Night Marks

by Amber Lynn

  “Really? Does that mean that mind reading thing doesn't work long distance? Exactly how long after I left did it stop?” I ask walking back to my room to have a look around.

  It really isn't much to look at. It has a queen sized bed with a royal blue comforter and matching sheets and that is it. I cannot envision anyone spending more than a night here.

  There is a window on the far wall and I take a second to look outside. Not a whole lot to see. There is grass and there are trees. There isn’t really even a good variety in shades of green, so it all just combines into a bucket of blah.

  “Our connection still works, and probably would continue to do so no matter where you went. I was trying to be respectful and not use that method of communication because you are still new to it.”

  Damn. Not the answer I was looking for. I abandon the window and dig around in my bag for the clothes I am wearing today. Since I am going to be around a lot of humans at the airport, I settle on the single pair of blue jeans I brought and a black t-shirt. Don't want to overdo it with the usual ninja outfit. Clothes ready, I sit on the bed to finish our conversation.

  “I'm safe and will probably be on my way back tonight, so stop worrying. You will get premature wrinkles.”

  “We both know that is impossible. Please be careful today and call before you head back so I know when to expect you.”

  “Of course, dear,” I say while thinking I will get Jonas to make the call for me. As Jake mentioned to Alex yesterday, I hate being tethered and right now my leash seems to be pulled extra tight.

  “I did mention I can still hear your thoughts, right?”

  “You know Sebastian doesn't give me this kind of grief.”

  “Sebastian has known you longer and is satisfied with the hold he has on your heart. I, on the other hand, have to fight for everything I can get.”

  “Well, when we have known each other for a few years, like me and Sebby, maybe it will get easier for you. Things weren't exactly hearts and stars for me and him in the beginning.”

  “I know and I have kept you long enough. Be safe today and try not to kill any humans for just looking at you funny,” he says with a laugh.

  “I will try, but don't hold your breath. I will see you either later tonight or when I wake up tomorrow.”

  “I'll hold you to that.” Done talking, I hang up the phone and head for a shower.

  Sadly, the shower isn't as refreshing as I would have hoped. The water only heats up to lukewarm at best. Any lingering sleep is shoved aside quickly from the chill, but it leaves me very unsatisfied.

  I pull on my undies, jeans and shirt, then insert a few, okay five, knives into sheaths at my ankles, thighs and my left wrist. I think in the human world five is probably overdoing it, but I would feel naked with any less.

  After a quick brush of my hair, I am ready for some breakfast. This morning I am not starving, so there probably won't be any fingers lost trying to feed me. I hand Jonas his phone as I join him at the little dining table. The chair I sit in wasn't built for comfort. It is solid wood and with my boney butt, it feels like bone on bone contact.

  “Smitty in a blackout room somewhere?” I ask smelling and seeing Jake in the kitchen puttering around.

  Both men are in their standard black on black ensembles. Short sleeve black shirts that show their huge biceps and black cargo pants that probably hide more knives than what I am currently carrying. I am surprised their shirts don't have security written in big block letters on the back. It has to be obvious to everyone they come across.

  “More or less. There is a hidey-hole in one of the bedrooms, like a cellar, that he crawled into a little before dawn. He kept muttering about how it was worse than the Dark Ages or something. Guess he has grown used to a big comfy bed.”

  “Yeah, all the vampires I know live in style. Even if he could sleep above ground, he would probably think the cottage's amenities were beneath him,” I reply as Jake hands me a plate with a big ham steak on it.

  We tend to be a red meat family, so the choice is a little weird, but I guess it will do. I did just have bacon for breakfast yesterday, so maybe it isn’t all that weird.

  “Thanks,” I say before digging in. “I want to leave in about an hour, just in case the flight is miraculously ahead of schedule. We simply have to get the chick to call her parents and give her and her new husband a ride home. What happens to the husband after that is not our concern.”

  “Are we coming back here after or heading straight home?” Jonas asks.

  “Home, most definitely. I don't think Jake will last much longer without his video games.”

  “Finally, someone is aware of my plight,” Jake responds as he starts cleaning up the kitchen. It seems the boys ate before I got up.

  “Plight, my ass,” Jonas scoffs. “You have been on your little phone chatting it up with your girlfriend all night.”

  “Oh,” I sound out like a high schooler. “Jakey has a girlfriend. How do I not know this?”

  “Probably because you don't associate with other females, so he is afraid to bring her around.”

  I have only ever met a handful of female werewolves and maybe the same number of vampires so he has a point. With my competitive, alpha nature, I don't see this changing anytime soon.

  “So, what's her name? Will I ever meet her? I will try to be nice, I promise.”

  “Girlfriend talk is off limits. She isn't my mate, so she probably won't even be around that long,” Jake says grumpily. If I didn't know better, I would think he is upset the subject has come up. It makes me think there is something he is hiding, and everyone knows I love a good mystery.

  “Come on. I am pretty sure you guys get to hear all the intimate details of my life and I haven't even had sex with either of the guys yet.”

  “I have to interject there, Princess. You may not have bumped uglies, like the kids say these days, but you pretty much have a ménage a trois any time you or Sebastian feed, so I wouldn’t say you haven't had sex with either of them,” Jonas states.

  “Blarg. That's a technicality that I cannot get around, so I don't except it. It does strengthen my case, however. Y'all know everything about my relationships and I know nothing about yours. Don't you think that is unfair?”

  “Nope. We are your guards, so we have to know what is going on in your life. As far as my personal life goes, it is off limits,” Jake says leaving the room.

  “Fine. You little baby,” I reply. “How about you, Jonas, got any girls I should know about? Are you out throwing pebbles at some girl’s window late at night, trying to serenade her?” Just the thought of it makes me laugh.

  “No. I have learned that during this fight, personal relationships are liabilities. They make you weak and give your opponent leverage against you. When the Collective is overthrown, I will think about settling down. Until then, my hand reaches just fine.”

  “You are a smart man, J-Dawg. We have about thirty minutes. Do you have your stuff all packed?”

  “My bag is by the door. I am always ready to leave at a moment’s notice. It is another thing you pick up quickly when you are constantly at war.”

  “Right. My bag is ready, just not at the door. I will have to remember that step.”

  “You will get used to things like that the more cases you take away from home. Even though we can usually smell a threat before it gets to us, precautions must be made for a quick getaway,” Jonas relays.

  He is one smart cookie when it comes to these things. Over the past couple weeks, I have been able to get a little bit of information about his life. He is a pretty private guy, but he has told me about his family and how they have always been loyal to my father. He claims his great-great grandfather was a commander in my great-great grandfather's army.

  He was raised outside the Collective and trained from birth to play a part in the resistance. He is the oldest of three kids, well two now that his brother was murdered. His other sibling is a twenty-six-year-old sister. He hasn't
seen her since she was in her early teens. His parents are both alive and the group lives in hiding because of the Collective's knowledge of their loyalty.

  I grew up in the Collective, and yes, it sucked big hairy pineapples, but I cannot imagine what it must feel like for his and other families that have had to live their lives on the run. Even with all the shit and abuse I had to put up with, I think I ended up on the better side of things.

  “I suppose we better load up,” I say standing and heading for my room.

  “I will be waiting outside for you. Jake is already out there.” That makes me pause. As far as I knew, he didn't pass by us and we are in visual sight of both exits, so I give him my W.T.F. look, indicating I am going to need some further explanation. “Don't ask me why, he went out the window a few minutes ago.”

  I put up my hands in surrender and complete my original path. Obviously, he didn't want me to grill him more on his girlfriend. What a dork.

  Feeling nice, I leave a note before we go for Smitty telling him we will see him back at the ranch.

  Chapter 11

  The things you see when you don’t have a gun or a priest handy

  The trip to the airport is passed mostly in silence. Jonas is deep in thought as usual, probably reliving breaking every bone in some poor saps body. Jake is being the moody teenager he tends to be. I am starting to think someone needs to check his estrogen levels. He is so muscular I cannot tell if he is growing man boobs, but I wouldn't doubt it.

  Left to my own thoughts, which are usually pretty scary, has me thinking about the situation between the Collective and the resistance. From what I gather, we are just doing a bunch of rescue missions, when someone gets kidnapped, and some covert ops work to try to get information on the Collective's movements and plans.

  It is a little too passive aggressive for me. If it were up to me, I would be storming the Bastille at dawn and taking no prisoners. I would start with that punk Tommy and strap him to a board with a mirror in front of it, so he can watch as I remove his entrails. Then, since werewolves are tough motherfuckers to begin with and he is on some super soldier werewolf drug, I would lay the table flat and have him drawn and quartered. Even with his super strength, that should probably do him in, but just to be sure I would saw off his head, stick it on a pike and feed his heart to whoever I can find stupid enough to eat the wretched thing.

  “Just whose murder are you plotting out in your mind?' Jonas asks drawing me out of my amusement.

  “Now why would you think I was doing that?”

  “The bright light of glee I can see in your eyes and that small, evil smile curling up just a tad.”

  I guess I will have to watch myself in the future. I hate being obvious. It is really dangerous when I am being transparent about killing someone. I don’t want someone to see the look in my eyes and have a fair warning I am about to go crazy on their ass.

  Although, if they know it is coming they might put up a fight. Sometimes a little battle does the soul good. I guess I will have to keep it in check on a case-by-case basis.

  “Can't say. It's like a wish, if I told you it might not come true.”

  “I am 99.9% sure it isn't me and as long as you assure me it isn't Alex, I will let you have your wish.”

  “Nah. He has feelers in my mind now, so his demise would need to be spontaneous. Having him knowing what is coming just won't work.” I already know what it is like to battle with him and if it comes to it, he will have to get the quick death option.

  After thinking the thoughts, I am a little surprised I don’t hear the peanut gallery in my mind telling me what a bad idea killing him would be. Of course, over the last couple of weeks the fact that we are entwined and death comes to both of us if one of us is killed has been ingrained into my psyche.

  “Yes, well watching you two fight the other day makes me feel a little bit more at ease. I would lay odds at an even fifty-fifty that if he ever pissed you off enough for real battle, either one of you could win. Of course, the fact that you would both die no matter the victor, really allows me peace to sleep at night.” He just has to rub it in.

  “I am glad I can offer you that bit of tranquility,” I reply as we pull into the airport parking. “So, how far do you think we can get inside before we have to flash our permits for the weapons?”

  “With security as tight as it is these days, I am betting two steps,” Jake insists.

  Being a fully licensed P.I., I have all my paper work in order and if they huff about it, I can flash my old Collective identification. With that they would have to let me do whatever I want, but it would also probably ping back to the enemy, so I will only bring it out if absolutely necessary.

  I find a nice parking spot towards the back of the lot. It's still pretty early and I don't want to be surrounded by the norms longer than I have to. The rash already feels like it is coming back.

  “What does your little phone say about their flight, Jonas?”

  “We still got fifteen minutes until it lands. I say in ten minutes we all exit the vehicle, go inside, and wait around the baggage claim for terminal C. I imagine it won't take long for them to appear. I checked the flight manifest and both of them boarded the plane.”

  “I am guessing with the crowds, everyone will be joining me,” I state already knowing the answer.

  “Why do you ask such silly questions?” Jake asks leaning up into the front seat. “I personally want to check out this chick that everyone is in such a huff about and the dude that apparently is a dud.”

  “I can show you pictures. There isn't anything particularly special about either one of them. They are just humans so I am sure you will be bored immediately.”

  “I would give him five minutes before the boredom sets in,” Jonas speculates.

  “Let's just head in. I know we still have a few minutes, but maybe we will actually enjoy people watching,” I say opening my door and looking back at the guys doing the international gagging sign. You know, tongue sticking out, index finger pointing at it and making horrible choking like noises.

  I step out and pretty much fall into a giant pothole. The fact that humans cannot seem to keep their roads hole free is definitely on my top ten list of things I dislike about them. If I wasn't durable, I would be afraid of the kidney damage I have received in the last couple of days alone. We may be monsters that go bump in the night, but we know how to pave roads.

  I pick myself up out of the hole before anyone really notices. After a couple twists of my ankle, it seems everything is okay. “Stupid no good,” I mutter under my breath. Stalking to the front of the vehicle, I say a bit too harshly, “Let's go.”

  “Did you have a nice trip?” Jake asks just trying to tick me off.

  “Yes. Now let's get this over with, so I can get back to civilization.”

  Jonas leads the way towards the entrance. Security is even tighter than I expected because we immediately meet metal detectors. I dig my papers out of the wallet I keep in my back pocket.

  Nudging Jonas out of the way, I say, “Good afternoon, gentlemen.” The security guards are basic looking humans in my book. Light brown hair and one set of blue eyes and the other green. They are wearing dark blue shirts with their company's insignias. “We will be causing quite a scene if you make us pass through the detectors. We all have the necessary paperwork, as it is required with our occupations. Here is mine and my colleagues will hand theirs over as soon as you finish with it.”

  Green eyes takes my license and registrations. He looks down at the paperwork and then back up at me before he passes it off to his friend, who does the same. I don’t think I like the look on his face.

  “You're Nyx Slaughter?” blue eyes asks.

  “I believe that is what the papers say.”

  “What are you, a teenager playing dress-up?” green eyes questions.

  “Is that supposed to be a joke about how short I am? What the fuck do you guys know about me anyway? You are humans.” I feel Jonas place a
warning hand on my shoulder.

  “Doesn't matter what species you are, if you are in security you have heard of Slaughter. When someone has that high of a kill count, they don't go unnoticed,” green eyes responds. He is still eying me up and down. Evidently, he thinks if he does it enough, I will grow another foot.

  “Do I have to show you my name tattooed on my ass?” I ask. I hope they don't ask for a peek because that would be just dumb. Tattooing anyone’s name on your body is pretty stupid. If it is your own, you are just asking for trouble.

  “No, the paperwork seems to be in order. If you would just walk around the side here while we take a look at your friends', we will have you on your way shortly,” one of them says. At this point, I just want to refer to them as dickhead one and two.

  Nevertheless, I take my papers back and put them in my pocket, while I move over to the side. I love my short stature because it allows me to easily sneak into places, but sometimes it gets annoying. I should probably look into getting lifts or something. They would look stupid, but may save me time in the long run.

  Neither Jonas nor Jake has any problem with getting by and within seconds, they join me. I suppose it is partially my fault for being a woman in a man’s world. I bet the two dickheads didn’t really even look at the guys’ paperwork.

  “It's okay, peanut. I am sure the big, bad security men didn't mean to be offensive and hurt your little, bitty feelings,” Jake says in a sweet namby pamby voice.

  Let me introduce everyone to dickhead number three, I think to myself, trying not to kill him. Breathe in, breathe out. Only a few more minutes and I will be heading home. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.

  Not working.

  I stomp off in search of the baggage claim, just as an overhead announcement indicates that my marks’ plane has landed. Thank you, God.

  I pay no attention to the humans milling around me. At this point, if they all fell off the face of the earth, I would probably throw a party. Not long after starting my walk, I start to smell the dang strawberry smell I picked up on at Felicity and Jillian's apartment yesterday.