The Last Slayer (24 page)

“So all this has been for my own good?” My hands began shaking, and I curled them into fists. No weakness in front of the enemy. “I must seem awfully young to you—almost a baby even—but I’m twenty-seven years old, and where I come from that means I’m capable of making my own decisions. I don’t need some scheming dragonlord to handle me.”

“You’re being unreasonable.”

“Yeah. Unreasonable. All because I don’t care for lies, especially ones dressed up as being
for my own good.”
I stood up. “I’m going home,” I said, then remembered my condo was blown to pieces and swore. “Well…not home, thanks to you. Still, I’m outta here.”

“They will come after you.”

“Great! Let ’em. At least they’re honest about what they want.”

As I intended, each word hit him hard. He flinched, but somehow I didn’t feel any satisfaction.

I began walking away. I was going to find some way off this floating rock. Commandeer an amphitere if I had to. I sensed rather than saw Ramiel rise to his feet behind me.

“Ashera, your home isn’t down there. It’s at Eastvale.”

“No,” I said without looking back. “No dragonhold is my home. This is your world.”

There was a frisson of magic and Ramiel appeared in front of me, blocking the archway.

“Get out of my way,” I said.

He didn’t budge. I clenched my teeth. It was his dragonhold, but he had no right to keep met here against my will. For my own good or not.

“I
said
get out of my way!”

My body flushed with fury, and without any incantation my sword suddenly appeared in my hand. I swung, moving instinctively. If he wanted a fight, I’d give him a fight. I’d chop off an arm to join that wing Nathanael had removed. Or maybe his lying tongue.

My blade cut the air cleanly, but stopped with a jarring clash when he countered my move without even shifting his feet. His steel caught the morning sunlight, reflecting it into my eyes and making me squint.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said.

“Now I’m
ridiculous?”
I took a step back, blinking. “Let’s see who’s really ridiculous.”

“I don’t want to fight.”

“Funny way of showing it.” My teeth bared in an ugly smile. “Maybe you should’ve adopted a more honest approach. You know…like any normal person. But wait, you’re not even human. I guess being a demigod really puts you above everything—morals, ethics, honesty…everything.”

His eyes darkened. Anger swirled in their depths before they become blank. “Not a wise thing to say, now that you’re one of us.”

“Never claimed to be wise, and I’m certainly
not one of you!”

I made the first move, and a mad dance of steel began. Ramiel held back while I attacked. Wyverns landed around us, forming an arena, and I knew that even if I somehow beat him, I’d have to cut my way out of Besade. I wondered how many I could kill now that I had a heartstone.

The sun climbed higher in the sky, its movement languid. Sweat tasted salty on my tongue. I lost count of the blows we’d exchanged. My blouse clung to my skin, but Ramiel wasn’t even sweating. He looked as if he were doing a routine morning exercise, nothing more. My joints warmed, and blood pumped into my muscles. I felt as strong and quick and tricky as I ever had. But I couldn’t advance past him, and he didn’t push me back. At the rate we were going we’d have fought forever, like Besade’s bas-relief figures.

Finally, Ramiel shifted and made a long thrust at the hollow of my neck. I gasped. Although we were fighting in earnest, at some level I didn’t think he’d actually go for my life. I lunged backward and raised my sword from below to fend it off. I angled my head, just so, to avoid the rising tip of his sword and getting my jaw split in half.

Ramiel dropped his sword and jumped toward me. Before I could blink, his hands closed over my wrists. He squeezed until my blade slid from my grip and hit the ground, and then his weight brought both of us down. He twisted so that he absorbed most of the impact of the fall and rolled us over and over, away from our weapons, stopping when I was on the bottom.

Seeing their liege victorious, the dragons surrounding us gave a mighty roar and took flight. My chest rose and fell rapidly. The scent of rich soil and crushed mint mingled with man and sweat. The sun cast a platinum halo around his hair, which framed his face and fell around my head like curtains. He wasn’t even breathing hard.

“Let me go,” I said, trying to jerk my wrists from his grasp.

His teal-green eyes bore into mine. I struggled against him. Instead of trying to squash my resistance, he kissed me.

People talk about it, of course—the rush of intense sensitization to everything around you after a battle. But that was the first time I’d really felt it. Ramiel’s kiss, coming so soon after we’d been at each other’s throats, was like a firebrand and sent my blood singing.

His lips on mine were hungry and demanding. His tongue probed my mouth and savored me. He tasted of wine, berries and something I labeled lust. I refused to consider another four-letter word that began with
L
. He held my wrists over my head. The helplessness of my situation added to my excitement. My sex grew damp. I’d never allowed someone to exert any dominance over me, and it provoked a fierce sense of freedom.

He rubbed his erection against the juncture of my thighs. A small moan escaped through my clenched teeth. Ramiel’s mouth created a warm trail down my jaw, toward the sensitive skin of my neck. His breath felt so hot against my bare skin, I almost flinched. My pulse beat rapidly, like a trapped animal, and the air caught in my throat.

He imprisoned my wrists with one hand and with the other ripped my blouse open. Buttons popped and flew away as if shot from catapults. His free hand fumbled with my pants while his mouth suckled an exposed nipple. My back arched, my legs rubbing restlessly against his.

I wanted him.

The need startled me. Didn’t I hate him for his deception? How could my body surrender to his so shamelessly?

He finally pushed my pants down my legs until they bunched around my ankles and tied me further. He grabbed a wrist in each hand and went down on me.

God, the ecstasy!

It was as if he existed solely to pleasure me and I to receive it, revel in it. My toes actually curled. His tongue and mouth suckled and licked the swollen lips of my labia. Then they moved up and waves of pleasure were washing through me so violently I thought I’d snap in half.

He was breathing hard. He licked his lips and flipped me over before I had a chance to come down from the heights of orgasm, entering me smoothly from behind. I gasped at the invasion, thick and imperious. My face rubbed against the soft dark soil, and its rich scent filled my nostrils. I wanted more, and he gave it to me, harder and faster.

I convulsed again, and he finally let go and joined me with a guttural cry. The sweat on his skin mingled with mine when he fell on top of me.

Raw Sex crackled in the air. He gathered it carefully and gave it to me. I opened an eye.

“You can keep some,” I said in a hoarse voice I didn’t recognize as my own.

He shook his head mutely.

Power rushed into my body, causing my heartstone to pulse more strongly. But the magic of the moment disappeared just as quickly as it had come. Suddenly feeling exposed and vulnerable, I struggled under him until he lifted himself off me. I covered my body with my hands and sat up. My suit was irreparably damaged. Again.

The problem was that Ramiel had yet to force me to do anything I didn’t want. He’d said he wouldn’t, and he’d kept his word, regardless of my protests to the contrary. I’d wanted his body. I’d wanted to save Valerie no matter what. I’d wanted to see Leh.

And I was having a hard time accepting that I’d done all this on my own despite what I knew about the supernaturals and their devious ways.

God I still wanted his body.

“I have to go.” I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t.

“Ashera—”

I shook my head, keeping my eyes on the ground. If I looked at him, my resolve might weaken.

And that was the damnedest thing. Our bodies were made for each other, but when it came to the thing that mattered the most—trust—we were such a miserable failure that the knowledge burned like a hot poker. Weird how when I looked at him, I saw more than a terrific roll in the hay. I wouldn’t have given a damn about all this if my attraction for him hadn’t gone beyond the physical. But who was I kidding? It could never work. I was too stubborn, and he was too arrogant. He was a demon, and, for better or worse, I was a hunter. We weren’t meant to reach any compromise.

There was no middle ground.

“I’m sorry. I need to get Valerie,” I said. “This…isn’t enough to keep me here.”

“So there’s really nothing to tell?”

It had been over an hour since we’d left Besade, and Valerie had been rather patient. I’d expected the inquisition to start sooner.

Dressed in a white Armani robe, she looked like a fairy snow queen holding court. Her living room was decorated with furniture of the palest ivory. Every shelf held silver-framed photos of Valerie with Jack or her friends or her current boyfriend. Some even had me—well, the old me. In an odd way it made me feel special, because she didn’t like having ugly things in her home, and I was definitely ugly in the photos. She didn’t keep things she didn’t like, either. Pictures of her boyfriends were always burned the second the relationship ended. Valerie didn’t believe in carrying excess baggage.

Her bare feet rested on a birch coffee table with a glass top, ruby red toenails startling against the paleness of the wood. Since my condo was now nothing more than a charred pile of rock and lumber, she let me crash at her place, and I preferred that to a hotel room. I watched her as we sipped white wine together. It was our small treat before work, especially given all the things we’d had to put up with. Out of everyone I knew, she had the best collection of wine. I always enjoyed it, and today was no exception. Drinking dry Riesling reminded me of Toshi and his melon wine, though. I was going to miss him.

“Nothing, other than, well, you know.” I gestured at myself, feeling like a fraud. But I didn’t want to discuss my relationship with Ramiel or the outlandish warning by the Advisors or my encounter with Leh and Nathanael. Ramiel and I had no relationship worth discussing, I didn’t believe the Advisors’ mumbo jumbo, and who my mother’s current lover was—that was nobody’s business.

“Well, your voice is still the same. Eyes too, of course.” She pursed her lips slightly. “But if your mother is a slayer, doesn’t that make you one? I thought they were matriarchal.”

“I guess…” Except Ramiel had called me a dragonlady, not a slayer. I had no idea why that would be unless I was a dragonlord’s daughter.

But was I?

The lack of hard information was beginning to irritate me. Nobody in the supernatural world had wanted to tell me much except for two things: my mother was the last slayer and I wasn’t the Triumvirate of Madainsair’s favorite person. I wanted a little more biographical data than that if it turned out that I wasn’t who I thought I was all this time.

But Ramiel’s lies had forced me to go along with him instead of getting the answers I’d wanted so dearly. Every time I’d been tempted to make him explain himself, I’d had to consider whether it would be worth delaying getting the antidote for Valerie. His deception had forced me to agree to Nahemah’s offer—which I would’ve never done under other circumstances—and then when I’d finally managed to see my mother, all too soon I’d had to leave instead of spending more time with her.

He’d played me brilliantly. And I was the idiot who’d been played. If what I’d done so far hadn’t been enough for his mysterious vow, he was shit out of luck. I wasn’t jumping through any more of his hoops.

Valerie took a sip of her wine. “It’s so strange seeing you blonde. And supernaturally gorgeous. And pale.” She glanced at her hand. “Ugh, look at how disgustingly pasty I am. We should go to the beach. Get some sun. We totally deserve it after what we’ve been through.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“And tonight, we should hit some karaoke bars. Stir up a little trouble.”

I nodded.

Valerie grinned at me, but then the grin faded and an awkward silence descended. After a few moments I started feeling sad. We used to be able to talk about anything, but I was afraid we were different now.
I
was different.

Finally Valerie sighed. “Well, I guess we need to go in.”

“I know.”

“You think Andersen’s going to be upset?”

“Uh…probably not.” I took a deep breath. “I have a feeling he’s in league with some of the dragonlords.”

Valerie cocked an eyebrow.

I shrugged. “Just a feeling.”

“I didn’t know you could tell things like that.”

“Seem to be sharper since visiting Besade. You know, my super sixth sense.”

Since the acquisition of the heartstone, all my senses seemed to be keener, more immediately accessible. Physically I was quicker and more precise in my movements, with a degree of control that hadn’t been there before. I was also getting very strong feelings about certain things, most of which were turning out to be true. I’d known about the fake Ramiel, of course, but there were other things as well. What would happen if I got a second stone? Could I become a full-time day trader? That would be amusing. The SEC would accuse me of insider trading—there were laws against using magic for that kind of thing. But they forbade seers, not demigods.

“What’s so funny?” Valerie said.

“Nothing.”

“Are you going to go in dressed like that?” Valerie looked at my dirty suit meaningfully.

“Do I have a choice?”

“I can give you something.” A faint smile curved her lips. “Everyone’s going to want to know your plastic surgeon’s name. And your hair stylist’s.”

I laughed in spite of myself. Count on Valerie to cheer me up.

She dragged me to her walk-in closet and lent me a pink Armani pantsuit, which fit perfectly. It was a little eerie to think my proportions were now the same as hers, the buxom man-killer. Even her CFM stilettos fit. Damn. I twisted my long blond hair into a simple updo and plunged a stick through it. Living with Valerie had taught me how to manage a few styles I’d never had any use for before.

Valerie appeared in a skirt suit. “Well! Aren’t you the stylish one?”

I rolled my eyes. It had been her longtime goal to reform my “frumpy looks.” Apparently, unless you owned suits that cost at least a thousand dollars apiece, you were frumpy.

We called a cab and took it to the office. Her convertible was still in the parking lot, sparkling like a giant ruby in the sun.

The security guard stared as we walked up. I swear to god he’s secretly in love with Valerie, although she never seems to notice.

“Morning, Edward,” she said.

“Good morning, Valerie. Some great weather to start the workweek off right, huh?” He smiled, but it was the expression of a guy who knows he doesn’t stand a chance. The man was sad. Then he noticed me and his weak-chinned jaw hung open.

“Good morning, Edward,” I said with a nod like always.

“Good ah.” He swallowed. “Good morning. You need to sign in.” He pushed the visitor’s log toward me. “I’m guessing, uh—” he glanced at Valerie, “—you’re visiting Valerie?”

“No. I work here.”

He blinked. “I’m sorry?”

Valerie put an arm around my shoulder and winked at him. “It’s Ashera. Doesn’t she look absolutely wonderful?”

He swayed a bit, and I felt a twinge of pity for him. Valerie laughed as we walked away, the sound trilling like small marbles rolling on a silver tray. I sighed.

We walked through the lobby doors and into the waiting elevator. “You’re getting popular now. How does it feel to strike a man dumb?” Valerie said with a smirk.

“Irritating.” I huffed, although a teeny little part of me was thrilled. “I haven’t changed at all inside. I’m still me. It’s stupid that he acted that way just because I’m blonde or whatever now. How freaking shallow.” The thrilled part really was teeny. I swear.

“Oh, puhleese. You’re not the you from the day before yesterday. Trust me.”

I had a feeling that she was right.

Sandy gave us a concerned smile when we reached her desk on the ninth floor. “Valerie! Are you okay? We heard you were hurt, and I was so worried! Well, we all were.”

What an ass-kisser.

“I’m fine, thanks to Ashera.” Valerie tilted her head in my direction.

Sandy looked at me, her green eyes curious. The angle of her head exposed her neck and allowed a small tendril of red hair to escape from behind her ear. “Ashera? That’s an unusual name. One of our partners is—”

“It’s me, Sandy.” My voice hadn’t changed with my appearance, and certainly the tone was the same as before.

She glanced at Valerie, then back at me. “Ashera?”

“The one and only.”

Her mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. She blinked. It gave me a great deal of satisfaction.

“How…?”

“A long story,” I said. “Stop staring. It’s rude.”

She snapped her mouth shut and quickly looked away. “I just—”

“Is Jack in?”

“No. He’s in London on business. He’s due back on Friday.”

Classic Jack. Nothing he could do about his daughter’s situation, so he flew off to make the firm some money. I guess it also showed how much he trusted me—a realization that always brought me up short and made me feel warm inside.

Then again, maybe he just thought it would take me at least a week to sort things out. Who knew what went on in his head?

“Valerie!”

The voice was familiar, and I cursed silently. It belonged to a Federation of Mageship enforcer, Jim Haddock. Tall, lean and with a golden choirboy handsomeness, all the nice packaging still couldn’t hide the fact that he was a fricking weasel. I guess the Federation hadn’t wasted any time in sending someone to investigate the psyche death of “Selena” the demon. But why did it have to be Jim? He and I…well, let’s just say that we had our history. It warmed my heart to see that his hairline was receding.

“Hey.” He beamed at me. “Are you new?”

“Go away, Jim.” He was bisexual—an equal opportunity man-slut.

“Uh, have we met?”

“You stole a boyfriend from me once.”

His smile faltered, and he frowned. Guess that didn’t narrow it down much for him.

“Can’t talk to you,” I said. “Not until our lawyer gets here.”

“Huh?”

Valerie tugged at his sleeve. “It’s Ashera,” she said in a stage whisper.

“And?”

Note to self: never overestimate the enforcers’ intelligence. If they’d been smart enough to make it in the private sector, they wouldn’t be low-level bureaucrats.

“Ashera. Del Cid. Do you know any other Ashera working for the firm?” I said.

“Ashera del Cid…that skinny neurotic hunter you got?” He laughed, actually slapping his hand on Sandy’s desk. “That’s funny. Really funny. And it’s gonna get funnier when I recommend that the Federation revoke her license.”

“Be nice, Jim,” Valerie said.

I turned to her. “Mind if I pulverize him?”

“I don’t think our lawyer would like that.”

Jim straightened. “No more jokes. We’ve got some serious business to attend to here.” He paused and looked at me hard. “Say…you have an interesting aura. What’s your specialty?”

The elevator chimed and the firm’s lawyer stepped out of it. Talk about being saved by the bell; it was the only thing that stopped me from turning Jim into a rabbit…or a cockroach. I’d never studied spells like that, but I knew if I willed it now, I could make it happen.

The thought of watching a little blond roach scuttle around was so sweet I could almost taste it. I took a breath and slowly let it out.

Our trusty counsel Shark lumbered over. That wasn’t his real name, of course. But it was all anyone ever called him. A big beefy guy, dark skin, not a strand of hair on his bullet-shaped head, soulless black eyes and a grin that could give you nightmares. The fancy Italian suit and wingtips did nothing to disguise the fact that this man was a latter-day barbarian, totally unconcerned with right or wrong. He crushed the other side because he could. And because we paid him to.

“Stay away from my clients. It’s illegal for you to hassle them when I’m not present,” Shark said, his voice as smooth and dangerous as my katana blade. I smiled inwardly. He was going to make Jim pay. Dearly.

Jim glared at him. “They didn’t ask for you.”

“Not what I heard.” Shark turned to Valerie and me. “Good morning, Valerie. And you are…?”

“Ashera del Cid. Good to see you.”

Shark blinked once. Then again. He leaned in and sniffed. “Valerie, you can do glamour like this?”

“Nope. Not my magic,” she said. “Come on, people. Let’s go inside.”

***

It wasn’t too bad. As those meetings go.

The conference room dripped with old money. A lot of dark wood and leather, just like all the other conference rooms on the floor. I leaned back in my chair and did my best to look bored. It was Shark’s show.

As always, he was awesome. It began with some verbal sparring. A slow circling, waiting for the opponent to slip. Then the attack. He made Jim sweat a lot and back off. Maneuvered him into acknowledging that the astral death hadn’t been my fault. Self-defense, exceptional circumstances, yada yada. Jim ended up signing a bunch of legal documents Shark had prepared. I bet that Federation weasel wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon.

Jim left with his tail between his legs, and a warm fuzzy feeling washed over me. Moments like this made me appreciate the firm’s deep pockets. Because money really did buy a lot of things. Including humiliating the guy who’d mocked you and stolen your boyfriend, and establishing once and for all that you did nothing wrong.

Valerie walked out to attend another meeting, and I stayed behind to sign forms. Shark leaned back in his chair, watching me with those enigmatic eyes. “You doing anything this evening?”

“Uh…not sure. Why?”

He just looked at me. I stared back. Maybe he didn’t know, but hunters can’t read people’s minds. Having a heartstone didn’t change that.

Then it hit me. He was asking me out.

I was completely thrown. Shark was—no pun intended—a real catch. He was rich, handsome in his own way, very compelling. And normal…at least compared to someone like Ramiel. I couldn’t figure it.

“Uh…actually, I have…plans.”

“Unfortunate.” Shark’s eyes remained steady. “I was thinking of dinner at Morton’s, maybe buying you a rock afterwards.”

My jaw dropped so fast it was a miracle that it didn’t hit the table.

“Maybe next time.” He smiled, showing me more teeth than Toshi had. “Catch you on the flip side.” He took the signed papers from my numb hands and left.

A few minutes later, Valerie peered inside at me. “You all right?”