Enduring Retribution e-book (10 page)

“We work for them and yes, I agree that it doesn’t make any sense. Don’t say anything for
now. Let me think this through.”
Her target came out of the building and she had to move. “
My
assignment is moving, so I have to go. Keep me updated and can you ward the doors around the
outside and in? Give them a little something to remember us by next time, will you?”

“Oh, of course, it would be my pleasure.”
His excitement was evident in his voice.
“Would
you like them to remember with any certain part of their body, or may I decide?”

Bailey laughed out loud, startling a few people from their meal. “
You decide and have as
much fun as you’d like. Later.”

“Goodbye and thank you.”

She closed off their connection as she shifted.

Bailey was still grinning when she started across the street toward her target. He was fast, like a were fast, but she was a little faster while in flight. When he loped down an alley, she didn’t follow, but stayed on the outer perimeter high on a balcony. Shifting back, she reached for a mental link to him and found he was with someone else. She followed the string to the other being he was talking to and listened in on their conversation.

“I don’t think you understand,” her target was saying. “I said this is the way it will go down, and that is the way it will happen. That stupid cow won’t even know what happened, but she will when I’m done with her.”

“We have to get rid of the other body before we take another. I mean, seriously, Josh, they start to smell fast when they’re gutted like that and the neighbors might not like it. That’s all I’m saying.” The other man having a concern for his neighbors nearly made her laugh. They were both dumbasses.

“So, fucking get rid of it. Shit, do I gotta make all the decisions ‘round here? It’s not like we can use it anymore. Dead is dead, ain’t it?” Josh snarled at his buddy as Bailey leaped to the ground as mist surrounded her.

“Oh, you have no idea how true that statement is,” Bailey said as she walked out of the mist from behind them.

Bailey was behind the first guy before he knew she was there. Taking his chin in her hand and with a quick jerk, his neck was broken. That’s when Josh decided to run, like that would stop her from finding him too. Decapitating the dead man with a quick blade to his throat, she shifted and took off after her target.

As a product of the lab, Bailey couldn’t just keep her clothes on when she shifted, but anything in her hands or directly touching her skin stayed with her as well. If she’d had on her backpack, however, it would stay behind. It wasn’t touching her so it wouldn’t blend into her animal. Things in pockets, if they there wasn’t too much metal, went with her as well. It made her armed and dangerous at a second’s notice.

She caught up with him about a mile outside of the city limits. He had shifted as well and as a wolf, thought he could out run her. He’d been so wrong. Not only was her vision better than his as a falcon, she was much faster even with a back wind current.

When she landed outside the cave he had crawled into, she shifted back to human, pulled the darkness from the interior around her, and tightened down her shields. She didn’t want him to hear her coming any more than she wanted him to get away. She moved toward the opening and went inside.

She was halfway in when she felt the hair on her neck tingle. Something was there too.

Something dark and mean was close to her. Bailey had just pulled back when a huge claw that had come out of nowhere sliced through the air and missed her neck by a mere inch. She quickly realized it must have smelled the blood from the first kill on her clothes.

“So the Printer is a woman.” A high-pitched voice said from beyond. “And a very pretty one at that, yes, yes, pretty indeed, she is. Oh, how I will enjoy the taste of you. Hummm, a tasty printer you will be.”

She heard it lick its lips and smack them together. She reached out to it cautiously and found something she had never encountered before, a red dragon troll. They lived in caves or hill sides, carving out their homes or hovels with their sharp claws. The red troll was about medium height, but hugely fat and extremely lazy, waiting for his prey to come to them rather than hunt. Yet this one knew who she was. Even more curious was that he knew what she did. But she had a job to finish and no time to screw with him just now.

“What’s the price, troll, to go about my business?”

That was another thing about them. They loved to make bargains. And they cheated at everything. And if one wasn’t careful, a person could lose a great deal more than a bit of blood if the mood struck them.

“Ah, and she is smart. But you would need to be, would you not? Good, good, play you will with me? You wish to pass, my tasty morsel? Well, my price would be to answer three questions truthfully and correctly.” The smell was nauseating; her stomach rolled a little at the tight confines of the cave that smelled of death, sweat, and old blood.

“No, one, and I’ll only answer it correctly.” She leaned to the right when she felt him moving toward her. “Two sides to every coin, troll. My truth could be your lie. Ask your one question.”

He seemed to mull this over before he answered her. “You play unfair, but you are honest. I will ask one. You seek a being; you want a reward. You have its life, who will give you yours.

What is he?”

She knew what he was asking her. She had no doubt of that. He was clever, this one, but still slightly stupid. She wanted to answer him quickly, but he’d be angry. She must make him work for it, or he wouldn’t allow her passage without exacting another price.

“I seek no one but the were who came before me. I can track very well and he is here within your walls. Or have you made lunch of the fur ball? If that is so, then I need not play.” She turned to go and smiled when he stopped her.

“No! I want my bargain.” She heard what sounded like a foot stomping. “I will give you the other I have. I have treat for later. It will be a good trade too. You shall see, play the game, and you will have it for the answer. Deal, Printer?” He pleaded with her.

So the troll had eaten the wolf. Good, less work for her. But what else could he have that he had kept for a treat? When she reached beyond him, she felt nothing. Whatever he had captured, or had fallen into his hands, was deep into the belly of the cave. But if he had it to trade then maybe she could help the hapless soul who lay there.

“All right, troll you shall have your bargain. I have its life, who will give me mine. What is he? That which will give me mine is a vampire.”

“But what of the rest of the riddle? You must answer it all. Play fair!” She heard him shift hard against the wall, and it sounded as though he stomped his foot again. Bailey wondered how old he was, and thought he couldn’t be much older than maybe three hundred years old.

“We had a deal. You only asked one question and I was to answer it, and I did. If you wanted a riddle answered, then you should have said a riddle, troll, not a question. You got what you asked me. I told you what he is. Now, give over your treat, a deal is a deal.” Her anger was evident in her tone.

He roared, making rocks tremble in his wake. Sparks rained across the stone close to where she was as his long, sharp claws angrily scraped down the stone walls in his fury. She nearly told him she’d play his way, but didn’t like spoiled beings any more than she did spoiled humans.

“I will make no other deals with the Printer. No deals for the Printer, no more indeed. She does not play my games well. She does not cheat me, but she does not play fair.”

“Troll, I am sorry, but I played fair.” Bailey thought to reason with him anyway. “But I will give you another try. A question from me then. I will give you my first name for your trouble if you tell me one answer question. I will play fair, red troll.” Why did she suddenly sound like Dr.

Seuss?

“Deal! I will have my fun with you. You are a good being. Yes, good being indeed.”

“I am the Printer, but how did you know? I gave you no clue, yet you knew when I first walked into your lair. Tell me how you figured it out.”

“Ah, that is not so hard. Everyone knows of you. You have a smell of all of us. You are the maker of rights, righteous to the innocents of all the other beings. Yes, we all know of you and your were. You have the friendship of a Cynogriffon, do you not?” Glee filled his voice. “He is very powerful, yes, powerful in magic. We all love you, tasty or not. I do not wish your name, though it will make me envious of those who do not, but I will tell that you offered you to me.

Yes, yes, I will.”

Yep, they were both trying out for Dr. Seuss, or the little green guy from the Star Wars movies, whatever his name was. All they needed now was a light saber and things would be complete. She so needed a vacation.

“Thank you, troll. I am in your debt. You honor me with your kindness. If I may have your treat, please, I will bother you no more. But if I am in need of you, may I call upon your hospitality?”

“Yes, yes do. I will be honored to help the Printer. Yes, help you, I will. Thank you. You may have my tasty treat, hummm my treat.” She heard him lumber away, taking most of the offensive smell with him.

What he tossed to her from the depths of his lair was a woman, a vampire to boot. The woman was in horrible shape, but alive. The troll was right in her being a treat for him. Eating a blood-sucker was a treat indeed for a troll. Bailey was suddenly glad that she’d made the deal with him. But she needed to get her help or she would die.

“Griff, I need a vampire and a donor at my location right now. Can you do that for me? I
have a very weak female vamp and it has been about ten days since her last feed.” S
he carried her out into the night and laid her on the cold ground.

“Yes, mistress, I will have someone there immediately.”

It was ten minutes before the two men showed up. One was a master of this realm, the other a human servant. The human servant knelt before the woman and gave her his throat. Bailey looked away as the woman drank deeply, yet still didn’t have the strength to get home on her own.

The master, Leighton Chalmers, a large Dutchman who had been around since the twelfth century, had also heard of the Printer. Sheesh, it was getting so a girl couldn’t go anywhere without someone hearing of her.

“I am in your debt, my lady. Laverna is a very important female in our Kiss, as you are in yours, I’m sure. You shall have safe passage to the realms here in the Netherlands for your lifetimes, and my protection as well whenever you need it. I shall let the other beings know of your kindness to us.” Leighton bowed low before her and kissed her hand in gratitude.

“I am very glad for your offer. I am, however, not a part of a Kiss. I live and work alone, sire. You have my gratitude, as well as the troll who found her. I would ask that he remain unharmed for as long as he lives. He could have kept her for his own rather than give her up.”

Leighton looked at the mouth of the cave and shuddered. She didn’t blame him. Trolls smelled bad and their eating habits were horrendous. He told her he would honor her request, as would all the other beings.

“I thank you. Now, I’m sorry, but I must go. I have to get back to another…I’m on an assignment.” She shifted into her falcon and left him standing on the hillside. He looked at her oddly as she flew away, but she was too busy to think about what it might mean.

She flew back to the alley and gathered up what she could from the first man’s scent to find the woman that they had been discussing. After throwing the piece of shit into the dumpster, she shifted to wolf and followed his scent back to the lair he had shared with the target.

The woman’s body, another vampire, had been tortured beyond any hope of her being brought back, Bailey was saddened to see. She reached for the master again and told him of the grim discovery and where to find the body. He said he would make sure that things were cleaned up before the police were notified by a nosey neighbor, and he thanked her again.

Bailey took the next flight to the United States. She was in serious need of down time. Her body ached and she was tired beyond what she had been for some time. She told Griff to not take any more assignments for a few days. He agreed that she needed to rest as well.

She decided to take a long, hot bath when she got back to her house. She pulled her hair up in a sloppy knot on top of her head as she stepped into the warm water. While lying there, she thought of the pool she had seen at Tristan’s home and how lovely it would be to sink down into its depths right about now.

Then her thoughts turned to his body and the way it felt pressed against hers, his mouth moving over her throat, down along her pulse. The way his blood had tasted to her, the richness of it, powerful and dark. She wondered how his mouth would feel on her skin, how it would feel to have him inside of her. Suddenly realizing where her thoughts were taking her, she jumped out of the tub and quickly dressed in her favorite jammies.

~CHAPTER TEN~

She was in her kitchen stirring the cocoa in the warmed milk when Tristan entered her house. He could smell her, the fragrance she had used in her bath, the lotion on her skin. Tristan could even smell her arousal, hot and spicy.

Tristan slipped up behind her and wrapped his hand around her waist with the other around her mouth so she wouldn’t scream. Startled, her hand went to the weapon that wasn’t there.

“Don’t, Bailey, it’s me, Tristan.” His cock hardened when he pulled her to him.

He ran his hand up and down and around her waist and settled it over her belly, pressing her back into him. His mouth was moving slowly down her neck, nipping as it went. Her body, already relaxed from her bath, softened more as he touched her. When he felt her lean back into him, she pulled away and moved to the other side of the kitchen. Tristan reached over and turned off the burner under the milk.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry about everything.” He looked down at her pants, a pair of loose-fitting flannel lounge pants that tied at the waist, her bare feet peeking out from under the legs of them.