The Trouble with Hades

Chapter 25

Audrey was in the corridor when I emerged from the office. She was alone, just like I was. Well, at least in her eyes, I was.

She smiled supremely at me, almost like she thought that I was defenseless without Cooper here to step between us.

"You're not going to win, you know."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because you're just a pathetic little girl who isn't even a vampire."

Jeez, it sounded like I was faced with Drakkus. Pathetic little girl, his words echoed through my mind. It didn't bring me down. All it did was make me all the more eager to show him that there was nothing about me that was pathetic. As for him making it sound like being a girl was a downfall, I was going to show him how wrong he was.

Playing the game, I nodded with a plain face.

"You're right. I'm not a vampire. I have vampire blood in me because my great-grandfather was a vampire, but I don't have fangs, right?"

Audrey smiled like she'd won the argument.

"But then there's that other part of me. Did they tell you that?"

"Who?" she asked in a snarky tone.

"Kannon, Drakkus, whoever it is that is whispering these statements in your ear."

She faltered for a second before returning to the smile that she thought hid her fears. I wasn't a fool.

"My father is a biblical creature, which makes me one too. That's why Drakkus knows that he can't use me to create a child with and claim the Corbin line."

"Why couldn't he? That makes no sense."

"It would kill him. That's part of the reason that Kannon's angry at me. We didn't know what I was, and he was so close to having sex with me, completely unaware that it would have started the clock ticking away at his mortality."

It appeared as if Audrey was trying to comprehend what I was saying. Without more information or time to digest, it wouldn't be easy.

It didn't matter, not really. What did matter was the opportunity that I saw.

"You know that we have the same goal, right?"

"Kannon?"

"No." I scoffed. "A dead Drakkus."

Audrey shrugged as she folded her arms.

"That may be true, but you lost your chance at anything when you said that you would refuse to turn me into a vampire to be with Kannon."

"He's cheating on you. Did you hear me say that? He's screwing Drakkus constantly and has no intention of stopping. You shouldn't accept that kind of behavior."

"You just want him for yourself."

"No, I do not. One, I already told you that I'm a biblical creature, and I cannot have sex with mortals or immortals unless I want them to die. Two, he lied far too many times to me, he sold me out and he is associating with the vampire that killed Niko. I'd rather that he left town completely and I've told him to do so many times. And finally, three, I have someone. Would you like to meet my partner, Audrey?"

She shrugged uneasily.

"Anzide,"

He appeared at my side. Audrey looked at him and then at me.

"The guy from yesterday?"

"Yeah, the very same. He's Nephilim."

"What's that?"