by Erin Hayes
I walked over to her removing my own jacket. "I will be sure to make this quick. I know you said you're short on time."
"And I will be sure to be even quicker to put you in your place."
We lowered into defensive positions and touched swords. I looked her straight in the eyes and smiled. "I'm having fun. Are you having fun?"
"Let's see if you still say that in a few minutes." She smiled at me, her eyes twinkling again.
She struck first, swinging the blade to my side, but I blocked her and backed up. She continued her advances, one foot sliding behind the other in perfect form. I matched her blow-for-blow, letting her move about me until I felt I got her style down. She was an excellent swordsman. Someone had taught her well.
I picked up my pace, lunging forward to try and disarm her, but she always managed to get away. She spun around and swung the blade low. The tip barely missed my thigh. My eyes widened and I fought harder.
We went on like this for several minutes. I could sense her growing frustration as it mirrored my own. I thought I would have won her by now. I better soon because I really wanted her number.
When our swords clashed together, she kicked at my chest knocking me away. "I admit it. You're good."
"I told you."
"How are you with the other weapons?"
"Want to find out?"
She laughed and dropped her sword and ran to the wall to retrieve a different weapon. I did the same. When she picked up two daggers, I chose similar weapons. We attacked each other again, exchanging blows. She giggled as we spun around each other, neither of us able to gain ground over the other.
"You're having fun now, right?" I asked.
"Maybe a little." She stabbed at my stomach but I moved out of the way while swiping at the bottom of her tank top. It tore clean through exposing her well-defined stomach. I admit to noticing.
She glanced down at it in surprise. "I love this shirt!"
"I'll buy you a new one."
"I'll buy my own." She ducked when I swung at her again and spun around, coming up behind me. She slashed at the back of my shirt, tearing it wide open.
"Looks like we're going shopping together," I said, and smiled.
We continued to fight for some time but once again came to a stalemate.
"How are you without weapons?" she asked, a beautiful twinkle in her eye.
"I'm sure I'm better than you. " A smile threatened to break on my lips.
She tossed the weapons across the room until they stuck into the wall. "It is so on."
She ran at me and tackled me into my midsection. The air shot out of me as I fell to the ground with her on top of me. She swung her legs around my chest, so she was sitting across my body, and grabbed my arm as if to lock me into an arm bar. Going with the motion, I rolled toward her and scrambled on top until I was straddling her. I pressed her wrists to the mat and grinned. If I knew her better, I would've told her how beautiful she was right now.
She bucked her hips suddenly, making me fall forward. She hooked her arm around my elbow and pulled my shoulder to the mat. Before I could react, she had my wrists pinned to the mat. I didn't struggle, as I really liked being beneath her.
"I guess I win," she said.
"Hardly. You have to pin me for at least 10 seconds. It's only been five." I rolled onto my side which made her lose balance.
"You're changing the rules," she said as she fought me off. We rolled on the mat, each trying to get the other into position where we could choke each other out or pin each other again.
"It's always been the rule here." I managed to straddle her again and this time I shifted my body weight so she couldn't buck me off easily. I pinned her wrists together above her head and began to count. "One, two, three…"
She struggled beneath me, even kneeing me in the back several times but I remained firm. I stopped counting long enough to say, "This can all end if you just agree to give me your real number."
She didn't say anything so I began to count again, wishing I had said one hundred seconds instead of ten. I reached eight when she laughed and told me to stop. "Fine. You can have my real number. But only on one condition."
I released her wrists and leaned back. "Name it."
"I want to go with you on your next mission or whatever you call them."
Her request took me off guard. "I'll have to think about it. We've never had anyone inexperienced go before."
"I'm hardly inexperienced."
"True, but you haven't been through our program. Plus, I don't know you yet, although I'd like to."
I stared down at her, heat passing between us. Her breasts, pressed against her tight tank top, heaved up and down. My lips parted.
The moment was broken when she shoved me off her and jumped to her feet. "Okay, I admit that was fun. It's hard to find a sparring partner at my level. We'll have to do it again. "
While I came to my feet, she walked over to a bench and picked up a fresh towel. She blotted at the sweat glistening the flesh on her chest.
"Do you have a pen?" she asked.
I practically ran to a desk in the corner and grabbed a pen and business card. "What is it?"
She read off a series of numbers.
"And this is your real number?"
"I guess you'll just have to see." She winked at me. "I hope you'll let me go on your next mission. I was born for this stuff."
"Can I ask who trained you?"
Her expression darkened. "I told you not to ask personal questions."
She headed for the door but I beat her to it. "I'm sorry. I forgot. No more personal questions. I promise."
Her expression softened. "Thanks for showing me all of this. It really was great. I'd like to know more about your group."
"When can you come back?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. I will have to check my schedule."
I followed her back to the elevator, my chest clenched at the thought of saying goodbye to her even if it was only going to be for a short time. This emotion startled me. I've had several girlfriends before but none of them left me feeling like this.
She stepped into the elevator and just as the doors closed, she looked up at me and gave me the most endearing smile I had ever seen. It was in that moment that I gave her my whole heart without question. Now all I had to do was convince her to give me hers.
Chapter Four
"I'm telling you, Henry, I've never seen any woman fight this good before. She's had some serious training coupled with amazing talent." Moira had left the Deific over an hour ago, but I still couldn't get her out of my head.
Henry sat at his desk pouring over a stack of paperwork. He rarely came into the office so when he did there was plenty for him to look at.
"Do you have a name beyond Moira?" he asked. He leaned back in the chair and eyed me thoughtfully. He always looked out of a place when he sat at his desk, as he was incredibly tall. I often harassed him about having one specially made, but he wouldn't hear of it.
I shook my head. "She was hesitant to give personal information, but there's something special about her. I can't put my finger on it."
I paused, trying to find the right words to describe her, but when they wouldn't come, I finally said, "I think she would fit in well here."
Henry reached up and twisted at a light brown curl at the bottom of his neck. "Even though you like her, we must find out more about her. It could be dangerous for both of us otherwise."
I squirmed in my chair. "I didn't say I liked her."
"You didn't have to." He lowered his gaze back to the paperwork and asked, "How's Eve?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. I write her a letter once a week so she has some connection to the real world, but so far she hasn't responded. It's going to take time. Her pain runs deep."
"Then we will wait. At some point, she'll need to come back. We will need her."
This surprised me. Eve was a powerful witch but because of her family background and dark past, I highly doubt
ed she would work for us.
"There’s someone else I want you to look into," Henry said, looking back up at me.
"Who's that?"
"His name is Lucien. He's an extremely private vampire residing in Seattle. I want you to send someone to try and start a dialogue with him."
I cleared my throat. "Not to sound like a jerk, but we don't need any vampires working for us. Sure, you're a good one, but you're the exception. I don't think the risk is worth it to bring in a vampire here with so many humans."
He regarded me steadily. "I think I may send you to visit our Ireland branch soon. There's a couple of agents there I want you to meet."
"Why is that?"
Henry just smiled and returned to his work.
I was about to leave when I remembered something. "Hey have you heard of a vampire called the Dark Prince?"
His pen hovered over the papers on his desk for a few seconds while he thought. "I have not heard the name. Is he important?"
"I don't know yet. One of the vampires I fought last night mentioned him. It's probably nothing though."
I left his office and crossed the hall to mine so I could see what information we already had on this Lucien fellow. The screen came to life on my laptop and I entered in the password to get into the Deific's private database. This is where we stored the names and locations of every supernatural creature we came across. Each of them was marked with a status of either dangerous or friendly.
After typing Lucien's name into the search bar, I stared at the only picture we had of him. I wouldn't even call it a real picture. It was mostly of the back of his head. His status was unknown, which meant whoever I sent to go after him would be going in blind. That could be dangerous.
I wondered why Henry was so interested in him. We had excellent staff and we knew where to find good men, many of them recruited from government agencies, specifically Marines or Navy SEALs, if we wanted them. We definitely didn't need any vampire fighting with us.
But I would humor Henry and get someone on it. A team of three should suffice, one of them being a psychic to help track down the vampire. I telephoned our Seattle office and put the plan in motion.
When I was finished, I made several other calls to different Deific branches to find out what they knew about the Dark Prince but so far no one knew a thing.
A knock on my door had me looking up. "Come in," I said.
My secretary, a girl of about eighteen opened the door and walked in. "You got a call from Hunter. He said you need to call him right away. Something to do with his truck."
I sat up straighter in my seat, my pulse racing. Hunter only used that phrase if something was seriously wrong. My secretary didn't know about the Deific's main purpose so my guys often had to use code phrases. She, along with many others in the building, believed the other half of our business was a private security firm.
"Thank you, Audrey," I said.
As soon as she closed the door, I called Hunter. "What's going on?" I asked when he answered the phone.
"I think we found our nest. Ryan and me came across it last night. There are at least three of them in the building but could easily be more."
"What side of town?" I asked.
"Southside."
This confused me. The two vampires Moira and I had fought were on the north side. Vampires rarely strayed too far from their home. Maybe we had more than one nest. That would be bad. That meant their numbers were growing.
"Stay on it," I ordered. "Learn as much as you can. We'll give it twenty-four hours and then we'll go in."
"You got it." The line went dead.
I tapped my fingers on the desk thinking hard about all these vampires. The only time there was a surge in vampire activity is when one of them began making other vampires. This didn't happen often, as they never wanted to draw too much attention to themselves. They seemed to enjoy living in the shadows unknown to the rest of the world, but there were times in the past when vampires wanted to change that and become rulers over man. When that happened, it always ended in disaster for the species. There were simply too many humans. According to Henry, it had been hundreds of years since a vampire tried to rise into power over both species. Maybe the time was ripe again and history was about to repeat itself.
Feeling tense, I decided to call Moira. I was going to wait at least a day, but I craved hearing her voice. My heart sunk when the call went straight to voicemail, but at least I got to hear her speak. And a bonus that it was actually her number and not a fake.
Before I left for the day, I called Hunter to check in.
"It's bad, Charlie," he said. "Five more showed up. For the most part they've been quiet, but there was a big fight between them outside in plain view not too long ago. They seem on edge."
"Have you heard any chatter about a Dark Prince?"
There was silence on the other end, then, "Actually, yes. His name has been mentioned a few times. They are waiting for him to arrive. Most of them are looking forward to it, but a few are scared. Whoever this guy is, his arrival is a big deal."
"Interesting. We may have to speed things up. I'll come by around four a.m. to scout it out with you."
We said our goodbyes, and I hung up the phone, thinking hard. If vampires were afraid, then that probably meant this Dark Prince was an ancient one, at least a few centuries old. But that didn't make sense either. There weren't many of those left, and those who were, kept to themselves. They wanted nothing to do with the volatile actions and drama of newer vampires.
I exited the building trying to decide whether or not to join Hunter sooner or go home. In the end, I decided to go home. If I went on the stakeout, I would be tempted to rush in too early to the nest. Henry always complained I was too impulsive.
I crossed the street to my apartment building opposite the Deific office. It was nice being this close to work. No traffic. No crowds. I reached for the door handle, but paused as I felt a familiar presence. A wonderful one that relaxed me immediately.
"So you live across the street," a sweet voice said.
I turned around. "Are you stalking me?"
"You wish."
I smiled, silently agreeing with her. "Then what are you doing here?"
"Truthfully? I'm bored. This morning was awesome. I haven't been challenged like that in over a year. I guess I want to see what else you've got. Any bad guys to fight?"
I averted my gaze. I couldn't tell her about the recent vampire nest we discovered. Sure she was an excellent fighter, but I just met her. Henry was right. I needed to know more about where she came from and who trained her. The Deific has been protected for hundreds of years, and it needed to stay that way.
"It's only been a day," I said. "I'm sure something will come along soon. Until then, you'll have to keep trying to beat me in a fight."
She narrowed her eyes. "Why do I get the feeling that you're keeping something from me?"
"It's nothing that pertains to you."
"So something is going down. More vamps?" Her eyes lit up like she was about to receive a present.
"Listen, Moira," I said, trying to let her down gently. I hoped what I was about to say wouldn't make her too mad. I really wanted to see a lot more of her. "I just met you. The Deific has to be protected. The only way we can let you in fully is if you go through the standard screening we give all of our agents."
"And what does that entail?"
"Physical test, which I'd say you've already passed, but then we need to look into your past. We need to know what kind of background you came from. Who taught you to fight and where."
"I told you," she said, her voice soft. "No questions about my past."
I searched her face, noticing a pain lurking in the shadows of her eyes. "We need to trust each other, and that has to go both ways. I don't need to know everything, but I would like to know where you came from, how you learned about the supernatural world, and how you learned to be such an excellent fighter."
She averted her gaze
and glanced over my shoulder. "I can't tell you that."
I nodded slowly. "I understand. Do you want to spar again tomorrow morning?"
"Sure. See you tomorrow. Same time."
She didn't look at me as she walked away. I sensed her frustration but I had to be logical about this despite how I felt about her.
I managed to squeeze in a short nap before I had to go meet Hunter. It's hard to sleep when you know you have killing to do. Before I headed over to meet him, I stopped by the Deific to gear up. Instead of driving, I chose to walk the long eight blocks just in case I crossed paths with any other wandering vampires.
It was full on nighttime, the point in the sky where darkness swallowed everything it touched. This time of night always made me uneasy. It's when Supernaturals thrived while humans lie unsuspecting in their homes.
Soon, light would chase the vampires into their holes, and I could breathe a sigh of relief. Vamps could go out during the day but often chose not to, especially as newer vampires. The sun was a major irritation against their flesh and could actually kill them with too much exposure. Had they been centuries old like Henry, the sun would do nothing but cause an annoying tingling sensation on their skin.
The streets were mostly empty on this part of town. There weren't many residential houses left in this dying business district. Most of the homes that had been here were bought out by businesses for the prime real estate, but that had been over thirty years ago. Times changed, and as the crime rate soared, many businesses left. Now the area was mostly smaller storage facilities and auto repair shops.
I turned left onto Adams Lane, a dead end street. The house was all the way at the end of a parking lot next to an old tire shop. A tall wire fence surrounded the property. The lawn hadn't been maintained in years and the home looked like it should be condemned. This is another sign of newbie vamps. Older vampires took pride in where they laid their head, whereas new ones only focused on finding and consuming blood. The condition of their home mattered very little to them.
I snuck around the back of the tire shop and slipped inside a side door. Hunter, Will and Alexa sat behind a large tinted window at the front. A telescope near them pointed toward the ruined home. They were some of our best agents.