What Lies Beneath

"Do you think they'll send more?" I asked Landon as I buttoned up my top. I was behind a cracked door, and he was teasing me on and off about it. I realized it was silly, since he and I had been intimate in all sorts of uncomfortable ways, that

was embarrassing to think about. It was lovely at the time. I wasn't shy or nervous at all. It wasn't until later when I remembered how loud I had been, or the things I'd done or let him do to me. It was almost amazing that I could look him in

the

eye.

"Most likely," he said, not sounding worried at all. "I've killed more people than you've met, Mila. Don't fret about it."

Yeah, that was a totally comforting sentence.

I came out of the bathroom, and Landon's face didn't suggest he was lying. He even looked a little cocky about the whole thing. It was really messed up that it turned me on just a little.

"I'm gonna fret about it. We've been ambushed too many times for me to stay calm. One day you're going to lose a fight. They won't keep screwing up, and you can't survive a dozen demons coming at you." "Bet me."

My arms crossed. "Cocky people always get knocked down a peg. Just you wait and see." I went to start repacking.

I ate a couple snack cakes for breakfast before we left. I offered one to Landon, but he declined.

"I'm more of a Twinkies' guy," he said.

My eyebrow arched. "Too good for a strawberry cake?"

"Maybe. Also, your blood is keeping me properly fed. I don't need food when I have supercharged blood in my system."

How sweet. "Are you going to need more?"

"Not need."

Ah, okay. "Do you want more?"

He smiled. "If you're offering."

And so we went through the motions. I sat on the dresser again because I couldn't handle him on top of me for that. It was too intimate already.

I kept it as clinical as I could. Even with him holding my hips like he'd die if he didn't. He just had a tendency to get really into it when he was feeding, so I knew it didn't mean much. When it was over, he looked at me with silver eyes. "A few more people on the list are near Los Angeles, some in San Diego. So I think I should take care of them, don't you agree?" "Is there any point to that other than you wanting to kill them?"

He shrugged. "They'll possibly know if Knox is at either of the homes we're headed to. Also, I like the idea of destroying his list of contacts. If I can hurt him, I'll take it in every form." I'd already lost this battle. "Where's the closest place."

He smiled. "Three miles."

I made a sound. "So you were planning this, and you just weren't going to tell me?"

"I told you."

"You know what I mean."

He picked me up by the hips and set me on the floor. He kissed the very tip of my nose because he knew I couldn't be mad at him after that. "I knew you'd agree. So I just didn't bother telling you. Are you mad at me?" I kicked him in the leg. "Nope." I smiled, and we left.

He drove, of course. I just pouted.

I didn't think he'd go along with the just coworkers thing, but I had to try. I was hoping that he would fall prey to the reverse psychology thing, but there was too good a chance he'd stop in the middle and leave. Then I would have to murder him.

I should murder him now, but not only was he driving, I also needed him to kill a bunch of people. Oh, and I loved him. Details...

"Are we just straight-up gonna torture people?" I asked.

"Of course not. You're going to sit in the corner and let me do what I have to do."

I crossed my legs because I felt like it added something to my glare. "So I'm just watching you torture people?"

"Yes."

"Not fair. I have to watch you work, getting all hot and bothered, and I don't even get to play."

He smiled. "Hot and bothered?"

"No," I said flatly. "Get over yourself. I like when you break things, not people... because it would be really messed up to get turned on by violence." So I didn't. Not at all. Nope. I'm not that brand of messed up. "Well, I'll be sure to break a lot of stuff for you."

"Only if you wanna end up on your back."

His forehead wrinkled as he smiled. "I think that's my line."

I smiled back. "There are a lot more things I can do to you if you're on your back."

His hands gripped the wheel. "Weren't we talking about breaking things?"

"We were."

"Strange how our conversations just keep turning into something sexual."

My smile turned to a smirk. "It's the explosive sexual tension between us," I said sarcastically. "Don't worry. Once we actually sleep together, I imagine that'll fade."

He sighed far too dramatically. "Not happening."

I arched an eyebrow. "You really wanna die without having sex one last time? Come on, let me do that much for you. It'll be like charity."

"Oh please," he said in monotone. "Say it slower."

"Let's not pretend I couldn't turn you on if I tried. I have some very vivid memories to prove my point."

He sighed again. "I apologized for that."

"I don't want an apology." I wanted to undo this last couple weeks. I wanted to have never stolen that ledger from Knox. Never got my brother taken from me, causing him to lose his humanity

if they even kept him long enough for him to wake up. I wanted to never have made a deal with a vampire. I wanted to go back to those little moments between us and erase them so that love wouldn't sneak up on me. It happened so fast, and I knew why, for the both of us. It was upsetting why he loved me. I didn't think he loved me for any reason other than I was here. Why else would he be so okay with leaving?

As for why I loved him... maybe it was a little of the same. All I've ever had was by brother, and I had never really felt lonely until he was gone. Then I had Landon, and I thought I really disliked him for a whole two days. The fact was, he was the kind of person that someone like me would be drawn to. He was cold, and he wore it well. But he was warm when it mattered. He knew what he needed to do, how to do it, and he did what he had to without hesitation. He got shit done, and I loved that about him. So I didn't care about the killing or the violence. And I'd never seen him hurt a good person. I was the closest he'd come, and I wasn't anywhere close to a good person.

Then we were at a house. Landon parked, and we got out.

"The woman who lives here," he said, "is Edie Weeber. She works in finances. She collects money from the auctions, sorts it and so on. I'm letting you know now, I am going to kill her. I don't care that she's a bookkeeper or that she doesn't have anything to do with the taking of those people. She's involved, and she knows everything that she's doing. So don't get all uptight about it."

I held my hands up. "Since when do I get uptight about murder?"

He rolled his eyes. "She has no family, if it makes you feel better."

It did.

"Do whatcha gotta do, darlin'."

He patted my ass. "Good girl."

I punched his arm, and we went to kill a woman.

He said he could hear her in the house, so we needed to be stealthy. We went around back, and I hid alongside the house while Landon checked the windows. The coast was clear, so he started working on getting the kitchen window open. It was one that had a handle on the inside, so you had to hand-crank it. Cuz we were in the eighteen hundreds apparently.

Landon crooked his finger at me. "I need to borrow you."

I walked over, hands in pockets, looking up. "What?"

He pointed to the top of the window. "I need you to pry it open as much as you can so that I can break it. I can't reach the opening, so you need to go up on my shoulders again."

I smiled. "Sounds like an excuse for you to get all up close and personal with my junk."

His eyebrow arched. "I don't need an excuse. If I wanted to do it, I would."

"I know. I was there last time." I smoothed out my shirt and moved closer to the window. "All right, go ahead."

Landon lifted me up by the hips and set me up on his shoulders. I mussed his hair, and he smiled up at me, patting my thigh. "Get to work, baby. Lots to do."

I got my knife out of my pocket, which I still had because Landon had been sweet enough to grab it when I was dying. He told me to loosen the window up, but I had a better idea.

The thing was being held together with rusty parts. The hinges were set with rusted pins, and I picked through the rust with the blade in my hands. I held the window in as I shimmied the pin out. One dropped on Landon's head, and I tossed it

to the ground. Then I carefully pulled the window off and handed it to him. He set it down and lifted me up and over his head.

He brought me down slowly. Suddenly he spun me around, and I was facing him, and he pulled me to his chest. "You are very useful."

"I am. Thank you for noticing."

His hand went into my back pocket. He lowered his head, and his lips were at my ear. "I could have you against the wall, right this second."

My hands were on his chest. "You are a cruel man."

He pulled back. "How so? I'm just informing you that your capabilities are perhaps the sexiest thing I've ever witnessed."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Put up or shut up, honey."

"If only." He let go of me. "For now, we have work to do. The woman is in her bedroom, and we won't have much time before she figures out that she has guests.'

He lifted me up and got me into the house. Then he crawled in. We were, in fact, in a kitchen.

Landon took my knife from me. "Can I borrow this?"

I shrugged.

He folded it and slipped it into his pocket. Then he oh-so-casually strolled out into the living room. "Miss Weeber," he called. "Can you come out here for a moment?" I yelled in a whisper. "WHAT THE HELL!?"

He held a hand up. "Trust me."

A woman emerged from a hall. She looked confused as she walked towards us. The woman looked half asleep until she saw Landon.

She was dressed in a tank top and drawstring pants. She looked too young, so my guess was that she was a demon. Landon said vampires were few and far between for the most part. "Hello." Landon smiled before he went for her.

She wasn't fast enough to dodge him, so when he got his arms around her, all she could do was kick the air and yell. "Knock that off."

Landon knocked her head against the wall and sat her on the floor against it. His hand wrapped around her neck, and he held her. "We just wanna get a little information from you. This doesn't have to hurt."

The brave woman spoke. "Coulda used a better approach."

Landon laughed. "I'm not much for kindness, as you're about to find out. I'm looking for Floyd Knox. If you tell me where he is, I won't burn your house down with you in it."

The woman looked defiant. "You think that hurting me will make me give up what I know? If I do, I'll have people a whole lot scarier than you coming after me."

Landon nodded. "Perfectly understandable. But I don't see why anyone has to know who told me. Answer my questions, and I'll kill any and all people that might hurt you. If you don't help, then I'll kill you. And I'll make sure you know how poor a decision you made."

The woman looked at me. "He your guard dog, or do you just like watching a psychopath at work?"

Oh, I couldn't wait for her to die. "Actually," I smiled brightly, "I hold the leash. So I'd be on my best behavior if I were you."

Landon smiled back at me. "Not untrue. Now, we have so little time here. I suggest you hurry up and let me know where Knox is. Or better yet, where is he headed?"

She still looked at me. "Call off Cujo, and I can have you handsomely compensated."

My brow arched. "That's so kind of you, but I'm not in it for money. I sure would like that info though, so feel free to tell me what we need to know."

The woman stayed quiet, and Landon squeezed her neck. "I'm willing to start the torture now if you'd like."

And he did. He broke her arm when she tried to bite him. Not only was she refusing to tell us what we needed to know, but she tried more bribery and insults. It didn't work, but she kept going. She seemed more annoyed with us than afraid or upset.

A second later, she said, "Fine! He's headed to San Diego for the auction. That's all I know."

Landon looked doubtful. "When is this auction?"

"Three days. And I'm due there tomorrow, so they'll know that something happened to me."

The vampire smiled. "So, really, killing you is my best option." His hands tightened around her neck, and her nails dug into him. She tried to free herself while gasping for breath. I had to look away.

Five seconds later, I heard a bang and had to look over again. The woman was laid out, but her chest was clearly moving up and down. She was very much alive. And when Landon stood up, I assumed she was staying that way. "You're not killing her?" I asked.

He stood in front of me and straightened out his clothes, shrugging it off. "I guess I'm not."

I eyed him. "But it's more dangerous for you to leave her alive."

He looked at the floor. "What do you think of me, Mila?"

I blinked. "What are you talking about?"

His eyes met mine. "When you think of me, what words are there? How do you see me?"

"I feel like this isn't really the time or place for a conversation like that."

"Please," he begged me with his words and his eyes.

My arms crossed over my chest. "Now?"

"Yes."

I took a breath. "Okay. When I think of you, the first thing I get is all the frustration you cause me. And then the grief you give me, now and will in the future. When the sting goes away, I think about the other stuff. Like when you're in a good mood, and you play with me. I see you as someone who is wretchedly lonely and terrified to try and be anything else, because you just don't know how."

He didn't say anything for ten of the longest seconds of my life. "You don't see me as cold or cruel? Evil? A monster?"

"Of course not. Not because you want me to think otherwise. I believe that it would make this whole thing a lot easier for you if I thought that about you. I think that you've been hurt so many times that it has shattered you. Not a monster." His voice was too quiet. "Do you love me?"

I made a broken sound. "You know the answer to that."

"Tell me anyway."

I nodded. "Yes, I love you."

His face was unchanged. "Then no, I'm not going to kill her." He started walking to the back door, and I was too frozen to move for half a minute. I finally caught up with him when I heard the back door open.

We got in the van and started driving again, and Landon wouldn't speak. I really should have known better about this whole partners-thing. I just fell deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.

****

"Where do we start?" I asked, looking at the notebook I made. There were four addresses in San Diego, only one of which was residential.

"I think we should head to the places closest to the outside of the ritzy areas. He's played with your brother long enough, and he would know by now that we were coming for him. He'll want to get rid of him as soon as he can."

I winced. "Great. If he sells him, I swear to God, I'll burn him alive."

"I'll help," Landon said as he was shutting the notebook. "We'll check a few places and then get you something to eat before packing it in for the night."

I smiled just a little. "You gonna get all snuggly with me again?"

He faked annoyance. "I do not snuggle."

"You do. And you get a pouty look on your face when you're sleeping if I move away."

"Simple solution... don't move away."

I didn't even comment on that one.

We started checking out the addresses in the book. The first place we went turned out to be a venue. It was holding an enormous wedding party. There was little point to checking it out, since there was no way Jaxon was in there, but we did hide in the crowd when the bride and groom came out. I caught the bouquet and ran like hell when the bitches noticed that I wasn't a wedding guest. Landon seemed proud of me for my efforts.

"This means you're next to get married," he said as we walked to the van. "A stupid thing, I think, just deciding that catching dead flowers means you'll get married."

I sighed at him. "It's just supposed to be something fun, Landon." I waved the flowers in his face. "Don't they smell nice?"

"They smell like a bunch of angry women who now think they'll die alone."

"Everyone dies alone, sweetheart." I tossed the flowers in the back of the van. "It's more a matter of who watches you while it's happening."

"A bit morbid an opinion for a girl your age."

I was grinning when I turned and leaned against the door. "Well, my idea of a good time involves crawling all over a vampire, so..." I clicked my tongue.

"You have a point."

We went back to searching, and building two was a bust. It turned out to be a brand new McDonalds. We talked to one of the employees who said that the place had opened up a couple months ago. So apparently the book was just outdated. "Is there anything else I can help you with?" the blonde bitch said with a grin and bedroom eyes aimed at my sorta boyfriend.

I smiled right back then stuck my hand in Landon's back pocket. "No thank you," I said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "Oh, wait," I said after a pause. "Do you know where a hotel might be? My fella over here gets a little moody if he doesn't get his eight hours, and I need plenty of time to make sure I can send him off to dreamland properly." I turned my head up to Landon and put my hand on his chest. "Right, baby?"

He gave a prideful smile, and the girl just rolled her eyes and stalked off to make fries.

"Jealousy is sexy on you," he said.

I smirked. "Everything is sexy on me."

He didn't say anything as he picked me up and carried me out. I was pressed to his chest, and I could see over his shoulder, so I smiled again at the slut who dared to notice how attractive Landon was. She did not smile back. Landon set me down in my seat in my van. He was leaning on his hand that was on the roof of the van, and he had one hand on the top of the door frame. "One more place to check."

I looked over his shoulder and saw that the sun was just about to start setting. "Knox's place tomorrow?" We were closing in on San Diego now, and I knew my brother may be close. He nodded once. "Indeed, my dear."

I picked at my fingernails, swinging my feet over the side of my seat. "What if we still don't find him? We keep hitting dead ends."

"I know, but we have plenty of places left to look. Just have a little faith." He reached over and buckled me up. Then he pressed his lips to my cheek. "I'll find him for you." When I sighed again, he pressed his forehead to mine and told me not to worry. He didn't move away. Instead, he pulled my hands apart so I wouldn't make myself bleed. We started driving again, and by the time we got to the last stop I had no hope left in me, so I just stared at the miserable-looking place.

Landon rubbed my arm. "I'll buy you an ice cream after this one. How's that sound?"

I smiled weakly at him. "You're very sweet, believe it or not."

"You're the only one who thinks that."

"I'm the only one who sees all of you."

He got out of the car and waited for me. When I got around to him, he rubbed my lower back, trying to soothe me, I suppose. Then we stared at the building.

It was literally was a nail salon. The windows were dark, but the glass was painted with cartoons of rabbits painting nails. Christ... "No way is he here."

"That's no way to think." He started walking to the back of the building.

The door was locked, but Landon broke it with a strong kick that perked up my mood quite a bit. We were inside, the whole place was dark, and it smelled like rubbing alcohol. It did nothing to make me feel better. Then I heard a scream.