Night Calls - Nyx Slaughter Book 1 (2 page)

As Ryan is my best friend inside
the Collective, Hawk is my best friend outside. If it came down to
it, I would love for Hawk to be more than just a friend, but we
both know that isn't possible. It's a little odd how connected I
feel with Sebastian.

We met about three years ago during
one of my first missions. I tracked the vampire, whose name I don’t
even remember, to Sins and froze when I first got a glimpse of what
really went on inside the building. At the time I was a
nineteen-year-old rookie that hadn’t even thought about kissing a
boy, so my brain took a little while to process things.

I knew the basics. Boy meets girl.
Boy falls in love with girl, although rumor is love isn't a
requirement. Boy ends up sticking appendage between his legs into
any hole the girl lets him. Even that knowledge does not prepare
one for Sins

In my frozen state I heard a
whisper behind me. “A newbie, how nice. Do you find anything
appealing?”

I turned around to face away from
the chaos and found a pair of onyx eyes staring back at me. They
drew me in like they were delving into my soul to find all my
hidden secrets. I had no idea how long I stood there as he studied
me, but I finally shook myself out of it to take in the rest of the
man standing before me.

He was probably almost a foot
taller than me, making him around 6’4” and had a pale face with
very Roman looking features. His shoulder length hair was black to
match his eyes and his lips had an unnatural redness to them. I
knew instantly he was a vampire and thankfully not the one I was
after. He could have killed me ten times over as I stood there like
an idiot. He looked not much older than me, but had this sense of
age about him. He had to have been the most beautiful man I had
ever seen.

“I can help you find who you are
looking for, but I do ask that you please take the killing outside
of my place of business,” he told me in a velvety smooth
voice.

“Crap. I cannot believe I came in
here with my guard down. What a rookie mistake,” I said chastising
myself. I had trained for years with a mind reading vampire within
the Collective just so instances like this one don't happen. Put a
little porn in front of me and evidently that training went
straight out the window. Thankfully, over the years, that was the
only time I met Sebastian without my walls securely in
place.

“You are still just a baby, don’t
worry about it. I didn’t get that much information out of you, so
you had to have been pretty heavily guarded. I just picked up your
reason for visiting my establishment because it was what you were
concentrating on before your mind went blank,” he extended his hand
and said, “My name is Sebastian, by the way.”

“Thanks for trying to make me feel
better Sebastian, but it was still stupid of me. I am Nyx, and as
you may have guessed I am here with an order of execution from the
Grand Collective,” I told him shaking his hand.

During the shake he lifted my wrist
up to his nose and inhaled deeply. I watched as he closed his eyes
and they rolled back in his head. When he opened them again they
were totally black, no whites at all. Having been around a few of
the vampires in the Collective I knew that look wasn’t a good sign,
but as quickly as it appeared his eyes shifted back.

“You will have to come back some
time to visit me once this nasty assassination stuff is over. I
have a feeling we have a lot to talk about Nyx,” he said my name
almost purr like.

That night he helped me lure my
target outside of Sins and into my vehicle, so I could carry out my
order. A week later I returned to Sins with a bottle of blood as a
thank you gift. From what I understood it was a very good year
hence, I thought it would be a nice present.

He had met me just as I entered the
building like he somehow knew I was coming. I handed him the
bottle, telling him what it was for and after looking at it
carefully he said, “Thank you for this, but I have a proposition
for you that I am hoping you will accept.”

“I am all ears,” I said to him,
curious what this centuries old vampire may have in mind. I had
been asking people that would actually talk to me around the
Collective what they knew about him and all they could come up with
is he is one of the old ones. Not exactly the life story I was
hoping to come back here equipped with.

They also hinted that I should stay
away from him. Okay, it wasn't really a hint. They were shocked
that I was actually standing in front of them after meeting
Sebastian. Every other Collective agent that has had the misfortune
of meeting him has gone missing. He seemed pretty nice to me, so I
just shrugged it off.

“Well Nyx, my sweet, I was hoping
that we could come up with a business arrangement of our own.
Follow me to my office, so we can talk in private,” he said leading
me towards the back of the building.

When we reached his office, I
glanced around to find a very neat organized space. There was a
large desk with a beautiful green marble top against the far wall.
It had neat piles of papers covering parts of it. On the left wall
there was a black leather sofa that seemed to match the black
leather office chair behind the desk and the two guest chairs in
front of it. The right side of the room was more of an art display
that contained pictures of people in different states of undressed.
At least one of them showed a vampire feeding on its victim while
pleasuring them in other ways.

“Please sit,” he said indicating
the sofa where he took a seat himself. He set the bottle of blood
on a table and focused in on me.

I glared at him for a second
wishing he would have chosen to sit behind the desk. He did say
this was supposed to be a business meeting of some sort. I
reluctantly took a seat on the couch opposite him.

He softly chuckled and said, “I
choose the couch because if you accept this arrangement we will
have to get to know each other a little better in order for you to
be comfortable. I know you are new to the world of assassins and
anyone worth half their mettle in the field has built up a network
of contacts over a number of years.

“As you have noticed my
establishment here attracts all sorts of people from the lower sect
of life. With my age has come talents that are very useful in the
crime-fighting field, but nothing has ever compelled me to use them
in the past. If it got out that I had been helpful in this
capacity, I fear that my loyal customers may not be so willing to
enjoy the attractions I have to offer.”

“I can see where that would be a
problem,” I told him. “Do you mind getting down to exactly what you
want from me? I have a feeling you are willing to offer what help
you can, but I want to know what it is going to cost. I am
relatively new in this line of work and haven’t got that much saved
up in bribe money just yet.”

“Patience, my sweet,” he purred at
me. I remember how annoyed I was that he kept calling me that. “You
will find I like to draw things out a little when I can. After
being alive as many years as I have been the status quo way of
doing things gets really mundane, so I have my own style. The
business arrangement I want to set up with you involves me giving
you information on when the miscreants you may be looking for show
up here and, when needed, my assistance for removing them from the
premises. In return, all I ask is that you once a week or so join
me for dinner where you will be the main course.

“Now while you let my request sink
in, let me say that I will not be taking much from you for obvious
reasons. If I want this to be a weekly affair I cannot very well
drain you dry. If you want, during these feedings we can engage in
other activities designed to take your mind off of me having
supper, but that part of the deal would totally be up to
you.”

“I am guessing these other
activities do not include us playing Parcheesi?” I asked knowing
the answer to the question already.

“No and the fact that you ask makes
me believe that you will not be willing to partake in those
activities, at least not in the beginning, and I accept that
decision. I will just have to work at trying to make you want to
take me up on that offer,” he replied with a predatory
grin.

“So basically, you help me advance
my career and I come over to feed you when you are feeling a little
low and no one else is available,” I said working it out in my
mind. “Why? From what has been hinted, you don't exactly like the
Collective and you are not the helpful type.”

“I do not approve of the
Collective, you are correct in that statement. I have many reasons,
none of which I am going to share with you tonight. This deal we
are speaking of has nothing to do with them. It is between you and
me. I find you intriguing and that isn't something I find very
often.”

I laughed. “I am sorry to say that
you are sticking yourself with a dud. I am a mere human parading
around with paranorms. There isn't anything special or even
slightly interesting about me.”

“I would like to find that out for
myself. I think there is something just under your surface that
maybe you haven't realized yet.”

We locked gazes for a few moments
trying to read each other. I have no idea what he was expecting
from me, but his deal was way too good to pass up.

“I can live with your proposal. I
haven’t fed anyone before, so I should be free of any
vampire-transmitted diseases. I am currently only given about a
case a week, so I should have plenty of time to swing by for
dinner.”

“You are clean, I have already
checked. You cannot live to be as old as I am without picking up
the ability to sniff out diseases. I also know that now that you
have spoken your verbal agreement to the deal there is no need for
us to sign on a dotted line. You will live up to your end. Are you
ready tonight to fulfill your part of the bargain, or do you need
some time to prepare?”

“There is no time like the present.
You didn’t mention having a preference on where you took from, but
I would prefer left wrist if it isn’t too much to ask for. Neck and
thigh are a little too personal and I am right handed,” I told
him.

“Your wrist will be fine. I will
heal it right away, so you really don’t have to worry about which
side I take from. I imagine you don’t want to return to the
Collective full of holes like some of the feeders that show up
here,” he said taking my wrist into his hand.

“I would be grateful if you did,” I
replied watching as he paused and sniffed my wrist again like he
did the other night. His eyes instantly changed to the full black
eyes of a vampire about to feed. I saw his lips move briefly,
almost like he was speaking, but I heard no words. I thought maybe
he likes to say grace before his meals.

I leaned back and saw his fangs
lengthen to their full two inches. I hadn't ever seen fangs that
long, which means he must be older than I thought. He slowly licked
my wrist like he was swabbing an injection site with alcohol. He
then gradually began to sink the fangs into my wrist. Surprisingly
I felt no pain and after a second I had a reaction I was not
prepared for.

Then he began sucking and making
sounds I had only heard in the outer area of Sins. I imagine, by
the way I was feeling, if noises were escaping me they sounded very
similar. I focused just on him because the thought of how I was
being affected was too much to think about for more than a
second.

He only took a minute that first
time, and I think he got way more than he bargained for because
when he withdrew and closed the wound he looked up at me with
starry eyes. Literally, his eyes were still black, but white and
gold little lights could be seen moving in the
blackness.

“You really should have asked for
more,” he told me shaking his head bringing his eyes back to
normal.

“Technically, I didn’t really ask
for anything. You came to me with a business proposal and I
accepted said proposal,” I replied.

“It was good for you, right?” he
asked staring at me with those dark eyes like my answer to that
question was the most important thing in the world.

Not really wanting to let him know
how good it was for me, I replied, “It didn’t hurt and I would go
as far to say that I enjoyed myself.”

“Next time I will try to last
longer, so maybe you can finish as well,” he said with a knowing
smirk. “I don’t want you to get all offensive on me, but I didn’t
actually know it would be like that with you. I wouldn’t have
offered to play Parcheesi, if I knew it wasn’t actually going to be
necessary.”

I laugh at his joke a little bit
more at ease with him. “You didn’t know?” I asked not really
believing him. “I am sure this wasn’t your first time feeding, so I
find your statement to be questionable.”

“Cross my heart and hope to die,”
he replied with a statement most people would find comical since he
was dead already according to them. “I have never experienced that
with just drinking alone. I have heard rumors of things like that
happening, but always believed they were just that, rumors. Because
of the reaction, I would prefer if you refrain from feeding any
other vampires.”

“No problem there. I am not
planning on making any other deals where I have to give of myself
so literally. I should be making decent money soon enough that my
bribes can be paid in cash,” I replied moving to stand. Since it
seems we both have gotten what we want for the night, I thought it
would be a good idea to take off.