Night Calls - Nyx Slaughter Book 1 (17 page)

When I reach Sins, I stop waiting
for Sebastian to direct me to the location we are inspecting. I
don't notice we are not alone until a figure detaches himself from
the wall.

“Marcus, thank you for meeting us,”
Sebastian says offering to shake the man's hand.

“You call, I appear,” Marcus
replies taking Sebastian's and I watch some odd handshake between
the two of them. “I heard the rumors that you had taken up with
Slaughter. I see they are true.”

“Yes, my friend. That isn't really
a new development, however. She has been with me now for three
years. As you can imagine, our relationship has been kept a secret.
Wouldn't have been good for either of us, if that information was
leaked before she broke with the Collective,” Sebastian
explains.

“I heard there is a bit of a fuss
brewing about that. The Collective isn't exactly happy about losing
her,” Marcus informs us.

“Really? Must be why they tried to
kill me the other day,” I remark.

“I don't see them wanting to do
that. From what I heard, they want you back on their side, alive,”
he replies.

I look to Sebastian and he just
shrugs. Maybe they don't know about Alex and me and were just
sending in backup to secure him. Sebastian seemed sure that wasn't
the case and I trust his instincts, so I am still leaning towards
them wanting me dead.

“So, what can I do for you tonight,
Sebastian?” Marcus asks. “Oh, nice to see you again Smitty, it has
been a while.”

“I am in need of our strongest
vampires' help in protecting a precious package,” Sebastian
explains to him. “Long story short, Nyx here is a hybrid and is
connected to both myself and Alex Monroe. As you can imagine if
anything happens to her, our resistance movement will suffer
greatly from the three deaths.”

“I can see how that would be an
issue and will gladly help. I am guessing that is why you are
walking the streets with the mutts. I am a little surprised that
Alex chose Jonas to guard her. His distaste for all things
Collective is well known,” Marcus answers.

“Whatever Alex's reasoning, it is
his own. Against her will, Nyx is going to now have guards at all
times to ensure she is kept alive. Since she isn't fully vampire or
werewolf or even human, we don't know what will kill her. I would
like to ask for your assistance in being one of her permanent
guards opposite Smitty. There are few I can trust my love's life
with,” Sebastian says.

“I am in between missions right
now, so I am available,” he replies simply.

“Really? Just like that. No yelling
about how it is impossible for me to be a hybrid or how stupid
Sebastian has been for bonding himself to me?” I ask.

“I can smell that you smell of both
Sebastian and a wolf, so I know what has been said is the truth.
You are right that it should be impossible, but with the evidence
in front of me, I feel no need to argue. As for Bastian bonding
with you, I have known for some time he was infatuated with you, so
that doesn't come as a surprise either,” Marcus
comments.

“Infatuated? Sebastian? You have
got to be kidding,” I say.

“Oh no, I have never seen him like
this and we have known each other for close to six hundred years. I
have been in meetings with him where he was all business and then
your name would be brought up and the expression on his face would
totally transform and it wasn't to the one of disgust like most
people around the table were wearing. You could actually see how
much he cared about you and Sebastian has never deemed it necessary
to care about another. Sure, he has had women people would say he
loved, but it isn't the same. The emotion I have seen on his face
for you is borderline worship.”

“She did hang the stars and moon,”
Sebastian says grabbing my hand.

“I think I am going to be sick,” I
hear Jake say as he turns and makes gagging sounds.

“Now I am sorry I said anything.
Let's leave the mushy stuff for behind closed doors please. I don't
want Jake losing his dinner. Show me this other place, so we can
get back home and start working on schedules now that we have more
guards than I know what to do with,” I state.

“Sure, it is right there,”
Sebastian says pointing at the building to the left of
Sins.

On initial glance, I have to say I
like it a lot. It is similar to the other one, but instead of clear
glass allowing all to see inside, I can tell that the glass has
been given a smoked over treatment. I may not like my men
mysterious, but buildings I can deal with. Sebastian leads us in
and flips a light switch right inside the door.

“Explain,” I say taking in an
office space that is everything I ever hoped it could
be.

There is a nice waiting area to the
right as you enter the space with a half dozen comfy looking black
chairs, similar to the ones in Sebby's office. On the left, there
is a nice size desk where a reception type person would sit and
greet customers. On the wall opposite the entrance, is a door
leading to what looks like an office, judging by the desk and
computer I can see from here.

“I redecorated about a year ago
with you in mind. You know I always hoped you would leave the
Collective and this was to be my gift to you when you did,”
Sebastian says.

I wander back into the office and
see the desk matches Sebastian's with its green marble top. On the
wall behind the desk, is a collection of medieval looking weapons.
I see swords, daggers, maces, bows and arrows and a couple axes. It
is really an impressive collection and I imagine it is pretty
expensive.

I look down at the desk and see a
phone and a pile of business cards. I pick one of the cards up to
get a better look. On the left of the card, there is a picture of a
smoking gun that looks an awful lot like my Colt 1911. To the right
of it is my name in an elegant type that looks a little funny next
to the gun, but I still like it. Below the name, it says 'Have ax
will travel'.

I glance up to see Sebastian
staring at me expectantly. “It is perfect, but way too much. I
cannot believe you did all this.”

“One of these days, you will
realize I will do anything for you. Since you seem to like it, the
signage guys will be here in an hour or so to put your name on the
building. As promised, you cannot hear the music or noises from
next door. All I need is your word that you are ready to go to work
and my network of people will start spreading your name around. I
am sure that will bring customers to your door within a day or
two,” he states.

“I don't know how I can ever thank
you,” I say picking up the cell phone.

“I am sure some day we will figure
out a way,” he says with a naughty looking smile on his
face.

“Perv,” I tell him and make my way
towards him. I stand on my tiptoes and place my lips on his. What I
planned to be a short and sweet kiss, transforms into something a
lot steamier.

His tongue immediately asks
entrance by tracing my lower lip. I give up and allow him in.
Neither one of us wants to give over to the other, so we battle for
control of the kiss unaware of what is going on in the outside
world. I finally relent and allow him to take control. Eventually,
we both decide we need air to breathe and separate. I am a little
surprised to find that I have climbed up Sebastian and have my legs
wrapped around his waist. A very persistent and hard piece of him
is knocking at my core.

“Oops,” I say making motions to
climb down him.

“Just a second,” he says holding me
tight and breathing in deeply. “We are going to have to be more
careful.”

“It would seem that kissing should
be avoided,” I reply.

“I wouldn't say that, but we should
probably plan it out a little bit better. Poor Alex probably just
achieved a very unexpected hard on. Being in a triangle as
connected as ours makes everything more difficult.”

“I still don't get how this is
going to work between the three of us. I mean the dating part will
be doable, even though it will suck because I will always feel like
I am betraying you when I am with him, but the actual physical
relationships are what have me really worried,” I say.

“As you get to know him, I don't
think you will feel as bad. He is as much a part of you as I am. I
knew when I started the bond there may be a time where I would have
to share you. I have told myself that as long as the other guy
cherished you as much as I do, then I will be happy. You deserve
all the greatest things in this world, Nyx. I am hoping between me
and Alex we can provide them to you,” he answers.

He finally loosens his hold and I
climb down keeping eye contact the whole time. Sebastian is really
too good to be true and I am just afraid one of these days, the
other shoe will drop.

The rest of the night is spent
going over things with the guards. Where they were sleeping, who
was following me around when, and general rules on how to not get
on my bad side are gone over. Overall, they seem like an
interesting group. Jonas still dislikes me with a passion, but I
realized long ago I was never going to win any popularity
contests.

After our discussion, I am done for
the night, so I decide to hit the hay. The guys stay awake and if
Sebastian wasn’t with them, I imagine they would be plotting my
demise. I, on the other hand, fall asleep wondering how long it
will take me to lose them.

Chapter 18

Duty calls

I wake up the next day at four in
the afternoon. At some point, Sebastian joined me in bed, but is on
his stomach facing away from me. I think it will be funny if he
ever does decide to try to cuddle when I am already asleep. I am a
relatively light sleeper and don’t tend to like to be touched all
that much. Ryan tried to wake me up once and ended up getting a
black eye for his troubles. Maybe I should suggest Jonas be my
wakeup call one of these days.

I carefully make my way out of bed
to not disturb Sebby and notice black curtain type things
separating the bedroom area from the rest of the penthouse. I have
to say I like the idea, but right now, I really need to use the
bathroom.

I turn to the living area after I
finish my business. Jonas looks to be napping on one of the new
couches and Jake is watching something on TV.

“Anything good on? I usually don’t
wake up for a few more hours, so I don’t know what is on now,” I
say.

“Nothing really good. I am just
channel flipping until you get up. Jonas has been out for a few
hours now and I will be waking him shortly, so I can get a nap in,”
he replies as he powers off the television.

“I was hoping to head to my new
shop and see if I can start getting things organized. Sebastian
should probably head into work himself tonight, so I want to keep
busy,” I tell him.

“Hey Jonas, time to wake up,” Jake
says causing Jonas to immediately sit up and focus on his
surroundings. Can you say creepy?

“Good morning, Jonas. I trust the
new furniture is more comfortable than the old,” I say.

“I have no problem sleeping on
frozen ground, so anything is comfortable to me when I sleep,” he
says as his reply. Obviously, he didn’t have warm and fuzzy dreams
about me.

“Slaughter wants to go into work. I
can last a few more hours until the bloodsuckers wake up, but we
have to be in pairs. You good to go?” Jake asks Jonas.

“Sure. This place gets pretty
boring. I sincerely hope there are a couple more rooms Sebastian
neglected to tell us about. There is supposed to be a gym, but I
haven’t seen it,” Jonas replies.

“I have heard that rumor, too, but
have yet to be introduced. We will have to remedy that the next
time Sebastian is vertical. I am going to go get dressed and then
we can head out, if that is okay with you guys,” I say.

“Sounds good. That old scar never
did heal very well, did it?” Jake asks looking at the scar that
runs the length of my inner leg. Most people don’t see me in my
sleeping shorts, so really only the people who were there when it
happened know about it.

“Were you there or just heard about
it?” I question.

“There. Tommy always was a jerk. He
was huge compared to you and had full use of his werewolf strength.
Why he decided to slice you has always eluded me,” he
answers.

“You haven’t seen his best work,” I
say spinning around and lifting my shirt to expose my
back.

“Holy shit!” Jake yells. “That
isn’t something I ever heard about.” I am used to seeing the deep T
shaped scar that spans across my shoulder blades and down my spine
in a mirror, but other than Tommy, no one else has seen it. It is
something I have had to look at for the past four years.

“It was a private lesson in how big
of an asshole he really is. He claimed he didn’t want me to ever
forget him. One of these days, we will meet outside the Collective
and I will see just how tough he really is,” I say heading towards
the bedroom to get dressed.

There are a lot of demons from my
Collective past that one day will need to be exercised. Today isn’t
that day, so I have to keep focused on what is right in front of me
and not waste time planning gruesome deaths.