Severance (The infernal Guard Book 3)

by SGD Singh

He regarded Zaiden with cool indifference. “What are you supposed to be?”

  Lexi strode to within inches of the Vampire, and Zaiden struggled to stay focused as he noticed her wet shorts had become see-through.

  Her weapon was at the Vampire's throat in a flash of silver, and he grimaced. “Give me one good reason not to separate your blood-sucking head from your useless fucking body right now,” she hissed.

  The Vampire ignored the knife and studied his nails, which Zaiden saw were painted black with white rhinestones embedded in them. “Only after you give me one good reason The Infernal Guard is contaminating my country after four hundred years.”

  Lexi shoved him against the wall. “You nearly drowned us.”

  One perfect eyebrow rose beneath the Vampire's styled hair. “You didn't seem too upset about it.” He shrugged. “And we can fill this room with much worse than water if you don't explain what you're doing here, Jodha.”

  Zaiden could feel Lexi's temper about to explode into a fury of blurred steel and severed limbs, and he stepped forward. “I am Zaiden. This is Lexi.” He bowed. “We apologize for the intrusion. We saw no other way to find your establishment. We are here to meet with the Vampire in charge on private matters.”

  The Vampire's eyes traveled down Lexi's body slowly, and Zaiden felt his own temper flare.

  “Private matters, huh?” The Vampire took a step toward Lexi until they were almost touching and licked his lips. “Well, if it's private, I'm more than happy of be of assistance. I am Suho Chen.”

  Lexi was trying not to laugh, and once again, Zaiden didn't know why.

  “Of course you are,” she said out loud. He's got a K-Pop name, for fuck's sake. Didn't I tell you? This whole mission is ridiculous. I seriously wouldn't be surprised if he's an actual band member.

  She crossed her arms. “And let me guess. You're in charge.”

  The Vampire dipped his head forward, his entire demeanor flirtatious. Zaiden suspected it was a habit.

  “I should first explain that the Seers who sent us are nuts,” Lexi told him. “One of them in general and the other in particular. She thinks you'll join us and help form the first Vampire unit of The Infernal Guard.”

  The Vampire's mouth fell open as he apparently forgot to keep up the sexy act. When she said nothing, he turned to Zaiden, and the Vampire's voice was anything but flirtatious as he nearly screeched, “Are you guys serious?”

  Lexi and Zaiden both crossed their arms and looked at him in stoic silence, and it was the Vampire's turn to burst into laughter.

  “That at least explains why you were stupid enough to follow Gary onto the boat.”

  “Gary?” Lexi said. “That old guy's name is Gary? We don't want him joining, just so we're clear.”

  The Vampire flinched as if she'd slapped him. “That's how you want to play this? You insult my family, then expect me to work for you murderers?”

  “He's—old.”

  “He's younger than me,” the Vampire spat, looking suddenly dangerous, “and twice as smart. Anyway, you and your freakish boyfriend can… how does the saying go? Oh yeah, go fuck yourselves. Because my answer is—”

  Zaiden was pretty sure Suho Chen, Head Vampire Gangster of Thailand and possible Korean pop star, was about to tell them no, but before he could say it, the wall behind Zaiden was ripped apart and Tanvir stood there, his black cloak waving in the moonlight, a giant ax over one shoulder, and his baseball cap on sideways.

  “Stand down if you value your undead life, you scurvy bloodsucking dog!” he shouted.

  Zaiden and Suho Chen looked at Tanvir in stunned silence, but Lexi just grinned.

  Zaiden realized that she'd known her weapons could have opened up the wall at any point had their lives actually been in danger.

  The Vampire sighed. “Apparently, my security needs an overhaul.”

  “Call The Infernal Guard murderers one more time, and you'll wish you'd stayed in the filthy hell you used to call home,” Tanvir said as he sauntered into the small room. “And you'll wear that stolen tongue nailed to your Krasue-loving forehead, savvy?”

  He turned to Lexi and Zaiden. “This meeting is adjourned until further notice.”

  “What?” Lexi looked surprised. “No way. Suho here was just about to tell us how much he loves our offer.”

  “Sorry. Krasue infestation won't wait.” Tanvir spun to leave, but the Vampire stepped out, faster than Zaiden's eyes could follow, and blocked the Jodha.

  “What the fuck are you talking about? Krasue? There are no Krasue in my country. It's strictly forbidden to produce them. It has been for a very long time.”

  The door to the ship's hallway opened, and four more Vampires entered. They were all gorgeous, and each looked more furious than the last. One of them sneered, looking Tanvir up and down as if he smelled. “Krasue attract Infernal Guard attention.”

  “Well, that's what you've got, gentlemen,” Tanvir told them cheerfully. “Attention. 'Cause you have one hell of an infestation.”

  “Apparently, your security sucks all the way around,” Lexi told them, smiling brightly.

  The Vampires took a collective step toward her, and Lexi held up her hands. “Tell you what. We take down these Krasue together, and you listen to our terms for joining The Guard. Does that sound fair?”

  The Vampires simply glared, and Suho Chen said, “Or we take out the Krasue ourselves, and you crawl back to your little training camp, never to return.”

  “Or,” Lexi grinned, “we call in reinforcements and clean up this whole fucking country of Underworlders once and for all.”

  A Vampire with bleached hair snorted. “We haven't broken your laws. We don't kill.”

  “Yeah?” Lexi got in his face. “Then how are you surviving?”

  The Vampire bared his fangs at Lexi, but said nothing.

  “The fights,” Suho Chen answered finally, his voice like a whip. “We take blood from recovering fighters. We pay them handsomely. They feel nothing.”

  Lexi turned to him. “Then you should have no objection to The Guard confirming that.”

  The Vampire's expression hardened, but before he could answer Tanvir's phone rang.

  “We're on our way,” he barked into it. “The meeting is dragging on. Okay, copy.”

  He hung up and turned to the giant hole in the outside of the boat. “Garud is injured. Let's go. Apparently, he can't watch out for Krasue intestines trailing over his enormous muscles when there's more than five of the things…”

  “Wait,” Suho lunged forward again. “You're saying he took on more than five Krasue at once? And survived?”

  “What part of infestation did you not understand?” Tanvir shoved past him, and paused at the mouth of the hole, ready to shift. “Look, have your little fighting casino thing if that's what you want. But if you care about this place, you'll help us end this Krasue thing. Tonight.”

  The Vampires looked at each other in silent conversation, and after a few seconds, Tanvir snorted in disgust, hitting the side of the ship once, and Lexi and Zaiden moved to join him.

  “Okay,” Suho Chen called. “We'll do it. And after we clean up the Krasue problem, I'll consider your proposal.”

  “Deal,” Lexi said.

  “Which hospital?” he demanded and snapped his fingers at the others. Within seconds, the sound of a helicopter engine starting up filled the night. Zaiden could see the worry etched into Suho Chen's perfect features. So. Apparently Vampires were capable of compassion for non-Vampires, after all. Or at least they were concerned when trouble with non-Vampires would hurt their family business.

  Zaiden began to think Asha might be right. Once their loyalty was earned, Vampires would make a valuable contribution to The Guard.

  † † †

  Lexi shifted, following Tanvir. Instead of heading toward Bangkok, his crow inexplicably shifted and landed atop the nearest mountain of sheer rock and overgrown greenery.

  He looked down wistfully at the Vampire
ship, and Lexi patted his shoulder. “You would've made an awesome pirate, Tunny, no doubt.”

  He nodded at the ship. “Thanks, Hewitt. That means a lot.”

  Zaiden swooped to land next to them on outspread wings, magnificent in the moonlight, and Lexi felt the craving for his touch take her breath away and nearly left her knees buckling.

  “You two are done for tonight,” Tanvir announced, turning to them.

  “What? What about the Krasue infestation?” Lexi crossed her arms. “Also, I'm Commander on this mission, in case you forgot.”

  “Not anymore,” Tanvir slapped Zaiden on the back, this time avoiding his wings, which he paused to admire. “Silas said—”

  Lexi raised her hands to the sky. “Oh, for fuck's sake! Don't give me ‘Silas said.’”

  “Yep!” Tanvir grinned, adjusting his hat. “You two are dressed like exotic dancers in a hippie club anyway. The infestation won't wait for you to dilly-dally in wardrobe.” He waved, turning back toward the cliff's edge. “Besides.” He winked. “I'm sure the two of you can figure out how to spend the rest of the evening.”

  Lexi watched the crow as it faded into the night sky, speechless as she struggled to accept the fact that she was being left out of combat. She regretted not having killed at least one of the Vampires, just to make a point.

  Maybe not.

  Shit.

  Lexi kicked a loose rock and took her weapon out, twirling in once, then putting it away.

  Fucking Seers, man.

  “He's right, you know,” Zaiden said.

  Lexi spun to face him, her temper flaring. “Right about what, exactly? 'Cause I can fight wearing a fucking tu—”

  “I think we can figure out how to spend the rest of the night.”

  He smiled then, more beautiful than every sunrise in the history of creation, and Lexi's heart almost burst as Zaiden wrapped his arms around her. His touch was as relaxing as it was tantalizing, and Lexi felt all the pain and guilt and heartache of the past three years melt away, as it would have long ago if she had only listened to the boy with the largest heart she would ever know.

  “You're right,” she whispered as she ran her hand along Zaiden's smooth chest, delighting in the pleasure her touch left in its wake, and watched in fascination as his eyes turned to dark pools of desire.

  Twining the surfer bead necklace around her fingers, Lexi snapped it off Zaiden's neck with a twist.

  “The night. And the rest of our lives.”

  Acknowledgements

  What an amazing journey writing this trilogy has been. Having started daydreaming and obsessing over it back in 2013, I feel as if I'm saying goodbye to actual, real-life people, as if Asha, Lexi, Aquila, Zaiden, Jax, Kelakha, Ursala, and all the rest of them have magically turned into flesh and blood humans, friends I fell in love with and won't be able to visit anymore, now that the story is over.

  I'm finding out that leaving a fictional world is an emotional experience, and I can't help but look back on my seven-year-old self, wishing to someday become a writer, and think, ‘Look! We did it! We actually wrote a story people can hold, and smell, and read!’ And I know for a fact that I have CreateSpace Independent Publishing to thank the most for that dream becoming reality. It is truly the best time in human history to be a writer, we have NO more excuses, none. And that fact is all down to you guys at Amazon. Keep taking over the world. You guys rock.

  This trilogy was pure joy to write, and I wouldn't change a single thing about my publishing adventure, even the mistakes. But that journey would never have begun without the support of my husband, Sukhwinder Singh. You don't read fiction, you brag about having never read a single book, and yet you continue to allow your hard-earned dollars to be poured into producing my novels, simply because you know telling crazy stories makes me happy. And I am eternally grateful to you for that. Keep on being that righteous, roaring lion we all love so, so much.

  Staying enthusiastic about writing is easy, but creating a finished product was made so much sweeter with the support and help of beta readers, those angelically generous people willing to take time out of their current reads and TBRs to focus on an unfinished manuscript and point out all the ways it could be better. And so I want to thank once again my mother, The Divine MataJi, and my brother-in-law, Amrit Khalsa, who are my first readers. Sure, they're biased, but they have more than 100 years of reading fiction between them, so I think that balances things out.

  Elianna DeSota, your enthusiasm is like a fireworks life-cele-bration party, and you are awesome. Thank you. Lakshmi Khalsa and Marisa Bodell, you guys make me smile at the mere thought of the loving support you gave me throughout this series. Also, a shout out to the creative genius of Samantha Flatt and Weronika Chojnacka for lending me their ‘Grouchy Knowledge Cat’ “Slink” and ‘Furry Dragon Warning-Lizard.’ It was fun turning them into the Vasana Igga and the Prazasti Yuyān.

  And I want to thank, of course, Summer Burns. Summer, you are absolutely incredible, and I will never be able to thank you enough. There was no earthly reason why you should have helped me, and yet you took the time—with everything else in your life—to read my book, and with kindness and compassion, you helped make it sparkle, down to the last plot detail, ignoring my whining, and pushing me to add more romance, and more, until the manuscript practically ignited.

  For anyone who enjoyed The Koh Tao Vampires, you have Summer to thank for it.

  I cannot say enough in praise of my editor, Beth Jusino. What she can do to improve a manuscript boggles my mind. Beth, I feel like I've won the lottery when I think of the forbearance you possess to put up with me and my rookie mistakes. You are beyond awesome! I know exactly what an Asura would do if I ever ran into one. It would morph into you, and with your blindingly radiant smile, you'd tell me you've decided to retire to the mountains of France, to hike and picnic in endless bliss with no Wi-Fi. Or else you'd frown, and tell me I've made one idiotic mistake too many and you refuse to work with me ever again unless I first go back to school. The fear is real. I will continue to hope this never happens, partly because I'd be useless in a fight with monsters, but mostly because I have three more books already planned out, and that's only the beginning.

  Proofreaders are tireless heroic warriors, and I am fortunate to have gathered a team of the best of them. You guys prevent crushing embarrassment at every turn, embarrassment that would definitely result from the various, uncountable errors I commit, like typing “shit” instead of “shift” (which makes for some hilarious, if completely unprofessional sentences). Also, for some reason my computer changed “the” to “Tehran.” Every. Freakin. Time.

  Kasey Leigh Miller, you are a genius whose kindness surpassed gargantuan proportions long ago. I am forever grateful to you for being the first “stranger” to encourage me to keep going with this story. I'd received so many rejection letters by then I was ready to give up, and you were willing to not only read my messy manuscript and help me get it ready for an editor, but you let me ask you countless stupid questions, listened to my whining, and always, always gave your honest opinion about everything from covers, to fonts, to back copy. I am beyond fortunate to be able to call you my friend. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  Amrit Kaur, you're like someone from the highest Upperworld. I'm pretty sure you're part goddess, seriously. From the moment I heard your awesome Russian-honey-customer prank call story I knew we'd be friends, and I was right. ‘Thank you’ isn't enough to express the gratitude I feel for your assistance with everything from website design to sharing your contagious laugh while I went on and on and on about this story.

  Melissa Martinez, your support on social media has meant so much to me. You allowed me to do giveaways and author takeovers on our FB group from the start, before you'd even read the book. Your kindness was truly heart-blooming (yes, heart-blooming is a thing, people. And if it isn't, it should be!) I'm honored that you joined the typo police for this third book, and you should know that your enthusiasm
for Emergence and Descent have made my day on countless occasions.

  GuruSadhana Khalsa, you are truly my sister from another mother, and I'm sorry (but not sorry) for keeping you up at all hours of the night to work on this story with me. Fair warning that I plan on doing this again. Many times. I'm willing to bribe you and your husband with a lifetime guarantee of whatever you guys want me to cook. Definitely!

  Amanda Peters, you can't imagine how much your texts about Descent boosted my morale while I wrote this story, and I feel a little guilty for pretty much bullying you into scouring this manuscript for errors. Just know that I'll do the same for you on your eagerly-awaited debut novel, which I expect to be ready for all of us within the year.

  A special thank you to Sangeet Khalsa for your extensive grammar expertise. Even though this genre is definitely not your cup of tea, to those of us who are like daughters to you, you have always offered your love and support, throughout all these years, no matter what you had to endure. Love you always, PenJi.

  Rick Schroeppel. What can I say about Rick that you don't already know if you've noticed the three gorgeous covers that grace this trilogy? He is a man of unsurpassed patience. Believe me, if his patience had a limit, I would have been the one to discover it. Rick, I hope you'll continue to work with me on many more projects to come. I have ideas. And I promise I'll try not to be so picky and annoying.

  And saving the very best for last, I thank you, Beloved Reader. They say there's more than 130,000,000 books written, floating around the world, waiting to be opened up and devoured by our imaginations. And of all those millions of stories, you decided to read this one, a tale of foul-mouthed monster-slaying teenaged warriors. I hope it entertained you and brightened your life, even if only a little, and I thank you from the very bottom of my heart.

  About the Author

  SiriGuruDev Singh lives in New Mexico and Punjab with her husband, two daughters, and various extended relatives and animals. The Infernal Guard series are her first books. You can visit her at www.sgdsingh.com or www.facebook.com/sgdsingh