She wasn’t just a slayer. Ashe had known that since she came back to Fairview, but in the last few days she’d come to understand that fact on an emotional level. It was more than having an overfilled date book.
She was a mom with cupcake problems, a lover with someone to look after. She had a job—fortunately, the library had called her that morning to say she was forgiven for getting vampire all over the carpet—and she was part of her family and community as a whole. Grandma had been right: It was time to embrace all the roles she played. To appreciate approaching life with the laundry basket in one hand and a stake in the other.
Whatever. She’d have to work on that metaphor. The bottom line was that she felt the chaos all those job titles implied, but it made her somehow complete. She wasn’t just a finely crafted weapon. She was a person who mattered to other people.
That gave her strength. She picked up the pace of her stride. It was a beautiful night for a hunt. Especially when she was after the vampire who’d dared to touch her daughter.
Colt in one hand, she followed the path that led around a stand of trees and approached her parents’ graves. The ocean was louder here, the crash of water on rocks an insistent exclamation.
She stopped.
Belenos was already waiting. Instead of a ball of light, this time he’d brought a long torch. It thrust from the soft loam beneath a trio of huge cedars. Ashe wondered if he’d swiped the torch from the Castle.
The oblique light dazzled on the baubles in his Titian hair, molten gold caught in a flood of silky fire. He was dressed for traveclass="underline" Windbreaker, twill pants, and baggy cashmere sweater. The sight of him put Ashe’s every muscle on alert. He was pretty, but then, so was a cobra.
She mentally measured the distance between them, making sure there was a healthy patch of ground between her flesh and his fangs.
“Thank you for seeing me,” he said. “I notice you brought your guardsman along. Does he object to waiting on the sidelines?”
“He knows there are some things a mother has to do.”
“Well, I brought friends to keep him and his dogs busy while we chat.”
Ashe felt a prickle of anxiety, but she knew she didn’t have to worry about Reynard. He’d proved to her he could look after himself.
“Do you plan to kill me?” Belenos asked, his voice like hot satin.
She felt the pull of it, but shook it off. This wasn’t a dream now, where she could be so easily seduced. “I’m sure as hell going to teach you a lesson.”
“Really?” he said, pulling something from his pocket.
“No sudden moves, Red.” Ashe raised the Colt. “Silver bullets. They’ll sting for sure.” Her tone said they’d do a whole lot more.
Slowly, he raised the object in his hand. “Chocolate bunny?”
Ashe narrowed her eyes. “I suddenly find myself on a diet.”
“Bad associations?”
“Was it you who tried to shoot me?”
He was as still as a wax figure, finely sculpted and utterly dead. “I did not send the assassin, my lovely huntress. I want you very much alive.”
“Then why the rabbit theme? The stuffed toy, now this?”
Belenos returned the candy to his pocket. The breeze rippled the sleeve of his Windbreaker. “Because it is a symbol of threat and a reminder of your unknown enemy. If it frightens you a little, that’s useful to me. But let me assure you someone else hired that goblin to release the phouka.”
“Why?”
“To draw you out. You’re the great monster scourge. What better way to lay a trap than by giving you a great monster to chase?”
Ashe digested that a moment. Somewhere in the darkness, one of the hounds gave a deep, bell-like howl.
Belenos spread his hands. “Don’t you see? You’re the famous Ashe Carver, a witch who kills with a stake instead of a spell for the pure, bloody thrill of thrusting through flesh and bone. Your reputation has little monsterlings shaking in their beds. Not only can you take out a clan of vampires single-handed, but everyone believes that you are as magically gifted your sister. She destroyed a demon queen and bore a vampire’s child. Who can allow such power to roam unchecked?”
Obviously, Belenos couldn’t. Not without wanting it for himself.
“But it’s not true. I don’t have any magical ability to speak of.”
“Most people don’t know that. You’ve made no effort to contradict the rumors.” He gave a cold smile. “It is only natural that a freshly released demon would do his best to remove a threat like you from his new territory.”
“Damn.”
The smile fell into a twist of disgust. “Of course, my double-crossing thief was too cowardly to face you himself. I understand he got that lawyer of his to make the arrangements. Bannerman has contacts in the supernatural community who hired both the goblin and the assassin.”
“Huh.” Ashe tightened the grip on the Colt, feeling oddly blank. Her ex-lawyer had paid good money to end her life, and had actually been a bit creative, with the phouka and all. “Well, thanks for the heads-up. The lawyer’s already on my to-do list, but that kicks up the urgency a notch.”
She’d be outraged later, but right now her mind was in overdrive. She wondered whether Holly had been included in the assassin’s contract, and if Bannerman had any other hit men on his speed dial.
Belenos gave something between a nod and a bow. “As I said, it is in my best interests for you to remain alive. At least for the time being.”
Ashe exhaled slowly, forcing herself to be just as calm as the vampire appeared. She didn’t trust him in the role of helpful informant. Logic said he was luring her to drop her guard.
That didn’t mean she wouldn’t pump him for information. “One thing I don’t understand. The assassin chose to die rather than talk. Bannerman’s just not that scary.”
“Have you met Mr. Yarndice in his demonic form?”
Ashe remembered the thing in the bookshop. “Got it.”
Another howl curled upward to the cloud-shrouded moon. A human cry of rage followed. Ashe forced herself to stay focused on the vampire. Forced herself to trust in her partner.
Belenos’s lips moved in a smile that didn’t touch the rest of his face. Utterly mechanical. Utterly horrific. “Now perhaps we can get down to discussing your terms of surrender?”
Rage zinged through her. “The only thing getting surrendered here is the Castle key you’ve got. Then you’re getting on a plane back east with a magically binding oath that you’ll never, ever come back.”
“Is that so?” He took a step forward, which made her take a step back.
“The only reason I haven’t splattered your brains all over these gravestones is because killing a king means war. War between the vampire kingdoms would make bad headlines.”
He shifted his weight, obviously preparing to move closer. “So hostile. So outraged. It thrills me.”
Her stomach ached with tension. He was going to do this the hard way. With her left hand, she pulled a stake out of her thigh pocket. “Let me make this simple. Stay away from my child.”
“I shall if you come to me willingly,” he said in a soft voice. In the flickering light of the torch, he looked like an old master’s painting, his features outlined by stark shadow. “You belong to the dead. I would still have you as my queen. You are”—he paused—“magnificent.”
Ashe felt her eyes widen as she struggled not to snort out a laugh. “Thanks. I’m over the whole broody thing. I’m thinking pastel bike leathers.”
Belenos raised a hand, as if beckoning. “Come now; would you turn your back on your essential nature? You belong with the dark.”