“The water lily is beautiful, Mom.” Eve sniffled, arrested by its perfection.
“Isn’t it? I am still reserving judgment on your Alec, but such thoughtfulness is a good sign—if he keeps it up. Men always try hard in the beginning, then they slack off. Anyway, you should put it on the table as a centerpiece.”
“Alec brought that?” Eve glanced over her shoulder at the living room. He was seated on the couch with Mrs. Basso now.
“I guess so,” her mother said, “unless you have another boyfriend somewhere.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Would Reed have given her such a thing? She didn’t know what to think about that.
Miyoko hummed doubtfully. “It was delivered when you were in the shower and Alec was changing his clothes. Nice delivery man. Refused a tip. Handsome, too. He reminded me of that blond actor from A Beautiful Mind.”
Eve froze with forks in one hand and knives in the other. She felt like her heart should be racing, but it couldn’t. Not anymore. “Paul Bettany?”
“Yes. That’s the one. Very Scandinavian looking. Had a bit of an accent, too.”
The water lily took on new meaning, changing from a lovely gift to a sinister warning. A whiff of something noxious wrinkled her nose and she realized what that meant. Eve’s hands shook violently.
The Nix knew where she lived.
As soon as Alec heard the bathroom door lock behind Miyoko, he left the living room and went in search of Eve. He found her in her office seated before her computer.
Her work space was a large room, capable of comfortably holding two large desks—one for her computer and one drafting table for her renderings. It also held a contemporary futon in a soft camel color, a coffee table, and three bookcases.
“Your neighbor is . . . interesting,” he said.
She laughed. “She thought you needed some dating pointers.”
“I knew you were laughing at me.” His hands settled on her shoulders. As he kneaded, his gaze came to rest on the monitor. She was Googling Nixes.
“What do you want to know?” he asked softly. “I can tell you more than Google can.”
“Can I kill it with a bullet?”
A grim smile curved his mouth. Eve didn’t think she was cut out to be a Mark, but he had no doubts. That didn’t alter the fact that he was going to find a way to return her life to her.
“You can, if you blow his head off when he’s in full mortal form,” he said. “It won’t work when he is in liquid form. Decapitation will kill everything except a hydra. You can also dehydrate Nixes by separating them from water. Unlike humans, a Nix will shrivel up within a couple of hours. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. Any source of water can recharge them—tap water, puddles, tears, humid air. Unless you drop them off in the middle of a desert, the kill isn’t guaranteed.”
“That’s it?”
“Fire is good. Flame-covered swords work, I’ve been told.”
“And where exactly do I get one of those?” Eve blew out her breath and turned her chair around, forcing him to release her and back up.
“You’ll be trained in how to request one.”
“Eventually. Someday. If he doesn’t kill me first.”
His fingertips brushed along her jaw line. “You know I’d show you, if I knew how. I’ve never figured it out myself and since I’ve managed to survive this long without one, learning hasn’t been a priority.”
Her dark eyes were troubled. “What do you think of his gift?”
Alec crossed his arms. “I think he means to kill you.”
The knowledge gutted him. He remembered eating at a sushi restaurant once where they’d served the fish still breathing. Slit down the belly, mouth gasping. He felt like that fish.
“Can he?” she asked quietly. “Is he allowed?”
“One of two things is happening here: either he’s a rogue who hopes he can justify the kill after the fact, or he’s sanctioned.”
“Which is worse?”
“They’re both fucking bad.”
“I get that.”
“Why did you have to leave the house, Eve?”
“This is my fault?” She stood. “You really want to blame me for this?”
Alec scrubbed a hand over his face. “No. Damn it, I don’t blame you.”
Her chin lifted. Despite her slender five-foot-four frame dressed in Betty Boop flannel pajama pants and matching tank, she looked formidable. She was formidable. Eve could knock him on his ass with a scowl.
“I left the house,” she said, “because I needed a Bible for research. That’s how I met the tengu. I hit the beach because I needed air after the tengu incident. That’s how I met the Nix.”
He blew out his breath. “Shit.”
“Nothing is coincidence, you said.”
“Right.”
“So what is going on?”
“I wish I knew.” The possibilities were many; none of them were good. “Did you find a Bible?”
“Yes.”
“Are you scared?”
“Terrified.”
“Good. You’ll keep your guard up, then.” He held his arms out to her. Eve hesitated, then stepped into his embrace.
The safest thing to do would be to get far away from her, to allow his scent to fade from her skin so that she couldn’t be used against him. But there wasn’t a soul he trusted to keep her as safe as he would. If she had to be out in the field, he had to be there with her. It was the only way he’d keep his sanity.
“What do we do?” she asked.
“If the Nix is rogue, killing him will end this. If he’s sanctioned, we’ll get one of two possible results—either the hunt was labeled personal, which would end with his death, or it was considered an affront to his whole unit and someone else will step in to finish what he couldn’t.”
“Yikes.” She looked up at him. “How can I help?”
“You never leave my side. We’ll watch your back. I’ll make inquiries and see what turns up.”
“We hunt him.”
“I hunt him.”
“I can’t go into this blind.”
“Angel—”
Her mouth took on a mulish cast. “I need to know what I’m up against, Alec, and I need to be more than a pain in your ass.”
“You are not asking me to let you handle this as my partner.”
“Of course not.” She smiled and his breathing faltered. In that moment she was very much like the girl she’d been when they’d first met. “I’m just telling you that I need information, as well as your willingness to use me if you need me. Just promise me that you won’t be stubborn enough to keep me in the dark.”
Alec’s instinctive response was to shelter Eve as much as possible. But he knew that would only alienate her and make her more stubborn, although it wouldn’t make her foolish. Her quest for a Bible told him she still researched everything to a fault, a proclivity he’d noted the first time he made love to her. She had recited the pros and cons of several over-the-counter birth control methods before he managed to stop laughing and occupied her thoughts with something else instead.
“It’s my job to lead, angel. I need to know that you’ll follow, even if following means staying out of the way. And, for now, I don’t want you leaving the condo without me.”
She pondered that a moment. “What are we to each other?”
His brow arched, even as his hands slid down her back and cupped her buttocks.
“Behave,” she admonished.
“You like me when I’m naughty,” he purred, nuzzling his lips against her ear. He felt her shiver, even as she pushed against him. It was a bad idea to get more deeply involved with her when their parting was certain, but he couldn’t resist.
When he let her go, she couldn’t come back to him even if she wanted to. Yet if he kept her, if he tried to work off their penance in unison in the hope that one day he could be what she needed, he would lose her.
Evangeline Hollis had family written all over her. Husband, two and a half kids, a dog, and a white picket fence. Her sister was married with children. Her parents had passed their silver anniversary. The fact that she rarely dated wasn’t so much a fear of commitment as it was a fear of wasting time with Mr. Wrong.
Alec couldn’t give her the life she craved, and if he was honest, he would admit that he might never be capable of giving it to her. He was a killer, a murderer. Everyone had a talent, and ending lives was his. He’d never be the nine-to-five family man Eve wanted and deserved.
“I have enough on my plate at the moment,” she said hoarsely. “I don’t know when you’re leaving, what I’m doing, where this mark is taking me, or how the hell I’m going to get my life back.”
Alec smiled, the hunter in him relishing the chase.
She wriggled away from him. “I don’t need any more complications. Now answer the question: what are you to me?”
“Every field-assigned Mark has a mentor. The training is thorough, but nothing can replace hands-on experience. Mentors guide new Marks in the transition from the classroom to the streets.”
“Sounds organized. Training. Mentoring.”
“It is. Very much so.”
Eve nodded. “Okay. So now I know how to kill a Nix. How can I expect him to try and kill me? The normal ways? Does he have special gifts I should be concerned about?”
“They can kill with a kiss. Their lips seal to yours and they flood your lungs with water, drowning you. They can leech moisture from you, dehydrating you to death. But that takes time. You’d have to be immobilized. And they kill the old-fashioned ways, too.”
“So my best option is the commonsense one—keep my distance.”
“Definitely. With any luck, your body will acclimate quickly to the mark and you’ll soon be able to smell him coming.”
