by Lexi C. Foss
Violet Slays
Copyright © 2020 Lexi C. Foss
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book may not be redistributed to others for commercial or noncommercial purposes.
Editing by: Outthink Editing, LLC
Proofreading by: Katie Schmahl & Jean Bachen
Cover Design: Francesca Michelon with Merry-Book-Round Covers
Published by: Ninja Newt Publishing, LLC
Digital Edition
Created with Vellum
Contents
1. Violet
2. Cassius
3. Violet
4. Cassius
5. Violet
6. Cassius
7. Violet
8. Violet
9. Cassius
10. Violet
11. Cassius
12. Violet
13. Cassius
14. Violet
15. Cassius
16. Violet
17. Violet
18. Cassius
Epilogue
Crossed Fates
First Kiss of Revenge
Also by Lexi C. Foss
About the Author
About Violet Slays
Eliminate Vampiric Influences Everywhere.
That’s my life.
My job.
My entire world.
I fell victim to a vampire once. He used me to commit the ultimate crime of betrayal. A consequence I’ve lived with for over a century thanks to the immortality amulet around my neck.
Now I slay every bloodsucker in sight.
Which is why they call me the “demon of the night.”
My E.V.I.E. boss has a new assignment for me—some errant vamp causing issues in New York City. No problem. I’ll handle this pest like I have the countless leeches before him.
Only this is no ordinary vampire.
It’s Cassius.
My former lover.
My betrayer.
The royal vampire who seduced me into a forbidden affair that nearly ended my life.
Seeing him again is a blow to the chest, one I intend to return with a stake through his dead heart.
Because I don’t do second chances, a fact Cassius is about to learn the hard way.
Stake up, friends. It’s going to be a bloody ride.
1
Violet
Silver eyes.
Glistening.
Deadly.
Seductive.
I moaned, fighting the need coursing through me at that familiar look—the one that demanded my submission. Craved my blood. Destroyed my resolve.
This was so wrong. Forbidden. A lethal dance.
“Beg,” he demanded, his deep voice undoing the last of my willpower.
My knees hit the carpet, my lips parting on a foreign plea for him to take me. Complete me. Make me his.
Full lips curled at the sides, a hint of menace darkening his handsome features. “I like you in this position, little slayer,” he mused, his fingers reaching out to lightly comb through my hair. “Compliant and mine.”
My instincts dared me to fight, to prove him wrong, but my heart held me captive. I wanted this. He wanted this. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought. The rules be damned. This was my soul’s purpose. He was my lifeline.
That sinister look deepened, his long white hair seemed to unfurl beneath a mysterious wind as he leaned down to stare me directly in the eyes.
Anger blazed from the depths of his silvery gaze, swirling deep within, threatening to flay me alive. “I’m coming for you, sweet slayer,” he vowed.
I frowned, not understanding. Then he released me and took a step back, his body vanishing into a dusky cloud.
And I opened my eyes to reveal a new room.
My room.
In Chicago.
Not in Saint Petersburg.
Not in my former realm.
Not in the life I left behind.
But my current reality. Where vampires couldn’t walk in the daylight and died by stakes.
No fire here.
No meaningless death.
No Romanov slayers.
Just those involved with Eliminate Vampiric Influences Everywhere, or E.V.I.E., as we usually referred to it.
“Shit.” I grasped the amulet hanging from my neck, my chest heaving from the too-real dream.
I’m coming for you, sweet slayer.
How many times had he promised me that? I’d always taken that phrase as a heated flirtation. Until the true meaning of his threat became a reality that ended in bloodshed.
Oh, he came for me all right.
And the entire Romanov slayer line as well.
Swallowing, I glanced sideways at my clock. It was three in the afternoon. A perfectly safe time to sleep, but I wouldn’t be catching any more z’s after that dream.
Rubbing a hand over my face, I sat up. My bare legs were covered in sweat, my inner thighs were too warm, and my nipples were hard. All because of Cassius.
Just thinking his name sent a shiver down my spine.
His too-pretty face flashed behind my eyes, his lips curling into his trademark smirk. He was hot and he knew it. A prince with a savage streak and a penchant for domination. I’d never knelt for another male. Not before him or after him. And I never would after everything he’d done to me.
Shaking my head, I rolled out of bed and prepared for my early evening run several hours ahead of schedule. I needed to pound the cement for at least thirty minutes, and then maybe head to the gym for a round with the punching bag. If only I had a photo of Cassius to mount on it; I’d beat him to a bloody pulp.
My skin prickled with the memories of the last time I saw him. Heat wrapped around me, suffocating my throat, drawing me back into a smoke-infused room littered with flames.
Residual screams abrade my eardrums.
I can’t breathe.
I’m going to die here.
In this place.
Because of him.
He’s the only one who knows—
My wrist buzzed, drawing me out of the darkness and back into the light. Over a century in this realm and I still hadn’t forgotten that night—the one that altered my entire world. Literally.
I ignored the second message coming in across my watch and went straight for the coffee maker. Technology had vastly improved over my lifetime, yielding amazing inventions such as the instant pot before me.
Ah, sweet, sweet addiction. I smiled. Pour for me, baby.
Pressing a few buttons caused the device to spring to life, and the sensual aroma of bliss began to fill the air.
My bestie, Rowan, hated coffee—a fact that nearly ended our friendship, because seriously, who could hate heavenly caffeine? But I forgave her. Sort of like how I forgave her for somehow using her witch magic to portal three of us into the E.V.I.E. world. She’d been trying to save our lives, and had succeeded, so there was that tidbit.
Of course, the experience had turned my hair a startling purple shade. Rowan’s had turned a silvery lavender, but the hair of the other slayer who’d traveled here with us had remained green. Bright green. Hence her original name—Emerald.
I’d changed my name to Violet to match for fun.
And because my given name in Russian brought back too many memories.
I drummed my fingers across the granite counter, watching as my mug began to change colors. It’d been a gift from Rowan. The ceramic exterior was black when cold and slowly melted into an image when warmth touched it.
Unicorn Badass II displayed in white lettering with a purple-haired unicorn beneath, making me smile.
“Damn straight.” I picked up the mug as soon as it finished, added a splash of creamer to cool it, and took a hearty sip. It burned so good going down.
Only when I was halfway done did I finally venture back to my bedroom to look at the messages on my phone. They were all from Jude—the head of E.V.I.E.
I need you in New York City.
Like, now.
Get up.
I snorted and set my mug down on the nightstand to shoot him back a message. You sure know how to seduce a girl, J. I tossed my phone onto the unmade bed, then headed to the en-suite bathroom to take a shower since clearly a run wasn’t on the agenda now, thanks to work.
Not that I minded.
It’d been a few weeks since I’d given my stake a workout.
Stripping down to just my amulet, I stepped beneath the warm spray of my double-headed shower and allowed the water to wash away the memories of my dream.
Or was it a nightmare?
I couldn’t tell the difference.
My body apparently thought it was a fantasy. My stomach still coiled with a need only Cassius could awaken, even after all this time, and the memories of him remained solidly in my head. For all I knew, the bastard was dead.
I grunted. Right.
Prince Cassius was probably lording over the other realm, aiding his king, Dimitri, in thaeir quest to destroy the human race. All because I’d given Cassius the codes.
My palm hit the stone wall, a growl leaving my mouth.
Rowan would tell me to stop fretting. No, she’d berate me for not letting this go after a century. But it wasn’t her fault that an entire line of slayers fell all because of a forbidden affair. Instead, she’d saved me when I hadn’t deserved to be saved.
Groaning, my elbow bent, and I pressed my forehead to the stone and began to count.
Ten seconds.
That was all I would allow myself to feel today.
Just ten seconds of sorrow and pain.
Then I’d wake the fuck up and get to work. Because there were vampires to kill. And oh, how I loved to slay them.
As soon as I hit one in my head, I straightened my spine and shoved the memories away.
Twenty minutes later, I was dressed in a pair of jeans, boots, and a sweater. Fall in New York City ranged in temperatures, as did Chicago. I added stakes to the wardrobe, all obscured from human view, and slipped a knife into a hidden compartment along the side of my pants before adding my phone to the back pocket. Purple hair up in a ponytail, face void of makeup, I was ready to go.
Minus one thing.
Luci.
She lounged on my sofa—her chosen bed—and gave me a lazy yawn as I entered. “I know you heard me in the kitchen,” I told her. “It’s right over there.” Like ten feet away from the medium-sized living room. My condo was a bit on the small side with just the one bedroom, one and a half baths, a kitchen, and a living room, but it worked for the two of us.
She yawned again, adding in a lick of her chops at the end to drive her point home. It’s early.
“Yeah, I know,” I said.
Her long black lashes began to close, hiding her pretty brown eyes.
“Does that mean you want to stay here instead of munching on some vampires?” I asked her.
One eye opened.
“We have to use the portal,” I added. Because no way would I ever try to fly with my baby. She had a penchant for setting things on fire. Hence the burn marks on my supposedly flame-retardant couch.
Turns out, they don’t make upholstery suitable for hellhounds. Who knew?
Luci slowly slid off the couch, her black fur sleek and freshly brushed from last night.
Because yeah, I doted on her wolf form. Not that I didn’t appreciate her hellhound glory, but it was just harder to pet her when her pores oozed fire.
She gave a long stretch of her back legs, reminding me of a German Shepherd, then loosened up her front similarly before shaking out her coat.
Her intelligent coffee-brown irises met mine, the knowledge in them setting her apart from the wolf form. She couldn’t speak, but she understood me perfectly. Making commands unnecessary.
“Ready?” I asked.
She gave another shake, which was her equivalent of an affirmation.
“Try to stay in wolf form,” I said, walking over to the basket in the small foyer by my front door. “Last time you went hellhound, you scared a few kids.”
She huffed in reply.
“Yeah, I know, he was a little prick.” The kid had been bullying another, and Luci wasn’t a fan of that behavior.
Her grunt sounded like an agreement.
I grabbed her collar and bent down to put the red nylon around her thick neck. She didn’t really need it, but humans preferred I walked her on a leash, so we put on a show to keep the mortals happy.
Most humans weren’t aware of the supernatural. Only the unlucky few knew the truth. Slayers included.
“All right,” I said, securing the leash with one hand.
I clutched the amulet hanging between my breasts with my opposite palm and flicked my thumb over the oval-shaped tanzanite at the center, opening a portal. It flared to life naturally, the magic ingrained in the enchanted stone.
Learning how to navigate the portal network had been a decade-long process, one Rowan had helped me with. Jude didn’t know our amulets allowed us to travel this way, but he knew they were enchanted, particularly as they made us immortal.
Whenever I removed it, I aged normally—one day at a time—but I rarely took off the amulet. I didn’t want to risk losing it. I also enjoyed being in my early twenties.
The fur along Luci’s back edged upward in alert as soon as we stepped through the portal, her guarding instincts taking over. Some of the paths went through the underworld, which was how I’d found my little hellhound.
She’d been curled into a fiery little ball with pointy ears, shivering in a corner. When a vampire attacked me in front of her—he’d followed me through my portal—she’d taken off his leg as a snack. It’d been love at first sight between us after that.
We wandered along the dark corridor framed by oozing liquids that were not meant to be touched. I sometimes wondered if this was really the underworld or just a pathway through space and time. Luci’s existence made me think it was the former, but I rarely found life here. It was possible someone had led her here and then left her to fend for herself.
I frowned at the notion, as I did every time I considered it.
“You know I’ll kill anyone who touches you, right?” I said to her now as we walked.
She snorted, then glanced up at me with murder in her gaze. Likewise, she seemed to be saying.
“We make a good team.”
She grunted in agreement, then shook out her coat.
“Yeah, I’m not a fan of it down here either.” The black-coated walls moved ominously, making it very dark. But little specks of light from above lit the way like stars in the night. Or maybe those were glowworms. Who the hell knew? I never stuck around long enough to find out.
A few minutes later, I took a left, then a right, and then another left and found myself on the precipice of the New York City portal. While I could see through the shimmering space, no one else could see me—something Rowan and I had tested ample times.
I glanced through the glittering curtain before me, watching the space for any signs of life.
I usually created my own entry within the existing one, which allowed me to rejoin the realm as though I were walking fresh out of the main portal. But I had to make sure the coast was clear first.
If anyone touched me along the way, it could complicate things. And as Jude had the place wired with security, I couldn’t risk him catching me creating my own entrance, so I had to time it right.
It wasn’t that we didn’t trust Jude; we just preferred to keep our pasts to ourselves. And we were protecting Emerald, too.
If he knew what she was, he’d try to recruit her, and our friend had made it clear she wanted nothing to do with the underworld life. She’d run off to open up a tattoo parlor in Columbus, Ohio, and seemed to be doing prett
y well for herself.
“Okay, Luci,” I said, stepping into the space right before the portal opening. “Let’s go.”
2
Cassius
Kseniya.
She looked different with sleek purple waves instead of soft blonde strands and startling violet eyes rather than soft blue ones. But the rest of her resembled my pet slayer—petite frame, toned limbs, pert breasts, and a supple waist. My mouth watered just looking at her, making me rethink my plans for later.
Over a century of hatred boiled inside me, underlined in a sea of blossoming lust just at the sight of my sweet slayer.
I wanted to strangle her.
Fuck her.
Make her bleed.
Then lick her to completion before driving a stake between her ribs. What a fitting end that would be.
I trailed behind her as she walked through the streets of Manhattan without a care in the world. The black dog at her side glanced at me more than once, her eyes much too intelligent for a canine. But she didn’t alert her owner to my presence, her tongue hanging out of her mouth in a wolflike grin that made her almost appear kind.
Good girl, I thought at the creature before focusing on Kseniya’s fine ass. She wore a pair of snug jeans that drew more than a few male glances her way as she moved. She just had one of those bodies that men wanted to caress.
I could still remember the first time I saw her sparring with one of her fellow slayers in one of Catherine Palace’s many courtyards.
She’d been a sight to behold, and when she’d finished, I strolled by and asked if she wanted a more worthy opponent. Her gorgeous blue eyes had flared wide, her lips parting at the sight of a vampire so close to her sacred slayer homeland.
