Smashed (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8.5)(29)

“Now, who were you saying made a mistake here?” I asked, standing back to allow him to get to his feet. Blood stained my face, and I knew by the disbelief on Briggs’s face that Alexa’s wolf was showing in my eyes.

“You’re not doing anything to help her with a display like this,” Briggs said, meeting my gaze head on. “Why stop there? Why not kill me too?”

“Because they’ll just replace you with some other douchebag. And I kind of like you.” My smile was met with a scowl. “You’ve got balls. I can respect that. But I can’t let you hunt Alexa.”

Briggs stared at the carnage, his face incredulous. “These people didn’t deserve to die like this. I can’t imagine how you thought slaughtering innocent men serving their country was the best way to prove either of you shouldn’t be hunted.”

“Serving their country? I see you’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid, Briggs. I thought you were smarter than that.”

“You won’t get away with this, Arys. I know you think you’re doing the honorable thing by defending your woman, but you’re wrong. You’re just another f*cking monster that deserves to die.” Briggs was uneasy but he wasn’t afraid. It was admirable. It was also stupid.

“Give me a break, Briggs. I killed several of your men outside your own building, and you didn’t do f*ck-all. Alexa barely scratches the surface of trouble, and you launch a hunt?” Shaking my head, I got close enough to the Fed to hear his heart rate increase. Maybe he wasn’t immune to fear after all. “I’m on to you, Briggs. I know what men like you are after. You call it justice, but I call it control. You always wanted Alexa to join the FPA. I’m willing to bet you haven’t given up on that. Have you?”

He stared past me to the bloody mess Jenner and I had made. His expression was stony, his silent refusal louder than words.

When he refused to speak, I continued. “You think if you get her back into that building you can warp her mind, turn her into one of your weapons. It was always her that you wanted. You settled for Juliet, but it never really ended there in your mind, did it? You tried to take Alexa in for the Abigail Irving hit, and when that didn’t work, you had to dream up something else. This was what you were waiting for. An opportunity to cage her and program her.”

A muscle twitched in his jaw. I’d nailed the truth.

Jenner sidled up to sneer into Briggs’s face. “You’re a clever piece of shit, aren’t you? Too bad. You chose the wrong vampire to f*ck with. I’ve known this guy a long time, and nothing makes him as ruthless as messing with his girl does.”

I shot Jenner a dark look, seeing that personal blow for what it was. Leave it to him to choose a time like this to remind me that though we were brothers, we were also frequently rivals. Evidence suggested that Jenner was still pissed about what went down between us all in Vegas.

“So what then? You kill me now?” Agent Briggs had accepted that fate. His resignation showed in the hard set of his shoulders.

“I don’t think so,” I said, studying him closely. “Perhaps we should perform some experiments on you. I can’t help but wonder what the FPA would think of one of their star agents becoming a vampire. I’m sure they would love to pick you apart if that were to happen. What do you think?”

Sweat broke out on Briggs’s brow. His energy stank of fright. My words had touched the place where his fears lived.

“What the hell do you want from me?” he demanded. “I won’t negotiate with a supernatural terrorist.”

Jenner laughed long and hard at that. “Terrorists,” he gasped between chuckles. “Oh man, that’s rich.”

“I want you to stay away from Alexa. She is off limits to you and your people.”

Briggs was stubborn and headstrong despite his predicament. “She’s a menace. She’s been killing. If I turn a blind eye to that then I wouldn’t be doing my job.”

“So you would rather become your job?” Jenner taunted, baring bloodstained fangs.

Turning Briggs had never crossed my mind until now. A man like him would make a formidable vampire. Though having Alexa enthrall him would make him controllable to an extent. It would serve him right to be enslaved to her.

“Is there any right way to answer that?” Briggs glared, knowing I had him trapped.

“Probably not,” I admitted with a grin. I was close enough to smell his aftershave. It wouldn’t take much to bridge that gap. “You’re not making the best decisions these days. That’s how many FPA agents dead now because they followed your command?”

“It’s just part of the job.” He refused to be budged. Holding his ground was all he had left.

“I can respect that. Or at least, I would if you had a legitimate job. So I’m sure you understand that there are things I must do as well.”

Without giving him a chance to reply, I grabbed him by the shoulders and bit into his jugular. It was a small nip, nothing he couldn’t walk off. His blood was warm and rich. It hit my tongue, and I had to remind myself that killing him hadn’t been the plan. At this point, I wasn’t sure what my plan was. Running on instinct was more my style.

Once I’d taken enough to instill a sense of terror in him, I reluctantly released him. It hadn’t been enough to turn him, but I bit my wrist and thrust it at him anyway.