Sunset to Sunrise (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #7.5)(11)

Juliet O’Brien was standing near the bar talking to Willow when I spotted her. He was shaking his head. She must be looking for her sister.

I left the quivering woman and disappeared into the throng. My first stop was the door where I gave orders for more security on the floor. Public sex and feeding was certainly going to be frowned upon by the uptight federal agent. Juliet had already thrown her weight around in here. I didn’t need an altercation with her. Not now.

“Can I help you, Agent O’Brien?” I asked, suspicious of her presence here. Didn’t she know Alexa was out of town?

Juliet’s dark brown eyes sparked with a lively inner fire, much like Alexa’s, which made it difficult to look at her. The fact that she’d been the one to drag me into FPA lockup didn’t help.

“I just stopped by to see if Alexa was here. She’s not answering her phone.” Her gaze flicked around the busy building. “I didn’t know she’d already left for Las Vegas.”

“Yes, well, she’s not here. I’d be happy to tell her you came by.” I glanced over her head to Willow, hoping he accepted that it wasn’t just my manic obsession for Alexa that made me so sure she was in danger. If she wasn’t answering calls from her sister, something bad was definitely going on.

Getting Juliet out of my club became my priority. She might have been Alexa’s sister, but she was a Fed, one who worked in a top-secret government sector that not only tried to govern the supernatural but also to harness its powers. I hated everything about who they were and what they stood for.

Sensing that I was trying to get rid of her, Juliet stood her ground. “Well, maybe I’ll hang out and have a beer.”

“Suit yourself.”

I wanted nothing to do with this O’Brien sister. Putting distance between us was best, all things considered. I headed back the way I’d come, looking for the woman I’d left hanging. When I couldn’t find her, I slipped into the men’s room for some quiet and called Alexa. Like Juliet had said, there was no answer.

Unwilling to believe the worst, I called back a few times before giving up. When I emerged from the restroom, Willow was gone and Juliet sat in his vacated place at the bar, sipping a beer.

What was she up to? There was no way in hell I’d believe she chose this dive to hang out alone in and drink beer. The FPA must have sent her. But for what?

Whatever. She could do whatever she wanted, as long as it didn’t involve me. Since she had led a team to come for Alexa and me, I didn’t trust her. I would never trust her.

One might say she was in some way responsible for what had occurred between me and Alexa in the FPA basement lockup. One might also say I’m a crazy * blaming others for my f*cked up actions.

I wanted to leave. Taking a stroll through some of the shadier neighborhoods for a fast and easy, but gloriously violent, kill was what I needed. And yet, I didn’t go. Because as much as I detested the FPA and disliked Juliet, I couldn’t leave her alone here.

More than one vampire sauntered up to her, looking for a nip of that intoxicating werewolf blood. She turned them all away. Then one of them refused to take a polite no for an answer, even after she flashed her government badge at him. I watched in amusement as the hungry vampire tried to grab her hand. Juliet glared at him with a fierceness I’d only seen matched on one other woman. It brought a knowing smile to my face.

They exchanged words. Whatever was said had encouraged her hungry admirer. He grabbed her arm and leaned in close, his lips moving in a threat or, perhaps, a promise.

Refusing to be cowed, Juliet pulled back her free arm and threw a fist he never saw coming. She followed up by smashing her beer bottle over his skull. With the broken and jagged bottleneck clutched firmly in hand, she rushed him.

Those O’Brien women certainly didn’t take any shit. I considered, albeit briefly, that if Alexa couldn’t be forced to end me, maybe the sister could be convinced.

But no, this wasn’t merely a suicide mission. If that were the case, I would simply walk out into the sun. This was about cutting the tie that held me to Alexa and finding freedom from this tortured longing. There was only one way to do that, and she should be the one.

As badass as Juliet was, she wasn’t used to fighting alone and it showed. Many wolves had gone toe to toe with a vampire and lived to tell the tale. Still, it felt like it was time to step in when he succeeded in pinning her against the bar, a hand around her throat.

I hadn’t planned to kill him. A beating should have been enough. However, he took it too far. Before I reached them the guy’s hand connected with Juliet’s face in a brutal backhand. He sealed his fate with that one wrong move.

I grabbed him by the back of his jacket and spun him around. My fist met his face a few times before I repeated my earlier act and punched into his chest. It was one of my favorite ways to kill a vampire. It took strength, precision and the right focus.

Ripping his heart free, I let it fall to the floor along with the rest of him. More dust for the cleaning crew. Hmm, I wasn’t even sure that we had a cleaning crew. If we didn’t, we definitely needed to get one.

“I can handle myself,” Juliet said, glaring at the dusty remains of the one who manhandled her. Then her face softened. “But thanks.”

“Not a problem. Guys like that aren’t welcome here anyway. I can guarantee that Alexa doesn’t condone that kind of behavior.”