Slayer [vampire+vampire hunter]

Slayer 8

"Oh, Xavier, it was so nice seeing you, let's meet up again sometime!" cooed Xeona as she pranced out the front door. With a tired sigh, I sat down on the couch she'd just evacuated, exhausted as I always after being in her company. As her lord, I couldn't tell her to leave me be, but I wished she would take a hint and leave me alone.

The door opened, aggressively, shoved open with enough force to send it slamming into the wall and create a dent. I frowned at the vampire who'd done that. "Be careful, Zian, you're gonna wreck my house."

"It's not like you're too poor to fix it," my brother sneered, stalking into the room.

I sighed again. Here was yet another visitor that I wished didn't stop by so much. He was in an especially bad mood because he must've ran into Xeona on the way up to the penthouse-he was in love with her, according to Ser, who was astute at picking up these details that others tried to keep secret. He'd noticed I had fallen for Alexis, but with the difficulty it took to control myself around her, it was obvious he'd notice. "What is it, Zian?" I asked, hoping to get him and his bad temper out of my house as quickly as possible.

"That slayer," he said snidely, referring to Cailler, "was hanging around the neighborhood lately with two others, just a block or two away."

I hissed instinctively. They were that close? "It may be the number of visitors. All these vampires coming to the same place must have been suspicious. Send out a message, no more callers until we get rid of the slayers."

"What are we going to do about updates then?" Zian challenged.

"The mirrors will have to do," I shot back, refusing to argue with him. With my magick, I could link to other places from my home, connecting mirrors with my subjects' mirrors.

He subsided into an irritated silence, unable to disagree with the method. We'd used them before, and they would work well enough this time. "Are we going to go get rid of them?"

"I think if we hold out long enough, they'll leave, but they may come back because they suspect us here..." I thought out loud.

Zian's eyes were hard when he glared at me. "I saw that slayer, Xavier. He's not giving up until he gets the girl back."

"Her name's Alexis," I muttered distractedly.

"Does it matter?" he asked off-handedly.

"Yes. It does," I hissed. He looked at me in confusion, wondering why I'd reacted so passionately, and I looked away to cover the blunder.

I noticed the spark in his eyes when he put it together. "You want it, don't you?" he breathed, referring to Alexis's blood. "She means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

I refused to speak.

"Yes. You do..." Zian muttered. "What a mess. Me, Xeona, you, the slayer..."

"Xeona?" I repeated, turning to stare at him. "You're in love with her?"

"And she wants you," he growled, unknowingly confirming my question.

"I don't want her. She's all yours," I said, holding my hands up in surrender.

"She doesn't want me," he muttered bitterly. "I'm second place to her. She only wants you, and you want Alexis."

I didn't answer, unwilling to confirm his statement as he had mine.

"Too bad," he said, grinning suddenly. "That slayer wants her too."