Ecstasy in Darkness Mass market paperbound - 2010

Summary

Excerpt

One
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And I thought you were rough. Those girls are âÈöâÈë Dallas Gutierrez shuddered. âÈêWhatâÈçs way worse than rough? âÈæCause thatâÈçs what they are.âÈë

âÈêWhat, exactly, are you trying to say?âÈë Mia Snow leaned away from her desk, crossed her arms, and peered at the gorgeous man across from her. Perfectly tanned skin, perfectly symmetrical featuresâÈ'or so he liked to bragâÈ'and the perfectly formed body of an underwear model. Lean, yet sculpted with muscle. All that perfection aside, he was an absolute pain in her ass. âÈêAnd by the way, IâÈçm not rough.âÈë

âÈêPerfectâÈë ice blue eyes rolled. âÈêYou once kneed me in the balls and asked me how they tasted. Just to say hi. YouâÈçre rough.âÈë

She had, hadnâÈçt she? Memories were fun. âÈêWhy are you complaining? There were no complications during your testicle retrieval operation. So, anyway, whatâÈçd they do this time?âÈë

They. Best friends. AIRâÈ'Alien Investigation and RemovalâÈ'trainees Ava Sans and Noelle Tremain.

Dallas tangled a hand through that thick, dark mane of his, looking like a lost little puppy rather than the stone-cold killer he was. âÈêGet this. I took all ten of the advanced placement trainees on an assignment last night. Call came in, you see. Was told a predatory otherworlder was picking on humans at a bar. The fine group of boys and girls I took was just supposed to observe as I threw my pimp hand around, bitch slapping as necessary, and calming things down.âÈë

Okay. What had happened to the morose, utterly annoying Dallas of the past few months? The one who whined and complained about, well, everything? ThereâÈçs a smoking-hot alien queen who wants to screw me, but I canâÈçt encourage her because her partners always turn into cannibals, whaa, whaa, whaa. My best friend Devyn married his vampire lover so I donâÈçt have anyone to play with, whaa, whaa, whaa. IâÈçm your husbandâÈçs blood slave, whaa, whaa, fucking whaa. If she heard that last one more time, she was going to make him taste his balls again.

He was alive, wasnâÈçt he? He had cool new powers like mind control and superspeed, didnâÈçt he? Kyrin, her too-sexy-for-words husband, had saved DallasâÈçs ass by sharing his Arcadian bloodâÈ'and was now training DallasâÈçs ass. Dallas should have been this happy all along.

But at least the old, everything-is-a-joke Dallas was making an appearance today, she thought, rather than the new I-want-to-slash-my-wrists Dallas. Courtesy of Ava and Noelle, a two-woman Apocalypse? SheâÈçd have to send the girls a fruit basket. Or maybe something they could actually use, like a fire and brimstone basket.

âÈêContinue,âÈë Mia said with an imperial wave of her hand.

Dallas nodded, a bit disappointed. Probably because she hadnâÈçt complimented his bitch-slapping abilities. Baby. âÈêThe otherworlder refused to calm vdown, said the humans told his woman she hadnâÈçt just been hit with the ugly stick but the entire tree had fallen on her, and the assholes owed her an apology. The humans, of course, told me theyâÈçd only spoken the truth and that I should arrest the bastard alien for harassing them about it.âÈë

âÈêWhich you didnâÈçt.âÈë Even though the arrest would have been standard protocol. But Mia was head of AIR nowâÈ'three cheers for her boss deciding to retire early!âÈ'and was in the process of making a few changes. No longer would aliens be arrested for defending themselves or demanding respect for their race.

Secretly part otherworlder herself, she was flat-out done with prejudice. And now that KyrinâÈçs blood flowed through DallasâÈçs veinsâÈ'again secretlyâÈ'Dallas thankfully was, too.

âÈêNope. I didnâÈçt,âÈë her second-in-command confirmed with the slightest hint of relish. âÈêAnyway, while I was apologizing to the otherworlder for all humans and their idiot tongues, Ava and Noelle went Death Match on the assholes in question. Now, I didnâÈçt see who started it, you understand, just heard a commotion and turned around. By that time the humans, who were both big, burly males, were unconscious and bleeding on the ground, and Ava and Noelle were grinning and banging their fists together in a job well done.âÈë

Mia cut back a moan. Changes, good. High incident rate, bad. There was going to be hellâÈ'and apparently hospital billsâÈ'to pay for that Death Match. Not just for the males, but for herself. âÈæCause yeah, top brass would rip into her until she begged for mercy. Which meant they would pretty much rip into her until she bled to death, because she never begged for anything. Well, except when Kyrin got her into bed.

Three boos for her boss deciding to retire early. Had he stayed, this would have been his problem.

âÈêSo whatâÈçd the girls say when you asked about the carnage?âÈë

âÈêAva said her hand accidentally slipped and made contact with her guyâÈçs nose. I said, Repeatedly? And she said, âÈæUh, yeah. IâÈçm really clumsy.âÈç And Noelle said her guy was trying to escape, so she took him down like weâÈçd trained her. And oh, we shouldnâÈçt worry about the gaping wound in his neck because he probably had that before he entered the bar.âÈë

First, how was Noelle such a hardass? The girl was Jaxon TremainâÈçs cousin, and Jaxon was one of AIRâÈçs staunchest rule followers. Not to mention, both were richer than Kyrin, who was richer than God. Noelle had been raised in a mansion, for all that was holy, her every need attended to by servants. She should be delicate.

JaxonâÈçs wife a bad influence, maybe? After all, Jaxon was married to the meanest female Mia had ever met. A female who was part robotâÈ'literally! Mishka actually had a longer kill list than Mia. And while MiaâÈçs list consisted of gunshot and knife wounds, MishkaâÈçs featured acid, thumbtacks, and for the people Robot Girl really hated, spoons.

Nah, Mia thought then. The pair hadnâÈçt been married that long, and NoelleâÈçs first disorderly conduct arrest had happened years ago. Mia knew because sheâÈçd studied TremainâÈçs lengthy file before allowing the overindulged delinquent anywhere near the AIR building.

Now, poor but deceptively sweet-looking Ava, Mia understood. The girl had double the arrests, but then, sheâÈçd grown up on New ChicagoâÈçs dirtiest streets. Just like Mia had. There, you were predator or prey, and there was no middle ground.

How had the wealthy girl and the impoverished girl hooked up? Jail? And how the hell had they remained friends all these years?

Mia sighed. âÈêSo what youâÈçre telling me, Dally, is that itâÈçs time to promote these two heathens.âÈë

Dallas grinned, revealing straight white teeth. He made a production of that grin, reminding her of a curtain rising from a movie screen, an eager crowd desperate for the show to begin. âÈêI donâÈçt know how you do it, Mee, but you always reach the moral of the story without any prompting from me.âÈë

âÈêBecause IâÈçm smarter than you. Anyway, they gotta complete a mission on their own before I can officially offer them a place on my team.âÈë

âÈêWhat do we got on the chopping block? And by the way, IâÈçm smarter than you. My IQ is off the charts, man.âÈë

If the chart only reached fifty, then yeah. No need to tax his poor brain with numbers, though. Silent, she let her head fall against the back of her chair and stared up at the ceiling. They were inside her new office, and sheâÈçd had the panels painted blue and white, a replica of the sky, to help with her claustrophobia. This way, she could pretend she was lying on the ground in her spacious backyard with Kyrin resting beside her.

âÈêMcKell,âÈë she finally said, thinking of the latest case to hit her desk.

âÈêOuch,âÈë Dallas said. âÈêDousing the girls in gasoline and throwing them straight into the fire.âÈë

âÈêI know.âÈë

âÈêPoor McKell, though.âÈë

Poor girls. McKell was a vampire warrior able to stop time in short bursts, do his damage with no one the wiser, then restart the clock, leaving the raging flames of hell in his wake. His own people had kicked him out of their underground world for being âÈêunstable.âÈë The term amused herâÈ'the man had slaughtered hundreds of vampires for daring to lock him up for a few days. Unstable? Try psychotic.

AIR wanted to talk to him about his actions. Preferably alive. But no one had been able to bring him in. In fact, Mia had sent three top-of-the-line agents to apprehend himâÈ'bastard wasnâÈçt even trying to hideâÈ'and heâÈçd sent all three back with severe blood loss, missing fingers, and brain damage. Fine. The agents had been brain damaged before encountering McKell, but then, werenâÈçt all men?

Exhibit A: Dallas.

Maybe Ava and Noelle would have better luck. Besides, it was a scientific fact that females always outperformed males. And who was she to mess with science?

Sure, Jaxon and thereby Mishka would kick up a fit when they heard Little Miss Cousin would be going after a vampire, but Mia didnâÈçt exactly care. Bring on the spoons, bitch. But maybe sheâÈçd send the couple on a prolonged vacay, just in case. Plus, it wouldnâÈçt do for Jaxon to give the girls a helping hand. And he would. He wouldnâÈçt be able to help himself, and that would do a lot of damage to their street cred. The girls were moving up the ladder fast, so they had a lot to proveâÈ'on their ownâÈ'or none of the other agents would ever take them seriously.

And if the girls did this, if they brought in the big bad, no one would be able to question MiaâÈçs decision to advance them rather than incarcerate them. Even better, Ava and Noelle might just think hunting and capturing a rabid vampire was a good time.

âÈêPrep them without telling them why they were chosen or whatâÈçs at stake, and send them out.âÈë That way, theyâÈçd work this case the same way they worked the rest of their cases, without putting on a dog-and-pony show trying to impress her, and Mia could discover just how much determination those âÈêroughâÈë girls possessed.

Dallas snickered.

Mia blinked over at him, confused. âÈêWhat?âÈë

âÈêYou said âÈæstake,âÈç and theyâÈçre going after a vampire. Get it? Stake âÈö a vampire? Like in old books and movies.âÈë

She rolled her eyes. âÈêYouâÈçre such a child.âÈë

âÈêAnd youâÈçre a jealous old woman because you didnâÈçt think of it yourself. Said with affection, of course.âÈë

âÈêIâÈçm a year younger than you, jackass. Said with annoyance.âÈë

âÈêYeah, but youâÈçre only younger physically.âÈë

Brain. Damaged. She liked the morose Dallas better, she decided. âÈêHave you forgotten that youâÈçre wanted by a diseased alien queen, your best friend is busy with his wife, and youâÈçre KyrinâÈçs blood slave?âÈë

Dallas flipped her off, but his grin never faded.

Maybe she wasnâÈçt on top of her game, because she automatically returned that grin with one of her own.

âÈêYou love me, you know you do,âÈë he said confidentially.

True.

âÈêSeriously. YouâÈçre like my mom, and IâÈçm like your favorite son. No matter what I do or say, youâÈçll always think IâÈçm adorable.âÈë

Mia stood and leaned over the desk. She crooked her finger at him as if she had a secret to share. He, too, leaned forward, eager to learn that secretâÈ'poor, brain-damaged kidâÈ'and she punched him in the nose. âÈêThere. Now IâÈçm like the mom who keeps her stupid shithead in line with a firm hand.âÈë

He laughed as blood trickled down his lips and chin. âÈêSee. Rough.âÈë

And he thought Ava and Noelle were worse than her? Good. Then by the time those two were done, McKell might just wish heâÈçd decorated himself with bows and walked into AIR headquarters on his own.

Âû 2010 Gena Showalter

Media reviews

Citations

• Romantic Times, 11/01/2010, Page 82