Most Wanted - A Fantasy Romance Novel (The Shadow Blade Series)

by E. L Friel

  Ariel pushed on through to the back room, plastic beer cups crunching beneath her feet, until she came to the betting kiosks. Felix was sweeping up the discarded chits from the floor in front of them, his tall, skinny frame slouching over the broom.

  ‘Hey Felix,’ Ariel said.

  Felix looked up at the sound of his name and grinned at the sight of her. She felt a kick in her gut. She knew that Felix had a soft spot for her, some would call it a full on crush, but the kid was just a kid, barely sixteen and on top of that he was a Hecate demon.

  ‘What’s going on?’ she asked him.

  ‘Oh, just the usual,’ he answered, ‘you know how it is.’

  ‘Any bounties?’ she asked.

  Felix was low down on the totem at Jimmy’s, but he was a useful person to know because he had eyes in the back of his head. Literally. He gave the term two-faced a whole new meaning. Thanks though to this undoubtedly useful skill, he had cadged a job out of Jimmy, working the betting lounge, helping collect the chits and handing out payments, or more usually, taking them. Because he could see trouble from every angle, he was good at catching cheating too and pre-empting any trouble.

  He turned just then and Ariel caught a glimpse of his other face, the blinking eyes in the back of his skull, busy scanning the room, keeping a watch on the screens in the corner. Felix leaned in closer towards her. ‘The Brothers just issued a big bounty on someone. I was going to send you a message later, once I was done sweeping. It’s six figures.’

  Ariel nodded. That was good news. She hoped she wasn’t too late. ‘Thanks Felix,’ she said. ‘I better go see Jimmy. What kind of a mood is he in?’ she asked.

  Felix shrugged. ‘Same as usual.’

  Ariel stuck a ten-dollar bill in Felix’s pocket and then turned to push her way back through the crowd.

  ‘Good luck!’ she heard Felix call after her.

  Jimmy’s usual goon was standing sentry outside his office. He was a

  Shifter called Manu, who that day had chosen to take on the form of Vin Diesel. Go figure. Shifters could only shift into human form but if she could shift into any form, it certainly wouldn’t be Vin Diesel.

  ‘Can I see Jimmy?’ Ariel asked when Vin made no move to step away from the door.

  He finally sighed. ‘Your funeral,’ he said, pushing the door open.

  Ariel stepped inside the room. Behind the desk sat a wizened old man with thick horn-rimmed glasses attached to his head with a sweatband. A chewed cigar was wedged behind his ear. His other ear was missing, giving him an asymmetrical appearance which took a while to get used to. Rumor had it that Jimmy had lost his ear and three toes in a cage fight when he was younger. Though looking at him now Ariel found it hard to imagine Jimmy ever having been a cage fighter.

  He still hadn’t glanced up from his work, and she watched his fingers flying furiously, tapping out numbers on a calculator. Ariel took a moment to glance around. Shelves and cabinets lined the box-like room. The top shelf was weighed down with televisions from every decade since their invention. Most looked like antiques. There were also a number of dust covered appliances and gymnastics trophies. To her right stood a cabinet full of random items including a fine set of gold candlesticks, and a full set of cocktail glasses. Ariel saw her own ruby-hilted knife lying beside the cocktail shaker in the cabinet and glowered. One day she vowed, she was coming back for that .

  Jimmy was a hoarder. This was a well-known fact. The items in the room were the things he’d held onto over the years, belongings that people had pawned and never come back to reclaim.. Rumor had it that in one of the cabinet drawers he kept a collection of severed digits; debt repayments when the owners failed to deliver cash. It was part of the reason Ariel hadn’t gone to him for a loan. Though Rasa had turned out to be every bit as unreasonable in the end.

  ‘Hey Jimmy,’ she said with a smile when he finally looked up from his calculations.

  He glared at her and reached for his cigar. ‘What do you want?’ he grunted, sticking it between his teeth and starting to chew on it.

  ‘Oh come on, cut me some slack,’ Ariel said, trying for a winning smile.

  ‘What happened with Ezekiel? Hmmm?’ Jimmy asked.

  ‘He kind of died,’ Ariel admitted reluctantly with a shrug.

  Jimmy leaned back in his chair. ‘Kind of died? Like that Chameleon in Montana just happened to sever his own artery?’

  ‘Mmmm,’ Ariel murmured, glancing at the pile of flyers on Jimmy’s desk. ‘Not my fault. Listen, they’re both dead,’ she said, reaching for a flyer. ‘One less Sucker on the street. One less Chameleon scamming you. No bad thing.’

  ‘Don’t talk to me about Suckers,’ Jimmy muttered with a sneer, leaning forwards and snatching the flyer out of her hand.

  ‘Why?’ Ariel asked.

  ‘You not heard?’ he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her. ‘There’s a plague of them.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Ariel mumbled. ‘I had a little run in with some the other day. They’re immune to silver, makes it hard to kill the buggers.’

  Jimmy peered at her curiously. ‘They’re some new super breed.’

  Ariel looked up sharply, shaking her head in confusion. ‘Has the virus mutated?’

  Jimmy pursed his lips. ‘No. Worse. They’re being spawned.’

  ‘Spawned?’ Ariel asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ Jimmy nodded at her, sucking on his dead cigar. ‘Spawned. These things ain’t made from no virus.’

  Ariel’s mouth fell open as the pieces started to fall into place. If they weren’t being infected with the virus, then they were being made. She still didn’t understand though. ‘But I thought only an Original could spawn,’ she said. She didn’t recall much about demon lore, but this was one thing she was pretty sure about.

  Jimmy’s beady eyes fixed right on her. ‘That’s right.’

  ‘But I thought the Originals were all dead.’ her heart had started racing.

  ‘Would appear not. The Brothers have issued a warrant.’ Jimmy waved the flyer in her face.

  Ariel grabbed for it, but he pulled it away. ‘There are half a dozen other bounty hunters out there right now. They’re not going to be happy if I let you in on it too.’

  ‘If it’s really an Original vampire, you’re going to need everyone you can get,’ Ariel shot back.

  Jimmy stopped chewing his cigar and spat a puddle of dark liquid onto the ground at his feet.

  Ariel took the opportunity to snatch the flyer from his hand. ‘One hundred thou?’ she screeched, reading it. ‘You gotta let me in on this Jimmy! Please!’ she begged. ‘I won’t fuck it up this time. I promise. ’ Damn straight she wouldn’t screw it up. She needed that money. One hundred thousand would get Rasa off her back and buy her a ticket to Europe where Rikon was. It would buy her a fake identity and the intel she needed to get close to him.

  Jimmy eyed her over the top of his glasses. ‘Sweetheart,’ he smirked. ‘If you think you stand a chance against an Original, well good luck to you. And I’ll see you in the next life.’

  Ariel took that for agreement that she could try. She grinned as she stuffed the flyer in her pocket and turned to the door. She had to get a move on if she was going to get to him before the other bounty hunters did.

  Ariel was just weaving her way through the riotous crowd of demons and hawkers in the betting lounge when she felt someone grabbing her arm. She spun around, her hand fisted, ready to throw a punch, and pulled back only just in time to stop herself from hitting Felix in one of his faces.

  ‘Hey Felix,’ she said.

  ‘Hey Ariel,’ he panted almost breathlessly. ‘You going after that Original?’ he asked. ‘Did Jimmy let you in on it?’

  Ariel nodded, grinning.

  ‘You should know that Aaron’s after him too,’ Felix murmured under his breath. ‘I just heard.’

  Around them the crowd jostled and Ariel had to dig in her heels to stop from being pushed into Felix’s arms. Aaron. Ariel gritted her teeth. That piece
of Shapeshifter scum. Aaron had stolen more than a fair few of her hits. He was good. And more arrogant than the devil.

  ‘What are his odds?’ she asked Felix, glancing at the board on the wall where the names of bounty hunters had been scrawled in chalk. She saw one of the betting guys, a Spider demon with eight arms, etching her own name onto the bottom, then the numbers one hundred to one beside it. Bastard.

  ‘Aaron’s two to one,’ Felix said, ‘He’s the favorite.’

  Ariel eyed the board. There were four other bounty hunters on there, all with fair to middling odds. She was the outsider by a large margin. She scanned the list, recognizing all their names. They were all good, experienced bounty hunters. Damn it. She needed to hurry or she’d miss out. She started for the door but then stopped and turned back to Felix, grabbing him by the arm.

  ‘Listen Felix,’ she whispered, an idea coming to her. ‘Would you place a bet for me?’

  A grin spread across his face. ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘You got cash though?’ Felix knew the situation she was in when it came to cash flow, had been there when she came to pawn her father’s blade.

  Ariel pulled a face. ‘Not exactly,’ she said. ‘But come with me.’

  She led Felix over to the window, which was boarded up. Peeling aside a sheet of plywood and rubbing her elbow across the grime coating the glass she cleared a patch and pointed. ‘There,’ she said, ‘Can you take that as collateral?’

  Felix started laughing. ‘Which? The guy or the bike?’ he asked.

  ‘The bike,’ she said, watching Jax through the window. He was leaning against the bike still, scowling. ‘Can you take it?’ she asked again.

  Even as she asked it she felt her heart start to beat faster. OK, it was wrong. It wasn’t even her bike, but she had nothing else with which to bet and besides, Jax owed her. Besides, he probably could afford five hundred of the damn things.

  Felix tipped his head to the side then nodded. ‘Yeah, we can take that.’ He paused though and frowned at her. ‘Who’s the guy though?’ he asked.

  Ariel sensed the edge to his voice and noted the wounded look in his eye. She took a deep breath. ‘Just a guy,’ she answered and strolled out the door.

  Chapter 10

  Ariel pulled open the door to the street and bumped straight into Jax’s chest.

  ‘What are you doing?’ she hissed, taking him by the arm and dragging him away from the entrance. ‘Do you want to get killed?’

  Jax shrugged at her but the relief was rolling off him in waves. ‘You were gone ages. I was worried,’ he explained.

  She glanced sideways at him. He had been worried about her? ‘I’m fine. I’m not going to be fine however if they see me hanging out with a Blade.’

  Looking sheepish Jax climbed on his bike and turned to hand her a helmet. As Ariel reached for it he snatched it from her hands. She frowned at him, frustrated. She didn’t have time for games. What was he doing?

  ‘Say please,’ he taunted.

  Ariel blinked at him in astonishment. He had a cocky smile playing on his lips and his eyes were lit up with amusement. The bastard was laughing at her. She snatched the helmet from his grip. ‘Asshole,’ she mumbled as she climbed on behind him, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment. She couldn’t believe he had brought that up. She was going to kill him.

  Refusing to hold him around the waist she sat rigid, gripping the seat. Jax growled under his breath, reached back and grabbed her wrists. He wrenched her forwards so she was pressed against his back and folded her arms around his waist.

  ‘Asshole,’ she said louder into his ear. His shoulders shook with laughter as he revved the engine and sped off.

  Half an hour later they were back on the Venice boardwalk. ‘So, tell me again what we’re doing here?’ Jax asked drolly.

  ‘We’re going to capture one of them and find out where their maker is,’ Ariel snarked back at him.

  ‘Maker? What do you mean?’ Jax asked. ‘You mean the Sucker who gave them the virus?’

  Ariel shook her head. ‘You’ve heard of Originals, right?’

  Jax stopped abruptly in his tracks. ‘They were destroyed. Ten years ago. A group of rogue Blades killed them.’

  ‘Hey,’ Ariel hissed in annoyance. ‘It wasn’t just Blades. They had some help.’

  Jax paused. The tale went that a group of Blades worked with a group of demons, Shadows included, to take out a nest of a dozen Originals that were planning on overrunning the human realm.

  ‘So you’re saying they’re back and making more?’ he asked.

  Ariel nodded at him daring him to argue. ‘One is.’

  Jax took that in. He never would have imagined that was the scenario they were up against. The rumors about Original vampires were terrifying. More Blades than he could count had been killed trying to stop them in the past. ‘And you want to find this one and kill it?’ he asked Ariel, trying to keep his voice down.

  ‘Yes,’ she answered.

  ‘But they’re almost impossible to kill without –‘

  ‘Without a Shadow blade,’ Ariel finished for him, smiling smugly and drawing out a ruby-hilted knife.

  It gleamed iridescent in the moonlight. Jax reached to touch it, but she pulled it away. ‘Careful,’ she whispered in the darkness.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ he murmured, his eyes locking on hers. He wasn’t talking about the blade.

  ‘And sharper than a razor,’ she whispered back.

  ‘Just like it’s owner,’ he answered, laughing under his breath.

  ‘Where’d you find that?’ he asked. He was fairly sure she hadn’t had it on her earlier.

  ‘I borrowed it back from Jimmy. It was my father’s,’ she added in a quieter voice.

  Jax felt a little better knowing that they had a weapon that could make a dent in an Original but still not good about the situation. As far as he was aware there was no other way of killing them than by severing their heads with Shadow steel.

  Silently they edged closer to the pier. There was no shrieking or cackling tonight, but he could sense something was there, lurking in the shadows. His guess was that there were at least one or two, but they’d need to get closer and check.

  ‘I wonder how that girl is,’ Ariel mused as they got edged closer, ‘the one who got away.’

  ‘She’ll be a Sucker by now,’ Jax answered, scanning the beach, checking they weren’t being followed. Occasionally the cops liked to run a patrol through the area, though so infrequently Jax often wondered if the police commissioner was in cahoots with the demons. ‘We should have killed her while we had the chance, put her out of her misery.’

  Ariel made a sound like a grunt. He didn’t know whether or not she agreed with him. He just knew that if he was ever infected he’d want to be killed. Rather death than become a Sucker.

  ‘Hey, I have an idea,’ he said, pushing the thought aside. It was a Blade’s worst nightmare, worse even than the thought of being killed. ‘Let’s see if we can lure one out,’ he whispered across to Ariel. ‘Come here.’

  Ariel stepped towards him and Jax tripped her with his foot. The moment she dropped to the sand, Jax fell too, covering her with his body, pushing her down, pinning her to the ground. Instantly she tried to push him off.

  ‘Shhhh,’ Jax whispered, his hand resting on her stomach. She calmed instantly and he wondered at how his touch seemed to command something over her, even if she wasn’t happy about it. She scowled at him in the darkness but her body told a different tune. He could feel her heart rate speeding up, sense her body trembling beneath his. ‘Let’s just pretend we’re having a little make-out session,’ he murmured. ‘That should get their attention.’

  She looked like she was about to argue. Her hands pressed against his chest. Jax leaned down, unable to resist the pull of those lips. As soon as he touched his mouth to hers he felt her whole body sigh, the words of protest instantly cut off. His arms tightened around her waist, gripping her tight. All thoughts of the Suckers beneath the p
ier vanished. There was just Ariel, the sweet taste of her tongue, the feel of her soft skin, her rushing blood and thundering heartbeat. Her arms snaked around his neck and as his tongue probed further into her mouth, playing with hers, he felt her surrendering beneath him, softening. His cock stiffened against her thigh and he brushed his lips along her jaw, just beneath her ear. Images of her wet pussy flashed across his mind, the remembrance of thrusting into her, how it had felt as she gripped onto him with her thighs and drove him in deeper. He couldn’t stop remembering either the way she’d begged him to fuck her.

  ‘I like hearing you beg,’ he whispered into her ear.

  Beneath him he felt Ariel’s heart spike at an un-human level. She pushed against him but Jax felt the desire jolt through her, and even as she pushed against his chest her hands twined in his hair.

  His hand reached between her legs, cupping her sex. He applied the gentlest pressure and felt her muscles lock and her back arch. She was trying to suppress a groan and he wondered at how she kept fighting him, even as her body screamed for his touch. He kissed her lips, breathing her in. Her hand suddenly moved to grip his shaft through the thick denim of his jeans. She squeezed him and blood surged and engorged him, driving every thought from his brain. He rubbed her clit and felt the spreading heat of her body. Fuck, he could only think about tearing off her jeans and having his way with her, driving into her, making her come. But there was a dim awareness in the back of his mind that he was in danger, that they were getting dangerously distracted. There would be time later for them to take their fill of each other. He took a deep breath, nudged her jaw with his chin.

  ‘After tonight, I’m going to have you again,’ he murmured in her ear. ‘I’m going to fuck you like you’ve never been fucked.’