Ulysses Exposed (Blaire Thorne Book 1) Read online

  They were the same French products that Léon used.

  “What about Esther? Doesn’t she share your room with you?” I cringed as those words flew from my mouth. By the time they were out, I couldn’t take them back. It was none of my business, so why did I ask?

  “No, Esther was a one-time thing which I regret. She is crazy. Her old master ruined her and now she takes her crazy out on everyone.”

  “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. It’s none of my business. But, from what I saw last night, she seems to think otherwise.”

  “Like I said, she’s crazy.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Anyway, let me leave so you can finish. I’ll come back in about thirty minutes to take you to the kitchen. I am sure you must be hungry by now.”

  “Ah yes, the moving walls. Are you scared I might go somewhere I’m not supposed to?” I snorted, putting my hand in front of my mouth in case there was another. I thought it was funny, but he did not. He left and closed the door behind him.

  I washed my hair, and while the conditioner was doing what it was supposed to do, I washed my body. When I stood up, I could see the reflection of my body in the mirror on the opposite wall. I slowly pulled the large plaster from my side, revealing a pink raised scar that ran from my belly button all the way around my side to my spine. The stitches were the dissolvable kind, but there were some that still stuck out, and so I pulled them out. There were tiny scars that broke away from the larger one, where the bite marks tore through my body. It looked like a road map running across my abdomen. After only three days, it looked like a month’s worth of healing. Impressive.

  I finished bathing and wrapped a towel around my body and one around my hair. The bedroom was quiet. I had never noticed before, but the walls were probably thinker than normal because I couldn’t hear anything from beyond Sebastian’s or Léon’s rooms; apart from the moving walls.

  Standing between the bathroom's doorjamb, I realized I didn’t have any clothes in Sebastian’s room and I sighed. As I moved closer to the bed, however, I saw that there was something on it; it was a stack of clothing with the key chain atop it and sneakers on the floor. I smiled.

  Having dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, I slipped the card that Ralph had given me and the key chain into the pockets of my jeans, one on either side. I towel-dried my hair and returned both towels to the bathroom.

  When I entered the room again, Esther was sitting on the bed. See, thick walls—I didn’t hear her enter. Could she walk through walls? Was that her vampire power?

  Esther was stunning in a pouty, porcelain doll kind of way. Her long brown hair was neatly brushed and stayed out of her face. The beauty spot on the right side of her face brought all attention to her full red lips and away from her hazel eyes. She wore a tight pencil skirt and a low-cut blouse, revealing just a hint of cleavage.

  “That was quite a show you put on last night. Ian doesn’t like you much anymore.” She curled a strand of hair between her thumb and index fingers.

  “I don’t enjoy being touched by someone I don’t know.”

  Her shrill laughter made me flinch; it was so sudden and out of place. And loud.

  “That’s funny; you allow Sebastian to touch you.”

  “I don’t allow anyone to touch me. Sebastian is only helping me.”

  She flew up from the bed in one sweeping motion and stood before me. Esther was a few inches taller than me, and as she leered down at me, her brown eyes bled to black with almost no white left. She flashed fangs as she laughed.

  “Why are you so scared, human? I only want to talk.”

  “Standing so close to me and laughing like that isn’t talking, Esther.”

  She raised her arms to attack, and I did two things at once. I blocked her right arm with my left, and because she was so close to me, I hit her on the side of her face and jaw area with my right elbow. She stepped back, stunned, and I kicked her in the solar plexus, knocking her backward onto the bed.

  I ran to the door, but when I opened it, Ian was blocking my way. He saw Esther on the bed and me trying to escape, and so he grabbed my arms. He pinned my arms tightly behind my back and walked me backward until my head hit the wall. He pushed me so hard that I bit my tongue. Blood poured out from my mouth. Ian pressed his body against mine, revealed fangs, and closed the gap between us. His breath hot against my cheek, he licked the blood from my lips.

  “I love it when a woman greets me with a mouth full of fresh blood.” He turned to Esther and asked, “Are you all right, luv?”

  “Kill her, she fucking hit me.”

  “It will be my pleasure.”

  I screamed as loud as I could, but it was too late. Ian bit me, sinking his fangs into the curve of my neck. It hurt like nothing I had ever experienced. His bite turned acidic as his saliva mixed with my blood. He squeezed my arms tighter behind my back, and I started to shake. I tried moving my head a little, but as I did, his fangs sunk deeper into my neck.

  I cried out again, and through shaky breaths, said, “Please let me go. It hurts.”

  Esther laughed again, that shrill laughter that could deafen. Her high-pitched cackling pierced my ears, and something wet dripped out from them and down the sides of my neck. She edged closer to Ian, draped an arm around him with her head on his shoulder and stared at me.

  “Does it hurt, human?”

  I didn’t want to answer her. Tears filled my eyes, and I blinked them away—I would not cry in front of her.

  Ian unlatched his jaw from my neck and licked the wound. It burned like hot coals against my skin.

  He straightened his posture while still holding me tightly. “Her blood is divine, but she has a hint of something darker.” He smacked his lips together, like one does when trying fine wine. “I think it’s the best I’ve had from any human. You should try her, luv.”

  “No, no, no, no!” I cried.

  “Don’t mind if I do. Ian, hold her tighter. I don’t want her moving around.”

  He did as she asked. He pulled my arms closer to one another behind my back. I cried out as my shoulders strained and he pushed his body closer to mine so that I couldn’t move. “Hold her head, otherwise you can’t get a good angle.”

  She held my face to one side and sank her fangs into the other side of my neck. She bit harder and faster, leaving me gasping for air. Ian’s face blurred around the edges, a dense fog filled the room and the only thing keeping me up was Ian holding me against the wall. My body went limp against his, and pain shot from my neck down to the rest of me.

  I heard the door fly open and hit the wall, and someone yelling in French. They didn’t sound like friendly words. My eyes were too heavy to see, but I felt Esther release her fangs from my neck and Ian relaxing his grip from my arms as he stepped away.

  With no one keeping me upright, I crumpled to the floor and fell into the darkness.

  CHAPTER 9

  I WADED THROUGH a lake rich and thick with blood. The tree standing on the embankment was as naked and lonely as I. The tree’s bark was charred, and its leaves were burnt; it had been left to die. I swam toward the shore to reach it, but the more I swam, the further the tree was out of reach. When I stopped swimming, the crimson lake drained into the soil below and I was left standing with dried blood caked over my body. Someone called out, but I couldn’t make out the name. A name, no matter how hard I tried to remember, kept echoing further and further away until I couldn’t hear it anymore. The calls stopped, and the silence rang in my ears.

  “Do you like it?”

  I spun around, and Léon stood before me, also caked in dried blood and with his fangs showing. I blinked. Sebastian stared back at me with bright green eyes and revealed his fangs. I blinked again and again until I could focus, but their faces transposed onto each other. Both men gazed at me, a mixture of blue, green, and gold slivers burning brightly in their eyes.

  “It won’t hurt,” they said, biting into their wrists and offering their blood to me.

  I shook my head
and said, “No!”

  “You will die if you don’t.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t want what they were offering.

  Silence.

  My eyes fluttered open, and they were gone. The tree was gone. The dried blood was nowhere to be seen, and instead I wore a white slip dress, sitting in a white chair with a book in my hand with the title, Ancient Egypt.

  I glanced at the open book, but the words shifted out of focus. Each word blended into another, and the pictures greyed out like a fog moving over water. I rubbed my eyes and saw red smears on my hands. I stood, and the book dropped to the floor. I stepped over the book and walked toward the door, but then everything blurred. Using the wall as my compass, I reached the open door, and my vision cleared. Sebastian stood holding his arms out to me, and I went to him.

  “Help me,” I said.

  He held me to his chest, and the rhythm of his heartbeat eased my tension. One side of my face was against his clothing, but he moved, and then my face was against his naked skin. He held a knife, brought it closer to his chest and sliced into his skin above his nipple. Blood poured from the wound, and he held my face tightly to him until his blood reached my mouth.

  “Drink, or you will die,” he said, whispering.

  I tried to push him away from me, but his blood poured into my mouth and down one side of my face. I swallowed the metallic liquid, and it burned as it slid down my throat. I coughed up the blood, but he kept pushing more and more of his life into mine.

  I pushed harder against him, and he let go. I crashed to the ground and awoke with a jolt.

  Arms held me down, and a male voice kept calmly saying, over and over, “Keep still, I won’t hurt you.”

  The tension and anxiety I bottled up exploded inside my head and body, and I cried, “What is happening to me?”

  Sebastian pulled me closer to him. Closer to his body, to the heat of his skin, and I held his body tightly against mine.

  Ian and Esther had attacked me, draining me, almost killing me.

  I stiffened in Sebastian’s arms, and he said, “Léon pulled them off you just in time. They are being punished for what they did.”

  Staring into his face, I asked, “Punished how?”

  He looked down at me. “What does it matter?” He shrugged. “It is a fate worse than death.”

  “Good. I want them to suffer.” The words came out cold and cruel from my lips, but I didn’t care.

  The memory of their bites, their lips on my neck and my blood loss all suddenly flooded my thoughts, prompting me to remember the dream; the crimson lake that had surrounded me. I jumped out of Sebastian’s arms and ran for the bathroom. I reached the toilet just in time as I vomited rusty liquid. Once I was sure I had nothing more to puke, I shuddered and pulled the handle. I washed my face and stared in the mirror. I was in the same jeans and t-shirt I had pulled on before Ian and Esther attacked me. My skin was pale, my eyes were sunken and my cheeks were gaunt. I looked like shit.

  I entered the room and said, “How long have I been sleeping?”

  “Not long. About an hour.”

  “It’s starting to become a habit.”

  “What?”

  “That someone is always trying to kill me. My body can’t handle all this, but I’m still here.” My voice became louder, albeit a little shaky. “It was only an hour ago that two vampires drained me. I should be dead, Sebastian. Why aren’t I dead?”

  Sebastian sat and stared at me, a look filled with either pity or sadness.

  “What? Why are you giving me that look?” I could feel my face getting hot, and my hands had bunched into fists. It was only when I had clenched so tightly that they had started to hurt that I could think a little clearer.

  “Let me take you to Léon,” Sebastian said.

  He climbed off the bed, pulled his shoes on and stood by the door. I pulled my shoes on and ran to catch up.

  The walls had shifted again, and the hallways were different. When we reached Léon’s office, Sebastian didn’t bother knocking; he just opened the door, and we entered. Léon was on the phone, he lifted a finger to let us know he was busy and pointed to the white sofas for us to sit and wait until he had finished.

  While I sat in his office, I calmed down. I didn’t know why I was mad, but when we sat down, that anger started to seep away like water off my skin.

  Was I always this angry?

  Angry because Léon’s friends had almost killed me? It meant that I was almost killed twice in the same week. What were the odds? I felt tired and frustrated just thinking about it.

  Léon ended his call and sat across from us. “Why are you so angry?”

  I frowned. “How do you know I was angry? Were you reading my mind again?”

  He smiled. “I can see it on your face.”

  “You really want to know why I’m angry? Let’s talk about the fact that the two of you seem to know something you aren’t sharing. And then, there’s the fact your friends tried to kill me.”

  “I am sorry they did that but I assure you, they are being punished.”

  “How?”

  “We’ve locked them in their coffins.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means they will stay there until I feel they have suffered enough. They will go without food for a very long time. I should notify the Vampire Council and have them killed, but I still have need of them.”

  Léon and Sebastian shared a look, talking from mind-to-mind, no doubt alluding to the knowledge of why he still needs them, the reason that he didn’t kill them. I didn’t know for sure.

  “And what else?” I asked, crossing my arms in front of my chest and frowning again. I stared from one to the other, but they were still mind-talking.

  Léon opened his mouth and was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” he said.

  A tall man entered, wearing a brown business suit with patches at the elbows. He had brown eyes and brown hair with hints of grey on the sides that was neatly cut and styled with a side parting. His features were long to match his body, and he stood graciously near Léon.

  “Kit, this is the woman you’ve been investigating.”

  Léon shook Kit’s hand and then held his hand out to me, palm facing up. “This is Kit, the private investigator I told you about. He has some information.”

  Kit gave a small bow in my direction, then said, “Nice to finally meet you. Okay, do you want the good news or the bad news?”

  Not the best start. “Gee, I don’t know, Kit. Shouldn’t it all be good news, since I know nothing?”

  Kit glanced at Léon before focusing back on me; he was straight-faced, showing no emotion. His beady eyes narrowed, he straightened his shirt and fixed his tie. He pulled a black leather notebook out of his jacket pocket and opened it toward the back.

  “Right then. Your name is Blaire Oona Thorne.” Kit paused and glanced at Léon for a heartbeat.

  Léon said, “Go on, Kit. Tell her. She needs to know all of it.”

  “For heaven’s sake, tell me already.”

  “You work for Ulysses Assassins.”

  He stopped and stared at me. If the name was supposed to register something with me, it didn’t. I shrugged.

  Kit continued. “You are an assassin, Blaire. You are a hired monster killer. You are described as extremely dangerous.”

  I burst out laughing and leaned against the couch. “Is this a joke?” I pulled my knees onto the sofa and held them tightly against my chest. I didn’t care if my shoes were dirty on the clean white sofa. I’m not an assassin; that’s wrong. It has to be wrong.

  “He is serious, Blaire. You kill monsters for money.” Léon’s face was impassive. He sat across from us with his elbows settled on his knees, his index fingers steepled, giving me his full attention. He was studying me with his blank face, but I didn’t want to look at him. I turned my attention back to Kit.

  Kit continued. “You started working as an assassin
fifteen years ago. Your daughter …” Kit paused. He looked at me, as if waiting for my walls to crash down.

  “Say again, I have a child?” I have a girl. I smiled and tears filled my eyes, but I was still hugging my knees.

  “Her name is Scout. She was born twelve years ago.”

  I smiled and wiped my eyes dry.

  “But, there was an attempted kidnapping, and the man you were dating—your ex, her father—disappeared with her.”

  Just as my heart had risen with hope at the thought of having a daughter, it was crushed in my chest hearing that someone had tried to kidnapped her. And that because of it, they were gone. She was gone.

  I cleared my throat and said, “Do you know who wanted to kidnap her? Why?”

  What kind of mother was an assassin?

  How could I be someone who killed people for money and still come home to a child? How was I sucked into such a fucked-up profession? I rubbed my eyes with my thumbs.

  “No, couldn’t find anything,” Kit replied. “I tried to find them, but we can only assume that your ex changed their names. It’s almost as though they’ve dropped off the face of the earth.”

  My chest tightened, my heartbeat thumping in my ears. Could I find them? Her?

  “The man you work for; his name is Marcus. He started Ulysses Assassins twenty years ago. You have a partner with whom you always do hits—Ralph—and he has worked there almost as long as you have. The torso and the severed hand we found in the trunk of your car belonged to a guy called Shane—he had only worked with you for five years. We are still running tests on the samples we pulled, so we don’t yet know how he was killed. The tests we’re running should confirm if there were any traces left by the killer.”

  My head swam, and Kit looked blurry around the edges. I flew up from the sofa and darted for the dustbin near Léon’s desk. What I threw up was only bile and spit. Sebastian was behind me holding tissues he had pulled from a box on the desk. I took them to wipe my mouth, threw those dirty tissues in the bin and took a few more to dry my eyes.

  I am an assassin.

  I kill the monsters.