by Trina M. Lee
Synopsis
What better way to celebrate Halloween than with Shya’s house of horrors? When Alexa receives an invitation to what’s got to be the worst party of the year, she can’t help but be intrigued.
As Halloween approaches, so does Shaz’s initiation into the Doghead pack, right in time for another wolf to turn up dead. Alexa struggles to run damage control and avoid a war with the Doghead Alpha.
Demon games, pissed off wolves and the hunt for other twin flames would drive any mentally unhinged hybrid over the edge. But what the hell? Sanity is overrated.
CRAZY BITCH
Alexa O’Brien Huntress Book 10
Copyright 2015 by Trina M. Lee
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
Manufactured in Canada
Editor
B. Leigh Hogan
Cover Artist
Michael Hart
Published by
Dark Mountain Books
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Contents
Synopsis
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
Next Book: Hurt: A Shaz Richardson Novella
About the Author
Chapter One
If I had to hear the damn “Monster Mash” one more time, I was going to cut somebody. The person first on my cut list was the DJ currently playing said song. In his defense, it was almost Halloween, and he was trying to keep the sound going while the band set up on stage. Still, there had to be other songs he could play. No sooner had I thought as much than “Thriller” boomed through the speakers. Oh boy.
“When I was a kid, the music video to this song scared me. Ridiculous, right?” Jez wore a self-deprecating smirk. She stirred her bright-blue cocktail with a straw, clinking the ice against the glass.
I chuckled. “Actually, it scared me too.”
What badass monsters we were, afraid of a Michael Jackson video. Ah, but that had been before we’d seen real monsters. From human to demon and everything in between.
“I’ve never seen it,” Gabriel said, looking at the growing crowd with undisguised hunger. The young, newbie vampire had started spending more time at The Wicked Kiss at my insistence, though not nearly as much as I’d prefer. He had a tendency to disappear for a few nights at a time.
I too had been spending more time there although I despised every drop of blood I spilled inside the place. It was too controlled, lacking the unpredictability of the hunt. After just a few nights of regular attendance, I was bored with it and in great need of a kill. Soon, I promised the monster within. Willing victims would sustain me from night to night, but they weren’t enough to feed my true hunger, the one that sought more than blood alone.
“Are you kidding me?” Jez gaped at Gabriel, aghast. “You don’t know the “Thriller” dance? For shame, kid. For shame. Google it. Right now.”
He rolled his dark eyes and laughed, but when his gaze transfixed on Jez’s lovely throat, I nudged him under the table. For one, she was off limits for a variety of reasons, the main one being that she was not a willing victim and would likely claw his eyeballs out should he try anything. For two, Gabriel was writhing with darkness already. He did not need to be drinking from anyone with even a hint of demon blood.
Jez turned to me, nerves showing as she chewed anxiously on her straw. “So, when’s the big Halloween party? You’re having one, right?”
“Here?” I glanced around the nightclub with its dim lighting and sofa-style booth seats. Humans littered the place, hoping to be chosen as some vampire’s toy for the night. “It’s Halloween every fucking day here, Jez.”
“So what?”
We stared at each other, her with a challenge in her eyes and me with defeat. “If you want to organize a Halloween party, go right ahead. But don’t drag me into it. I couldn’t be bothered.”
“Course not,” she muttered. “You’re too busy playing with the patrons.”
“Hey, I’m trying to keep my shit together. Give me a break.”
We’d struck a deal. Jez and I had agreed to keep an eye on each other, to step in when needed. We’d recently moved in together, temporarily, but it already seemed to be for the better. In that time we’d managed to keep one another relatively sane and sober. Keyword being ‘relatively.’
It came at a price though. Going sober was starting to chip away at the little rationale we still possessed. It led to bitchy remarks hurled at a friend and the threat of receiving a clawed smack in return. I couldn’t help the hunger within me any more than Jez could help the desire to sniff a bag of dope up her nose to numb out the pain she didn’t know how to cope with. We’d both done this to ourselves, and it had led us to bad places. This wasn’t who we wanted to be, but right now it was who we were. So we might as well be horrible together because losing the fight alone was far more deadly.
Gabriel slid out of the booth, shoving a hand through his mess of long, black hair. “I’m going to meet Arys. Are you sure you don’t want to come with?”
This was the second time he’d asked me, and I had a feeling it was because Arys had told him to. I shook my head. “Not this time.”
I didn’t doubt that I needed to spend time with Arys every bit as much as Gabriel did, probably even more so. However, recent events had made it difficult. I wanted to be with Arys with an outrageous desperation. Yet so much had happened. We’d both done things we never should’ve done, and I knew it was because we were apart. But I didn’t know how to be with him right now. Things were so damn…complicated.
“You should go, Lex,” Jez joined in. When I kicked her under the table, she promptly kicked me back.
“Ow, dammit. Don’t you have some private investigating to do?” I asked, referring to the P.I. work she’d recently taken on. “I’m going to stay here and wait for Willow. Besides, who would babysit you if I left?”
I grinned, and she flicked an ice cube out of her drink. It bounced off my cheek and slid onto the floor. I muttered a halfhearted, “Bitch,” and we both laughed.
With a shrug, Gabriel gave us a parting nod and headed for the door. We watched him go. He was a powerful vampire, because of both the power of Arys’s bloodline and his ability to spellcraft. He was going to work the spell that would put Shya away. If all went as planned.
Arys had been teaching him to control both the bloodlust and the power. Vampires in our bloodline didn’t have a choice but to adapt early on. It was more a matter of learning when and how to lose control. There was a time and place. Something I still hadn’t mastered.
“I miss Kale.” Jez pulled her phone out and scowled at the screen. “He hasn’t called in two nights, since I told him to get over himself and call you.”
“You shouldn’t have said that. He needs you to keep being his friend, not his advisor.” I wasn’t sure I’d ever stop missing Kale. His choice to go to Las Vegas at Arys’s suggestion still bothered me, but there was no denying that distance was what we needed.
“He doesn’t have a right to be pissed at you, Lex. He spends all his free time fucking anything with a vagina and a heartbeat, and he thinks he has a right to be mad because you sought out a little solace in someone else. That’s bullshit.” Green eyes flashing in anger, Jez tossed her phone down on the table.
“It wasn’t solace.” I was quick to make that correction. There had been nothing comforting about what I’d done with Falon. “It was escape.”
Jez studied me, a hint of a smile playing about her red lips. “So what was it for Falon? Just another victim of the succubus thrall?”
I thought about our time together in the FPA building. The evil entity there had been whispering in our ears, taunting us with personal jibes meant to manipulate. Falon had said something that struck me as poignant. I’d asked him to make me forget what it felt like to feel, and he asked me to make him remember. In that moment I saw a side of Falon I don’t think he ever wanted anyone to see.
“Something like that.” I dropped my gaze so the scrutinizing cat wouldn’t read more in my eyes. If only it was that easy to fool her.
She sat back and crossed her arms. “Interesting. You just totally shut down. So there was more to it then.”
“We used each other, Jez. That’s all there was to it.”
“I’ve never screwed someone I hate. What’s it like? Was it a total hate fuck? Real aggressive and violent?” She snickered.
I sighed and gave her a pointed grimace. “It was just sex, Jez. Powerful, frantic, desperate sex. Watch the video if you really want to know.”
Agent Thomas Briggs had kept his promise to send that security footage to everyone in my inner circle. It had forced Shaz to see that I wasn’t who he wanted me to be and caused Arys to blame himself for my actions. Kale had hung up on me and hadn’t spoken to me since. Point for Briggs.
“I deleted it as soon as I got it,” she said without regret. “I just want to hear you tell the dirty details. I don’t actually want to see you getting it on.”
“Yeah, too bad I’ve had the joy of seeing you in action.” I had been an unfortunate witness of Jez’s carnal affairs. More than once. Unintentionally, of course.
“You loved it.” Her laughter died as she drained her glass. “Fuck, I really need a hit.”
She shouldn’t have been drinking at all. It only broke down what little willpower she possessed. But one scathing glare from her when I’d suggested as much, and I had backed off. I knew better than to force someone. It would only create more problems than it solved.
She wasn’t alone in that need to run amok. My mind went back and forth between two creatures, one light and one dark. One moment I was content to sit there with Jez, going through the motions of what was normal for us. The next I was overcome with the dark urge to make someone beg, to make them enjoy every touch and whisper until I killed them.
“No, you don’t.” I didn’t sound convincing. My mind had started to drift down that path to the place where my need for power, violence, and death lived.
A waitress came by to grab Jez’s empty glass. The interruption dragged me back to reality. I shook my head a few times and sighed. Would this ever stop? How the hell would I survive centuries like this?
“I’ll have another one,” Jez said, turning a bright smile on the waitress as she openly ogled her. “Thanks, sweetie.”
I shot her a look, which she ignored. Well, we were off to a great start.
The waitress walked away, and Jez turned to me with a grin. “She’s hot. Do you know if she’s single?”
“No, Jez, I don’t. One more drink and you’re cut off.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Another scathing cat glare shot my way.
Before I could argue we were interrupted by Justin. My head security guy approached our table with a frown that did not convey good things. I braced for bad news.
“Alexa, there’s a woman here. Claims to be from the FPA. I refused her entry, but she’s waiting outside for you. She refuses to leave until she speaks with you.” The big man waited for my reaction. The muscles in his arms were tight and massive. It wouldn’t have surprised me to discover that Justin could bench press a car.
Immediately I rose. The Federal Para-Intelligence Agency was beginning to get on my last nerve. Getting rid of their head agent hadn’t kept them off my doorstep for nearly as long as I’d hoped.
“Want me to back you up?” Jez offered though she gazed after the waitress.
“No, it’s cool. I’ve got J here.” I nodded to the big vampire. “Is that cool?”
He gave a short nod. His dark eyes held a spark of menace. “Always. I’ve got your back, boss.”
Justin pushed ahead of me, going first out into the parking lot to ensure the woman was alone. I followed him out, unsure of what to expect. The woman who waited to speak with me looked inconspicuous enough. She was almost old enough to be my grandmother, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t dangerous.
Her dark hair was tightly bound in a bun. A few tendrils, painted lightly with silver strands, had escaped. She wore a dark suit and a gun on her hip. When she didn’t reach for it but stood calmly with arms crossed, I found myself pleasantly surprised.
“Alexa O’Brien.” She said my name like it was a statement, not a question. “I’m Agent Maggie Winston. Sorry to bother you. I just have a few questions regarding Agent Thomas Briggs.”
“Oh yeah?” I looked her over before sensing for any supernatural abilities she might have had. Nothing. “What about him?”
“He’s missing.” She paused, assessing my lack of reaction. “According to our security tapes, you were one of the last people to see him. Any idea where he might be?”
Naturally, I was suspicious. This woman had an air of authority and not a trace of fear on her. However, I doubted she’d come alone. Somewhere, someone likely had a weapon trained on me.
“Those same security tapes showed him throwing me out in the sun to burn, right? I don’t give a shit where Briggs is or what’s happened to him. He lied to get me to turn myself in, so if you’re here to arrest me—”
“I’m not,” Agent Winston broke in, waving a dismissive hand. “I’m aware that Agent Briggs bent some rules when he orchestrated your arrest. As committed as I am to my job, I do not condone the liberties he took with the rules. We have a system that works when it’s respected. I am merely here to verify his whereabouts.”
Her no-nonsense, straight-up approach was refreshing. Though FPA agents could be trained to lie like it was the truth, I didn’t get the feeling that she was the kind of person who would dishonor herself with lies.
“I’m sorry. I wish I could help you, but I haven’t seen Briggs since he threw me out into the sun. Wherever he is, I hope he’s suffering.” Because I couldn’t hide my curiosity, I had to ask. “Are you his replacement?”
“Temporarily. I came from the Calgary sector. Hoping to keep my stay short.” She almost smiled. “I’ve heard a great deal about you. Between you and me, I think Briggs was an idiot to make an enemy of you. I don’t intend to make the same mistake. I happen to understand there are better ways to negotiate.”
This woman was blowing my mind. She was too good to be true, which meant she couldn’t be trusted. Still, I was intrigued, and already she was a breath of fresh air compared to Briggs.
Now Agent Winston did smile. It lit up her face, bringing a warmth to her hazel eyes. “Not yet. Soon though, I hope. Of course, if you can help me determine the whereabouts of Agent Briggs, I’d be more than happy to try and make it worth your while.”
She was good. Part of me wanted to see what she had to offer. Giving Briggs to Shya had been a mistake. Too bad because it had seemed like such a great idea at the time. I didn’t regret it enough to tell her where he was. There was no point anyway. The FPA could never get him back from Shya.
I returned her smile with my own, one filled with secrets. “I’m sure you would. However, I have much more important concerns currently than where Briggs may or may not be.”
Right on cue, as if I’d planned it, the air rippled, and a demon appeared right behind me. It was Brook, one of Shya’s flunkies. Because he startled me and because I dislike him, I reacted instinctively and slapped him with a ball of power. It hit him in the chest and thrust him into a nearby pickup truck. The streetlights illuminating the parking lot flickered, and one of them went out.
“What the fuck?” Brook gathered himself, shoving away from the truck. His wings were absent from sight. “Shouldn’t you find out why I’m here before you go all Vampire Hound on me?”
I smirked. “I’d have to care first, and I don’t. I’m busy. Beat it.”
Agent Winston watched this exchange with an observant eye. Brook’s black gaze fell on her, and he stopped in his tracks.
I knew Shya had sent him, and that pissed me off. I’d given him a dreamwalker. I owed him nothing, yet he would never leave me alone. That was why I had to team up with someone I loathed to stop him.