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

by Lexi C. Foss

  By then, it was too late. Ahead of the truck, I yanked up the emergency brake and pulled the wheel to the side. The air filled with the scent of burning rubber. All four tires squealed.

  “Holy shit!” Alex grabbed the handle above her seat. Black lines of spent rubber tracked behind the vehicle as we drifted horizontally out in front of the oncoming truck. The high beams seared across my face. My whole field of vision went white.

  A horn blared. For a moment, I thought I had grossly miscalculated, and that we were good as dead. Temporarily invisible beside me, Alex drew a sharp breath. Then the screaming of brakes filled my ears. The sound was shrill and high, unbearable.

  But the moment of impact didn’t come. The next thing I heard was Alex’s door opening. “Move, Damien! They stopped!” She jumped out, hit the ground running. Still half blind, I followed. Bright spots danced mockingly wherever I looked.

  “Hey! What the hell are you doing, lady?” I recognized the voice booming from the truck as belonging to our groundskeeper. He was, presumably, yelling at Alex. “You could’ve gotten everybody killed!”

  “Oh, shut up. You look fine to me,” she answered. I glanced up in time to see her hop onto the hood and punch the center of the windshield in. The driver yelped as a wave of glass cascaded in onto him. I made a mental note to try and get him a raise—if my family didn’t disown me first.

  “Jesus! What do you want?” The groundskeeper cowered in the seat, arms up to protect his head. He stared at Alex, wild-eyed with panic. “My wallet? The truck?”

  Alex looked back at me. “Whatever you were bringing to Oak Harbor,” she said. “That’s what I want.”

  He stared at her, dumbfounded. One hand groped for the latch on the glove compartment, clumsily withdrew the pouch containing the watch, and held it up to her. I rubbed my eyes. His fingers trembled. “Fine, whatever. Take it. Just take it!” Now I understood why my father had felt the need to follow him. What he’d brought in anonymity, this man certainly lacked in bravado.

  And that reminded me: Father was probably going to show up any minute. I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled for Alex’s attention. She jumped down from the ruined truck and trotted over to me, grinning. “Don’t whistle at me, Damien. I’m not your dog.”

  I put my fingers quickly to her soft lips. “Keep your mouth shut. We need to split. The boss is coming.” Too late, it dawned on me that an employee of the estate would almost definitely recognize my car. That was a bridge we’d have to cross later. For now, it was time to get lost.

  It didn’t even matter that she had yet to hand over the watch. But she was a fool if she thought I hadn’t noticed.

  19

  Alex

  Damien drove back to my place with the headlights off. “Slow down,” I said as we crossed into Langley. “Just in case.” If the police got wind of an incident on the highway, they might send someone out. And even if they didn’t, I knew Damien’s car would stand out. When we reached the house, I had him pull all the way into the back.

  He killed the engine and we sat in silence for a little while. The watch rested quietly at the bottom of my bag, right next to my keys. “Who’s the boss?” I asked.

  “My father.” He said the word with no emotion, looking straight ahead out the windshield. “There will be hell to pay once he figures out what I’ve done.” He leaned back in the seat. “I don’t know if he’ll be able to accept that I did it to protect our family. So…I can’t go home for a while.”

  An unexpected twinge of sadness and sympathy squeezed my heart. I reached down into my bag and took the watch into my hand. Damien glanced at it, then at me. His eyes had softened some, though not enough to make me believe he was about to let the relic go. I lifted my eyes to his.

  “You still have to pay me for this. I’ll be holding onto it until the balance is settled in full.”

  “If you’re serious about that, so am I,” he replied.

  I leaned in toward him. “Of course I am.”

  Ten minutes later, the hallway leading to my bedroom was littered with discarded clothing. Damien tossed me gently down onto the bed, where I lay gazing up at his bare, godlike body. Bathed in moonlight from the window, he resembled a strange, modern take on classical sculpture, the clean, pale hue of his skin offset by the darkness of his hair, the rich, misty gold of his eyes.

  “Do you do this with human girls often?” I asked teasingly. He reached for me, but I dodged his hand and pulled him down next to me. “Doesn’t seem like it.” Quick as a fox, I straddled his hips, pressing down just enough so he could feel the wet softness between my legs.

  Damien exhaled, watching me closely. “You can’t be purely human,” he murmured. One hand traced its way slowly up my side. He stopped at the bracelet clamped around my wrist. My heart skipped a beat. I had been too preoccupied with other things to remember it might catch his attention.

  He picked my hand so he could get a better view. The next time his eyes met mine, they were full of intrigue and only a little suspicion. “Whatever you’re thinking, you’d better stop,” I warned. “Or else we’re going from lovers to fighters like that.” I snapped my fingers. He scrutinized the silver band once more, and then he let go.

  “I’ve never met a slayer like you.” He leaned back on my pillows and let me realign my hips. The soft, warm edge of his tongue caressed my breast, tugged at my nipple. I moaned, needing more, loving his attention.

  “Well, I’ve never gone to bed with a vamp, so that makes us even.” Reaching down, I stroked the proud strength of his cock, the size more than impressive. Wow!

  His eyes sharpened, and he took in a sharp breath. “You’re kind of making me think I’ve been missing out.”

  “I could tell you the same thing.”

  Damien kissed me, our mouths clashing, tongues tangled. We kissed hungrily like we might be caught out any moment, like this was forbidden. Well, it was, and something about that made it exhilarating. But I still refused to let him flip us over. During the struggle, his hips ground against mine. I gasped. How was it that I could go from teasing and independent to desperate for him inside me, all within the space of two seconds? Just another reason he pissed me off. And he seemed to know it.

  At least he let me stay on top. I rode him hard, gripping the headboard until my knuckles were white. No other man had ever gotten me to make the kinds of noises I made in that bed with Damien Leclair. He was all over me, his hands and mouth everywhere. Oh, and that wicked tongue drove me insane. My fingers curled into fists in his thick hair. The bedsprings creaked, but I couldn’t have cared less. We fucked hard like nothing else mattered, like this was way overdue, like we were always meant to end up in my bed.

  The orgasm hit me hard all at once, knocking the breath from my lungs. I stiffened against him, clenched my thighs onto his hips, crying out with pleasure. Damien grunted and grabbed me by the waist as I came thunderously on top of him, squeezing him, convulsing. I writhed with ecstasy in his arms, floating and letting myself escape for those few moments. Float from everything except Damien and me.

  “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop. Oh, fuck!” The whole world disappeared for a moment of pure bliss. I wanted this moment to last and stretch out for as long as possible. When I returned to Earth, my whole body trembled, sheened with sweat. Damien laughed and kissed me in every place he could reach.

  “Maybe I should be paying you,” he teased.

  “Yeah,” I panted. “Maybe you should.” We disentangled our bodies and I melted down to the mattress beside him. “Oh my God. I haven’t been screwed like that in years.”

  “You’re welcome.” He pulled me close and pressed his lips to the top of my head. “To be honest, you needed it.”

  “Ugh. You’re a prick.” But I was smiling anyway. As it turned out, mind-blowing sex was still mind-blowing sex, even if it happened to be with a vampire. I rested my head against his broad, firm chest and closed my eyes. He was cool to the touch in a way that might have freak
ed me out if I wasn’t so consumed by the afterglow. Actually, it was weirdly refreshing, and although I hadn’t meant to, I drifted off to sleep right there.

  The next thing I knew, the dim light of start of the day dragged me into consciousness. I rolled over to get away from it, and in my half-sleep realized there was nothing between me and the mattress anymore. The place where Damien had lain however many hours before was empty. It took a second for my brain to catch up.

  Then I sat bolt upright. “Damien?” No way in hell would he be anywhere near the rising sun. At first, the room was hazy, my eyes still blurred by sleep. But in an instant, I saw the figure standing at the foot of the bed. That was about when I noticed the window was wide open. The loose drapes fluttered in a cold breeze. I covered myself.

  “Good morning, Alex.” Brina looked at me. “Sorry, girl. The party’s over.” She went to the closet across the room and pulled on the door, which I was positive had been ajar when I fell asleep. Something inside hissed angrily. “Come on out, Damien. You’re at the end of the line.”

  “What the fuck!” I leapt out of the bed, snatching up whatever clothes were nearest to me and shoving them on. “Who gave you the goddamn permission to break into my house while I was sleeping?” Brina turned toward me. I jerked open the drawer of my nightstand and grabbed the gun inside.

  She flinched just a little as I pointed it at her. “Alex…don’t tell me you really can’t see how messed up this is. You’ve been seduced by a vampire. Give it another couple days and I’m going to find your body in a ditch on the side of the road. You know the symptoms. Slash to the neck. No blood.”

  “I would appreciate it if you didn’t talk about shit you don’t understand.” I kept my voice as even as possible. The safety on my gun remained engaged, but I made it clear things didn’t have to stay that way.

  Brina fidgeted a bit. “I’m trying to help you,” she said quietly. “He’s lying to you, Alex. No matter what he said, he’s lying. It’s what they do.” She looked at me with honest compassion in her eyes. I felt my anger falter, then doubled down on it. All that understanding for me, and none for Damien? The guy was sheltering in a closet!

  “Let him out,” I ordered, figuring the sun was still rising and wasn’t fully out yet. “Right now.” She hesitated, so I cocked the gun. “Do not test me, sweetheart.”

  Moving as if it pained her to do so, Brina slid the closet door open to where Damien lay hidden under a blanket. I kept the gun trained on her and walked over.

  “Alex—” she began.

  I glared at her. “Shut up. Nobody likes you right now, and in case you forgot, this gun is loaded.” To Damien, I said, “I’m keeping the thing. You need to get out before Strawberry Shortcake here decides she’s not going to take this mutiny lying down.”

  Brina looked slightly put out. I didn’t care. Still pointing the weapon, I followed Damien, who held the blanket around himself and was already dressed, to the window. He climbed laboriously over the sill. She watched us from the other side of the room, clearly unhappy.

  “Are you going to be all right?” I brushed Damien’s hair out of his eyes.

  He grimaced. “I’ll be fine.” His eyes, now pale and dim, flicked to Brina. “Don’t let anything happen to the…”

  I nodded. “I won’t. But now you owe me for this, too.” That made him smile slightly. I took his face in my hands and gave him a kiss, no longer caring of Brina saw. She had almost definitely caught us in bed together anyway. “Sit tight out there. I’ll find you.”

  Then he was gone. I shut the window and faced Brina, prepared to slug it out. She sighed. Her shoulders slumped. The staff she carried leaned up against the closet door.

  “Look, Alex. I still don’t get it. But I can’t help feeling like I’m the bad guy here, and I think that means I should apologize. So I’m sorry.”

  “What did you think was going to happen?” I demanded. The gun was lowered, and I’d have been lying if I didn’t say I was relieved. Except in extreme circumstances, violence between slayers was an unspoken cardinal sin. I did not want to kill Brina any more than I had wanted her to kill Damien.

  She shrugged. “Well, I didn’t think you guys were fucking.” The statement was so disarmingly candid that most of my anger just deflated.

  I sat down on the edge of the mattress. “Yeah. Neither did I.”

  Brina snorted. “You know, I’m almost jealous, in a way. I’ve never been able to connect with them in any meaningful way. Not even as far as brokering a truce. And I bet if I could do that, it would make my job a lot easier.”

  “Stop jumping to so many conclusions, first of all,” I said. “You broke into my damn house, Brina. And the only reason you had it in your head to do that was because you’ve been stalking me.”

  She looked very uncomfortable and shifted on the bed. “I don’t like it when you put it that way.”

  “Of course you don’t. It makes you look wrong.” I sighed deeply. “Listen, this was a pretty dumb thing to do, but one mistake doesn’t make you bad at your job. I think you have a lot of potential if you keep honing your skills.”

  “Thanks.” Brina combed her fingers through her hair. “I know I need to lighten up sometimes. But it’s hard to do that as a woman in criminal justice. You get so wrapped up in trying to make your stupid, sexist colleagues take you seriously. At least, I did.”

  “That sucks,” I agreed. “But I mean, you’re tenacious and annoying as hell, so you’ll make a great cop.”

  Brina chuckled. “I prefer detective. Thanks, though.” She straightened up and came over to the bed. “No hard feelings?”

  “I guess not.” We shook hands.

  She smiled. “Awesome. Now, are you going to tell me what’s up with that watch?”

  I groaned. “Are you seriously—” But all of a sudden, her attention had shifted. She was staring past me, out the window. “What?”

  “Get down!” Brina tackled me to the bed. In the same instant, the windowpane burst inward, dusting us both with glittering splinters.

  20

  Alex

  In the wake of the shattering glass, everything was too quiet. Brina and I lay side by side across the bed, stunned.

  “This is bullshit,” I whispered out the side of my mouth. “First you, and now this?”

  “I said I was sorry,” she retorted. “There are at least three of them, but it’d be smart to expect more. And let’s make sure we know exactly where the watch is.”

  I grabbed it, triple looping the long pouch cords around my neck. “There. Now they’ll get it over my dead body.”

  “Which I’m sure they’ll see as a challenge,” she said.

  “Good.” I slipped my hand around the grip of my gun. The intruders hadn’t made a noise since breaking the window, but if they were vamps, that meant nothing. I had a feeling they were a lot closer than they seemed. And a moment or two later, they proved me right by blitzing the broken window.

  Brina was on her feet in a flash. She darted for her staff, whirled, and threw it at the first invader. An odd clicking sound punctuated the whish of the weapon through the air, and when it landed in the vamp’s shoulder, there was a spray of dark blood. I raised an eyebrow; I hadn’t known that thing was bladed.

  The vamp grunted, dropping down to one knee. Behind him, two more climbed across the busted frame. I popped up and fired a pair of shots. One silver-coated bullet grazed the first vamp’s cheek. Blood trickled, but more importantly, wisps of smoke rose from the scrape. He screeched, clutching his face.

  The other shot hit his companion square in the breastbone. The wound instantly began to burn, emitting wafts of acrid steam. Brina, who had pulled her staff out of its first target, finished the third vampire off before he could start to scream.

  “This is insane,” I told her. “It’s daylight. Is this watch filled with drugs and diamonds?” To my dismay, she’d been right after reinforcements. Another contingent of vamps was running toward the house, wrapped
head to toe to ward off the sun. All I could see was their glittering, jewel-like eyes.

  “My money’s on virgin blood,” Brina quipped. “But we have to stop this. The bodies aren’t going to disintegrate if they’re covered up like that, and we’ll be in some deep shit if your neighbors call the police.”

  She was right. There’d be a ton of explaining to do, and none of it would make any sense to a regular Langley cop. But I didn’t see a way out; in fact, as I thought about it, a long black car pulled smoothly up to the side of the road. The back door opened, and out stepped a man clothed entirely in black, a brimmed hat pulled way down low over his face. He had a beard, long gloves tucked under his sleeves, boots up to the knee.

  “Who the hell—?” I asked no one in particular.

  “Etienne Leclair,” Brina said softly. “We might be totally screwed.”

  I frowned. Was this man the one Damien had called ‘the boss’? He definitely looked the part. And he was coming straight for us. Every step he took across the grass seemed to make the lawn wilt where he walked. The breeze blowing through my broken window had dropped by ten degrees. I shivered, but tightened my grip on the gun.

  Etienne Leclair stopped twenty feet from the window. He stood with his shoulders square, lined up with me exactly. I watched mutely as he raised an outstretched hand. The hair on the back of my arms and neck stood on end. I felt the air start to hum, as if electrified.

  “I don’t know what he’s doing.” Panic crept into Brina’s voice. “I don’t know what he—”

  “Father, stop!” Damien’s voice startled all of us, including the man he was addressing. Etienne’s steady hand faltered as he looked toward the sound of his son, and the zinging hum died down. I took a deep breath, dimly aware of how narrowly I might have just escaped death. Standing next to me, Brina had a hand to her chest.

  “What is the meaning of this, boy?” the father demanded. I couldn’t see more than a dark sliver of his face, but I felt his awful glower. Damien stood in the road, covered in the blanket from the closet and in the shadows, unyielding.