The Assassins of Light

by Britney Jackson

  “I happen to love her mouth,” Kara joked, “if you know what I mean.”

  Zach grimaced. “Ugh,” he muttered, but even then, he looked somewhat amused. After a moment, he fell serious, and a haunted look came into his eyes. “It used to get her in so much trouble,” he said, “that smartass attitude of hers.”

  Kara’s smile faded, and she looked away, her chest tightening. “Yeah.”

  “My mom dated the worst men. I mean, I guess you have to be pretty bad to trade someone’s body for drugs,” he muttered. “But these guys—they were the ones who thought it was normal to beat children, to hurt people in order to get what you want, and our mom didn’t care enough to stop them. None of them liked us. Rose and I were just nuisances to them, but Rose—she didn’t know when to keep her mouth shut. She had a voice, and she was going to use it.”

  A proud smile tilted at the edges of Kara’s lips. “And so she should.”

  “I agree. Now,” Zach said slowly, “but back then, I didn’t get it. I just wanted her to keep quiet so they’d stop hurting her. She was so smart. I mean, unbelievably smart. Our schools didn’t know what to think. She was so far ahead of everyone. She absorbed information like a sponge. She read as many books as she could get her hands on, and she spouted out what she knew like some kind of encyclopedia. But in this one thing, I felt like she was being stupid. They were hurting her, and she kept giving them more and more reason to. But she refused to let them change her. Even when they abused her, even when they nearly killed her, she had her voice. She didn’t let anyone take it away. Until…” he trailed off.

  “John Russel,” Kara provided, her voice suddenly quiet. “That was his name.” She looked up at him, noticing the shock in his face. “The information I stumbled across—that was in there. It talked about him and…what it did to her.”

  “I never knew his last name, actually. My mom called him John. Others called him by a nickname. But yeah, that was him. He was the worst,” he sighed. He leaned against the wall, dragging his fingers through his blonde hair, visibly distressed by the memory. “There must’ve been something wrong with him. He liked to hurt people. To be honest, I think he got off on it.” Anger flashed in his bright blue eyes. “And he had this obsession with Rose. It was like the fact that he couldn’t control her drove him insane. Except…I think he was already insane.”

  “A sadistic psychopath,” Kara provided. “That’s what he was.”

  “I left home sometimes,” Zach said uneasily. “I’d stay gone for weeks at a time. This one time—it’s the one I’ll regret for the rest of my life. I still don’t know what he did to her while I was gone, but…I have ideas.” His entire body stiffened at the memory, as if it physically hurt to remember it. “I saw the bruises all over her body, the bloodstains on the floor, the scratch marks in the closet.”

  Kara looked away, her entire face contorting with pain. “Fy faen.”

  “She didn’t speak for months afterward,” he continued, his bright blue eyes flashing with pain, “but when she did, when she finally found her voice again, she never let anyone take it from her again.” He looked up. “And she never will.”

  Kara looked up at him, meeting his gaze. “I wouldn’t want her to.”

  “I know,” Zach said. “That’s why I like you. I think you respect her voice, and she needs that. She needs someone who appreciates her voice for what it is.”

  “Her strength,” Kara said. “The part of her that refused to be beaten.”

  He nodded. “And the part that rose from the ashes when she nearly was.”

  Kara fell silent for a moment, while she considered that. “It’s for that reason—the fact that I respect her voice—that I must wait for her to admit it.”

  Zach frowned curiously at her. “Admit what?”

  “What she wants,” she said, “from me. And if she never does, then…”

  He waited for her to finish, but she didn’t. But he thought he saw a brief flicker of pain in her light blue eyes before she hid it. “Are you in love with her?”

  Kara pushed away from the wall. “Don’t push your luck, thief,” she said, turning to head upstairs. “I’ll help you steal, but talking about feelings is off limits.”

  Zach laughed, “Fair enough.”

  —

  Kara leaned against the doorframe of Kallias’s room and crossed her arms, watching as Rose bent to place an armful of blue jeans in the bottom drawer of a wrought-iron dresser. She tried not to notice how the jeans Rose wore clung to the sensual, rounded curves of her backside, but…well…she didn’t try too hard.

  Rose straightened, blinking. “I can sense you back there, you know.”

  “Just enjoying the view,” Kara said with a flirty smirk.

  Rose rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to smile, and spun around to pin Kara with a glare. She tossed something in Kara’s direction, and Kara caught it.

  Kara lifted it up, raising an eyebrow at the thin, blue item of clothing that was dangling from her fingers. “Rose, did you just throw your underwear at me?”

  “According to Erik, it’s a thing that women do,” Rose said dryly.

  Kara laughed loudly at that. She closed her hand around the underwear and lowered her hand, staring down at them, as she turned them over in her hand.

  Rose marched over and snatched them out of her hand. “You don’t have to look at them that closely,” she muttered, as she took them back to the dresser.

  Kara’s soft, breathy laugh followed her. “What’s wrong?” she teased, her voice in Rose’s ear. “Are you afraid I’m picturing you in them?” Her front pressed against Rose’s back. “Why would I do that when I could picture you out of them?”

  Rose shuddered as Kara’s breath caressed her ear. “Oh my word,” she said as she spun around and pushed Kara away. She chuckled, “You’re so bad.”

  Kara grinned. “Come here, and I’ll show you how bad I can be.”

  Rose laughed, “You really think those pick-up lines will work on me?”

  “Not really,” Kara said, suddenly serious, “I just like to watch you laugh.”

  Rose’s smile faded, and a blush reddened her cheeks. She shifted from one foot to the other. “So, did you…umm…come in here for a reason, or…”

  Kara’s gaze lingered on Rose’s blushing cheeks. “Your brother likes me.”

  Rose frowned. “Are you sure? Because my brother doesn’t like anyone.”

  Kara leaned back on her heels, a cocky smirk tugging at the edges of her lips. “Well, he likes me. His exact words, I believe, were that he’s rooting for me.”

  Rose scowled at her. “You helped him steal something, didn’t you?”

  “Now, you know I can’t tell you that,” Kara said with a wink.

  Rose rolled her eyes. “I want him to get out of crime,” she said with a playful glare, “not get better at it. I don’t want to lose him again, you know…”

  She’d said it in that sassy tone of hers, but Kara sensed the pain hidden beneath it. Kara lifted her hand and tucked a strand of red hair behind Rose’s ear, watching her with a sympathetic frown. “You won’t lose him. We’ll protect him.”

  “What if we can’t?” Rose said quietly. “What if something happens?”

  Kara dropped her hand. She didn’t answer Rose. How could she? There was no guarantee that any of them would survive the coming days, and anyone connected to Rose was in the most danger of all. “Follow me,” she said suddenly, taking a step backward. “There’s something I need to show you. It’s in my bag.”

  Rose followed Kara out of Kallias’s room, into the hallway, and then, into the guest room, where Kara had been staying. She watched as Kara closed the door behind them, more than a little aware of how this would look—the two of them alone in Kara’s room with the door closed. “Is something wrong?”

  Kara spun toward her and pressed her finger to Rose’s lips. “Shhh,” she whispered, her eyes bright and intense. “Don’t say anything. Someone will hear.�
�

  Rose nodded, realizing that whatever it was that Kara was about to show her—it was something she didn’t want anyone else to know about. Kara dropped her hand and turned toward the dresser near the door. She unzipped the black, duffel bag on top of it and pulled out a sturdy, gray laptop. She carried it to the bed and sat down, folding her leather-clad legs in front of her. Rose stood behind her, watching over Kara shoulder, as she searched through a few untitled folders.

  “I’m not too skilled at these yet,” Kara told her. “Computers, I mean.”

  Rose smiled. “You mean I’m actually better than you at something?”

  Kara chuckled, “There are plenty of things that you do better than me.”

  “Wow. Humility from a Viking?” Rose teased. “I think I might faint.”

  That earned another laugh from Kara. “Like sarcasm, for instance.”

  Rose smiled, amusement sparkling in her bright blue eyes. She watched as Kara’s fingers moved over the keyboard, opening up password-encrypted files.

  “I may not be that great at this yet,” Kara said as she opened a file, “but I have people who work for me who are exceptionally skilled at this kind of thing.”

  Rose watched as a scanned document on the screen—lines of notebook paper, filled with a scrawling handwriting that looked eerily familiar. “Hackers?”

  “Yes,” Kara said. She lowered her voice, so that it’d be harder for anyone to overhear. “I have quite a few hackers on my payroll, and I asked them to look into some things…that we discussed recently.” She paused meaningfully, waiting for Rose to confirm that she understood. “You said that one of the people who attacked you was a professor at your university? The Head of your department?”

  Rose nodded. “Dr. Davidson,” she mouthed, so that no one would hear.

  Kara nodded, too, and she turned toward the computer. “They found this on the computer in his office. It appears to be notes, written in pen, that he took while…observing someone. Then, he scanned them and e-mailed them to multiple people.” She looked back at Rose. “Do you see who he’s describing?”

  Rose knew, as she read that first line. She remembered the day, even.

  I met with her in my office today. She looked tired, but I suppose I would, too, if I were living in my car. It’s hard not to like her, honestly. She’s brilliant. I can ask her about the most obscure topics, and she tells me all about them, like a human encyclopedia. I couldn’t have asked for a better student. But don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten the monster she’ll become.

  “Me,” Rose said numbly. “He’s describing the day he interviewed me.”

  Kara nodded. “That’s what I thought,” she sighed. “For admission?”

  “For a scholarship,” Rose corrected. “It was the summer before I started classes. I’d already moved out. My brother was in prison. And I was living in my car. But I never told him that. I never told him anything about my personal life.”

  “Clearly, he knew more than you thought,” Kara said. She scrolled down the page, revealing the thousands of notes he’d scribbled—all about Rose. “This is just one of the many files we found on his computer…about you.” She looked back at Rose. “He’s talking to other people, though, exchanging information. We haven’t discovered who the others are yet, but…they’re all connected to you.”

  Rose took a step backward, swallowing uneasily. Her heart raced as she tried to think of all of the people who might have been watching her, confusion and fear sinking in her stomach. The violation of trust felt thick in her throat. It felt filthy and disgusting. Even though she still didn’t know who had watched her.

  Kara turned toward Rose, her brows creasing with concern, as she sensed Rose’s emotions. She quickly turned off the computer and stood up, taking a step toward Rose. “I shouldn’t have showed you. I just thought you’d want to see it.”

  “I do,” Rose said, forcing a smile. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

  Kara tilted her head to the side, her dark hair falling over her shoulders, her brows creasing with concern. “You don’t have to lie to me, love,” she sighed. She reached out and touched Rose’s face. Rose looked down, and Kara stepped forward, leaning in as close as she could. “I know all of this is hard to take in.”

  “It’s just,” Rose paused, her breathing labored, “every time I come to terms with one part of my life being…violated or ripped apart, I find out someone else has betrayed me or stalked me. And…I don’t know who to trust, anymore.”

  “You can trust me,” Kara whispered before she could stop herself.

  Rose looked up at her, blinking in surprise. “Do you really mean that?”

  Kara dropped her hands and stepped back, suddenly uncomfortable. “I mean, I don’t deserve your trust, but…” she trailed off, her chest heaving, as she tried to make sense of the emotions inside of her. Her piercing, icy blue gaze shifted up to meet Rose’s. “I would never hurt you, Rose. I’d never betray you.”

  Rose couldn’t respond. Her heart raced inside her chest, light and rapid. But for different reasons, this time. It was no longer fear or pain that filled up her chest and tried to escape through her throat. Now, it was something…more.

  Kara’s gaze darted toward Rose’s chest, her eyes widening, as she heard the quickness of Rose’s pulse, and then, she looked up, making eye-contact with Rose again. And whatever she saw there—in Rose’s eyes—must’ve affected her somehow. Because…before Rose realized what was happening, Kara was closing the space between them, taking Rose’s face into her hands, and kissing her.

  With a soft moan of surprise, Rose wrapped her arms around Kara’s neck and leaned into the kiss, her lips parting, her tongue meeting Kara’s with a deep, tangible desperation. Rose felt the warmth of Kara’s hands moving down her body, tracing her curves, until finally, Kara grasped her hips and pushed her back.

  Rose gasped as her back collided with the dresser, the gasp turning into a moan, as Kara trailed her lips down Rose’s neck, nipping lightly with her fangs.

  Rose felt Kara’s fingers tracing her stomach and then trailing back up.

  They separated, startled, as they heard the door suddenly swing open.

  Kallias stood in the doorway, his eyes darkening and his nostrils flaring, as he stared at Rose. Rose leaned against the dresser, still breathless from the kiss that she’d once again let happen, even though she’d tried so hard to stop letting it happen. She knew without even asking, just from the intense look in his brown eyes, that he was reading her thoughts, and the shame rose up in her throat, thick enough to suffocate her. She watched as his narrowed gaze shifted toward Kara.

  “Aaron wants you downstairs,” he told her, his voice surprisingly calm.

  Too calm, actually. Almost as if he were trying to keep his voice even.

  Kara studied him with a frown. “Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”

  His jaw tightened. “Just come downstairs,” he said stoically. His intense, light brown gaze shifted back toward Rose. “You’re going to want to come, too.”

  The house was eerily quiet as they followed him downstairs, to the living room, where everyone had gathered. Even before they reached the room, Rose could feel a coldness in the air, a sense of doom, dark and looming, like a shadow.

  Rose stopped in the doorway of the living room, one of her feet still in the foyer, because the living room looked overfilled already. Every vampire and human in the house had gathered around the television, wedged into every empty space of the living room, and the limited space caused her chest to ache with fear.

  Kara glanced back at her, sensing Rose’s emotions. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah,” Rose whispered. “Go ahead. I think I’ll just stand here.”

  Kara nodded, but her brows were still creased with worry. She made her way through the crowd of people, slipping through the tiny spaces as effortlessly as a mouse. She took one glance at the television and pulled out her cell phone.

  The vampires
and humans alike cleared a path for Kallias as he pushed his way through the room, probably afraid that he’d run them over, if they didn’t.

  It wouldn’t be the first time he’d run someone over, Rose thought to herself.

  Rose caught a glimpse of Owen’s gelled, blonde hair, just a few feet in front of her, and she hissed to get his attention, “Owen.” Owen turned around, his brows furrowing, as he saw her, standing at the back of the room, too far away to see the television. Before he could ask why, she whispered, “What’s going on?”

  Tom—who stood beside Owen, she realized now—turned to look at her as well. “Do you need to get through?” he asked. “Because I can get you through.”

  “I’m sure you can,” she said playfully, sweeping her gaze over his tall, broad-shouldered build. “I know I wouldn’t want to be in your way.” Her smile faded. “But no, thank you. I’m good.” Her pulse fluttered quicker inside her chest.

  Tom grinned at her remark. “If you change your mind, let me know.”

  “There was an attack,” Owen said. “Some kind of explosion, I think.”

  Zach came to stand beside her, and when Rose looked up at him, she saw empathy in his bright blue eyes. He knew the fear that welled up in her chest, at the moment, and he knew the reason for it. He leaned against the doorframe. “The story, according to the reporters, is that our government has—with the cooperation of several other countries—launched an attack on the terrorist organization that is responsible for the mass murder that happened in Europe.”

  Rose frowned. “But everyone who was responsible for that is dead.”

  “Humans don’t know that,” Tom told her. “They were afraid. They were losing trust in their governments. I suppose this was meant to regain their trust.”

  “The Assassins of Light are behind this,” Owen said. “They must be.”

  “We don’t know that,” Kallias argued, his low, slightly accented voice carrying across the living room. Even though he’d replied to Owen’s comment, he seemed to be directing his argument at Aaron, who stood next to him, watching the television screen with dark, narrowed eyes. “We don’t even know that the Assassins of Light are involved. This could have been a manipulative move—a false attack. It wouldn’t be the first time humans did something like this. We don’t even know for sure that any vampires were killed in this attack.”