by Luna Quinn
She shot at the hybrid, but even when the bullet went straight through the creature’s heart, the hybrid didn’t slow down for a second. The gun was knocked from her hand as the creature tackled her, and she rolled with it, punching and kicking. Thank Goddess for those training sessions with Sael.
Her body reacted on instinct, lashing out at the creature and blocking its own punches against her. She needed to reach her machete sheathed at her hip, but the creature had her pinned down. So she just fought him as much as she could, pressing for any advantage while avoiding his blows. Particularly, she avoided the thing’s mouth, with its ropy saliva and huge fangs. The claws were a bitch, too, and she felt their sting as the hybrid caught her off guard and raked its claws down her side.
She finally twisted and was able to grab the dagger from her boot, but wasn’t able to block the creature’s next attack, and got four deep slashes across her cheek for the trouble.
She snarled, but the pain only added to her adrenaline. She didn’t bother to wipe away the blood as it dripped down her face. “You’re gonna pay for that one.” She clutched her dagger tightly, then jammed the blade up through the chin and towards the brain.
Taking advantage of the momentary pause when the Vamp-Shifter fell in agony, she rolled away. She stumbled to her feet and then her back was flush against a broad back.
Razor.
Glancing over her shoulder, Razor doing the same, their gazes met for a brief moment. It was as if time had slowed down. She saw the predatory gleam in his black eyes, felt the spike of desire rush over her in response. There was wetness at her back, but she wasn’t sure if it was his blood, hers, or both. In that moment, they were one, connected. A team, true partners. Fighting with the other at their back.
It was a feeling that spread warmth through her heart. And turned her the fuck on.
This was what she wanted. This felt good. Felt like…a future. One she could live for, strive for.
The moment came to an abrupt end when one of the Vamp-Shifters made a rush for the pair of them. Razor snapped into action, roaring loudly, his saber claws swinging. Goddess, he’s beautiful.
She returned her focus to her own hybrid, who was pushing himself up despite the dagger piercing his face. Unsheathing her machete, she charged forward and took care of that problem, the Vamp-Shifter’s head rolling away from his body a moment later, a black puddle forming under the gaping neck.
Turning back to Razor, she saw him end the other creature.
As one, they turned to Castor.
Before her eyes, Castor lost his confidence, his eyes darting between Razor, Sasha, and the open doorway.
“There’s no way you’re getting past us, so don’t bother,” Razor warned, stalking forward. Castor backed up until his back hit the metal wall of the shack. Razor still held his saber claws in both hands, a predator ready to strike at any second.
She stepped up to Castor. “Why Hailie?”
The Vampire asshole sneered. “No matter what happens here, I’m already dead. And your little bitch got what she deserved. She should have kept her mouth shut.”
The fucker didn’t even try to deny it or play dumb. He seriously had some balls.
She needed to snap his vile neck. She settled for a mean right hook, powerful enough to whip his head to the side. “What happened to protecting the children, you piece of shit? I thought you were capable of at least that much decency.”
He snorted. “I had no idea she knew so much, or I would have killed her sooner. She ruined my plans. Our plans. The magic required more power, so I solved two problems at the same time.”
“What magic?” Razor asked sharply.
Castor shrugged, staring straight at the far wall.
“Oh, now you’re refusing to talk?” Razor’s arm shot out, one saber claw slicing across his chest. Castor flinched, but otherwise didn’t open up. So Razor slashed at him again. And again. He ended by stomping his boot down onto the knee Sasha had shot earlier.
Castor finally cried out in pain, crumpling to the floor.
Sasha had no lost love for her former business partner and ex-lover. He was scum. She’d always known he wasn’t the greatest man, but never suspected he was heartless.
“The magic Valtu is using for these drugs. That’s what you mean, isn’t it?” It wasn’t hard to guess.
Castor smirked at her. “The most powerful magic around. The darkest kind.” His eyes took on a wild gleam. “I guess it doesn’t really matter if you know or not. You’re all going to die. You have no idea what’s coming.” He laughed.
Razor snarled. “Black magic.”
Castor was still laughing. So Sasha shot him in the other knee.
Razor and Sasha glanced at each other while Castor howled in pain, his head bowed. Finally, after he was reduced to whimpers, he answered. “Black magic, yes…but so much more. Genius.”
“Tell me.” Razor demanded. When there was no further answer and it was clear Castor was about to pass out, Razor stepped forward. In one swift movement, he arced the saber claw down, the serrated curve of the blade catching on Castor’s shoulder and ripping through skin and muscle. It wasn’t near enough to be lethal, but enough to make him bleed out slowly. “Talk, asshole.”
If she hadn’t been so serious about finding out these answers, she would have smiled. Working together in this capacity with him was almost…romantic. To her, at least. And he was seriously hot to watch work.
Castor clutched at his wound with another shout of pain, dropping the medallion she’d noticed earlier. She quickly picked it up and studied it. It was a dark emerald, with symbols etched all along the setting of the stone.
She held it up for Castor to see. “You used this. What is it?”
Castor paled even more than a Vampire should. He was losing a lot of blood, and quickly. “She doesn’t trust me with her pets. I’ve been loyal to her, and she can’t even give me full power over them,” he mumbled.
Sasha felt a jolt in her gut. She knew where this was going. “Pets?”
Castor gestured angrily to the dead Vamp-Shifters. “They’re Valtu’s creations. But they were my idea. I should get to control them, too. She’s so proud of them, like they’re not part mine.” He looked disgusted, now leaning heavily against the wall. “I run the drugs, and putting the magic in them wasn’t complicated, not really. Getting people to try ‘something new’ was too fucking easy. Take the drugs a few times, then they shift and are connected to their maker.” His voice was getting thinner, and he was practically slurring his words. Why was he…?
She turned to Razor, a suspicion growing. “Did you poison your blades?”
Razor’s smile was full of pride. “Night’s special blend. Thought it might come handy in getting answers.”
Sasha grinned. “Nice.” To Castor, she said, “How is this helping you?”
Castor smiled, delirious. “She promised me everything. But then it turned out that the first twenty or so batches of drugs killed more often than not. Most of those bodies went to feeding your K Demons out in Two. Lrox was very grateful.” He laughed like it was the funniest joke he’d ever heard. Sasha was glad Lrox was dead. “Valtu didn’t give a shit when I complained. Soon it became clear that I was never going to get any of the power she promised me.”
All those seemingly random and gruesome deaths were starting to make a whole lot of sense now. All the melted bodies were actually victims of Valtu’s recipe tweaking.
“But then we figured out the correct recipe, and everything started to look up again. Ahh, good times,” Castor said with a hum.
Razor narrowed his eyes. “What’s the purpose of the Vamp-Shifters?”
“How the hell should I know?” Castor’s eyes flashed in fury, but he was now too weak to act upon it.
Razor laughed, a harsh sound. He stepped even closer to Castor, in his face. “Ah, I see. You thought you were a team again. Partners. I bet she promised you the world after you succeeded. All the power you could dream o
f. Little did you know, she gave less than two fucks about you. You were just a fucking pawn. Ouch, buddy.”
Finding strength from somewhere, Castor lunged forward, stabbing Razor’s chest with a blade she hadn’t seen.
Pure hot rage filled Sasha, a type of raw emotion she was unfamiliar with. Before Razor could strike back on his own, Sasha stepped in and grabbed Castor by his hair and threw him to the floor. She placed her boot on the Vampire’s chest, slowly pressing her weight onto him. “You don’t get to fucking touch him.” She spat on his face. “You’re going to stay here and bleed out into the dirt like the spineless worm you are. You’re going to die a long, lonely death.”
She lifted the medallion she’d confiscated from him, tossed it on the ground, and crushed it with her boot.
“You fucking whore,” Castor spat, his voice frail. He continued to call her more offensive names, but she didn’t hear them because she’d turned and walked out of the shack, fully comfortable with leaving that man in there to die.
She felt Razor’s fury as he silently followed her. Then she felt the energy crackling between them. She shivered and turned to smile at him, to say it was a job well done.
Her breath left in a rush.
Razor looked at her like he was going to fuck her where she stood.
He prowled up to her, not even caring that he was bleeding. Her instincts demanded that she back up. She did no such thing. Nope, she stayed right where she was, until he was on her. She lifted her chin and met his gaze, her chest rapidly rising and falling with her quickening breath.
His hand shot out and curled around the nape of her neck, then pulled her forward. His lips descended on her in a harsh kiss, and Sasha softened with a moan. His fingers dove into her curls, holding her head in place as his tongue slipped into her mouth, pulling more moans from her.
In the next moment, he shoved her up against the cold metal of the shack’s walls, his hand moving from the nape of her neck to the front of her throat. He applied just the lightest pressure, and desire pooled in her.
“Razor…” she begged. She’d never get enough of him.
“Yeah, pretty girl?” He dragged his mouth down the side of her neck. He didn’t let go of her throat, biting and sucking at her skin. At the same time, his other hand cupped her breast through her hoodie. She was suddenly wearing way too many clothes.
“Fuck me,” she whimpered. “Please.”
“I will,” he replied. He slid his hand down from her breast, along her side and stomach, and finally ended at the top of her pants. “And you’re going to scream my name when you come. I want everyone to know who’s fucking you.” He’d undone her zipper and worked his hand down her pants, sliding under her panties to cup her between her thighs just as he finished speaking.
Sasha closed her eyes, gasping at the possessive touch. She pressed her hips forward. “Yes.”
“Open your eyes,” he said, his voice low.
She obeyed the command without hesitation. Her gaze found his, and his eyes were so dark, they were almost completely black. Without looking away, his thumb slipped down and pressed against her clit.
She whimpered at the sharp pleasure, but he didn’t stop. He made small, tight circles with his finger. Only when she was panting did he pause, and it was only to move his hand down. Her hips bucked impatiently, but when two of his fingers slid home into her pussy, she moaned in relief and need. His thumb continued working at her clit while he pumped his two fingers in and out of her.
The entire time, his lips were pressed against her ear, switching between breathing words in Empyrean and Vruk, oblivious that she couldn’t understand it.
“Oh, Goddess, Raz…” She threw her head back, ready to come with his name on her tongue, not caring that anyone could be watching them right now, and probably was.
Her climax was right there. Her thighs quivered, her body tensing in anticipation. Her pussy clenched once around his fingers, and they moaned together.
And then a sharp sense of alarm filled her, her head pounding with immediate pain as a Call hit her.
“Shit. Fuck. No!” she nearly sobbed.
In the few seconds it had taken her to realize she’d gotten a Call to retrieve souls, her body must have sent a clear message to Razor. He had stilled, his confused and concerned gaze raking over her.
“What is it? Are you okay?” he asked.
She closed her eyes. “I have to go.”
“What?!” His disbelief was almost comical. She really shouldn’t laugh, not with her orgasm still close enough to coax back in a second, and with Razor’s cock pressing insistently against her thigh.
“I got a fucking Call. And, Razor…it feels bad. Five deaths that I can feel already. It’s probably why Xavier put me back on rotation. I need to go right now.” She cringed when another wave of pain hit her. There would be no delaying this. “I—”
Razor and the crappy shack were there one second, and then the next, after a brief sensation of travel, she was staring at the inside of a house she’d never been in before. She quickly fixed her jeans.
Apparently, her acknowledgment of the Call needing immediate attention had transported her right to the souls without waiting for her to go through the motions herself.
With a growl, she tried to focus on her work, not the fact that the universe had essentially cockblocked her.
…
Not three minutes after Sasha had poofed out, leaving Razor a panting, growling mess, he’d gone back to Castor. He hadn’t intended to leave him alive, but with his substantial wounds, he had thought the Vampire wouldn’t be going anywhere for at least the handful of hours it would take him to heal. But Razor had fucked up. Again. When he went back into the building, Castor was no longer in there.
There was blood on the floor, but no trace of his having moved on his own accord. Which meant someone, most likely Valtu, had teleported him out. Razor gritted his teeth. He blamed no one but himself.
Taking a huge gulp of air in an attempt to regain his composure, he turned on his heel and went back outside. He needed to find a balance when it came to his feelings for Sasha and his responsibilities as Judge. Otherwise, his dick would continue to lead him into fuck ups like this.
Getting the city cleaners on the phone was his next move. He briefed them on the situation, and then stomped around some, cursing his own stupidity. But Goddess, fighting side by side with Sasha had given him the biggest battle wood ever, the type of hard-on that usually came after a fight. It wasn’t usually sexual, just a reaction to the adrenaline. But with Sasha earlier, it had been a mix of both. He’d wanted her so bad, it’d hurt.
He had been out of control turned on the minute she’d started fighting the Vamp-Shifter. His irritation at her having rushed in, guns blazing, had vanished instantly. Sleek and quick, she moved like a dancer. His Reaper made it all look effortless. When they’d ended up back to back, an unfuckingbelievable connection between them had sparked to life. So intense, he was surprised he hadn’t grabbed her for a kiss and fucked her right then and there. Then they’d begun to kick ass. There had been a rhythm to Sasha’s fighting that had felt almost natural for him to pick up, and they’d synched to each other like they’d been doing it for years.
The eroticism of the entire thing still had him on the edge of coming.
And the desire to have her so completely that she’d have a piece of his own soul inside her was overwhelming. It took all of his willpower and self-control not to take off after her. Not that he would know where to look. Then again, yelling for Xavier until the leader of the Reapers was forced to come tell him to shut his face-hole was sounding like a damn good starting point. Yeah, that wouldn’t come off as desperate at all.
He needed to stop thinking about it and get some work done. He blew out a breath and ran a hand over his skull. His hair felt longer than usual. He’d need to make time to buzz it down later.
The cleaners finally arrived, and after giving them instructions, he left them to
it and took off for the nearest gateway. It’d been twenty minutes since Sasha had left him, and he was still wincing as he was forced to walk with the never-ending erection.
Right before he stepped through the gateway, his phone vibrated with a message. Fishing it out of his front pocket, Razor frowned as he saw it was from Sasha. He quickly opened it.
Hurry,.I needb y
His frown deepened, the back of his neck prickling. What the fuck? Even with the typos, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what it said. She needed backup. And the typos didn’t elicit any good feelings. Razor dialed her, but it went straight to voicemail.
He took off in a dead run, not really knowing where he was going, only that he needed to get to Sasha. Now. He went through the gateway and stepped out into One. He dialed Sin. Thankfully, his brother picked up on the second ring.
“Have there been any reports of deaths, fighting, anything weird?”
“No, why?” Sin replied. Before Razor could explain, Luka’s voice in the background made him pause. He was yelling something, and then there was shuffling, followed by Sin’s muffled voice. Any other time, he would have rushed to Sin to find out what the fuck had come over Luka. But his brain refused to move past Sasha needing his help.
“Sorry, I’m back.” He now heard the ever-present sounds of typing in the background.
“I need to find Sasha. If you hear of anything that could involve Reapers, call me.”
“Is she okay?”
Razor’s heartbeat was drumming against his chest, his nose in the air as he filtered through thousands of scents. “I fucking hope so. Or someone’s going to die,” he told his brother, and then hung up. He needed all his senses if he was going to find her.
He ran and sniffed for what felt like an eternity. The longer he got nothing, the more panicked he became. He’d been running around Shadow Realm, entering and exiting gateways, but no signs of her or any other Reapers. He’d even tried calling Locke and Archer, but no luck there, either.
When he glanced at his watch, he realized he’d only really been looking for fifteen minutes. Motherfucker, it felt like he’d been at this for hours.