Page 41 of Orion: Galaxy Huntress

Chapter 18

Vice

Fuck,I couldn’t believe I was doing this. Couldn’t believe Ace had convinced me. More like forced me. Definitely coerced me. Threatened me with death if I didn’t go. Whoever heard of a demon that acted out of the goodness of his heart? Business was going to be ruined. I didn’t go in all guns-a-blazing. Demons delivered the chaos that caused the guns to fire, then ran!

I turned the steering wheel left, taking the last exit to the vampire’s mansion. Christ, I was losing my touch. Going soft in my old age. Dad was going to raise hell when he heard about this. Reduce my cozy little home of Bathurst to ash or a pile of rubble from an earthquake. I had to get free of him before he put my body on a spit, grilled me on a rotisserie, carved up my roasted flesh, dined on it, then turned my bones to char.

Gothic architecture, spires, vaults, and arches grew larger in my view as we approached the towering vampire mansion. Rocks solidified in my gut as I slowed the Ferrari and pulled into the driveway. Gravel crunched under the tires as I progressed along the path, parking right out front of the stone steps leading up to the armored front door.

“Still want to do this, Ace?” This was his last chance. I might come out of this unscathed, but he wouldn’t. Really hoped my warning would convince him to turn around and go home, forget about his mate.

The shifter ground his jaw. “No. But I have to.” Fucker was determined, I’d give him that.

As much as I wanted to run the fuck away, something stopped me. Strange sensations in my chest. Responsibility. Honesty. Definitely madness of some kind. I didn’t like them at all. They made me feel vulnerable. I’d always relied on my cunning and scheming to get by in this world, and now all I could think about was integrity and doing the right thing. Every wicked part of me felt stripped away, and I wanted to throw myself into the pits of Hell for being such a pussy. Now would be a good time for the mouth of Hell to open and swallow me, but a demon could only be so lucky.

Fuck, I couldn’t believe I was about to ask this. “Right, well how do you want to work this, then?” I plucked the keys from the ignition and stuffed them in my pocket. “Walk up to the door and ask nicely to release your mate? You change into your wolf and go all Cujo on them?” He growled at that option, and I moved on.

Ace rolled his head to the side to look at me. “Got any guns or stakes?”

“Because I just carry them around in my trunk.” I let each syllable roll off my tongue with extra sarcasm. At least one of my good traits remained.

“We are the worst fucking rescuers in the history or all rescuers.” Ace rubbed his tired, drawn eyes. “Just use your fucking magick to produce the weapons.”

Only one teeny, tiny problem with that. I needed a bargain to do it. “Someone must make a deal with me.”

“For real?” Ace’s face darkened the way it did when he was about to crunch my ass, and I worried for my tail, which snaked up my back. My limb burned with an intense ache from the repairing bones.

“I can’t,” I said with a shrug. “That’s not how my magick works.”

“We’re fucked.” Ace buried his face in his hands.

Although… I was able to use magick to try and lure people into deals. You know, sort of like a business owner trying to lure a new client, taking them out to dinner, treating them to all the spoils. Maybe there was a way around this.

“I’ve never tried this before.” I rubbed at my smooth, handsome, chiseled jaw. “But I could try a loophole.”

“Fuck me,” Ace muttered, rubbing his forehead like he considered turning around and going home, which I was all for. Every man and woman for themselves. I hadn’t lived this long by running headfirst into conflict. Hell, no. I ran from that shit.

I magicked a set of stakes into my hand and hollered with delight, “It worked!” I turned to Ace. “Your turn, wolfy.”

Ace snatched the two stakes out of my hands. “Think I’ll try my luck with the stakes first. Wolf venom takes days to kill a vamp.”

It also weakened them. But each to their own. I preferred weapons in a firefight, not that I’d ever been in one. I started shit then skipped town, sometimes countries, to avoid the fallout.

“Let’s go,” I said, a skip my step as I emerged from my vehicle, feeling a lot more confident than I had earlier. Replacement stakes appeared in my hand.

Ace joined me as we climbed the stairs and knocked on the thick, wooden door.

Uncertainty started to creep in as we waited. I’d done a lot of things in my life. Caused the American Revolution. Created Pepsi out of spite because Coca Cola had stopped using cocaine as their main ingredient. Stopped Ivan Lendl from winning Wimbledon because he didn’t have enough tantrums and break enough rackets to please the crowd. Really, I needed an upbeat crowd that day to make deals with, and he set me back fifty souls in the old KPIs. But this… waltzing into a vampire coven with two stakes and a wolf shifter was madness. Never done anything as stupid as this. Maybe I didn’t need to fleece Orion to get out of Hell. Dad would certainly fire me for doing something for free when everything with him came at a price. Doubted I’d get off so easy, though. If I died, I’d just end up straight back there, getting tortured for an eternity. But what the heck, hey?

Soft, swift footsteps approached the door, lighter than any creature that I’d ever come across. Vampires were fast and agile on their feet. Stealthy as hell. Strong, as well. Did I mention deadly? I swallowed, hard. Fear thudded in my chest and I turned straight around and marched down the steps, fumbling for my keys.

“Oh, no you fucking don’t. You’re coming in with me.” Ace caught me by the collar, choking me, spinning me around like I was a damn child being punished by a parent. Man, I should have fucked up his hands more, so he didn’t heal so fast. He dragged me back up the steps to greet the vampire waiting at the door. “Stop being a coward. For once in your deceitful existence, be a man!”

His words struck a chord in me. He was right. I was a quitter. A deserter when the going got tough or when conflict exploded. It was in my nature. Sometimes I stuck around to enjoy the show, but only from a distance. I wasn’t stupid.

The vampire waiting at the door cocked its brow, losing patience as Ace and I exchanged a glance.

Shit. What was up with me these past few days? I didn’t put myself in danger. Didn’t do pro bono charity when everything cost something. Didn’t save helpless maidens. Well, Orion wasn’t exactly helpless. She was spirited and determined, qualities I admired. My heart nearly burst at thinking of her and her threat to skin me.

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