by Emma Shade
Alistair removed himself from the chair so fast that it spilled over behind him with a thwack. Raking a hand through his dark hair, his demeanor changed. As though an invisible curtain fell over his face, he transformed from a fit of rage to ice in a millisecond. The stoic Alistair Ryder had returned, letting any vulnerability he might feel to freeze with his icy resolve.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to give an update to Jeremy,” Alistair said, not an ounce of emotion behind his words.
After Alistair was long gone, Sam snorted. “Huh, look at that. I could’ve sworn that man was jealous of Jamison.”
“Sam, shut it,” Paige warned.
“Nope, not going to happen. I haven’t been able to meddle in a long time now. I’m long overdue,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.
Sam already had meddled with me, but I wouldn’t call it meddling per say. More like a mother hen. That’s just who Sam was. Nosy, meddlesome, and lived off drama. But he meant well and loved me. My best friend’s lack of filter with his intrusive and hilarious personality was one of the many reasons why I loved him.
“I can understand if I’d done somethin’ wrong, but I wasn’t aware of any sort of claim on Paige. Will somebody please tell me what’s goin’ on here?” Jamison asked.
“Well,” Sam quipped, “Paige likes Alistair. Alistair likes Paige. But neither will admit anything.”
“I do not like Alistair!” Paige barked.
“So there is nothin’ between the two of you?” Jamison questioned, eyes narrowed at the feisty redhead. “Do I need to worry about my head on the choppin’ block?”
“No, you didn’t cross any lines,” Ashton admitted. “Actually, I was just as surprised at his reaction as you were. He hasn’t staked a claim on Paige or anyone that I know of.”
“Good. I was a little worried that Alistair would hunt me down and kill me while I slept,” Jamison quipped.
“Nah, Alistair’s got some major issues, but he wouldn’t do anything like that without merit. Especially when he wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. And besides, Paige and Alistair fight like cats and dogs so it’s unlikely to work out anyway,” Ashton said with a shrug.
“Hey! I’m right here, guys. Right here.” Paige declared, waiving her arms around as if to catch their attention. “You know what? I’m over this shitty day so I’m going back to the hotel room. Call or stop by if you need me.”
She made it to the entrance of the restaurant and once the door opened, she turned and called out, “You can talk about me all you want after I clear these doors. Make it juicy gossip at least!”
Sam and I snickered after she was gone.
Blake, who’d been mostly silent and distracted during lunch, excused himself to take a phone call after his phone rang for the tenth time.
Carlotta and Jeffery left shortly after, both giving me hugs before they went. Apparently Jeffery had to leave town for a few weeks for an emergency, which saddened me. I longed for Carlotta’s words of wisdom over the next few days.
Jamison paid the tab of our meal and alcohol, which I suspected he might.
“Lily, I hope you don’t leave Las Vegas before we have another chance at playing one of the card games. I’d like to show you how to play poker,” Jamison said with a wink.
“Why would I leave Las Vegas so soon?” I asked, confusion marring my face. I glanced at Ashton and then at Sam. Surely they hadn’t expected me to leave just because they found me.
Jamison, making a wry face and eyes darting at Ashton, replied, “Well, I just assumed is all. I hope to see you soon, though.”
“Of course I’ll be seeing you around, Jamison. Are you leaving now?” I asked.
Not that I wanted him to hang around me for the remainder of the day, but his departure was going to leave me with only Sam and Ashton. My nerves were in overdrive most of the day, and the possibility of being alone with Ashton sent them careening down the tracks.
“Yeah, I need to get back to business.” Checking his watch, Jamison nodded to Sam and Ashton. He then limply hugged me, hesitant how to act around me. “I’ll see you around. Sam, can I talk to you for a few minutes?”
Sam, unsure of what to do, darted his eyes between me and Ashton. He finally nodded, kissed me on the cheek, and leaned in close to my ear. Whispering, he said, “Remember what I told you.”
My eyes followed them as they exited the restaurant, my stomach full of trepidation. Gradually I turned to Ashton who examined me with interest. Swallowing back the bile, I inhaled the calming air and held it, counting to ten.
Ashton cocked his head to the side, and said, “I think you and Paige are holding something back. Why are you in Las Vegas, Lily?”
Shoving my hands under the table to wring my fingers, I answered, “It’s an adult playground. I love the hustle and bustle of the casinos, gambling, and partying.”
Ashton laughed, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “You’re such a bad liar, Liliana.”
I gulped. “Why do you think I’m lying?”
“You can’t fool somebody who knows you better than you know yourself. Liliana, all of these past weeks searching, I never expected to find you so cold and unfeeling. But, I also know it’s all a lie.”
“A lie?” I squeaked, clenching my hands into fists under the table.
The supernatural energy vibrated through my bones and rumbled like a Harley engine. I tried my best to conceal my sudden outburst of power and hoped like hell I pulled it off.
“You’re biting your lip for starters,” he said, and my lip popped out from in between my teeth. “You’re hands are trembling, breathing is increased, and your heart is beating almost as fast as a hummingbird’s. You’re still wearing the necklace I gave you before you left.” Ashton’s mouth curled up with a smirk. “And if I had to guess, sparks are tingling your fingertips as we speak.”
I inwardly gasped, afraid to show any sort of reaction. Although, I’m sure my eyes rounded in to giant spheres from surprise. This man, the one who’d hunted me for so long, knew I’d performed this ruse and laid it on thick. Apparently I was more transparent that I liked to believe.
“By your silence, I think I’m right. Are you going to tell me why you’re in Las Vegas or do I have to find out on my own?”
“Why do you want to know so badly?” I asked, voice barely audible.
Ashton shrugged. “Curiosity and I want to know what’s standing in your way of going back home.”
“I can’t leave.”
“Why not?”
I shuffled in my seat, uncomfortable and unsure which parts to tell and which to keep my mouth shut about.
Jeremy was not known for his sense of understanding. According to Paige, she’d deserved her penance on several occasions. Yet, she hadn’t really explained the actual punishments, just her reprimands sucked big, hairy dicks. Her words, not mine.
Ashton’s gaze pierced mine. My heart lurched at the emotions in his eyes. I swallowed. Hard.
I blamed part of what happened next on my nerves, because the first rule of the secret assignments...was to not talk about the secret assignments. If I had blown the cover to the Fight Club this easily, my ass would’ve been handed to me. Or killed. Well, being killed was always a possibility with Jeremy. Who knew what he was capable of. Which reminded me to ask Paige when I returned to the room about punishments when blabbing about assignments.
“I’m on assignment and looking for a vampire who’s running an illegal blood trade and prostitution ring. He’s turning his stolen prostitutes into vampires and luring innocent victims in to steal their blood,” I blurted, and instantly regretted opening my mouth.
Ashton’s face contorted with rage and disbelief. “They sent two conjurers to track down a vampire who’s dealing in blood and sex?! Is Jeremy fucking insane?!”
The raised volume of his voice caused me to jolt. I leaned forward and lowered my voice to a near whisper, “Will you please keep your voice down? You don’t know who could be listening.”
> “Honestly,” he inclined forward, searing me with his eyes, “I don’t give a rat’s ass who could hear. This assignment is total BS. You know that as well as I do. There is no way you and Paige could stop this guy. And add to the fact you have Enforcers after you...I don’t want to think about it.”
“You don’t believe in me, do you? You don’t think I can do it,” I breathed.
Removing myself from the chair, I stormed out and onto the sidewalk. The sunlight beat down on me with the Nevada heat, and my feet carried me about ten feet before Ashton whirled me around. Supernatural energy bounced around inside of me, down my arm, and into my fingers. Ashton grimaced as though he could feel the electricity as it sizzled inside of me, his body most likely acting as a ground wire.
Holding onto my upper arms and gently shaking me, he ground out, “I’d never doubt you. Why do you think that? God, Liliana, I just don’t want you to die!”
Sam, still talking to Jamison, spotted us and travelled in our direction with determination.
My eyes darted between Ashton and Sam, suddenly wishing I’d stayed in the hotel room instead of coming to lunch.
Sam reached out to remove me from Ashton’s hold.
“Sam,” Ashton growled with a warning, “don’t you dare interrupt me or so help me God, I’ll send you back to Indiana with your tail between your legs.”
“Well,” Sam sassed, “stop being a douchenugget then!”
“A douchenugget?” Jamison said with a chuckle from behind Sam. “That’s a new one.”
At the distraction, Ashton slackened his grip enough for me to stumble away. Ashton’s focus revolved back to me and held, capturing my gaze. Those aquamarine irises, the bane of my tattered emotions, penetrated my heart like an arrow.
“Sorry,” I whispered, spun, and zipped down the sidewalk toward our hotel.
This time, no one chased me. I had to get away. My emotions were chaotic, even more so now than before, and I silently cursed as I ran.
Ashton’s words wounded me. Although he argued to the contrary, he must not think that I was able to take care of myself. But, how could he have known the training I’d experienced? A sliver of doubt edged into my head, worming its way into my psyche. Was he right? Did Jeremy purposely put me and Paige in danger?
Shaking my head at the notion, I opened the door to find the hotel room empty. Just as well.
Falling in the bed on my backside, clothes and all, I shut my eyes and strained to remove Ashton from my thoughts. No matter how hard I tried, the attempt was futile.
*****
I woke to the sound of incessant ringing. Reaching over to the nightstand, I slammed my palm down on the alarm clock for the snooze button. The noise continued and I groaned, opening one eye to see the screen of my cell phone lit. Without checking the caller ID, I pressed the answer button on the screen.
“Hello?” I croaked, voice groggy from sleep.
“Lily, are you sleeping?” Jeremy demanded.
I jerked up from my prone position, on full alert now. Jeremy never called. Ever.
“Yeah, I had a rough day. I didn’t mean to sleep this long, though.” Checking the alarm clock, the digital green numbers displayed 11:17 p.m.
“Is this what I’m paying you two to do? Sleep and party? What are the updates?” he ordered, his gruff voice relaying his displeasure. “And while you’re at it, tell Paige to answer her phone when I call.”
Speaking of Paige, I glanced at the bed next to mine and noted it was untouched. I pricked up my ears for any sound in the room, expecting her to be in the shower. The room was void of any sounds except for the traffic from the highway below the hotel. And Jeremy’s booming voice from the tiny speaker on my cell.
“Lily! Are you there?” he shouted into the phone.
“Sorry, I’m still half asleep,” I replied, partly true.
Paige not in the room distracted me more and I creased my brows as I absently stared at her bed.
“Why haven’t you found the vampire yet? Alistair said he arrived and called in with an update, but he had no news about your assignment.”
“Nothing to report. We figured out which hotel he owns, but haven’t narrowed down which vampire it is yet. The plan was to draw him out, hoping he’d hit on us or try to kidnap us. No such luck.”
“Lily, it’s never taken this long to subdue somebody involved in illegal business in our world. I’m giving you two days, or I’ll separate you and Paige from ever working together again. Anything else to report?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard about the Enforcers from Alistair, so nothing else to report,” I lied. Ashton and Blake located me, but Jeremy didn’t need to know if he hadn’t already.
“Well, stay alert. I’ll be in Vegas in two days if we don’t get the guy.”
“Okay. But, Jeremy, what are we supposed to do when we find the guy involved in the blood trade?”
“Kill him,” he answered and disconnected the call before I could reply. Or before he heard the wheeze as air that rushed out of my lungs from shock.
No make sure it’s him. No bring him in for questioning. Just kill him. As though his life meant absolutely nothing. Sure, the guy was a sleaze bucket by doing this stuff, but what if he had a mate or a wife? Criminals go to jail or prison. Not a slaughtered in cold blood. Is this what they expected of me? I hadn’t signed up for that.
I felt misled by the whole deal. It shed a brand new light on this group of misfits. Or at least on Jeremy. I needed to ask Paige or Alistair about it. Unsure of Paige’s whereabouts, I slid out of the bed and dialed Paige as I padded into the bathroom.
Her phone went straight to the generic voicemail greeting. Grunting in frustration, I called Alistair next.
He answered on the second ring, his deep voice conveying irritation. “What?”
“Alistair, sorry to bother you, but do you have a minute to talk? In person?”
There was a pregnant pause, and then, “Okay. I’ll come to your room in about ten minutes or so?”
“That works. Hey, do you know where Paige is? I haven’t seen her since lunch.”
Another extensive silence, and he sighed. “Yeah, I’ve seen her recently. Do you want her to come too?”
I frowned. Why hadn’t she answered her phone? Ignoring that for a moment, I said, “Sure. I’ll see you in a minute.”
We disconnected and after using the toilet, I washed my face and brushed my teeth. No time to shower, so it would have to do. I straightened my clothes and the knock on the door left me with bedraggled hair. I hurried to comb my fingers through my tangled hair before I opened the door.
Paige stood with her hand on her hip, tapping her foot. “My phone died. I didn’t realize the whole world was looking for me.”
“I was worried. Sorry I cared,” I said, glaring at her. “Where’s your key?”
Her face instantly softened, and she muttered, “Sorry. I forgot it.”
Alistair’s footfalls sounded on the plush carpet as he came up behind her. With an emanate scowl, he pushed past Paige to enter the room.
She sneered. “Well, excuse the fuck out of me.” As she crossed the threshold, I heard her mutter under her breath, “Arrogant asshole.”
My sight zipped between the two of them. Had they spent the rest of the day together? If they had, it didn’t change anything. Apparently the animosity and spitefulness still raged between them. Alistair sat in the chair closest to the window. Paige as far away as she could get, used her arms to lift herself and plopped her butt on the wooden dresser across the tiny hotel room.
Tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair, and asked, “So what’s this all about?”
I cleared my throat and parked myself unceremoniously on the edge of the bed. The weight of the past couple of days bogged me down. My shoulders sagged and I let out an exhausted breath. Honestly, I hadn’t known where to start. I curled my toes in the carpet as I contemplated how to broach the subject.
“Paige,” I finally said, “d
id Jeremy tell you what to do with our subject once we found him?”
She inspected a fingernail, and admitted, “No. Actually, I didn’t listen when he rambled on for hours. I just read the file and went for it. Why?”
My vision swerved to Alistair. He stared back at me, his stony composure radiating confidence. His eyes narrowed, as if catching on that I doubted my decision to join their merry little troupe. “Why are you asking?”
“Well, I talked to Jeremy tonight and something has been troubling me ever since. What do you do with your subjects?”
Alistair shrugged. “Usually we apprehend them and hand them over to the leaders in the area to be dealt with. Very rarely do we have to take matters into our own hands.”
I nodded. “But you wouldn’t outright kill them without it being the last option, right?”
Paige frowned, her eyebrows scrunched together. “Why would you think that?”
Here goes nothing. “Jeremy told me to.”
Silence filled the room, the only sound the air conditioner as it whirred to life. Both of them gawked at me, Paige with her mouth wide open and Alistair’s unyielding expression replaced with bewilderment.
“Surely you misunderstood him. That’s not the way we do things,” Alistair reasoned. “If we acted without it being clear self-defense, we could get into a shitstorm of trouble.”
I shook my head. “No, I heard him loud and clear. He clearly said ‘Kill him’. Something isn’t right with this mission. Why send conjurers to capture a vampire? Especially somebody as green as I am. And that’s not counting how many may be surrounding this guy.” I held up a hand to stop Paige’s dispute. “Paige, I know you can handle yourself. That’s not the problem here, and I’d never doubt that you couldn’t take down a vampire. I’ve seen it first hand with Con.”
“I’ve been wondering that myself. Lily’s first assignment is finding the equivalent of a pimp and drug lord? My first assignment was finding a missing child, not a murderous bastard,” Paige conceded.
“I think Jeremy has faith in both of you and that’s why you’re here. I’ve known him for over half a century. He’s never been rash with decisions, and you girls shouldn’t doubt him,” Alistair insisted, pointing at the two of us.