Mason Calloway is the kind of secret agent you call when all else fails and then immediately regret it. Reckless, sarcastic, and armed with nothing but sheer luck and a death wish, he's spent years botching missions in ways that defy logic, physics, and basic self-preservation.
Then he's handed the impossible assignment: take down Lilith, the most dangerous woman on Earth.
She's more than just a target, she's a ghost, a legend, Brilliant, manipulative, and stupidly beautiful. Every time Mason gets close, she's already ten steps ahead-laughing, taunting, and letting him live just to watch him fail. And fail he does. Spectacularly.
But the more Mason chases her, the more he realizes this isn't just another mission. Lilith isn't just another villain. And the agency he works for? Yeah, they might not be as righteous as they claim.
With his own people turning against him, an unstoppable enemy toying with him at every turn, and the terrifying possibility that he might actually like the chaos she brings, Mason has to ask himself: is he hunting Lilith, or is she hunting him?
Outgunned, outmatched, and increasingly out of patience, Mason knows one thing's for sure-if he's going down, he's taking some cocktails and a bad decision or two with him.
**********
She studies me, swirling her own glass of something expensive-looking. "Tell me, Mason. Are you here for business or pleasure?"
I take a sip of whiskey, meeting her gaze. "Who says I can't multitask?"
Her smile is slow, deliberate. Dangerous. "Careful. That kind of thinking gets people killed."
I lean in slightly, lowering my voice. "That a threat?"
Lilith chuckles. "A warning."
God help me, I think I like this game.
Lizzy's voice hisses in my ear. "Mason, do not flirt with the Antichrist."
Too late.
**********
Written for the open novella contest 2025
Prompt 106 : A cat and dog, caught in their chaotic rivalry, begin to realize there is more to their animosity than meets the eye.
Carissa Belfiore's mission was simple; hunt down the man terrorising her city and burn his syndicate's web of deceptions to the ground. The catch though? She must work together with the devil in disguise.
𐀔𐀔𐀔
Four months after the trail went dark, Cara and her team gain a second chance at retribution, at tracking down the man responsible for the mysterious chain of disappearances plaguing the streets of her town.
Retribution, though, comes at a cost.
Missing people and stolen identities unsolved, Cara's boss presents to her with a new ultimatum. She must pursue this mission with Asrea's top (infuriating) agent or lose the rights to the case.
With no other choice, Cara must learn to thread the thin line of peace with the devil disguised as a federal agent, one who has little belief in patience and even less so for mistakes. Much like everything else though, it was easier said than done.
As the two of them begin to dismantle the empire brick by brick, Cara finds herself pulling at loose strings tying the pieces of the missing puzzles connecting her past to her present. Strings, she soon realises, had been buried by the hands of someone desperately trying to keep her from finding out the truth.
A truth that might just break her.
No retrogrades, no reversals, and no unknowing the known.
If only she could've done it alone, for even the devil must be paid his dues.
The devil whose icy, blue eyes never fail to see through every shield and every shadow she'd built around her heart, the very shadows that seem to calm within his presence.
The man whose icy rage threatens to thaw her blazing heart.
𐀔𐀔𐀔
First Draft Completed on 12/1/2025
Completed on 12/3/2025