Chasing His Assassin

10. There she was

Asher had been forced to stay an extra week in Lustrum as Doran the father was unwilling to release his car to a man with one arm.

He wasn’t worried about Asher getting into an accident, no. He was more worried about Asher wrecking his limited edition car than anything. The only good thing that came out of everything was that Asher at least got to spend time with his pet, a hellhound he’d taken from Draken during his last and hopefully final visit there. The monster was no longer a living corpse and now looked healthy.

He was even a kids favourite in the pack. After taking the monster in, Asher had been unable to keep it with him in his personal home as it would be close to impossible to try and hide a six feet tall hound in the residential area he lived in.

Asher considered taking residence in a secluded area for no other reason than the animal. As he hadn’t gotten about doing that, the hound stayed at Lustrum.

Daron eventually agreed to drive Asher back to civilisation after a week. Asher’s arm had mostly healed by then. The limb and bone were mostly intact but his arm was a mass of exposed muscle. He wore long sleeves and gloves to hide that till everything was back to normal.

His mission to disturb Dion had been a bust because a lot of s**t had happened recently and he was currently not in the human realm. It had completely skipped Asher’s mind. That was the whole reason he’d been watching Darion in the first place.

Speaking of that demon, Asher hadn’t heard from him since they parted ways at the club the other day. He wondered if the demon was alright.

Well, Asher could only assume he was fine.

Since Dion was out of realm, Asher decided to bother Malcom and Olivia instead. Because, why not?

He showed up at their home and like the cockblock that he was and chose to pound loudly on their front door so they couldn’t ignore him. He knew fully well that they would probably be in bed together. Asher wasn’t getting any so they wouldn’t be either, at least for now. Until he could find the vemon.

Eventually the door was opened and the usually calm Malcom appeared at the door with a scowl on his face. The scowl deepened when he noticed Asher outside.

“You mind swinging by another time?” Malcom grit out. Asher looked him over, he was bare chested, red blotches staining a good portion of his torso and his hair was a mess. Looks like Olivia hadn’t changed her possessive habits. Asher wanted to wear marks like that, marks made by his female.

From the looks of it, Malcom had thrown on a pair of pants in haste just so he could open the door.

“I absolutely mind.” Asher said pushing past the shirtless man and entering the house. “Get dressed, get Olivia dressed, we’re going out.”

“Could you do this another time?” Malcom groaned in frustration.

“I’m depressed and lonely, are you really going to turn me away like this when I need you the most?” Asher said pitifully. “You have Olivia to yourself for literally eternity, surely you can spare this one night to humour me.”

Asher knew he’d won when Malcom ran a hand through his hair. Malcom was just like that. He was extremely kind and would never turn away a friend in need. From experience Asher knew that the man would be willing to push everything to the curb if Asher or Dion were ever in trouble and needed help.

It was hard to believe that the man was ever a mercenary. Kindness wasn’t a good trait in that line of work. Well, it was that kindness that led him to meet Olivia.

“Olivia’s gonna be mad at you.”

“Nothing new there.” Malcom’s spit fire little mate was always at odds with Asher. It had been like that from the moment they met. That was their own relationship dynamic and they liked it that way.

With a little bit of yelling on Olivia’s end, they finally piled into Malcom’s car with Olivia up front and Asher at the back.

“You could’ve just let me drive.” Asher said.

“Yeah, no way.” What was it with immortal men and their cars? “I’ve seen how you drive so I’m not risking it.”

“Couldn’t you have found someone else to bother, Brit? You have so many ladies you could’ve gone to the club with. Heck you could’ve just walked in and met a new one.” Olivia said with a scowl in her tone.

“I wanted to spend time with my closest friends, you see. I missed you guys so much.” Asher answered leaning forward and dropping his large arms on their shoulders.

“Arms off Brit.” She complained, trying to pry his hand off. Brit was a name she’d called him because of his accent and over the years it stuck.

“Humour me, my mate tried to kill me so I’m somewhat sad.” Silence reigned in the car and Asher noted Malcom fumble causing the car to swerve. He regained his composure and they were driving smoothly once again.

Asher leaned back, finding their reactions extremely hilarious.

“You met your mate?” Olivia asked turning her head to look at Asher, her voice quickly changing from one of annoyance to one of excitement. He nodded slightly and her eyes widened. “Oh my goodness! How? When?”

“Calm down Liv.” Malcom said with a chuckle, not looking away from the road.

“How did you meet her?” Olivia asked, completely ignoring her mate.

“I got a lead on Caspian and apparently she works for him.” Asher said with a sigh, reminding himself of the biggest obstacle in his potential relationship with the vemon. Olivia went silent. She and Malcom were aware of who Caspian was to Asher. “She chopped off my arm and stabbed my heart with a blade.” Asher rose the sleeve of his shirt to show the exposed muscle of his arm.

“That’s a good sign.” Olivia chirped. Asher gave her a look that said ‘how in gods name is her chopping his arm off a good sign?’ “If she stabbed you in the heart but didn’t chop your head off then that’s a good sign.”

“I mean I guess.”

“Do you know what species she is?” Malcom asked, glancing at Asher through the overhead mirror.

“You would not believe it, a vemon.” The couple before him were clearly astounded. “Vemons are rare and I end up getting one as a mate.”

“Well damn. She could easily kill you. More reason to believe that there’s a chance here.” Olivia said after a long pause.

Asher laughed and proceeded to tell them about that day. Olivia was so absorbed in the conversation. He found it rather funny how quickly her mood had shifted. It briefly crossed his mind how good his friends were.

As they stepped out of Malcom’s car to walk into the club, Olivia said to him.

“I should kill you for making us come here but I’ll spare you this one time.”

“Why do you hate this place so much?” Asher asked curiously. Olivia and Malcom always steered clear of this club but Asher never knew why.

“Everyone is so freaking horny. I hate the looks some of the folks give Malcom.” Ah so it was a possessiveness thing.

Undeniably, Malcom was very attractive. A lean but muscular build, short brown hair and permanent red eyes. The eyes were a trait of vampire royalty. But Olivia wasn’t unattractive either. She had curly red hair and the lightest set of blue eyes he’d ever seen. Her nose was dusted with light freckles and she had the long ears characteristic to fey.

Asher always did his best to avoid analyzing her body out of respect for Malcom but Olivia was on the petite side. She had the kind of body that made men grow protective. And her species were greatly sought out by immortal men for their outstanding beauty.

“It’s terrible because he’s a vampire, those sluts are always after him.”

That was something Asher still hadn’t come to understand. The vampire bite was supposedly euphoric and couldn’t push one to the point of an o****m. There were the folks addicted to the bite, constantly seeking out vampire partners that can drink from them.

Asher now noted that there were two puncture wounds on Olivia’s neck that were slowly closing up.

Asher slowly found himself imagining what his mate looked like with her fangs out on display, he imagined them sinking into the skin of his neck and arousal slammed into him with brutal force.

The idea of getting bitten had never seemed so appealing before today.

They stepped into the club and made their way to the usual lounge area where Asher liked to reside. Music was on full blast and folks were dancing. Asher had to adjust his hearing to the loud sound.

Almost immediately he met Kali, sitting in one of the couches with a glass of red liquid in her hand.

“Well look who we have here.” She smiled, flashing her fangs in the process. Seeing hers on display made him realize he still hadn’t changed his stance on getting bit. He only wanted his mate to bite him. “Long time no see, Malcom.”

Asher felt rage emanate from Olivia almost immediately. The small fey not so subtly stepped in front of Malcom as if trying to protect him from Kali. Asher expected the air to be tense but it wasn’t.

Kali laughed.

“At ease little fey, I’ve given up on that ship a long time ago. My tastes have long changed since then.”

“How are you Kali?” Malcom asked, subtly hooking an arm around Olivia’s waist.

The three of them had a bit of history together. Kali had been in the same mercenary group as Malcom a long time ago and had made her affection for him known during that time. She’d also made Olivia’s life somewhat difficult then but all that was in the past.

Kali was over Malcom. This was probably their first time meeting ever since the whole incident between them.

“I’m good.” Kali smiled softly, very unlike the usual sly smile she normally wore. “How are you?”

“We’re good. We’re doing well.” Malcom replied.

“I’m happy to hear that.” Kali shifted her attention to Asher “Haven’t seen you around for some time, Asher. How was home?”

“I don’t even want to talk about it.” He answered as he sank into a couch.

By some odd chance, they ended up talking about his mate and the topic seemed to ease the tension between Kali and Olivia. The two females were eager to here every detail about his encounter with the vemon.

“What did she look like?” Kali asked excitedly.

“She had dyed hair, silver up front, black at the back. The prettiest pair of green eyes I’ve ever laid my eyes on. She was small and looked kind of slim...” Asher paused when he noticed Kali’s expression had subtly changed.

“What is it?”

“I might be crazy but you just described that girl over there.” Kali answered, pointing at someone on the dance floor.

Asher turned to see who she was referring to and his heart stopped for a second.

There she was.

His mate was right in front of him.

A/N: So it’s my birthday today so here’s a cliffhanger to celebrate!