Chapter 17

Zia knew her time for dodging Ares"s unspoken questions was coming to an end. She was dressed in black and had a holster full of her custom-made daggers on. He had taken a long look at her and said nothing. It wasn"t the time, but the questions hung between them all the same.

Maybe she was making a huge mistake by going with him. There would be no going back if he saw this part of her. Despite that, she wouldn"t let him face Mars alone. She had dug into his past and found out about him killing his father and the horrible beatings he had taken when he was a child. She had seen the little boy covered in blood, lining up his cars in neat rows.

They both had monsters in their pasts that needed to die. She had suspected that Mars must have been in on the beatings that his father was dishing out to Ares. The way he had gone utterly still when he received the phone call told Zia she was right. Zia knew what that kind of fear was like. She wasn"t going to let Ares face it alone, no matter how capable he was of dealing with it.

You are so in love with him, a small voice said in the back of her head. Zia was still trying to fight that voice. She was just dickmatized, that was all. Ares had seen parts of her that she never showed anyone and hadn"t flinched. She knew that she couldn"t keep doing this job either. It was starting to feel like a betrayal. She would get through the night and make her exit. It was one of the reasons she had showed up in his office. She had sent her final reports off to Corven that morning and wanted to have one more day of pretend. Mars turning up had fucked the rest of her plans.

"This is it," Ares said, pulling the car up in front of a run-down set of office buildings. They were on the edge of the vampire district, where it crossed into the human one. It wasn"t the worst part of the area, but it was a shadowy, liminal space that had always put Zia"s teeth on edge.

"Samuel does a lot of work for vampires, huh?" she asked, checking the street before getting out of the car.

"He was a cop once and found that working privately paid better, and he could get more justice done," Ares answered vaguely.

Zia followed him up the stairs instead of getting them into the elevator. She had a hand resting on the hilt of one of her daggers, ready for anything that might want to jump them.

Ares walked on silent feet out onto the third floor. He had done this kind of thing more than once, and Zia knew she probably shouldn"t find it as attractive as she did. Fuck it. She was in love with him and just had to have the strength to walk away before they both destroyed each other. Apart from her friend Asteria, Zia couldn"t say she loved anyone. She pulled her dagger free. She protected those she loved, just like Ares did.

He stopped by a frosted door. It had Samuel"s full name and credentials on it. Ares pointed to the lock that had been busted, and Zia nodded. She was with him no matter what. Ares went in first, and Zia slipped into the shadows behind him. The office had broken furniture and overturned bookshelves. Zia could smell blood and fear in the air.

Samuel had been tied to a chair and was bleeding from multiple wounds. A dhampir that looked like a stockier version of Ares was sitting on the counter of a small kitchenette. He had blood on his hands and was flicking a dagger in the air and catching it again. He smiled at Zia like she was dinner.

Zia smiled back because she was one meal that the fucker would choke on.

"Baby brother! I hear you"ve been looking for me after all these years," Mars said, his predator eyes going to Ares.

"Not because I missed you," Ares replied, stepping closer to Samuel and checking his pulse.

"Aw, but I missed you. I forgot how much fun it was to play with you. I did keep tabs on you," Mars said, hopping off the counter. "You"ve been so busy being a climber. Made lots of time for little Kristofer though. He was like the soft brother you always wanted. Did you cry when he washed up?"

"Why kill Kris? He never did anything to you."

Mars laughed. "He was the only one you got close to in decades. Do you really think I wasn"t going to get even with you for Dad? I"ve been your ghost your entire life, you little fuck. Every time you get close to someone, I"m going to be there to take them away from you."

Ares"s eyes bled crimson, but he didn"t move. He was letting Mars run his mouth, and Zia was ready to cut out the bastard"s tongue.

"Getting angry, little brother? Good. You"ve been slipping." Mars looked Zia over. "Now, you"ve brought me this sweet little cupcake to play with. I had my doubts whether or not you liked your newest family member, but the way you turned my hitman into shredded shit was proof that she had struck a chord. Hit a few of his protective instincts, did you, sweetheart?"

"Funny that you think I"m the one who needs protecting, cupcake," she replied, letting her true face shine through.

"Kitty has claws, does she? Good. I"m a freak too, and I"m going to enjoy breaking you before?—"

Ares collided with Mars, raining down a flurry of punches. Zia moved to help Samuel, cutting the ropes binding him and dragging him out of the way of the brawling dhampir. He was still alive, but he was going to need a doctor with some magical abilities in order to heal the damage. Zia propped the unconscious man by the front door before a heavy crash had her hurrying back to Ares.

"I should have drowned you when you were born like an unwanted puppy," Mars hissed. He had Ares pinned to the floor with his hands around his neck. Zia didn"t wait to see what Ares would do next. She saw him down, and all her restraint snapped. Two of her blades flew from her hands, hitting Mars in the arm and the other in his chest.

"Fuck, kitty does have claws. Good. I have some too, bitch," Mars said, punching Ares once in the face with his good hand before leaping off him and towards Zia. He was fast, but she was better trained. She ducked and slid like water around him, sticking dagger after dagger into him.

"You know knives don"t kill dhampirs," Mars hissed.

"I"m not trying to kill you, cupcake. And good luck getting these out." Zia flew at him and, and with well-practiced strikes, she hit the hilts of the daggers stuck in him. They snapped and dropped to the floor.

"What the...actual fuck..." Mars growled, blood dripping from his mouth.

"Glass daggers? Zia, you are my dream woman," Ares said, wiping blood from his nose.

"Glass daggers dipped in silver chloride. He"s all yours, baby," Zia said and dodged the lazy swipe Mars made for her before he collapsed to his knees on the carpet.

"Gods, you are the most perfect woman in the world," Ares said with a heated look. Magic danced in the air, and Ares"s back turned to his brother. "You always did underestimate those you thought were weaker than you. It"s the last mistake you"ll ever make." The illusion wrapped around Mars like a shimmering blanket. He convulsed, trying to pull away from it. "Feel every bit of fear, every cracked bone and burn you helped our father inflict on me."

Zia"s heart was in her throat as she watched Ares break his brother"s mind with an effortless flick of his fingers. When Mars started to foam at the mouth, Ares pulled out a black blade as long as his forearm and sawed off Mars"s head. It hit the carpet with a wet thud.

Zia knew they needed to move, but Ares was still staring at his brother"s corpse with unseeing eyes.

"We need to get this cleaned up, and Samuel needs medical attention," Zia said, using her most efficient tone on him. "Do you have a cleaner? If not, I have one that owes me a favor."

"What?" Ares said, his eyes not focusing on her.

Zia rested a hand on his arm. "It"s okay, let me take care of it." She pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed a number she knew by heart.

"Speak," a deep voice answered after two rings.

"Vanth, it"s Zia. I"m calling in my favor. I need a crew for a dhampir disposal, office clean, and I need a med-mage that can do a discreet job," she replied.

"Give me an address and fifteen minutes. Don"t make any more mess," Vanth replied.

Zia rattled off their location and hung up. Ares seemed to have snapped himself out of his killing haze because he was now staring at Zia like she had grown another head.

"How the fuck does Tarael Vanth owe you a favor?" Ares asked, eyes wide. "Who the fuck are you?"

Zia let out a small laugh. "You mean apart from the woman of your dreams?" she teased.

Ares nodded. "Yes."

"I"m the last woman you ever want to fuck with," she replied with a saucy wink. Ares"s eyes narrowed, but he didn"t push it. He had just finished washing the blood off his face and hands when Vanth arrived ten minutes later with two of his helpers and a med-mage.

"Lucrezia, always a pleasure," he said by way of a greeting.

"Hey, Tarael, thanks for coming so quickly," she replied with a grin. "I hope I didn"t interrupt anything important."

"Always have time for you," Vanth replied. To anyone who didn"t know better, Tarael Vanth was just a half-fae goth boy with long black hair, tattoos, and a chunk of his pointed ear missing. He was tall and lean, loved dark Nordic metal, and had an endless collection of band and anime shirts.

He also had an uncanny talent for the dead that made him the most powerful necromancer in Inferno. He used his considerable skill to be the preferred cleaner of the rich and powerful. There was nothing his ghouls wouldn"t or couldn"t eat.

Vanth looked Ares over and tsked. "Girl, what are you doing fucking about in Volso business?"

"Family affair," she said with a shrug.

Vanth was one of the few people who knew exactly who her real family was, and he only let out a low whistle.

"Tough. Okay, get the fuck out of here so I can work," Vanth said and waved them away. He turned to his waiting crew. The med-mage was already stabilizing Samuel. "Okay, minions, get the breather into the second car so we can get him to a hospital. I"m going to need my black bag for this. Glass knives, Zia? Really? Why do you want to make my life more difficult."

Zia pouted. "I know you love a challenge."

"Get the fuck out of my sight before I change my mind." Vanth turned back to the body, Zia and Ares already forgotten. He was always more interested in the dead than the living. His two ghouls were already carrying Samuel away.

Downstairs, Ares took Zia"s hand. "One day, we are going to have a long, honest conversation about what the fuck that was all about."

Zia stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "One day, but not tonight. I think you owe me some dinner and a foot rub."

Ares put an arm around her and kissed her temple. "Thank you."

Zia leaned into him, savoring the feeling of being enclosed by him. She would enjoy him for one more night because tomorrow she would have to let him go forever.