Free Eve of Destruction by S. J. Day

kill
him.
”
    “Oh. Sorry.”
    “It was supposed to be a simple robbery. I knew how much money came in and when it went out to the bank. I’d helped to select the security system for the place, so I knew all the codes. The scheme was aces. I was to work the counter and play the victim, and my girl’s cousin was to pull off the heist.”
    After her initial surprise, Eve didn’t find the tale too unbelievable. Richens was so detached, so cerebral. He would have viewed the whole thing as a game. “Something went wrong, I take it.”
    “I was swizzed,” he bit out. “That’s what went wrong. The bloke wasn’t her cousin at all, she wasbanging the git. They thought they’d hie off with
my
share of the spoils? Not bloody likely.”
    Eve didn’t know what to say to that, so she said nothing at all.
    “Then the blighter shot a kid dead,” Richens continued, his voice rising along with his temper. “Wasn’t no more than ten years old, I’d guess. Buying some chocolate. That’s when I pulled the gun out from under the counter and shot
them
both dead.”
    “Why are you telling me this?”
    “Because I think teaming up is the way to get ahead.” He looked at her. “Like that television show
Survivor,
I think working together in small groups is the way to win.”
    “But we’re not trying to eliminate each other in order to win a prize.”
    Richens’s gaze narrowed. “So? We can still help each other. You’re the brawn, I’m the brains. Better to be at an advantage than at a disadvantage, wouldn’t you say?”
    “Why me? What about Edwards?”
    “Edwards is in with us. He has his reservations, of course, because he doesn’t want to irk Cain, but he’ll come around. It’s easier to work with girls. Less chest thumping. He’ll see that.”
    Eve laughed. “You could have approached Izzie. She’s brawnier than me.”
    “She’s also ’round the twist,” he scoffed.
    “Aren’t we all?”
    He stood. “If you’re not interested, just say so.”
    She noted his short fuse for future reference.
    “I’m all for working together,” Eve murmured. “I could use some friends around here.”
    His smile was nothing less than charming. It transformed his features and brightened his eyes. He held out a hand to her and helped her to her feet. “We’ve got a deal, then.”
    “Sure.” The coming week was going to be interesting.
    Richens opened the kitchen door, which swung inward, and stepped inside, completely foregoing the “ladies first” rule. Eve shook her head and was about to enter behind him when the low growl of a canine rumbled through the evening air. Chills raced down her spine.
    Pivoting on the narrow stoop, she blinked and engaged the nictitating lenses that allowed her to see in the dark. She searched the nearby area, the heat of her already fevered skin rising.
    But she saw nothing. No gleam of moonlight in malevolent eyes, no betraying movement. She sniffed the air and smelled the sea.
    Still, she knew something was out there.
    The bushes dividing their yard from the neighbor’s rustled. Eve leaped to the yellowed grass and landed in a crouch. A tiny puff rushed out at her and she caught it, lifting it by the scruff and drawing her fist back to strike.
    Hold it, sweetie!
the toy poodle cried, flailing its tiny legs.
    Eve paused midswing, her marked senses retreating as quickly as they’d come, taking the overwhelmingurge to kill with it. The mark created power and aggression in highly intense quantities. The sensations were base and animalistic, not at all the elegant sort of violence she might have expected the Almighty to use in the destruction of his enemies. The surge was brutal . . . and addicting.
    Don’t punch the messenger.
    “Jesus—ouch!” Eve winced as her mark flared in protest. Since she wasn’t a pet owner, days could go by without any animals speaking to her. She often forgot that the mark had given her new senses, such as the ability to converse with all of God’s