Authors: Trina M Lee
“It’s not that simple. You should know that. I didn’t expect her to have as much power as she does. It makes her better for this than I could have imagined. They want her on the big jobs now, but how do I say that to her without getting my head torn off?” Veryl sounded desperate.
“I know that she doesn’t take lightly to deception. Can you blame her? Either lay it on the line and let her choose or don’t, but I’m not keeping anything from her anymore.” Kale’s tone was low and deadly.
My pulse began to race. I didn’t like what I was hearing. I swallowed hard. Should I keep listening or show myself? I didn’t think I needed to hear anymore. I dropped my hold on the power enforcing my shields and waited.
Instant silence. As I’d expected. A full minute passed before the door opened. Veryl stood in its frame, a frown marring his sharp features. “Alexa. Funny. I didn’t sense your arrival.”
“Good. You weren’t supposed to.” My wolf stared out at him through my eyes. He appeared unnerved.
“We were just discussing something. Why don’t you come in and join us?”
I stepped into the room and took the chair next to Kale. I gave him a pointed look which he ignored. Despite his poker face, I could see the truth in his mismatched eyes: they had definitely been talking about me.
Veryl took his place behind the desk. He turned off his computer monitor before turning his attention to me. “I suppose we should talk. How much did you hear?”
“Enough to know that I was right to be suspicious. Just cut the crap and tell it like it is. Please, don’t screw with me anymore.”
I’d worked with Veryl for years. He was a former paranormal investigator turned vampire. He had people like Kale, Jez and me work for him, along with a few others. We were pretty much hired guns. We killed other supernaturals, and for the most part, we weren’t given a lot of reason for it. I’d always assumed there was a reason to wipe them out, the main one being that some of them risked drawing unnecessary attention to the rest of us. I had known for a while that there were things going on behind the scenes that Veryl kept from us. I had a feeling I was about to discover one of them.
“I’m going to level with you, Alexa.” Veryl leaned forward on his desk to pin me with his gaze. “You’re a smart lady. You know by now that things aren’t exactly what they seem here. I am only one man in a very large and powerful organization. Somewhat of a paranormal CIA, if you will.”
That verified some of my suspicions. I’d suspected Veryl’s orders came from somewhere else. However, having it confirmed did nothing to ease the sick feeling growing in the pit of my stomach.
“How much of it is human government?”
“The question really is, how much of the government is human? Anyway, that’s an entirely different topic.”
That was reassuring. “I knew there was more going on than you’d ever say. But go ahead, tell me what it really has to do with me. And, why wait until now to tell me about it?”
Kale remained too quiet for my liking. I wanted to kick him but resisted the urge. I didn’t dare take my eyes from Veryl. Whether I could make him squirm or not, I wanted him to feel the weight of my gaze.
“Isn’t it obvious? We recruit those with serious power. You have it. You always have. But naturally, we started you out small. Simple vampire kills, something to help hone your skills while reducing the number of vermin on the streets. But now, you’re big time.”
He let that last sentence hang between us, allowing its true meaning to sink in. Fury crashed over me like a wave on the beach. I was suddenly soaked in it. Deep breaths did little to help.
“And, someone wants to take advantage of that. Right?”
I glared daggers into him. Things had been strained between us since I’d found out that Veryl had taken advantage of a personal situation that had hurt me deeply. He’d kept Raoul’s secret from me, hiding the truth about the attack that turned me. The reason why was painfully clear: to gain access to my power.
“Nobody has taken advantage of you, Alexa. Lord knows Kale would never have allowed that.” Veryl flashed Kale a dark look. “I assume you heard enough to know he was arguing on your behalf. He believes you will refuse the position you’re being offered, and I don’t disagree with him.”
I glanced between the two of them. Something unsettling lurked in Kale’s brown and blue eyes. “And, this would be?”
“Not the pathetic newborn vamps you’ve dealt with before. There are real powerhouses out there. Like you. Some of them know things they shouldn’t. Some of them are spies. And, others are traitors.” Veryl gave a dismissive wave, as if the reason didn’t really matter. “And, a great many of them are human.”
I let that sink in for a moment. This week was really starting to look bad in terms of news and revelations that I’d much rather live without.
Kale shifted uneasily in his chair. “I didn’t think that hunting humans was something you would agree to.”
As I received more information, I had more questions. “Why are the people on your hit lists chosen? Really. Because I’d been under the impression there was a damn good reason. And now, I’m starting to reconsider that.”
“Does it matter?” Veryl asked with a tone that one might use when dealing with a stubborn child. “I’m not at liberty to tell you more than required. In fact, I’m not always given that kind of information, for obvious reasons. In some cases, the less people know, the safer they are.”
“I don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to like it, Alexa. You just have to do it. Liking it is just a bonus.”
He fixed me with a steely glare that would have intimidated me once. Now, it had me smirking like a rebellious teenager. In recent months Veryl had avoided me. At least, he wouldn’t stay in a room with me a moment longer than he had to. He no longer tried to test my power by invasively brushing up against me metaphysically. Instead, he shielded hard when around me so he wouldn’t feel my power at all. I still hadn’t decided if I was relieved or insulted by that.
“Just be honest with me for once. Why is getting any information out of you like banging my head against a brick wall?” Vampires horde information like its toilet paper in a natural disaster. It’s ridiculous.
Veryl fixed me with a look that he meant to be scary. “There are people who don’t want to waste your abilities on bullshit kills. What you have is valuable, and it makes you valuable. Do you understand?”
This was interesting. “I do. Please, go on. I’d like to hear more about these mystery people.”
“There’s nothing more to know. Information is given on a need to know basis.” He shrugged as if there was nothing more to it.
“Well, I need to know why I’ve gone from killing idiot vampires to humans with power. I smell a rat. Can a human really have enough power to make the big, bad monsters afraid?”
“Yes.” Kale spoke up, drawing my attention to him. “You were one once. There are more out there, Alexa, and some of them won’t think twice about using that power against us.”
I shook my head and frowned in confusion. “Food and foe? Seriously?”
“It’s not quite that simple, Alexa.” Veryl’s expression was bored, as if he couldn’t bear to bother with me. “If you really want to push the subject, there are other people you can talk to. Although, I wouldn’t recommend it. Not if you want to avoid having them take more interest in you than they have already.”
The way he said it chilled me. It set off warning bells in my head, and I wondered what I was really involved in. And more importantly, could I get out if I wanted to? This was something I needed to know more about. Not from Veryl though, clearly.
“Alright. So what’s the bottom line here? What is it you want me to do?”
Veryl eyed me like he couldn’t tell if I was fucking with him or not. “There’s a woman. A traitor. She was one of ours, and now she’s working to expose us. All of us.”
“So? What are her reasons? Did anybody bother to find that out before issuing a kill order?” I was being a pain in the ass, I knew, but it was impossible to resist.
“She’s skilled in black magic, Alexa!” Veryl suddenly oozed menace. “She can drop a vampire with little more than the right words. Do you really want someone walking around with the ability to do that? Someone who believes we should all be hunted down one by one?”
“I won’t kill innocents, Veryl. That’s my only stipulation. I’m serious.”
“I can guarantee you that you’ve never killed an innocent. No such thing.” He sounded pretty much like every vampire I knew. It didn’t come as a surprise to hear him speak that way. “Kale will be with you. I wouldn’t send you alone, human target or otherwise.”
Kale killing humans? Oh, that was terrific. It also explained a lot.
“Fine.” I stood up and looked down at Veryl where he sat behind the desk. “I’ll do it. But now you’ve made me suspicious. I don’t like that. You’d better not be feeding me another line of bullshit. You haven’t quite always had my best interests in mind over the years.”
“You see it that way because you refuse to realize that I have withheld some things from you for a reason. For your own good. You’re bull-headed, Alexa. That’s one of the things I like about you. It keeps you hard enough to do your job, but it will get you into trouble if you aren’t careful.”
I gaped at him, momentarily flustered. “My own good? How was keeping Raoul’s secret for my own good? Seems to me that it was so that you’d have some control over me. Kiss those days goodbye.”
Veryl waved a dismissive hand at me. “Whatever. You should go. Call me when it’s done.”
That was it. He turned his attention to his computer and went about his business as if I wasn’t even there. Normally, that would have been enough to push me past the boiling point. My temper was short enough with Veryl that I considered laying into him, again. He was purposely trying to avoid further discussion about hiding Raoul’s true role in slaughtering my parents and infecting me. I couldn’t blame Veryl; that fight was over, and I’d had a lot of time to say my piece. However, that wasn’t what kept my mouth shut right then. No, it was the slightest trickle of apprehension rolling off him.
Spinning on my heel, I left his office with a self-satisfied smile and Kale hot on my heels. Veryl wasn’t comfortable with me anymore, and I knew why. My power had grown in the last year, along with my connections. I wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking higher of myself than was accurate. I knew I wasn’t the big bad that some were. Still, something about me scared Veryl, and that was reassuring. Of course, something about him scared me, too. I didn’t trust him, and I didn’t know who his, our, employers really were. Something told me I didn’t want to know.
I stormed out of the building with one goal in mind: to get out of the place before I blew it off its foundation. Kale didn’t let me get more than a few steps ahead of him. I slammed the door open and strode outside, aching to throw a few punches.
“Alexa, wait. I know you’re pissed, and you probably have a lot to-,”
I turned on him with a speed and precision that was alarming. Kale might have been taller than me, but my four-inch heeled boots gave me enough leverage to get into his face.
“How many of them were innocent?” I hadn’t meant for it to be the first thing out of my mouth. “How many people did I kill with you at my side that didn’t really deserve it?”
“Alexa, I-,”
“It’s clearly not about good and evil or what someone is. Somebody else is deciding who lives and dies. How could you sit by and let me get drawn into this, knowing how hard it is for me to deal with just being me? And, then you sit there in silence while I’m told that I’m a fucking pawn to some paranormal government! How can you be ok with being a part of all this?”
I clenched my fists so hard my nails cut into my palms. I felt the warmth of the blood trickling between my fingers. Kale’s gaze flicked to the blood dripping on the gravel parking lot then back to me. He paused, waiting to be sure I was going to let him speak.
“First of all, I signed on to this for my own reasons. I assumed that you had yours. I have no problem killing anyone who uses their power to abuse others or threaten me. That includes humans.” Kale didn’t back off. Instead he glared down into my face. “You have no idea how many times I’ve gone head to head with Veryl because of you. Did I know that he saw you as a fascinating addition to his team? Yes. But, I also happen to know you can take care of yourself.”
“Tell me then Kale, how can I do that when I don’t even know who I’m working for? The boss I have is a scumbag that has pulled strings in my life since I was a teenager. I thought I was killing the bad guys, you know? The ones that exist only to prey on the helpless, to kill without thought. Now, I’m not so sure.”