Scarlet Masquerade (12 page)

Selene reached for her shredded jacket as her phone vibrated in the pocket.

“Yeah.”

“Selene, I got that information you wanted. The car is registered to a—”

“It doesn’t matter. He’s dead and—”

“What? What do you mean he’s dead?”

Selene heard Kevin choke out the response as she continued, “He’s dead. I just killed his sorry ass. He said he would rather die than go back and face his master.”

“Shit.”

“Look, he said that whoever sent him will send someone else. So you better come up with a plan for the little bird I’m watching, or I’m gonna be killing these guys ’til you do. You got it? So you go back to whoever hired me and tell him that.”

“Are you sure he said ‘him’?”

“Positive.” The silence on the other end of the line made Selene uneasy. Surely, Kevin had known this was a possibility. She was an assassin for god sakes. Her reputation wasn’t exactly stellar when it came to this sort of work. Besides, she had been hired to protect the woman in the house, and that is exactly what she did, protect.

“Can you make it look like an accident, Selene?”

“It’s gonna cost you more. This guy’s a fat son of a bitch.”

“Do whatever you have to. Just make it look like an accident.”

“Okay.”

Snapping the phone shut, Selene wiped her hands on the shredded jacket and cleaned off her dagger before putting it back in her boot. Wrapping the jacket around her waist she bent over and heaved the obese man onto her back. “Thank God it’s downhill.”

Kevin looked down at the closed phone, and then across the desk to A.J.

“That didn’t sound good.” A.J. turned the light off on her desk. It was starting to give her that rare headache she got from too much light exposure. She pushed her chair back staring at Kevin in the darkness. “Well, what happened?”

“Shit, A.J., this is getting messy. Selene killed the guy stalking Clarissa. He wouldn’t tell her who sent him, only saying that he would rather die at her hand than go back to his master.”

“Interesting.” A.J. stroked her chin as she leaned on the desk. A long sigh escaped her lips alerting Kevin she was pissed. “What the hell happened to Brax? I thought he was supposed to be watching Clarissa and Selene was watching both of them? Where was he when this whole thing went down? I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit.”

“Brax called me after Selene did asking for information on the same car Selene saw. So obviously he was there, too.” Kevin palmed his phone in a nervous gesture as he watched A.J.

“Nothing is obvious here, Kev, nothing. I want you to call Selene back and tell her to watch Brax real close. Something doesn’t add up. He should have been the one on top of this guy, not her. Her role was secondary, not primary, and that makes me wonder.” Again, A.J. sat back in her cool leather chair, her eyes closed as she thought about what she knew about tonight. She wasn’t surprised that Selene had killed the guy stalking Clarissa. What did surprise her was that Brax wasn’t around when it all happened. If that was the case, the stalker could have easily gotten to Clarissa, and Brax wouldn’t have been there to stop him. It was looking worse and worse by the minute, and she knew what she needed to do.

Jumping up, A.J. grabbed her keys and jacket heading for the door. “Didn’t you just tell Selene to make this guy’s death look like an accident?”

“Yeah, I figured that would buy us some time before whoever hired him realizes he’s dead. Why?”

“Cause that means Clarissa is unprotected, that’s why.”

“Brax is there.”

“If Brax was there, why didn’t he help Selene? If Brax was there, why didn’t he try to kill either one of them, especially since they were within yards of Clarissa’s house? Something isn’t right here.”

“What’re you going to do?”

Running down the hallway to the elevator she yelled back, “I’m gonna protect Clarissa and hope I don’t get caught in the process.” Punching the panel, she felt like ripping the doors back and vaulting down the shaft to get there quicker. It took everything she had not to, as she yelled back at Kevin running behind her, “Call Brax and find out where he is. Tell him security was breached and that Clarissa is down at the mall or something. I don’t want him anywhere near her until Selene gets back and we can check his story.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? I mean he’s been with us for decades. Come on, A.J. It’s Brax.” Chuckling nervously he continued, “I mean, shit, he’s our go to guy. He knows where the bodies are buried.”

“Exactly.” A.J. jumped into the elevator and inserted her over-ride key in the panel, punching the garage floor. “Call me when you know more.”

A.J. watched the floors clicking off the overhead panel thinking through the events of the evening again. Things had twisted out of control since seeing Clarissa in the bar last week, and this wasn’t the first time she had thought about how the events were spiraling out of control. But now things were getting messy. Someone, a seeker, was suddenly watching Clarissa, A.J.’s tangling with a seeker just the other night, and now an AWOL Brax. Thank God Selene had been there to prevent anyone from getting to Clarissa. But now Clarissa was alone, and unprotected. A.J. stopped as the elevator doors opened to the garage and realized Clarissa wasn’t just anyone. She was a vampire who had survived a century obviously without her protection.
That was before the events of last week though,
thought A.J.

Peering around the doors of the elevator, A.J. looked around the garage and then sniffed the air. Nothing. Closing her eyes she listened, trying to hear anything that might be out of place in her personal space. Slowly, she eased into the garage and pulled her keys from her charcoal slacks. She was determined she wasn’t going to be surprised again like she had in the park. She smiled when she thought about the ass-whipping she delivered to the unsuspecting seeker. Drugs were getting to be a problem for seekers and they couldn’t function like normal vampires, feeling each other’s energy and avoiding their fellow vamps. Sad really, thought A.J. keying the lock to her Land Rover. Seekers and gang bangers were going to be the death of each other and that was fine with A.J. The problem was, seekers could make more seekers before they died, while gang bangers just killed each other.

“Not my problem,” A.J. said, sliding into the black Rover. Keying her ear piece, she rang Kevin. “Hey, what have you got for me?”

“Well….”

“Kevin….”

“Look A.J., I’m doing the best I can. Brax isn’t answering his phone.”

“Keep trying. Let me know when you get him. I want to talk to him.”

“Okay.”

“And Kevin, call Selene and tell her to get back to Clarissa’s and let her know what we suspect about Brax so she’s prepared. Just in case.”

“A.J., I think you’re way off base here on Brax.”

“Wanna stake your life on it? Pun intended.” A.J. waited for Kevin’s reply. When she didn’t get one she keyed her ear piece again and tossed it on the seat next to her. “Kevin, you’re just way too trusting. You’re lucky you’ve made it this far.”

###

Clarissa tossed the rest of her students’ papers into her briefcase. It was an exercise in futility trying to grade them. She had been on edge ever since coming home from Knight Pharmaceutical and couldn’t concentrate. She had struggled to control herself as she sat talking to Kevin Alexander about the funding he was offering. The whole experience had put her into a frenzy and she was grateful Mr. Alexander had rushed their meeting. Something was off, and she felt it. Her soul felt it. Clarissa had thought that when she got home she would be able to work through her demons, but she was wrong. She was restless, hungry and wired. Nefertiti caught Clarissa’s attention pacing on the window ledge. Stopping, Nefertiti focused on something outside, alerted like she was when she was watching a mouse in the yard. Clarissa stood, walked to the window, and peered into the darkness. Suddenly, Nefertiti hissed and ran past her, hiding under the couch. Looking back outside again, Clarissa felt her skin prickle and a tingle shoot throughout her body, alerting her something was out there.

“Come here silly girl. What’s wrong?” Reaching down, she grabbed at Nefertiti just as the cat swiped her paw at Clarissa. “Hey, what’s gotten into you?” Pulling back, Clarissa felt her skin jump again. Now, she definitely knew something was wrong. Even the cat felt it. She wished she didn’t live so far out from town. At least being around people gave her cover. Living remotely provided the solitude she craved, but it didn’t afford her the luxury of having living energy around her to keep her safe. Bolting the doors wouldn’t keep anyone out that wanted in, but she checked her locks anyway. Turning the lights off throughout the house, she positioned herself by a window that gave her a decent view of the driveway and the front half of the house. If something was coming, she at least wanted to be prepared.

Things were changing around her and now she knew it was time for a move. Thinking about how many times she had moved, she knew that nothing lasted forever. Not friends, not lovers and not living arrangements. She considered giving her notice at the university and moving on. At least she had a while before she needed to make any permanent changes, hopefully.

For the fourth time in as many days, she felt like someone was watching her, stalking her. Looking out the window, she scanned the side yard. Nothing. Not a movement, not a sound, nothing. Maybe she was just being paranoid? Taking a deep breath and holding it, she heard it. A groan. Stepping back further into the shadows, she surveyed the yard again, squinting to try and block out the glowing light from the moon. The ominous shadows from the tree line did little to help assuage her fear. Another sound, a grunt, pulled her attention further back into the forest that bordered her driveway.

“Shit.”

Skirting the island in her kitchen, she made her way to the bedroom, tossed her robe and pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a sweat shirt. She knew if anything was going to happen, she was going down fighting. The recent events had left her too unsettled not to take whatever was happening outside seriously.
It could be an animal
, she reasoned. Living in the country, she had definitely seen her share of snakes, deer, and raccoons. Then she felt it again. Her skin was like an internal alarm lately and she knew enough to trust her instincts. Clarissa pulled a gun from the dresser drawer. The weight of it felt calming in her hand. Pulling the clip, she checked to make sure it was loaded. Nine rounds caught her eye as she slipped the clip back into the automatic, clicking it into place. As she pulled the slide, she heard another sound. This time it was different, like branches breaking.

“Fuck.”

The way her body was reacting she knew it wasn’t a mere human close by. It was a vampire. Clarissa gently slid the sliding glass door back and eased onto the porch. A gentle step and then another put her on the outskirts of her deck. Looking into the darkness, she still couldn’t see anything, but she definitely heard something now. The protection of the house had muffled the noises before, but now she could make out what sounded like a one-sided conversation. Someone was on her property, but not just anyone. Squatting down in the shadows, she listened as another groan reached her, then a thud. The smell of blood filled her senses and she felt a hunger start to control her. The thud, the smell of blood and a conversation told her that two people were close by. Standing still she tried to control her breathing, but the smell of blood was pulling her.

“Yeah.”

Clarissa stopped dead in her tracks. A woman’s voice drifted up the hillside. “He’s dead…”

Clarissa felt a panic race through her. Did the woman just say someone was dead? Now what was she going to do? Frozen, she waited. She couldn’t make out the rest of the conversation and she didn’t want to move. Whoever was down the hill was, hopefully, too busy to have heard her movements above them. She sat waiting in the shadows as she listened again.

“Thank God it’s downhill,” said the anonymous woman, followed by another grunt. Clarissa could hear footsteps walking and sliding down the hillside. When there were no more sounds, Clarissa slowly made her way to the side of the slope. Crouching down, she could barely make out the form of someone carrying something down to the street below. Letting the smell of blood guide her, she made her way to a partial clearing. It was clear there had been a fight. The leaves and broken branches gave away the evidence of the struggle. A dark patch caught her eye. Fingering it, she brought the stain to her nose and could smell the freshness of the blood. Snaking her tongue out, she sampled it and then spit it out. Clarissa’s stomach started to clench as the blood lingered on her tongue. She hated the taste of human blood. In fact the reaction was so visceral that she started to heave and puke. She had survived without human blood, but that hadn’t always been the case. When De Marcus changed her, he had forced her to consume, rather gorge, on the red gore. He told her it was her destiny and she should embrace what those whom he brought home gave so she could live. He invited his “lady friends” over for a party and would then force Clarissa to watch as he languished in the blood orgy. When he was finished, he would force her face into the lifeless body and make her finish his victim. Clarissa shuddered as she thought about the pain that had etched itself on each of his victims. The mask of beauty and suffering were never far from her memory when she thought about feeding. Focusing back on the dirty stain, Clarissa knew it was old blood.

Peering back into the darkness, she chastised herself for being so afraid. She had grown soft and weak in her advancing years, and now she had paid the price for not paying attention to what was happening around her. After tonight, she would be on her guard.

A.J. drummed her fingers on the steering wheel speeding through town towards Clarissa’s place. Her soul felt like it was drowning in her need for Clarissa. All she could think about since Clarissa had come to the office that day was how badly she wanted her. Her body ached. She was in a constant state of arousal since seeing Clarissa in the bar. A.J. would have to take care of business when she got home that evening. She had learned that the solitary life had certain requirements, and lately she had been meeting those requirements, a lot. A.J. shuddered through another phantom touch across her body, her nipples hardening at the memory of Clarissa.