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  “I’m still not interested. There’s a bunch of girls in the club though who would be all over you, especially if you tell them you’re a lost boy. Everyone loved that movie. You should go find them.” She eased the knife free of the holster and maneuvered it from her skirt.

  “But you’re the one I plan to take to my master. He’s going to love you.”

  She clenched her teeth and adjusted her grip on the knife. “Listen up, Vamp Boy. I’m not interested in whatever freaky game you have going on. You touch me and you will regret it. Fair warning. Now turn around and go in the club. I’d hate to hurt someone on drugs. I’d feel even worse if you’re crazy but I’d get over it. Back off!”

  He grasped the hand on his chest and licked his lips. “I bet you taste as good as you smell. It’s a shame my master won’t let me fuck you, but I’ll be watching while he does. You’re going to get into your car with me quietly or I’m going to hurt you. Do you understand?”

  Fear and adrenaline jolted through her as she swiftly stabbed the knife into his side. She twisted her body at the same time as she shoved at his chest.

  Vamp Boy stumbled and almost fell. He reached down, his hand coming away coated in red blood.

  She put her left shoulder toward him, turning her body and freeing up her right arm to stab at him again if he came at her. “Get the fuck away from me. That was a warning. Next time I’ll go for a fatal spot. You don’t want to bleed out in this parking lot.”

  He lifted his head—and she stared in horror at his eyes.

  She’d seen Vamp fetish people wear contacts before, but no way had he put them in that fast, especially while bleeding…and they were actually glowing.

  That wasn’t right.

  “Drop the weapon, you bitch.”

  Chills ran down her spine at the hissing tone of his voice and, to her shock, her hand opened. The knife clattered to the ground.

  He reached out and grabbed her, his wet, bloody hand wrapping around her throat. “You’re going to pay for that. Sleep.”

  She blacked out in the next second.

  Chapter One

  The present

  “Do you ever come to the conclusion that our lives suck ass?” Mandy looked over at Olivia.

  Olivia sighed, shifting her body a little on the roof where they lay side by side. “Twelve more years. Then we are done with this shit. It’s not so bad.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “I see the bright side. We weren’t trapped in Cain’s harem of horrors until he grew bored enough to kill us. You got lucky when the council came for that prick the night after you were turned. He was waiting for you to completely transform before he introduced himself to you. He had me for almost a week before we were rescued.”

  The sadness in her friend’s voice prompted Mandy to reach out and place her hand on her arm. “I’m sorry. You’ve told me how bad it was.”

  “The worst part was coming out of bloodlust and remembering everything he’d done to me. I didn’t even try to fight him off because once he drew blood, I lost my mind. My body actually wanted that sick son of a bitch to degrade me. The council taught us control and gave us blood without doing that, Mandy. We owe them everything. You just don’t realize it since you never woke up naked and covered in blood, then had to live with the things that were done to you while you were feeding.”

  “I’m sorry,” Mandy repeated, averting her gaze but keeping her hand in place. “I just don’t like killing on command.”

  “It’s better to be an assassin than some sick bastard’s sex toy.”

  “Give me details on our target. That usually helps.”

  Olivia sighed. “Those morals of yours aren’t your friend. The council doesn’t like to be questioned and disobedience means torture before death. Don’t forget that.”

  “Just tell me something about our target that’s going to help me day sleep, okay?”

  “He’s a Were who started eliminating the local nest one by one.”

  “And?”

  Olivia turned her head, peering at her. She arched one eyebrow.

  “Oh, come on. Some of these pricks need taken out. I can only tolerate about one out of every ten Vamps I’ve ever met. The other nine, I wouldn’t feel an ounce of pity for if someone shoved them into the sun to fry.”

  “Vampires have the right to live, Mandy. Duh. We’re Vampires. This hunter doesn’t see it that way. Four Vamps in the local nest have been killed in the past week.”

  “If the local alpha has one of his enforcers targeting our kind, you know it’s got to be for a damn good reason. No alpha would want the council coming down on them otherwise. The pack would take out a rogue on their own.”

  Olivia hesitated. “I agree, but you know policy. An investigation was done. The local pack is involved. It’s not our job to question orders. We just do what we’re told. That’s to kill this enforcer to send a message to the pack to stop killing our kind.”

  “I have a brain, and I use it, Olivia. Maybe the investigator was lazy, or an asshole with something against Werewolves. I just can’t see them going after a nest without cause. Before we kill this enforcer, let me reach out to the alpha to talk to him.”

  “No way! For fuck’s sake, Mandy. Don’t make this another nightmare mission. We’re here to take out the target. That’s it.”

  “Hey, that human family was justified in killing that Vamp. He was tormenting them and keeping them prisoner! I would have taken him out too. It’s called self-defense. Their only crime was the prick hadn’t wiped their minds, so they went to the police when they escaped his lair, rambling about Vampires being real. Yeah, it was a mess to clean up, but the council ordering us to butcher those humans was wrong. And yes, that would have been murder. I’m willing to take the blame all over again.”

  “Was it worth the month you spent locked up for allowing the humans to escape?”

  “Absolutely. That family is still alive, and now they have a new set of memories that aren’t going to draw the council back to them. I removed the problem when I went into their heads, before I convinced that nice FBI agent they needed to be added to the witness relocation program.”

  “You’d better hope the mind work you did stays in place and they never remember what was done to them by that sicko. They pop up on the council’s radar again, ranting about Vamps being real, and you’re going to lose your head. The council will have someone digging into their memories to find out what you did. That was a huge risk.”

  “They were innocents.”

  “It’s not our job to make those decisions. We do what the council orders, damn it! You’re like a sister to me. My partner. We have a dozen years to go and then we’re out of service. That nest in L.A. we picked out is perfect for us, and Master Michael already said we could join. Don’t fuck it up.”

  “I’m not a monster, Olivia. I couldn’t live with myself if I killed someone without a good reason. What if this enforcer we’ve been sent to take out is protecting his pack from a predator? I couldn’t find out shit about this Master Marco who reported the killings. I asked some of the other assassins who’ve worked this area before. They told me they weren’t allowed to speak about him. What does that tell you?”

  “He’s probably a pure dick protected by someone on the council. Not our problem. We kill the target and get out. I want to go home.”

  Home. Mandy flinched. She wouldn’t exactly call the council house they lived in a friendly, safe place. Or warm. Ten assassins shared it. Olivia was the only one she trusted or liked. The other eight were nutjobs with major hard-ons for killing. Cold, brutal, and about as feeling as a stack of bricks. They loved it so much, all of them had stayed past their obligation time with the council. That proved they were nuts. She couldn’t wait to leave her job.

  Her friend’s arm tensed under her palm and Mandy was jerked from her thoughts, seeing movement on a lower roof across the street. It was a Vampire male. He leapt from one building to the next, easily making the eight- to ten-