They Call Me Death

by Missy Jane

  I gathered only weapons and two changes of clothes. Andor collected as much food as he could carry on his back, which was damn near all of it, and we walked out of my building. Andor was dressed in a pair of my husband’s old jeans and a T-shirt. It hurt to see how well the outfit fit him, but I tried not to dwell on it. Saving a few outfits had seemed natural at the time while I was grieving. I realized it was past time to move on. I didn’t have any shoes for Andor, but he assured me his feet would be fine on any surface. I had to take his word for it.

  We headed to BPC first so I could give notice of my leave. Andor was very much against the idea but I couldn’t think of a way around it. If I just disappeared, I would either be considered AWOL or kidnapped, neither of which would bode well for us. I decided a little honesty couldn’t hurt. Besides, I had three years of accumulated personal leave available to me. I wasn’t sure exactly how much time off that amounted to, but it would be enough to get us out the door for a while without repercussions from the CHS army. Andor relented when he realized I was going with or without him, and dutifully walked beside me to the office door.

  “Are you sure they won’t notice your bare feet or your eyes?” I asked for the third time.

  Andor gave me an impatient look and nodded.

  “I promise you, Alexia, I have had nearly three hundred years to perfect my skills.”

  “Okay,” I said with a sigh, pulling the door open and stepping into the office.

  Commander Wayne was seated behind the desk, looking as if he hadn’t moved a muscle in the past eight hours. He looked up as we entered, smiling at me and then frowning as he took in Andor’s rumpled appearance.

  “Williams, what are you doing here? Your shift doesn’t start for hours.”

  I took a deep breath, gave him a weak smile and wrapped my arms around Andor’s waist. He placed his arm across my shoulders and pulled me into his side as if we were long lost lovers.

  “Williams?”

  “Commander, this is Andy Olson. He’s my boyfriend—”

  “Fiancé,” Andor corrected.

  “Right, fiancé, I’m still having trouble getting used to that,” I said with a giggle, startling both men and myself.

  “Fiancé?” Wayne asked in shock.

  “Yes, sir, he popped the question this morning and I said yes.”

  “Oh. Well…congratulations.”

  “Thank you, sir. As you well know I’ve never taken leave before, sir, not in the whole time I’ve been active—”

  “Yes, I know. You’re one of my most dedicated.”

  “Thank you, sir. Well, seeing as how I need to prepare for my wedding—”

  “And we wish to spend some time alone together before that craziness happens,” Andor added helpfully.

  “Oh yes, we want some time, so I’d like to take leave starting immediately.”

  Commander Wayne continued to stare at us for a moment, and I almost began to panic. Then he blinked as if coming out of a trance and looked at a paper in his hands.

  “Well, this is most unexpected, and a little unprecedented. I mean normally these things take time, and advance notice…permission, signed forms…” He mumbled to himself as he began to shuffle papers on his desk. “Well, luckily, Williams I was considering a transfer for you away from this zone,” he said.

  “You were?” I asked in honest-to-goodness shock.

  “Yes. After this morning’s activities with Slavici, I thought it best to separate the two of you.”

  I was tempted to point out that making me leave wasn’t fair when it was Lucian who caused the problem, but I kept my mouth shut.

  “I know you have your building to consider, but that can be taken care of. However, since you wish to take a leave anyway, I think doing so might allow this whole thing to blow over. And once you return, married at that, Slavici is bound to be a reformed man.”

  I tried not to choke at his declaration, Andor’s grip on my shoulder tightened.

  “So I can leave, sir?” I asked.

  “Yes. Uh… How long do you need?”

  I looked at Andor.

  “A few weeks at least,” he said.

  “Yes, a few weeks,” I agreed.

  “Fine, fine. Let’s say four months?”

  My mouth dropped open but nothing came out.

  “Perfect,” Andor replied.

  “Great. Williams, if you’ll sign here.”

  Ten minutes and five signatures later, we were on our way out the door and toward the checkpoint. We convinced the Commander we were heading into Circe for some R and R, but I didn’t think the explanation would cut it with the guards. It took Andor one flash of his beautiful golden eyes to convince the guards we had legitimate business in Circe, and they were not to remember our faces. His powers of persuasion continued to unnerve me.

  I realized Andor did have incredible power, but he also had amazing control. It would’ve been nothing for him to use those powers on me, but he never had. From the moment we met he’d remained honest with me in actions and words. I watched his wide, muscular back as we made our way through the checkpoint and into shifter lands and wondered…what the hell have I gotten myself into?

  Chapter Ten

  Circe, a city of shifters, what can I say to do it justice? During the daylight hours it looked like any other border city of its remarkable size. People bustled back and forth in the streets, presumably between work and home. It had a spread of suburbs like any normal city and even its own ghetto. I was surprised to see art galleries and even a museum in Circe. The human side of the continent was still trying to get its cultural base established again. I hadn’t even heard of a fully formed orchestra in CHS. Circe had its own orchestra and dance company. They were the main attraction at the hub of activity in Circe, Animal Menagerie.

  The Animal Menagerie was something between a nightclub and a circus. Shifters and humans alike converged on the place every night to rub elbows with each other and ogle the sights. Located to the east of the red zone, it was the only building open to both sides of the wall. There was a team of five men who guarded the gate leading into the Menagerie at all times. I’d pulled that duty once, and only once. It was enough of an eyeful to last me two lifetimes. The commander and I had an unspoken agreement I would never guard that gate again. I’d added three kills to my scorecard that night.

  Andor led me well away from Animal Menagerie and the red zone. We crossed the Serpent River and continued into the open wilderness that had reclaimed most of the shifter lands. I stayed close to Andor and he all but gripped me to his side. I got a few second glances in the city, but for the most part we were ignored by everyone. We were two more people trying to get through Circe without hassle, and without being noted by those around us.

  It took three days of walking all night and sleeping a few hours during daylight for us to reach our destination. The first night had been hard for me. I hadn’t been beyond the wall since it was raised, and sleeping in shifter lands unnerved me. Andor seemed to sense this even though I fought like hell to hide my emotions. He insisted on taking watch for most of the day while I slept, or tried to sleep. He only slept two hours for every twenty, and I wondered how long his body and mind could handle that kind of schedule. Luckily, I never found out.

  As the sun began to rise on the morning of our fourth day, Andor stopped on a hilltop in the vast wasteland that was once southern Colorado. I stepped up beside him and looked into the tree-covered valley below us, noticing the brown shingles of a roof almost completely concealed in the woods.

  “Is that it?” I asked, still panting from our latest five-hour trek.

  “Yes,” he replied, before striding forward toward the tree line.

  I followed him in silence as he walked an overgrown path which may have once been a gravel road. It wound through the trees smoothly, before stopping at an eight-foot wrought iron gate. The gate was locked with a thick padlock so rusted I knew there would be no removing it. However, it wasn’t a problem for
us as most of the fence on either side of the gate had fallen to the ground.

  Andor stepped over the fence without looking back at me, his eyes focused on the building before us. It was a three-storied work of art, one of those modern houses that screamed expensive architecture. I couldn’t help but gape at it as I followed him along the gravel driveway.

  “This was my wife’s idea, her design,” Andor said quietly as we walked up to the front door.

  It was painted a bright red, with whorls of white hiding the doorknob. Windows were scattered all over the face of the house, giving the illusion there could be anywhere from one to five levels inside its walls. It was impossible to even guess at the number of rooms from staring at the huge building.

  “Was she an architect?” I asked cautiously, not even certain if I should refer to her in the past tense.

  “No, an interior decorator. However she did have quite an interest in fine art,” he replied.

  He turned the knob and the door opened without the slightest protest, making me wary of our surroundings.

  “Do you think anyone’s here?” I whispered.

  “No. I’ve had someone taking care of it for the past few months, but he cannot be traced back to me nor does he know who I am.”

  “Does he know to expect you?”

  “It wouldn’t matter if he did. He died in his sleep six days ago.”

  “And you don’t find that suspicious?”

  “No. He was eighty-seven and human.”

  “Oh.”

  Andor closed the door behind us and locked it, then led me through the house. It had been nearly stripped bare of furniture and all the usual comforts of home. Andor gave me a tour of the entire building, before leading me to the kitchen pantry. It was the size of a walk-in closet and bare, causing me to frown as Andor stepped into it. I was about to question him when he reached for a top shelf and pressed the wall above it. A small panel in the far wall shifted, revealing a hole in the floor with steps leading down.

  “Follow me,” he said.

  I followed him, of course. What choice did I have? But I didn’t like it. Small cramped spaces aren’t my favorite thing, especially in the dark. My heart began to beat faster the farther down we went, until I was nearly choking on my fear. I had my gun in my hand without even realizing it and my eyes felt like they were bulging.

  “Alexia, what is it?” Andor asked, stopping in front of me abruptly.

  I stepped into him and then quickly backed up a step.

  “N-nothing… Are we almost there?”

  If my heart rate hadn’t already given me away to his superior hearing, the tremor of my voice certainly did. I felt him turn toward me and take my free hand in his. He pulled me onto the step beside him, which was almost too narrow for us to stand together. I felt his strong arms come around me as he held me to his chest.

  “Are you afraid of the dark?” he asked gently.

  “N-no. Well, maybe… Y-yes, and the enclosed space,” I confessed.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing my eyes and letting myself feel the strength in his arms.

  “We still have a few feet to go, but we can walk together, all right?”

  “Y-yes. Together would be good.”

  I felt Andor shift his weight and took the step with him, nearly plastered to his side. We walked together, step by step, in a rhythm unbroken by either of us. I smiled at the easy synchronization we found, carefully keeping my mind off his warmth. Within minutes, Andor pulled me to a stop and slid his free hand along the wall. He didn’t let go of me until the room became flooded with light, and then he seemed reluctant.

  “Whoa.”

  It was all I could say as I glanced around the underground den hidden beneath the house. It was larger than my loft and full of dust-cover shrouded lumps I took to be furniture. Andor began removing the covers as I took a look around. There was a kitchen off to one side as large as the one upstairs. A dining table big enough to seat eight separated it from the living room, which housed two full sleeper sofas. On the far side of the room I saw a four-poster king-sized bed canopied in black silk. I looked away from the seductive sight quickly, hoping I wouldn’t blush. There was only one other door, which I soon found led to the largest bathroom I’d ever seen. The sunken tub was big enough for ten people with a separate shower beside it.

  “This room has remained hidden through the years. It was never included in the blueprints,” Andor said.

  “I guess this was your home away from home?”

  He laughed bitterly.

  “I guess that’s one way to put it. Another would be to say it was my cage.”

  “Quite a cage.”

  “Yes. Well, as the saying goes about the gilded cage and all that.”

  “It’s still a cage,” I murmured.

  “Indeed.”

  “Who made this your cage, Andor?”

  He looked at me for a second, then away as he walked toward the bathroom.

  “My loving and devoted wife, after she learned she’d married an animal.”

  With that he walked into the bathroom and closed the door. I stared after him for a moment and wondered about the obvious story behind that statement. I was more than a little curious about Andor’s past, but it had long left the realm of professional curiosity. I began to think I might not want to know about his past as much as he most likely didn’t want to tell it. After all, I sure as hell wasn’t going to volunteer any information about my husband and son.

  I sat on one of the sofas and removed my socks and shoes, relishing in the freedom of being barefoot. I wished I had a tub to soak them in, but I was too tired to rummage through the kitchen for anything that might suffice. Before I knew it, I lay stretched on the sofa and my eyes were closing all by themselves. I felt more than heard Andor come out of the bathroom, the sight hidden beyond the back of the sofa.

  “Alexia?”

  I raised my hand to alert him to my position without bothering to get up.

  “You can take the bed and I’ll sleep here,” he said.

  “I’m too damn tired to move, Andor. Just take the bed,” I said with a yawn, my eyes now closed.

  I heard him chuckle then felt his arms around me and the solidity of the sofa disappeared. I grabbed his shirt as he lifted me in his arms.

  “Damn it! Warn me next time,” I yelped, my eyes flying open.

  “Next time? You think I plan on making a habit of carrying you around?” he asked with amusement.

  “You could’ve left me there. I was comfortable,” I replied, yawning again.

  “Perhaps, but you will be much more comfortable here.”

  He laid me on the bed and I couldn’t help the sigh of pleasure that escaped while I sank into the thick comforter. Andor chuckled again and pulled the edge of the comforter over me.

  “Sleep well, Alexia. Perhaps after we’ve rested we can sort through this mess.”

  I murmured my agreement, my eyes already closing.

  Chapter Eleven

  I don’t know how long I slept, but I woke to the smell of cooking meat. I couldn’t place it, and wasn’t entirely certain I wanted to, but after days of dried food it smelled like heaven. I sat up and saw Andor’s bare back moving around the open kitchen. His hair was pulled into a ponytail, and he was humming. I stood and stretched, wincing as my tired muscles protested the movement after my rest.

  “Good morning,” Andor called, leaving me momentarily confused.

  “Morning?”

  “Yes. It is currently 0300, which is technically morning.”

  “Damn. I slept the entire day away?”

  “Yes, as did I. I only woke an hour ago. Why don’t you take a shower to wake fully. This should be ready by the time you’re through.”

  I looked at the open bathroom door longingly. A shower sounded like paradise.

  “Yeah, all right,” I murmured.

  I grabbed my bag and went into the bathroom. Stepping into the shower, I moaned a
s the hot spray hit my back. It was definitely Eden. I closed my eyes and let the steam engulf me. It only took a few seconds for the reality of my situation to take over and leave me trembling on the floor of the shower. I was alone, with a shifter I barely knew, hidden underground in the land of my enemies. Even within the limits of CHS, I had no family and no real friends. The only people I spoke to were those I patrolled with, and then barely. Does anyone miss me, I wondered? Do they even know I’m gone? Lance’s face came unbidden into my mind and I thought about his curious behavior.

  “I’m nothing more than a conquest to him,” I whispered to myself, certain it was the truth.

  I began to question my reluctance to sleep with Lance. I hadn’t been with a man since my husband’s death, not even a stolen kiss. There hadn’t been any time for dating right away, but the past few months had been almost peaceful. Why did I keep pushing the men away from me, especially the obvious one-night stands? I knew I would never love anyone like I loved my husband, but for the first time I considered it might be time to move on in that department as well.

  “He would,” I said with more confidence, and knew it was true.

  My thoughts turned to the shifter in the next room. Despite not wanting to think of him in human terms, he was getting to me. Andor was so unlike any shifter I’d been exposed to. I’d been in kill mode where they were concerned for so long I didn’t know what to think of my ever-growing attraction to him. I forced myself to stop thinking about Andor, and considered Lance more strongly. I vowed then and there if I ever did return to Georgetown I would sleep with him. I don’t know why it felt like such a monumental decision at the time, but I swear a weight lifted from my shoulders. I felt lighter and calmer, as if the decision had been a burden for ages. In truth, I’d only given him a fleeting thought when we met two years before. He flirted with me and I brushed him off. Perhaps it was the illusion of control it gave me, or perhaps it was the promise of sex. Good sex if the rumors were true, and from the look of him in tight jeans they had to be. Most likely it was the thought of being with a human, while consciously ignoring a shifter. I ignored the spark of guilt that tried to flare.