Page 2 of Bold Mercy

Chapter Two

The house was blissfully silent when I slipped inside—for about two seconds. Then Ash came barreling around the corner, sliding over the shiny wood, and slammed his wiggly little body against my legs.

“Hey, buddy,” I crooned. “First sleep, then play.” I was so tired my eyes were crossing. He followed me to my bedroom and waited for me to fall into bed before he jumped up on the mattress, then turned in a circle for what seemed like three days before finally, he flopped down atop my feet and fell immediately to sleep.

I’d only managed to take off my shoes before I went into my coma, but the instant I closed my eyes, my cell began to ring. I vaguely remembered it ringing as I’d fled with joyful abandon into the woods with my alpha and my pack, and I knew it would continue to ring until I shut it down. With way more effort than it should have taken me, I pulled it from my pocket and then peered blearily at the screen before putting it on silent.

I didn’t recognize the number, but something bothered me—maybe the fact that I hadn’t listened to my messages and something was quite possibly wrong. And maybe someone legitimately needed me…

So I answered.

“Kait Silver,” a man said.

I yawned so hard my jaws cracked. “Yeah?”

“My name is Saul. I am your handler. We need to talk.”

I frowned at the phone. “My handler.”

“Yes. I was assigned to you.”

“Oh. The council. Look, how about we call you my contact. Handler sounds distinctly…stupid.” I was a little cranky from lack of sleep. “Can you call me back in a few hours when I’m awake?”

“You’re awake,” he pointed out, “and I’ll brief you now. Frederick Axton—”

“Is dead,” I interrupted.

“—created a human servant named Avis Vine. She didn’t die with her master, which is both unusual and regrettable. Your task is to terminate her. Call me if you need something your friend Sixten can’t deliver.” His voice went dry and somewhat mocking, as though he were slightly contemptuous of my relationship with the odd Sixten.

As my muddled mind was sifting through his words and his attitude and my own immediate anger—and the fact that he even knew Sixten existed—he continued. “I will send all the information you need to your phone. Axton infused her with his own scent, of course, and it has twisted with hers to create a unique smell you will track. A box will be delivered to your home in four hours.” He hesitated. “Prepare for what’s coming. Avis Vine will not die easy, and you may lose people you care about before you can neutralize her. You can’t allow that to hinder you. You can work your job during the day and hunt at night. It is important that you find her soon, as she is already taking the lives of innocent humans.”

“Look, Saul. I—”

“You belong to the councils now,” he said calmly. “And you have been ordered to find and kill a very dangerous vampire. This is your purpose. You must not allow someone else to kill her. Do you understand?”

My anger woke me up. Despite the fact that there was something frightening in his voice, I was abruptly furious with every word he’d just spoken. “I belong to no one,” I told him, my voice hard. “And Axton’s human servant is a human servant, not a vampire. My purpose is to get some fucking sleep before my brain explodes. So fuck off, Handler.”

He was silent for a few seconds. “The council made a bad decision, but it was their decision to make. If you are not careful, Ms. Silver, they will show you how wrong you are, and believe me when I tell you that is not a lesson you want to learn.”

I tried to breathe, but my lungs didn’t want to function. As I attempted to absorb his words and their rather dire meaning, he continued.

“And Avis Vine was once human. Now she is simply a twisted aberration who will make you suffer before she kills you. If it were only you she focused on, we would allow you to handle it your way—but as I have said, she is killing innocents. We protect innocents. People are dying, and you will handle the situation.”

My phone chimed as a message came in from him, and then he was gone. I fell asleep with the phone clutched in my hand, worry gathering inside me like the heavy darkness from a looming storm.

I didn’t dream or even move until Ash’s incessant barking jerked me abruptly from my sleep. He didn’t bark a lot, and there was a tone to his voice that let me know he believed something urgent needed my immediate attention.

I grumbled, but I got up. “Ash. What is it, buddy?”

He sat before the front door, and only stopped barking when I walked up beside him and put my hand on his head. Then he gave me a dour look, wondering, probably, what had taken me so long. He put his serious stare back on the closed door and waited.

I peered through the fisheye, half expecting to see a demon on the other side. There was nothing and no one, so finally, I twisted the knob and opened the door. When I saw the plain box on the porch, I remembered that Saul had promised to deliver it in four hours. Ash growled and got up to watch me haul it inside.

“Come on, Ash. Let’s get this to the kitchen and see what’s got you so upset. Is there a severed arm in there? A tongue, maybe?” I was still feeling the effects of my first full moon shift, so I wasn’t overly concerned. Not with the box, Saul, or Frederick Axton’s human servant.

I yawned as I set the box on the countertop, then grabbed a knife to cut through the thick tape. I pulled the flaps back. “Are you ready, Ash?”

He barked eagerly, dancing a little as he waited for whatever was about to leap from the box. Unfortunately for Ash, it wasn’t anything exciting—most likely his growls and barks had been more about the delivery person than the actual box.