Jennifer Estep: Wasted

The guys were thorough, I’d give them that. One by one, they peered into all the offices, turning on the lights and making sure they were empty before closing and locking the doors behind them. Clarissa had put together a decent enough crew—it was just her bad luck that she’d picked my bank to rob. I might fuck over the IRS and occasionally my clients, but I always protected what was mine—and this bank was mine. I was rather like Gin that way.

Finally, the thieves got to my office. The first guy stepped inside and flipped on the light switch.

“Clear—”

That was all he got out before Xavier stepped forward and slammed his fist into the other man’s face. The guy dropped like a stone. I couldn’t tell if Xavier had broken his neck with that blow or just knocked him out. I didn’t really care either way.

But the guy’s buddy heard the crack of Xavier’s fist connecting because he sprinted forward into the office and raised his gun at the giant.

“Who the hell are you—”

That was all the second guy got out before I slid out from behind the door and jammed my gun into the side of his neck.

“Why, I was just going to ask you the same thing,” I drawled. “But I don’t really care who you are. I’m more interested in your boss, the lovely Clarissa. Xavier, if you would do the honors please.”

Xavier pulled the roll of duct tape that I’d given him out of his pants pocket and went to work on the thieves. Two minutes later, he had both of them trussed up like Thanksgiving turkeys. We left them there in the office and headed down to the vault.

The vault was located on the bottom floor of the bank, several thousand feet underground. Down here, the marble floors and walls gave way to a mixture of steel and granite reinforced with silverstone, a special metal that absorbed all forms of magic.

Clarissa had left one guy behind at the base of the stairs, but he was more interested in peering down the hallway and into the vault than keeping watch like he was supposed to. One well-placed blow from Xavier, and he was down for the count. That left one more guy to take care of, along with Clarissa herself.

Xavier dragged the unconscious thief back into the stairwell out of sight, while I peered around the corner. Up ahead, the vault door stood wide open, revealing row after row of safety deposit boxes. The keyholes on the metal gleamed like hundreds of silent eyes, all staring at me. I slipped back into the stairwell just as Xavier finished duct-taping the thief.

“You think you can handle the two guys still up in the lobby?” I asked him in a low voice.

Xavier cracked his knuckles again. “Happily.”

I nodded. “All right. I’ll take care of the other guy down here and Clarissa too.”

Xavier nodded back and started up the stairs. I slipped off my shoes so they wouldn’t clack on the floor and crept down the hall toward the vault.

The clangs and bangs and curses grew louder and louder as I neared the open vault door. Sounded like someone was using a crowbar to pry the safety deposit boxes out of the walls. Crude, but effective enough. The contents of just one of the boxes would make this whole operation worthwhile. I reached the door but instead of going inside, I crouched down on my knees. I pulled a mirror out of my pocket—one of the other items that I’d had stashed in my desk—and angled it so that I could see inside the vault.

The last thief stood in front of one of the rows of safety deposit boxes, showing a crowbar in between the creases in the metal and popping them out like they were nuts that he was shelling. Easy enough for him to do, since he was a giant. Meanwhile, Stevens and Clarissa stood off to one side. Stevens looked dumbstruck. Every once in a while, a few tears would trickle down Clarissa’s lovely face. The vamp was still playing her part to the very end of the game. I really admired her professionalism and dedication to her craft.

Once I’d seen what I needed to, I put the mirror away, straightened, and stepped into the vault.

“Hey,” I said. “Don’t you know that it’s not nice to steal from other people?”

Startled, the giant whipped around. I shot him once through his right eye before putting another bullet through his left one. His crowbar hit the floor a second before his body toppled on top of Stevens, driving the bank manager to the ground. For his part, Stevens started blubbering about all the blood and brains dripping all over him, but the giant was so much heavier than he was, that Stevens couldn’t get out from under the dead man’s body. The bastard wasn’t so smug now. I grinned. Yeah, I got quite a bit of satisfaction out of hearing Stevens squeal.

Clarissa immediately crossed the vault and threw herself into my arms. “Oh! Oh! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for saving us!”

She rained hot, passionate, grateful kisses all over my face, even as her hands moved all over my body. Amused, I let her, then turned my head and caught my mouth with hers. I coaxed her lips open with my tongue. She tasted sweet and sour at the same time, just like I thought she would.

Clarissa gasped in surprise, but then, she realized what an opportunity I’d just given her. A second later, her tongue was dueling mine, even as one of her hands wound through my hair. I let the kiss go on for several seconds.

Then, I gently put my gun up against her heart and thumbed back the hammer.

Vampires have enhanced senses, so Clarissa heard the click even above the sound of her own low, passionate moans. She froze, her lips still on mine.

“Oh, please,” I said. “Cut the routine. I’ve seen better acting from the hookers over on the Southtown streets. How much longer were you going to keep kissing me before you stabbed me with that knife? Hmm? Where was it, by the way? I’m guessing tucked into your garter belt. Certainly that skirt of yours is short enough to give you easy access to it.”

Clarissa stepped back, a stiletto clenched in her right hand. It wasn’t unlike the knives that Gin used. The only difference was another few seconds, and that one would have been buried in my heart.

“How did you know?” she hissed in a low voice.

I grinned. “I’ve always known ever since that first day you came into the bank. You really should have gone for me instead of Stevens. I still would have figured out your little game, but I guarantee that you would have had a hell of a lot more fun with me than with him.”

As if to prove my point, Stevens kept blubbering on the floor.

Clarissa looked at him, then me. Her eyes widened, and she gave me a sweet smile. “I’m sure that we can come to some kind of arrangement …”

“Finn,” I cheerfully supplied her with my name. “But I’m afraid it’s too late for all that. You bruised my ego, you see, and there’s just not enough money in the world to soothe my ego when it gets bruised. Especially not money stolen from my own bank. Sorry, Clarissa, your wiles might have worked on poor Stevens there, but I’m a bit smarter than he is.”

Clarissa was just as much of a hard-ass as I was, and she knew that I meant every word. Since sex hadn’t worked on me, she went for the other old standby—violence.

“And you should know exactly how good I am with this knife,” she said, flashing the blade at me. “I’ve killed more than one man with it over the years. I’ll kill you with it too.”

“I doubt that, since I’m the one holding the gun.”

She eyed the weapon, which I’d lowered to my side once she’d backed away from me. “You really think you can get a shot off before I slit your throat with my knife?”

“I know that I can,” I said in a soft voice.

We stood there staring at each other. I might not have enhanced senses like the vampire did, but I could see her hand tightening around the knife and see the slight movement of her body as she shifted her weight, getting ready to throw herself at me—and not in the way that I wanted. I sighed. Clarissa had just made the wrong choice—the very last choice of her life.