Page 13 of Shadowing Bright
“Vaia, he’s right here, and he didn’t send a guard.”
Vaia looked toward the door, and the guard turned toward her, sliding his protective lenses down to show her sparkling ruby eyes.“Oh, damn.This just got complicated.”
Dorn was shocked.“It was simple before?Matthias is sending someone.”
“Great.This can’t get weirder.”Vaia ended the call and leaned back on the pillows, her injured leg elevated and her gown untucked so they could get at the wound that didn’t want to stop dripping.She was on the surgical schedule to get it cut out and cauterized in two days.It wasn’t the danger to her life; the weakened artery was the problem.
Vaia woke up from a doze, and Amy was standing there.“Geez.”
“Sorry.This happened when you went home that night?”
“Yeah.I am guessing that all of the mercenaries were poofed back to wherever they came from.”
Amy smiled, and it was a wrong smile.“Not all.”A knife was held in her hand, and she stepped forward.
“Help!”
Shadows lashed around the fake Amy and squeezed.A grey and black woman was held in the tentacles, and she couldn’t portal out of there.
Vaia said, “Now that you have her, what will you do with her?”
He grinned.“There is a vampire at your door.Call them if you need them.I will be back.”
He pulled the screaming assassin into him and was gone a moment later.
Under-the-bed monsters were creepy.She would never know why her mom chose to have one’s baby.
She saw a message on her phone from Amy.It was a thanks again for the fun night, and when she had a moment, could Vaia tell her why Emmers looked ill when she was mentioned?
Vaia was about to answer when there was a soft knock, and an unfamiliar yet familiar man was standing in the doorway.“Oh, hey, Azreen.Sorry.Mr.Maximus.”
He looked at her, and she knew she looked like shit.Her hair hadn’t been washed in two days, and her body was due for a sponge bath.
She smiled brightly.“Here to sign the papers?”
“No.I am here to ask why you sent them and why you aren’t using our link to heal yourself.”
“Well, since I am in my thirties now, and it has been over ten years since you needed to use me as a dumping ground for extra power, I can go my way, and you can go yours.I read the tabloids; I know you won’t be single long.”
He stared at her.“You think I broke my vows?”
“Uh, you may not have remembered, but you didn’t have any.That was my side of things.Your mother insisted that since we weren’t going to be living together, you would not be bound to any of those fussy particulars.”
“She might not have intended for it, but I decided that fair was fair.”
“Well, you were sixteen.You had a burning sense of justice.”
“I have had a boner since they showed me your file.It gave a certain glaze to my eyes.”He moved closer to her.
Vaia winced as he pursed his lips, exhaled, and fire moved down her body.
“There.Not your normal glory but better.How were you injured?”
“Twenty mercenaries portalled into my front yard and one opened fire into my living room, where I was standing.”
“So, your thigh, and...”
“A graze across my ribs that won’t stop oozing blood.”
