The Heist (22 page)

“
Ha! See
that’s where your Doctor is wrong! I was dragged to my death, well
drowned actually, and when I woke up? I was this.” Alicia had risen
to her full height and was pacing back and forth in front of
Xavier. “It’s all wrong — my parents were mortal! You have all made
a grave mistake, and for your information I sunbathe because I can,
not because I’m some sort of freak!” She was steadily going into
denial.

Xavier’s tone
softened as he reached over to put his hand gently on her arm to
stop her pacing.

“
Sweetcheeks,
there’s no mistake. You’re not listening to me, yeah? Vampires
burst into flames with the merest hint of sunlight. You don’t.
Look, you need time to process all of this, I get that but…Shuggie
and I agree that you need a full time bodyguard. It’s a wonder
you’ve not been exposed before now, but you need our protection —
whether you like it or not.”

He knew she
wouldn’t like it. In the least. But the wolf in him was
howling to protect her, and he was in full agreement, for
once. “I vow to protect you with my life, Alicia
Carberletti.”

“
Fuck off!
You are delusional if you think I’m letting you guard me! Listen to
me Commander Prick and listen well! I can look after myself, have
done since I was changed and will continue to do so. Anymore
bombshells to drop on me?  That I’m really a wolf in disguise?
I’ve heard enough of your crap! I hope not to see you around!”
 Alicia shrugged Xavier’s arm away from hers, mumbled “Let’s
go Frazzle” and disappeared from Xavier’s sight.

Xavier shook
his head and punched his fist against the trunk of the nearest
tree, then rolled his eyes as the tree started to fall. Sitting
back down on the bench, he muttered under his breath.

“
Stubborn
assed, bull headed, dementing female.” She had disappeared in
her hissy fit before he had time to explain how perilous her health
situation could be.

How close her
parting comments had been to the truth.  Sure, he wanted her
to know that she was a special, unique vampire that would be hunted
down for that alone — but if she had only sat down and listened
calmly and rationally, then he could have told her that the Doc had
not only discovered that she was a
Sanguis-solis
, vampire, but that she
seemed to have something similar to his ‘LWS’ condition. What was
potentially dangerous to Alicia’s health, according to both Teodora
and Shuggie, was the fact that no matter how lazy Alicia’s wolf
genes were, the combination of vampire
and
shifter DNA could mean that her
own biology might be a ticking time bomb inside of her.  In
more ways than one she could be her own worst enemy.

Xavier
shouted into thin air, even although he knew Alicia couldn’t hear
him.

“
I made a fucking vow, and tough shit for you Sweetcheeks, but
I intend to keep it!” Taking his cell out from his jacket pocket,
he dialled his Lieutenant. “Shuggie, take me to Sweetcheeks.
 I’m bringing her stubborn ass back here right
fucking
now!
”

“
How the duck
did my life do a four ninety and end up like this?!”

Alicia was bored beyond
belief in her new room. Four months ago Shuggie had traced her to
her London dwellings and the mortal with the green eyes she so
lovingly referred to as Commander Prick took her off guard, slung
her over his shoulder and kidnapped her. Final destination was his
compound in France. Now also known as home!

Shuggie had
the brainwave that Alicia needed protection and in his wisdom
decided that a bodyguard would be the best course of action.
 Of course the pint sized brunette thought he meant himself
and although she wasn’t happy at having to be baby sat, tolerating
it would have been a little easier knowing it was her friend, but
then this wasn’t a fairy-tale was it?

Hell to the
ducking no it’s wasn’t, because Xavier Fucking Raige was her
bodyguard!

It was noon, Shuggie was
shut up for the day as he couldn’t go out in the daylight or he
would burst into flames and die.

Alicia could
though…she was a freak after all.

Commander
Prick had lowered the steel shutters on the floor where her
quarters were situated. He had “
important
shit to deal with yeah”
and as she was
only allowed out when accompanied with him, the prick had ensured
that she was stuck in the house by encasing the whole compound in
steel.

****

Fifteen
weeks, five days, seventeen hours, forty three minutes and six
seconds.

Seven
seconds.

Eight
seconds.

Xavier was
counting in his head the amount of time that had elapsed since
Shuggie had the ridiculous idea he should become Alicia’s bodyguard
whilst the plan to overthrow Belcastro was put into
place.

He was counting, because
if he didn’t then he would go stark raving mad.  She was
chipping away at him day by day and to be honest, he was glad when
he had the excuse to go and execute a few of Belcastro’s guards who
had been overseeing the latest shipment of females into the
dockside, just to get out of the fucking house.

He had taken
the executive decision
not
to tell her about the wolf shifter DNA in her
system just yet.  She had more than enough reasons to hate
him, plus she would most likely do something incredibly reckless if
she went into meltdown about her situation. No, he needed her
focused if he was going to help her bring down their mutual
enemy.

There was time enough for
her finding out the truth afterwards.

For now, keeping her
safe, and making her as mentally and physically strong as he could
was his priority.

Shuggie was
dividing his time into organising their foot soldiers, and
gathering Intel on the Belcastros — which left Alicia to his own
private care. 
Smart fucking move on
Shuggie’s part
, Xavier thought as he
chewed on the nicotine gum, still unused to the taste. On
hindsight, giving up smoking just prior to having Alicia
Carberletti in his life twenty four seven was probably not the best
idea.

Then again, short of
becoming a crack addict, there was nothing that would ease his time
with the little tinderbox.

Xavier had
observed that although Alicia had the stubbornness and drive to go
after Belcastro she wasn’t exactly battle ready. She had
skills, of that there was no denying, but they weren’t nearly as
honed or strong as she thought they were, and that was a weakness
he couldn’t allow her to have if she was to fight beside him
against a Mafia family with a full arsenal at their
disposal.

Chewing on
the gum, Xavier banged his fist three times on Alicia’s bedroom
door.  She had barely opened it when he shoulder charged it
open and stood in the middle of her room.  Cracking his neck,
he turned his attention to her.

“
Time you had
some training, Sweetcheeks, yeah?” Without waiting for a response,
Xavier walked back out of her room and headed towards the gym.
 Behind him he could hear her protesting, but he carried on
ignoring her — a skill he had quickly developed. He liked to think
of it as a survival technique.

Winding tape
around his fists, Xavier chewed on his gum, watching the door, and
waiting for Alicia to arrive. The gym was reinforced with
steel, an anti-Alicia device suggested by Shuggie so that she
couldn’t flash away from him whenever they were in the building.
 The tick from the clock was starting to annoy him, and he
knew that Alicia was deliberately taking her own sweet time to
arrive. Just as Xavier was about to go looking for her, she
sauntered into the gym with a bored expression on her
face.

Alicia was bored but
thought that taunting him for an hour would amuse her so she made
her way to the gym, thirty minutes later than Commander Prick was
expecting of course.

“
Sweetcheeks,
next time I tell you to be somewhere, you fucking jump, we clear? I
ain’t got time for fucking about.  You might want to change
into something less tight fitting as we’re training, not going on a
fashion show, yeah?” Turning his back on her, he walked over to the
store cupboard muttering under his breath.

“
I’m sorry…I thought you were assigned as my bodyguard,
soldier boy. You must excuse me in my ignorance here, you seem to
be acting like my god damn father and I will
not
be calling you
Daddy!  And for your information, there is nothing wrong with
my attire mortal and I fail to see what you can teach me, how about
I give you a lesson in manners?”

“
How about I
put you across my knee and spank your ass so hard you start to
learn how to behave like an adult?” A smirk crossed his face as he
started moving boxes looking for something. “Or maybe you’d enjoy
that, yeah?” Grabbing the box at the far end of the cupboard and
walking out with it, nudging Alicia out of the way. “Drop to the
floor and give me fifty.”

“
Oi! You
fucking prick, was there any need for that?” Alicia growled as she
went flying to the floor after being shoved by the tank carrying
the box. Defiantly sitting with her legs crossed on the rubber mats
that covered the gymnasium floor. “Tell me what does a mortal think
he can achieve with me? Because in case you’ve forgot Xavi — I’m
not human!”

Xavier walked
behind Alicia, grabbed her by the back of her collar and waistband,
lifted her up then pushed her back onto the ground face first. He
placed his foot on the small of her back.

“
I said, give
me fifty.” As Alicia pushed up, he rolled his eyes. “If you’re so
fucking better than us mortals, then put some effort into it,
yeah?” he said, pushing his foot down to squish her back onto the
mats. “ONE.”

“
Two! Master
may I have another?” Alicia had no choice but to do the push-ups
that she was being forced to do. “I swear to the gods if those
gollum feet of yours rip my top I will bust your balls for
it!”

Alicia pushed her arms
and legs up and down as she counted, all the while Xavier’s foot
was pressing into her back. “You want to see me naked don’t you? Or
is it the sheen of sweat you want to lick off my skin?
FIFTY!”

Putting his
foot back down on the mat, Xavier hauled Alicia upright. “Don’t
flatter yourself, Sweetcheeks, you’re not my type.” But she
was
his wolf’s type.
Damn she was definitely his lazy ass wolf’s type, but that was
something she didn’t need to ever know that.  “Today’s
training is to see how competent you are in hand to hand combat.
What experience do you have?” For some reason, Xavier couldn’t stop
the words Alicia had said to him earlier — in particular ‘naked’,
‘sheen of sweat’ and ‘lick off my skin’ — from going around and
around in his head, and the accompanying visuals almost knocked him
off balance.

Bridging his
arms across his huge sculpted chest, he looked down at Alicia as
she answered him, none of her answers surprising him. Any combat
she had was one on one scrapes with either the local law
enforcement or business rivals she had crossed.  He got the
impression she was holding back on something, but didn’t press her.
 For once she was actually answering questions without him
having to get blood out of the proverbial stone.

“
The people
that are after you, and the Belcastros that you are wanting to
defeat, are all military trained, Sweetcheeks. The kind of
fighting that you’re going to come up against is going to be
organised, lethal and brutal. Now…” holding up a hand to silence
her, he continued, “...I know you have skills, which is the main
reason for training you myself, yeah? But you need to be battle
ready, and that’s one of my areas of expertise. What weapons
do you favour?” The wolf inside him was howling to protect Alicia,
but Xavier knew that the best way was to give her all the skills he
could for her to defend herself in any situation — not that she’d
get a chance to use those skills as he would annihilate anyone who
hurt one hair on her head. Well, on his wolf’s behalf, obviously he
corrected himself.

Rolling her
eyes as she looked up she noted the green was dark today, he was in
‘I mean business mode’.

“
I don’t need
to fight Com-an-derr! I can flash away. It’s very simple for a
vampire, you know? So thanks for the interest, I do appreciate it
but I am in no danger. I have my fangs and my guns and with you
protecting my body…” Alicia just stood and smirked as she looked
Xavier straight in the eyes, ignoring that damn pulse that was
racing again.

She wasn’t
getting it. It just wasn’t filtering through that thick, stubborn
skull of hers just how much shit she was in. Deciding that extreme
measures were needed to be taken so that she would start to realise
the scenario that he needed to protect her from, he grabbed Alicia
and in one swift movement threw her over his shoulder. Marching
over to the far side of the gym, Xavier threw her down on the mats
with a thud. “You really want to know what you could be up against
Sweetcheeks?” Grabbing a remote control, he switched on the
television set and crouched down beside her.