Smashed (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8.5)

When she sat atop the man, cooing sweet nothings into his ear, she felt my presence. Immediately she stiffened, her concentration broken.

With our minds joined it was impossible to withhold my feelings. I couldn’t hide the mix of emotion that stormed me. Being in Alexa’s head while she made a victim hers was a rush. It was a turn on to be there while she took command.

It was also a crushing disappointment to see what I’d done to her and to feel so conflicted about it. Worst of all was Sinclair being the one there with her.

Before I could attempt to communicate with her, Alexa brutally thrust me out of her head. There was a desperation to her panic as she did so. Try as she might to hide it, I was able to see that she was coming apart without me.

That made two of us.

The violence of her rejection combined with the excitement of her hunt brought me back to myself with a jolt. With a burst of madness-infused anger, I grabbed a hold of Brandy’s hair and jerked her head so her neck was exposed. Ignoring Jenner’s protests, I plunged fangs into her artery, finding satisfaction only when blood filled my mouth.

Even then, it wasn’t enough. I thought of my lover with another man, and I couldn’t keep my shit together. She was my other half. She belonged with me, goddammit.

I left the stripper there on the couch, dead, her throat mangled. Licking the blood from my lips, I strode from the private room with Jenner shouting after me.

“Arys, what in the fuck?” He struggled himself back into his pants and hurried after me. Grabbing my arm, he jerked me to a halt. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“Just a little bit. Get off me.” I shook him off and pulled a wad of cash out of a pocket. “Here. Leave extra for their troubles. I’m sure this isn’t the first time someone has died back here.”

Without waiting around for him, I stalked out, knowing that I was on the edge of a killing spree. My hands clenched into fists, I somehow kept from ripping the head off the doorman who sneered at me as I passed.

“Where the hell are you going?” Jenner called as he chased me to the car.

I opened the door to the Firebird and leaned over to unlock the passenger door. I didn’t drive much if I could help it. Being a passenger was more my thing. At least according to Alexa it was. She didn’t trust my driving, though I couldn’t imagine why not. I was certainly no worse than the majority of humans that miraculously passed a driver’s exam.

“I’m going to the park Alexa is at,” I said, starting up the cranky old car.

“That’s a terrible idea.” Knowing better, Jenner didn’t offer an explanation. He didn’t have to. He knew me well enough to know it would have been wasted.

Killing Brandy had been a mistake. It had never truly been my intent. Remorse wasn’t my strong suit. It never had been. Public kills were very amateur. Alexa’s park bench-kill being a prime example of that. Why Sinclair would go along with such a thing was beyond me.

No, it wasn’t. I knew why. It was a thrill.

Alexa was long gone when we arrived. She’d known I would come, and she’d had no intention of being there when I showed up.

Her victims remained, however. It was easy enough to find them with the blood so heavy on the air. The atmosphere screamed with the residual energy of terror and death.

“Fuck.” Running a hand through my hair, I stared at the mess, unable to accept that she had done it.

Jenner surveyed the scene, nodding as he walked around the slaughter. “You two are so much alike. It’s scary. This looks just like something you’d do. Oh wait, you pretty much just did the same thing.”

In response to his sarcastic remark, I shot him a deathly glare. “That’s helpful, Jenner. Thanks.”

“If this is the two of you apart, I’d almost hate to see what you could do together.”

Though I didn’t say so, I agreed. Alexa and I brought out both the best and the worst in each other. Still, I continued to believe that I could help her through the challenging aspects of being a new vampire. If only she would trust me.

“We need to get rid of the bodies,” I said. “I don’t want to leave anything for the FPA to trace back to Alexa.”

As soon as the words left my lips, the darkness was lit up by flashing lights. Two black sedans pulled up on the grass beside us. Juliet O’Brien got out of the first car. In her hand was a crossbow pistol ready with a bolt in place. It wasn’t all that big, but it could be deadly. She held it easily with one hand, though being a werewolf made her stronger than the average human. Evidently the FPA had upgraded their weaponry since their last run in with Alexa.

Pointing the pistol at me, Juliet aimed for my heart and said, “You and I need to have a little talk.”

Chapter Two