Rose sighed heavily at Kara. She turned to the Assassin of Light, hoping to soften his resolve a little—or do some kind of damage control, at least. “You’ll have to forgive my girlfriend. She’s a bit trigger-happy with the battle-axe.”
Kara grinned at the human, as if he were a partner in crime—rather than the angry bigot she’d just kidnapped. “I love it when she calls me her girlfriend.”
Rose hid her smile. Kara certainly didn’t need any more encouragement. “We should wrap this up quickly. Preferably before we end up on the No-Fly List.”
He glared at Rose—or…at her shoulder, really. “You’re already on that.”
“What? Why?” Rose said, genuinely surprised. “I’m a model citizen!”
“You,” he paused, frowning. “You killed an entire army with your mind.”
Rose’s shoulders fell. “Oh, yeah,” she muttered. “I forgot about that.”
“You also kidnapped an important elected official,” the Assassin said.
Rose squinted at that. “I mean, I don’t know about important, but…”
The Assassin of Light glared at her.
Rose cleared her throat and pasted on a fake smile.
Kara lifted an eyebrow, amused by Rose’s terrible attempt at ‘Good Cop.’
“Not to mention what you’ve done to my arm,” the politician grumbled.
“I’m sure it can be saved,” Rose said, wincing at the gruesomeness of the injury. She tugged at the strings of her hoodie, as she added, “Part of it, at least.”
“I’m probably dying right now,” the Assassin told Rose. “I’m freezing.”
Rose frowned worriedly. She stepped closer to the Assassin and pressed her hand against his forehead. “I don’t know. Your skin’s a little clammy, but…”
While she was distracted, the Assassin of Light rocked forward, trying to tip the chair, but Kara immediately grasped his wounded shoulder and squeezed.
Rose took a step back, cringing, as he let out a painfully shrill scream.
“Nice try, asshole,” Kara said, as she circled around in front of him. She knelt in front of his chair. “I’m curious. What exactly did you plan to do once you loosened the ropes?” She laughed. “With your wounded arm and human speed?”
His blue eyes narrowed. “I fight to survive—unlike your lover.”
Rose shrank back at that, her insecurities rising to the surface again.
Kara’s smile faded. She rose to her feet, and with no warning whatsoever, kneed him in the stomach. “That’s for manipulating her,” she said, walking away.
Rose watched uneasily, as the human coughed up blood. She cast a wary glance in Kara’s direction, noticing the way Kara leaned against the desk with her arms crossed across her chest and her light blue eyes narrowed. It almost seemed as if the Assassin had hit a nerve with that remark—a nerve with Kara, that is.
He’d definitely hit one with Rose, but Kara seemed affected by it, as well.
“Don’t listen to him,” Kara told Rose. “He’s trying to manipulate you.”
Rose wanted to turn that around, to ask Kara if he was manipulating her, too, but she didn’t. Instead, she just nodded. She glanced back at the Assassin of Light. “I do fight to survive,” she told him, as he coughed up blood, “sometimes.”
“Yeah?” he rasped. He coughed again, blood bubbling out of his mouth. “And sometimes, you stand there, while we shoot you full of bullets—all because you want to save some worthless piece of shit, like your drug-dealing brother.”
The mention of her brother instantly turned Rose’s eyes red, but before she could actually react, Kara kicked the back leg of the chair. It broke, instantly, knocking the Assassin over sideways. He screamed as he fell onto his injured side.
“I love hypocrisy,” Kara said with a cruel smile. “Don’t you, Rebecca?”
Even though Rose absolutely hated the guy for bringing up her brother, she still managed to say, “Maybe we should…get him off of his injured side.”
“He’s fine,” Kara scoffed, even as he sobbed. “He’s still trying to loosen the ropes.” Kara dropped her hands to her sides and circled around him, watching his uninjured wrist pull and twist at the ropes. She stepped on his wrist, the bones shattering beneath her strength. Then, she grabbed the chair by the back of it and pulled it back to the wall. She propped it unsteadily against it, as the guy continued to yell in pain. She left the chair there, barely standing, as she returned to the desk.
Rose cringed. She didn’t know what was worse—listening to him scream or waiting for the chair to tip again. Rose glanced at Kara, blinking in surprise, as she found Kara watching her. Everything about Kara softened when her gaze was on Rose—concern etched clearly in her eyes. It took a minute for it to click with Rose, that what Kara had just done—it wasn’t the spymaster in her that had done that. It was the vampire. The lover. She’d done it because she knew he hurt Rose.
Because he’d insulted Zach. Because he’d used Rose’s grief against her.
“You,” the Assassin of Light said, spitting out blood, “are everything we have ever believed you are.” He glared at Kara. “You’re just as evil as I thought.”
Rose wanted to argue with that, but Kara responded before she could.
Spreading out her arms, Kara said, “You were expecting to be wrong?”
“Your history alone,” the Assassin growled, “helped us convince humans to declare war. All of those villages you massacred with Alana, all of those people you assassinated for Aaron.” He laughed bitterly. “You think, because your choice of lover changed, you’re any less evil than before? You’re the worst of your kind.”
“Stop!” Rose said. Her instincts surged to the surface. “Don’t insult her.”
Kara glanced at Rose, as she sensed Rose’s anger. Kara occasionally gave in to her instincts, sure, but she knew how to rein it in. Rose didn’t. Despite her power and wisdom, she was still a baby vampire—at the mercy of her emotions.
The Assassin of Light smiled at her reaction. “You’re as crazy as she is.”
Rose stepped closer, as that glowing, red haze overtook her eyes. “Maybe I am. Maybe I’m worse,” she snarled, “but I don’t think you’re ready to find out.”
Kara closed the space between them. She curled her hand around Rose’s arm and pulled her away from the Assassin, turning to face the opposite direction. She leaned in and whispered, “I thought you said you wanted to be Good Cop.”
Rose crossed her arms and grumbled, “That was before he insulted you.”
Kara smiled, amusement sparkling in her light blue eyes. “I love you.”
A loud crash—followed by an even louder yelp—informed them that the Assassin of Light had knocked over his chair again. Kara rolled her eyes at him.
“Do you think you can get into his computer files?” Kara asked Rose.
Rose shrugged. “It’s not exactly my realm of expertise, but I can try.”
“The computer I need you to check,” Kara said, “is in his room upstairs.”
Rose studied her with a frown. “Is this because I was a bad Good Cop?”
Kara burst into laughter. “No,” she snorted. “No, Rose, you were fine.”
Rose gave her a skeptical look. “Now, I know you’re lying,” she muttered.
When Kara finally sobered, she said, “Just go upstairs. Try not to listen.”
Rose’s smile faded, as she understood. “Kara, I don’t know if that’s…”
“I can change your mind,” Kara interrupted. She released Rose’s arm and walked over to the desk. She left the Assassin of Light on the floor, as she carried a stack of magazines and letters over to Rose. She held them out to Rose. “Read.”
Rose took the stack and started flipping through them. Her eyes widened in disbelief. “He’s a freaking Nazi,” she mumbled, “like an actual freaking Nazi.”
“They call themselves something different now,” Kara said, “but yeah.”
“I don’t ca
re what they call themselves,” Rose snarled. She took no care with the mail, flicking it hard enough to rip pages. “You don’t sugarcoat Nazism.”
“You’d be surprised how many of them are,” Kara said. She held out her hand, as Rose shoved the mail out of her face. “Still feeling sympathy for him?”
“Nope,” Rose said, turning to leave. “I’ll be upstairs, if you need me.”
—
“Rose, we have to go.”
That familiar awareness from the blood bond tingled beneath Rose’s skin as Kara joined her inside the bedroom. The scent of human blood mingled with Kara’s scent, confusing Rose’s instincts. Rose didn’t need to turn around to know that Kara was covered in the Assassin’s blood—nor did she need to turn around to know that there was urgency in Kara’s voice and a hint of anxiety in her eyes.
“Sorry. Hurrying,” Rose said, “but you won’t believe what I’ve found.”
Kara stepped closer, watching over Rose’s shoulder, as Rose opened file after file on the Assassin’s computer. “I appreciate it, love, but…we need to go.”
“I have documentation of the hate groups he’s part of,” Rose told Kara, “and he’s not the only Assassin of Light who’s part of it.” She stuck a flash drive into the side of the laptop to download a few more files. “Oh, and there’s financial corruption, as well. We can totally use that against them. Humans will be way less likely to support them, once they know about it.” She turned toward Kara. “Some humans are horrible, and they won’t care. But some will care. And when we show them what kind of people the Assassins of Light are, they’ll understand. It’ll prove that they’re hateful and prejudiced. They’ll realize that vampires are people, too.”
Kara smiled sadly at her hopeful tone. “That’s great, love. You did great.”
Rose’s brows furrowed. “Why do you sound so upset? What happened?”
Kara sighed, “I got the information we need—the place and time they’re meeting.” She stared past Rose, at the computer screen. “We’ll get you in there.”
Rose’s chest fluttered with anxiety. “Okay…so, why do you seem upset?”
Kara swallowed uneasily, and then, boldly, she met Rose’s gaze. “He also told me that the Assassins of Light invaded Kallias’s home last week. I don’t know if my spy didn’t know about it, or if he purposely didn’t tell me. But I’ll find out.”
“Invaded?” Rose said. Her face paled in horror. “What are you saying?”
Kara slipped her hands into her pockets, rocking forward. “He said they shot someone, but they didn’t find a body. So, whoever it was might’ve survived.”
Rose’s heart hammered against her chest. “Kara, where are my friends?”
“He said they disappeared,” Kara said, “that they searched the home and found no one.” She lifted her eyebrows. “They assumed your friends escaped.”
“Not if someone was shot,” Rose said. “Kallias would’ve hidden them.”
Kara nodded. “The Assassins of Light don’t know about the basement.”
Rose glanced up at her. “I’m surprised you know about the basement.”
Kara flashed a cocky smirk. “You can’t hide anything from me, Rose.”
Rose jumped to her feet. “We have to go. If someone was shot, then…”
Kara’s smile faded, when she heard the spike in Rose’s pulse. She pulled her hand out of her pocket and touched Rose’s arm. “We’ll help them. I promise,” she assured Rose, “but we’ll have to fight our way past the soldiers outside, first.”
That familiar red glow overtook Rose’s eyes. “They attacked my friends,” she growled, the floor trembling beneath her feet. “They won’t stand a chance.”
Kara smiled, as proud as she was fearless. “Not against you; they won’t.”
22
Messy Reunion
“The handle’s under the floor,” Rose said. “You can’t open it from here.”
“Are you sure about that?” Kara challenged. She grinned and handed her battle-axe to Rose. Then, she knelt in the floor and pulled a small knife from her weapon-belt. She slid the blade between the wall and the floor and pulled it back toward her. The door slid back on its hinge, revealing the steps to the basement. Kara climbed to her feet and turned toward Rose. “Erik told me how to open it.”
“I figured,” Rose said. She held out the battle-axe, as Kara came back to get it. Rose smiled. “You realize I was just going to open it with my mind, right?”
Kara blinked in surprise. She laughed, “You couldn’t have told me that?”
Rose shrugged. “I didn’t want to spoil your fun,” she said with a laugh.
A wide smile unfurled across Kara’s face. “And that’s why I love you.”
Rose led the way down the steps. “That’s an odd reason to love someone, but okay,” she muttered. She stopped by the steel door and typed in the passcode.
The steel door slid open, and Audrey and Owen—who’d been sitting by the door—jumped to their feet. Audrey opened her mouth to scream for Kallias, until she saw Rose and Kara on the steps. She rushed forward to embrace Rose.
Rose tucked her blood-soaked dagger into her belt, so that she could hug Audrey back. Audrey threw her arms around Rose’s neck, and Rose looped hers around her best friends back. She couldn’t help but notice that her extremely thin friend’s shape felt a bit different than usual, and she stepped back, glancing down at Audrey’s rounded stomach. Her eyebrows lifted. “Hey, I do hear the heartbeat!”
“Ew! I don’t want to hear about your weird vampire ears,” Audrey said.
Rose laughed, “Sorry.” She released Audrey and accepted Owen’s hug.
Audrey peered around Kara. “What happened to Gun-Dude?”
Rose gave her a bewildered look. “Who?”
“The dude with the guns,” Audrey said impatiently. “Where did he go?”
“Depends on which part of him you mean,” Kara said with a sly smirk.
“What?” Audrey said. She glanced at Owen, as he tapped her shoulder, and she saw him point at something in Kara’s hand. Her gaze shifted downward, toward the battle-axe that Kara held by her side. She paled, as she noticed the bits of flesh and blood that coated the blade. “Oh, I’m going to be sick,” she whined.
Owen raised an eyebrow at Kara. “You know the Assassins of Light had all sorts of nicknames for you. Dangerous. Crazy. Savage. Unpredictable. Wild…”
“Aww,” Kara said, clasping her free hand—which was also stained with blood—over her chest. She looked at Rose—who seemed pretty distracted, at the moment. “Did you hear that, love? The Nazi-wannabes gave me affectionate nicknames! I should give them some, too. Headless. Crushed Skull. Disemboweled.”
Owen’s eyes widened. “Rose, how do you sleep next to this woman?”
“On my side, usually,” Rose muttered. “Where’s Kallias?”
Covering her mouth with her hand, Audrey pointed with the other hand, toward the other half of the basement—where a screen divided one half from the other. Rose left Audrey and Owen by the door, as she headed toward that screen.
Rose circled around the screen and found herself in what was most likely a sleeping area. There were air mattresses, blankets, and stacks of books scattered across the concrete floor with no clear organization or arrangement. A small radio set beside one of the beds. Rose found Kallias and Emma sitting in the floor. She froze, watching them worriedly. They were both covered in blood—Emma, more so than Kallias—and Emma seemed to be staring into space. Kallias knelt in front her with a wet rag and bucket, cleaning the blood from Emma’s arms. Rose didn’t know what to think of Emma’s expression. She’d never seen Emma anything but happy, but now, she looked almost…dead—her hazel eyes glassy and unfocused.
Kallias looked at Rose. His brown gaze traveled over her body, taking in the torn jeans and blood-soaked hoodie. Then, he peered past her, as Kara joined them in the sleeping area. His eyes narrowed at Kara, who simply smiled in return.
Emma didn’t even look at him, as he finished washing her arms. She just kept her gaze straight ahead, staring blankly at the screen that divided the room.
Kallias didn’t speak until he was finished, and even then, he didn’t speak to Emma. He simply tossed the rag into the bucket and grabbed a towel. He left Emma there, staring into space, and walked over to where Rose and Kara waited.
Rose watched Emma with a worried frown. “What’s wrong with her?”
Kallias didn’t answer. Instead, he just stared at her, as he dried his hands.
Rose’s bright blue gaze shifted to meet his, and she smiled, happy to see him again—despite everything. His brown eyes softened, for a moment, when he saw her smile, but then, his eyes drifted downward, narrowing at the blood stains.
When he finished wiping the blood and water from his hands—or trying to, at least—he tossed the towel aside and said, “What are you doing here, Rose?”
Rose shoved her hands in her pockets and shrugged. “Same as usual?”
Kallias crossed his arms and flashed a bitter smile. “Pissing me off?”
“I was going to say saving your life,” Rose mumbled, “but yeah, that, too.”
Kallias shifted his gaze toward Kara, scowling at her blood-soaked battle-axe. “Rose, will you please tell your girlfriend to stop dripping blood on my floor?”
Rose glanced at Kara, who was standing right beside her—definitely within hearing range. “Umm, she has ears, actually?” she told him. “So, I don’t have to?”
Kara flashed a smug smirk at Kallias. “He’s just jealous of my battle-axe.”
“Yes, Kara,” Rose muttered, “I’m sure that’s exactly what he’s jealous of.”
“You shouldn’t have come,” Kallias told Rose. “This was dangerous.”
Rose tried to lighten the mood. “Oh, please,” she scoffed. She exchanged an amused look with Kara. “We’ve fought bigger armies than that, just this week.”
The Reign of Darkness Page 60