E.V.I.E.: 13 Slayers, 13 Missions

by Lexi C. Foss

  “You always underestimated me, Cassius. Look where it got you.” He’d thought it would be so easy to catch me unawares and slaughter me in the middle of the night with his hungry vampire mob. Then I’d escaped because he hadn’t counted on Rowan’s magic being able to teleport us to a new realm.

  His smile slipped into a frown. “Yes. I’m very aware of how that turned out.” The arm along my lower back turned to granite. “You won’t be jumping realms again.”

  Now it was my turn to twist up my lips. “You say that like you can control it.”

  “I can,” he replied, the hand on my cheek shifting to my hair. I didn’t understand his intent until I felt the weight of the amulet drop into my dress. I tried to grab it, but he was faster, pocketing the item before I even had a chance to comprehend his actions.

  Vampiric speed.

  As a born slayer, I could move faster than a human, but I couldn’t keep up with an ancient like Cassius.

  Ancient, I repeated to myself. “Oh my God…” He was my target for tonight, the unknown entity in the game. I’d completely forgotten my mission the moment he whispered my name, but now it all made sense. “You set this all up.” Which meant he’d been in this realm for at least a few weeks, if not longer.

  Alexander Ivanovich.

  How had I missed the obvious link?

  Cassius Alexander Ivanov.

  “Fuck,” I breathed, furious with myself for not thinking this through. I’d just never thought it was possible for him to be here. Of course, I never would have thought it possible for me to be here either.

  “Have you grown slower in your old age?” he asked, canting his head slightly to the side. “Perhaps a few mortal days will help.”

  My amulet.

  Without it, I would be mortal. Just like he said.

  I didn’t ask for it back. Instead, I reached into his pocket to take it. But he caught my wrist and pulled it back up to his shoulder, holding it there with his hand over mine. “Don’t,” he warned when my other hand started to move.

  “Or what?” I asked, ignoring his caution.

  He seized my hand and spun me so quickly I nearly lost my footing in the high heels. Damn high-society costume!

  The air whooshed out of me as my back hit his chest again. I squirmed, ready to fight, only to be caged in by Cassius’s strength. He had my arms crossed in front of me beneath his own stronger ones, resembling a back hug of sorts that made me want to kill him even more.

  Several eyes were on us, everyone interested in the male at my back.

  Because he was the fundraising benefactor.

  The supposed billionaire descending from Romanov family fame.

  How had I been so naïve as to step right into this inane trap?

  “I forgot how hot your anger makes me,” he whispered into my ear, his nose skimming my neck to my pulse. “Mmm, you smell so fragile, love.”

  A growl worked its way up my throat, but I swallowed it down and took control of my features. He’d been right. We couldn’t afford to create a scene here with so many humans watching us. And there would be no quiet takedown between us. It would be brutal, ugly, and savage.

  “Do you still fantasize about me at night, little killer?” The words were soft and seductive, weaving a spell of history and enchanted memories through my mind. “Do you think about how I used to slay you with my cock?”

  Oh God… My thighs clenched at the vulgar words, my heart skipping a beat in my chest. I hated how I still reacted to him after all this time. He’d betrayed me. Hurt me. Killed those I loved. Terminated the entire Romanov slayer line. Lusting for him was so fucking wrong yet felt so damn right.

  No. I refuse.

  Pull yourself together! I snapped at myself.

  I was acting like a teenage slayer, lost to the whims of a sexy vampire. I’d grown so much since we’d last danced. There were parts of my mind he would never access again. Not without my permission.

  “The only slaying fantasies I have are ones where I drive a stake through your cold heart,” I managed to reply, my voice lacking my usual snark.

  “Mmm, foreplay,” he replied, nipping my pulse. “My favorite. Now be a good girl and behave for me. Maybe I’ll give you back your amulet as a prize.”

  “You can’t be ser—”

  “Mister Ivanovich?” a feminine voice came from the side, followed by a beaming blonde female with a notepad in her hand. “Is this the mysterious date you teased us about?”

  “It is,” he said, tightening his hold in warning. “This is my fiancée, Kseniya Romanov.”

  Ah, hell. I was the Romanov link the rumors were about. How had I been so blind? And how had Jude known to assign this mission to me?

  Cassius, I realized. He’d orchestrated all of this, including whatever information had been fed to Jude about me.

  It all came together in my mind so blindingly fast that my head spun.

  And then the cameras started to click.

  “Smile,” Cassius breathed against my ear. “Can’t have the humans knowing anything’s wrong, now can we?”

  I’m going to fucking kill you, I thought, forcing my lips upward. Just as soon as I get my amulet back.

  6

  Cassius

  Lights flickered around us, everyone eager to learn more about the affluent billionaire and his purple-haired pet. Kseniya wasn’t a traditional high-society beauty, but anyone paying attention could see the gorgeous charms in her features.

  Of course, she was probably glowering at everyone. Which only entertained me more.

  I’d planned this moment on purpose, knowing I’d need that added human presence to keep her in line. It was such a beautiful strategy that allowed me to manhandle her, show her off, and leave her helpless by my side.

  “How does it feel, baby?” I asked against her ear. “To have no choice but to follow my every whim?” No one else would be able to hear me, my words pitched low for her senses alone. Besides, the others were too busy snapping photos to notice.

  “Reminds me of compulsion,” she muttered, her voice pitched low just like mine. “And how you used me before.”

  “Used you?” I repeated, chuckling under my breath. “Oh, darling. If anyone used someone, it was you using me.” I lowered my lips to her neck, nipping her hammering pulse as another camera flashed. Her boss would love that image.

  “So how did you meet?” Pamela asked, her pen poised and ready. She’d been among the more eager of the reporters from earlier, so it hadn’t surprised me that she’d possessed the courage to call out to me in the middle of the room.

  The reporters only had thirty minutes to play. My public reason for this decision revolved around wanting to spread the word about the charity. However, the truth was that I just wanted a way to distract Kseniya from trying to kill me on sight. So far, it was working. That I held her amulet in my pocket only seemed to help matters.

  “Do you want to tell the story of how we met, or shall I, darling?” I asked her softly, providing my best expression of adoration for the cameras. It was an easy thing to do when I pictured Kseniya drenched in her own blood.

  “I tried to kill him,” my little slayer announced in a sweet voice. “He found it amusing and decided to pursue me instead.”

  I laughed to hide the truth of her summary, causing several of the others to join in. Humans were so easy to manipulate. Play on their insecurities and they jumped to follow suit. However, in this case, I added a hint of compulsion to it, telling them all to ignore my drunk “fiancée” and pay attention to me instead. “The truth is, we met at a party similar to this one in Russia. It was held at Catherine Palace, wasn’t it, Kseniya?”

  Her shoulders stiffened at the mention of the infamous slayer palace—a palace that had been completely repurposed in our reality but seemed to be a reasonably intact tourist site in this one. Of course, she would refer to it as Romanov Palace.

  “Somewhere like that,” she managed to reply, her jaw clenched so tight I was surp
rised I could decipher her words. “You asked me to dance.”

  By “dance,” she meant I taunted her into sparring with me. “I did. And I impressed you.”

  “Yes, you swept me off my feet,” she deadpanned, causing me to grin. Because it was true. I’d knocked her legs right out from beneath her and pinned her to the icy ground, then demanded she yield.

  What a beautiful night that had been, the beginning of a new relationship.

  I could almost think of it fondly, except the events that followed tainted everything that had ever transpired between us.

  Kissing her neck again, I tightened my hold and met Pamela’s gaze. “Everything I do is for this woman. Even this event was for her.” Not a lie. And when phrased the right way, it sounded incredibly romantic.

  Aww, he loves her so much, they would think.

  They weren’t wrong. I just hated her more.

  “Do you support the children as well, Kseniya?” Pamela asked, referring to the charity I intended to donate all of tonight’s auction funds to.

  “I support life,” my darling slayer replied without missing a beat. “I’ve always felt very strongly about prolonging the quality of existence for those who can’t protect themselves.”

  A clever way of implying she cared about the children—which, I knew, she did—while also broadening the scope of her definition to include all mortals, regardless of age.

  How quaint.

  “We can’t have children ourselves,” I said, playing on the heartstrings a little. “So this is our way of giving back.”

  “Yes, Alexander is infertile,” Kseniya added without missing a beat, her tone taking on a confiding note.

  “Careful,” I whispered against her ear, causing her to shiver. To the others, I merely smiled and waved off the comment with a casual “We all have our imperfections.”

  “And some of us have more than others,” my little slayer quipped.

  My grip around her turned bruising, silencing her.

  “Well, I hope you all enjoy tonight’s event,” I said, taking a step backward and forcing Kseniya to come with me. “Remember, cameras are only allowed until nine. Then I ask that you take your seats and enjoy the auction with everyone else.”

  I spun us around before they could ask anything further, shifted Kseniya to my side, and led her toward the main dance floor. She tried to grab her bag from the table as we moved by it, but I stepped her just out of reach of the item and continued guiding her toward my desired destination.

  “It’ll be there when we get back,” I told her.

  “Assuming no one takes it,” she retorted.

  “We’re in a room full of New York City’s elite. I doubt any of them want to steal your stake.”

  “Maybe, but if they do, they’ll have questions.”

  “Yes, regarding your sanity,” I replied. “To which I’ll inform them that it’s among your many imperfections. And it would be true, considering you just pissed off an ancient vampire who already wants to kill you.” Quiet words. True words.

  “You don’t appreciate me talking about your erectile dysfunction?” She raised her voice, ensuring several around us overheard her.

  I released a growl of warning from my throat. “Do you require a demonstration of how well I can fuck you, darling? Because I’ll happily take you into the other room to remind you of my skill set.”

  A pretty blush shaded her cheeks as a group of patrons turned to gape at us.

  I really had no choice but to follow up on my threat now. Elite society was riddled with kinky shit. They’d get off on me dragging my errant little brat out of the room to teach her a lesson.

  And those who were scandalized by it would just provide more gossip for Kseniya’s boss to hear through the media channels later.

  It was a win-win scenario either way.

  I flashed a conspiratorial grin at a few males as I passed. “If you’ll excuse us for a bit. We’ll be back for the auction.”

  “Like hell we will,” Kseniya seethed under her breath.

  “Keep talking like that and I’ll spank you harder, pet.”

  “You can try,” she shot back as I pulled her into a side room that was off-limits to the guests of the party.

  Kseniya didn’t waste a second, her body springing into fight mode as soon as the door shut behind us. Her fist came for my face.

  I blocked her with ease, my suit much more flexible than the silky little dress she wore. She tried to kick me, only to nearly fall on her ass as a result of her heels. If she wasn’t careful, she’d sprain her ankle, and without her precious little amulet, she’d end up healing like a normal human.

  When I told her that, she froze.

  I used the distraction to back her into the door, one of my palms on her hip, the other against the wood beside her head.

  She lifted her knee toward my groin, and I blocked it with my thigh, then shifted my hand from her hip to her throat, squeezing. “Stop.”

  “Fuck you,” she seethed.

  “Is that an offer, baby?” I asked, tightening my grasp even more.

  Her nails went to my grip, digging in. But a little blood didn’t bother me, so I allowed her the small victory while I cut off her airway.

  “I told you to behave, and you disobeyed me. Now I have to teach you a lesson.”

  She spat at me in response.

  Releasing the door, I grabbed the ornamental handkerchief from my front pocket and dabbed it at my face while holding her throat steady in my opposite palm.

  Her eyes began to water, her face losing its color.

  “It’d be so easy,” I said softly, my hips aligning with hers to hold her against the door. “You’re so fragile in this state. So breakable. So human.”

  She lashed out with her fingers, searching my jacket in a quick move that almost impressed me. But I was too entertained by the shock in her features to feel much else.

  “Did you think I’d leave your amulet in a place you’d easily find?” I asked her, tsking. “You know me better than that, little killer.”

  A new emotion blossomed in her violet gaze, one that caused her pulse to sing to my vampiric senses. I inhaled the aroma, enthralled by the delectable taste of her fresh, alluring fear.

  “Mmm,” I hummed, bending to skim my nose across her pale cheek. “You have no idea how I’ve longed for this moment. The fantasies of killing you were all that got me through my decades of torment.”

  Which was why I couldn’t allow it to end now.

  Kseniya didn’t deserve quick. Nor did I desire for it to be over in an instant. I needed time to destroy her completely.

  My grip loosened just enough to allow her to inhale, and I smiled as she grimaced with her first, painful breath.

  “Does it burn, baby?” I asked her, kissing her temple and pressing my lips to her ear. “Try to swallow. I want to feel you flinch against my palm.”

  She didn’t disappoint, her heart hammering in a chaotic rhythm that caused my fangs to ache for a taste of her.

  Fuck, I’d missed her.

  Her nails dug into my shoulder as she tried to shove me away. I held her with ease, my strength superior to hers. Even as a Romanov slayer, I could overpower her. Especially like this, with her dressed in a fancy gown and stilettos. That wasn’t how she trained. And she always relied heavily on her amulet to survive.

  “I hate you,” she rasped, her anger an aphrodisiac that drew a possessive growl from my throat.

  “Likewise,” I promised her. “But I also want you.” I pressed my mouth to hers, unleashing a century of pain and longing and fury into a kiss meant to make us bleed.

  Her gasp went straight to my cock. Her responding bite tightened my stomach. And the sweet metallic scent of our blending essences had my heart mimicking hers in both speed and ferocity.

  She made me feel alive in a way I hadn’t experienced in far too long, her body igniting a fire inside my soul that left me feeling humbled and weak. Only then her tongue touched mine, not
in punishment but in exploration, and I lost myself in the tender hint of the past.

  Our bodies had been created for one another. Her addictive curves to my hardness. Her strength to my dominance. Her defiance to my supremacy.

  I released her neck, my fingers threading through her hair, destroying her updo. She clawed her way up my chest, her hands settling on my shoulders once more.

  Just for a moment, we lost ourselves to a history neither of us could ever escape.

  The demon inside me roared in victory.

  My mind rebelled.

  My body reveled.

  My spirit fractured.

  I wanted to kill her. Fuck her. Demolish her. Keep her.

  “Stop,” she snapped. But just as soon as the word left her lips, she recaptured my mouth and demanded more.

  I gave in.

  I always gave in.

  She was the ice to my fire, the light to my dark, the stars to my night.

  Why? I wondered. Why does it still feel so damn good?

  As though she heard me, she moaned, long and sultry and so damn hot. Only to end the sound with her knee kicking upward toward my balls. I caught her just in time, moving to block her and shoving her up against the door again with so much force that the frame rattled. She gasped this time in pain, and I delighted in it.

  Her lips were red, swollen, used. Blood seeped from a laceration caused by my fang, and I leaned forward to lick it from her mouth. I growled in approval, the beast inside me hungry for more.

  Not yet.

  I wanted to savor this.

  “I’m going to break you, Kseniya.”

  “You can try.” The delicious rasp of her voice made me smile.

  “I’ll succeed.”

  Her fiery purple eyes narrowed. “Give me back my amulet.”

  I chuckled and shook my head. “Not yet. Meet me tomorrow at noon and I’ll consider it.”

  A muscle ticked in her jaw. “Give me back my amulet and I’ll consider meeting you.”

  “That’s not how this game works, little killer,” I told her softly, leaning in to lick more blood from the wound that wasn’t healing on her lips. “You want your precious immortality back, then you’ll play by my rules.”