E.V.I.E.: 13 Slayers, 13 Missions

by Lexi C. Foss

  “Rowan,” Jude greeted as I entered.

  “You summoned me, Master,” I snarked with a smirk.

  Jude narrowed his eyes as he leaned back in a big and fancy, leather chair that sat in front of a wall of solid windows with an amazing view of the city. It might as well have been a throne. For all I knew, he’d been some kind of prince in his pre-E.V.I.E. life and that’s why he looked so comfortable. It wouldn’t have surprised me. I cocked my head to the side and ran my eyes over him. Or maybe a billionaire businessman.

  He was in his…late thirties? Early forties? No one really knew anything about Jude’s past other than he’d worked his way up the ranks within the organization to eventually take over. He was an attractive man with short, dark hair, a close-cropped Van Dyke, and piercing—and always assessing—brown eyes. The slight wrinkles on his forehead and the lines around his mouth—from pursing his lips when he was stressed—didn’t do anything to take away from his handsome, debonair look. He was always in custom-tailored suits and Italian loafers, which I’d told him many times would confuse people into thinking E.V.I.E. was the mafia. That always earned me an exasperated frown, to which I usually responded by blowing him a kiss.

  He gestured to the front of his desk, not bothering to ask me to take a seat. He’d stopped asking when he caught on to the fact that I didn’t sit still very well. Fighting my body’s natural instinct to move just made it harder to concentrate. Eventually, he got tired of being asked to repeat himself multiple times throughout our meetings. Now, he simply carried on while I paced around the room or in front of his desk.

  “Tell me what’s going on with Dorian, Rowan.”

  I halted in front of him and shrugged. “Are you asking because you really don’t know or you want to see if I’ll admit the truth?” I queried as I stretched my neck from side to side, trying to loosen the muscles.

  Jude responded with nothing more than a raise of one dark eyebrow and I channeled my childish desire to stick out my tongue into a bland smile.

  We had a silent stare-down for a long, long minute until my need to move got the best of me. I huffed and threw my hands in the air before returning to wearing out a path in his carpet.

  “He’s a slippery bastard. He gets away from me every time I get close, and I have no fucking clue how he’s doing it.”

  Jude pinched the bridge of his nose before resting his elbows on the arms of his chair and folding his hands into a point. He pursed his lips before they curled back down. I was willing to bet that he would look sexy as hell if he ever smiled. I nearly snorted at the thought. When pigs fly—without the help of magic, of course.

  “Rowan, it’s been two weeks on this assignment. Perhaps I should pass it along to another slayer.”

  My jaw dropped and I spun on my foot and marched over to stand in front of him, furious at his outrageous suggestion. “You must be joking.”

  My magic was pretty pissed about it too and it pushed against me, wanting to wrap around Jude’s neck. Yeah, it could be kind of bloodthirsty sometimes. Ironic, considering my job, right?

  Jude’s tone was dry when he remarked, “And this assumption is from all of the times you’ve seen me be flippant and humorous about the sanguisuge that plague my city?”

  He had a point. But I’d been floored by his suggestion that he assign someone else to complete my mission. “Fine. But you have to admit, hearing you laugh seemed likelier then you suggesting I give up on my assignment. That’s not my nature and you know it. So, naturally, I assumed you’d lost your damn mind.” I curled my hands into fists and jammed them onto my hips, glaring. “I might be taking a little time on this one,” I bit out through clenched teeth, as I strained hard to rein in my temper. “But I’ve never failed. And I won’t this time, either.”

  My magic was in complete agreement and seeing as how we were most often at odds with each other, feeling in synch at that moment was like a balm to a festering wound. Until I realized I was sporting a very faint glow and had to shut it down.

  He nodded, his expression unreadable, and unfolded his hands before pushing back his chair and coming to his feet. As he crossed over to a beautiful, wooden hutch, I considered his lack of comment on the slight aura and hoped it meant he hadn’t noticed. He glanced back at me with a raised brow as he opened a small cupboard and took out a crystal tumbler.

  I wrinkled my nose. I hated alcohol. And caffeine. Anything that stimulated my already hyper body or dulled my senses. Feeling out of control was something I wanted to bury with my past.

  “Right.” He set the glass on the shiny maple surface and bent to open a small mini-fridge. A second later, a bottle of water was tossed into my hands and I smiled my thanks before twisting the cap and taking a swallow of the cool, clean water. I wasn’t a fan of the taste of tap water, even if everyone touted NYC as having the best because of their filtration…blah, blah, blah. It still tasted gross to me.

  Jude poured himself two fingers of scotch and eyed me as he walked back around to take a seat behind his desk. His eyes stayed on me while he took a drink of the dark liquid. I stared back at him with a stubborn lift of my chin.

  “I suppose there is no use in asking you to at least allow another slayer to aid you?”

  My annoyance at having my abilities in question was quickly sparking into anger and my magic snorted indignantly. “No,” I snapped. “This is my assignment and I’ll complete it just as I always have. On my terms.”

  “Your terms, Ms. Sokolov?” Though his tone was bland, the slight downturn at the corners of his lips alerted me that I was flirting with boundaries and testing his patience.

  I raised my chin, unwilling to back down, though a small voice in my head was tsking and warning me not to fuck with Jude and risk my place in the organization. I’d never been very good at listening to that rational little voice. I generally shoved it in a box and slammed the lid. “Yes. You agreed to let me do things my way after Emma—or Gina—or whoever that last wimp was that came running back to you in tears because I used her as bait for a nest of vampires.”

  “Jessica,” Jude emphasized each syllable of her name as he corrected me in a patronizing tone. “Had only been out of training for a week.”

  I shrugged and took another swig from my bottle of water before bouncing on the balls of my feet. “Then your trainers aren’t doing their jobs.”

  “I’m sure Camden will appreciate the feedback,” he said dryly.

  I nearly stuck my tongue out at him and when I didn’t, I patted myself on the back for exhibiting some restraint.

  Jude took another sip of his scotch, then silently studied me as he placed it on the top of his desk. “You know, Rowan, my predecessor kept very detailed notes.”

  My eyes narrowed as Violet’s warning began clanging loudly in my head. As far as I knew, Deron’s only knowledge about me and Vi was that our amulets made us immortal. The whole not aging thing was hard to hide and eventually clued him in. But the way Jude had spoken, the knowing look in his dark eyes, I had to wonder if the old boss had known more than he let on. One of my most useful talents was the ability to recognize when someone was being deceitful, which was one of the reasons Jude constantly pricked my temper. He didn’t lie; he smoothly skirted around the truth. Suddenly, I was hyper-aware of the amulet nestled in the valley between my breasts. The warmth of the metal against my skin was comforting, but I was still on alert, wondering what knowledge this man might possess about the true origin and powers of the charm I’d created.

  “Oh?” I wasn’t going to accidentally give anything away by asking questions that told him more than my answers would.

  “He quite liked you and Violet.”

  I grinned. Yeah, Deron had been a gruff, brooding asshole, but he was also a freaking marshmallow who was dedicated to his slayers and would’ve done anything for them. I’d caught his puffed-up chest whenever one of us did something that made him proud. No matter how hard he tried to fight it.

  Jude’s deadpan express
ion ruined my happy memory and one corner of my mouth twisted downward. “It’s not as if we make it hard to like us,” I grumbled. Honestly, I didn’t give a fuck whether Jude loved or hated me, as long as he didn’t question my position in the ranks of E.V.I.E.

  “He was also quite curious.”

  Though it was in my nature to become still and calm whenever I was anxious, I fought the desire and began wandering around the room. I didn’t want Jude to come to any conclusions based on my behavior, especially when I had no clue what he was fishing for. “Everyone loves a good mystery,” I threw out with a short chuckle as I picked up and admired a perfectly-shaped wooden pawn from a chess set on a small table, set between two chairs. It was gorgeous and I briefly wondered about the hands that had carved it. I imagined hands that talented would be proficient at many activities. An image of those big hands running over my body suddenly popped into my head. My body warmed, particularly the palm wrapped around the chess piece, and I mentally rolled my eyes. Seriously, Rowan? Fantasizing about a faceless guy who is good at wielding a…good grief. I needed to get laid.

  “So they do.”

  Jude’s response broke through my thoughts, reminding me of the current situation, which set off that obnoxious little twit, lecturing me about my priorities.

  Tired of this game, I whirled around and met Jude’s intense stare head-on. “What’s your point, boss?”

  “Just making conversation,” he replied with a mysterious smile. Yeah, right.

  “Do you need anything else from me? I have a meeting.”

  Jude waved a dismissive hand in the direction of his door and I immediately spun around and marched that way. “Bye, Hades! Always a pleasure to see you,” I chirped.

  “Rowan.”

  Something in his tone caused me to halt in my tracks and twist my neck to look back over my shoulder.

  “Finish soon, or I’ll assign him to someone else.”

  Sometimes it was just too tiring to keep my temper in check. “I’ll get it fucking done, Jude. Back the hell off,” I growled.

  Then I gave him a sickly sweet smile and headed for the door again. “Au revoir!” I called over my shoulder.

  “Do svidaniya.”

  I nearly tripped when Jude said goodbye in Russian, but managed to keep moving and show no reaction. That bastard was so fucking irritating with his cryptic bullshit and arrogant attitude. And implying I couldn’t do my job? Aaaargh! I wished it was his ass I would be kicking the next morning.

  7

  Rowan

  Today had been complete and utter shit, and it was only ten in the morning.

  After my maddening meeting with Jude the night before, I’d finally heard from Violet this morning. And now I was even more pissed off and feeling a little homicidal.

  It turned out, through a mixture of observation, his predecessor’s notes regarding our amulets and a rumor trickling around about our ties to the Romanov Dynasty, Jude had come up with a theory. Then he’d sent Violet to check out this King Kaos to test it. It worked, and the day after the gala, Violet had confessed everything, with the exception of mentioning Emerald. We would protect her secret with our lives.

  All of that was upsetting, sure, but it wasn’t what had my brain on overdrive and my body shaking with rage. No, it was how Jude’s little theory was proven correct. King Kaos, it seemed, was VIolet’s former lover, Cassius Ivanov. Cousin to Dimitri Ivanov, King of the Royal Vampire Dynasty, who had betrayed and destroyed everyone we’d loved. I was worried about his presence here and what that meant for Vi, but what we really needed to know was how Cassius had traversed the realms.

  On one hand, it implied we might finally be able to go home—though I had my doubts about returning. What was left there for us?

  On the other hand, it suggested more vampires might be coming for us—and wouldn’t that be just peachy. Neither of us was sure how to interpret it. Before we could really get into it, Alaric, another slayer we worked with, showed up at her apartment. Jude had assigned him to back Vi up at her meeting with Cassius, though I wasn’t sure what the fuck he thought Alaric could do to help. He was strong, capable, and amazing at his job. But that job had never included going up against a vampire who was immune to sunlight, garlic, crosses, holy water, or pretty much anything that would take down the vampires in this realm.

  Fear was creeping into my mind and I hated it, hated feeling weak and vulnerable. It was just one more thing fueling the fury inside me. I waved absently at a security guard I’d gone out with a couple of times and he gave me a chin lift in return as I glided through the checkpoint and made my way to the training rooms.

  I marched into one of the smaller training rooms in the E.V.I.E. building and ripped off my black sweatshirt, tossing it into a corner before I turned on the room’s sound system and put some music with a heavy beat on the stereo.

  There were jump ropes hanging on the wall and I grabbed one on my way back to the center of the room. I tied up the ends—because they were always way too long for me—and started skipping. The whir of the rope as it flew by my ears matched the beat of the music, the repetition helping to calm my emotions and racing mind by giving me something benign to focus on.

  Immersed in a rare moment when my brain was quiet, I almost didn’t sense the presence of another person approaching the room. But it managed to penetrate my trance-like state, and I brought the rope to a stop as the door opened.

  A tall man with an athletic build, light brown hair with matching stubble that seemed to be a permanent fixture on his chiseled jaw, and smoldering blue eyes swaggered in.

  Camden Dupont had an easy-going air about him, always seemed relaxed, and he often had a playful smirk on his lips. His trainees soon discovered, though, that once he stepped into the role of teacher, he turned into a badass motherfucker who usually made them cry.

  His movie-star good looks had not faded one bit in the years I’d known him, which was as long as I’d been with E.V.I.E. No one seemed to remember exactly when Cam started, just that he’d always been here. Other than the fact that he didn’t age and was therefore obviously immortal, no one knew anything about him at all. And yet, he was one of my closest friends. My relationship with Cam was easy, no pressure to talk about uncomfortable topics or any emotional shit, but we were always there to back each other up. Still, to most people’s standards, it probably seemed like a superficial friendship.

  Vi and Emerald were the only two people in my life that I trusted absolutely. The closer I let someone get to me, the more likely they were to discover my secrets.

  “Rowan,” Cam greeted me with a lazy smile. “Feel like a good cry today?”

  I rolled my eyes and walked back over to the wall of hooks and hung up the jump rope. I hit the off button on the stereo and the room fell into thick silence.

  “You don’t usually listen to music while you work out.” He watched me with a steady gaze as he dropped a duffle bag near my haphazard sweatshirt. “Something on your mind?”

  I plastered a smug smile on my face. “Just getting pumped to kick your ass.”

  Cam chuckled and winked at me, setting off a kaleidoscope of butterflies in my tummy. He had that effect on women…actually, I’d seen some men melt under his charm and good looks, as well. We’d had a short-lived fling over a decade ago, but it burned hot and flamed out almost as fast as it had caught fire. I had no romantic interest in him anymore, but there was just something about him that could set a girl all atwitter and reduce her to a lovesick teenager.

  Especially if they knew what he looked like naked.

  I shook my head to clear away the fog and scowled at him. “Nah-uh. You’re not going to use your voodoo charm with me, Camden. I’m immune.” It was mostly the truth.

  I’d watched women fall under his spell so many times, I often wondered if there was more to Cam than it appeared. I had a couple of spells tattooed on my body to protect me from the magic of other creatures. It made it very hard for me to be compelled by vam
pires, seduced by Fae, or called by sirens and other succubi. That kind of thing. But without asking him straight out, I had no way of confirming my theory and asking Cam personal questions opened me up for turnabout. So, I stuck to speculation.

  He threw his head back and laughed, setting off another round of fluttering wings. “Was that a challenge, Ro?” he asked after his laughter faded.

  His eyes were twinkling merrily and I mentally groaned as I fought the desire to moon over him. “Nope. Now can we spar or what?”

  He grinned, but didn’t say anything else as he removed his shirt.

  I’m immune. I’m immune. I’m immune.

  He tossed me a pair of hand wraps before donning his own. Judo didn’t include protective gear, but we often combined it with the other skills I possessed, which often meant some fist fighting and boxing. After securing my wraps and doing a little stretching, I met Cam in the middle of the room.

  “Ready?” He cocked his head to the side and winked at me, to which I responded with a jab that would give that stupid eye quite the shiner. He grunted and blinked a few times before shaking his head to clear away the shock.

  “Damn, Ro.” He lightly touched the outer bone of his injured eye and winced. “I knew you were in a mood.”

  “Don’t be such a baby, Dupont. I’m sure a black eye won’t slow down your manwhore activities in the least.”

  He grinned and shrugged. “True.”

  Without another word, we began to fight. We never held back from each other and there were times when we both ended up in a bloody heap on the matted floor and E.V.I.E. had a couple of healers on staff for times like those. But today, I was supremely pissed and the jump rope hadn’t distracted me for long. That may have been the reason I was fighting dirty and with extra vigor. I was determined to beat him today. My magic pulsed, wanting in on the action, but I firmly told it to cheer from the sidelines and even pictured tossing it a pair of pink pom poms. I felt waves of irritation coming from my center and pushing out before it went silent.