“You don’t think you’re going to get away, do you?” Catherine turned on me. “You, who let me confess my heartbreak to you about the very man you, yourself, are bedding,” she declared dramatically before holding a dainty hand to her mouth.
Passersby glanced briefly at the love triangle gone wrong. As a regular patron of the club, I was embarrassed to be involved in the dramatics. Of course, if I could escape the obsessive, manic vampiress unscathed, I could handle the judgmental humans.
“Hold on a minute, lady.” I held my hands up defensively and took an involuntary step forward. Damn my indignant nature. “Don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions. I never had any intention of taking the job, and I tried to refuse your money.”
“But, you already had my man. Why ever would you also need my money?” She crossed her arms and tossed her layered locks. “Tell me, Alexa, what would a magically enhanced wolf like yourself want with a womanizing pig like him?”
Catherine didn’t wait for me to answer. Instead, she sauntered down the remaining stairs until she stood directly in front of Arys. I was slightly envious of the five inches she had on me.
“I’ll go outside with you, lover, but don’t try anything funny. I’m not as unprepared as you might think.” Her black eyes scanned the both of us. “Underestimating me would be a big mistake.”
Arys looked pointedly at me, and I realized that he expected me to lead the way. That meant trusting him at my back with Catherine. In that moment, my worry kicked into overdrive, and I wondered if the two vampires weren’t in cahoots against little, old, mortal me. Did I really think that little of Arys? Well, kind of, yeah. But, considering the scenario at play, I had no choice but to turn and head for the exit.
I took in as much of the freely exuded energy in the bar as I could. It felt warm and reassuring. I knew that she had an unnatural boost, but I couldn’t be sure how psychically in tune she was. It wasn’t the same for all vampires. Arys felt me absorb the energy in the room, but I had a feeling that she couldn’t. Whatever was feeding her power, it wasn’t good.
Relief washed through me when I saw the empty alley out the backdoor of Lucy’s. Not even a group of smokers lingered nearby.
I was ready for her … or them. I turned so that my back was to the building, and I faced them both head on. I wasn’t afraid, not yet anyway. At this point, I was still more concerned with the mutilated body in the middle of town.
“Catherine, my love, why don’t you and I leave Alexa to enjoy her evening, while the two of us catch up?” Arys wasn’t fooling anybody, but he sure was trying hard.
His charm slid off Cat like water off a duck’s back. I suppose when you’ve danced with the devil for decades, you learn a few of his tricks.
A blast of red light streamed between the two vampires for a split second as she hit him with a shot of power. When it was dancing in the air around us, I could feel the witch magic mixed with her own. So, Cat had stocked up her arsenal before coming here.
I hadn’t sensed it in my office, so the magic had to be a charm or spell of some kind. I learned everything that I know about spells by watching Lena. I was really hoping that she wasn’t hopped up on black magic, the crystal meth of magic, more or less. It didn’t feel that dark, but one can never be too careful.
“Don’t you ever learn when to shut the hell up? I’m not going to play your game, so save us both the embarrassment.” Cat stalked to where Arys sat on his ass, dumbfounded.
She stood over him so that his gaze met her thighs, and he was forced to look up at her. An attack from behind, though good for me, wouldn’t be good for Arys, and I could hear Jez in my head asking why I was hesitating. I was a jumble of nerves, wary of that moment when she would go too far, and I would have to react.
“Did you really believe that I would never live to find you? I thought you knew me better than that.” She shifted slightly, so that he had to lean back to keep from touching her. Arys looked slightly pained, which I attributed to the proximity of her thighs, which were scarcely covered by her short, trendy dress. Despite the gravity of the situation, a nervous laugh broke free of me.
“What are you laughing at, wolf?” Suddenly, she half turned to face me and let loose with another metaphysical attack. I met it with the energy that I held hot and waiting.
The shot ricocheted back to her. A cloud of sparks erupted where the two energies met between us. The force threw her off her feet, to her knees in the dirt, which didn’t do much for her temper. When she got to her feet, her eyes blazed red. I shouldn’t have let her get back up.
A noise beyond the door of the club had me praying that Shaz would stay inside. I knew he wouldn’t have missed the three of us leaving through the back way. If he thought there was trouble, nothing would keep him inside.