Chapter Thirteen
I stood up so fast that the armchair moved back a few inches. I had drawn the gun loaded with UV bullets. I was ready to see this vampire go up in ashes. Winter, one of the vampires who had escaped with Mikhail. Winter, the vampire who had held me and made me watch as Mikhail ripped out Cassie's throat. I remembered being trapped against his body, unable to move, unable to do anything but scream as my friend was brutally murdered. Winter, almost as much as Mikhail, I wanted to see dead.
Winter did not move a muscle. He stared at me over the barrel of the gun, and he didn't even look worried. He should have.
Stavros stood and took a step towards me. "Kayla, please," he said. "Whatever Winter has done, he is not the vampire you once knew. Put the gun away." Stavros the diplomat.
"You made me watch," I said, speaking to Winter and ignoring my new boss.
Winter stood in one fluid motion, as if someone had pulled on his strings and up he had gone. Only really old, really powerful vampires could move like that. Most chose not to, unless they were showing off. My grip on the gun tightened. I pointed it right between his eyes. It didn't matter where you hit a vampire with a UV bullet, as long as you hit it somewhere, it was all good. "I was given an order by my master," he said, as if that justified his actions of that night. "Haven't you ever had to do something you didn't want to do?"
"That is not even the same thing," I said. "You stood idly by, watched him murder an innocent girl, and what's more is that you made me watch, too, when I could have prevented it."
"Prevented it?" Winter scoffed. "You would have died trying."
I put my finger on the trigger. He was right, damn him. Stavros was suddenly beside me, his hand on my arm. "Do not pull that trigger," he said, his voice low with warning. I faltered. I really didn't need Stavros pissed at me. It wasn't conducive to my quest, or my survival. Slowly I lowered the gun, clicked the safety on, and when Stavros let go of me I holstered the weapon. What in hell's name was the matter with me?
Winter sat back down as soon as I put the gun away. There was no triumphant smirk, no hint of victory on his face. He acted like it was nothing, just another narrow brush with death. Jesus. "We must all be willing to work together, Kayla," Stavros said as he went back to his seat. "Fighting will not get us any closer to finding Mikhail. Especially if it is our goal to destroy him."
I looked at Winter. Stavros had just admitted that he planned to help me off Mikhail. I wonder how Winter felt about that, considering that Mikhail was his master. I must have been thinking too hard, because somehow Winter knew exactly what my thoughts were. "Stavros is my master now, not Mikhail," he said. "I want to see him dead as much as the next vampire."
I sat down on the opposite couch, because my recently vacated seat was too close to Winter for my comfort. I still wanted to kill him, and my hand was just itching to reach for my gun. Sitting beside him would have been too risky. I also wasn't sure how I felt about him saying he wanted Mikhail dead. I had only seen Winter once or twice prior to the warehouse incident, but he had always seemed like another one of Mikhail's doting children to me. What had changed? Had the thing at the warehouse really been such a sore spot with all of Mikhail's children? Is that why they had all left him? All but two, Stavros had said. For the life of me, I couldn't think of who those two might be. Greghor was probably one of them. But who did that leave?
"Is that all we had to discuss?" I asked Stavros.
"Why, do you wish to leave?" he asked.
"I need to think things through," I said. "Like the fact that you had one of Mikhail's children here, protecting him. Yet despite that you hired me to work for you."
"I am sorry," Stavros said, "but I knew you would not accept if I revealed that Winter was here."
"Damn right," I said.
Stavros sighed. "That is not all we have to talk about, Kayla," he said.
I raised an eyebrow in question. "Please, Stavros, I can't take any more surprises tonight."
"No surprises," he said. "Just...a request."
"What kind of request?"
He and Winter shared a look. Winter must have known what Stavros was talking about. Masters usually tell their seconds-in-command everything. "I want you to live here, at the lair," he said. "Temporarily, of course."
"Hell no!" I cried, standing up again, this time indignant.
"I could make it an order," he said coolly.
"Why?" I asked angrily. "Isn't it enough that you have people spying on me at my apartment?"
Stavros looked momentarily angry. There I was again, just pushing his buttons. "It is a good thing I sent someone to watch you," he said, "otherwise I never would have known about your visitor the other day." It had been a busy night--I had momentarily forgotten about the threat of Vann. "I cannot afford to have you killed, Kayla," he continued when I remained silent. "That is why I want you to stay here until this woman is no longer a threat."
"How did you know she threatened me?" I asked. Surely he didn't have my apartment bugged.
He shrugged. "Vampires are not the only creatures in my arsenal with exceptionally good hearing."
Ugh, this day just kept getting better and better. If someone didn't pop out soon and congratulate me for winning a million dollars for going through hell, I was going to be really pissed.
"What am I supposed to tell my landlord?" I asked. "I can't just disappear to come live here."
He waved a hand in front of his face, like he was swatting away an annoying fly. "Use your imagination," he said. "Say you're staying with a friend for a while or such what."
Hmm, such what. That was a new one. I shook my head. "What about all my stuff?"
"I will send someone to help you move it," he said, and then he paused, looking thoughtfully at the door. "Or you could ask Chase, since he seems so keen at listening to our conversation." I looked, mouth slightly agape, towards the door. It opened, and Chase walked in. He even had the grace to look embarassed.
"Forgive me, Master," he said, bowing. "I just--"
"You just wanted to make sure I wasn't punishing our little slayer," Stavros interrupted with a smirk. I think he enjoyed baiting Chase. Come to think of it, I think he enjoyed baiting me, too. Maybe he was one of those people who just took pleasure in frustrating others. Chase didn't say "yes" or nod, but he didn't deny Stavros' accusation, either. "Take her home, Chase," Stavros ordered, standing. Winter did the same. "Tomorrow you will help her move some of her things here." Turning to me, he said, "Goodnight, Kayla."
"Night, Boss," I said. Hey, no one ever said I had to call the man "master," too, all right?
Chase left the room and I followed. Just before I could close the door behind me, Winter called out to me. "Goodbye, monster slayer," he said.
I turned around to see him smiling. "One day," I told him, and then walked out the door leaving my threat hanging in the air.
Outside in the hallway I looked up at Chase, who still looked embarassed. "Did you really stay to make sure he wasn't going to punish me?" I asked.
"What will you do if I say yes?" he asked.
"Well, I won't run screaming in the opposite direction," I joked. Or, at least, I didn't think I would.
He smiled. He had a really sexy smile. Go figure. Taking my hand, he led me to the elevator. "Let's get you home," he said. It was the best idea I had heard all night.
xXxXxXxXxXx
I could tell on the way home that Chase wanted to talk about what he had heard earlier. If it had been me, I would have been curious, too, so I really didn't blame him. I just wondered if I'd be able to talk about it without breaking down and crying. I hate crying in front of people. It makes me feel so weak and helpless.
"What happened that night?" he finally asked. "In San Francisco, when you killed all those vampires?"
"Actually, I only killed about seven of them," I said, thinking back to the fight in the warehouse.
"Really?" he sounded surprised.
"Yeah, but don't tell anyone," I joked. When talking about a painful subject, I tend to joke around a lot. It really helps me deal with my feelings. "Mikhail bit me, and I kind of passed out. The other slayers killed the rest when they came to rescue me. They got me out, and blew up the warehouse. Everyone inside was killed, except the four vampires who managed to escape."
"That vampire you killed tonight and Winter were two of those vampires, right?" he asked. So he had pretty much been listening the entire time.
"Yes," I said.
"What exactly did Winter do to you?" Chase questioned a few minutes later. "I heard something about a girl being murdered."
I sighed. "Do you know the story behind the Massacre?" I asked him.
"It's like a legend in the preternatural community," he said. "When we tell the story, it's always about how you and a group of vampire slayers raided the Master of San Francisco's lair and slaughtered everyone inside."
"Close," I said, and I had to smile a little. Jeez, was I like a campfire ghost story to them or something? "At that time, I was training another slayer," I explained. "Her name was Cassie. She was an orphan, so I took her in and started training her. One night, I came home from a routine staking and the door to our apartment was open. The inside was a mess, and Cassie was gone." Here I had to swallow the lump in my throat. It was always hard just thinking about Cassie. Talking about it out loud was even worse. Chase noticed my hesitation with concern.
"If you don't want to say anymore, you don't have to," he said.
I shook my head. "I have to," I told him. "I got a phone call from Mikhail. He told me that he had Cassie and if I wanted her back, I'd come to his lair, alone."
"You'd have to be an idiot to walk into a trap like that," Chase muttered.
"That's what I thought, too," I said. "So I took seven other vampire slayers with me."
"The Legion?"
"The Legion," I confirmed. "We went to the warehouse. All the guards were waiting for us. Mikhail had knew we would all come. In fact, that's what he had counted on. Either way, our rescue mission was a lost cause. They made me go into the throne room alone. I managed to kill seven of the sixteen vampires there. I killed one of Mikhail's lovers, Eva. He was so angry at me. He retaliated by ripping out Cassie's throat. Winter was holding me. I couldn't get to my weapons. I couldn't move at all. All I could do was stand there and watch Cassie die."
"That's why you kill them," Chase said, a little of both fear and awe in his voice. "Revenge."
"It sounds so petty when you say it like that," I told him.
"Not petty," he said. "I understand now."
"I'm not such a big, bad vampire slayer anymore, am I?" I asked.
"No," he conceeded. "Now you're just like everyone else." I gave him a questioning look, so he elaborated. "Just another person who lost something important, and now you want the world to pay."
I sat in silence, fuming because he was too right for me to be comfortable. The streetlights we were driving under illuminated the inside of the Jeep, making everything appear different shades of orange. It was just as we were passing under one of these streetlights that I looked to Chase's hands and saw something I hadn't noticed before. On his left wrist there were scars that had, once upon a time, been deep gashes. It looked like he had tried to commit suicide, more than once. They were both horizontal and vertical on his skin. I wondered if it was the same with his other wrist.
"Where'd you get the scars?" I asked. He looked at me for a moment, startled, and then turned his eyes back on the road. His hands flexed, and I could tell he wanted to pull the long sleeves of his t-shirt down. He didn't. Point for him.
"Oh, you noticed those, did you?" he asked instead.
I shrugged. "I told you one of my deep, dark secrets," I said. "It's only fair you share one of yours."
His eyes met mine, and I looked away first. Pansy, me? "You don't want to know my secrets," he said.
Well that wasn't ominous at all.
Fifteen silent minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of my apartment building. I got out, wanting nothing more than to distance myself as much as possible from Chase and everything else. Only problem was, he got out with me.
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"Walking you up to your apartment," he said.
I raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to do that."
"I want to."
I shrugged because I was too tired and confused to think about it. The service light above the steps that led to the second floor was flickering. It was going to go out soon. Then it probably wouldn't be fixed for a month, knowing my landlord. I led Chase up the steps and slipped through the exit. Yeah, no alarm or anything. You'd think I'd live in a place with better security, but as of three days ago (it had now passed the midnight mark) the money had been a little tight. I didn't know much about working for Stavros, but I assumed he paid well.
The hallway was dark and quiet with the hush that meant all my neighbors were asleep. All of them lived by day. I seemed to be the only one who stayed out all night. None of them knew I was a vampire slayer. Most thought I just liked to party.
We stopped in front of my door. "I'll be back tomorrow," he said.
"What time?" I asked. Didn't want to sleep past his visit.
"Ten work for you?"
"Yeah, it works for me," I answered. I turned to unlock the door, and he put a hand on my shoulder, making me face him again.
"Sometime I'll tell you about the scars," he said. "Tonight just wasn't right."
I nodded. He let go. We stood there awkwardly until finally I worked up enough nerve to unlock the door and step inside. He nodded a goodbye, and then started walking down the hall.
Before I went to bed, I installed the deadbolt. Then I locked the door--there was the normal lock, the chain, and now the deadbolt. For now, I was as safe as I was going to get. Unfortunately all the locks in the world couldn't protect me from my dreams, as well as creepy crawlies. I dreamed of the warehouse, but instead of Mikhail and Cassie, I saw Winter and Elizabeth. She was grabbing him, ripping out his throat, bathing in his blood. And Chase held me, making me watch.
