Page 21 of The Rogue's Curse

She smiled weakly. “Right.”

He headed back to his office to continue working on the evening’s assignments. Several teams would patrol the blocks near the Constitution building to gather intelligence, while most of their personnel would patrol hotspots like the college campuses and nightclubs. It all felt futile, but they had to try.

Around three-thirty, his computer chirped with a notification. “Motion detected at door number two. Identification: Danielle Pierce.” By the time he got downstairs to the dimly lit lobby, Dani was already inside.

Seeing Olivia’s twin always threw him for a loop. Her face was slightly thinner than her sister’s, and she dressed more like a hipster bartender than a prim and proper secretary. Though she didn’t remember, he’d first seen her mere hours after being recovered from the blood farm with Olivia, when she’d been a scant breath from organ failure.

“Paris,” she greeted warmly. “Have you decided on a title yet? Vice-President Paris? Number One or Two or…?” She raised her eyebrows.

He smirked and bent to kiss her cheeks, catching the pleasant scent of a spicy perfume and that deeper scent that was nearly identical to Olivia’s. “Asshole-in-Chief will do just fine,” he said, accepting the paper bag full of groceries from her. He peered inside, then handed her a crisp hundred-dollar bill.

She accepted it, then folded her arms over her chest. “You know, with the paycheck Julian’s giving me to run errands for you guys, I really don’t need the tips.” They’d been forced to close down Circle 8 and Solo until Shea was dealt with, leaving Dani out of a job. In addition to running daytime errands, she came in most nights to pour drinks in their makeshift lounge.

“A deal is a deal, Danielle,” he said. “And I’m not giving you any reason to take your business across town to Carrigan Shea.”

She didn’t even pretend to be offended. “You’re even more cynical than I am,” she said.

“I do have approximately three hundred more years of practice,” he said.

“Fucking senior citizen,” she teased. “Want to help me bring things in?”

“Isn’t your paycheck covering hard labor?” he asked, already following her out the door. Her truck was parked close to the door, allowing him to spend as little time as possible in the sun. “What did I buy you today?”

“Some new bras,” she said. “You have great taste in lingerie.”

“Of course I do,” he said with a laugh.

After bringing in the rest of her deliveries, Danielle joined him in the basketball gym they’d converted to a training room. Several days a week, Dani came in to train with him. Much to Dani’s chagrin, she was still human, but she was feisty and stubborn like her sister, and wanted to be a part of the court. He’d told her he was going to kick her ass into shape, and in true Danielle fashion, she’d responded, I’d like to see you try.

In their training sessions, they didn’t throw punches and kicks, no matter how many times she begged him to do a Karate Kid, whatever the hell that meant. As a human, Dani would always be outmatched by a vampire. She would never be fast enough to dodge them, and a single blow could crush her chest or shatter a joint.

Most vampires wouldn’t kill her before taking a bite, and that meant getting her close. He’d spent the last few weeks teaching her to break a hold, how to use her weight and leverage to get enough distance to fire a shot. Even with super strength, vampires still didn’t appreciate having their joints bent the wrong way, and any human with a bit of practice could manage enough pressure to get free once.

At his insistence, she always carried several auto-injectors filled with concentrated wood poison, a particularly nasty variety acquired by Kristina Arensberg. Her orders were simple: make space, inject poison, get away, empty the gun.

Dani had several training injectors, and he gritted his teeth every time she stabbed one into him. The momentary discomfort was worth knowing she’d have a fighting chance if she ever got grabbed. He did the same training with Olivia and Shoshanna. Once, Alistair had protested that he was more than enough to protect Shoshanna. He’d wiped the smile off his old lover’s face when he reminded Allie about the time Shoshanna was kidnapped right out of his very own house in the daylight.

After Dani managed a few successful breaks, he held up his hands in surrender. Both thighs and his right ass cheek hurt after being stabbed with the empty pens.

“You know, you wouldn’t have to teach me all this if you would just turn me,” she said, taking back the practice pens and stowing them into her bag.

He sighed. He’d been waiting for this for weeks. “Have you been sucking up to me all this time so I would turn you?”

He’d expected a guilty look paired with an indignant protest, but she looked furious. “Honestly, go fuck yourself,” she said. “I’ve been helping your damn court because I care about you guys. Is that all you think of me after all this time?”

“No, I just—”

“God, you have your head so far up your own ass that you can’t see anything straight,” she huffed.

“Well, I’m not straight,” he quipped.

Her angry expression faltered as a smile slipped through. Then she remembered to be mad and said, “No. You don’t get to just say shitty things and then joke your way out of it.”

Guilt slithered through his gut. He put up his hands in a sign of surrender and said, “I’m sorry. That was shitty to say. And I do appreciate you.”

She sighed. “I guess it’s a fair assumption considering I wanted Lilah and Kieran to turn me. But that’s not why I’m helping you guys. Even if you say no, I’ll help you. It’s just… Doesn’t it make sense to turn me now? You need the help.”

“We can talk about it another time,” he said. Her lips parted as if she was going to argue, but she stayed silent. “When are you shooting with Jonas again?” he asked, gingerly rubbing his bruised thigh. With the reminders of his lost fight with Shea, he was sore already, though he wouldn’t let Dani know.

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