Blonde & Blue (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #4)(13)

I glared daggers into him. Things had been strained between us since I’d found out that Veryl had taken advantage of a personal situation that had hurt me deeply. He’d kept Raoul’s secret from me, hiding the truth about the attack that turned me. The reason why was painfully clear: to gain access to my power.

“Nobody has taken advantage of you, Alexa. Lord knows Kale would never have allowed that.” Veryl flashed Kale a dark look. “I assume you heard enough to know he was arguing on your behalf. He believes you will refuse the position you’re being offered, and I don’t disagree with him.”

I glanced between the two of them. Something unsettling lurked in Kale’s brown and blue eyes. “And, this would be?”

“Not the pathetic newborn vamps you’ve dealt with before. There are real powerhouses out there. Like you. Some of them know things they shouldn’t. Some of them are spies. And, others are traitors.” Veryl gave a dismissive wave, as if the reason didn’t really matter. “And, a great many of them are human.”

I let that sink in for a moment. This week was really starting to look bad in terms of news and revelations that I’d much rather live without.

Kale shifted uneasily in his chair. “I didn’t think that hunting humans was something you would agree to.”

As I received more information, I had more questions. “Why are the people on your hit lists chosen? Really. Because I’d been under the impression there was a damn good reason. And now, I’m starting to reconsider that.”

“Does it matter?” Veryl asked with a tone that one might use when dealing with a stubborn child. “I’m not at liberty to tell you more than required. In fact, I’m not always given that kind of information, for obvious reasons. In some cases, the less people know, the safer they are.”

“I don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to like it, Alexa. You just have to do it. Liking it is just a bonus.”

He fixed me with a steely glare that would have intimidated me once. Now, it had me smirking like a rebellious teenager. In recent months Veryl had avoided me. At least, he wouldn’t stay in a room with me a moment longer than he had to. He no longer tried to test my power by invasively brushing up against me metaphysically. Instead, he shielded hard when around me so he wouldn’t feel my power at all. I still hadn’t decided if I was relieved or insulted by that.

“Just be honest with me for once. Why is getting any information out of you like banging my head against a brick wall?” Vampires horde information like its toilet paper in a natural disaster. It’s ridiculous.

Veryl fixed me with a look that he meant to be scary. “There are people who don’t want to waste your abilities on bullshit kills. What you have is valuable, and it makes you valuable. Do you understand?”

This was interesting. “I do. Please, go on. I’d like to hear more about these mystery people.”

“There’s nothing more to know. Information is given on a need to know basis.” He shrugged as if there was nothing more to it.

“Well, I need to know why I’ve gone from killing idiot vampires to humans with power. I smell a rat. Can a human really have enough power to make the big, bad monsters afraid?”

“Yes.” Kale spoke up, drawing my attention to him. “You were one once. There are more out there, Alexa, and some of them won’t think twice about using that power against us.”

I shook my head and frowned in confusion. “Food and foe? Seriously?”

“It’s not quite that simple, Alexa.” Veryl’s expression was bored, as if he couldn’t bear to bother with me. “If you really want to push the subject, there are other people you can talk to. Although, I wouldn’t recommend it. Not if you want to avoid having them take more interest in you than they have already.”

The way he said it chilled me. It set off warning bells in my head, and I wondered what I was really involved in. And more importantly, could I get out if I wanted to? This was something I needed to know more about. Not from Veryl though, clearly.

“Alright. So what’s the bottom line here? What is it you want me to do?”

Veryl eyed me like he couldn’t tell if I was f**king with him or not. “There’s a woman. A traitor. She was one of ours, and now she’s working to expose us. All of us.”

“So? What are her reasons? Did anybody bother to find that out before issuing a kill order?” I was being a pain in the ass, I knew, but it was impossible to resist.

“She’s skilled in black magic, Alexa!” Veryl suddenly oozed menace. “She can drop a vampire with little more than the right words. Do you really want someone walking around with the ability to do that? Someone who believes we should all be hunted down one by one?”

“I won’t kill innocents, Veryl. That’s my only stipulation. I’m serious.”

“I can guarantee you that you’ve never killed an innocent. No such thing.” He sounded pretty much like every vampire I knew. It didn’t come as a surprise to hear him speak that way. “Kale will be with you. I wouldn’t send you alone, human target or otherwise.”

Kale killing humans? Oh, that was terrific. It also explained a lot.

“Fine.” I stood up and looked down at Veryl where he sat behind the desk. “I’ll do it. But now you’ve made me suspicious. I don’t like that. You’d better not be feeding me another line of bullshit. You haven’t quite always had my best interests in mind over the years.”