Page 20 of Happily Undead in Dark River

I unloaded onto the broad shoulders of X, every feeling, memory, wish until Tex was snoring softly behind me and the water was completely chilled. Eventually, I realized the bubbles were all gone, but X had never let his eyes drift past the edge of the bath.

“She sounds like a good woman.” There was something haunted in his eyes. “You should get out of the bath before you turn into a mermaid and your shifter turns into an eel.” He rolled to his knees, not even a little stiff from sitting on cold slate tiles. For the first time, he let his eyes drift to the bathwater.

He swallowed hard. “What magic do you possess, Raine Baxter?” He leaned forward and kissed me softly on my lips, barely even brushing them. Then he was gone.

Fuck.

I had developed a crush on the Executioner.

Chapter Eleven

You could almost tell when the Vampire Nation stepped across the town borders. It was like the whole town rippled with fear. Goosebumps chased across my skin and I shivered like someone walked across my grave. Well, my proverbial grave.

I was dressed in a long-sleeve bohemian blouse trimmed in lace and tight black leather-look pants. I was really feeling the vampire aesthetic today. I coupled it with bright red lipstick that matched the lightest part of my red, ombre hair; the armor of strong women everywhere.

I slipped on my pretty studded combat boots, and I looked like I was ready to kick someone's ass. But I wasn’t really. In a fight, I would be worse than useless. Being a vampire hadn’t suddenly given me the ability to kick ass or twirl swords like Joan of Arc. I could run fast, but not faster than any other vampire, and apparently, it hadn’t made me anymore graceful. I still ran like a duck. Just a really fast duck.

I stepped into the kitchen to find Tex fully attired in his usual black jeans and a band t-shirt. I’d been steadily refilling his band t-shirt collection with online shopping. Today he had a shirt from a band I’d found on YouTube, and the lead singer was the dead ringer for Tex. It had a skull and coffin on the front and I loved it. Actually, buying stuff online was one of my new favorite pastimes. It wasn’t fantastic for my bank account though. You could only become one of those rich, eccentric immortals if you were born before the age of online shopping with same-day delivery. Not that anyone ever delivered out here. The Council had a post office box in the next largest town to ours. Not even the Postal Service stopped in Dark River.

X was with him, dressed exactly how he normally dressed; killer couture. He sat on my timber chairs, tipping it back until I was worried that the chair legs would buckle under his weight.

“They’re here, aren’t they?” I asked X, who nodded, his brow creasing right between his eyes, pulling his long, dark eyebrows closer together.

“What do we do now?” The idea of the Vampire Nation, complete with Enforcers, being here made my anxiety ratchet up a thousand notches. I felt raw already after the thing with Mom. Now I was jumping out of my skin.

X shrugged. “We wait.” His tone was blasé but I could see the tightness across his shoulders, along his spine. It was echoed in the stiffness in my spine. Tex sat down and I wandered over to sit in his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and the tension in my body eased. This was what the Mate bond did. It soothed and healed.

I watched YouTube conspiracy videos on Tex’s phone, watching the group chat for any news. But so far, there was nothing. X sharpened his knives on a whetstone, the slow scrape of the metal disconcerting but also a little hot. Damn. Who knew killers were my type? We sat in companionable silence until there was a heavy thumping knock on the door. X was on his feet, his huge hunting knife gripped in his hand. “Stay here,” he growled low, and now I really knew why Judge made him stay here. Not because he’d offended the Council, but because he trusted X with my safety, and Tex’s, above anyone else. It made me trust the former Enforcer even more. Tex slid me off his lap as he stood and poised himself in front of me. “I don’t recognize the scent,” he whispered in a low voice.

I heard X open the door, and whoever was on the threshold gasped. “X. What a surprise. Though, not really considering you are such a traitor. Pieter, get the Master,” the voice said in a quieter voice. “I’m sure he’d want to know for what, or should I say whom, his golden child fell from grace.” His voice was louder now. “Are you not going to invite us in, old friend? It has been a day for surprises. This little shit hole certainly has some interesting inhabitants. Judge too. Who would have thought it, hmm? Will I find the witch in the next cottage over?”

I needed to see the owner of the voice, and I shifted toward the foyer, peeking around the wall. I could only see the broad expanse of X’s shoulders as he blocked the door.

“You aren’t welcome here, Raul,” X said, his voice so cold that it sent shivers down my spine.

Raul, whoever he was, laughed. “We are the Vampire Nation, we are welcome everywhere. Now move aside before I have you executed for inhibiting an investigation by the Vampire Nation.”

X shifted another hand behind his back, unsheathing a second knife from what I realized was a back holster. It made sense; it was not like he was pulling them from between his ass cheeks.

“Fuck off, Raul, you smarmy old bastard.”

“That’s what I hoped you’d say. Please place X under arrest,” Raul said to someone, and I couldn't stand there and do nothing.

I leaped into the hallway, Tex’s hand reaching for me but missing. “Wait. X, let them in. We have nothing to hide here,” I said loudly. I grabbed Tex’s hand and pulled him close. “Don’t leave my side, okay?” I whispered. He squeezed my fingers so hard I thought they might break.

“Never.”

X looked over his shoulder at me, worry marring his normally nonchalant face. He shifted back to me faster than my eyes could follow.

Raul strode in like he was a god, but he looked exactly how X had described him. Like a smarmy old fuck. He had an aristocratic nose and eyebrows that kind of blurred into one. “And who are you?”

I squared my shoulders. “Raine Baxter. This is my home.” I was proud that my voice didn’t wobble as much as my knees did.

“And your pet? Human? I thought this town frowned on eating humans? We certainly frown on you not killing them afterward. Though there is something to be said for Renfields.”

I scowled, ready to make the hugest mistake of my life and tell Raul to go fuck himself when X interrupted. “He’s half-shifter. Protected by the Alpha of the Western Canada Shapeshifters. Our treaty forbids us from injuring any of their people. Especially not vampires like you.” X’s voice was basically dripping with malice. “You may be an Enforcer for the Vampire Nation, but not even the Nation is above the treaties of the Convocation. Or do you only answer to Lucius now? Shall I tell Titus your allegiances?”

Raul sneered, his lip curling above huge canines. “Do not pretend you have the ear of Titus, you filthy traitor.”

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