Martinis with the Devil, Part One

CHAPTER TWO

  Keeping my arms to my sides and my legs straight, I cut through the air like a blade. Inky night whooshed past me as I fell. The pavement rose to meet me. I landed in a low crouch just a few feet from Wings and the troublemakers, and as I straightened I reached over my shoulder and pulled out my katana. It whistled as it left its sheath and shone hungrily in the streetlights.

  “What’s happening, boys?” I purred.

  The spawn turned to look at me with their orange goat eyes. They were ugly little buggers, similar in appearance to goblins, but with tiny wings on their backs. Five of them stood between me and Eli, whose arms were folded neatly over his chest, the veins popping out along his skin.

  “None of your concern,” croaked the largest one, who stood only five feet tall, almost a foot shorter than me.

  I smiled. “Actually this is very much my concern, as this fine gentlemen is a patron of my bar. I don’t appreciate my customers being harassed.”

  “I didn’t buy anything,” Eli said.

  I rolled my eyes. Gotta love the appreciation. “Be that as it may, I’m here now, and I’m not about to let a bunch of underworld offspring lurk around my establishment.” I pinned my hazel eyes on the leader. “That’s me asking nicely. I’ll only do it once.”

  A slight twitch of a muscle was the only warning the first one gave before launching himself at my face. I brought my blade up before me and watched as his body sliced in half from forehead to groin. Two pieces of black flesh fell to the ground and sizzled into ash.

  “Next?”

  Two more of the spawn leaped towards me, and the other two at Eli. My sword blurred silver in the night, decapitating the first and taking the arms off the second. Eli dispatched his with a blast of white energy. They poofed into the air, little gray clouds that floated off into the sky.

  I leaned down over the armless spawn, who grinned at me like a mental patient. “What’s so funny about bleeding out while your appendages lay beside you?” The tip of my sword pointed under his chin.

  “You can’t stop it,” he laughed. His green blood oozed onto the pavement.

  “Stop what?” Eli commanded.

  “He’s coming. He’s coming! And then we will roam freely.” His smile widened, then he abruptly threw his weight forward, piercing his neck on the blade. “You can’t stop it,” he gurgled through his own blood. A moment later he dissolved into ash.

  “What a drama queen,” I muttered.

  Eli watched me, his eyes unguarded for just a moment before he lapsed back into what seemed his usual scowl. “That sword’s an interesting choice. Not a fan of hand-to-hand combat?”

  “And ruin my nails? Don’t think so.”

  “Why’d you even come down here? Did you seriously think I couldn’t handle five tiny demon spawn?”

  “My turf, my business. Like I said earlier, I didn’t need them hanging around here anyways.” I ran a wash of magic over my blade to clean it and then caught sight of my boots. “Oh, God damn it!”

  “Would you watch your mouth?” Eli snapped. “What’s wrong?”

  “Look at my boots!” I lifted one off the ground and pointed my toe so he could see all the green gooey blood soaked into the black leather. “Now I’m gonna have to throw them away.”

  “You just fought off a pack of demon spawn that spouted cryptic doomsday messages and all you can think about is your boots?” His voice was hard. Like his abs. Not that I’d been looking while we were in the middle of a battle.

  “Come on, you didn’t take that guy seriously, did you?”

  Eli’s jaw tightened. “It is my duty to take threats to the sovereignty of humankind very seriously.”

  I laughed. “Well, you have fun with that.”

  “You know, some of us actually have unselfish reasons for our existence. I’m sorry it isn’t as glamorous as your life.” He lifted his chin, golden hair falling against his jaw line.

  “Yes, you should be.” I turned and strode away, leaving him on the street. “Oh, and by the way, you’re welcome,” I called over my shoulder.

  The hand of the clock on my bedroom wall was creeping towards three when I awoke the next afternoon. A fuzzy beast lay in bed next to me. My German Shepherd, Malakai. I ruffled her between the ears before stumbling to the window and opening the blinds a crack. Typical overcast Seattle weather. A block away, I could see the building that Noir was in. After pulling on a silk bath robe, I headed out to the kitchen, mumbling greetings to Quinn, who was bottling potions at the coffee table.

  I poured my usual bowl of Fruit Loops before sitting down at a bar stool. It didn’t do anything to nourish me, but I liked the taste of them. I wouldn’t need another soul for a few days. Thankfully a couple of those a month kept me alive, and I could find enough rapists and murderers to keep my conscience clean. Though how I’d managed to cling to any morals at all with the immortal upbringing I’d had was still a mystery to me.

  My first spoonful was on its way to my mouth when someone knocked on the door.

  “Can you get that?” Quinn asked. She had pink goo all over her hands.

  I strolled to the door, swung it open and eyed my visitors with a wide grin. “Good afternoon, boys.” I leaned against the frame in my bathrobe. “What can I do for you?”

  Two teenaged boys stood before me, one tall and pimply, the other stocky and sporting carrot-colored curls. Both pairs of eyes widened to a size bigger than the bibles they held.

  “G-good afternoon, m-miss. We’re here on behalf of the Pure Club to ask if y-you’ve embraced our Lord, Jesus Christ,” said Pimples. Sweat broke out on his brow.

  I smiled my biggest smile. “I always wish I’d been born a little earlier so I could have known JC personally. I am a big fan.”

  “S-so, do you attend a nearby c-church?” Carrot Curls asked.

  “Oh, you are a cute one, aren’t you?” He paled, if one can get paler than bone. “No, can’t say that I’ve attended a service in, oh, two hundred years or so. But it’s so sweet of you to ask.”

  Pimples stammered and continued on. I had to admire his dedication. “W-we’d love for you to visit our church. N-newcomers welcome.”

  Since the forces of Heaven and Hell had revealed themselves to humanity, there had been an explosion in church attendance, so it surprised me they even bothered to go door-to-door anymore. “You said you’re with the Pure Club? That’s for those committed to staying human, hmm?” I looked back into the room at Quinn and smirked. “I’m afraid it’s a bit too late for us.” I batted my eyelashes. “But would you boys like to come in? I was just getting ready to eat, and I always love company for breakfast.” I giggled at my own lame pun.

  The boys darted glances at each other, and Carrot Curls reached up to loosen his starched white collar. “P-perhaps we’ll just leave this bible with y-you, miss.” He stretched a shaky hand out.

  “Oh, no thanks. It won’t really help with my problem, you know, eternal damnation and all. But thanks so much for stopping by.” I winked and closed the door.

  “Why? Why do you never tire of it?” Quinn chastised, but a smile tickled the edge of her mouth.

  “Oh, dearest Quinn, my devotion to torment them should be at least as strong as their devotion to bother people in their homes. Don’t you think?” I sunk back in my barstool, watching Quinn over the breakfast bar, and plunked a bite of cereal into my mouth.

  “They’re just impassioned young people, doing what they think is right.” She poured a bright yellow liquid into a vial of purple bubbles. “They have to be very committed to even attempt their kind of work in Belltown.”

  I snorted. Belltown, aka Helltown, Seattle’s most “suped” up neighborhood. “And that’s why I love you. You can forgive the burning of millions of witches throughout history at the hands of religion. Such a kind soul.” I leaned back and propped my feet up on the countertop.

  “What are you two bickering about?” Riley shuffled through the room. He yawned and stretched, his co
coa skin rippling over his muscles.

  “Bickering?” I asked with mock innocence. “What makes you think that?”

  “Z’s just harassing the door-to-door Pure Clubbers again,” Quinn answered.

  “You’d think they’d mark our house as a no-fly zone, you know?” He headed into the kitchen. “An Irish soul stealer, a witch, and a gay werewolf. We’re pretty much lost causes.”

  “Don’t forget a vamp doggie,” I said, finishing off my cereal. I let out a low whistle and Malakai lumbered into the room, wagging her tail. “There’s mommy’s princess. You would have loved a nice teenaged snack, wouldn’t you?”

  Quinn rolled her eyes.

  “How about a nice juicy steak, instead, huh Malakai?” I put my cereal bowl in the sink and got out a raw prime rib for Malakai, which I dropped into her bowl. I scratched her behind the ears before rejoining Quinn and Riley on the sofa.

  “That’s what you’re really going to Hell for, getting your old BFF to turn that dog immortal,” Quinn teased. “That would get the church all fired up for sure.”

  “And PETA,” Riley chipped in.

  “Screw you guys,” I said with a laugh. “You try going through eternity with everybody around you dying every two seconds. At least we didn’t make a vamp kid or something.”

  “Sure, whatever,” Quinn said.

  “I’m with Zy on the whole Pure Club thing, though—I hate those creeps,” Riley said. “I get that lots of people freaked after Evo, but that doesn’t give them the right to hunt supes down like animals.” His eyes went a little wolf on that last sentence.

  “They don’t all do that,” Quinn said. “Most of them just want to celebrate their humanity. Humans being the “endangered species” and all now.” She rolled her eyes a little.

  “I saw that!” I pointed a finger at her. “See, even you think it’s a bit ridiculous.”

  Quinn blushed. “Well, what’s the estimate—like a couple million humans turned since Evo? But there are still almost eight billion of them. Some people are alarmists is all.”

  “Speaking of this whole human/non-human thing, you said you were going to tell us more about this job offer from the HR,” Riley said with a pointed look.

  “What’s there to talk about? I’m not interested in working for him, especially since people are all riled up about these new DNA sensors all the businesses have to have. Even though it’s the government that mandates those, the HRs support them, and I’m not exactly going to be popular with my patrons if I start working for one of them.”

  “If I got to work with that delicious angel, I wouldn’t care,” Quinn sighed.

  “Agreed,” Riley said. “He brings new meaning to heavenly.”

  “Whatever, guys. It’s just not happening.” I listened through a couple more rounds of arguments, mostly revolving around abs, pecs and gluts, before they finally gave up. Plus, I diverted their attention to our night-off activities. One of my other managers was running Noir for the evening. “So what are we doing later tonight?”

  There aren’t many places to go when you’re a supernatural bartender, and therefore pretty picky about your hangout. “One-Eyed Willie’s?” Riley suggested.

  “Yeah, that’s cool,” Quinn agreed. “Willie hired a new waiter that’s pretty tasty. I wouldn’t mind getting to know him a bit better.”

  Riley snorted. “How exactly do you define ‘get to know better’?”

  “Bite me,” Quinn said, narrowing her eyes. She held up a bottle of hot pink goo. “You guys better help me finish bottling this stuff while it’s fresh.”

  “Sure,” I said, grabbing a bottle. “But you’re buying the first round.”

  The thrum of the Porsche’s engine hummed under my skin, from belly button to collarbone. Seattle flew past in ribbons of black sky and rainbow lights. I could smell the tang of bay air on the wind rushing past us on Alaskan Way. Despite the magnetically controlled roadways which measured the distance between cars and your speed, I chose to navigate myself rather than let the auto-pilot function take over. It just took all the pleasure out of driving if you didn’t do it yourself. Another one of the gov’s great ideas to preserve fragile human lives. At least they’d outlawed gas-powered cars. That had actually been a smart move.

  I pulled into the parking lot by One-Eyed Willie’s at Pier 55 and got out, running a hand over my hair to smooth it back down. Quinn was doing the same with her long platinum strands, except she added a punch of magic to curl the ends.

  Riley pulled up behind us on his silver Ducati, sans helmet. He was a total adrenaline junkie. “Is mine okay?” he asked, delicately poking at his dark brown hair.

  “You’ve got enough hair gel in those spikes to intoxicate a small pixie,” I said, one hand on a denim-clad hip.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, sauntering towards the door.

  A comforting barrage of scents hit me as I stepped into the dim lighting of the bar. Vodka, blood, leather, limes and a pinch of lust. I was right at home.

  “Zyan!” yelled a deep voice over the murmur of the crowd. A lanky surfer dude with shoulder length brown hair made his way across the room. He looked just like any other muscular, dreamy surfer guy—except for the single eye in the middle of his forehead. “Long time no see.”

  “Hey, Will,” I said, wrapping him in a hug.

  He waggled his eyebrow at me. “Maybe tonight I can finally convince you to go on a date with me.”

  “No, I like you far too much to date you,” I laughed. “My romances always end badly.”

  He grinned. “Whatever. I’ll wear you down slowly. For now, how about drinks on the house?”

  “Sure.” I smiled and followed him to the bar.

  “A drink for my girl, Zy,” he called to one of the bartenders. “Wanna try our new Mermaid Tear martini? It’s as dirty as they come.”

  I grinned and nodded and Will hollered instructions to the bartender. Turning to survey the scene, I could see Riley had claimed one of the leather sofas in the middle of the room. Quinn had wasted no time in tracking down the cute new waiter and was leading him back to their table. “I think Quinn may abduct your new staff member,” I said to Will.

  “Oh, Lucas? Yeah, he’s part Fae. All the ladies are barking up his tree.”

  “Did you know people can get faerie blood injections now, to make them more beautiful?” Will’s eye widened. “Yep, it’s the latest cosmetic craze.” Those were at least legal, unlike vamp and were-blood injections that had replaced steroids for performance obsessed athletes.

  “Maybe I need to get some of that,” he said with a chuckle.

  I punched his arm. “Don’t be silly, you’re already gorgeous.” But I knew it had been harder for some supernaturals, like the Cyclops, to come out of the closet. The vamps had been the first, and everything changed after that, in ten short years. The worldwide shift, called Evolution, or Evo on the street, when even the forces of Heaven and Hell had finally revealed themselves to humanity.

  “It looks like you may need to chaperone the two of them,” Will said, pointing to Quinn, who had pulled up her black dress to reveal the tattoo on her thigh.

  “Yeah, that might be a good idea. I’ll catch you later.” I grabbed my drink, made my way through the crowd and dropped down on the sofa next to Riley. Some of his friends were sprawled out on the couch opposite us.

  “What’s up, Zy?” asked Dan, a werepanther. The other two on the sofa nodded in greeting.

  “Nothing much.” I leaned back and took a sip of my drink.

  “You met the new vamp in town?” Dan asked.

  “There are new vamps in town every day,” I laughed. “I lose track.”

  “Oh, you’d know if you met this one,” piped in one of the other weres, Alicia. I’d been told she actually turned into a dolphin. Pretty useful for coastal living, I guess.

  I raised a questioning brow. “How so?”

  “Well, he’s an old vamp, first off. Really old. And he’s be
en asked to join The Assembly already. Connected with all the right supes.”

  “Then that’s why I haven’t met him yet.” The Assembly was comprised of a bunch of powerful, rich supes who thought they could make rules for the rest of us. “I hate bureaucracy.”

  “It’s weird though, because he’s been showing up at a lot of the usual hangouts too,” said Dan. “You know, where us normal supes chill. I’ve never seen another Assembly member step one toe inside any of our places.”

  “Well, he hasn’t come by Noir,” I said, “So he’s obviously lacking in good taste.”

  “For sure,” Riley agreed, clinking his glass against mine.

  I felt a draft of cool air and glanced over at the door, which had opened. A tall figure stood there, all windswept black hair and electric blue eyes. Eyes which were locked on mine.

  Of course they were locked on mine. He’d have felt me from miles away.

  “Well, speak of the devil, there he is.” I heard Dan’s voice on the periphery of my consciousness, as if from miles underwater.

  Suddenly it all made sense. The new vamp in town. The attacks on the HR, by someone skilled enough to break through the angelic forces.

  He wasn’t the devil. He was much worse. Someone I hadn’t seen in nearly two hundred and fifty years.

  My ex. More specifically, my first ex, the vamp responsible for the loss of my soul.