by Jacey Ward
But before she made one move, a voice rang out from the lower landing, one which made Cassie’s blood curdle with recognition.
“Cassie, you’re not quick enough to make a break for it,” the woman drawled. “Just come downstairs before Damien shoots you in the back.”
Damien took advantage of her moment of distraction and grabbed her arm roughly, almost throwing her down the stairs. Cassie stared open-mouthed at the perfectly coiffed woman who remained just out of arms reach.
“You!” she choked. “What the hell is this?”
The woman smiled but there was no emotion in her cold eyes as she waved a perfectly manicured hand.
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand, Cassandra. That’s why I chose you. Damien, bring her inside before she starts screaming.”
The woman watched dispassionately as Damien pushed her forward, gripping her with enough force to cause a gasp to escape her throat.
Analeigh Bowman. Of course. But why?
It didn’t make sense, and yet it did at the same time. Analeigh had once owned one of the most successful modeling agencies in New York City, representing both Cassie and Circe.
Until Circe had ruined her by exposing her.
Cassie hadn’t seen nor heard from the woman in over a year and to be honest, it had never dawned on Cass that Analeigh would have anything to do with the threats against her.
I never thought about her, not once, Cassie realized, but as her eyes shot toward Damien and then Lisette, she saw the connection.
Damien used to drive us when we worked for Analeigh, but Circe had trusted him and given him a chance to work for her. Lisette must have always been on Analeigh’s payroll.
The basement was set up as a rec room, a dark-paneled bar in one corner and God-awful orange shag carpeting lined the floor. It was as though the seventies had vomited all over the subfloor and the musty smell of mothballs assaulted Cassie’s nose.
“What is this place?” Cassie asked, as she was forced into an ancient armchair with springs poking through the backrest. “An auction for the ‘Three’s Company’ set?” When scared, Cassie often resorted to sarcasm. And it didn’t always work in her favour.
“This?” her captor laughed. “This is my parents’ house. It’s where I was forced to move after you guys ruined me, Cassandra. I had to come back and deal with my wretched, outdated parents and their ‘All in the Family’ reruns while you and Circe lived the high life with my money!”
Cassie scoffed at her.
“I ruined you?” she echoed. “You ruined yourself, Analeigh. You and your greed and your attempts at blackmail.”
Analeigh glowered at her.
“You always were so weak, Cassie. Beautiful, but useless. Circe I always expected would betray me eventually, but you? I made you!”
“You’re ranting,” Cassie spat. “Tell me what the hell you want or kill me. I’ve wasted enough time listening to you as it is. You’re hardly the last voice I want to hear before I leave this earth.”
Analeigh scowled at her.
“You’re really in no position to be making demands, little girl. Did you think that Circe was going to protect you, really? Can’t you see that she only looks out for herself? She couldn’t even get you proper security.”
“You killed my security,” Cassie reminded her flatly.
“Not all of them,” Damien muttered. “This new one wouldn’t die.”
Cassie jerked her head toward him.
“What did you do to Evander?” she shouted. “Where is he?”
“Nothing!” Damien whined. “I’m just saying, he wouldn’t die.”
The comment was bizarre but Cassie knew she wouldn’t get answers.
“Nothing about this makes sense,” Cassie shot out. “Why all this? Just kill us if that’s what you want. What do the guards have to do with anything?”
Analeigh chuckled dryly and looked at Lisette.
“See? I told you. She’s simple.”
“I did everything you asked, Analeigh. Can I go now?” Lisette muttered. “Please?”
Analeigh glowered at her.
“No! You cannot go now! We have work to do. Has Circe’s agency failed? Is she blackballed in this industry? No. Until all that happens, you’re with me.”
“But you said—”
A heavily ringed hand slapped at Lisette’s face and the girl whimpered, falling back. Cassie was on her feet instantly, tending to the injured girl in spite of her rage.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Cassie spat, rage in her eyes as she led Lisette to her chair. “You’ve got everyone at your mercy, Analeigh. There’s no need for more violence.”
“Violence is the least of what you deserve,” the older woman hissed furiously. “But you’ll all get what you deserve. I have to admit, I’m stunned at how well Circe managed to keep all the killings from the media but the kidnapping of one of her top models is sure to get nationwide coverage…especially when she becomes the prime suspect.”
Cassie laughed in disbelief, no mirth in the sound.
“You intend to frame Circe for my kidnapping?” she choked.
“Oh look! She’s not as dumb as I thought!” Analeigh chortled. “But you’ve got it wrong, sweetie. I’m not framing Circe for your kidnapping.”
Confusion colored her face and Cassie stared at her, waiting.
“Well then?”
A slow, cruel smile formed on Analeigh’s overly Botoxed face and it chilled Cassie to her core. Immediately, Cassie wished she could take the question back, the answer blindingly clear even before Analeigh said a word.
“I’m going to have her go down for your kidnapping,” the washed-out agent agreed. “And also your murder.”
“Wait, what?” Lisette gasped and suddenly Cassie realized that the girl still held the gun in her hand. “You didn’t say anything about hurting Cassie!”
“Lisette, stop talking,” Analeigh snarled, apparently unaware that Lisette’s hand shook around the handle of the gun. “If you don’t want me to tell the police where to find you, Bonnie, I suggest you do as you’re told.”
“No!” Lisette protested. “I’m not having any part of this. It was bad enough that you killed all those bodyguards, Analeigh, but I’m not hurting Cassie. It wasn’t part of the plan. We were just supposed to ruin Circe’s business and her reputation.”
“You don’t have a choice, you useless bimbo. You forget that I own you. Unless you want me to tip off the cops about your stupid attempt at bank robbery? Hmm, didn’t think so.”
“I don’t care!” Lisette cried. “This has gone far enough. You’re insane!”
She spun around to aim the gun at Analeigh and Cassie’s heart leaped with joy.
“Oh, you stupid girl,” Analeigh chortled. A shot rang out before Lisette had a chance to fully bring her gun around. In slow motion, she watched Lisette’s face twist into a mask of agony.
“Oh no!” Cassie gasped. “No! No, Lisette…”
The girl crumbled, her eyes still wide and blood began to pool beneath her.
“You crazy bitch!” Cassie howled, leaping toward Analeigh.
And a gun went off a second time.
Chapter 11
“What in the actual fuck do you mean that you lost her?” Circe screamed in Evander’s ear. “How? How is that possible with talents like yours?”
“Circe, I know you’re pissed but can it,” Evander ordered the angry woman. “She got a text from you, telling her to meet you downstairs. Why did you text her?”
There was a dead silence on the other end of the phone.
“I didn’t.”
“It’s showing that it came from your phone,” Evander insisted. “It came in about an hour ago.”
“Are you suggesting I had something to do with her disappearance?”
“Of course not!” Evander snapped, his patience failing. “I’m just trying to figure out what the fuck happened.”
“I’m looking at my cell right now, Evan
der and there is no outgoing text to Cassie. If there is such a text, it didn’t originate from my phone.”
“You’ve been spoofed then. I have to go and run a trace on this other phone.”
“You better find her in one piece, Evander, or so help me—”
“I will find her.” He had never been so convinced of anything in his life. Cassie was out there—he could feel it in his bones. It was just a matter of figuring out who had her and where they had taken her.
He wanted to be furious with Cassie but his overwhelming concern for her stopped him from feeling anything but terror.
Whoever has her has at least half an hour on us. I need to find her. And fast.
“The sender of the text is a Lisette Chalmers,” Justine explained. “Her phone is still active.”
Dammit! Why do I ever question my gut instinct? The assistant was the obvious choice. I should have been on her ass from day one and now it’s too late.
Evander took a deep breath and steeled himself.
It’s not too late. She’s out there. I will find her come hell or high water. And Lisette will pay for whatever twisted game she’s playing.
“Put a trace on it and don’t hang up with me until you tell me where she is,” Evander ordered the tech on the other end of the line. “Work fast, I’m on the move. If I lose you, call me back.”
“I got it, Evander.”
He forsook the elevators and took the stairs, shifting to sweep the landings with speed and landed in the underground.
“Justine, are you still there?”
“I am. I’ve got a hit on the location. I’ll text you the address. It’s in Queens.”
“Do it.”
He jumped into his car and didn’t bother to look behind him as he backed out, almost clipping the Porsche parked behind him.
It wouldn’t have mattered if he had—he was fuelled only by fury and concern for his lover. If he had to run over people to find Cassie, he wouldn’t stop.
His phone pinged and the GPS activated to show the location Justine had sent him.
“Fifteen minutes my ass,” he muttered, pressing on the gas until his foot touched the floor.
I’m coming, baby. Just hang on.
The house was not what Evander had expected in the least, a small bungalow at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. He stared at it for a few seconds, wondering if Justine had screwed up the trace.
“Justine, double check that address for me,” he growled into his Bluetooth. “Hurry up...please.”
“I ran it twice, Evander. The phone is still there and it’s active.”
It was all he needed to hear and he raced toward the front door, banging on it wildly.
“CASSIE!” he yelled, reaching for the handle. To his surprise, the door gave way and he rushed inside the house, his fangs protruding through his gums.
“Lisette?”
“Young man!” a woman huffed, rounding the corner from the kitchen. Evander gaped at her in shock, his teeth sinking back into his mouth. She was ancient, her eyes milky white from blindness and in a housecoat that had to have been from the eighties.
“What are you doing in here?”
“I-I have the wrong house?” Evander muttered, unsure of himself. He couldn’t understand how Justine could have gotten it so wrong but he couldn’t afford to be caught accosting the almost dead.
“Are you a friend of Analeigh’s?” the woman demanded, her voice elevated like that of someone who was hard of hearing.
“Analeigh…”
It struck Evander at once.
Analeigh Bowman.
“Yes,” he murmured. “Is she here?”
The old timer peered at him and Evander wondered how much she could really see. Before another word was spoken, a loud pop ricocheted through the room.
Evander fled, the decrepit woman yelling after him.
“You tell them all to keep it down! Some of us are trying to watch the Wheel of Fortune up here!”
Evander scaled the steps, spinning into the basement where he froze.
Blood had sprayed the walls of the outdated rec room, staining the bar and oozed into the hideous carpeting below but his attention was on the figures on the floor, three women, all bloodied so he couldn’t tell who was dead and who was alive.
“Cassie!” Evander choked, scaling a chair to embrace her. “Cassie, look at me!”
Dully, she looked up at him, her face pale as she slumped in his arms.
“Are you shot?” He looked around wildly but nothing about the scene made sense until a gun fell from Cassie’s fingers and onto the floor.
“I shot her,” Cassie muttered. “She was going to kill me. They killed Lisette.”
“Are you hurt?” Evander demanded, looking her over but he could see no obvious damage to her body.
“I think I killed her.”
“Shh,” he murmured, scooping her up in his arms. “Everything is going to be okay. Is anyone else here?”
Her head perked up and she looked about, her blue eyes wide with fear.
“Damien! Where’s Damien?”
Evander shook his head.
“There was no one else down here. I’m getting you out of here, Cassie.”
“What about—”
“Don’t worry about them,” he told her urgently. “Everything is going to be fine, okay? You need to trust me.”
He raced up the stairs, sliding the gun into his pocket as they slipped out the side door into the dark.
“The car is gone,” she murmured. “He took off. He’s going to come back for me.”
“No,” Evander said firmly. “Nothing is going to happen to you. I swear it.”
God, how could he have come so close to losing her??
She shot someone to protect herself. She shouldn’t have had to do that. I should have been there to protect her.
“Evander…”
“It’s okay, baby. Just sit tight,” he told her tenderly, laying her in the backseat of his car. “We’re getting out of here.”
“No, wait!” She reached up and grabbed at the lapel of his shirt, her eyes huge and filled with unshed tears. “I’m so sorry.”
Confusion swept through him.
“You’re sorry? No, Cass, I’m sorry. I should have never left you alone. If I had been there—”
“I should have listened to you. You were right—I was always safe when I was with you. The minute I ignored you, I put myself in danger. It was all my fault. I should have listened to you.”
“All that matters is that you’re okay. We’ll find this Damien and he’ll pay for this.”
“It was all Analeigh. She’s the one who did this. She’s insane.”
Not anymore she’s not, Evander thought grimly. He had half a mind to go back and turn her just so he could spend the rest of eternity making her suffer for all the pain she’d inflicted upon Cassie.
“Just rest, Cass,” Evander told her, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. “This is all going to seem like a bad dream.”
He closed the door and jumped into the driver’s seat, screeching away from the house as fast as he had arrived.
It was only then that he remembered to breathe.
Cassie is safe. The threat is gone and she is with you, unharmed now, he told himself. We can move forward from the bizarre circumstances of how we met and be together. Normally.
But as he drove, Evander knew that there would never be anything normal about the way he and Cassie lived their lives – from that day forward.
After all, he was a vampire hybrid and she was a mortal.
It was forbidden.
And besides, she had no idea about his secret.
“Sweetheart, now’s not the time, but we really need to talk.”
She looked at him warily, the nervousness and fear returning to her eyes. She craned her neck around, trying to peer out the back window to see if Damien was after them again. “What is it? You’re scaring me.”
“No! Don’t wor
ry, you’re safe, Sunshine. It’s just that…” he trailed off, not knowing how he could possibly begin to explain his world to her.
“All you need to know for now, sunshine, is that – I love you,” he turned and stared into her eyes earnestly, the truth in them easy to see. “You are my mate, and I know you don’t understand what that means yet, but you need to know that I’m going to fight to keep you here, by my side. No one will come between us again, understand? This I vow to you.”
Chapter 12
Kalen scowled at him but Evander met his gaze, unwaveringly.
“So, what am I supposed to do with this now?” the ruler of the Corpus demanded.
“You’re asking me?” Evander laughed.
“You think this is funny, Evander?” Kalen’s words were meant to cut into him like a thousand blades, but Evander held his ground.
“I think that you’re as much to blame for this entire situation as I am,” he retorted, catching Circe’s amber gaze evenly. “Even if both of you don’t want to admit it.”
“Oh?” Circe scoffed, pure astonishment blazing in her eyes. “Am I the one who fell for a mortal? Am I the one who—”
“You’re the reason that Cass and I ended up together. If it wasn’t for your murderous ex-agent, I would have never had the opportunity to meet her, don’t you agree?”
Circe and Kalen sputtered at the complete hash of an excuse Evander had just put forth.
“That’s the worst logic I’ve ever heard!” she raged.
The Valkyrie and vampire continued to glare at one another until Kalen slammed his fists down on the desk.
“I don’t need to tell you how many laws you’ve broken by doing this, Evander,” Kalen growled. “And I certainly don’t need to tell you what the punishment is.”
“No, I’m pretty clear on it all,” the PI drawled. “But since we’ve saved the corpus, and really the whole Deviant world, from hours of tedious future kangaroo court sessions such as this one, I expect our transgressions will be fully pardoned.”
Now Kalen sputtered ignominiously. “Excuse me?! The hell you say -”
“Well, now that Cassie and I have proven that Deviants and mortals won’t spontaneously combust if we get it on, or off, for that matter,” he said with a satisfied grin, “I’m sure you’re going to do away with that nonsense of a law that was created before we were even alive.”
