Blood Heart

by Lexi C. Foss

  Two demons and their pet angel, Lizzie.

  “We’re too sinful to wear white,” Cam replied. “Besides, Liz is the only virgin here.”

  “Hey! That’s not…” Her cheeks flamed as memories of last night rolled through her thoughts. She cleared her voice before finishing with, “True.”

  “Has something changed in the last two months?” Kristin asked, eyebrows waggling.

  “Maybe she’s been shacked up with a guy and that’s why she’s been MIA,” Cam said.

  “Yes!” That excited Kristin. “I think you might be right. Is she, Liz? Is there a man keeping you busy?”

  Lizzie shook her head. “You’re both being ridiculous.” But thoughts of Jayson crept into her mind, sending another rush of heat down her neck, followed by a chill when she remembered how they left things.

  No calls.

  No texts.

  Nothing.

  Not that she should expect it. She’d acted like a crazy person earlier. So what if the man was a little more experienced than her?

  Try a lot more.

  Okay, true, but couldn’t that be a good thing?

  “Oh my God, Cam’s right. You’ve been hooking up with someone.” Kristin set her drink down on the bar and gave Lizzie her full attention. “Spill. Tell us everything.”

  “Uh, well, I have this new neighbor. It’s nothing, really, just, I don’t know. He’s hot, and we’ve kissed a few times.” She swallowed several pulls from her straw in an attempt to cool off her cheeks, but the alcohol only seemed to warm her more. “It’s really not a big deal.”

  “Jayson would be so disappointed to hear that,” a male voice said directly behind her.

  She turned in to a muscular chest encased in a leather jacket and lifted her gaze to a pair of ebony eyes tinged with gold flecks.

  “Kiel,” she breathed. “Hi. I didn’t mean, that is, I…” Lizzie cleared her throat as he studied her with an amused expression. He clearly thought she was an idiot, and rightly so.

  “Ignore me,” she muttered.

  “On the contrary, Little Red, I find you impossible to ignore.” He curled a long finger through one of her loose pieces of hair and gave it a little tug. “Introduce me to your friends.”

  “Right, of course.” As if she could appear any more incompetent, she’d forgotten her manners. He remained behind her as she rotated to face her gaping friends. “Cam, Kristin, this is Kiel. He, uh, works with the neighbor I just mentioned.”

  “Hello, ladies,” he murmured over her shoulder. “Can I introduce you to some of my friends?”

  Cam’s eyes brightened even more at the prospect. “Yes, I think you should,” she replied in that flirtatious way of hers. Kiel’s rocker image didn’t fit Kristin’s usual type, but Cam rarely discriminated. If the man boasted confidence and good looks, she gave him a chance. And Kiel certainly met both requirements.

  “Brilliant.” His hand appeared over Lizzie’s shoulder as he signaled some friends from one of the booths lining the club’s walls. The seating seemed to stretch all around, minus the area where the stairs led to a VIP lounge on the second level, and a dance floor took up most of the middle. The bar near the entrance was where they decided to start after surveying the interior. Kristin liked to begin with a few rounds to help loosen up before chatting with random men, but Cam had no problem initiating conversation while sober, as she did now.

  “What do you do for a living, Kiel?” she asked while the two other men approached. Unlike Kiel, they were wearing all-black suits. Lizzie recognized the expensive brand with an inward smile. Kristin would be all over these guys the second she saw them.

  “I’m an assassin,” Kiel replied in that easy way of his.

  Cam and Kristin laughed at his Halloween-inspired joke, while Lizzie shook her head. An assassin didn’t really fit the theme, and his leather jacket was the same as the other night. Not all that original, but maybe he didn’t enjoy dressing up.

  “I’m a devil,” Cam replied and used her fingers to form horns over her blonde head.

  “Are you?” Kiel sounded impressed. “In the sheets or out, I wonder.”

  “Why not both?” Cam replied, her expression coquettish.

  Kiel’s chest was close enough to Lizzie’s back that she felt his responding chuckle. “I think you’re going to have an enlightening evening, darling,” he said as his friends arrived.

  “Zach, Lars, meet Cam and Kristin.” He curled an arm around Lizzie’s waist as he added, “And this is Lizzie, but she’s off the market.”

  Lizzie twisted to stare up at him while the others made their introductions. “I am?” she asked, incredulous.

  “You are,” he replied. “Your relationship with Jay is far more important than you realize, young one.”

  She blinked. “Has he talked to you?” Her tone betrayed a hopeful note she would have preferred to hide, but she couldn’t help it.

  “Not quite.” His gaze danced over her in a curious way. “There is so much you don’t know—it’s radiating in your innate innocence.”

  She frowned at his bizarre words. They should have left her feeling uncomfortable, but instead sparked her interest. Nothing about Kiel struck her as normal or safe, yet he didn’t strike her as dangerous. He was friends with Jayson—or acquaintances, anyway. Perhaps that’s why she trusted him. Knowing her sorority sisters were at her back helped too.

  “Would you like to know more, Lizzie?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. “About Jay? About our world?”

  “You mean your business?” That didn’t sound all that interesting, but she wouldn’t mind learning more about what Jayson did every day.

  Kiel’s lips curled. “What has Jay told you we do?”

  “Acquisitions.”

  “Is that all?” He tsked. “My dear Lizzie, we have so much to discuss.”

  He nodded at his friends, and she glanced back to see Cam and Kristin being escorted onto the dance floor. So much for girl code. They must have assumed she was safe with Kiel since they already knew each other. Still, they could have asked.

  “Do you want to join them?” Kiel asked, his lips at her ear. “Or would you like to know more about our world?”

  Our world…

  What bizarre phrasing, except it seemed par for the course with Kiel. He was a walking complex—handsome, charming, generally jovial, but with a lethal air, a don’t-fuck-with-me vibe, and an accent she couldn’t place.

  She met his gaze again. “What do you mean by ‘world’? ”

  “Come with me and find out.” He let go of her waist and held out a hand. “I promise not to bite.”

  “All right,” she agreed, pressing her palm to his. “But only if we’re staying in the club.”

  His eyes sparkled with a mixture of mirth and secrets. “As the lady requests.”

  She expected him to maneuver them over to the booth his friends had vacated, but instead, he headed toward the heavily guarded staircase. A nod at the men dressed in black wearing earpieces had them standing aside for the couple to ascend, causing her nerves to sing with unease.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, but he didn’t hear her over the music. She considered trying again when the electronic beats quieted upstairs, but her new surroundings piqued a stronger curiosity.

  Another bar, as well as a variety of more decadent booths with velvet interiors and glass tables, graced the upper balcony. Kiel meandered over to a vacant booth overlooking the dance floor below and gestured for her to slide in first. She did so while he flagged a waitress wearing a string bikini top and chains for a skirt.

  Several of the other women up here boasted similar outfits and were all watching Lizzie with curious expressions.

  I’m clearly overdressed for this level.

  Or perhaps they wanted to know what qualified her to join the VIP lounge.

  Lizzie forced a smile, but no one returned it.

  “You know what I want,” Kiel said. He hadn’t taken a seat yet. Rather,
he remained standing with his hands in his pockets as the curvy waitress approached. “My friend here would like something fruity, but spike it nicely. She’ll need it.”

  The brunette trailed polished nails up his jacket and grinned. “Anything for you, love.”

  He caught her fingers and brought her wrist to his mouth. “Anything?”

  “Tease.” Her tone held a touch of admonishment. “We both know I’m not to your taste.”

  “Mmm, sadly true.” He let her go after nipping the base of her thumb. “But I may need you for a demonstration later.”

  “Oh?” Her eager gaze went to Lizzie before returning to Kiel. “You let me know when, and I’m your girl.”

  “Thank you, sweetheart.” He kissed her on the cheek before settling on the other side of the booth and fixing his gaze on Lizzie. “We’ll begin once Cynthia delivers our drinks. In the interim, what do you think of the Arcadia?”

  “Um, it’s not my usual scene.”

  He chuckled. “No, I should think not. You strike me as a country-bar kind of girl, or perhaps a disco?”

  “A disco?” she repeated with an ineloquent snort. “I like dancing, but I need something current.”

  “Disco isn’t current?” He frowned as if puzzled by that. “Forgive me, but the decades run together. Hell, sometimes the centuries do as well, though this technology era is quite fascinating.”

  She gaped at him. “How old are you?” Because he didn’t look a day over thirty, but he spoke about time in such a weird manner. Just like everything else.

  How is this guy friends with Jay, again? They seemed like very different people.

  Kiel smiled. “Oh, we’ll get to that very soon, darling. But would you mind terribly if I made a call? It will only be a moment.”

  “Uh, sure.” Lizzie searched for her friends downstairs while he fiddled with his phone.

  She could see the throng of gyrating bodies from her perch beside the glass railing, but making out individual faces in the flashing lights was impossible. The booths along the walls were easier to identify, as were the people inside them, but she doubted Cam or Kristin ventured there. At least not yet. Cam worked fast, but not that fast.

  “Evening, Jedrick,” Kiel drawled in a tone that drew Lizzie’s attention. It held a sinister feel to it that he hadn’t used in her presence before.

  “Not a good time? Then I’ll make this brief. I have something that belongs to you.” He listened, his ebony gaze gleaming with a sinful emotion that unsettled Lizzie’s stomach.

  The playful charmer from before had been replaced by someone far more wicked.

  This was a bad idea.

  Too late now, Liz.

  “No, not quite.” He grinned. “Would you care to say hello to Jay, Little Red?”

  *

  Jayson’s blood ran cold as he gripped the phone impossibly tighter. “Lizzie…”

  “Jay-Jayson?” Her innocent voice came through the receiver underlined with confusion. “I don’t—”

  “Listen to me very carefully, Lizzie. You need—”

  Ezekiel’s tsk came over the line, silencing Jayson’s attempt at a warning. “Now that’s not a good sport, Jay. I offer you a chance to say hello, or perhaps goodbye in this case, and you try to ruin my fun? Where’s the sportsmanship in that, hmm?”

  The lamp shattered beside him as he knocked everything off the end table in Balthazar’s great room. “If you fucking touch her—”

  “You’ll what, kill me?” Ezekiel chuckled, his amusement palpable even over the thousands of miles that separated them. “I daresay I underestimated your feelings for the woman. This is going to be quite fun.”

  Jayson gritted his teeth and forced the words out that he needed to say. “What do you want?”

  “To see just how bad you want her back,” Ezekiel murmured. “Would you like to know where we are?”

  “You know I do,” Jayson managed through his aching jaw. So I can shove a blade between your eyes.

  “The Arcadia,” he replied simply. “One of Lizzie’s friends managed to procure an invitation to tonight’s party, perhaps not by coincidence. But imagine my delight when your gorgeous Red waltzed in wearing a buffet of white. Oh, thank you, Cynthia. That looks lovely. I’ll buzz you if we require anything else, such as the demonstration. Thanks, love.”

  “What are you doing?”

  Jayson fell to his knees at the terrified note in Lizzie’s voice, his will crumbling to his feet. He never should have left her alone. Not with Ezekiel on the loose. What the fuck had he been thinking visiting Hydria while she remained unprotected in New York?

  He’d failed her in the worst possible way.

  The Arcadia?

  Fuck.

  What the hell happened to her guard detail?

  Ezekiel’s cool reply didn’t calm his nerves in the slightest. “Trust me, darling, this is for your own protection, as I suspect there will be a great deal of screaming in our near future.”

  “If you—”

  “Hold that thought, Jay.” The music died in the background, replaced by a scuffling that suggested a fight—one that ended with a muffled shriek and Ezekiel sighing. “Calm down.”

  “I won’t calm down!” Lizzie snapped. “You just sealed us in a glass bubble!”

  “For reasons you’ll understand once I hang up the phone. Now sit silently, or I’ll be forced to silence you.”

  A gasp came from Lizzie, filled with shock and fear.

  Oh, fuck no.

  Jayson would slaughter Ezekiel for this.

  His fists clenched as he envisioned ripping the Ichorian limb by limb and burning each piece while forcing the asshole to watch.

  Unspoken truce or not, he would end him.

  Slowly.

  Permanently.

  He tried to voice his threats, but words failed him. Agony, fury, and a twinge of helplessness overwhelmed reason, paralyzing him in a shell of fear and loathing.

  “I’ve given you our location. I suggest you act quickly, Jay.” The line went dead, and Jayson sent his phone crashing into the wall. It shattered into a million fucking pieces just as Balthazar and Luc ran into the house.

  The Arcadia was the one place in the world Jayson couldn’t go, and Ezekiel knew it.

  “Fuck!” Jayson pounded his fury into the floor, not caring at all for the skin cracking across his knuckles. It would heal in a minute. The same could not be said for Lizzie.

  “What the hell is going on?” Luc demanded.

  “Jay’s losing it,” Alik replied from his perch on the couch. “Reminds me of that time in Rome…” His voice trailed off at the glower Jayson flashed him. “Right, you remember.”

  Alik shrugged and went back to whatever the fuck he was doing on his phone. Jayson had the sudden urge to rip it from his hands and throw it, along with Alik, against the wall in response, but a hand on his shoulder steadied him.

  “Talk to me,” Balthazar demanded as he knelt beside him.

  Jayson still couldn’t form a coherent sentence, so he replayed the conversation through his head while clenching and unclenching his fists against the wood.

  Violence unlike anything he’d ever experienced lanced his thoughts, slicing his need into two parts. One vied for sanity, while the other craved a suicide mission to New York.

  “Ezekiel has Lizzie at the Arcadia,” Balthazar translated for those who couldn’t hear. “Get Wakefield, and we need to find out what happened to Jennifer.”

  Jennifer. Lizzie’s supposed guard.

  Why the fuck didn’t she tell me Lizzie went out?

  “Already on my way,” Luc said as he left the house.

  “He won’t kill her,” Alik said in that irritatingly calm way of his. “There’s no entertainment value, and she’s worth more alive. He’s fucking with you, and winning.” He hopped off the couch. “I’ll be in the pool if anyone needs me.”

  Balthazar’s hand tightened when Jay considered reacting by tossing a blade at one of his oldest f
riends. It wouldn’t be the first time they fought, or the last, but Alik usually won. His ability to inflict pain mentally far surpassed their own, not to mention his telepathy. Powerful bastard.

  “He’s trying to redirect your rage,” Balthazar murmured after the door slammed.

  “It’s working.”

  “Good. Now get up off the floor and act like the warrior I know you are.” Balthazar pushed away from him and turned off the television before walking over to the kitchen. Jayson took two deep breaths, forced himself upright, and accepted the water bottle Balthazar handed him on his way to the dining area.

  “Alik is right,” B said. “Zeke is goading you for fun. He won’t kill Lizzie.”

  “You can’t know that for certain. He’s a fucking assassin, for crying out loud.”

  “Who has had multiple opportunities to take her out and hasn’t bothered. No, there’s something else going on here.” Balthazar took another swig of water and focused on the door just before it flew open. Issac and Luc walked in, followed by Stas and Tom.

  “Jennifer fell asleep,” Luc said flatly.

  “She fell asleep?” Jayson repeated, his tone lethally soft.

  “Yes, she thought Lizzie was staying in for the night.” Luc’s expression indicated he was not pleased by that excuse. “I’ll deal with Jennifer after we fix this issue.”

  “Do so. Or I will.” And a demotion would be the least of her concerns.

  Falling asleep on the job.

  Fuck.

  If Lizzie dies because of this…

  His hands curled into fists at the thought. He’d never forgive Jennifer, or himself.

  “What’s the plan?” he demanded.

  “Mateo and Tristan are already en route,” Issac informed. “What do they need to know?”

  “Zeke has her in some sort of glass bubble,” Jayson growled. “It drowned out all the noise.”

  Issac nodded. “VIP lounge. All the booths have sound control for purposes I’m sure don’t require elaboration. Anything else?”

  “He plans to make her scream.” Jayson’s hands fisted again, this time destroying the plastic bottle in his hand.