“Well, let one of them take a bullet for him,” Ivy replied as she nodded toward the house. “I’d like my partner back here in one piece.” She pulled the laptop close with a nod of approval. “The design turned out pretty cool. Do you like them?”
“I really do,” Alex smiled. “I’m sure the team’s gonna love them. Maybe Strategic will buy the designs when we’re done with this assignment.”
“Maybe,” Ivy sighed. She sipped her wine as she stared at the screen. “Why are you really going to Romania with them?”
Alex looked up at her. “I told you.”
“Yeah, now I want you to tell me the truth.”
After she pushed the half empty glass away, Ivy sat back and waited.
“Coop just needs some help,” Alex lied—had been lying about Coop and what happened since she’d been home. Until they found proof, he was still alive as far as anyone not on this assignment was concerned, and that included Ivy. “He’s a little out of his league on this one.” She smiled, but Ivy didn’t smile back.
“You got out.”
“I’m still out.”
Her uneasiness drifted toward Alex in waves. It stung her brain. Usually, when Ivy was nervous about something, Alex knew what to expect. But, this time, her senses were taken by surprise. She’d never felt this before from Ivy.
“Doesn’t look that way from where I’m standing,” she hummed. “What do you know about mergers and acquisitions anyway? You hate that stuff.”
“I don’t have to know anything about mergers and acquisitions,” Alex answered. “I know people. That’s what they need—someone who knows people.”
“I thought this was just a meeting about some kinda land deal or whatever,” Ivy grinned before she finished her wine. “Why would Jason Stavros need an entire team of bodyguards to meet with some CEOs in Transylvania?” She giggled as she tapped the empty glass nervously. “Seems like overkill to me.”
“I’ve seen people get killed over less,” Alex responded then immediately wished she hadn’t.
“See,” Ivy shook a long finger in her direction as she stood, crossed the bar of the outdoor kitchen, and pulled a bottle of Patron from the shelf. With two shot glasses between her fingers she came back to the table. “I knew you were holding out on me. What’s really going on?”
Alex took a deep breath then stood with the bottle of Patron and led Ivy, shot glasses in hand, deeper into the park-like backyard, past the lap pool with its colored lights that changed in a preprogrammed pattern. The surface of the cold water rippled as the breeze skipped across it.
They climbed the wooden steps of the deck, and Alex lit the fire pit as Ivy sat down on the comfortable sofa, curled her legs underneath her, and waited. Red and yellow flames jumped, and the wood popped as Alex sat down and poured two shots.
“Remember when I told you about vampires?” Alex asked as she stared at the fire. “How they were real, I mean.”
Ivy nodded slowly. Her deep brown eyes turned amber by the firelight.
“Yeah,” she replied. “You showed up at the campus Halloween party in hunting gear. Everyone thought it was the coolest costume ever. Who knew you had tracked a nest to the Frat House down the street?”
Alex laughed at the memory. “That hundred bucks for first prize came in quite handy as I remember.”
Ivy smiled as she stoked the fire. “So, Bucharest?”
“This meeting,” she began, “it’s about the Supernatural Community and a credible threat to all of us.”
“What kind of threat exactly?” Ivy inquired, suddenly more interested in what Alex had to say. “What does it have to do with you and these bodyguards?”
Alex ran her fingers through her hair as the breeze picked it up. “Sometimes we’d do things for them in return for certain favors: technologies, medicines that we couldn’t get, or hadn’t discovered yet.”
“How does Jason Stavros factor into this?”
“He’s just been appointed as the representative of the entire vampire population of North America.”
Ivy took the warm tequila shot in her hand and sat the bottle down on the ground. “The body in Vegas,” she said, “did that have something to do with this meeting?”
“We’re not sure yet. That’s one of the reasons I’m joining the team on this assignment.”
“And the other reason?”
Alex took another deep breath. She’d just bragged to Jason about how she kept Ivy safe, away from this kind of stuff. If Ivy told anyone, she wouldn’t be safe anymore.
“A friend of mine was killed while I was in Vegas. I think that does have something to do with this meeting, so I’m in again.”
Ivy gave her a knowing nod as she stared into the flames. “Why did you leave?”
“I was hurt on my last mission,” she whispered, trying to hold back the memory. “The vampire we were after . . . he almost killed me.”
“How were you able to fight that vampire?” Ivy replied, turning toward Alex again. “Or any vampire for that matter?”
“The program was formed around a supplement my father created that gave us certain abilities: strength, stamina, healing; we could do what almost any vampire could do as long as we stayed on the pills.”
“And if you didn’t?”
“We’d go back to being normal,” Alex lied again.
“Did you stop taking them?” Ivy asked. “I mean, after that assignment? Is that why you were in the hospital?”
“Sort of,” Alex answered. “That’s a long story. Maybe when I get back, okay?”
“Sure,” Ivy smiled and gave her hand a pat. “So, Jason Stavros is a vampire.”
Alex laughed and relaxed some. In true Ivy style, she’d give Alex her space, for now. Besides, Jason was a much more interesting subject.
“Yeah, intel’s a little sketchy on just how old he is,” she grinned, “but I’m pretty sure he’s close to a hundred.”
“Damn! He looks good for an old man.”
“He’s good at a lot of things,” Alex laughed and blushed slightly. “For an old man.”
“You slept with him, didn’t you?” Ivy laughed too. “I knew it! He can come to the launch.”
“Yeah, I’m sure his fiancé will love the new line,” Alex sighed.
“Fiancé? Since when?” Ivy hummed.
“I just saw the announcement,” Alex replied. “So I wouldn’t count on him accepting that invitation.”
“Please,” Ivy frowned. “He’s still crazy about you, fiancé or not. Besides, he’s not married yet.”
“Close enough,” Alex replied just as a gust of wind sailed across the backyard and excited the fire in front of them. She stood, scanned the darkness to the west of them, then took a deep breath. Ivy began to rattle off the names of the men Alex could invite instead of Jason like she was reading her grocery list. “Shhh . . .”
“What?” Ivy picked up the almost empty tequila bottle and looked in the dark sky like Alex. “What is it?”
Alex took the bottle from Ivy’s hand and dropped it on the padded couch cushion. Once she had Ivy by the wrist, she pulled her back then pushed her toward the house.
“Go inside,” she said. “Get the others. Go!”
Ivy held her long hair as it danced in the wind around them. “What’s wrong?”
Alex shook her head and looked up into the clear, starry sky. “Go, Ivy! Go now.”
Another shove sent Ivy onto the concrete patio with a stumble. Once inside, Alex heard Ivy curse. Then she turned her attention to the scent that led her into the darkness.
Sebastian felt the presence of vampires before he heard Ivy scream for them from below. He was halfway down the stairs, Xavier and Erin bringing up the rear, before Ivy reached the bottom step.
“What’s going on?” he asked as he took her by the arms.
&nbs
p; “I don’t know,” she said as she shook like a leaf. “She took off after something. She told me to come and get you.”
He ran through the main living area after he told Erin to watch after Ivy. Through the kitchen and out the back entrance, Sebastian pulled in a breath and the sour sting excited him.
He and Xavier reached the gatehouse just as the twins and Amy exited. Sending Amy to the main house, the rest of the team ran in the direction of Alex’s scent. They followed Sebastian in silence, but they smelled of excitement. Looks like they would get a chance to use their training tonight.
The flare lit up the sky at the far end of Alex’s ten-acre estate. The property was serving as a training facility for her team until they left for Vegas. With them close to her, she could be sure no one would interfere with what she wanted to teach them. After the attempt on her and Jason’s lives in Vegas a couple of weeks ago, it made sense for them to all be in one place. What was hard for Alex was sharing space with six twenty-something, superpowered, special agents for the government. Quiet time was nonexistent now that they were here.
The light died over the caretaker’s cabin, which sat unattended next to the man-made lake. Alex’s legs fell into a rhythm. Her muscles warmed up, and she picked up speed. From behind her, she heard the others rush in her direction. They’d better hurry, or they’d miss the fun.
Another flare went off overhead. This time, right over the three-room cabin by the lake. Given time, she would have remodeled it for guests—if she ever had them, which she didn’t. But she wasn’t given time, was she? She was given an ultimatum: join this mission or stay bound to the company forever. Some choice.
Her legs kept up the pace easily. A familiar rhythm guided her feet. At the halfway mark, a thought formed in her mind. Why hadn’t the flood lights covered the entire lakeside in irritating ultraviolet beams? They had promised even the slightest intrusion would trip them.
“Fuck,” she huffed to the dark. “How’d they get past that? Did they fall from the freaking . . .”
The realization struck her hard. The first flare was to get her attention; the second may have taken out the power source for the security lights. She slid to an abrupt stop. All around her were the sounds of the night—creatures that preferred to go about life in the dark. From a few miles north came the smell of a fireplace. From behind her, her team came in fast.
As she tightened her focus on the shadows, she saw four figures. The clouds shaded the moon as it tried to help her see. Two figures stepped between the shadows, clothed in black. In the blink of an eye, the other two had circled behind her.
“A little far from home, aren’t you?” Alex said.
“The Mistress sent me,” they replied in unison.
This breed of vampire, Clan Cantu, had a collective mind. One sire with several children all linked psychically, like a puppet master that could pull strings from hundreds of miles away. They spoke as one, in first person.
The shrill timbre of their voices was like nails on a chalkboard. It tingled over Alex’s scalp.
They took one step forward and grinned. “I have something for you—a gift from the Mistress. If you accept, her debt is paid in full.”
Alex clenched her fists then stretched her fingers out again. “I understand.”
They giggled. “I know you do.”
Once Sebastian’s yell reached them, the two figures behind her turned and disappeared in that direction. She hoped they were ready; the Cantu loved to play.
“Are you ready?” the other two chorused with one more step forward.
Whisper soft, the evening breeze swept across the clearing they stood in. Alex pulled the hoodie over her head and dropped it to the ground. Her white tank top would make her easy to see, but this breed could see in pitch black so that didn’t matter now.
Clan Cantu were the only vampires that had not adapted to daylight. They lived in darkness, caves mostly. Tucked deeply in the Canadian Rockies, one might happen upon a group, if they were unlucky. She’d been unlucky once and lived to tell the tale.
The Cantu vowed, hundreds of years ago, not to side with humans. To them, humans were prey and the enemy. They separated themselves from the rest of the vampire population so there was only one reason they were here now.
For payment, they will offer their unique abilities to the Pure. Only for the vampire elite will they deliver special messages. And they will only accept human blood as payment.
“It’s been awhile,” Alex sighed as the creatures removed their hoods.
“It’s like riding a bike,” they replied. “You should never forget.”
Smooth, pale skin and slanted, black eyes, the Cantu’s deep red lips spread into wicked smiles. Their teeth, fighting for space in their mouths, were gleaming white. Incisors, razor-sharp and big, extended past their bottom lips. With jet black, pin straight hair pulled back into tight ponytails at the base of their long necks, Alex did the same with her hair. The only exception was they had shiny black razor blades threaded through the ends of theirs—she didn’t.
When the beaten-up fighting sticks landed at her feet, she rolled one to the top of her foot then flipped it up into her hand. She quickly flipped up the other.
“I see you haven’t completely forgotten all I taught you,” they smiled at her.
In the distance, her team had their hands full with the other two Cantu. She could hear Cantu laughter and the swarm of curse words the guys let loose on the breeze. Even a simple sparring match with a Cantu could frustrate the calmest of warriors.
“Well,” she sighed, “let’s get to it then.”
“Let’s,” they laughed.
“To your right,” Sebastian yelled from the ground. His shoulder was dislocated.
Before Xavier could react, the small creature had swept his legs from under him. When his back hit the cold ground, a little giggle filled the air as it backflipped away with a wink.
“I hate these things,” he groaned, rolling to his knees and running after it.
Sebastian snapped his shoulder back in place and followed. He didn’t think it was possible, but he was tired and he could tell the others were too. The two creatures led the four of them closer to Alex and two more identical figures.
As she traded strikes with both, Sebastian and Xavier found themselves trading Tai Kwon Do moves with the one between them. As Sebastian kicked at one side and was blocked, it kicked Xavier into the air with very little effort.
On Xavier’s right, the twins didn’t fare much better. Kai cursed with every jab he threw. David, struggling more than he should have been, dodged a ponytail as it swung out. They’d learned early on about the razor blades tied to them. Somehow, Sebastian felt like that was cheating.
It hardly seemed possible, but the creature disappeared like magic as David and Kai both threw punches at it. They stopped short of knocking each other out when they realized their opponent was gone.
“Hey,” Kai yelled as he looked around wildly, “come back here!”
Hearing the snap of a twig, David ducked and stayed low as he forced an open palm into the shadow he hoped was the creature. He felt his hand slam into a body of wiry flesh and muscles. The creature stumbled back with a surprised look on its ghostly face.
“Not bad for a human, huh,” David boasted with what was left of the air in his aching lungs. At least they’d slowed the creatures’ pace a little.
All of its ragged teeth appeared as both creatures stopped their assault. They came together in front of the team with Alex and the other two close behind them.
“I’ve fought better,” they said together. Then, as Alex battled a few yards away, they brought their hands up as if to pray and bowed at the group.
The guys looked at each other then back at the Cantu. They bowed, careful to keep their eyes on the creatures. The Cantu straightened, turned and ran toward Alex.
Xavier was the first to step forward. “What just happened?”
Kai rubbed his bruised chin. “I think we won.”
Just then the sound of Alex grunting put them all in motion.
“Shit,” Sebastian hissed. “Alex!”
Her lungs worked overtime as she blocked and defended herself against two Cantu. She’d forgotten how fast they could be. But she surprised herself with how much she remembered from her time with them. Being able to match them move for move meant she was probably ready for anything.
Cockiness can get you hurt, which she soon found out when one creature spun around and whipped a ponytail her way. It sliced effortlessly through her bare arm, and she yelped. They laughed, of course, at the drawing of her blood. She acted quickly. Her advance caught one off guard. As it turned to repeat the maneuver, she stepped back and jerked at the strands of hair on the lethal ponytail. The razor blade and the hair it was attached to fell silently to the ground.
Both Cantu faced her and she twirled the sticks up into a defensive cross pose in front of her face.
“She’s slow,” they said to each other. “Much slower than before.”
Their heads shook as they turned to her and laughed.
“You’re out of practice,” they shrugged their boney shoulders. Then they stepped back and smiled big. “And you’ve put on weight too.”
Alex had just enough air in her tired lungs to say, “Bite me.” She reached down to retrieve the razor blade.
They laughed a witchy cackle as they looked at each other.
“Invitation?” they asked each other, then turned their eyes back to Alex. “If I had more time and had not been warned by the Mistress not to be greedy, I would.”
Alex smiled, tossing the fighting sticks to the ground at their long feet.
The one to her right tossed a black wooden box at her feet as the other tossed a red leather book into her hands.
“The Mistress offers this warning,” they stated. When their companions joined them and her team fell in line next to her, she examined the book. “Be sure you are ready. Be sure you have exhausted all other avenues before you choose.”
By Blood Sworn Page 5