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  She ran the stairs to the fourth floor rather than take the elevator. Since her transition, she needed more exercise than normal. She'd always been a runner. The weekly training sessions on the island with Quinn, Gray, and Neeren helped keep her even. Now that she was back she'd have to up her exercise game.

  Alex pushed open the door to the executive offices main lobby. She cleared her throat to gain the attention of the plump woman manning the front desk. “Hi, I'm Alex. I was told to come up here to meet with Mr. Tanner?”

  Natalie—Alex presumed this was Natalie—looked up from her screen, gave Alex the once over, straightened her shoulders, and narrowed heavily shadowed blue eyes before replying, “Take a seat and I'll see if he can see you.”

  “He can see me. He already called and asked me to come up,” Alex reminded her.

  Natalie pursed her lips. “Well, I still have to check. Take a seat.”

  Alex bristled but sat down. If she was going to continue to work in the human world she'd have to accept this form of treatment. Resting-bitch-face-Natalie didn't know Alex was a powerful immortal princess. Besides she'd never felt comfortable with servants attending to her every need back on the island anyway.

  Alex might not enjoy women like Natalie, but she understood them. The woman probably had a husband and three kids to look after at home. After putting in a nine-hour work day for a male boss who treated her like a servant. This space was Natalie’s castle. She had power over who entered and when. Alex could deal with it.

  She took a seat on the 1970's lime green sofa and crossed her legs. She realized she still had on the blue Peter Pan boots. Alex took a mental inventory. Blue boots, red jacket, green couch. Great. She probably looked like a Christmas tree. She was never taking fashion advice from Collum or Quinn again.

  Natalie buzzed the intercom. “Hi, Carol. Alex from the basement is here to see Mr. Tanner. Is he available?”

  Alex heard Carol sigh before speaking in a condescending voice on the other end of the line. “Yes, Natalie. He's expecting her and is on a tight schedule. Send her back.”

  The line clicked off before Natalie could respond. Alex refused to smile. She was on Nat's side now.

  Natalie spoke with a little less confidence. “He'll see you now.”

  Fuck that, Alex thought. Natalie needed her kingdom. No way was Alex taking it from her today. She leaned in and spoke conspiratorially. “Thanks. Carol's in fine form today, huh. Way to wreck the Monday.”

  When Natalie nodded, Alex sauntered over to her desk. “So, when did Mr. Tanner start?”

  “Three weeks ago.” Natalie glanced around the lobby to make sure no one was eavesdropping. “He's great. It's Carol you gotta watch out for.”

  ~ ~ ~

  It was a long walk to the east side of the building. At the end of a long hallway sat Carol. She wore a honeysuckle colored suit. Her blond hair expertly coiffed around her face. Her desk spotless. Her French manicure absolute perfection. Maybe mid-fifties? Self-consciously, Alex shoved her tangled curls off her face. Why hadn't Quinn thought to remind her to put her hair in a stupid ponytail.

  Before Alex could speak, Carol said, “He's waiting. Go in,” and promptly turned back to her work.

  Alex glanced at the four closed doors in her immediate vicinity. Not one had a name plate.

  Carol sighed and pointed at the door to her left. “In there. Move it.”

  Alex jumped. She doubted anyone ever made Carol feel small or shitty. Was sure even the aforementioned Mr. Tanner did whatever she said, as soon as she said it.

  Moving quickly, Alex opened the door and entered the private office. Behind the desk, his back to her, Mr. Tanner stared out the window. His office was as filthy as Carol's was clean.

  Old coffee cups littered every surface. Two half-eaten sandwiches lay on the desk. The only other chair in the room was covered in stacks of paper. In fact, every piece of furniture was covered in paper. The floral sofa by the book shelf. The side table with the old printer. Piles of books and papers towered precariously in every corner. Alex grinned, immediately at ease.

  Salt and pepper seasoned his hair. Broad muscled shoulders stretched a non-descript gray sweater. He turned. Her pulse quickened with unease. He had a chiseled jaw and full lips. His dark eyes filled with curiosity. As he spoke the air shifted. Alex drew back.

  “It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you.” He smiled. “I promise.”

  Alex tried to decipher the strange sensations bombarding her. “Who are you? What are you?”

  “My name is Jason Tanner. I'm a vampire.” He pushed the papers around on his desk. “But I'm not interested in your blood.”

  Jason laughed and then raised his hands in surrender. “Joke, Joke. Well, not the vampire part. Come to think of it, not the not wanting your blood part either.”

  Her new boss smashed his hands into his hair. “That came out wrong.”

  Alex called to the fire in her hands.

  Jason shrugged. “Dammit. I'm bad at this. Please sit down. I'm a good guy. Just happen to be a Vamp.”

  Alex inched backward. Hoped he wouldn't notice. Glanced behind her to see how far the door was. Big mistake. When she turned back he stood directly in front of her. He grasped her hands before she could raise them. The flames on her body writhed, heating her skin.

  “Please,” he said, considering her eyes. “This is about business. Nothing else. I'm not here to fight you.” Jason released her hands. “Collum would kill me if I tried.”

  Alex’s voice rushed out on a wave. “Column, what the fuck does Collum have to do with this?”

  “Your boyfriend is my boss.” He pushed the papers off the chair. “Now will you please sit and let me tell you why I asked you up here?”

  She remained where she was. Tried to pick up something from his gestures but couldn't get a read.

  “It's because I'm dead.”

  “What?”

  “You can't figure me out because I'm dead. No soul. At least not the kind you can sense.” Jason grimaced. “I'm just saying it because I've run into this situation a lot.” He retreated behind his desk and waited. “Please sit down. We have a lot to talk about.”

  Alex pushed her hair of her face, called sparks to her fingertips, and sat in the chair he offered. “Okay. Talk. Start with how Collum is your boss. If you try anything I'll burn this room to the ground.”

  She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms. “I'm pretty sure vampires can burn to death.”

  Jason leaned back as well and rested his arms on the desk. “True. But the lovely Carol is an ice-queen and I don't think the fire would get very far.”

  Alex leaned forward, fascinated. “You're kidding. I had no idea.”

  He laughed. “Oh, you sensed something. You just didn't know why she seemed so cold. It's because you're new and still learning to trust yourself.” He snapped his fingers. “I can help with that.”

  “How? Don't forget to include Collum in your story.”

  “The big man? He's my boss.” Jason flashed a charismatic grin. Stretched his arms wide. “I'm a Guardian.”

  Alex’s heart raced. “Bullshit. Column is the only guardian.”

  “Technically not quite true. Column is leader of the guardians. There are five of us. Or I should say, there were five of us. Your grandfather was a guardian until the tragedy with your mother. Then there is myself, a renegade wolf named Idris and a faye warrior Diana.”

  She shook her head. “Column and Domhall would’ve told me.”

  “They're not allowed to tell you, I'm afraid. You don't get to know unless you're one of us.”

  Her skin tingled. “Why are you telling me now?”

  “Because, we want you to join us. Domhall and Collum both recommended you. Idris agreed. Diana said she doesn't car
e.” Jason winked. His lips split open in a wide grin. “I'm your new mentor.”

  Alex’s chest tightened. Sparks flew out of the light sockets. “Collum never said a word of this to me.”

  Jason nodded. “Right. Well. I think he wanted to this morning. Didn't work out the way he hoped.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands behind his neck. “Do you want some coffee. I can ask Carol to bring us some. She might even do it if she's in a generous mood.”

  “No, I don't want coffee.” Alex lurched to her feet. “I wanted to come back to my job and be a journalist. I wanted to be normal. I don't want to a be a guardian.”

  Alex clutched her head in frustration. Rampant emotions were spiking in her brain and she had no way to hold them back. As fire climbed up her neck the lamp on Jason's desk exploded.

  “Let’s take a breather.” Jason pushed his chair back from the walnut desk, walked over to the door of his office, and opened it slightly. “Carol, can you bring me two glasses of chamomile tea please? Maybe add a splash of whiskey.”

  As Jason shut the door, Alex heard Carol grumble, “I'm not cleaning that up.”

  He pulled his office chair over broken glass, next to the one she'd vacated, and gestured for her to sit again. “I still remember waking up and realizing I was a vampire. It was ancient times. Thirteen-hundred and sixteen to be precise. Black Death was ripping through Europe. I was from a noble house. I was twenty years of age, set on a course of academia and then, bam. It was over. I was a vampire. Reviled the world over. Filled with bloodlust.”

  Burning closed Alex’s throat as he spoke. A single tear fell from the corner of her eyes. She wanted to be normal. She wanted aunt Quinn to be normal. Wanted her mother to be normal.

  Jason’s words echoed Alex’s deepest fears. “All of those people. Your new friends. Your family. They were born knowing who and what they were. You had dreams. Goals that had nothing to do with immortality. Trust me I get it. Even Collum, with all his love for you, won't.”

  He lightly touched her hand. “Collum recognizes your confusion. The man wants to help. The dragon isn't sure how.”

  Jason retrieved the drinks from Carol as she discreetly entered the room. He pressed a cup into Alex’s hand. Printed on the side of the mug was a picture of a pug dog sitting on a sofa. Written under the picture were the words, Have a Pawsome day.

  Alex laughed through tears falling freely down her cheeks. Jason was the first person to put into words what she'd been feeling. The first to admit he'd felt the same.

  “How did you manage it?”

  His eyes flickered. “It gets easier. You discover ways to continue doing what you love. This existence gifted me with time to learn everything I ever wanted. I've studied every legend. Every scripture. I know every prophecy. I travel and work in whatever field I feel like studying. It's been a good life.” He punctuated his last words with finger quotes.

  “You don't have to walk away from humanity. Or from following your path. Mine is seeking knowledge. Yours, I believe, is unearthing corruption. It's one of the reasons I became a guardian when Collum asked me. It's why we all think you will excel as a guardian.”

  Alex wiped her eyes, sipped her tea. There was more whiskey in it than tea. She'd have to thank Carol later. “I don't want to give up my life yet.”

  Jason nodded. “You don't have too. Maybe let yourself be okay with broadening it.”

  She swallowed and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

  Chapter 12

  Blood caked Mar's hands. She'd been clawing at her cage for two hours. Her nails were chipped. Her fingers raw. The blood wasn't entirely hers though. She might be small, but she knew how to fight.

  When she'd woken up in the cell, anger burned like ice in her veins. Freaking vamps had drugged her. A chloroform cloth pressed to her mouth when her attention had been on Melisandre. Bitch was going to pay for putting her there.

  As soon as her shackles were removed by the vampires, Mar landed a couple good punches. They'd wanted to kill her. Malice poured off them in waves. Orders were orders though. Mar knew her mother would never let anyone hurt her . . . Good Ol’ Isabella would want that honor all to herself.

  They locked her in a medieval dungeon built into rock. Mystical energy pulsed along the edges of her cage. She was as bereft of power as she'd been with her shackles on. Obviously, her mother had been practicing.

  Mar was left in the cage with the clothes on her back and one thread bare blanket. A moldy, single cot sat in one corner. A stained bucket tipped sideways in the other. Dim lights flickered on and off. Her purse mocked her from a half-broken table on the other side of the narrow corridor.

  Her cage was one of several in the damp basement. Water trickled down an exterior wall. Lichen grew in corners. The place stunk like rotting shit. Goosebumps covered her skin. At the end of the narrow corridor, a thick metal door stood ominously. Occasionally a scream reverberated through the cavern.

  If they were going for spooky, they'd succeeded. Personally, Mar thought they'd read one too many Vampires-for-Dummies books. Trust her Mom to take it to the extreme. I mean honestly, what self-respecting vampire lived like this?

  “Bitch is so gonna owe me a new manicure when I get out of here,” Mar complained to the shadows.

  Laughter echoed from the other end of the hall. “Darling girl. You're as feisty as ever I see. How I've missed your zest.”

  Mar cringed. “Isabella. Been a while. Too bad it couldn't be longer.”

  “Don't be rude. I made sure no one hurt you. You can at least call me, Mother.”

  Her mother rounded the corner. As regal, as dark, as demented as Mar remembered. Jet black hair hung poker straight down Isabella’s back to her knees. Her eyes were black too. Empty. Bile burned the back of Mar's throat.

  Isabella walked fingers along the outside of Mar’s cage. Tapped blood red nails against metal. “You wound me. I’ve spent years searching for you. Really, to have ignored me for so many years?”

  “Sure,” Mar quipped. “Next time you want to murder my grandparents in cold blood I'll make sure to put out the welcome sign.”

  “You think you know everything. You know nothing. I saved you.” Isabella clamped her hands around iron bars and stared into Mar's eyes. “Now I need you. We're about to achieve everything we ever dreamed of.”

  Mar grabbed the bars by her mother’s hands. Rage racked her chest. Disgust. She knew what her mother was. She'd always known. Who cares if details were fuzzy.

  “Yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not interested.”

  Her mother's eyes narrowed. “You don't know what I'm offering.”

  Mar tasted pennies in the back of her throat as bile rose. She swallowed her nausea. “Pretty sure I do. I don't want to share anything with you, Isabella.”

  “Mother,” she screeched. “You will call me, Mother.”

  Isabella reached through the bars and clasped her wrists. Mar should have remembered how easily her mother could be set off. It was too late to change anything now.

  Lost in her madness, Isabella squeezed. “You have no idea what I've done for you. There is so little time.”

  The bones in Mar's wrist cracked. She screamed as waves of agony spread through her body. “Stop.”

  “Why do you fight me so, Maria?” Isabella ranted.

  “Mother,” Mar begged. “Stop. You're crushing my wrists.”

  Confusion crossed Isabella’s brow. She looked down. Dropped Mar's hands like they were burning brands. Mar snatched her hands back. Her wrists hung limp. Black bruises were already appearing. A whimper tour from her throat.

  Isabella wailed like a child. “What have I done? Why do you always make me lose control?”

  “Sure, Mom,” Mar said through gritted teeth. “This is my fault.”

&nb
sp; “Stop arguing with me.” Isabella shook her head. Madness haunted her eyes. “No. No, I'm not mad at you. I will fix you. I can. Do you want me to fix you, darling?”

  Tears poured down Mar's face. She tasted salt on her lips. Tasted the memory of all the other times Isabella fixed her. After every wound. After every spell she'd practiced on Mar had failed. The devil lived inside her mother.

  “Yes, Mother. I want you to fix me.”

  “I'm sorry. I'll make it better.” Isabella pulled a chain from around her neck. The key to the cage glistened.

  Mar had one chance. She needed her mother to open the cage. The lock clicked. Isabella stepped inside. Mar dropped to the earth moaning. Her mother lunged to catch her. The door hung open.

  Isabella reached for Mar’s hands. Wrapped them inside her own. Burning agony racked Mar as her mother held her hands and chanted. Slowly the bones knitted themselves back together. The action felt like a burning spike repeatedly jamming into her flesh. She almost passed out from pain. Almost.

  As the last of her mother’s chanting ended, Mar shifted slightly. Flexed her fingers inside her mothers. Wrapped them around Isabella’s smaller hands. Held her tight. As they stood together Mar pulled her hands up, gripped Isabella’s head, and brought it down while ramming her knee upward. Bone connected with bone. Her mother dropped like a stone.

  Mar knew she’d pay for that later. Likely with a broken leg, or shattered knee. For now, it was enough. She pushed her mother to the side and grinned when Isabella fell like dead weight onto the cement floor.

  There were camera's everywhere. With luck, Mar’d have a couple minutes before guards reached her. She scrambled over her mother’s body and rushed for her purse. As she dumped the contents on the table her cell phone fell out with a clunk that sounded like heaven. Thank fuck they'd been too stupid to take it.

  Multiple text message covered the screen. Neeren. He'd never give up. A low battery light flashed. One bar. There was no time to call. Mar hit reply. Prayed to every goddess she knew. Every ancestor. Typed—The vampires have me. Contact the guardians—Pressed send, and smashed the phone against the rock wall.