by Amber Lynn
Night Marks
By Amber Lynn
Copyright © 2013 Amber Lynn
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
Warning: This book is the musings of a foulmouthed female assassin with Violence for a middle name. Reader discretion is advised due to language and violence.
As with all of my books, I have to thank my best friend for reading through them when they are still in their rough stage. I think we will both always remember the time I used bathroom instead of bathrobe. It totally ruined a scene.
My husband also gets my thanks for giving me ideas, even if he doesn’t know it. One of these days, he will read one of my books and figure out I use all of his good quotes or jokes.
Thank you to you, the reader, as well, for taking the time to download this book. It was fun for me to write and I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 1
Rich humans annoy me
“Mr. and Mrs. Willard, I am trying to understand this. You are both human, right?” I ask the people sitting in front of me. They are hoping to hire me, but are only succeeding in annoying me.
“Of course, we are,” Mr. Willard replies. From the get go, my impression of the man wasn’t very high. He walked in as if he owned the place with his thousand-dollar suit and slicked back, probably dyed, black hair. His brown eyes hold no warmth and I can just picture him hawking fake miracle cures on a street corner.
“Your daughter, the one who is missing, is also human. The man, Harvey Smalls, who you believe took her is believed to be human as well,” I state picking up a mini slinky that I keep on my desk with my left hand and start toying with it to try to keep my hands busy.
These two have been in my office for the last thirty minutes going over their story and things just aren’t adding up. I know the details on their missing twenty-year-old daughter. She has been missing now for three days and was seen leaving a high-end shopping center in the company of a man the authorities later identified as Mr. Smalls.
“We have already gone over all of this,” Mrs. Willard says sighing. She isn’t the only one tired with this conversation. Her bright blue eyes bore into me and I stare back until she finally looks away.
Don’t humans know not to start a pissing contest with a paranorm?
“My company is called ParaNorm Inc.,” I say trying to remain calm. “I tend to only deal with paranorm cases. Why would two humans walk into Night Owl City, where the only reason humans usually visit is to donate a pint or two of O negative to the local vampires? Are your local authorities not looking into the case for you?”
“They are doing ‘everything they can’ is what we are told. Sadly, that isn’t good enough for us. Even if they catch the guy that took our little girl, we don’t think justice will be served. We are coming to you because you live outside the human laws and we are hoping that if you will not kill the cretin personally, that you will at least bring him back to us, so I can deal with the matter,” Mr. Willard says without a lick of emotion.
Things are starting to make sense. Why didn’t they lead out with the fact they wanted the guy drawn and quartered? That is something I can understand. Killing tends to excite me, especially now that I don’t officially do it solely as my way of life.
“We are willing to pay a quarter million, if you return our daughter to us and hand him over, dead or alive,” Mrs. Willard says with as much emotion as Mr. Willard.
I don’t get the feeling that either of these two really cares that much about what their daughter has gone through. Usually, from what I have heard, mothers should be in tears when their daughters are kidnapped. I get the feeling that the woman across from me has had her tear ducts removed just to ensure she never ruins her makeup.
“Fine. If I bring him back to you that will be the cost. However, if I do not and only find your daughter, I still expect $50,000,” I explain.
“What are the chances he will get away?” Mr. Willard asks.
“There are no chances he will get away from me, but I am not just handing him over with a big red bow plopped on his head. I don’t know the circumstances of this abduction, yet, and until I do he lives.”
“But we are hiring you to kill him or at least let us do it,” Mr. Willard interjects.
“See, that is the beauty of me running my own business, I do things my way. If you don’t like the way I run my business, the door is right over there,” I say gesturing towards the exit behind them.
They share a glance between each other and I see Mrs. Willard nod her head almost imperceptibly to the human eye. Good thing I am not human or I would have missed it.
“Bring our daughter home,” Mr. Willard says very coldly. “If you deem it appropriate, please dispose of Mr. Smalls while you are at it.”
“Glad we could see eye to eye,” I reply taking out one of my contracts and filling in the important details. “If you would just sign on the dotted line, I can get to work.”
I push the paper across the desk and Mr. Willard quickly squiggles on it. Now, I just need to get them out of my office. Luckily, once he is done signing he escorts his wife out of my building as speedily as possible. Well, I didn’t enjoy their company either, I think to myself as I turn to my computer.
“So, who is going to make the travel arrangements?” Smitty, one of my vampire guards, asks from the waiting area where I imagine he is lounging casually across the furniture.
“I don’t know exactly where we are going and until I do, no one can make plans,” I reply as I start searching the numerous databases I have access to for this Harvey Smalls character.
“A more important question would be which of your boyfriends is going to join you on the case?” Jake asks chuckling. Out of my two werewolf guards, Jake is the friendlier one, but I am starting to find him really annoying after two weeks.
“If it is up to me, I will be going alone. No one has tried to attack me in two weeks, so I think it is safe for me to run a little human mission on my own,” I tell him.
“Neither of the bosses is going to like that, especially after you slipped us last week. I heard Alex saying he was going to tie you up for a couple of days as punishment, since he can’t actually hurt you,” Jake states. Sadly, he isn’t joking.
“Hey, it wasn’t my fault I wanted to test out my new wings and neither of my werewolf guards had the capability to join me in the air,” I say as I bring up my target’s information from the FBI database.
It looks like they have been brought into the case, which may throw some curve balls in my way. I will have to work to fly under their radar, if they are out actively investigating. Their reports give me the address I need to start my search. It looks like a trip to D.C. is going to be needed.
Nothing in the report indicates that good ol’ Harvey is a menace to society. He has a good chunk of money in the bank and no previous arrests. That, on top of being human, means he isn’t going to be much of a match against me.
“You had found out that your wings grew in two days before the incident,” Jake reminds me. “You didn’t have to test them out in the middle of the day.”
“Says you. I still don’t have good night vision, so nocturnal flying has proven difficult. I wanted to see what
I could do on my own without Sebastian guiding me.”
“And the fact that we found you stalking Collective agents should be overlooked?” Smitty asks. By the time they found me, it was night and all the guards were called in.
“If you guys were really worried, I am sure Alex or Sebastian could have found me quite easily. They claim to be all in tune with me,” I remind them. I have navigated to Harvey’s Facebook page to see if I can find anything interesting in his posts.
“Alex wasn’t in town, yet, and Sebastian couldn’t stop laughing that you got away from us. Neither of them proved to be very useful and when your guards are threatened with death if anything happens to you, you put us in a very difficult situation,” Jake says and I can feel him pouting.
Poor little babies had to run all over town looking for me and I spent most of the time sitting in a library reading Dracula. It wasn’t until almost dark that I witnessed a group of guys I remember from the Collective acting suspicious.
Being myself, I decided to follow them and make sure they weren’t planning something stupid. There were three of them and I had plenty of knives and bullets to take them on. I trailed them for thirty minutes before Marcus, my other usual vampire guard, finally caught up to me waiting outside Sins, my vampire beau’s place of business.
“Thinking about putting on a show?” he asked stepping out from his self-created shadows. “I think you will have a couple pissed off paranorm boyfriends, if you do.”
“I think they would get a kick out of it,” I replied. “Sadly, I was just tailing wary Collective kids that I thought might be up to no good. It seems they just didn’t want to get caught frequenting Sebastian’s money maker.”
“Have you verified that? They could be in there causing problems,” Marcus stated.
“I went in a little bit ago and verified they were just getting their rocks off with a couple female wolves. It wasn’t a very entertaining show, so I came back out here to wait.”
“Sorry to hear they bored you so. How about you call Jake or Jonas and let them know you are okay. They haven’t told Alex you are missing and if you don’t turn up soon, they are going to be forced to make the call. You know that won’t end up well for anyone.”
He was right, so I made the call and the grand search was called off. At some point, Alex was made aware of my time without guards and he immediately called all his business in Emerald Town to a close and flew into town. He never lets me have any fun and since being here, he has put a damper on all of my chances for a little amusement.
“It looks like I need to go over to Looneyville,” I tell the guys. Looneyville is my code word for D.C. That area is full of crazies and they all think they somehow run the country. “The kidnapee and the kidnapper are both from the area. I don’t imagine it will take me more than a couple days to track them down. I am really thinking the girl just ran away with the dude. The reports and videos don’t indicate any force on the guy’s part. His Facebook page actually has pictures of them together, so they probably just ran off to elope.”
I wish the reports told me if they actually purchased anything in the mall. It might give me a big clue on what the duo was planning.
“The masters will still want you guarded, even if it is an open and shut case,” Smitty informs me.
“Don’t call them ‘the masters’ it makes them think they have more power than they do,” I reply.
“Over us, they have all the power in the world, currently. Sebastian made Marcus and I take a blood oath to protect you. We skip out or let you get killed we forfeit our lives. I am pretty sure that means they have all the power,” Smitty says. “The mutts are no different. Alex isn’t known for his pleasant disposition and they have sworn their allegiance to him, so whatever he commands they do.”
“I guess it is up to me to set them back a few pegs. Maybe I can get Alex to spar with me soon. I have really been working on my super speed and I think I am about ready to take him on. If I knock him on his ass a few times, he won’t be all high and mighty,” I say.
“No, he will be really pissed and probably take it out on us,” Jake states. “Oh and in case you forgot, he is going to be here in ten minutes for your date. Thankfully, I think the restaurant he is taking you to doesn’t require you to wear a dress because you don’t have time to change.”
“First, he would be stupid to try to take me to a classy place, or any place that doesn’t allow me to walk in with a sword across my back. I don’t do class and he knows that. Second, if I needed to, I can change in four minutes flat to be ready for any occasion,” I respond as I start printing out all the significant information for the case.
“That last point is probably a good thing,” Smitty says. “He is walking to the door now and he looks to be in a suit.”
Chapter 2
Always bet on black
“Come on. It won’t be that bad,” Alex says as he tries to convince me to put on a dress he bought for me.
He seems to forget who I am and the fact that we are currently in my office that just happens to have a wall filled with medieval weaponry. It wouldn’t take anything to pull down a mace and bash him in the head.
“I don’t do dresses,” I tell him with an aggravated glare.
“Really? Sebastian has pictures of you in way more revealing dresses than what I picked out for you. Mine is even black, so it matches your usual attire,” he replies.
“I was in disguise in those pictures and you know it. I do not willingly walk around wearing a dress. Not now, not ever. If you planned something that requires me to wear one, we should probably just cancel the whole evening because I can already tell I won’t like it.”
“If I didn’t know better, I would think you are trying to weasel out of getting to know me better. I thought we agreed it was for the best that we get to know each other before January. You don’t seem to be putting forth the right amount of effort,” he says with a smile on his face.
He obviously thinks the fact that I will be forced to have sex with him in a few months means I will play nice. He must have missed the memo declaring me the most stubborn person in the world.
“No dress,” I say continuing my glaring. “You want to go on a date, fine. I will go out with you, but if you expect me to wear anything other than my normal outfit, you are in for a rude awakening.”
“Are you really going to let Sebastian win this bet?” he asks.
His insistence on the dress is starting to make more sense. Why he would bet against Sebby is a mystery. Sebastian and I have been together for three years and, even though we only saw each other forty or fifty times in those three years, he knows most everything there is to know about me.
“What were the terms and prizes?” I ask.
“I just have to get you in the dress and take a picture proving I talked you into it. If I do that, I get to spend the night tonight. Otherwise, he does,” he replies.
“And I don’t get a say on who is sleeping over?” I query. “I would have to say that it is my choice.” I am surprised Sebastian didn’t insert a clause that Alex couldn’t mention said bet to me. Sebby is well aware of how I would feel about the subject, which is pissed.
“Everything is your choice when you are dealing with just Sebastian. Throw me in the mix and, well, things may not always go your way,” he states shrugging his shoulders.
“How bad do you want to spend the night? It would be your first time and you have to know going in that there will be clothes on at all times.”
“I am well aware that the night would be spent actually sleeping, but it would be nice to be in the same bed instead of a floor down thinking of you in that big bed all by yourself,” he says with a smile.
“Since I am feeling generous, hand me the dress. I am guessing the terms didn’t indicate I had to leave the building wearing it, or you would have been plain dumb to accept. You just need a quick picture and I can give you that.”
He hands over the dress and I begin the motions of tak
ing my weapons off. First, the machete running up my spine and then my gun holster. I put the weapons on my desk and then stand to take my shirt off and throw it onto my chair.
“Would you like me to step out of the room?” Alex asks staring at my naked torso.
“You have seen most of it, if not all of it, before, so I didn’t think there would be an issue. It isn’t like there is a whole lot going on in way of boobs,” I reply waving my arm towards and around my chest area.
“Believe me, there is more than enough there to sink my teeth into. Do you know how connected me and Sebastian are through you? Do you think he just went stiff, too?”
“I think I have to be in an aroused state for you guys to feel what the other is feeling, so hopefully not,” I say removing my boots and sliding my pants down.
I pick up the dress and get a good look at it for the first time. I guess it is cute. It is black and that scores some points. The material is silky and stretchy, probably some kind of spandex type stuff to stick to my skin.
I pull it on over my head and slowly straighten it out. It hits me about mid-thigh and I raise my eyes to frown at Alex. There is not enough money in the world to bribe me into wearing this thing out in public without being undercover.
“Who picked it out?” I ask.
“Sebastian did. I said it had to be black, though. I figured that is the only way I could get you in it. He thought the length and material would be enough of a deterrent for you.”
“Hurry up and take a picture. I had better not find it posted anywhere on the Internet tomorrow. I will be super pissed and any good work you have done to make our relationship more comfortable will go up in smoke,” I say trying to pull the hem of the dress closer to my knees.
With his phone, he snaps a few pictures and messes around with it probably sending the dang things to Sebastian. I should have made sure Sebastian got the same warning about posting the pictures, but I am hoping he knows better. Then again, he did make this stupid bet.
