The Heist (27 page)

“
What the
fucking hell do you think you’re doing? Keeping Belcastro’s son as
your own private blood donor? In your basement? Are you fucking
crazy — no, no don’t even answer that! Jesus fucking wept, Alicia
but you seriously have a death wish, you do realise that, yeah?”
Letting go of her elbow, he walked back over to Belcastro’s son,
checking his vitals, and tying his belt around his neck to stop the
blood flow.

“
You mind
filling me in on this shit, Sweetcheeks? I’m at a loss as to
explain this one. The robberies were one thing, but kidnap and
imprisonment?” Xavier’s voice was almost strangled with the effort
of remaining calm enough to talk to her right now. Every time he
thought he was making some sort of progress with her she threw him
a curveball.

Every fucking
time.

Moving to the
side, Alicia jumped up and perched herself on a wooden workbench,
her legs swinging like as if she didn’t have a care in the
world.

“
I have wiped
all of Belcastro’s family out over the years, he and Junior there
are the last of the line. I was using him to get information out of
him and as bait but then you and your grouchy ass came here,
kidnapped me and I forgot about him.” Her hands raised slightly as
her shoulders shrugged. “I don’t see the problem here.  But he
does taste vile! Drugs course through him.”

Xavier was pretty sure
his jaw had just hit the floor.

There weren’t
many times in his life that he was rendered speechless, not that he
was a great conversationalist, but he usually had some smartass
comments lined up internally for any given situation. Not this
time. Standing, listening to Alicia, his blood thundered in his
ears, and small flashing lights were swimming in his eyes.She was
going to drive him to a fucking coronary, he was convinced of
it.

“
You have been
wiping out an entire family? Is this some sort of hobby of yours?!”
Trying to make sense of the whole situation, Xavier stood rooted to
the spot, his face incredulous that this little female was turning
out to be some sort of serial killer.

“
You’ll
swallow wasps there soldier boy.” Alicia smirked as she saw the
expression on Xavier’s face, his green eyes were dark and staring
at her. “Yes Xavier, I have picked them off one by one, all
such tragic and misfortunate events, but none the less they all
died. Why did I do it? The Belcastros took my father and brother
from my Madre and she died of a broken heart and alone. The heists
and killings were all part of my master plan, avenge my family,
it’s rather quite simple.”

Alicia had
raised her legs so her arms were hugging them.  Not that she
was upset, she failed to see why Xavier had an issue with this. She
hadn’t killed them via her teeth like the predator she actually
was. No, the killings had been as if a mortal had signed their
death certificates.

Opening her
palm to Xavier she offered, “Lolly?”

Wiping a hand
over his face, he processed the information. She hadn’t killed for
sport or fun.   

She had been avenging her
family.

Xavier looked
over at Alicia, as she sat almost innocently, recounting to him the
horrors of her history. It struck him just then how strong and
brave she was — not because she was a female, fuck some of the
fiercest warriors he had ever faced in battle had been of the
so-called ‘fairer’ sex.  No, it was the way she conducted
herself, the determination and intelligence she showed with the
planning and execution of her revenge. She was cunning and
ruthless, but not at the expense of her own humanity or character.
Alicia didn’t speak as though she was bitter and twisted, or act
like she was some sort of victim.

No, she was merely
re-paying in kind what had been done to her and her own.

He admired
that above all the other qualities he had come to respect about
her. After an elongated silence, Xavier walked over to Alicia, his
fingers threading through her hair, as he tilted her head up to
look back at him.  

“
I had agreed
to a partnership to go after the Belcastros after they issued a
death warrant on you for the thefts, and I found out just what
their business dealings consisted of. We had a mutual enemy in
them. However, after what you have said to me today it changes
everything. Will you allow me to assist you in exacting your
revenge, for the murder of your family, Alicia Carberletti? It
would be my Honour,” his voice was sincere as he let the silk
tendrils fall from his fingers.

“
You would do
that for me, help me I mean?” Alicia saw Xavier in a different
light for a moment at his revelation of offering his assistance,
for once she didn’t want to piss him or fight…she actually wanted
this, his help.

Jumping down
from the bench, Alicia stood in front of Xavier, looking up at him
she offered him her hand. “Play time!”

Xavier’s wolf
was triumphantly howling as he held her delicate hand in his rough,
huge one, his fingers wrapping tightly around hers.

“
I take it
you are wanting to give a message to the old man Belcastro via
him,” he said tilting his head to the side, indicating Belcastro’s
son still slumped on the chair. “Then I propose we get creative!”
Grinning down at Alicia before reluctantly letting go of her hand
to take off his jacket and t-shirt.

As he caught
her eye, he laughed, “I don’t want to get them even bloodier now,
do I?” He wondered for an instant whether she would do the same
with her top, but then chastised himself.  Whatever happened
to him being a gentleman?

“
Huh um ha?
Oh yeah, of course, bloody clothes. Right!”

Alicia darted her head
away quickly before she was caught staring at the perfect sculpted
torso of her bodyguard, the dog tags sitting perfectly in front of
the sandy blond hair that covered his chest.

“
I want it
filmed and the message delivered that his bloodline is gone! Any
ideas Commander?” Alicia’s arms were snaking behind her neck as she
grasped her hair into a ponytail and secured it in a band that was
on her wrist.

“
In Greece,
where I’m from, there’s an alcoholic drink called Raki.  It’s
like absinthe, but can be more effective - do you have any?”
Grinning at her, he started inspected the tools she had laid out on
the table to the far end of the basement.  Cleaning a blade on
his thigh, he looked over his shoulder. “I think a little slice and
burn for starters, yeah?”

As Alicia
went to get the bottle of alcohol, Xavier found the camcorder. He
spent a few minutes figuring out how to set it up, getting a few
good shots of up his nose and close ups of his groin, before
setting it on the tripod in front of Belcastro’s son. When she
returned, wiggling the bottle in one hand, he took it off of
her.

“
You’d best
wake up sleeping beauty there, so we get the full
effects.”

“
I knew it! I
thought he was Greek.” Not aware of her little outburst, Alicia
grinned. “Can I wake him up or would you like to do the
honours?”

Giving a
wicked smirk, Xavier bowed over-dramatically and then started to
remove Belcastro’s son’s shirt as Alicia released her hold on him
and he woke up, cursing and shouting threats at them.

“
Seems like
the canary likes to sing, Sweetcheeks. Shall we see if he can do
Soprano?”

The blade in
Xavier’s hand had barely touched the flesh of the male before he
started screaming in pain. Hesitating he looked over at
Alicia.

“
This one is
definitely a screamer,” he said before laughing again and
inflicting several strategically placed small slits in the torso
and upper arms of Belcastro’s son. Taking the Raki, he took a
swig from the bottle, winked over at Alicia and then started to
carefully pour some over the small wounds, watching as the alcohol
ripped them apart to gaping wounds and the howls of pain coming
from Belcastro’s son.

Alicia looked
over at him questioningly, so he explained.

“
You see,
there is an art to torture. The cuts?” He shrugged, “Small, minor
and insignificant on their own, but pour Raki on them and the
alcohol and ethanol makes the skin tear open, and the fresh blood
feels as though it’s on fire! Want to try?”

Holding the
blade and bottle out towards Alicia, Xavier took a step back to
give her room.

Alicia gave Xavier a huge
smile, the first time that he saw her dimples properly.  It
was the first genuine smile that he in fact saw from her, her eyes
were shining as she took the blade and the bottle from
him.

“
Just so
we’re clear, I’m not drinking it...yeah?”

Laughter
filled the air as she mimicked his word.
Throwing his head back, laughing, Xavier was enjoying
himself. His face seemed younger, his worries dissipating as he
watched Alicia at work. She had a playful glint to her eyes when
she looked at him, and he wished that they had met under different
circumstances.

He may be her bodyguard,
but what he would do to guard that body with his all night
long....

Xavier was
finding it increasingly difficult to keep his sordid thoughts to
him and his wolf, who had decided to hang around for the show, and
in the process seemed to be magnifying his need to be with her at
any cost.

“
You never
know, Sweetcheeks, you might develop a taste for some Greek
liquor.” Arching a brow, hoping that his double entendre hit its
mark, he picked up a set of car jacks and a battery, placing them
on the floor.  “Do you have a basin?”

As Alicia nodded and
pointed her finger, he strolled off in the direction indicated and
returned with a plastic basin filled with tepid water.

Removing her
leather jacket from her shoulders, Alicia then secured it around
her waist, her black vest top untouched of any blood spray from her
captive. Flicking her wrist gently so her bracelet slid up her arm
a little she walked silently around the chair a couple of times,
her small pink boots having been customised to remove all tread
marks.

Belcastro Jr
was screaming and shouting as he tried to wriggle around in his
seat.

This merely amused Alicia
as she stopped her movements to still. She may be smaller than the
average mortal but she had her vampire strength and in a swift
motion, her slender arms were hooked around his neck as she tilted
him backwards looking down into his eyes.

“
Xav… he’s hurting my ears here, please make him shut up will
you?” Alicia slowly ran her tongue over her fang as she stared down
at Belcastro Jr. “Now, my bodyguard here is going to teach you a
lesson, one sound from you will only make it worse
capiche
?” Alicia kept
her hold around Belcastro Jrs’ neck as Xavier made his way over to
them.

“
Best get him
ready for his big scene in front of the camera, Sweetcheeks. We
want him to do his best when Daddy watches, yeah?”

Clamping one
set of jacks to the battery and the other to the toes of
Belcastro’s son, Xavier threw a piece of wood up to Alicia for her
to catch. “Put that in his mouth so he can bite down on it,” he
said, giving her a wicked grin as he placed Belcastro’s son’s feet
in the basin of water.

As Alicia
forced Junior’s mouth open and shoved the piece of wood into his
mouth, she stepped away from him jumping back up on the worktable,
and pulling out a fresh lollypop, intrigued as to what Xavier was
planning.  She had never shared this side of herself with
anyone before, and yet somehow it felt natural and normal to share
it with Xavier.

Xavier’s eyes followed
the form of Alicia’s mouth as she sucked and rolled the lollypop,
perched up on the worktable.  Her hollowed cheeks made her
large inquisitive almond shaped look bigger, and he was unaware
that he was growling under his breath.  Suddenly, he was
rudely interrupted by the muted gurgling from Belcastro’s son, and
he turned his attentions back on the job at hand.

“
I think this
asswipe is ready for his close-up.”

Xavier
laughed as he repositioned the camcorder to capture the whole of
Belcastro’s son in shot.  Finally satisfied that he had it
right, he switched on the battery and took out a stick of gum as he
leaned back on the wall next to the table Alicia was sitting on.
Sparks started shooting out from the battery and the water basin,
as Junior jerked and jolted, his fingers and toes curling as his
face contorted, blood trickling from his nose and the corners of
his lips. The force of the electricity was so strong, that
Belcastro Junior’s head was thrown backwards as his spine arched
almost off of the seat of the chair. The seat toppled to the side,
landing the twitching body in a thud on the floor, the upturned
water basin soaking the boards underneath him.

Giving a wink
and a smirk to Alicia, Xavier chewed his gum and grabbed the handle
of a broom, using the wood to turn the battery off, ensuring he
kept away from the live wires.

“
I guess you
could say he has an electrifying personality.”

The air was
charged with electricity, which Alicia presumed was coming from the
electrocution that had just taken place and nothing to do with the
fact that she and the Commander was both standing still staring at
each other.