Eternal Hearts

by Jennifer Turner

  “Nah, I doubt she’s gonna rob the place. She’s too tense.”

  “How do you know that?” Odin asked.

  He motioned towards their would-be robber. “She doesn’t have anything to break the glass with. If you’re gonna hit a building in downtown Chicago, you need tools. She’s also standing in one place and her head’s not moving. She’s not looking around to see if anyone’s watching, she’s just standing there, like she’s been there before or is waiting for something. Plus, any thief worth her blood doesn’t stand in front of the building she’s about to rip so everyone and their mother can get a good look at her. The point of the job is to get what you came for and get out, not end up on the morning news.”

  “Worth her blood?” Odin asked with a sneer.

  Drake rolled his eyes. “She’s a vampire, you blind bastard.”

  Odin gasped. “She is not.”

  “Yes she is.” He pointed down at her. “Her shoulders rise and fall the way they should when someone breathes, but there’s no steam rising above her head at regular intervals. That tells me she’s the same temperature as the air around her. And if that ain’t enough to convince you, she’s standing outside, in Chicago, in the middle of February, while there’s snow everywhere, and all she’s wearing is a t-shirt, jeans and some boots. Normal people wear coats when they go outside in the winter.”

  Odin knocked on his chest plate. “I’m not wearing a coat.”

  Drake turned and cast a glance over the expanse of the roof before he focused back on his crazy friend. “You’re an Ancient vampire, Odin. You don’t count as normal people.”

  His mouth gaped open. “What? What? The hell you say!” He cackled for a few seconds then stopped rather abruptly. “You can really see all those little details from this far up?”

  “Hell yes I can. Can’t you?”

  He cracked a cheesy grin. “Of course I can, I just didn’t realize you could.” He rubbed his hands together and bowed his head. “Most impressive, Young-But-Mighty-Grasshopper.”

  Drake flipped him the bird. “I should push you off the damn ledge.”

  “Go ahead.” He flapped his arms. “I can fly. Wanna see my wings?”

  Drake reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. He really needed to find more mature friends. He opened his mouth to express that exact thought but stopped when the door to the roof creaked open behind him.

  “You better be up here already,” grumbled an irritated voice.

  Drake turned around just in time to see the hem of Jake’s dark blue overcoat get stuck as a blast of cold wind slammed the door closed. He tried not to laugh as the Folder Gopher was yanked backwards, lost his balance, and then nearly dropped the dozen or so manila folders clutched tightly in his hand.

  “Serves you right,” Odin laughed. “Talk some more trash like that and see what blows off the roof next.” He shifted his gaze to Drake. “You think Folder Gophers can fly? I’m guessin’ not. I’m guessin’ they sink like lead balloon animals.”

  Jake tugged his coat free from the door then shot Odin a nasty glare. “Do that shit with the wind one more time and it’ll be your picture in the next folder I deliver to Drake.”

  Odin completely ignored Jake’s threat and continued to stare at Drake. “Feel free to do your business. I’m just gonna sit here and watch the dead chick.”

  Drake smiled when Jake’s angry glare landed on him. “Wow. You actually made it here early. Are you feeling okay?”

  Jake flipped through the small stack of folders then pulled out one near the bottom. “Am I feeling okay?” He shook the folder in Drake’s general direction, a wild look in his eyes. “I’ve been delivering contracts for the last five hours straight because it would appear everyone in the free world suddenly wants some undead slut of the night or hairy shapeshifter dead. So, no! I’m not feeling okay.”

  Odin snorted behind Drake, so loud, he was sure the people in the next state heard it. “Undead slut of the night. That’s awesome. I’m so gonna use that the next time I see his mom.”

  Jake let out a sigh as a look of complete resignation washed over his face. “Are we gonna start with the mom jokes again? Because, seriously, like I told you the last time, my mom’s dead. She’s been dead for over three hundred years. You need to get some new material.”

  Drake snapped his fingers then pointed at the folder he could only assume belonged to him. If he let the two of them go on any longer, he might never get off of the roof. “How ‘bout you just tell me about my mark?”

  Jake’s nostrils flared. “How ‘bout you tell your boyfriend over there to keep his mouth shut?”

  When Odin opened his mouth, Drake raised a hand and made a sharp motion for him to stop. “No. Both of you need to knock it off.” He turned and pointed at Odin. “You, keep your comments to yourself and watch the dead girl.” He faced Jake again. “You, ignore the cranky vampire and tell me about the contract. The quicker you explain the details of the job, the sooner whoever it is dies, which means I can finally go home and sleep. So please, just do me a favor and open the damn folder.”

  Jake flipped the folder around in his hand then flashed his signature shit-eating grin. “I hate to break it to you, but this little baby isn’t a kill contract, Drake.” If it was possible, the kid’s smile stretched even wider. “It’s an order for protection.”

  And that would be why. Drake couldn’t do anything but stare at Jake while Odin burst out laughing. He’d fulfilled countless contracts over the years, but there was nothing he despised more than protecting someone who didn’t deserve it. And based on his experience, anyone who actually paid for protection…usually didn’t.

  He stood silent for a long moment before he shook his head. Maybe now was the perfect time to test out Odin’s advice. “No. Tell the Boss to get somebody else. I’m not interested.”

  Jake immediately started laughing. “You’re trying to refuse?” He looked over at Odin. “He’s trying to refuse.” He waved the folder towards his face like a fan. “Oh, this is great. Try to listen to me, okay? You can’t refuse. You’re not allowed.”

  Drake stared hard at him. “I hear you loud and clear, I just don’t give a damn this time. I’m not spending the next week or God knows how long taking bullets for someone who screwed up so bad they have to buy a shield. Tell them to phone a friend.”

  “First of all,” Jake said as he opened the folder and scanned the first page, “she didn’t pay for protection. This order originated from the Boss, himself. Second, you’re only being assigned to her because he wants someone familiar with Chicago. If you didn’t live here, you probably wouldn’t get it. So do us both a favor and don’t take it personally.”

  “She?” Drake ground his teeth together when Jake smiled in response. “Tell me that bastard doesn’t want me playing bodyguard to a blood-guzzling female. He knows damn well how I feel about them.”

  “Considering she’s only been a vampire for about four years, you could probably treat it like you’re protecting a human.” He shifted between his feet when Drake kept staring at him. “What? She’s only 22 years old, total. It’s not like she’s old enough to be some manipulative seductress. She’s just a kid.”

  Drake cast a glance to Odin. “Are you hearing this shit?”

  He nodded. “This is why I like my Evil Dictator better than yours.”

  Drake couldn’t stop one corner of his mouth from rising. Odin’s Sire, Lord Stefan Nelek, was a hell of a lot more than an evil dictator. The man was a veritable Blood God. But on the bright side, he didn’t offer protection to any but his own. “Think he’d be open to adoption?”

  Odin flashed a crooked smile. “The grass is always greener, huh?”

  Drake glared at Jake again. “Right now it is.”

  Jake rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Even if you get adopted by Lord Nelek tomorrow, the Boss ain’t letting you out of this one. Now, do you want the details or not? I don’t have all night to stand here and chat. Unlike some people up here right n
ow, I actually have important business to do.”

  Drake sucked in a deep breath then slowly blew it out. Whether he liked it or not, the chances of him getting out of the new contract were slim to none. And the chances of him getting to sleep anytime soon…were even smaller.

  He swallowed the last of his beer then tossed the bottle back into the box. “Make it quick. Stay point to point and keep the snide commentary to a minimum or I’ll let Odin flay you.”

  Jake’s eyes jumped back to scanning the pages. “Your new best friend was not only born here, but got fanged here about four years ago. Less than a year later she got exiled by Lord Locke.” He flipped the page over. “She got kicked out for a streak of violence that started in the club district and ended across the street, at The Rivers Building. I don’t know exactly what happened or why, just that multiple shots were fired and six human security guards were dead when it was over. Not to mention, she almost killed another vampire during the fight.”

  Drake groaned. Could his night possibly get any worse? “So let me get this straight. Not only am I being charged with the safety of an immortal Gun Bunny, but one who couldn’t even follow the rules for a full year. Did I lose a bet?”

  “Sounds like it,” Odin chimed in.

  Drake rubbed a hand down his face. There had to be someone else they could tap for this job. “Where the hell is her Sire?”

  “Dead,” Jake said rather flatly. “She’s a child of Alexander.”

  “As in the former Head of Enforcement, Alexander?”

  He nodded. “The same guy who died two years ago. Where he was back when she busted out the guns, I don’t know. But what I do know is that she’s been in contact with 8-Ball and Brick for the last two weeks, working out plans to come back. And since Brick has Alexander’s old position, he should be able to get Locke’s approval. Now, he might not be able to secure it right away, but it shouldn’t take more than a night.”

  Drake massaged small circles over his temples. There had to be more to the situation. His contracts were never that easy. “What else?”

  “She’s supposed to be meeting Brick at The Rivers Building at two,” he said as he jumbled the folders and looked down at his expensive gold watch, “which gives you about an hour to prepare. We’ve already arranged for a situation that should force Brick to leave her with you, so all you need to do is react accordingly and keep her alive until she gets an official acceptance meeting with Lord Locke. Once she gets—”

  “Don’t bother,” Drake interrupted as he recalled the woman standing on the sidewalk. “She’s already here.”

  Jake’s eyes went wide. “What? Where?”

  Drake stuck his arm out over the ledge and pointed down at the street. “Call it a hunch, but something tells me that’s probably her.”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s gotta be her,” Odin mumbled between more bites of pizza. “8-Ball’s walking up to her now. She’s turning around. Now she’s staring at his shiny bald head. And, OH! He shoots, he scores! They’re hugging. I think he likes her.”

  Drake frowned as he turned and looked down at the sidewalk. Sure enough, the dead girl had her arms wrapped around 8-Ball’s neck. “When the hell did Baller get here?”

  “While you were listening to Jake drone on and on and on about nothing.”

  Jake rushed over to the edge of the roof and squinted until his eyes were nothing more than thin slits. “Shit! I can’t tell if that’s her or not. They both look like ants from up here.” He fumbled with the folder for a second then thrust a picture into Drake’s chest. “Here, look at this and tell me if it’s her.”

  Before Drake even had a chance to look at the photo, Odin snatched it from his hand. He gave it a quick once over then narrowed his eyes on the street again. “Sí. Esa es la chica muerta.” After throwing the picture back at Jake, he raised both hands in the air and snapped his fingers in rapid succession. “Ella es muy caliente!”

  Apparently a student of Spanish, Jake whirled around to face Drake. “Okay, okay. Obviously she’s a little early, but that’s okay. Brick’s not here yet. So, yeah. Uh, all you need to do is go down there when Brick gets here and play nice. When he gets called away, offer to stay with her and keep with her until she meets with Lord Locke. It’ll be a piece of cake.”

  Drake folded his arms over his chest. “A piece of cake?”

  “Yeah, yeah.” He reached out and patted Drake’s forearm. “Easy as pie.”

  Drake inclined his head towards the street. “That girl down there doesn’t know me from Adam. You act like I’m supposed to just walk up to her and instantly become her best friend.” He did his best to remain calm as the absurdity of the situation fully kicked in. “Did you and the Boss forget I have a reputation when you decided to stick me on this? If that girl has even a shred of a survival instinct, she’s gonna know something’s up the minute she sees me.”

  “He does have a point,” Odin added. “Most Fledglings know him by description alone. I mean, they don’t know exactly what he is, but they most definitely know who he is. You should see what happens when he walks down the street in New York. It’s like they’re all little pigs and he’s the Big Bad Wolf about to blow their house down.”

  “Good God,” Jake groaned. “Would you two stop whining?” He took a few steps back. “I know you’ve been on back to back contracts for a while now, but think about what I just told you. She got kicked out of one of the most influential cities in the world, by a guy who’s better respected than even his Sire,” he said, motioning to Odin. “That kind of reputation, especially at her age, tends to stick with someone. I know all you fanged bitches like to think the sun doesn’t set until you wake up, but something tells me she’s probably been a little more worried about staying alive for the last few years than she’s been about keeping up on the who’s who of vampiric society. I’m willing to bet she won’t have the slightest clue as to who you are, let alone what you are. Now, if that stings your whiney, semi-undead ego, I apologize…but in this case, I gotta call it like I see it.”

  “I’m not whining,” Drake grumbled. “I’m just tired, and really not in the mood to make fake friends with some bitchy vamp who’ll probably try to bite me…and not in a good way.”

  Odin snickered as he picked up the last slice of pizza and sheared off half of it in one bite. “Something tells me if you call her a bitchy vamp to her face, she probably will bite you. And if she’s anything like my sisters, she’ll follow it up by breaking her foot off in your big ass.”

  Drake feigned a smile. “If she was one of your sisters, she wouldn’t need my protection. And if she was one of your sisters, she would’ve never started a gun battle in the middle of downtown that ended with her ass getting kicked out of Chicago!”

  Odin rubbed his ear against his shoulder. “You make a good point. Loud…but good.”

  “For the record,” Jake said as he held the picture out towards Drake again, “and just so there’s absolutely no confusion, she’s not a Nelek. She’s a Fledgling of the Warrior or Thug lineage, whichever term you prefer, and her name is Toni Tutoro.”

  Drake had no more than looked down at the photo when he felt the unmistakable power of Nelek telepathy slice through the air around them. He cast a quick glance to Odin just in time to see his entire body jerk before he coughed, sputtered, and tried not to choke on his last bite of pizza.

  It took a few seconds for him to recover, but Odin slammed a fist against his obsidian chest plate then forcefully cleared his throat. He stood up and pinned Jake with a menacing glare. “What’d you say?”

  Jake took another, much larger step backwards. “I said her name is Toni Tutoro. What the hell is your problem? Do you know her or something?”

  Odin frowned. “Nope. Don’t know her.” He snatched up the empty pizza box and folded it under his arm. “I gotta go.” He nodded at Drake as he picked up the half full case of beer. “Give me a call when this whole contract thing is over.” He’d barely finished the sentence when an icy bla
st of wind cut across the rooftop, taking Odin with it.

  Jake stared wide eyed at the space where Odin had been. “What the hell is his deal? Does he always disappear like that?”

  Drake slowly nodded. “His whole family does that shit.”

  “Do they usually leave all pissy and abrupt like that?”

  “Sometimes. It depends on what’s going on. I felt telepathy go off right before he choked. He probably got called home.”

  Jake didn’t look the least bit convinced. “I say her name and he disappears? Doesn’t that strike you as a little odd?”

  Drake shook his head. He knew better than to question the behavior of someone as old as Odin, and even more, someone who claimed the Nelek name as their own. “If his Sire calls, he goes. It doesn’t matter what he’s in the middle of doing. Sometimes he doesn’t even have control over it, which is why he doesn’t drive. Can you imagine him cruising down the Dan Ryan when it happens?”

  Jake screwed up his face. “I don’t even wanna think about that. Everything about him and his damn family is freaky. Who the hell wears armor in this day and age anyway? I mean, come on.” He shook out his hands as if some slimy substance suddenly coated his fingers. “Anyway, did you see the picture? She’s kinda cute.”

  Without Odin there to interrupt him, Drake finally took a moment to check out the photo. Although it wasn’t the best quality, he had to admit that, for once, Jake was right. The girl didn’t exactly qualify as gorgeous, but she was cute. Seated on one of the unmistakable orange couches at Grey’s Coffeehouse, she smiled softly at someone or something, appearing very young and almost as sweet.

  Then again, even more for vampires, looks could be deceiving.

  Drake handed the photo back to Jake. From what he’d seen of her so far, he would’ve never guessed her as the violent type. But if he had to be stuck with someone who might snap at any given moment and chew off one of his appendages, big brown eyes and a pretty face didn’t hurt. At least he’d have something to look at while his wounds healed.