Forest pressed her back against the cool concrete wall, wanting to remain aloof from the entity of the crowd. She chose her position in the shadows, out of the paths of the roving, multi-colored spotlights. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the undulating human pheromones flying around on the air. At the beginning of every shift, she allowed herself a few minutes of this alien/human experience, though she didn't fully comprehend the combination of dancing, drinking, and ear-breaking sound waves. They loved it, however, and never seemed to deviate from the recipe.
These were the people she was sworn to protect. She had developed a light affection for the human race and considered them a benign, if not slightly silly, bunch of creatures. Her religious passion for her job was rooted in hatred of that which harmed the humans, not a superhero tendency to protect the weak.
Forest opened her eyes and focused all her senses to sniff out the illegal suckers that tried to sneak through the portal. She was in the zone tonight, and not for the first time did she feel that hers was the best job in existence. It was a shame she couldn’t legally kill suckers in her native world.
Over the next two hours, Forest didn’t move from the wall. She monitored the light traffic through the portal: two shifters and one elf, each of which nodded to her respectfully as they passed. Yawn. The shifters left the club to enjoy the delights of Austin’s nightlife elsewhere.
The elf would have been breaking Regia’s law had he left the club, but he dutifully seated himself at the bar and ordered a fuzzy navel. He wore a plaid, porkpie hat, pulled down over the tops of his pointed ears. Forest didn’t know him personally, but she had seen him in here before. The bartender surveyed him with narrowed eyes as the elf nervously tugged his hat down further and ordered a few more girly cocktails.
Intent on making sure that not one sucker was able to sneak past her, Forest was blindsided by the drunk bubba who had been trying to catch her eye for the last twenty minutes. He had finally decided to stagger over to hit on her.
“Hey babe, you’re too beautiful to look so lonely. How’s ‘bout I buy you a drink?”
“How’s ‘bout I call you a cab instead?” Forest mimicked his drawl.
“Only if you share it with me, Darlin.” He leaned in closer, and Forest’s throat began to sting from the noxious fume of booze mixed with his natural musk.
“While I appreciate the offer, Jethro, it seems only right to inform you that I’m not actually attractive at all. If you leaned in a little closer, you’d see that you’ve fallen victim to the effect of beer goggles. A hag like me can’t take advantage of a stud like you.”
As he leaned in, Forest instantly enlarged her nose, pockmarked her skin, evaporated her front teeth, and added a large black mole with a long hair sprouting from it for good measure.
“You’re no hag, baby! You’re the sexiest little thing in…I…uh…" He stumbled backward. “Good grief! Sorry, sorry…” he stammered, retreating. “I’ve gotta quit drinking,” he mumbled as he turned away.
Forest chuckled to herself once he absorbed back into the crowd. Being a shape shifter sometimes had unusual perks. Once her nose was clear of his funk, she refocused her senses on her job and reconstructed her face.
The club’s activity peaked at 1:30 AM. People filtered in and out. The music grew a little louder, the humans a little drunker, the smell a little fouler, and Forest grew a little bored. The night seemed to be shaping up into a frustrating nothingness. She sighed, feeling the weight of her favorite .45 Magnum against her back. She was itching to get her gun off. She hadn’t killed a sucker all month; it was messing up her average.
The worst blackguard on both sides of the portal, sauntered into the compass of Forest’s senses. Her nostrils flared and her spine stiffened.
Leith.
The fight or flight instinct kicked in. Pulse, adrenaline, breathing, and sweat all accelerated through her body. Her mind banished all reason as her body began to quiver with the possibility of taking him down. Leith. Reason might have been useful to Forest at this moment, but this was the fight she was constitutionally incapable of backing down from.
Her hands began to tingle at the thought of pointing her weapon at him, pulling the trigger, and blasting a hole through his black heart. Her lips curved into a full-on Cheshire cat smile as she envisioned standing victorious over his dead body.
It had to be a coincidence. Leith wouldn’t come through her portal unless he was looking for her specifically. That thought made her grind her teeth together. He hadn’t sought her out in a long time. No, it had to be coincidence. He didn’t know her schedule, and the last time she had seen him, he didn’t even know the location of her post. Not that he couldn’t find that out if he wanted to go digging.
She stood motionless in the shadows, watching him move through the dancing crowd toward the exit. She admired that he didn’t slink or attempt conceal himself. Leith merely walked through the crowd as though he owned the world.
She checked herself. Bastard. She hated his arrogance, always had.
Oh, if only this could be the night she triumphed over him. If only she could confront him with her sword and not a gun.
Leith had the sense to go out the back door, which led into the alley. The second the door shut behind him, Forest bolted from the wall, swiftly snaking through the crowd. The alley was long and extremely dark. As soon as she stepped outside and the door closed at her back, she used her elfish power and disappeared. Leith turned around abruptly. His ice-colored eyes looked right through her. He pulled in a deep breath through his nose, but the dumpster next to her masked her scent. His pale eyes darted back and forth, and he sniffed the air a second time before turning back to the looming street ahead. Forest followed a few paces behind. Leith’s attire suggested that he was trying to look like a 1960’s greaser. Maybe his only reference to a human male was James Dean.
People and cars passed on the street ahead, under the weak protection of the street lamps. Protocol dictated that she make her presence known, state the law he was breaking, give him a chance to return through the portal with a mark on his record, or kill him if he resisted or ran. But this was Leith. If it was anyone but him, she would do what she was supposed to do.
Ten more yards, and he would reach the street. Although invisible, she was right on his heels and the stinky dumpster was now far behind.
Leith stopped and turned, an expression caught between a smile and a sneer on his face. He breathed deeply once more. A feral sound resonated from his chest. She didn’t move.
“Show yourself!” he commanded.
Forest’s solid form flashed against her will for a split second before disappearing again. Their eyes had locked. Leith lunged. Forest ducked too late. He scooped her off her feet and pinned her between his chest and the alley’s brick wall. She sighed and dropped the now pointless invisibility.
“Forest,” he growled. “I thought that was your scent. I don’t know if this is good or bad luck.”
She gave him a malevolent glare. “Bad.”
“Ha! I’m sure you think so, given the position of disadvantage you’re in.” Hungry heat flashed into his eyes, and he looked at her neck.
“Don’t even think about it!”
“Oh, but I do.” His voice turned to silk. “I think about it all the time. That’s how I know this must be good luck. I was thinking about it just today.”
Forest shivered with repulsion.
Leith noticed. "See now,” he whispered intimately. “See how you respond to me? You’ve missed me.”
He pressed his lips into the curve of her neck where the worst of her scars were. She felt bile rise in her throat. “Let go of me!” she growled.
He laughed, his breath falling across her skin. “In this relationship, I’m the one who commands. You’re the one who obeys.”
Forest squirmed, trying to reach her .45. He was so much taller than she was; her feet were hanging a good six inches off the ground. Leith pulled his face back from her neck to look i
n her eyes, and a mixture of emotions crossed his face. She had seen him look at her like that many times. Desire and hatred, envy and fear. She understood it.
“You’re packing, aren’t you?”
“I’m on duty,” she said. “Of course I’m packing.”
Leith tightened his grip on her. “Why don’t you just give in to me? Why do you insist on trying to kill me when you know you can’t?”
“I like to test my boundaries. I know I don’t need to remind you how close I came to killing you, not all that long ago.” When he grimaced, she smiled. “It must have left one hell of a scar. Can I see it?”
Leith bared his teeth. His glassy eyes were murderous. He pushed his forehead against hers until the back of her head pressed roughly to the wall. She knew he wanted to see her fear. Instead, Forest closed her eyes and let her body go limp.
After a second, Leith relaxed a fraction and pulled back from her face, only to move his mouth to her ear. “I’ll let you see it, Forest,” he breathed. “I know you really want to. I’ll forget about the Vampire RPG I was going to crash, and you can call your boss and head home early with me.”
Forest opened her eyes and smiled thinly at him. “Sure. Why not?”
Heat flashed in his eyes again, and he backed up and dropped her to her feet. Throughout all these years, she was still amazed at his stupidity. As soon as her arms were loose, she pulled her gun on him.
“Stop!” he yelled.
All the muscles in her arm clamped down, and her finger, already half-squeezing the trigger, began to shake as she fought against his command. She’d been so close.
Leith reached out and grabbed the gun from her hand, only to swear loudly in pain and throw it from him. He looked down at his hand that was now red and smoking.
“That’s my favorite gun. I had it plated with silver. You know how I love silver.”
“Well,” he sneered at her. “I suppose I have to congratulate you on a clever little move.”
His raw hand whipped out, backhanding her across the face, splitting both her lips. She staggered momentarily, but held her ground. Hatred was boiling over inside her. His eyes went wild at the sight of blood on her lips, and he took a step toward her again.
This was where Forest drew the line. She spit the blood in her mouth across his face, savoring his shocked expression for a split second, before disappearing again and taking off back down the alley to the club. He wouldn’t follow.