you be back?”
Cree’s voice jolted her from her thoughts and she turned to see his tall lanky body leaning against the doorway of her office.
“I’ll be back before dawn.” He didn’t look like he believed her. His one brown eye surveyed her warily, while the glassy pearl-colored eye which allowed him to only see blurred images did the same. That eye was a constant reminder of all she and Cree had been through together and was one of the biggest reasons she was about to do what needed to be done.
“Don’t stare at me like that,” she snapped. “I always come back before dawn.”