| |
––––––––
I COULDN’T BLAME MY unorthodox relationship with Drake as an excuse for him not paying me after each mission now. He saw us all once a week in a group instead of paying all of his bounty hunters after each job we did. I had to wait for three more nights before Ruen picked me up to take me to see our boss. Our meetings were scheduled before the new missions were given out.
“You’re late,” I said to my partner when he finally arrived an hour after he usually turned up.
“Something came up,” he said vaguely as I slid onto the seat next to him.
We’d had a job to hunt down a rogue weretiger last night. It had gone smoothly and I hadn’t even ruined my clothing for once. I’d chosen to wear my sexy black velvet dress tonight, since it always made the weredragon hot under the collar. It had been weeks since we’d been naked together. I wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to restrain himself. If it was up to me, I’d jump his bones every night. Since it wasn’t up to me, I had to take what I could get, when I could get it.
I was feeling too surly to sing along to the radio. Still angry about the plight of young fledgling vampires, I was in a belligerent mood. God help the monsters I had to hunt tonight if a mission came up. I was in the mood to tear heads from shoulders with my bare hands.
Ruen parked in his usual spot and we took the elevator up to the nineteenth floor. I sensed a dozen strong vampires long before we reached our stop. “Drake’s got some visitors and they aren’t our colleagues,” I murmured.
My partner flicked a look at me, then went on full alert when the door opened. Lady Galantine was among the master vampires who had come to see our boss. They were all seated over to the right, in the area where he met important people. Extra black leather couches and chairs had been provided for his guests to sit on.
The weredragon was lounging on a chair, holding court over the leeches. Our eyes met and he smiled slightly.
“We didn’t realize you had company, my lord,” Ruen said, holding the elevator door open. “Would you like us to wait downstairs?”
Lady Galantine looked me up and down in amusement, then whispered something to the snobby looking guy sitting on the couch next to her. The entire group burst into snickers, except for my boss.
“We should only be a few more minutes,” Drake said, giving his guests a disapproving frown for their rudeness.
“I hear you were responsible for rescuing our fledglings from the necromancer, Ms. Sterling,” one of the male masters said in a condescending tone.
“That’s right,” I said, stepping out of the elevator. Ruen sighed in exasperation when the elevator dinged in protest. He joined me and let the door close.
“It’s unfortunate that the necromancer sullied the women,” a female said with a look of distaste. “I had to have my servant scrubbed thoroughly.”
The anger I’d been trying to keep inside reared up. Ruen shook his head when he saw my expression change, but I ignored him. These twelve masters were supposed to be the elite among vampirekind in Nexus. I raked a scathing look across them all, noting their fine clothing and expensive jewelry. They starved their minions to keep them weak and controlled them with iron fists, while treating them like slaves.
Drake’s gold eyes glittered when I strode forward to confront his guests. The light shone on the blond tips of his brown hair, making them seem like they’d been dipped in gold. His short beard did nothing to hide his perfect face and his tailored black suit clung to his muscular body. It wasn’t easy to tear my gaze away from him, but I forced myself to focus on the bloodsuckers.
“Do you have something to say?” Lady Galantine asked in a patronizing tone.
“Yeah, I do,” I replied bluntly. “You should all be staked out in the sun to burn for the way you treat your covens.”
“How dare you speak to us like that!” she gasped in outrage.
“How dare you trick innocent humans into becoming your sex slaves?” I snapped back at her.
“The humans consent to become our servants,” one of the men said smoothly.
“Really?” I asked with heavy sarcasm. “Do you tell them they’ll be servants and what you’ll do to them when they’re under your control? Do you tell them they’ll be used like whores and passed around to whoever you choose?”
They exchanged uneasy glances, realizing I was extremely pissed at them.
“Are you going to allow your servant to speak to us in this manner, Lord Gilden?” Lady Galantine asked, aghast at my behavior.
“Ms. Sterling is my employee, not my servant,” Drake said.
“You need to rein her in,” a female master said coldly. “Tell her to behave, or I’ll do it myself.”
“Mind control doesn’t work on me,” I said. “Lord Gilden has tried and even he can’t control me.”
“It’s true,” my boss confirmed ruefully as Ruen wrung his hands next to me. My sidekick wouldn’t be able to lift a finger to stop me if I went off the deep end and I was growing increasingly close to it.
The female master stared at me and concentrated hard. She couldn’t penetrate my defenses and frowned. “It’s no business of yours how we conduct our affairs,” she said with a derisive sniff.
“I’m making it my business,” I said flatly. “It’s my job to kill monsters who abuse humans. You all fall into that category,” I said and reached into my kill-bag to pull out my mini crossbow and silver-tipped bolts that had been blessed by a priest.
“Lord Gilden, control your huntress!” one of the masters said as they sprang to their feet to cower away from me.
“If you kill them, their covens will be without masters,” the dragon said. “Chaos will reign and the humans will become aware of the supernatural community.”
“It’s bound to happen sooner or later,” I said with an unconcerned shrug. “I think I’ll shoot you first,” I said, pointing my crossbow at Lady Galantine. “You’ll never lie to another human and turn them into your puppet again.” I smiled cruelly and aimed my bolt at her bony chest.
“Wait!” she blurted, holding her hands up in desperation. “What if we make a pledge not to treat our fledglings like chattel?”
“This has always been our way,” one of her allies hissed. “In the past, we took the humans we wanted and used them as we saw fit. Now, we must convince them to join us, or be punished for breaking the rules.” His sneer reflected his feelings about having to follow modern laws.
“You’re second on my kill list, buddy,” I told him coldly. He blanched and stepped behind one of his peers.
“I may have a solution,” Drake said, showing no signs of alarm at the standoff.
“The only solution is to kill them all,” I said darkly.
“She can’t kill all of us,” someone muttered. “We can rush her and kill her before she can even blink.”
“I wouldn’t try it,” Ruen warned them when they tensed for action. “Ms. Sterling has uncanny reflexes. I once witnessed her kill an entire coven of vampires in mere moments.”
Their frightened eyes went to my boss at that news, searching for a way out of their dilemma.
