Nodding her head slightly, the feeling of nausea having passed. “My Madre’s cutlery is that damn old it makes me feel like I’m going to hurl every time I use it. I tend to use plastic spoons, but since I have a guest….”
Alicia winked playfully at Xavier as she grabbed her own cup of tea and sat in the chair opposite him, sitting on her left leg as the right one swung slowly she took a sip of her tea. Things had changed between them in the last hours, she was finally respecting Commander Raige and for some absurd reason she knew this male would do anything to protect her.
Xavier’s stomach rumbled loudly, and as he grinned over to Alicia he shrugged.
“What can I say — a male has needs, yeah? I’ve built up quite an appetite, Sweetcheeks. Why don’t you show off your culinary skills for me? It’s some fucking kitchen you’ve got here.”
Alicia’s third sip of earl grey then landed all over Xavier’s face in a spray.
“Cook? Oh my fucking gods Xav you are hilarious! I can’t cook!”
Chapter Fifty Nine
Shuggie woke from his death sleep just as the sun was setting outside. Grabbing a bag of blood on his way to the comms room, he realised that he was alone in the abandoned hotel. Xavier must have taken the youngling out for some fresh air, which meant he had some peace and quiet for a change.
Planting his ass on the chair, he started to play catch up on the surveillance cameras and emails from his foot soldiers during the day. Scrunching up the now empty blood bag and tossing it in the waste bin, Shuggie leaned forward staring at the monitors.
“Fuck.”
As his fingers deftly worked the zoom function of the cameras he replayed the images repeatedly.
“Fuck!”
Slamming his fist on the desk making everything jump. He stood up, kicking the chair behind him. Before he could think things through he had flashed out of the base, heading towards the Police headquarters in town. He had to get to the morgue. He had to see for himself, with his own eyes.
Shuggie masked himself from the view of the humans as they went about their business. It was a handy skill he had mastered down the Centuries, and enabled him to be undetected by mortal eyesight. Also, with him being vampire, he couldn’t be picked up on their electronic monitoring equipment either so it gave him the freedom to move around without being stopped or questioned. A skill that was particularly useful considering the line of work he was in.
The door to the morgue was already open, and he stood watching as the autopsy of the latest cadaver was starting. The Medical Examiner was talking to the detective as the technicians prepared the room and equipment. The body was covered by a white sheet, and the sterile environment of the autopsy room was harsh and unforgiving. There were no flowers, no messages of love or heartache here. Nothing to indicate that a human being lay under the sheet. Just a piece of meat on a butcher's slab, ready for dissection. He turned his attention to the conversation between the detective, who was called Jose, and the M.E. They were looking at a file filled with reports and photographs from the crime scene.
Before Shuggie had chance to move closer to get a better look, they both walked past him and towards the body. The technician pulled back the sheet, and Shuggie almost slumped against the wall behind him. He recognised her, even through the mangled mess of her face. He knew her from the lap dancing club owned by Belcastro. He had witnessed the terror of her as she danced for Belcastro and his gimps, but instead of helping her, he chose to keep to his mission.
He had made a mistake.
Looking at what had been done to her, she had paid dearly for his error. He had a chance to save her and he didn’t. What kind of monster did that make him? Was he starting to lose his moral and ethical compass now after all this time? He had heard that it was inevitable in vampires once they reached a certain point in their immortality, but he really thought it would never happen to him.
Detective Jose was in charge of investigating this and the murders of the other woman who had been found at the dockside. He was asking the M.E. if she thought this body could be part of that group too, as there was nothing to identify her, and she looked Eastern European. The M.E. nodded as she put the shield down over her face and spoke into the recording machine
“Female, white, approximately eighteen to twenty years of age, sixty kilos, and blonde hair. Eastern European features, blue eyes, manicured nails...” As the M.E. continued treading through the debris of this girl’s life, Shuggie was watching the detective. He looked to be in his late forties, heavy built but probably from years of playing amateur sports as opposed to years of doughnuts to thank for his size. He didn’t seem to be much of a talker. Rather, he looked like he had been worn down by life and circumstance, but Shuggie thought all in all he was one of the good guys, based on the way he was studying the file on the Jane Doe, a haunted, sorrowful look in his eyes.
When Jose put the file down to return to the autopsy table, Shuggie took his chance to look at it. The photographs of the crime scene would have made even the most hardened motherfucker sick to their stomach, and Shuggie wasn’t immune. The body had been found in a rundown apartment not far from the club. Neighbours had told the police they thought it had been used as a brothel, but weren’t stupid enough to give the Belcastro’s name in connection to it. That would be signing their own death warrant, and he couldn’t blame them for safeguarding their own families.
As Shuggie looked through the photographs, he seen the blood and entrails evident on the floor, walls, mirrors and the ceiling. The accompanying police report detailed how a neighbour had heard screaming, just prior to the lights in the whole building complex shorting out everything suddenly going eerily quiet.
It was the elderly neighbour that had found the body an hour later.
Shuggie looked up when he heard the list of injuries exacted onto the girl prior to death. The M.E. was speaking as though she were dictating the contents of her shopping list, but then again, she did this every day. It was just another murder to her, after all.
The victim had been mutilated — sliced tendons, in the ankles and wrists, left to bleed out. She suspected that she had been raped by multiple perpetrators, but her genitals had acid poured on them, so it wasn’t possible to get any DNA evidence. All major bones had been broken, including her neck and that along with the severe blood loss was the most likely cause of death.
‘Petra’, the name suddenly appearing in Shuggie’s mind - her name was Petra. He had heard one of the other girls call her that as she left the stage that night. She wasn’t a body. She had once been a vibrant, alive, beautiful human who had ended up in the hands of that sick bastard Belcastro. And all that was left of her was her ruined body, and the sickly sweet stench of death.
Shuggie flashed back to their base to wait for the Commander to return with the youngling, so that he could bring them up to speed with everything that had been happening. And for the first time in recent memory, he didn’t want to make a phone call to the Doc. He couldn’t bring himself to admit to her that he failed Petra that he could have saved her and had chosen not to.
It was a burden he would carry alone from now until eternity.
Chapter Sixty
Wiping the spit off his face, Xavier arched a brow and leaned closer to Alicia.
“If you wanted to swap saliva, there are better ways of going about it Sweetcheeks, yeah?”
Giving her a salacious grin before standing up and dragging her by the elbow towards the cooker. “And what the fuck do you mean you can’t cook? You have a first class kitchen that any Michelin Chef would give his right arm for. Are you trying to hustle me?” Trapping her small frame between himself and the cooker, Xavier leaned over and took a frying pan down from the butcher hooks that were installed above the units. “I want bacon, and eggs over…” whispering into her ear, “...easy,” as he stepped back to give her room to manoeuvre.
Alicia took the frying pan from Xavier’s hold and with a serious look on her face just stood and s
tared at the foreign object then proceeded to swing it like a tennis racket.
“Now is not the time for games Xav! I honestly can’t cook! I have a nice kitchen because that’s what the book on modern living showed.” Alicia started to twirl around as she threw the pan like she was about to serve at Wimbledon.
Unblinking, Xavier watched in astonishment as Alicia handled the frying pan as though it was an alien item.
He was no chauvinist, but damn, she really didn’t have the first clue about cooking at all!
“When you were human, did you never learn how to cook and feed yourself?”
Without giving her time to answer he grabbed the pan from her hold.
“Tell me you bought bacon and eggs when you went out for my clothes, Sweetcheeks?” Alicia bit her lip and nodded, before going to the fridge and coming back with the food. “At least you know what a fucking fridge is, yeah?” As she was about to return to the seats, he then gave her a surprised look. “You’re not going anywhere Sweetcheeks. You will be making my bacon and eggs. I’ll show you how.”
Putting the pan on the hob, and turning up the heat, Xavier spun Alicia around until she was back between him and the cooker. This time, he wasn’t giving her any wriggle room, he quite liked towering over her, especially when he was in control — which wasn’t very often with this female.
“You want the heat to rise, Sweetcheeks, then put the bacon onto the pan and listen for the sizzle.” Xavier hadn’t really considered the art of ‘food porn’ up until now, but it seemed that whenever he was in close proximity to Alicia, his mind hooked up with his cock and it brought out the sex-crazed beast in him. Alicia focused on the pan in front of her, she could feel Xavier’s breath tickling her neck as he gave her a cooking lesson but it was sending shivers down her spine and she was thankful at this time he was mortal…so that he couldn’t read her mind, and see just how much he was affecting her.
“You do know I was raised in the 1800s, soldier boy? We had a cook that prepared our meals, and if Alessandro and I were out I stole our dinner.” Alicia suddenly gave out a scream as the fat in the pan sparked and sizzled. “What the fuck is it doing?”
As Alicia jumped back, she pressed tight against Xavier’s hard body, which was hardening in all the right places.
“It’s cooking.” He stated the obvious as he held her hand and helped her turn the rashers. “I’m getting hungry,” he growled low as he passed her an egg, covering her other hand with his so that they were joined together over the hot plates. “To crack the egg, it’s all in the wrist action, Sweetcheeks.”
He was talking about the eggs, but thinking about something entirely different, and his hunger was quickly turning to lust.
Alicia was disgusted at the smell that was overpowering her senses that she subconsciously moved further back into Xavier, his hardening length was pressing into her lower back.
“This smells disgusting! How can you eat this?”
“When a male is hungry, he needs feed, Sweetcheeks…and to me you smell real good.” He quickly corrected himself, hoping that Alicia didn’t notice his Freudian slip. “It smells real good. Now, the eggs?”
Pulling back his hand, he waited for her to flick that delicate wrist and crack the egg against the side of the pan. “They make a perfect combination — salty meat and soft eggs that ooze sweet goodness from the core.” Xavier was glad he hadn’t asked for sausages as well, because right now his mind was South of his stomach as it was and he was more than happy to provide his own brand of breakfast in a bun, especially if Alicia kept rubbing back against him as she was doing.
“Do you get hungry a lot? I can’t remember being mortal.” Alicia was grinning as she moved the spatula around, wiggling her hips every time the fat sizzled and spat out in the pan. “Now what?”
“It seems that the more time I spend with you, the bigger my...appetite grows.” Just as Xavier was about to kick Alicia’s feet apart, and bend her over the hot stove, his cell rang.
“Fucking cockblocking Highlander,” he growled, distinctly annoyed as he simply handed a plate to Alicia, walking back to the table and answering the call. “You better be fucking dying, Scot, cos if you ain’t you will be, we clear?”
Shuggie pulled back and looked at his cell to double check he’d dialled the right number
“Who pissed in yer cornflakes, Commander? Look, Ah huvnae got the time tae explain, jist get back tae base asap.” The line went dead. “Aye, an ‘hi how the fuck are ye an all’, ye impatient fucking bastard!”
Looking apologetically at Alicia, he took the plate and sat down.
“We have to go back, Sweetcheeks.” But he wasn’t missing his breakfast that had been prepared by Alicia’s own fair hands, so whatever dire emergency it was this time, it could bloody well wait. Talking with his mouth full, he waved his fork at Alicia. “This is fucking good,” smiling as he cut into the eggs, watching the yolk burst. “Want to try some?”
“Oh gods no!” Alicia's hand flew to her mouth to stop her from gagging. “Hugh had urgency in his voice solider boy, let me go grab my bag that I packed, you finish my masterpiece and we can head back to your compound…yeah?”
Alicia darted from her kitchen, her laughter filling the air as she mimicked Xavier. Once she had had an internal battle with herself at the close proximity they had shared again in the kitchen, she casually walked back into the kitchen with her passenger bag over her shoulder. Seeing the confused look on Xavier’s face as he polished off his eggs and bacon.
“What? I steal my clothes, I travel light!”
“You are filthy rich, what the fuck do you need to steal for?” Giving Alicia a disapproving look, he rinsed his empty plate, then turned and took the bag from her. “Do I have to ask to hold your hand again?”
Smirking as Alicia grabbed his arm and flashed them back to the compound where a very anxious Shuggie awaited them.
Xavier jutted his jaw up when he saw Shuggie, then placed Alicia’s bag down on the floor.
Chapter Sixty One
Shuggie glared at Xavier, then glanced at Alicia, hoping that his Commander would dismiss the youngling to enable him to talk freely. It was obvious, however, that Xavier was going to do no such thing, and so he cut straight to the chase.
“Commander, ah huv been trailing the Belcastros as you ordered, but there’s shit ye need tae know.”
Taking a deep breath, Shuggie started to recount the story of Petra and the other girls to Xavier, culminating in witnessing the autopsy of Petra’s desecrated body. He looked haunted as he told Xavier and Alicia what Belcastro had said mockingly about the demise of Alicia’s family and when he had finished, there was an uneasy silence between the three of them, as they stood in the middle of the room.
“What the fuck? Oh fucking no he did not! He’s mine and I want him now!”
Alicia was furious as she stood beside Xavier, her hand was still resting in his forearm from flashing him home but after Shuggie’s news, she was unable to let go for the fear that she would slump to the ground.
Things had just got very real indeed.
“Fucking Nails!” Xavier looked down at his arm that was being shredded by the grip Alicia had on him, small rivulets of blood flowing down to his wrist. “Your nails are scoring into my damn flesh, female!” Although, secretly, he wouldn’t minded her leaving her mark on his back as he…no, he reminded himself…time and place and all that fucking crap. As he peeled Alicia’s fingers off of him, he turned his attention back to Shuggie.
“Alicia’s got a point, Shug. Snr Belcastro is hers by birth right. She has to avenge her family. And from what you’re saying, he’s upped his game. People trafficking? Murdering innocents? That’s some sick shit right there man. We can’t hold off on this any longer, we need to strike him tonight.”
Shuggie’s shoulders slumped a little, as though he was exhaling a long held breath. The weight of the guilt and remorse about not saving Petra was still buried deep within him, but the knowledge that
the coward Belcastro would be dealt with imminently went some way to ease his suffering.
“Ah huv the Unit on standby, Commander, ready fur yer instructions.” Shuggie turned his head to look at Alicia and saluted her. “I huv one request youngling. Make him fucking suffer.”
Xavier gave a warning glare to Shuggie.
“Fuck up, Shug, she’ll make it quick so that she’s not in any more fucking danger than needs be. Yeah, she can have the pleasure of being the one to kill the old cunt, but not at the expense of her own safety — do I make myself fucking clear?”
Glancing between Shuggie and Alicia, Xavier’s tone was authoritative and no-nonsense. Regardless of how he felt about the bastard, he would not have Alicia in peril. He and his wolf would not stand for that.
Alicia took a deep breath as she walked over to Shuggie, raising on her tip toes she placed a soft kiss to his cheek.
“I will do you proud, friend.”
Turning away from him, she looked over her shoulder to Xavier. “Tell me your orders Commander, then I’d like a moment to myself.”
Xavier stood with his arms bridged over his chest and for the next thirty minutes Alicia listened to how this was going to go down. Xavier and Shuggie would put wires on her so that they would be in constant contact. Shuggie had specially adapted mini camera’s that could pick up on vampires and these had been placed by Xavier’s foot soldiers around the mansion, so she would never be out of Xavier’s sights.
She would gain access to Snr Belcastro by posing as a potential new dancer for one of Belcastro’s clubs, as soon as she was alone with him — slice his throat, then get out before anyone knew what had happened.
Chapter Sixty Two
Alicia left Xavier and Shuggie and made her way to her room, where she retrieved the video camera of Xavier killing of Belcastro Jr. Editing out Xavier’s accidental selfies, she placed the small device into a shoulder handbag and with the eyeballs in a small box, and slipped into the attire of choice — a mini skirt, low cut blouse and high heels.
The Heist Page 20
