Page 3 of Severed By Vengeance

There was a twitch in his jaw, his eyes narrowing as they centered nervously on my face.

“Yeah, almost there. I can see the pieces falling into place. Notice anything familiar in the shape of my jaw?” His focus dropped to the bottom half of my face, then back up to meet my eyes. “These baby blues have really been a hit with the ladies. But I’m sure you know all about that, don’t you?”

James’s mouth fell agape, eyes doubling in size. “You… you’re…Derek,” he stammered.

“Surprise.”

He shook his head incredulously. “I thought you—”

“What? Got lost in the system?”

Of course, he’d be disappointed I wasn’t dead.

A gloved hand fell over the hilt of my blade. There was nothing I desired more than to stain the air with the scent of his blood.

Hurried footsteps and subsequent knocking had our heads whipping toward the door, jarring me from my bloodlust.

Our joyful little reunion would have to wait.

“Uncle James! My phone must have slipped out of my pocket. Can you open the door?”

Eva.

James’s brows shot to his hairline, chest rising and falling in rugged pants.

“If I don’t answer, she’ll think something’s wrong. Please, don’t hurt her,” he begged, face flushing red.

“You are a master at playing the part of doting uncle,” I whispered, pulling my HK from its holster. “Her life depends on your last performance, so make it count.”

The blood on my hands was thick with the souls of dead men. Each one another notch, another number to the tally. But for reasons I refused to examine further, the thought of hurting this woman twisted something deep in my gut.

Stepping back into the cover of shadows, I watched as James huffed out a long, shaky breath of air before opening the door.

“Evangelina! I’m sorry, I was upstairs. You said you left your phone?”

Careful to stay hidden, I observed as the woman nodded slowly. She seemed to scrutinize his flustered appearance and the subtle nervous tells of his body language. Perceptive, I’d give her that.

Evangelina.

I rolled that name around in my thoughts.

“Is everything… all right?” she asked, leaning forward.

My eyes lingered on her plump mouth.

“It’s nothing. I just got winded, running down the stairs. I might be decrepit, after all,” he said with a wary laugh.

Evangelina flashed him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes as she walked past him, patting his shoulder. “Sounds like you need to get some rest.”

Once she disappeared into the living room, I stepped under the glow of a wall lamp, and James and I locked eyes. The good doctor rubbed a rough hand through the once sandy blond hair I remembered. Thick streaks of platinum now in their place were a testament to his absence and the years gone by.

He was frozen to the spot. Watching. Probably trying to come up with ways to escape or sway me.

They always tried.

As the woman’s footfalls neared, I shot him one last implicit glare, then slinked back into obscurity.

Stopping a few short feet from where I was hiding, she leaned a shoulder against the wall, and I closed my eyes, daring to breathe her in. Her scent was intoxicating. My fingers curled into a fist, and I swallowed the urge to run them through the dark waves falling like a curtain down her back.