Jennifer Rardin - Once Bitten, Twice Shy. Jaz Parks 1

Copyright 2007 by Jennifer Rardin

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Orbit

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First eBook Edition: October 2007

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ISBN: 978-0-316-02275-0

Lilianas Voice Hit the Air Like a Jet Engine.

I am not just going to kill you! she screeched. I am going to tear your chest open and drink the blood directly from your beating heart!

Thats just gross, Liliana. Didnt your poor, dead mama ever teach you any manners?

I slipped to another section of the roof as she tracked my voice. Hopefully I could play mouse to her cat long enough to find the twin to the door shed just destroyed. Then Id run some more. The thought made me want to break something.

I could confront her, of course, maybe even smoke her if she wasnt too fast or too strong. If my aim was true. But I realized, though I wanted to kill her, I couldnt. Vayl should be the one to finish her.

I found the door, framed by hanging baskets, and gently depressed the handle. Nothing happened. It was locked. Okay, Jaz, you are now trapped on top of an eight-story building with a homicidal vampire. Time for Plan B.

JAZ PARKS NOVELS

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Another One Bites the Dust

Biting the Bullet

For Kirk, my inspiration, my joy, my love.

F ear sucks. Because you never know when it will attack. Sometimes it sneaks up behind you, giggling like your best girlfriend from seventh grade. Then it whacks you on the back of the head, takes you straight to your knees before you realize what hit you. Other times you can see it coming, just a dot on the horizon, but youre like a canary in a cage. All you can do is hang in there and hope you dont get motion sickness and puke all over the newspapers.

I already felt pretty queasy as I perched on the single wooden folding chair my boss, Pete, kept for visitors to his office. In fact, I hadnt been this scared since Id started working for him. Not even when, about ten hours into my first mission, Id walked into my hotel room to find a vampire standing beside the bed, holding a crossbow. My crossbow. The one Id meant to use to eliminate him.

Unlike that scenario, this was not a case where I could just go away and try again later. Or, as I had actually done, kick both shoes into his face to throw him off balance, blast his kneecaps with the .38 I wore under my skirts for insurance, then finish him off with the crossbow hed dropped when his bones shattered. In this instance I was forced to sit absolutely still and try not to ralf all over the top-secret files stacked in rows two and sometimes three deep on Petes green metal desk. Because, despite the fact that Id successfully completed every mission hed assigned me so far, Pete was about to fire my ass.

There could be no other explanation for this call-in. The man, notorious for his penny-pinching, had phoned me at 3:00 a.m. direct from Ohio to London for the express purpose of informing me I should buy a first-class ticket back to headquarters as soon as my job there was finished. He was probably looking at the receipt now, along with all the other expenses of my latest trip abroad. He ran a hand across his head, making his three remaining dome-hairs stand on end as he studied the open file in front of him.

I couldnt bear it any longer. There is only so much you can take of staring at blank turquoise walls, rows of black metal file cabinets, and white slatted blinds that have never been opened (which would explain the dead plant sitting on the table by the window). I sat forward, the chair creaking alarmingly beneath me. No doubt about it, I am the only item in this office under the age of fifty.

You wouldnt know it to look at my clothes, though. Id come straight from an American Airlines flight during which an aviophobic widow had wadded various handfuls of my blouse and jacket into her fists the entire trip. I looked like a homeless woman. Holy crap. If I lost this job Id soon be a homeless woman. And that was the good news!

Look, Pete, I know you told me to cut out the car hits. The repairs are too expensive. You told me that. So I stopped. I havent caused an accidental crash in three monthsyou know that! But this last one just couldnt be avoided.

I understand you took out my counterpart in MI5.

Well, yeah, but only because his driver was in on the plot. Hell be fine. You heard that too, right? His back will heal in, like, six weeks.

I heard there was a bomb.

It didnt go off.

But it could have.

I shrugged. Better there than at the coronation. Wait, that sounds a little casual for somebody who should be begging at this point. But I am sorry about the car. I took out extra insurance.

This has nothing to do with the car. In fact, Im glad you put that bastard in traction. Self-righteous twit. No, youre here because I have a new assignment for you.

Thank you, God. I still have work! I nearly relaxed. Which, considering my current state, wouldve sent me right to the floor. But Pete had started cracking his knuckles. In my time with him Id seen pencil chewing, furniture kicking, file throwing, and a short bout with scented candles. But the knuckle cracking was new. I sat back carefully and waited.

Youve heard of Vayl? Pete asked.

Well... Only whispers. You could almost call them rumors, their subject matter seemed so implausible. If you bought the stories, Vayl had built himself a legendary career, and not just because hed become one of the 15 percent or so of vampires to gain acceptance among humans. He was also supposedly the best assassin our department had ever fronted.

Im partnering you with him. Petes eyes darted away from my face, so I guess I wasnt hiding the What the hell! very well. Long silence during which I tried to make my head stop spinning and Pete cleared his throat a few times.

Pete, I... When you hired me, you promised I could work alone. My previous job had involved an entire crew, of which I had been the leader. It had ended badly.

Jasmine, Vayl has requested a partner. You fit his specifications. Youre smart, tough, resilient...

My lips had gone numb. Uh-huh. And?

He sighed. And increasingly dangerous. He rushed on before I could interrupt, which was a good thing, because I think my first response mightve ruptured his eardrums. Youve been taking bigger and bigger risks. Youre a loose cannon out there, and Im starting to think I cant trust you to work alone.

Bullshit! Stop feeding me lines from cop movies, ya wanker! I know when Im being jerked around!

He rushed on. I know how furious you must be

I dont think so! Ive kicked ass all over the globe for six months, Pete. I havent botched a single assignment. Not one. Show me another agent with that kind of record.

Vayl

Needs me like he needs a suntan!

Pete gave me a get-hold-of-yourself stare that worked like looking in a mirror. Shit, was I actually frothing at the mouth? Do you recall the job in Cuba? he asked.

Id hit Castros most trusted adviser, a general named Miguel Santas. In the middle of a crowded market. In broad daylight. Within arms reach of his lieutenants. But Id gotten away clean. Didnt that count for anything?