The Assassins of Light

by Britney Jackson

  Aaron threw his hands up irritably. “Then, why even invite us here?”

  Talulah shrugged. “I’m polite. We’ll open our arms to anyone, but that doesn’t mean that we like you. And it certainly doesn’t mean that we’ll join you.”

  “We need to be unified,” Aaron tried to explain. “There is a war coming.”

  “We are a peaceful colony,” Talulah growled, her voice low and dark, full of reproach. “If you want to wage war with humans, you’ll do it without us.”

  Aaron’s jaw tightened, his lips twisting into a dark, threatening scowl.

  Kara stepped forward, holding one hand out, her fingers curled slightly out, almost unnoticeably, signaling Aaron to stop before he said something he’d regret. “We don’t want war either, Talulah. Why do you think we came to you?”

  Talulah let out a short, mocking laugh. “I’m to believe that you want peace?” she asked. “You? The warrior? With your commander? And your army?”

  Kara grinned in response, taking the derisive tone in stride. “Is that what you think?” she laughed. She pointed her thumb at the vampires behind her. “You think this is our army? These aren’t warriors. They would make a pathetic army.”

  Rose lifted her eyebrows. “Wow. Thanks, Kara,” she said sarcastically.

  Kara shot an amused smile over her shoulder and winked playfully at her.

  “What are they, then,” Talulah asked suspiciously, “if not an army?”

  “Essentially?” Kara said with a thoughtful frown. “Special ops. Everyone here has a very specific skill-set or a specific type of knowledge that we need.”

  “Everyone?” Talulah repeated. She stepped away from her desk, and her dark, narrowed gaze shifted toward Rose. “Even her? What is her special skill?”

  Kara glanced uneasily at Rose. “Rose has an immense amount of power.”

  “Yes, I can smell that in her blood,” Talulah said. “I want to know what kind of power she has.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you want me to know?”

  “I’ll tell you,” Aaron interrupted, “if you’ll agree to join the alliance.”

  Talulah glanced at him. “You think I’ll change my mind because of her?”

  “When you see what she can do, you will,” Aaron said with a smile.

  Talulah cast another curious look at Rose. “You have my attention.”

  “Did you hear about the Assassins of Light base in New York City?” he asked curiously. When Talulah nodded, he continued, “She did that. By herself.”

  Talulah’s mouth fell open. “But…how? She seems like such a…”

  “Baby vampire?” Aaron provided. “She is. It’s barely been two months.”

  Rose fidgeted, anxiety jerking at her fingers and dancing under her skin.

  “Believe me,” Aaron added. “You’ll want her with you, not against you.”

  Talulah prowled toward Rose, her dark eyes shrewd and narrowed. Rose instinctually took a step back, swallowing uneasily as she looked up at the dark, intimidating woman. Talulah smelled like sandalwood and jasmine, and that warm scent overwhelmed Rose’s senses as Talulah invaded Rose’s space. The closeness made Talulah appear taller and even more intimidating. “Show me,” she growled.

  Rose frowned. “Uhh…show you what?” she stammered nervously.

  Kara moved closer to Rose. “Relax,” she whispered in Rose’s ear. She smiled slyly at Talulah. “Talulah won’t hurt you. Her bark is worse than her bite.”

  Talulah actually smiled at that. “You would know,” she chuckled lowly.

  “I’m not scared of her,” Rose told Kara. Which was true. Basically. She was a little intimidated, maybe, but not scared. Talulah raised an eyebrow at Rose’s audacity, but she seemed amused by it, rather than offended. Rose looked at Kara, leaning in, so she could whisper, “I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  “Show me this power of yours,” Talulah said, before Kara could answer.

  “Just take a deep breath,” Kara told Rose, “and then, use your power.”

  “I can’t really control it,” Rose tried to tell Talulah. “It’s unpredictable.”

  “Show me,” Talulah said, stepping toward her, “or there’s no alliance.”

  Aaron rolled his eyes. “Just do it, Rose. We don’t have time for this.”

  Rose shot a peeved look at him. “I’m not a circus monkey,” she said, but then, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to clear the anxiety and insecurity that clouded her mind. She opened her eyes and focused on the stapler lying on the desk. It wiggled. Once. Twice. And then, finally, it flew off the desk.

  Talulah turned, her eyebrows lifting, as the stapler flew across the room and hit the wall with a loud clack. “Telekinesis,” she realized. “Impressive.” But she didn’t sound impressed. She turned toward Aaron. “Forgive my frankness, but I don’t think that we’re going to win a war by throwing staplers at the humans.”

  “She can do more than that,” Aaron said, “with the right motivation.”

  “Aaron,” Kara pleaded, “she’s grieving. She hasn’t been sleeping.”

  “Not my problem,” Aaron said without a hint of sympathy. He turned toward the rest of the vampires. “Tom,” he called out. “You know what to do.”

  Rose spun around, her brows furrowing, as she watched Tom emerge from the group of vampires. The other vampires stepped aside to allow the tall, broad-shouldered vampire through. She noticed Erik leaning toward Elise and whispering something into her ear—probably asking her what Tom was going to do—but Elise just shrugged and watched them worriedly. Rose shot Kara a questioning look, and Kara offered her a sympathetic smile but didn’t explain.

  “I’m sorry about this,” Tom told Rose, a reluctant grimace pulling at his lips. He snatched Kara back against him, wrapping his arms around her to hold her still, and then, before Rose could react, he slid his dagger across Kara’s throat.

  Kara didn’t fight him. She didn’t even seem surprised. Her only reaction to the sudden attack was wincing a little when the sharp blade cut into her neck.

  “Kara!” Rose gasped. The sight of blood spilling over Kara’s neck sent Rose’s pulse skyrocketing, and that crimson-red haze instantly overtook her eyes.

  Talulah straightened, her eyes widening, as she saw Rose’s inhuman eyes.

  Rose’s power emanated from her body in waves of light and darkness, a disruptive, visible power that caused her long, red hair to whip around her back and face, as if blown by a powerful wind. The walls groaned and shook from the force of her power, the paintings rattling against them. The dagger flew in one direction, over Rose’s shoulder, to land in the log-cabin-style wall, and Tom flew in the other direction, slamming into the opposite wall so hard, it nearly caved in.

  Rose stepped forward and caught Kara in her arms as she fell forward. Blood spilled over the front of Kara’s thin, black shirt, staining her skin. And the emotions that burned inside of Rose—fear, love, confusion, and anger—caused the crimson haze in her eyes to flash and dance, like a violent, out-of-control fire.

  “Oh my gods,” Talulah said, falling back against her desk, as she watched Rose warily. The other vampires in the room backed away from Rose as well.

  “It’s okay,” Kara whispered to Rose, her fingers trembling as she held Rose’s face. The severe, life-threatening injury left her weak. “It’s not deep. It’ll heal.” Her icy blue eyes fluttered closed. “Aaron needed to awaken your power.”

  Rose looked up at Aaron, black shadows swirling within her glowing, red eyes, threatening to overtake them. “I don’t care why you did it,” she growled, the floors trembling at the sound of her voice. “Don’t ever hurt Kara again.”

  Aaron took a step back, his eyes widening. “Someone calm her down.”

  Erik stepped forward—but not before shooting a dangerous glare in Aaron’s direction. He moved close to Rose and held out his hand, offering to use his abilities to calm her. She nodded, even as she continued to glare murderous
ly at Aaron. Then, Erik touched her face and used his empathic abilities to calm her.

  The fiery glow in her eyes began to fade, finally flickering out, like a fire doused with water. Her eyes returned to their normal bright-blue color again.

  Erik sighed in relief as soon as he could no longer feel her dark, volatile emotions. “She’s calm,” he told Aaron, his voice thick with anger and disapproval.

  “I don’t need you judging my methods, empath,” Aaron snarled. “You’re here as a warrior, under my command. You do what I tell you to do. That’s it.”

  Erik shrugged. “Fine, but don’t expect me to feel any sympathy for you when Rose finally kills you,” he said as he returned to where he’d stood earlier.

  Even after Erik calmed her, Rose never stopped glaring at Aaron.

  “I’m fine, love,” Kara whispered to her. “It looks deeper than it is.”

  Rose glanced down, her brows creasing with concern, as she studied the deep, gruesome gash in Kara’s throat. “I need to give you some of my blood.”

  Kara clutched Rose’s hoodie as she tried to hide how weak she actually felt. Her light blue eyes darkened with hunger. “It can wait. I’m still conscious.”

  “I have a room back here,” Talulah spoke up, finally. She stepped away from her desk, her legs shaking, and opened the door at the back of the room, behind her desk. It opened into a dark, empty room. “If you need some privacy.”

  When she heard the fear in Talulah’s voice, Rose glanced at her, a twinge of guilt twisting in her stomach. She hadn’t meant to scare anyone, after all. It was just what happened every time her power awoke. She certainly hadn’t meant to scare Talulah. It wasn’t Talulah’s fault that Aaron was such a heartless jerk.

  “Go ahead,” Aaron told Kara. “If you miss anything, I’ll brief you later.”

  Rose shifted, sliding her arm around Kara’s lean waist, as Kara draped her own arm around Rose’s shoulder, so that Rose could help support her weight.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Rose noticed Elise kneeling next to Tom, helping him to his feet. He seemed a little rattled by his collision with the wall.

  “Sorry, Tom,” Rose said, wincing. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just…”

  Tom held up his hand to stop her. The nauseating guilt in her stomach lurched again as she noticed the blood sliding over his dark skin, pouring from a rough gash in the side of his head. He leaned heavily against Elise, and her tiny body managed to support his much larger body with ease. “Nah, I’m fine,” he chuckled. “Besides, I hurt your girl. I get it.” He flashed a friendly smile at her.

  Rose offered him a weak smile in response before helping Kara into the room that was connected to Talulah’s office. The muffled voices of the other vampires carried into the room, even after she closed the door. The room had looked empty from the office, but now that they were inside it, Rose realized that there was a sofa, wedged in the far corner, out of view. She helped Kara over to the sofa and then sat down beside her. “Did you agree to this?” she asked quietly.

  Kara winced a little, lifting her hand to press her fingers against the gash in her neck. “I was given orders, and I followed them,” she explained. “I’m sorry.”

  Rose nodded. “It’s your job. I can’t expect you to stop doing your job,” she sighed. “I just wonder…is there a limit? What will you do if he goes too far?”

  “I’ll tell him to go fuck himself,” Kara said. “Like I did when he told me that we weren’t coming to save you. You’re more important than my job, Rose.”

  Rose frowned, surprised. “Really? I mean, I’d understand, if I wasn’t.”

  Kara let out a weak laugh, obviously meant to disguise her pain. “I made that mistake once already, remember? I won’t make it again. I won’t betray the woman I love again. Not for a stupid job.” She pulled her hand away, looking at the dark blood that coated her fingers. “But as for this, it’s just a shallow wound.”

  Rose gave her a skeptical look. “It doesn’t look too shallow to me.”

  “If he’d done it right, I wouldn’t even be able to speak,” Kara told her.

  “Still,” Rose sighed, her brows creasing, “it looks painful.” She reached up, almost instinctually, toward the gash, but she stopped just shy of touching it. A wave of hunger twisted painfully in her stomach. “You smell wonderful.”

  “So do you,” Kara said with a seductive smile. She tilted her head back, her sleek, dark hair sliding back behind her shoulders. “Go ahead. Taste me.”

  Rose blushed. “No. You’re injured. You’re the one who needs blood.”

  “It’s been two days since you last fed, and you’ve had nosebleeds because of how much power you used that night,” Kara reminded her, watching sadly as a pained look passed over Rose’s face. “I know what overuse does to you. I was with Alana for fourteen hundred years. She overused her abilities all of the time.”

  Rose grimaced. “I didn’t mean to. I don’t even remember what I did.”

  “I know,” Kara said. She reached out and touched Rose’s hand, brushing her fingers over Rose’s knuckles. “I just want you to take care of yourself, love.”

  “Okay. I’ll feed later,” Rose amended. “For now, let’s get you healed.”

  Kara ran her fingers over the sofa cushion, frowning at the old, rough fabric. “I think I’ve had sex in this room before,” she said with a curious smile.

  Rose wrinkled her nose. “Wow, way to ruin a moment, Kara,” she teased.

  Kara grinned and leaned toward her. She ran her fingers up Rose’s thigh, toward the center of her legs. “Am I still ruining it?” she murmured seductively.

  Rose closed her eyes, exhaling a quick, shallow breath, as a rush of desire flooded her body. She smiled as she felt Kara’s soft, warm lips against her own. “Just hurry up and feed before someone comes in to check on us,” she giggled.

  “If you insist,” Kara murmured, trailing kisses down Rose’s neck.

  Rose moaned softly as Kara pushed her back against the sofa with one hand and straddled her hips, all while she continuously teased Rose’s neck with her tongue and lips. Then, finally, she gasped as Kara’s fangs sank into her neck.

  Kara groaned at the taste of Rose’s sweet, powerful blood—the blood that sated her in a way that no one else’s ever had. She wrapped her fingers around Rose’s thick, auburn hair, tugging her head to the side, giving herself better access to Rose’s neck. She sucked harder at the wound, enjoying the way Rose writhed in pleasure beneath her. Finally, when she felt the blood begin to heal her, she pulled away from Rose’s neck, moving her blood-soaked mouth to Rose’s lips.

  Their lips met slowly, their breath mingling, their chests heaving, as they both fought to hold back the desire that fizzled and sparked between them. Kara’s lips tasted sweet, still wet with Rose’s blood, and her tongue was warm and gentle, as it moved against Rose’s. Rose clutched Kara’s shirt, as she resisted the urge to move her hands elsewhere, as she ached to explore Kara’s muscles and curves.

  Kara held Rose’s hips, her head tilting closer, her body curving forward, as if she were being pulled by a magnet, and she couldn’t resist its pull. “You must have some really strong self-control,” Kara said against her lips. She leaned back, just a little, sweeping her gaze down Rose’s body. “Because right now, I want…”

  Rose swallowed, desire pulsing within her. “Believe me. I feel the same.”

  Kara grinned and slid her hands down to Rose’s jean-clad thighs, tracing the inside seem of Rose’s jeans with her finger. “In that case, maybe we should…”

  “No,” Rose laughed, catching Kara’s wrists, “there are people outside.”

  Kara leaned back on her knees, her lips curving into a deep, mischievous smile. “I don’t care who’s around,” she said seductively. “I’d still have you…”

  Rose released Kara’s wrists, just in time to press her finger to Kara’s lips. She smiled, her cheeks reddening, as she met Kara’s sparkling gaze. “I
do care.”

  Kara moved Rose’s hand away from her face and smiled. “I know,” she laughed. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against Rose’s cheek. “It’s cute.”

  Rose rolled her eyes as she watched the tall, muscular vampire climb off the sofa and stand. “Wonderful! What I’ve always wanted to be: a cute vampire.”

  Kara winked at her and then opened the door, peeking into Talulah’s office. She leaned against the doorframe, her arm folded, as she frowned at the emptiness of the office. “What happened to everyone else?” she asked Talulah.

  Talulah stood behind her desk, sifting through files and papers. “The sun is rising in a few minutes, and I know it’s a tough journey—from the airport to here—especially at this time of the year,” she explained. Her dark gaze shifted toward Kara. “I assumed you all needed rest, so I sent them to their rooms. We can finish discussing the alliance tomorrow night, after I’ve consulted my colony.”

  Kara raised an eyebrow. “You’d leave the fate of the world up to them?”

  “I run this colony democratically,” Talulah said. “I know that’s hard for a barbarian like you to understand, but in this colony, it’s how things are done.”

  Kara laughed, “Does it bother you that your insults do nothing to me?”

  Rose climbed to her feet, lifting her eyebrows, as she listened to them argue. She couldn’t imagine how those two managed to get along long enough to have sex. She frowned curiously as she noticed something green, lying on a small table in the corner. She quietly made her way over to it. A jagged, green stone, attached to a long, gold chain lay, spread out across the wooden table. She reached out and picked up the necklace. She couldn’t help but notice that it looked eerily similar to her own necklace, the Stone of the Eklektos. The green stone flickered.

  “That’s strange,” Talulah said suddenly. “I thought I saw it…glow.”

  Rose spun around, her eyes widening, as she saw Talulah standing in the doorway, next to Kara. “Oh, I…” she stammered. “I’m sorry. I was just curious.”