Before I was a slayer, I had other demons to slay.
And not the kinds that slip out of the portals and start shit from time to time.
The real kind.
Humans.
Jude taught me how to defend myself when I was just fourteen. I was weak and at my physical lowest point, but I also had more than just myself to think about.
“If you’re done checking out Casti’s tits, I want to talk about the Castlerocks.” Jude tosses a file on the desk. “Leroy Castlerock and his little brother Mikey run this pool hall a few blocks over.”
“Bloodsuckers?” James asks, an annoyed clip in his tone.
“Nope. But they’re friends with them. They’re running an illegal operation in the basement. Basically scrounging up willing homeless people to bathe, dress, and turn into human vending machines.”
“And this applies to me how?” James leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’m a recruiter, not a psycho slasher. I have skills that require me to locate the best of them,” he says, cutting his eyes my way, “and deliver them to you.”
I roll my eyes. All recruiters started as slayers and he’s acting like we’re a shitty profession.
Jude scrubs his palm over his scruffy face and leans back in his chair. I always wished I were attracted to him. He’s tall, handsome, intelligent. Protective as they come to the ones he cares about. Despite our age difference, I figure we could have made a go at it. I would’ve probably dropped my guard for someone like him.
But he’s like a brother.
A father figure even.
Thinking about sleeping with him gives me the heebie-jeebies.
“The kid, Mikey,” Jude states, “he’s smart and fast. A quick thinker. Knows a thing or two in the martial arts. I think, with his knowledge of the underground vampire thugs, he’d be a key informant too.”
James groans. “Fucking great. So what? I’m supposed to convince this prick to quit his day job to prance around with chicks like teenage Buffy here?”
“That’s exactly what you’re going to do.”
“And if this is just a recruiting mission, why am I needed?” I ask, wondering what Jude’s angle is.
“Intel says there’s a nest of about twelve who frequent there as customers. Nasty sonsofbitches.” Jude shrugs. “Right up your alley, cupcake.”
I flip him off. “Thanks.”
“Oh, I get it now,” James drawls out. “She has this kid sister vibe rolling off her hard, which means you don’t want her to die. You want me to get my hands dirty and protect the little girl.”
Jude snorts out a laugh. “Man, I’m sending her to protect you.”
James stiffens and I shrug.
“I’m going for a smoke if we’re done here. I’ll wait five minutes and then I’m leaving your ass,” James warns, rising from his chair.
“Asshole,” I mutter when he’s not quite out of earshot.
Jude smirks and pulls the file back over to him. “What’s eating you up?”
“Oh God,” I groan. “I have a huge problem at home. Like massive.”
His features grow serious. “Mercy?”
I nod, frowning.
“Is she…” He trails off, making my heart sink.
“No,” I choke out, blinking back tears. “She’s fine right now. It’s just…” I shudder. “What do you know about bats?”
“Like baseball bats?”
“No, like spooky, creepy, go bump in the night bats.”
“Literally nothing,” he deadpans. “Why?”
“Mercy found a bat last night. It was injured and she wants to nurse it back to life. I read up online and all the websites have to offer is that bats are horrible pets. Which I already know. Doesn’t change the fact Nurse Mercy wants to heal it. It’s in no shape to be out on its own.” I sigh. “It’s going to die and she’ll be devastated.”
“Most normal people just get a puppy or a cat.”
“We’ve already established I’m not normal, Jude.”
“If you had given in like I suggested, maybe she’d be happy with her dog and not be seeking out pets in the alley.”
“Not every dog is like Hades. They’re work and I work too much to care for one.”
He chuckles. “Sorry about your situation. You’ll figure it out, kid. Make sure James doesn’t get his ass killed.”
“Would it really be a shame if he died?” I mutter.
“He’s a great recruiter.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll keep him alive. Get me some juice on bats, though, or we’re going to have one extremely upset little girl on our hands.”
“I’ll call around. Give Mercy a kiss from Uncle Jude.”
“I owe you.”
“You always say that.”
“Because I always do.”
“Not everything requires repayment, Casti.”
“No, but family looks out after each other.”
It’s the first time I’ve verbally acknowledged what he means to me. His lips purse together like he’s pissed off, but that’s just Jude. He’s not so great at showing his emotions either.
“Be nice to my baby boy over there,” I state as I stand. Hades barks. “See you soon.”
“Bye, kiddo.”
Castilla
“If we get in there and you can’t handle yourself,” James says as we stalk through the rain toward our destination, “I’m leaving you behind.”
I roll my eyes. “A noble gentleman, I see.”
“The only thing noble about me is my dick, sweetheart, and sorry to break your teenage heart, it’s only into mature women with hair between their thighs.”
Fucking gag.
I hate douchebags like him.
Like Griffin.
A shudder trembles through me, but I ignore it. I won’t allow Griff to get inside my head. Not while at work. He does enough of that all the other times of the day. As we walk, I pat my leather, fitted vest to make sure my ruby stakes are secure and ready to use.
These two stakes are the only thing I have left of him.
Laurent.
I nearly died when I was five years old. Not from being a vampire snack. No, I nearly starved to death. By the time the landlord realized the rent check wasn’t getting paid, they let themselves in to discover the bodies of my baby brother and mother.
He murdered them, they said.
Locked me in a trunk because he couldn’t bear to kill me too, they said.
I was a miracle, they said.
Because while the bodies of my family rotted for fifteen whole days, I lived. Doctors and scientists poked and prodded for far too long, pondering over that mystery. The entire event traumatized my five-year-old self into silence. I couldn’t retell what had happened, not because I couldn’t remember, but because it was too painful.
Now that I work for Jude and have seen all kinds of weird, paranormal shit, I know it was the trunk that nourished me. Whenever I was on the brink of dehydration or starvation, the wood would glow with pretty gold etchings. It brightened my dark hell for those few moments. The hunger pains would fade. I’d no longer be dizzy. Just more time cramped in the confined space with a tiny crack of air to breathe from.