Every day after I’d completed my security work, I headed down to the god of the dead’s basement, and stabbed a god straight through the heart. Then I went home, poured myself a half glass of red wine and called it a day.
After a couple of days, I’d gotten used to the strange ritual. It had become the new central gravity of my life.
Though I never got used to the feelings Xander aroused in me with his intensity and power.
His cerulean eyes said so much more than his lips did. And if we were speaking the same language, he was saying he wanted the bars between us to disappear along with our clothes.
Usually right at the moment I ran him through, leaving me more than a little confused by the riot of emotions he inspired.
Kill me. Fuck me. Thank you.
A hot shiver raced up my spine. I tried to ignore it. This was a simple job. Nothing more.
While I’d grown use to our strange routine, it was becoming harder to kill Xander. The blade seemed heavier every time I returned. My aim had even failed me. Once I sliced in just to the left of his heart and it took a second strike to finish him off. Embarrassment flooded me, but he never said anything other than the grunt of pain at impact. His expression was only of gratitude and desire.
I was grateful he didn’t bring up the mishap.
Nowadays, I brought the blade of bane with me to Sinopolis. I had to keep it on my person at all times, so I started to wear the black duster jacket Vivien gifted me for May twenty-second. She said she probably should have waited for a holiday, but she decided May twenty-second deserved some celebration as well. Yet again, I found myself envious of her whimsical nature.
Vivien said it suited me, and I had to admit that I absolutely loved it. The best part was cheetah print lined the inside of the black vegan leather. She said it was exactly like me. Badass on the outside, extra on the inside.
Considerate friend that she was, Vivien also had a designer add a holster to the inside of the jacket for Bob, so I could hide the sword underneath. No one said anything about my change in attire at work, and I wasn’t sure if it was because they were used to strange things happening at Sinopolis, or because I scared everyone.
I asked my number two, Javier, who not only came over from Castlegate hotel with me, but we were also in the special forces unit back in the day. He didn’t even look up from the surveillance monitors as he affirmed, they were all, “scared pissless” of me.
Today would be no different. I waved a hand over the buttons of Grim’s private elevator to make the secret fourth one appear, and pushed the black circle.
I entered the entry chamber and Xander was there as usual. But instead of his usual positioning, pressed against the bars, eager for me to run him through, today Xander sat further back, mostly covered in shadow. Light from my side of the cage slashed across him, illuminating only his mouth and half of his body. His lean, muscular arms encircled his legs where he sat on the ground.
My ears and face buzzed. Coming down here, still felt like entering a nuclear reactor, but some of the painful sizzle had ebbed. Presumably because I’d been killing off pieces of his power. Soon there would be nothing left to kill.
I’d have nothing left of this except the ghost of his blood on my blade.
Xander still hadn’t gotten up.
“Hi,” I said awkwardly. Typically, we don’t speak. It’s enter, stab, leave.
There was a long pause.
“What’s in the bag?” he finally asked. Xander’s voice seemed raspier than I remember.
In one hand I gripped the blade of bane, and in the other I carried my purple reusable lunch sack. I didn’t need two hands to kill him, so I hadn’t planned on putting it down.
Wow, I really had adjusted to the weirdness fast.
“Lunch.”
I’d planned on walking straight to my car after this and scarfing down some of the food to ease the hunger pains rumbling in my gut.
“Busy day. I missed my chance to eat.” I couldn’t keep the exhaustion from my voice. One of the high rollers in the poker room got caught cheating, I found a cocktail waitress skimming money because her abusive scumbag boyfriend pressured her into it, and a rock band partied straight through the morning, trashing a hotel room and terrorizing the staff. It had been a lot for one day.
Not that I couldn’t handle it. In fact, with Jamal gone, I welcomed the chaos. I could make order of it. Help the waitress, soothe the staff, and kick the ass of everyone out of line. But admittedly, I worked until I was too tense. There would be no Jamal when I went home to lighten the mood, to tell me what cool new stuff he learned today, or put on some ridiculous cartoon and giggle until I had to join in.
At least I had Vivien and Aaron in the mornings to break things up. Though Vivien was busier these days between helping new vampires and plotting Grim’s demise by goose down. The great pillow war raged on.
Over a caffeine and sugar, she victoriously recounted how she jumped Grim while he was in the shower. The bedding popped, and he ended up wet and covered in fluff. He’d been displeased, as she put it. If she weren’t immortal, I’d be worried for her life.
I really did envy her whimsy.
