by Janice Jones
“No.”
Kit stopped and placed an elbow on his shoulder then she shook her head slowly.
“That really is a shame.”
In the most graceful turn Alex had ever seen, Kit was on the sofa, feet curled underneath, still oozing sex, coppery waves of shiny red hair framed her long face. She motioned for them to join her. The slant of her eyes and length of her long nose left no doubt she was a feline shifter.
“You sit right next to me, handsome,” she purred to Sebastian. When he sat, she laid her head on his shoulder and took his hand. “So what can I do for you, Alex?”
“Just a little information.”
“Like?”
“Any weird requests lately?”
Her giggle was so sweet. “Honey, there’s no such thing in this business.”
“It’s important. Coop said you might have a client that’s connected to the vampire world. Specifically an old clan called Hellclaw.”
“If it were that important, he wouldn’t have sent you here empty handed asking for confidential information.”
“Who says I’m empty handed?”
“He doesn’t count,” Kit replied then rubbed her nose against the back on Sebastian’s hand. Alex saw him shiver.
She placed the tiny glass bottle on the table between them; Kit’s eyes lit up as she moved to retrieve it. “Um . . . you were saying about that appointment?”
Kit crinkled her pointed nose and sat back again.
“Just one, calls himself Mr. Hollywood. We usually meet every first Wednesday of the month, but he didn’t show for his last appointment and hasn’t called to apologize.”
“What was the request?”
“Virgin blood,” she pouted then giggled again. “But he’s human, so I’m guessing he was asking for someone else.”
“Does he have a real name,” Alex grinned.
Kit laughed, “I’m sure he does, but I didn’t ask and he didn’t tell.”
Alex tilted her head and sighed. “You’ve never seen anything with his name on it?”
Kit shook her head, “Sorry.” Kit’s head dropped back on Sebastian’s shoulder and she took his hand, placed it on her thigh, and moved it up and down slowly. “Wait. I did get a wire transfer once.”
Kit stood and crossed the room with her finger between her teeth and a whimsical look on her face. At a dainty little desk in the corner, she picked up a pink Post It note, scribbled something on it and crossed the room again.
When she placed the small piece of paper next to the glass bottle, she looked up at Alex.
Taking the bottle, Kit took a big sniff and purred. Alex could smell a faint hint of lavender and jasmine on her hand, even though she’d held the bottle only briefly. Courtesans were said to routinely use essential oils to soothe or arouse their clients. She figured Kit liked the lavender scent best because legend tells of the Greeks and Romans using it to soothe lions and tigers. Since Kit was a feline shifter, it made sense that she’d prefer that oil over any other. And jasmine, of course, was an aphrodisiac among other things. So just a few drops in a hot bath or the bed and the effects could be explosive for both people.
Alex stood and Sebastian followed. “He ever ask for something like that before?”
“Never,” Kit purred as she held the bottle like it was the Hope diamond. She cocked her head as she stared at the glass in her hand. “I think he’s a lawyer too.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I overheard him talking about some big deal with a studio that’s up for sale. That’s the name of the bank the wire transfer came from. That’s all I have for you.”
Alex stepped up and held out her card to Kit. “If he calls, give me a heads up. Thanks, Kit. I owe you one.”
“My pleasure,” she winked at them. “And don’t think I won’t call in that favor one day.”
Back in the car, she stared at the slip of paper in her hand. Some things never change. Hiding money in a bank in the Caymans wasn’t very original.
“You need our computer geek to hack that bank, find out who this guy is,” Sebastian asked.
“Yea, and I want it before we leave here,” she said.
_______________
Lunch was a waste of time. Disappointed at the lack of real information Coop had to offer, Alex agreed to take the assignment, if for no other reason than to show Coop how to conduct a real investigation.
Stretched out on the California King bed, she wondered what the hell she’d really agreed to. Alex squeezed her eyes shut. The idiot that let the box go should be executed, in her opinion. If Coop’s word could be trusted, the box would be secured and returned to where it belonged soon. Tristan Ambrose free to turn and build another Hellclaw clan was not just a bad idea, but the biggest bad idea ever. Without the ability to feel remorse, he was quite possibly the world’s oldest sociopath. He thrived on chaos and craved adoration. Her fight with him had left her close to death, with Tristan sealed inside what amounted to a refrigerated coffin for what was supposed to be forever. Turns out, forever meant twenty years, give or take.
The time had gone by fast, she thought, as the images of that last mission blew through her brain. She could just smell the sand and feel the scorching heat as she trekked across the desert toward the cave where he and the last four members of his clan lay. Back then, daylight slowed them down, powers all but depleted during daylight hours. She began to pop orange glow sticks on her way down the narrow tunnel toward the crypt. After she’d secured the target, she’d radio for a retrieval team to bring in the ‘box’ and transport him to wherever they planned on keeping him on ice. Then, the charges the new guy, Coop, had built would be placed around the space and blown when everyone was clear. Easy.
The closer she got to the crypt, the stronger the scent of decayed bodies grew. At the entrance to the main vault, she stopped to pull the ash and silver stake from her boot before she pushed the door open with her foot. One by one, torches hanging from the walls of the vault lit like magic. In fact, it probably was some kind of magic, as she remembered.
One rule when dealing with sleeping vampires, dispatch them quickly. Although they may be weaker during daylight hours, you don’t want to take a chance because even weak, they’d be stronger than you. And she didn’t. The woman and the young boy were the first to go. Alex tapped their hearts quickly, turning them to dust. From across the room she heard a growl. Before she could turn around, she immediately felt the kick to the center of her back. She threw the stake backward with all her strength as she sailed toward the far wall. Forcing her body around in mid-air, she saw his eyes fly wide open before he disappeared into dust too.
When she slammed into the wall, her breath was forced out of her lungs. On her knees, she took a deep inhale as the last of his followers stomped toward her. This one was big, really big and really mad. Based on his size, he’d probably been Tristan’s personal bodyguard. One of his arms looked to be the size of both her thighs put together. Solid muscles were everywhere. The roar shook the dust from the walls, making the fire from the torches flicker.
He raised his massive foot and just missed her as she rolled away, still trying to get her breath back. Once her lungs grabbed some air and held onto it, her head cleared and her vision sharpened on him. Based on size alone, she’d never be able to take him. She knew that. What she needed was a clear shot to his heart. The good thing about muscle heads like this one was that they moved slowly. Each strike may have been powerful, but he was too big to move as fast as she could.
Alex climbed to her feet and began her attack. Kick after kick landed squarely, but didn’t do much but piss him off. He slapped her away like a fly and she flew over the crypt, then rolled head over heels into the wall again. Luckily, the stake was in her path. She snatched it from the ground, and as he raised the six-inch thick stone used to close the crypt over his head ready to
make her a pile of gooey vampire hunter, she launched the stake at her mark.
He laughed as he looked down at his chest. It barely pierced the skin. His ribcage was too close to steel, which kept the stake from reaching his heart. Alex jumped away from the stone lid tossed at her, and used the stone box as a platform to project herself at the creature. With all the strength she had left, she plunged her foot, stake and all, through his chest. His entire body burst into fiery ashes that left her leg, up to her knee, covered in black soot.
She landed on her feet with a smile. As she turned, his hand wrapped around her neck before she had time to think. Tristan was awake and pissed.
“They sent a child after me,” he sneered, as he held her by the neck high on the dusty wall. Heat from a torch next to her burned her ear and made her right eye water.
Forcing the memories back took effort on Alex’s part, but she closed the door on that encounter then shook his face from her brain. She couldn’t trust herself with those memories right now. Right now she had a decision to make.
One reason after another popped in her head for not taking the assignment. Jason Stavros was number one with a bullet. Everywhere he went, the press followed. He couldn’t sneeze without a report on what tissue he used to wipe his nose on the evening news. She had noticed the well-placed news items about their relationship on the net this morning too.
Hints of the ‘merger’ had begun to appear on business and entertainment pages by noon. And, of course, the gossip sites buzzed about a secret romance between her and Jason too. That little sound bite could have only been planted by the vampire council as a smoke screen to cover her sudden appearance in his life. When the ball started to pick up steam on the “Romance of the Year,” Alex hoped no one would come up with a ridiculous amalgamation of their names like every other famous couple had. Jason would think it was amusing, but then again, he liked the attention this would bring. In fact, he seemed to welcome it with open arms. Alex hated the press, but she understood why they had to be manipulated as part of the plan. They served a purpose.
Relax for God’s sake! It’s not like you’re on this one by yourself like before. They sent you into the tomb alone. You fought the toughest vampire ever and you survived. This will be a walk in the park for you as long as Jason listens and follows instructions. Alex thought to herself as she laughed out loud, rolled over on her side and stuffed the pillow under her head. Her eyes were heavy and hungry for sleep. Then I’m in big trouble, she yawned big. “Because he is going to challenge everything I say and do. After a few minutes, she felt the approach before the knock on the door came. As she eased from the bed, she pulled the Nine from under the other pillow. As she crossed the living area, she flipped the safety off, then peeked through the peephole. Damn. She opened the door slowly as she held the gun behind her back.
“Speak of the devil,” Alex replied as he stepped inside.
“You were talking about me,” Jason stated as he unbuttoned his jacket.
“Thinking about you,” Alex answered, then sighed and placed the gun on the table. “Thinking about the assignment and how to handle you I mean.”
Jason laughed as he took a seat on the couch and waited for her to join him there. Once she did, he eased closer and she let him. One arm went over the back of the couch behind her head, the other hand moved cautiously around her neck. His fingers barely touched her, but she felt the heat like a flame. So he wasn’t hungry, not for blood anyway, but she could see the need in his clear brown eyes.
“I’m not used to being ‘handled’ but I promise to do what you think is best,” he whispered on her lips. Before she could respond, his mouth covered hers.
Her brain flooded with endorphins and her body responded to his touch and his lips and the smell of his cologne threatened to swallow her whole. A tug-of-war began. She pulled his hand free of her neck and it went to her crossed legs. As they crawled under her skirt, his fingers left a hot trail from her knee headed to a place she wasn’t quite sure she wanted to let him go yet.
She grabbed his hand and placed it back on top of her skirt and shook her head.
“This is not a good idea Jason.”
The sparkle in his eyes grew brighter as he stood. She took his hand and let him pull her into the bedroom. She didn’t remember the balcony doors being opened, but when Jason pulled her into his arms and kissed her again, it didn’t really matter. Before she knew it, they were on the bed. His hand eased under the skirt once more. This time, she let him reach his destination. All of the emotion she kept tightly bound began to unravel as his fingers worked their magic.
“Tell me again how this is a bad idea,” she heard him whisper as she unzipped him and eased her hand inside. His deep moan bounced off her eardrum and sent a shiver up her spine.
Just as she felt him slip inside and begin an easy push and pull that brought an ache to scream his name, she bolted upright. She was alone still. Just in case, she scanned the room to make sure it had been a dream. When she dropped back down into the bed, she cursed herself and him. Then she laughed. When her muscles began to relax again, she pushed from the bed and entered the bathroom to turn on a cold shower.
_______________
“Very nicely done, Mr. Cooper,” Creed smiled. “I have to say, I didn’t think you had it in you!”
Coop smiled too. He didn’t have the heart to give credit where credit was due. And he really didn’t have to. His job was to get her to Vegas and he did. Maybe he used Jason as bait. There was nothing in his agreement with Creed’s new boss that said he couldn’t. He’d been hired by him to betray his country and his team in order to get the remaining members of Night Command to Vegas for more money than Strategic had ever offered him. And he had. For Benjamin Palmer, Matt Wolfe, K.C. Becker and Alexa Stone, the end of the line was here—where it all started.
Ben would be here soon. K.C. had fallen off the map, but until they found a body, they were still looking. As for Matt, well, Coop had done something that might cause a war between the vampire clans and the wolf packs, but it had to be done.
His host handed him a nice fat envelope and his pick of any woman under his roof for the night. For a day and half worth of work, twenty five grand wasn’t a bad payday. He could pay his bookie and still have enough to tide him over the weekend.
“Thanks,” Coop said as he thumbed through the stack of cash. “Nice doing business with you again.”
Creed laughed, gave Coop’s knee a pat and walked away. He returned with an empty glass. He sat it down on the table and the crystal goblet caught the light overhead. Creed’s slim hand stroked the glass as two females joined them on the couch.
One placed herself in Coop’s lap. The other sat behind him on the back of the couch.
Creed pushed himself to the corner of the sectional to watch the show.
When the door opened again, the man was carried in and placed gently on the carpet.
Propping one long leg up and opening the bottle of Jack in his hand, Creed poured two glasses with a grin. Coop picked his up and watched Creed pour blood in his own glass.
Coop and Creed watched with fascination as the women began their seduction. As one undressed herself, the other undressed the man on the carpet. The marks on his neck and chest meant they had been feeding on him for a while.
He was dazed, but feeling no pain as they moved around him on the floor, biting every unmarked part of his body. When he was completely relaxed, they heard a low moan from the floor.
When one of the women sank her teeth deep into his neck, he screamed. The other handed her a crystal goblet and they watched as it filled with the man’s blood. She handed it to Creed and went back to feeding. “Don’t forget to leave the mark,” he said as he stood to leave. “Leave the body where they will find it.”
Coop watched as they drained the man dry, leaving the mark as instructed. Coop sat back, turned up the bot
tle of Jack and almost choked as he tried to take it all in one swallow.
“Not too much Coop,” Creed chuckled. “You have a date, remember?”
“I know,” he replied. The sound of whimpering coming from the trio on the floor caught in his ears. He couldn’t shake his head hard enough to ever get the sound of their victim dying, slowly and painfully right at Coop’s feet, out of his mind. He took one last shot, accepting the burn as it went down. Then he stood on wobbly legs as the room tilted just a little. “Sorry, Matt,” he whispered as his vision cleared and he left his friend in the hands of certain death.
Chapter 19
She bolted up in bed, grabbed her neck and yelled, “Matt!”
The feeling of teeth ripping through her flesh and draining her blood out was too real. Her hand was clean though, as she pulled it away. She hadn’t had a dream of being bitten in a long time—not since she left Night Command. Back then, she dreamed about it all the time. The room-temperature bottle of water was empty before she realized she was done drinking.
Her call went straight to his voicemail. She would have just chocked it up a wrong number, but that was Matt’s voice on the greeting. She didn’t leave a message. Maybe she shouldn’t spook him just yet. And the number she had for Becker had been disconnected. “They’re both fine,” she told herself as she got dressed for drinks with Coop and his team. It was just a dumb dream and nothing more. “You can’t keep jumping every time you have a dream about the past, Alex,” she continued.
On the walk to the bar, she thought about Matt’s brother, Lucas, but stopped herself. She wouldn’t intrude in their lives unless she had to, and she didn’t, not yet. Matt would be home soon. As for Becker, last she heard, he was doing contract work for whoever paid the most, somewhere in Los Angeles. After Strategic, he had disappeared. She only knew where he was ten years ago because he sent her a Christmas card and it had his business information on it. She never could understand why he had sent it, but she tossed it in the trash and never thought about it again, until now.