Ulysses Exposed (Blaire Thorne Book 1) Read online

  Ralph sat on one sofa and took a manilla folder from the floor. He opened it, and his face held no emotion yet I could see in his eyes the seriousness with which the conversation would turn. Shit. I wanted to know. I needed to know. But would the information change the person I was now?

  Ralph motioned with his head for me to sit beside him. “You still want to know everything, Blaire?”

  I sat next to him, bent my right leg and rested it on the sofa, and turned my body to face him.

  He waited for me to settle down, opened the folder on his lap, and began removing documents and photos.

  “This is your daughter, Scout. She is twelve and lives with Mason. These pictures were taken when they were still living in California.”

  He handed me a picture of Scout and Mason; they were laughing while walking in a park, wearing sunglasses, and Scout was holding a leash for a golden retriever. It felt strange seeing a picture of an ex that I simply couldn’t remember; a daughter that I still couldn’t believe was my own. I couldn’t clearly see their faces because the photo had been taken from a distance.

  “They are safe; they have new identities, and we are the only ones who know where that information is kept. You sealed it in a safe deposit box at your bank, and you are the only one with a key to open it.”

  A key. Could it be the one that Sebastian and I had found in the alley—the key chain with the hieroglyphics? I felt my jean pocket, and it was still there. I felt relieved, but that would only last if one of the keys opened that safe deposit box.

  Ralph gave me a document. Something about it felt familiar; a distant calling from my memory that I couldn’t quite yet hear. My eyes scanned the page.

  It was a contract order—and it named Léon as the target.

  “Shit.” The surprise on my face must have shown.

  “Exactly,” Ralph said. “We—you and I—were supposed to kill Léon on the night you were attacked. But before we get to that, let me explain the reason why he was the target.”

  Shock still held me in its grip, but I managed to mutter the words, “Okay, go ahead.”

  “Léon owns a shipping company, ‘F.C. Armateurs’.” I started slightly at the name—the name from the envelope—and Ralph inclined his head as he noticed my reaction. Rather than to call me out on it, though, he decided to continue, allowing me the time to process what he was telling me on my own. “They handled a large shipment from Egypt, which is of interest to us and has mysteriously disappeared. This also happened on the night of your attack.”

  “What was in the actual shipment?”

  “I was getting to that.” He elbowed me. “We were given a month to conduct reconnaissance, and then we had to kill Léon or give up the cash to fund handing the contract over to another assassin. We were hired because of something in that shipment.”

  Ralph glanced at Marcus, who was sitting across from us on the other sofa. “Marcus followed Sebastian and Léon, but he could never get a set schedule; they were always doing different things at different times, which made it harder for us to track them. Léon was also never alone. Sebastian and Miles was always with him. When Marcus first saw Miles, he had to backpedal somewhat because Miles’s brother Danny is a were-lion—just like Marcus.”

  “You are a were-lion?” I spluttered. All these were-animals revealing themselves was fast becoming the only constant in my life.

  Marcus nodded. “You don’t remember that either, do you?”

  “No, sorry, I don’t.” To Ralph, I said, “Are you a were-anything?”

  Ralph shook his head. “No, I am simply a mortal human like yourself.” His eyes were teasing, and his smile was wicked.

  “Okay, then what happened?”

  “When Marcus realized who Miles was, he was afraid that Miles would recognize him and tell Danny, which meant he could only follow them at a distance. Obviously, that didn’t help us very much. You and I, meanwhile, were tracking the shipment, and we discovered that it contained the mummy of Amenemhat. Where Egypt is concerned, there’s always bound to be a curse or some such malediction attached to it.” He smiled and shook his head, but something in the way Ralph had spoken the words told me that he wasn’t joking.

  “So, anyway, rumor has it that Amenemhat was discovered near King Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor. Egyptologists claim that he was buried with three jewels of extreme power, but no records exist detailing their exact strength. Somehow, Léon learned of the discovery and tried to ship it over, but it would appear that someone close to him is prepared to kill him over these jewels. We don’t know who this person is or what these jewels can do, but I think you found out, and consequently, they tried to kill you.” Ralph’s gaze held sadness, and he touched my cheek gently.

  I didn’t push him away; I closed my eyes, smelling the soap he used and his aftershave; a blend of cedarwood, oak and vanilla. His smell was familiar and comforting.

  I frowned at him. “Are we an item? I mean, are we together … romantically?”

  He pulled his hand away. It was clear that the sudden way in which I had asked the question threw him slightly, but that didn’t stop him from answering. “No. You didn’t want to complicate things, so we ended it before it even began.”

  It made sense; as the old saying goes, never mix business with pleasure.

  “Okay,” I said. I needed to understand as much as possible. “So, instead of Léon having the jewels, someone else knew about them and tried to kill him to take them for themselves.” I had been living in Léon’s house for the past few days, and the person who had hired me had not made themselves known. None of it made sense. “Do you think Léon knows all this?”

  “I think he knows something. He has to know. After all, from what we can tell, he has tripled the amount of guards protecting him.”

  “Now I understand why he seemed to freak out when he heard I was an assassin.”

  Ralph shrugged. “So, this is where we are. Someone hired us to kill Léon, someone tried to kill you, and now the mummy and the jewels are gone. Does this ring any bells?”

  I sighed. “No. I don’t remember any of it, and the way I feel right now, I don’t think I have it in me to assassinate anyone.”

  My chest tightened, and so I sat back into the sofa, allowing the soft cushion to comfort me. Moving around on the sofa sent the keys digging into my thigh. I pulled them out.

  “I have these keys,” I said, showing them to Ralph. “Sebastian found them in the alley where I was attacked. We thought they might be mine. We also found a car that might belong to me. There was a torso in the trunk.” Hairs rose at the back of my neck, and a shiver went down my spine like a block of ice. The thought of the grisly discovery of the mutilated body still haunted me.

  “That was Shane.” Ralph sighed. “He was a good kid, but he wasn’t one for taking orders. Marcus told him to follow you while I was following the shipment. I’m sorry that they chopped him up, but he almost got you killed, Blaire.” Ralph closed the folder and threw it on the floor near his feet. “He should have kept you safe, but he didn’t.”

  I frowned. “What was I doing in that area, anyway?”

  “You were following Léon because Marcus had other business to attend to.”

  I remembered the Chinese container from the fridge. “I found some things hidden upstairs. Do you think they might be connected?” I started to get the sense that I already knew the answer.

  “What things?” Marcus asked. He had been so quiet that I had forgotten he was there.

  “In the fridge, there was a roll of film in a ‘Mr. Ming’s’ Chinese takeout container, and under the bed, between the mattress and the base, was an envelope with ‘F.C. Armateurs’ written on it. That’s the name of Léon’s shipping company, right?”

  Ralph nodded, but it was Marcus who said, “That’s right. Do you know what’s on the roll of film?”

  “No. We need to have it developed somewhere.”

  “I can do it. Where are the item
s now?”

  “Both are on the floating island in the kitchen.”

  Marcus stood and Ralph said, “Where are you going, Marcus? It’s late in the evening and nowhere will be open. We can organize developing the film tomorrow.” Ralph also got to his feet. “First, we need to discuss our next steps and find out who is behind all this, Marcus.”

  Marcus sighed, relenting. It was the right call, and he knew it.

  Since they were standing, I also stood. Ralph passed me to approach Marcus, who said, “You are right, Ralph. Where do you suggest we start?”

  I moved toward them and yawned, wiping sleepy tears out my eyes, and said, “Guys, it’s late and I’m tired. How about we get some sleep first and decide what to do next in the morning?”

  “If it’s fine with you, can we stay here for the night, Blaire?” Ralph asked. “It would be easier if we stayed; we can get an early start.”

  “Uh, okay,” I said, still a little untrusting.

  I supposed I could always grab a knife from the cage to sleep with.

  Marcus nodded. “Sure, let’s sleep and then decide.” He disappeared in the general direction of the bathroom. Ralph stayed beside me.

  “Who do you think is behind it, Ralph?” I asked him, touching his elbow so that he would look at me.

  “I honestly don’t know,” he replied. “Whoever it is has been very careful not to show themselves.”

  “Who sends us the contracts?”

  His eyes brightened. “Just guess what the name of the company is.”

  “The suspense is killing me, Ralph. Just spit it out.”

  “Slayerbody.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No.” He yawned and walked over to the beds. “We can look into them tomorrow.”

  Marcus finished in the bathroom and sat on the bed on the far left nearest to it.

  After my bathroom break, I had two choices of beds: either of the two beds in the middle. Marcus was next to the wall on the left, and Ralph was on the right. I took the one closest to Ralph. Neither man was under their blankets, and both of them faced the wall.

  “How do I switch the lights off?” I asked.

  Ralph clapped twice, and the overhead light immediately cut out. I kicked off my shoes and climbed into bed.

  CHAPTER 12

  I AWOKE TO the sound of beans grinding and the smell of coffee. The room was bright. I held my hand over my eyes and sat up to see what was going on. The beds where the men had slept were neatly made; I guess sleeping on top of the blankets helped. My bed, on the other hand, looked properly slept in.

  “Is it ‘good morning’ or ‘good afternoon’?” I said as I sat beside Marcus on the sofa.

  “It’s only 08:25 a.m.” Ralph handed me a cup of coffee. The mug was pastel pink and bore the image of a woman on its front beside the words ‘Ulysses Assassins’. Neat; we had our own personalized mugs. Maybe it had been Ralph’s idea for a novelty gift.

  “Okay,” Marcus said and placed his mug—a pastel blue variant of my own, except with a man on the front with ‘Ulysses Assassins’ dripping in blood—on the floor by his feet. “I was thinking about what we need to do. I will drop the film off and try to find our vampire friends; see if one of them goes off by themselves. Meanwhile, you two can check out Slayerbody.”

  “Sure. A name like ‘Slayerbody’ is bound to be just an avatar, but there are ways we can search it to trace it back to the source,” Ralph said with confidence. “I just need to look.”

  “Is that what you do in our work partnership?” I asked.

  “Yup, but all that equipment is back at my place. We can go after we’re done with our coffee.”

  I nodded. “Sounds like a plan. How do we usually keep in touch with one another?”

  “Cellphones.”

  “Where’s mine?”

  “Gone. I tried searching for you by triangulating your phone the night you were attacked, but I couldn’t pick up your signal. Whoever hurt you must have smashed the phone and dumped it.”

  “Where did you look for me?”

  “There was a spot near the laundromat that we always used for meets. I looked there for you the next day, but all I found was a pool of blood. I called around to try and find you, but there was no mention of a Jane Doe at any of the hospitals or morgues.”

  “Did you search the entire alley?”

  He nodded.

  “That’s where Sebastian found this key chain.” I reached into the pocket of my jeans and lifted the key chain with the three keys. “I don’t know where he found it.”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t see it there when I looked.”

  Hmm, I would have to ask Sebastian exactly where he had found the key chain. Why hadn’t Ralph seen it first if he had been there before us?

  I took another sip of my coffee.

  Having rinsed his now empty mug in the bathroom sink, Marcus set it back on the table near the fridge and said, “I’m going to head out. Call me if you come up with anything.”

  “Will do,” Ralph said. “What about tonight? Are we meeting up again?” He stood to clean his mug, which had the same design as Marcus’s but was in green.

  “No, let’s reconvene tomorrow sometime. I’ll call later with what I find.”

  “Okay.” Ralph placed his mug on the table next to Marcus’s.

  Marcus pressed the button by the stairs to activate the opening. Once the mechanism had moved the fridge aside, he climbed the stairs and then was gone.

  I found my eyes were lingering on the opening. “How do we know that there isn’t someone up there waiting for us?”

  “I am glad to hear your instincts are still functioning properly.” Ralph sat beside me again with a teasing grin.

  Nice to know I was amusing.

  Sensing that I still needed reassurance, Ralph elaborated. “We have motion sensors and trigger alarms scattered throughout the house, and also out back and in front.”

  “Oh, cool.”

  A moment passed, and then I asked, “How did you know that I would be at the club?”

  “I didn’t. When you and Shane went missing, I found your car still in that parking area. I knew then that something bad had happened. When I saw the blood in the alley, I suspected that it belonged to you. With no way of finding you, I focused on the last link I had to your disappearance; I kept watch on Léon and Sebastian.” He exhaled. “Something told me that you were still alive. So, I waited, and then I saw you with Sebastian. When the two of you were walking toward the alley, you looked so confused and scared—I’d never seen you like that before. Ever.

  “I suspected that your memory might have failed in the way you were acting, and I didn’t think that you would remember me. But I was so glad to see you alive. That left me in an awkward position; if you didn’t recognize me, I couldn’t exactly jump out of hiding. So, I watched you, and I saw you collapse in the park near your car. I was watching when they fetched you with a van and took you back to the warehouse. I knew that they were looking after you. If they wanted to hurt you, you would’ve been dead already. When I heard everybody was going to the club, I hoped that you would too. Then, when I saw you, I took a chance when you were alone. Sorry I scared you.”

  “Yeah, you did, but I guess it was necessary.” I tried for a smile, but the corners quivered.

  I stared at the far wall beyond the beds and felt empty. “What was I like?” I asked, without looking back at him. “I mean, do I still seem like the same person?”

  Ralph considered my question for a moment, then answered, “You are different. You used to be tougher; now you seem … calmer. Softer. If I’m honest, before we get in too deep following any leads, you could probably benefit from a refresher.” He smiled. “When we get to my place, we can test your muscle memory. We can run through a few weapons tests; I’ll show you the ones you would normally use, and then we can take it from there.” He touched the wound above my eye, which made me look directly at him. “They properly messed you up,
and yet it looks great after only four days. Does it still hurt?”

  “No.” I wasn’t sure whether to tell him about the vampire mark that Léon had left and how it had helped me to heal quicker. In truth, I wasn’t sure what the mark really meant; I definitely needed to find out more about it. Perhaps that’s why I was so angry at Sebastian and Léon—the fact that they hadn’t fully explained it to me.

  What I needed was to find another vampire who would.

  I lifted my shirt to show Ralph my side. I stood so that he could better see my injury.

  “Fuck, Blaire! He tore you in half.”

  I was close enough to see his blue eyes darken as his pupils dilated. He traced the pink scars lightly with his warm fingers and followed the smaller scars as they split off from the larger one.

  I giggled and pulled my shirt down. “That tickles.”

  “I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to help you.” I could see only honesty and sorrow in his eyes.

  “It wasn’t your fault, Ralph.”

  “Yes, it was. We always work together, Blaire; we are a team. The one night we didn’t, you almost get killed. So, it is my fault.” He stood, and the look in his eyes still spoke of sadness. I wanted to take that sadness from his face, but I just didn’t know how.

  So, I did the one thing I could. I hugged him.

  CHAPTER 13

  I PACKED AN overnight bag with fresh clothes and locked the front door. Ralph drove to his place, and as it turned out, our houses are about twenty minutes apart with no traffic. His house was styled similarly to mine, except that it smelled like a man’s house; a mixture of aftershave, gym bag, sweat and musk. But, as I stood beside Ralph waiting for his fridge to slide away from the wall, his scent was familiar and made me feel safe. My face was near his chest, and I knew his smell; cedarwood, oak and vanilla with a hint of sweat. I must’ve worked with that smell around me for years, and I knew in my heart that we were best friends.