by Juniper Hart
She wandered out to the main part of the house, where she found Eddy and Reuben talking. Cara sat down to join them. Eddy shared a variety of stories from Reuben’s childhood that made both of them laugh.
Cara felt lucky that she was given this glimpse into Reuben’s life because it made her understand him better and love him deeper. Many of the stories included Reuben’s parents, and Cara learned that he had a doting mother and a father that seemed kind and attentive. She didn’t understand why he’d left such a wonderful family.
Eddy asked Cara all about herself, but she could tell he was just trying to be nice. Reuben, on the other hand, was listening to everything she said, soaking in as much information about the woman he loved as he could.
Cara felt like Eddy was rating her on whether or not she was good enough for Reuben. She thought she had gotten a good score because he warmed up to her even more about halfway through the night.
Finally, as the night started to close and the conversation started to wind down, Eddy asked the question Cara had been hoping he’d ask, “So what’s the plan if you aren’t going to see your father? Ezekiel’s not to be toyed with. He’ll find you eventually. Not to mention, Adrianna is no walk in the park. Are you just going to keep jumping around?”
Reuben sat back; he looked like he’d been expecting and dreading the question.
“I’m not sure. I really screwed up, Eddy. He won’t stop till we’re dead.”
“So kill him,” Eddy said.
Reuben frowned. “I didn’t expect that answer from you.”
Eddy turned serious, “Let’s be honest, he’ll just keep burning through his clan’s fortune until you two little lovebirds are brought to justice. He isn’t going to forgive and forget anytime soon. He’s got eternity, literally, to end you two.” He put his feet up on the coffee table. “Maybe his replacement will be a little more reasonable.”
Reuben stood up.
“I see your point, but we can’t do anything about it tonight. And by the way, I am going to need your help tomorrow. I left my wallet at the hotel last night and I couldn’t go back for it. I need access to my accounts. Can you ask your contacts to switch all of my money and investments into the name of a new alias? I will need identification as well.”
“Of course, Reuben. We can take care of that first thing in the morning. Cara will need identification as well.”
“Give her access to all of my money as well,” said Reuben. “If anything ever happens to me, I want to make sure she is okay.”
“Why don’t you head upstairs now, dear?” Eddy suggested.
Cara obliged, but she heard the conversation as she made her way to the guest room.
“Reuben, you want to give her access to hundreds of millions of dollars? She seems sweet, but you barely know her,” said Eddy.
“That’s nothing compared to my father’s wealth. It’s not like I am leaving my other relatives destitute. Besides, you don’t understand, Eddy. She’s my mate. I’m nothing without her. If I die, she gets it all. If I live, we’ll enjoy it together.”
Reuben’s words touched Cara’s heart. She’s my mate. She could get used to that. Also, she had no idea Reuben was so wealthy. Mercenary work must have paid really well.
When Reuben finally came to bed, Cara cuddled up close to him to feel his warmth.
After a few minutes, Reuben spoke, “Do you think you’ll ever forgive me?”
His voice was so quiet that at first Cara thought he was asleep and just murmuring in his dreams.
“What?”
“Do you think you’ll ever forgive me for bringing you into all of this? With vampires, enchanted beasts and danger. I mean, you had a nice little life going, and then I stepped in and crushed it.”
“I don’t mind,” she said, but quickly regretted her response.
Reuben was clearly looking for some sort of affirmation or an acceptance of his backwards apology.
“That’s good,” he said, sounding defeated.
She collected her thoughts and tried to give him a better answer.
“Reuben, of course I forgive you. But there’s nothing to forgive. If anything, I should be thanking you. If it weren’t for you, I would have been dead. Because I have no family and no close friends, the vampires had me on their list as a safe victim to kill. Nobody would look for me if I died. Meeting you brought meaning back to my life. I was so lonely after my parents’ deaths that I was never able to connect with anyone. You changed that. You changed me for the better.”
8
The next morning, loud knocking on the door scared Cara half to death. Even Reuben looked startled, lunging awake.
“Wake up!” Eddy’s voice yelled. “Adrianna’s here!”
“Fuck!” Reuben screamed, jumping out of the bed.
He’d slept in his clothes in preparation of such an event. Cara had thought it was silly when he’d gone to sleep like that, but she promised herself she wouldn’t doubt him again as she hurried towards the front door trying to tug on the jeans Eddy had given her.
Adrianna was standing on the street in front of the house with a sour expression on her face. She looked like she’d been through hell since they’d seen her last. A large purple bruise had formed on her skin where Cara had shot her.
“Reuben,” she called. “Come out and give yourself up. Bring your little plaything, too. I’ve got two pairs of handcuffs right here. It’ll be nice and easy. I won’t hurt you or anything.”
“You don’t need to do this,” Reuben called.
She wiggled her fingers mockingly in a wave.
“Hey, Reubs. No, I don’t need to do it. I’m doing it for the money and because your little bitch shot me.”
Eddy yelled at her, “Get off my property immediately! I have rights.”
She was unimpressed.
“Call the cops. Or, better yet, sue me.”
Cara was starting to wish she’d remembered to grab her handgun, but it was too late. She couldn’t just say pause and run up to the room to get it.
“Ezekiel is a monster! You’re working for a psycho!” Cara screamed.
Reuben stepped in front of her protectively. “Cara, she doesn’t care. It’s all about the money.”
Adrianna reached behind her back and pulled out her whip, which crackled loudly as the strange blue energy formed around it. Her tattoo lit up with it.
“Hard way, huh? It’s always the hard way.”
Eddy fired a gun. Adrianna, unaffected, kept walking straight through the path of bullets leading to the house. The bullets pinged off a shield that pulsed into existence.
“Oh, disappointed?” she asked. “Sorry. I don’t make mistakes twice.”
Reuben stepped up.
“Don’t do this, Adrianna!”
“Enough with the pleading,” she said. With one crack of her whip, she sliced Eddy’s gun in two. Cara was sure she could have easily lopped Eddy’s hand off instead.
She was toying with them. She knew Reuben couldn’t shift in the daylight, and Eddy appeared to be just a man. Did he have enchanted blood? Maybe, but he didn’t appear to have any powers. So their defense was two humans that were small in stature and one werewolf that couldn’t shift against a powerful assassin that obviously knew what she was doing. Not good. Not good at all.
Reuben slammed the door shut, and they dashed towards the back of the house.
“What the hell are you doing?” Eddy snapped.
“Can’t fight her here,” Reuben told him as he pulled open the back doors. “She’s got way too much power and I can’t shift!”
“Seriously?” Adrianna shouted. “Are you seriously running? What happened to you, Reubs? You used to have a pair.”
She dashed after them, and Reuben finally realized they weren’t going to outrun her anytime soon. If he was by himself, he probably could have stayed out of her reach, but he wasn’t alone. He had Eddy and Cara with him.
Still in human form, he charged the assassin. She looked startl
ed as he managed to tackle her to the ground. Her back slammed into the coffee table, which shattered into a million splinters under their weight. She kicked him off and swung the whip at him. He barely managed to scamper out of the way before it cleaved a white-hot hole in the concrete floor.
“That’s better,” she laughed. “Here I thought you’d gone soft!”
Eddy pulled open the desk drawer of a corner workstation and pulled out another gun. Cara supposed that old habits didn’t die easily – once a mercenary, always a mercenary. Whether he still practiced or not, it didn’t surprise Cara that Eddy still had at least a couple guns stashed around the house.
He fired a round of shots at Adrianna. She threw up a hand and immediately the bullets deflected away. The invisible shield was connected to her hand like a normal shield… except it was invisible. Cara wasn’t sure what she could do with that information, but she knew she had to try something. Reuben was trying to avoid her deadly whip that kept almost taking his head off. Judging by what it had done to the floor and furniture and everything else it touched, it’d slice him up like paper.
Cara’s heart was thumping in her chest. She couldn’t just let him get mauled in front of her! She decided – in what was one of the bravest and stupidest things she had ever done – to actually charge Adrianna. Before her brain could interfere, she started running towards her.
Adrianna didn’t even see her coming.
Cara planted her shoulder in Adrianna’s leg where she had shot her during the hotel confrontation. Adrianna let out a strangled yelp in what was the first sign of real human emotion that Cara had seen so far. Her leg buckled and she tumbled to the ground. She was back up with her whip a moment later, lashing out at Cara. She managed to scramble away, but the sparkling whip caught her hair. A lock fell to the ground, steaming hot.
“Bitch!” Adrianna yelled, trying to get to her feet. Her leg gave out for a second before she managed to secure her footing. Eddy was behind her in a moment, jerking the whip out of her hand. She twirled like an MMA fighter and slammed her heel into his jaw. He tumbled over the couch.
Before anyone could move, Adrianna had a combat knife in her hands. She held it like a trained professional.
Reuben, Cara, and Eddy all stepped back. Reuben was holding Adrianna’s whip. It was still sparking, but less than when she was holding it.
“Adrianna,” Reuben urged, “You can’t win! We have your whip. You’re unarmed and outnumbered. Give up now.”
Cara had to give it to Adrianna—she didn’t give up easy. She was still standing there with a determined expression, knife in hand.
“Reuben, we used to have so much fun together. What happened?” Adrianna looked at Cara with mock sympathy and laughed. “Oh, did your little girlfriend not know that?”
“Seriously, Reuben? Have you fucked every woman you’ve ever come into contact with? First Ezekiel’s sister and now her?” Cara asked.
Reuben looked at Cara, “What? No. I mean, yes… but, no. I don’t sleep with every woman.”
“Oh, look! I’ve created a lover’s quarrel!” Adrianna teased.
Reuben reared back the whip and struck it at her. She threw up her invisible shield, which deflected the whip that sent sparks flying.
“Give up, Adrianna!” Reuben snarled. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t give up on jobs,” she told him vehemently.
Her leg wasn’t working quite right. She was leaning on the other one, but Cara had no doubt that Adrianna could kick her butt with one leg, while blindfolded, and while tied up.
Reuben didn’t give up so easy. “Adrianna, you owe me.”
She spun the knife across her knuckles before catching it again. It didn’t do anything, but it looked cool as hell.
“Don’t,” she warned.
“I saved your life, Adrianna.”
“I told you not to go there!”
She grabbed the knife’s hilt and threw it straight at Cara.
Cara tried to dodge the attack, but it caught her in the side. The blade sank deep into her body, ice cold. She thought it’d hurt, but it didn’t at first. She just stared down at it, not really registering what had happened. She was vaguely aware of Reuben flickering into his werewolf form, dropping the whip, and jumping onto Adrianna.
Cara stepped back. She put her hands around the hilt and started to pull it out.
“No!” Eddy was beside her in a moment. “Don’t touch it!”
“Oh God,” she said. “Oh God. Oh, God. I…my…”
She could hear Reuben and Adrianna yelling at each other, pandemonium breaking out. She thought about sitting down before the pain started in her side.
Eddy kept giving her advice, but she wasn’t quite registering it. Everything was happening in slow motion, and she had a hard time making sense of Eddy’s words.
“You’re going into shock,” she heard him say. “Pay attention to my voice!”
Cara watched as Adrianna punched Reuben in the face, which only made him angrier. His form shifted into a werewolf again. He was only able to hold his werewolf form for about ten seconds at a time, but in those seconds, Reuben could do a lot of damage. He grabbed Adrianna’s throat and dragged her to the swimming pool, dunking her head underwater. Adrianna had been unarmed at some point. Cara wasn’t sure when, but she couldn’t focus because the pain from her stab wound was starting to kick in.
“Wait!” she heard herself say. Adrianna’s legs were flailing as she tried to break free, but Reuben was entirely too strong in his werewolf form. There was no way she could break free.
“Don’t kill her,” managed Cara.
“You need to be quiet and stop exerting yourself,” Eddy said. “Just listen to me. Focus on me. You’ve been badly injured. I know how to treat wounds like this. You’re just going to need to trust me.”
Cara saw Adrianna’s legs go limp. Her hands rolled to her sides listlessly into the pool. Reuben wasn’t done. He kept holding her underwater for twenty more seconds before tossing her back towards the house. Her limp frame busted through the glass door. She didn’t move again.
Cara tried to stay conscious, but her world quickly became blurry and darkness closed in from all sides.
“No!” Eddy yelled. “Stay with me! Stay with—”
And with that, her world went dark.
9
Cara’s nightmares were horrific, piecing together the violence and terror she had witnessed since meeting Reuben. She couldn’t break free. At times, she knew she was dreaming, but in the next moment, the nightmares seemed entirely real.
Cara began to pass in and out of reality. When she opened her eyes the first time, Reuben and Eddy were yelling at each other. The small part of her brain that was functioning figured they were arguing about something. She tried to tune in to hear what they were saying.
Reuben gestured to her, and both men ran to her side. She appeared to be on a couch in Eddy’s home. She moved her hands to where the knife had pierced her side. She couldn’t feel it. It felt like bandages had covered it up. One stabbing pain later, she pulled her hands away.
Reuben screamed, “She needs a hospital! Look at her! I can’t lose her, Eddy! You don’t understand.”
“We can’t take her to a hospital!” Eddy replied fiercely. “You put her in there and Ezekiel will find her within an hour. Trust me, Reuben, I can do more than any hospital.”
She zoned back out. When she came to again, her body was jolting around. She tried to move and felt a stabbing pain in her side.
“Reuben…” she muttered. “Reuben, where are you?”
Cara was lying in the backseat of a car she didn’t recognize. When she turned her head, she saw Reuben driving and his frame was rippling with musculature like when he tried to hold in rage.
“I’m telling you, the cops didn’t see us,” Reuben barked.
Eddy was seated next to Cara.
“She’s awake!” he called to Reuben.
Eddy’s hands wer
e hovering over her injured side with a green energy coming from his palm to the wound.
“Cara, can you hear me?” He swore. “I don’t think she can hear me.”
“How’s the wound healing?” Reuben asked.
Cara saw treetops passing by the window.
“Is she healing?”
“Yes,” Eddy said. “She’s healing. Slowly. Her body’s fighting me, but she’s going to be fine. I think.”
“Eddy, please try harder. Don’t let her die,” Reuben demanded, obviously panicked.
“I’m doing the best I can, Reuben,” answered Eddy, who remained calmed.
Cara blacked out again.
When Cara opened her eyes, she guessed it must have been hours later. She was no longer in a car. Instead, she was lying on a bed in a room that she didn’t recognize. Reuben was sitting beside her, stroking her head. He wasn’t looking at her. He was staring off at the blank wall of what she could only assume was a hotel. But when she moved, she didn’t instantly wince from the cut in her side. In fact, she almost felt… fine except for exhaustion.
“Where are we?” Cara said.
Her lips were dry. She felt like she’d attempted to eat sandpaper while unconscious.
Reuben looked down at her and grinned.
“Cara! You’re awake!” He leaned down to kiss her forehead. “How do you feel?”
She tried to sit up. He helped her gently.
“I don’t know how, but I feel surprisingly good. Almost healthy.”
She touched the spot on her side where the knife had been. Someone had ripped the cloth away from the spot and bandaged it. It was tight, but not too tight. Well done. She’d spent a little time studying to be a paramedic before realizing she had no stomach for it. She recognized a good wrap when she saw one. She couldn’t even feel the incision. It was like it had simply gone away.
“Eddy fixed you up,” he told her. “He wasn’t sure if he could because you were hurt pretty bad.”
She blinked. “How?”
“He’s a mage,” Reuben said. “That’s how he met my father. When my mother gave birth to me, we both nearly died. Eddy saved us both. That’s why he’s my godfather.” Reuben paused. “Now he’s saved you.”