“I’m not going to like this, am I?” I took another gulp of vodka and felt the warmth burn to my stomach,
“You may, but I do not. You know the Librarian will be back. Nothing has managed to stop her after all these centuries, I doubt a little hell fire in the gullet will, but that isn’t why I’m sat here.” She gave me a toothy grin and I smiled back,
“Come on Madam Cassandra, you’ve never held your punches, so don’t now.”
“One of my girls is missing.”
“And how does this relate to me and my ‘mission’?” I did air quotes around mission to illustrate my point,
“She matches the description of the others.”
“I doubt she disappeared from her prom.” I hated to be sceptical but I couldn’t cope with another dead end. Especially because I also had to visit the Elk and he just knew the right things to press to traumatise me,
“No and she’s older, before you say a thing. Let’s call it a favour for a friend because I want her found and if it is Clockwork I want him dead.”
“You and me both sista!” Madam Cassandra glared at me as if I’d grew a second…and third head.
“You can be so vulgar sometimes Xan. I’m surprised your family put up with it.” I grabbed the file from the table and smiled,
“Oh, they don’t. They just live with it because I’m rather stubborn you know.”
“Just don’t let that stubbornness get you killed. If you hadn’t gone down this path of self-destruction you would have been an asset to me…in a barn girl role play way.” Madam Cassandra lifted her eyebrow and grinned at me,
“Thanks, I think.”
“I suggest you round up your men before my girls decide to play with them.” She cackled like a witch and then pushed the curtain open and motioned for me to follow.
When I walked into the lounge, Marshall had a petite woman, wearing a see through chemise and another sat hypnotised by him in a corset and knickers. Adram was sipping wine and talking to a woman wearing red latex. At first glance, I had completely missed the tail suggestively rubbing down his leg. He was in his element.
“Boys it’s time to go.” I growled,
“Jealous Xan?” Adram said smiling and it made me want to head-butt the wall,
“Nah, just wouldn’t want her to catch something from you,”
“How very dare you!” He tried to put on an angry face but it didn’t work on me,
“I remember the flea incident!” I laughed,
“How rude!” Adram had caught fleas off my cat one summer and had never let me forget it, but I never let him either.
“Are you ok?” Marshall stood up and headed towards me. The women practically swooned at his feet. They were looking at me like vipers ready to strike me down to get their prize.
“Yeah, thanks to Madam Cassandra but I’d really like to go home and soak in my bath until I look like a prune.” I felt rejuvenated from Julie’s sin, but my body still ached because I’d left it so long. Plus, today had been eventful.
I headed for the door and sighed, “For God’s sake Adram, behave yourself and come on!”
“Demons do what demons do!” Adram shrugged, “And there’s no way I’m setting foot in that car again with him.” With that, he poofed out, which left me rolling my eyes to thin air.
I made my escape with yet another missing woman’s folder under my arm. I felt powerless at times like this. If you rely on someone at some point they will ask for a favour and I had a nasty feeling this was just the beginning.
I stormed towards Betty and realised Marshall still had they keys. I was supposed to be a professional and good at this. All I’d managed to do since Marshall walked into my life was make a mess of things.
“Do you want these?” Marshall was leaning against the passenger side door smiling at me, jangling the keys together.
“I want to go home.” I sighed. He threw the keys at me and I caught them.
When I got in, I threw the folder on the dash and started the engine,
“What’s this?” Marshall grabbed it and scanned through the pages. I threw Betty in reverse and then spun her little yellow arse,
“It’s one of Madam Cassandra’s girls. She’s gone missing.” I knew I was being blunt but I couldn’t help it. You’d be a bit pissy if you’d been blow up and had to suck in a rather nasty sin.
“And you think it’s Clockwork?”
“Madam Cassandra does and that means I have to.” Marshall looked at me as I managed to crunch the gears in temper,
“I take it you don’t?”
“The only thing she has in common is her looks. She’s older and a working girl. I’m being railroaded…”
“And you don’t like it?”
“I like doing things on my own and here I am with you. I’m getting nowhere fast and now Madam Cassandra has lumbered me with this. She knows I’ll always be indebted to her and I hate it. All vampires are selfish to their cores. They don’t mean to be, but they only help you if they have something to gain and they are extremely patient.”
“What happened in there?” I could see the concern in his eyes but I didn’t want his pity,
“Maybe one day I’ll show you.” At some point, he will ask me to take his sin. Everyone did at some point once they knew.
Chapter Ten
My skin was on fire and all I could do was laugh. The heat fuelled my power multiplying it beyond my imagination. The demon inside me revelled in the power. It recognised its home. I was in Hell. The deepest, darkest level of Hell,
“Mine!” The voice echoed through me and I tried to find the face. There was only darkness until a laugh broke the silence,
“Cain?” I choked out his name as I fell to my knees,
“Stop fighting me. Surrender yourself and realise your true power.”
“N…never!” My body cramped and I screamed in pain.
“Xan!” I felt my body spasm, “Xan?” The voice was questioning this time but my body was burning from the inside out, “Xan!”
“I’ll never…never…give in!” I spat through gritted teeth,
“Xan, wake up!” I felt someone trying to shake me.
The darkness started to fade and I felt arms around me. I tried to kick and break free but they held me steady,
“Shhhhhh Xan, I think you’ve had a nightmare.” The voice was clearer this time and my eyes began to focus.
I was lying on my bedroom floor in my Eeyore onesie with Marshall’s arms wrapped around me. For a second I considered staying there all day. I’d never felt safe in a man’s arms but Marshall felt different. There was a vibration of power in his chest that welcomed me.
“Xan?” I felt him brush my hair from my face,
“I’m ok.” I pushed him away and got to my feet.
“Nice onesie.” He smiled and I felt myself blush. I’d never thought he would see me in it,
“I need a drink.” And with that I pushed past him and headed for the kitchen, my Eeyore tail swinging behind me.
I heard him following behind me but I didn’t want to talk to him. There was a reason I didn’t like men in my home and why I was always gone the next morning after an energetic evening. I didn’t want anyone to see me vulnerable. The dreams were getting worse; I was running out of time. I’d come to terms with being Cain’s play thing a long time ago. No one could help me. No demon, angel or mortal could stop Cain. He was the original immortal after all and I had no chance. Eventually I would have to take my place and I had a nasty feeling it would be soon.
I was crashing around my kitchen like a bear with a sore head and all I could feel was Marshall watching me from the door. I wanted to scream because I didn’t have any tomato juice and I really, really needed a drink. I yanked a bottle of milk from the fridge door and rummaged in my freezer for my vodka. A White Russian it would have to be.
“Why do you drink?” Marshall’s voice was low as he walked towards me and pulled out a chair for me,
“How very chiva
lrous of you.” I rolled my eyes and sat. He took the seat opposite and glared,
“So?”
“None of your business.” Yep, I was in grumpy bitch mode thanks to Cain,
“Is it anything to do with the scars?” Damn it all, he must have seen them while I was rolling around the floor in my Cain nightmare,
“Like I said, none of your business.” I pulled at the sleeves of my onesie knowing full well I had two long scars across both of my wrists,
“Not many people see you like this do they?” I was clutching the glass so hard I could feel it starting to crack,
“What’s with the twenty questions?” I hated nosey men!
“Eggs?” He got up and pulled eggs out of the fridge,
“Eggs?”
“Now who’s asking questions?” The grin on his face made me smile and I couldn’t help but laugh. I know he wanted me to answer his questions but he wasn’t pushing.
“I’m sorry. I’m just not used to having guests…well someone other than my mom and brother.” He flicked on the stove and started on the eggs,
“I’m not used to being a guest. I never expected you to be like this…”
“Like what?” There was my defence mechanism flaring up again,
“A file can tell you only so much. Yours was informative but that was it.”
“Believe it or not, before you walked into my life I was good at this sort of stuff. I must look like a complete fraud to you now?”
“You’re more of a person to me now rather than a thief and murderer. If we were back in the States you’d probably have a warrant on your head and I’d be chasing you down. Yet here I am cooking you eggs.”
“It’s not by choice that I do those things.”
“Then why?” He piled two plates with eggs and slid one in front of me. For the first time in my life, I could feel he was asking more out of concern than judgement,
“You saw what happens to me when I over exert myself. Sin fuels my abilities and I didn’t always have Madam Cassandra. My own sins can give me just as much in return. I’m good at being a thief and the assassin side of things was just something I fell into.” I stuffed my mouth and moaned. How could he make eggs taste this good?
“Not everyone just falls into being an assassin.” He was watching me now. His green eyes lighting up with the need to know,
“Truth be told the first time was a complete accident. I accidently blew up an illegal arms dealer. As there was a bounty already on his head, I simply claimed it. After that, word kinda got out. I’m gathering you know who I’ve taken out?” He nodded, “Then you know they all deserved it.” I was stating fact.
“And they were all men.” Another fact,
“What can I say? Men seem to be more violent than women are. What probably wasn’t in the file was that they were all supernatural in one way another.” By the look on Marshall’s face, I was right.
“How much more weird stuff will I actually see now?”
“All of it. Once you start believing, you can’t go back. Glamour works on most people, so what you see still might not be the truth. It takes a lot of power and most supernaturals can’t be bothered, unless they’re really ugly.” I smiled and winked,
“Adram does it a lot.”
“Adram looks like the Grinch in a suit.” I laughed,
“I do not!” The smell of sulphur drifted towards me and I sneezed,
“Actually you do.” I smiled,
“Says the woman dressed in an Eeyore onesie!”
“Urgh…I’ll go change then!” I knocked my White Russian back and stormed off to my bedroom to change. I could hear Adram and Marshall talking about me and it pissed me off.
Everyone wanted to know about what made Xan ‘tick’ and it was annoying. Hell even I didn’t know! No one could give me answers not even Adram and he was sent by the devil. I was a freak of nature thanks to Cain.
I huffed and puffed around my room throwing clothes on my bed. Today was the day I introduced the Elk to Marshall. It was common knowledge in the ‘underworld’ that the Elk had an unhealthy obsession with me. I never knew whether he wanted to shoot me in the face or hump my leg. Did I flash my legs or strap a shotgun on my back. I smiled.
“What the hell are you wearing?” That was Adram’s greeting when I walked in my living room.
“I looked down at myself and smiled.” I was wearing my favourite black, layered vest, black shorts, black boots and a leather belt that held a variety of knives.
“Are you going to sleep with him or stab him?” Adram shook his head,
“Says the man in glitter heels!” He spun around in them,
“Aren’t they just fabulous?”
“No wonder the devil punishes you.” I was shaking my head,
“Are you sure you’re not a vanity demon?”
“I take it those are real too?” Marshall shrugged his shoulders,
“And to say they’re vanity demons, they’re fugly. Like baboon butt, ugly, fugly!” Adram pulled his ‘disgusted’ face that looked like a bulldog sucking a wasp. “So what’s the plan?”
“I'll go and talk to the Elk alone.” I sat down and propped my legs on the coffee table,
“No way Xan. He’s temperamental at the best of times.”
“So, exactly who is the Elf?”
“He’s a pain in the arse!” Adram sighed,
“Actually he’s the King of the elves and he’s a tiny bit of a psychopath. It’s part and parcel of dealing with all the Fae shit. Unfortunately the Librarian was right when she said he would know about Clockwork if he’s an elf.”
“More strange stuff that’s real.”
“Yep. The stories have to come from somewhere. It’s just that people forgot and the old ways were lost.”
“Fae should stay lost, just like that thing!” Adram pointed at Smidge, my black cat, who chose that moment to rub against his leg. “Keep your flea bitten self away from me!” Smidge meowed and completely ignored him
“I didn’t know you had a cat.” Smidge went over to Marshall and jumped on his lap,
“Technically I don’t. She turned up one day and I’ve had her ever since.” She’d turned up a few years ago and I knew immediately she wasn’t a normal cat. I tended to attract the weirdos. She kept my mice problem at bay and I fed her. Adram wouldn’t tell me where she came from but he knew. Sometimes he was exhausting.
“She gave me fleas!” Adram fluffed out his peacock tail, knocking over a vase,
“Stop overreacting.”
“And don’t think you’re going on your own to see the Elk either!” Smidge and Adram were having a staring contest,
“You do know cats don’t blink until they actually want to?”
“Not the point.” He hissed and then stood in my way, knocking a painting off the wall and blocking my way,
“Look, you know the Elf is fickle and old fashioned. He hates you with a passion because you’re a demon and he likes me even less because of my ‘basterdised blood’” Yes I did little air quotes because the Elf tells me the same thing every I see him. He changed his mind about me like the weather. Kill me, shag me, it was all a day in the life of Xan.
“I’m still coming and I’m guessing the human will want to too.” He glared at Marshall who nodded, “Love, you need to let us help. Stop being stubborn!”
Adram may be the ever-throbbing pain in my arse but he was right. I sighed and together we all left. I couldn’t help but wonder what Marshall would think of the Elk because he wasn’t a normal King.
Chapter Eleven
Marshall was looking puzzled. Who knew a cowboy could scrunch his face up quite so much. He looked like a Pug with chronic diarrhoea and the thought made me snort. I was going to explain where we were going in Betty but I couldn’t resist seeing his face.
“Is it that thing you told me about…that glamour thing?” Adram was literally rolling around the ground laughing,
“Nope.” I said trying desperately not to laugh
at his face, “What were you expecting? A castle?”
“He has one of those in the back.” Adram laughed getting to his feet.
“You have to leave your gun here.” Now he looked at me as if I had grown a second head. One of these days, I think I actually might,
“No. That place is creepy as shit.” He nodded at the entrance,
“You can’t get in with guns. Just behave and put it in the glove box, we won’t be long.”
“Am I the only one here that remembers the Librarian? You’re all deluded.”
“No, I’m a realist and if I remember correctly I was coming here alone!” He stormed off and I heard him slam Betty’s glove box. “Don’t take it out on Betty!”
He mumbled something under his breath that sounded remarkably like I’d be the death of him and I had to agree. The sign in front of us blinked and I snorted again. Who knew the Elk would take up residence in an amusement park? It wasn’t even the abandoned kind that was all eerie and shit your pants scary. This was a fully functioning amusement park with rollercoasters, amusement arcades and an ultimate mini golf course with a model castle and moat. Adram meant it when he said the Elk had a castle, it was just in miniature. Kids were screaming, parents were yelling and we got in line behind them.
When we finally got to the front, the host was filing her nails and glaring at Adram. Looked like we had ourselves an elf. Gone was the polite host the second she saw us,
“What yer want?” Lovely,
“Two tickets please.” I smiled,
“Demons are extra.” She rolled her eyes at Adram as he smiled and waved. He’d be strutting his stuff in a minute, “And we both know you’ve not come for the amusements.” She winked at Adram and that made him puff his tail out. I swear it was a good job he was cloaking himself or the line of families behind us would be running and screaming,
“Ok then, two adult tickets and one demon!” She held her finger up to shush me as her phone started to ring. If there wasn’t glass between us I would have ripped her finger off. She picked it up and started to randomly nod. I realised she was nodding at the CCTV behind my head,
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