by Lexi C. Foss
Fuck.
He wasn’t going to listen to me regardless, which left me no choice but to nod in acceptance. At least with my acquiescence, I could help prepare Alaric on what we were about to face. Maybe I could even convince him to bow out of the mission.
Yes, that was what I would do.
I’d scare him off.
Then handle Cassius myself.
8
Violet
My plan to dissuade Alaric went up in flames almost as soon as it started. He had no qualms about meeting a vampire from another universe.
“It’s about time fate gave me a decent challenge,” he’d said with a grin. Then he’d left my apartment with a skip in his step, eager to face my immortal god of an ex-lover. I’d warned him repeatedly not to act without me. I just hoped he listened to my advice.
Ugh. Today sucks.
I’d called Rowan to give her a quick rundown of my meeting with Jude as well. She’d been more concerned with Cassius being back than with Jude finding out about our history. Apparently, they’d engaged in a cryptic conversation while I was pampering for my event, one that had indicated to her that he knew more than he’d let on.
Well, now he knew everything.
Except for the part about my intimate history with Cassius.
It’d been hinted at enough for Jude to connect the dots. He didn’t need to know more because it wouldn’t matter after today.
Cassius would be dead.
I’d have my amulet back.
All would be sane in the world once more.
Except, as Rowan had pointed out, I needed to know more about how Cassius had traversed the realms. On the one hand, it implied we might have a way to finally go home. On the other hand, it suggested more vampires might be coming for us.
Neither of us was sure how to interpret it, and there hadn’t been enough time for us to do a deep dive. By the time Rowan had finished freaking out about Cassius and what it meant for me, Alaric was knocking at my door. Which was why I hadn’t told her about my amulet, either. As I intended to retrieve it today, it wasn’t a big deal.
“All right, Luci,” I said, looking at the fluffy tangle of fur on the couch. “Time to go.”
Her brown eyes peered up at me like I’d lost my mind.
“What? You don’t want to help me slay today?” I asked her.
She yawned in response and closed her eyes.
I arched a brow. “But you like vampire bones.”
No response.
Not even a twitch.
“I see.” Hades must have exhausted her with their overnight playdate. “Then I’ll just go out and handle Cassius myself.”
Well, with Alaric’s assistance.
He was supposed to arrive ten minutes before me. Knowing him, he was already there.
With a sigh, I left my preferred companion behind to nap on the couch and took off toward the address Cassius had given me. I was nearly there when my phone rang, Alaric’s number flashing on the screen.
Frowning, I answered. “Don’t tell me you already killed him.”
“Not quite,” he replied. “Where are you?”
“About a block away.”
“Good. Because we have a problem.”
“What kind of problem?” I asked, picking up my pace.
“A dead-body kind of problem,” he muttered, hanging up before I could ask for details.
I blinked at the screen, then slid my phone into my pocket and took off at a jog down the street toward the deli. Alaric met me at the door, his eyebrows pinched. “The place was dark when I arrived because it’s not open on the weekends.”
I glanced at the dark windows, noting the lack of people. “So you broke in?”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I could, uh, smell the corpse. Well, corpses.”
My nose twitched as I inhaled. “You could smell it?”
He nodded, stepping out of the way to let me inside. “Try not to touch anything. Jordan is on his way, and you know how particular he can be.”
I didn’t move. “What do you mean, you could smell it?”
“You want to debate nuances of how I sensed death lurked here? Really?” He arched a brow. “Don’t you think it’s a little more important to go in and see the gifts your vampire left for you?”
Well, he had a point there. But Jude’s words from earlier about me overlooking details had me evaluating Alaric in a new light. Who smells corpses? I supposed if the odor was strong enough, it would have wafted into the street. And knowing what I did about New York City, not many humans would take notice of it. Or care, for that matter.
“Did you have to disable an alarm?” I wondered out loud as I stepped over the threshold into the small deli.
“Yeah. I did that before breaking the lock.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “And you broke the lock, how?”
He huffed a laugh. “Come on, Vi. It’s me.”
True. He had a gadget for pretty much everything.
“Any other trivial questions you want to ask before we focus on what really matters here?” he asked, arching a brow again.
“Jude says I don’t pay enough attention to you,” I said, looking over his tight T-shirt and jeans. “I’m trying to figure out what he meant.”
“That you should fuck me, probably.”
I grunted. “Pretty sure that’s not it.”
“Pretty sure you’d enjoy it, though,” he tossed back.
“Oh, we both know I would.” I smiled at him. “Just as we both know it’ll never happen.”
“No mixing business with pleasure,” he drawled.
“Precisamente, amor.”
He rolled his eyes. “Stop fucking around and get to work.”
“Yes, sir.” I mock-bowed, then concentrated on the crime scene. Or as Alaric had called it, the “gifts” Cassius had left for me.
All the humor provoked by my conversation with Alaric died upon seeing the remains of three bodies tossed haphazardly into a corner.
A chill swept through me.
So wrong.
So harsh.
So… messy?
There was blood everywhere, painting the walls, the counter, and the floor. I took it all in with a frown, my mind trying to process the brutality before me.
“This doesn’t make any sense.” Cassius would never be so clumsy with a kill, let alone allow so much of the life essence to go to waste.
“Does death ever make sense?” Alaric countered.
“No, I mean the scene. This isn’t Cassius.” I was certain of it.
Alaric moved to stand beside me, his expression incredulous. “How does he usually kill, then?”
“Not like this,” I said, gesturing to the mess of tangled limbs and remains. “He would never waste all this blood, and he wouldn’t leave the bodies in such a careless position either. Actually, none of this feels like him. It’s too… loud. Like the predator is trying to make a statement.”
While I knew Cassius had a lot to say, this wasn’t it. What did he have to gain by leaving a bunch of dead humans for me to find? He wanted me dead. To destroy me. Slaying mortals wouldn’t accomplish that.
“This isn’t him,” I said again. “But he clearly knew this would be here.” I went to my haunches to evaluate the massacre without touching it, careful not to touch the blood splatter with my shoes. “Which means he knows who we’re hunting. This is his way of giving us a clue.” Suggesting that something about this scene would lead us to the next set of hints. “He loves to play games.”
We used to indulge in them all the time. He’d leave me little puzzles to solve that usually concluded with me finding him waiting for me at the end. My heart gave a pang at the memory and the cruel way he took advantage of it now.
“He wants me to suffer,” I whispered, more to myself than to Alaric.
Cassius desired to throw our past in my face.
To burn me in the worst way.
To confirm that everything between u
s had always been a lie, one he’d used to manipulate me countless times.
I’d never meant anything to him.
I knew that, but to have it thrown so harshly in my face gave me momentary pause, darkening my soul that much more.
“So you two have history,” Alaric surmised. “You failed to mention that during the briefing.”
“Because it’s irrelevant.” A complete lie. But I hadn’t expected Cassius to create a new game. That’d been an intimate thing between us, a way to test my slayer skills with a treat waiting for me at the finish line.
I supposed Cassius’s death could be considered a treat.
Because that was what he would be when I found him again—dead.
“Seems pretty fucking relevant to me,” Alaric retorted. “So what clue has he left for us? What game are we playing? And if he wasn’t the one who killed all these humans, who was?”
“I think that’s what he wants us to find out. Cassius knows who’s creating the mess, and dangling the carrots for us to follow. He probably even ensured the papers found out about Valaria Crimson’s death, too.” Maybe he’d even orchestrated her to be a victim. At this point, anything was possible. But I knew one thing for sure. “He’s not the one killing these humans. He just knows who it is.”
He could be motivating the vampire as well. Except, that didn’t feel right either. Cassius was all for keeping his existence a secret. At least in his realm. Did he care less about this realm because he didn’t intend to stay?
Did that mean he knew how to get back?
I stood again, more determined than ever to locate the clue he’d left. The faster we solved the puzzle, the quicker I found him.
Alaric said something, but I ignored him, searching, my mind whirring with ideas.
Memories echoed in my thoughts, all tainted by the night Cassius had tried to kill me. Blood seeped through my mind. Fire. Darkness.
The positioning of the bodies was too tangled to mean anything. The bite marks were all in different locations, as though the fiend had lost himself to the gluttony of mortal conquests.
No pattern.
No logic.
Just sinful indulgence.
There had to be something here for me to find, some sort of hint. Yet the more I looked, the less it all made sense.
Had I lost sight of my skills over the last century? Grown complacent in this new world of easy kills? Or had Cassius just become that good at crafting his puzzles?
I shook my head, lost. “I don’t see anything other than a messy kill.” Was there a note outside? An arrow? A misplaced stone? Ignoring Alaric once more, I wandered through the door, peering up and down the sidewalk, wondering if Cassius stood someplace nearby watching me fail. Was he laughing even now? Amused by my ineptitude?
A growl worked its way up my throat, frustration visceral and harsh against my senses.
Why bother indulging me in a game if he didn’t want to make it playable?
Or had that been the point? To deliver me an endless riddle of nonsense to try and fail to solve?
Maybe this wasn’t a game at all, but a way to make me suffer even more. Because Cassius knew how I felt about the notion of failure.
I never failed.
“What about this?” Alaric said suddenly, his deep baritone yanking me from my thoughts and forcing me to look at him. To see him. He held out a white business card with his gloved hands, causing my brow to furrow.
The E.V.I.E. investigative unit had arrived during my perusal, and I’d been completely oblivious to them. Alaric must have gotten the gloves from them.
Rather than ask for my own, I leaned forward to read the inscription across the pale card stock. “Blood Thirteen,” I read out loud. Beneath it was tomorrow’s date and an evening hour. “What’s Blood Thirteen?”
“A new nightclub over in Brooklyn,” one of the techs replied from inside the deli, an infrared lamp in his hand. “It’s invite only at the moment, but it’s trending as the hot new thing.”
Hot new thing, I thought with a snort, walking back through the threshold. Alaric followed, shutting the door behind us to keep the public from seeing the crime scene.
“Where’d you find the card?” I asked Alaric.
“Inside that one’s pocket.” He gestured to the blond guy on top of the pile. “I was looking for an ID and found this instead.”
Of course it was that simple.
Come on, Kseniya. You’re better than this, I chastised myself. Emotions were obviously messing with my ability to think clearly. Perhaps coupled with the rough night of sleep I’d endured as a result of Cassius’s unexpected arrival.
My whole world had gone to hell in a handbasket in the blink of an eye.
All because of an immortal god of a man who had somehow found his way back into my life.
The shock had unnerved me, and that kiss last night had rendered me stupid.
Why had I even allowed him to touch me?
Oh, but I hadn’t allowed a damn thing. He’d bested me, just like he always did.
“Did you find anything else?” I asked, forcing my mind to shut the hell up so I could pay attention to the situation at hand.
“Not yet.” Alaric set the card in an evidence bag and continued working through the scene with the techs. I followed along and started to feel a bit more like myself toward the end of our analysis.
Until I remembered the clue and the man who had likely left it for us to follow.
“So it sounds like you and I have another date tomorrow. Assuming this is an invite?” Alaric stripped off his gloves. “Shall I pick you up around eight and see if they’ll let us in?”
I wanted to tell him no, to say I’d handle it alone. But after my show today, it was astoundingly apparent that I couldn’t deal with this on my own. My heart was too involved and clouding my ability to see properly.
Fucking Cassius.
“Tomorrow at eight,” I managed to say, my throat thick with some convoluted mixture of anger and sadness.
Why? Why did he have to be here now? Why did he have to come for me?
“Wear something hot,” Alaric murmured. “Maybe it’ll distract your admirer.”
I snorted at that. “Trust me, he’s not an admirer.”
“Well, it’s certainly something, Vi. To go through all this effort for a game, as you called it, suggests quite an infatuation.”
“We have history,” I muttered. “Dark history.” Understatement of the century, but I didn’t want to go into it. “I’ll see you tomorrow at eight.” I started toward the door, then paused to look at him. “Let me know when they declare the official time of death.”
We’d briefly discussed it during the initial review of the scene with the techs, but we only knew enough to say the bodies had been there for at least twelve hours. The information implied that Cassius could have been the murderer. However, I suspected the report would confirm that the deaths occurred during the fundraiser, likely at the exact time Cassius had been seen talking to me.
It would be just like Cassius to have a firm alibi, thereby supporting my theory of his presumed innocence. But I wanted to be sure.
A century was a long time. Perhaps his methods had changed. Although, given the fact that he was almost two thousand years old, I doubted a hundred years would do much.
Alaric promised to keep me informed, and I headed back to my single-bedroom condo. It was one I’d owned for about a decade now, mostly used for stopover missions such as this one.
Unfortunately, that meant I didn’t have much food in the fridge. I only kept the place stocked with coffee and some other essentials. And considering how lethargic I felt climbing the three flights of stairs to my place, I really needed more than some peanuts and a caffeine boost. I’d just grab Luci and portal…
“Ugh,” I grumbled to myself. I couldn’t even do that because Cassius had my amulet. Damn it!
Stomping the rest of the way to my flat, I put the key in the door and found it already unloc
ked. My brow furrowed. Had I forgotten to lock up before I left? I wasn’t exactly feeling like myself today, so maybe.
The door opened before I had a chance to consider my next move.
Cassius stood on the other side with a glass of red wine, his lips curled into a taunting grin. “Welcome home, darling. Long day?”
9
Cassius
Kseniya didn’t even blink, pulling a gun so fast I would have missed it had I not been looking forward to the reaction.
I caught the barrel with my free hand, yanking it from her and tucking it into my belt before grabbing hold of her neck and dragging her inside. Her curse came out as a whoosh of air as I slammed her up against the wall beside the entry. I used my heel to quickly shut the door, closing us inside.
Her nails dug into my exposed forearm, her knee flying upward in the direction of my groin. I blocked her with my thigh, then pinned her legs with mine against the wall. She was welcome to draw as much blood as she wanted with those vicious claws. I had her by the throat. She’d pass out eventually.
I sipped my wine casually while I watched her face drain of color, then canted my head to the side. “You’ve gotten too comfortable, sweetheart,” I chastised her softly. “Without the amulet, you’re very breakable. Weak. You require regular food now, just like a normal human. And not only did you skip breakfast today, but you also failed to eat lunch.”
Her eyes widened, her lips parting on words that required access to air that she didn’t possess.
I watched for a moment, enjoying her defenseless position and the art of death creeping up on her senses. “So beautiful,” I whispered, infatuated with this look on her.
Alas, it was much too soon. We had so much fun to engage in with one another before I allowed her life to end.
Just as her eyes began to flutter, I released her, then smiled at the wheeze of her inhale. “Try to shoot me again and I’ll knock you out.”
Leaving her to recover in the foyer, I returned to the kitchen to continue my meal preparations. The fridge had lacked proper ingredients, so I’d taken it upon myself to have several delivered. Including a raw steak for the black wolflike creature in the living room.
