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

by Lexi C. Foss

  When the voicemail began to play, she growled and pulled her phone away to stab at the screen. The message cut off and after a few seconds, the ringing began again. When the voicemail kicked on again, she huffed and waited for it to get to the beep.

  “Damn it, Vi! What’s the point of a freaking cell phone if you turn it off during missions? Call me back ASAP.” She hung up and took a deep breath. “This night is a fucking disaster,” she muttered as she started moving again.

  She dialed another number and when they didn’t pick up either, she let a small, frustrated scream and glared at her phone.

  I wondered briefly if this Vi person was the one she’d been speaking to in the portal. Some people said whatever they were thinking out loud, which could come off as crazy, but was more likely eccentric. A slightly off-kilter and adorably bizarre mate I could handle, though it would be interesting. I was starting to understand what Nathan meant when he said she was Camilla’s opposite. But maybe that was a good thing.

  We ended up outside of an old, white brick building that was five floors with two brown metal bay windows on each one. A fire escape zigzagged up the center, connecting the metal walkways under each window. Despite the fact that there were buildings like this on pretty much every street in New York City, I found myself growing angry with the owners for putting the tenant’s safety at risk. There had to be a better option for a fire escape than giving every motherfucker with a greedy or sick mind easy access to the renters. It was unlikely that Rowan would stop here at this time of night unless it was where she lived, but I hoped anyway.

  Rowan fished a set of keys from one of the pockets inside her jacket and I nearly groaned as she inserted a key into the ancient lock of the flimsy front door. Damn it. Of course, this was where she lived.

  She jiggled the key several times and started swearing angrily in Russian again. Finally, the lock gave and she was able to turn the key before her foot met the door, sending it flying and crashing into the wall.

  My lips curved up at the display of fire. She was so little, but her indignation was big, and with her litany of Russian curses, I had no doubt this woman got herself into her fair share of predicaments with that temper. The whole package was as cute as it was sexy, but it also made her an easy target for people who preyed on those that were smaller than them. The idea of her in danger was almost enough to bring me to my knees and my wolf howled in my ears, raging at the thought. Maybe fate had paired us with Rowan because she obviously needed someone to protect her.

  Surprisingly, I found that I liked the idea. I’d known she was my mate for less than an hour, technically hadn’t even met her yet, but somehow it was enough time for me to do something I’d truly believed I’d never do.

  I was rapidly warming to the idea of taking a mate. My body was already on fire for her, but it wasn’t the driving force beneath my desire to claim Rowan—a big fucking part, but not the only one. She intrigued me and I liked the idea of getting to know her, being her protector, and her friend.

  She finally stomped into the building and shut the door behind her. I was half a block away, but I had some measure of relief when my shifter hearing picked up the click of the lock as the mechanisms fell into place.

  I watched the windows and when a light turned on, I figured it was a pretty safe assumption that the apartment belonged to her, so I meandered down the sidewalk and sat on the stoop of the building across the street.

  I debated going straight to her and explaining I was her true mate, then talking her into going back home to Silver Lake with me while we figured everything out. What bothered me about that was when she’d arrived at the lobby with Nathan, she’d seemed distressed and her display in the portal network also gave me pause. It was likely that she was exhausted, worried over something, and probably extra stressed to be carrying the weight alone. As much as I wanted to go to her and promise I’d take care of whatever was troubling her, I also didn’t want to hit her with too much when she wasn’t in the right frame of mind to receive a life-altering revelation. I decided to wait and watch over her for the night. Tomorrow would be soon enough. What was one more day when you had hundreds of years ahead of you?

  One day, when my future self looked back at this moment, they were going to laugh at my arrogance—and my ignorance. A hard road didn’t begin to describe the path I would travel with Rowan.

  15

  Rowan

  After a night of tossing and turning, I’d woken later than planned. Although. taking my time and procrastinating in the morning wasn’t because I was tired, it was a result of my reluctance to face Jude without the news of Dorian’s death. And I really hated asking him for help.

  My teeth were grinding as I paced outside Jude’s office that afternoon. Miranda threw me an exasperated glance as she walked by but didn’t bother suggesting I sit down and wait quietly. The last time we tried that, I tapped my foot, drummed my hands on the armchair, and constantly interrupted her to voice my thoughts or ask questions. We’d both learned that the best solution to maintaining everyone’s sanity was to let me pace in silence.

  Ten minutes later, Jude opened his office door and Hades came bounding out, nearly knocking me over when he put his paws up on my shoulders. “Ewwwww. Hades!” I shouted with a laugh when he licked my face with his slobbery tongue. “You’re going to knock me over!”

  I scratched behind his ears and he gave me one more kiss before dropping to all fours. Then he flopped onto the ground and rolled over, his tongue hanging adorably out of the side of his mouth. Who could resist that? I crouched down and scratched his belly.

  “Rowan.” Jude interrupted my little love-fest with Hades, who then ambled over to lay down in his bed beside the desk.

  Jude backed up a few steps and swept his hand into his office. I accepted his invitation and strode through the door where I was once again drawn to his chessboard. It really was remarkably similar to the one in Nathan’s office and I couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation as to how they both could have a set carved by the same person. Swiveling around, I studied Jude as he crossed the room and gave Hades a quick pat before taking a seat. Was this another sign that he knew more than he was willing to admit? My magic vibrated, practically calling me an idiot.

  Yeah, Yeah. I know. Dumb question.

  Jude always knew more than he was willing to share.

  “What can I do for you, Rowan?”

  I bit my lip and tried to come up with one last-ditch effort to figure out a way to handle this without his help. I’d spent most of the night before doing the same thing, with no luck. And it didn’t work now either. With a huff, I dropped into a chair in front of his desk and crossed one leg over the other. It bounced as I tapped my finger against my lips, contemplating how to go forward. I was still pretty peeved at the way he’d been dancing around his theories with me the last time we met. Add that to my abhorrence of asking for help, and the petty bitch inside me was begging to come out and play.

  My legs uncrossed and recrossed as I tried to relax and get conformable. “I had a little incident with Dorian last night.”

  Jude raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair; his steady gaze locked onto my face. “Oh?”

  My magic thumped and puffed, as if falling to the ground into a pile of pixie dust, clearly too annoyed with Jude to pay him any more attention. My jaw was locked so tight, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Miranda heard my teeth grinding from the next room. Assumptions were a bitch and I tried to avoid them, but sometimes I let my temper get the best of me and misread a situation. But at my magic’s reaction, I didn’t think I was far off base in recognizing the patronizing tone he’d spoken in.

  “If you already know what happened, why must you make me retell it?” I sighed.

  “What makes you think I know anything about this incident?”

  My eyes drifted over to the chessboard for a beat before returning to see Jude still watching me with intense focus. “Actually, what happened doesn’t r
eally matter,” I decided out loud. “What I need is for you to give me more information about Dorian.”

  “And what—"

  I jumped to my feet and shouted, “If you answer one more question with a question, so help me, Jude, I’m going to put a fucking hex on you and sell your voodoo dolls to every depraved asshole on the internet!”

  My magic started bouncing to the beat of “Get the Party Started.”

  “You’re not coming out!” I hissed as I rolled my eyes.

  “Pardon?”

  My eyes whipped back to Jude’s face and I almost blushed at being caught with my crazy showing. Yelling at the boss was never a good idea.

  Shockingly, Jude looked slightly amused.

  “Um, nothing. Just singing to myself. Sorry about that. Anyway, can you at least tell me if there was any word of Dorian from other E.V.I.E. cells, or wherever else you have informants, before he started terrorizing New York City? The Jungle of Nool? California? No Name, Colorado? Ohio? Timbuk-fucking-tu?”

  Jude scratched his chin as he thought for a minute. “Ohio? That was an interesting choice to throw out there.”

  What the actual fuck? Of all the names, he’d zeroed in on the state where Emerald lived? I kept my expression deadpan and shrugged. “Personally, I’d have been more interested in The Jungle of Nool.” It was a city in Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss. I loved his nonsensical mind. I’d even traveled to meet him once upon a time.

  “As a matter of fact, I did hear a few rumors of his MO in the Midwest. Ohio in particular. Why do you ask?”

  I swallowed hard, suddenly anxious to call Emerald again. I’d tried to call both her and Vi last night with no answer. Emerald wasn’t a witch and that was always Dorian's target, but he had her amulet. Things just weren’t adding up and it was starting to drive me crazy.

  “Just curious if I missed something,” I explained.

  Jude studied me without speaking while Hades perked up and padded over to sit beside him. Jude’s eyes remained trained on me, but he gently petted Hades’ head. Finally, he broke the tension-filled silence. “I know Dorian got away. And I have a feeling I know how. So, tell me the rest of the story, Rowan.”

  A picture of Emerald’s amulet floated through my mind as I debated how to explain without bringing her into it. “Obviously, Vi explained that we come from another realm and that our amulets are the key to those portals.” Jude nodded, listening intently. “We tried for so long to return but we were never able to figure out how we’d activated the portal to another realm in the first place. Last night, Dorian disappeared through one of those portals and…”

  I hadn’t had a chance to tell Vi about this and I hated sharing it with Jude first. “Eventually, I realized I’d followed him to the realm where I was born. I didn’t understand what the fuck was happening until I saw him open a random portal on a city wall.”

  Jude cocked his head to one side. “Something you have been able to do because of your amulet.

  “Right. But the thing is, the amulets are tied to their owners and creators.” I grasped the chain that held my magical pink sapphire and withdrew it from my shirt. “The E.V.I.E. portals are white.”

  I held up the gem so he could clearly see the color. “When I create a portal, it’s pink. Vi’s are purple—matching her amethyst.”

  “What color was Dorian's portal?” Jude inquired; his expression thoughtful.

  My mind raced…telling him the color wasn’t a problem, right? I slipped my amulet back into my top as I answered. “Green. Like the emerald stone in the amulet.” I was proud of the fact that my voice hadn’t wavered when I’d said her name. I also held back the information about the rainbow colored portals that took us to the other realm. Perversely enjoying knowing something Jude didn’t.

  Rubbing a hand over his jaw, Jude’s eyes showed the level of his shrewd perceptiveness even before he asked, “Who does it belong to?”

  Fuck, fuck, fuck. “That doesn’t matter. The point is that he has it and I don’t know how he obtained it or what he wants with it. If portal hopping was his only intention, why kill all of the witches?”

  “I think we need to return to our conversation from the other day, Rowan,” Jude declared, leaning back in his chair and observing me with an unreadable expression.

  At first, I was relieved he’d moved on from the original owner of the necklace…until his words sank in. The conversation he was referring to had been a strong source of the rage that had caused me to beat the shit out of my friend two days ago.

  My eyes narrowed, and I pressed my lips together, attempting to think before I spoke. Or say nothing at all. If you can’t say something nice and all that…

  “Rowan, I’m very aware of how capable you are. You’re an asset to E.V.I.E. That being said, I think it’s time to assign you some backup.”

  “I work alone,” I grumbled. Thinking about the amulet and Dorian’s ability to use portals to travel to another realm, I was starting to suspect that the only way to take him down would be to use my magic. If he had an amulet, it was going to take power. Power I still didn’t want anyone knowing the extent of.

  “I’m the only one pow—strong enough to take him down,” I blurted.

  Gavno. I silently cursed at my impulsiveness.

  There had probably been a better way to state that without opening myself up to questions and clarifications. Subtlety wasn’t my strong suit, but I usually pulled it out when the occasion called for it. It had definitely been called for this time. I braced myself for Jude’s next question, assuming he was going to want to know why only I could find and kill Dorian.

  I was scrambling, trying to come up with a better explanation than “because I said so.” The truth certainly wasn’t an option.

  “What about Violet?”

  My heart stuttered and my brain skidded to a stop. My magic fluttered nervously, heating the amulet, and I was grateful I’d tucked it beneath the cowl neckline of my black sweater because I was sure it was glowing. It was taking a lot of effort to keep a tight hold on my magic so that a purple aura didn’t suddenly surround me. It was harder to hide how powerful I was when people could feel the potency of my magic as it engulfed my body and the area around me. And, of course, there was the whole radioactive luminescence thing.

  I restrained myself from putting a comforting hand over my amulet by planting them on my hips. “I’ll admit that Violet is probably one of your very best slayers, but I promise, even she doesn’t have what it takes to handle Dorian.”

  Vi had unique and powerful abilities in her own right, but she didn’t possess magic, and she couldn’t sense Emerald’s amulet. And, fuck, she had her own huge fucking problem to deal with. Cassius was a deadly son of a bitch and the truth was, not being able to speak with Vi was fraying my nerves.

  “I suppose that’s true. Dorian has…abilities that I thought you were uniquely suited to fight.” It seemed we’d circled back to the crypticrap. If Jude had information about Dorian, shouldn’t he be sharing that shit with me?

  “Explain,” I demanded.

  “Just theories, Rowan. I don’t like to speculate.”

  “Your only advice is to drag another slayer into this mess?”

  “You’ll know more when I know more.”

  I nearly snorted at the absurdity of that statement. I’d know more when Jude wanted me to know more.

  “Why don’t I assign Camden to back you up?” he proposed. “Or Denica? Maybe Dorian needs a different sort of slayer tracking him.”

  Denica was a dragon shifter and a slayer. Normally, she—along with Cam—was one of the few people I would agree to work with. Not this time. I wasn’t going to involve anyone else in this shit show.

  Particularly as it would expose my past and just because Jude had figured it out didn’t mean I was open to sharing it with anyone else. With a sharp shake of my head, I stomped to Jude’s desk and leaned my palms on the top, staring him in the eye with a fatal gleam.

  “This i
s my fight, Jude. I created that amulet and I can destroy it if that’s what it takes to burn Dorian to the ground.”

  I wasn’t sure what repercussions destroying the amulet might have on me. It was one thing for the slayer to do it, but my magic was tied so tightly with the enchantments that it would be almost like breaking a mating bond. I didn’t know if I would survive it, but I’d do it if it meant keeping the world we’d left from invading this new one. I would do whatever it took to protect Emerald and Violet.

  “I expect you to check in soon, Rowan. The longer it takes you to do your job, the more witch’s lives are in jeopardy.”

  I wanted to yank on my hair and scream. Like I didn’t fucking know that! I only thought about it every hour of every day that Dorian was still breathing. Jude had been no help again, and despite Vi coming relatively clean with him, I was still being subjected to his smooth way of dancing around the truth. It was rubbing my temper raw and it didn’t help that my magic was rattling its cage and practically begging to be allowed to turn his dick purple. Just the right shade, so he’d curse me every time he saw it. And wasn’t that a pleasant thought?

  Jude’s eyes narrowed when the corners of my mouth involuntarily curved. Mashing my lips together, I raised my chin a notch, stubbornly daring him to threaten to take away my mission again. I was clenching my jaw so hard it was surprising that I didn’t crack a tooth.

  “I’ll get it done,” I seethed. Then I did an about-face and tromped out of his office.

  I had no plan, but I was more determined than ever. I wanted to send Dorian to the ferryman—who would hopefully drown him in the River Styx—and move on with my life.

  16

  Jax

  Letting Rowan out of my sight—relatively speaking since I couldn’t see through her building—wasn’t an option, so I had to improvise on how to get through the night. I was likely to draw the attention of the police if I lingered on the stoop across the street for too long. My first choice was to climb the fire escape and set up camp just outside her window. Sadly, that had the potential to cause the same problem. Ultimately, I decided to shift and hide in an alley between two buildings not far up the road. By this time, my wolf had calmed enough that I wasn’t worried he’d make a move. He was content at being close enough to watch over her.