Vicky fumed as she took the turn tightly into the school parking lot.

There was a loud squeal of tires and the smell of burning rubber as she fishtailed and regained control of her Porsche coupe. A brief spike of fear shot through her for the moment she was aimed directly at another student’s SUV, but it quickly subsided as she straightened out and sped between the rows of fancy cars to her assigned spot.

Even after more than a hundred years on earth, Vicky still feared death. The blazing ball of light was shining it’s annoying rays down on her from nearly ninety-three million miles away, and ruining her existence.

As she stepped out of the car, undoing the top two buttons of her white blouse in the process, she was as weak and helpless as any old human at the school. Weakness like that pissed her off, and on top of the Dux’s decision to go after the troll, she was in uber bitch-mode.

The security monitor was walking brusquely toward her with a no-nonsense expression.

“Fuck off.” She strutted past him as he opened his mouth to yell at her reckless driving.

She’d get a ticket, and a summons to the principal’s office, but she didn’t give a flying fuck. She opened the email Caroline had sent her.

As a business practice, Vicky encouraged her employees snooping around the homes of their clients. They couldn’t ever take anything, but submitting incriminating photos of the powerful men and women of Charlotte added to the blackmail files she kept on everyone. While the power players of the city were busy sleeping off a blowjob or a good fingering she was gathering intelligence to keep them in her good graces for life.

Caroline had done the same for the Dux. Vicky frowned as she walked through the front door like the queen bitch she was.

She tossed her phone in her expensive purse and strode down the hall with a confident swagger that turned every male head in her direction.

“Hey, baby.” She plastered herself to the varsity quarterback’s chest and kissed him. She tugged at his lower lip a bit when she pulled away, and felt him instantly get hard. “I just needed to tell you I can’t make it tonight.” She added cruelly, seeing the joy drop off the jock’s face. “My dad is being a hardass and won’t let me out. I’m still grounded.” She pouted for emphasis.

“No problem.” The jock tried to sound like it wasn’t a big deal, and failed miserably.

Vicky had him, a few other popular guys, her gym teacher, and the vice principal wrapped around her finger. She would have had the principal, but it was a woman and she didn’t swing that way.

The quarterback was still waiting to tap her ass, and she could practically feel his blue balls from here.

“I’ve got math, gotta run.” She twirled, her already short skirt lifting up just enough to see something, and walked away.

She didn’t know what she wanted to do with him yet, but ideas were formulating. At the very least he could be a blood bag for her.

Math was her least favorite subject, mostly because she’d taken the class dozens of times over her lifetime. She kept the anger hidden below the face people expected to see on the most popular girl in school.

She plopped down in her chair, crossed her legs, and opened her hand over her shoulder.

“Here you go, Victoria.” The voice had an edge of hero-worship to it.

“Thanks so much, Mary.” Vicky took a look at the homework she was handed. “I was so busy I totes forgot about this.”

She perused the information and determined she’d get a B on it.

“My name is, Maria.” The girl’s reply held a bit of exasperation, but it was gone by the time Vicky turned around and smiled sweetly at her.

“Sorry.”

Maria was a sixteen year old sophomore. Vicky was an eighteen year old senior and queen of the school. The pecking order was firmly established and everyone knew their place.

“Good morning class.” The teacher walked in, an old guy Vicky would rather kill than debase herself for. “Today we’ll be working on the sine and cosine functions.”

Vicky felt like she was in hell.

***

Maria sat a few feet behind the unsuspecting creature. She knew she’d be in deep shit if the school found out she was carrying weapons on school grounds, but somethings were more important than human rules.

Despite the absolute need to act, Maria sat there patiently, more patiently than most of the children in the math class until it was over. Then she let Victoria walk out alive surrounded by a crowd of admirers.

Maria had no problem admitting that there was a hint of jealousy in her tone.

Puberty had been a bitch for her. She was thirty-two years old in the body of a sixteen year old. Some women would kill for that, but they were all idiots, and had no idea of the sacrifice.

“Maria, can I speak with you for a moment?” The teacher called as she headed for the door.

Everyone in the class knew she was Vicky’s homework bitch. There was one in every class, and it was a position Maria had worked to attain. That way it kept her within arm’s reach of the Soulless.

“Sure thing, Mr. Delgado.”

Mr. Delgado was in his fifties, had been teaching at the school forever, and was beloved by his students. He had a quirky sense of humor and was slightly mentally trapped in an earlier time. No matter what he said he couldn’t quite get the modern lingo and pop culture down.

“Please don’t ask me if I’m a fan of NSYNC or the Back Street Boys?” The last few people left in the classroom laughed, and then Maria was all alone with her math teacher…and brother.

“I just wanted to check with you. Mom said she stopped by and saw you earlier.” Gabriel Delgado had been watching over the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School district for thirty of his one hundred years.

It was only because of him that they had caught the scent of the Soulless in the first place. The evil creature recycled through school once a decade, and Gabriel just managed to recognize her from before. A little digging on top of that proved what she was.

“She talked with you too?” The family rarely got together, and her interactions with Gabriel over the last six months were the most family-like time she’d been involved in for the last few years, other than mom literally dropping in every once and a while.

“Yes, she told me to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid.”

Maria looked up and around like she expected her mother to come floating down through the ceiling, but nothing happened. The angel that gave birth to them and paid to have them schooled by the finest martial arts masters came and went according to her schedule. It had made for a tough childhood.

“Yeah, I get it. I’m the baby sister and everyone needs to watch out for me.” Maria rolled her eyes. Until her mother had another child she would have that mantle. It didn’t matter how old she was. She was the youngest of six overprotective siblings.

“No,” Gabriel chided. “You’re the headstrong little sister who is going to do something rash and get killed.”

Her older brother had been doing this a lot longer than she’d even been alive, so she bit down her retort, and settled for looking sullen.

“Our orders are to watch and observe. If we see her taking a human life than we can take action, but not before then. Mom’s looking for something. I can tell. And I think Victoria might be a way to lead her to it.”

“I’m glad she dropped that tidbit of crucial information on me when we chatted.” Maria threw her hands up in the air.

“You need to learn to read between the lines more. I’ve gotten some calls from our siblings with new marching orders, and a lot of it points to a shift in the status quo. Don’t worry, little sis,” he smiled at the look on her face. “When you’re around as long as I’ve been you’ll figure it out.”

That earned the older Nephilim a punch in the shoulder.

“And do better on your homework!” He called after her retreating back. “It’s like a sixteen year old is doing this.”

she thought, but she still smiled as she headed off late to her next class.

***

Vicky left the parking lot the same way she’d entered, burning rubber and giving the security guy the finger as she sped past him. She was out of there a full hour earlier than anyone else. All it took was bending over provocatively in gym to get the teacher to let her go early. As long as she kept his spank bank filled with imagery, he let her do whatever she wanted.

And she wanted to get the fuck out of the cesspool of humanity.

Being a high school student was a necessary part of her cover, but she absolutely hated it. After she graduated she’d need to wait at least a decade before going back or else someone would recognize her.

She hopped on the I-77 and floored it, reaching speeds of almost a hundred in a quarter of a mile. The road split from two to four lanes, and she ignored the rules by hopping into the HOV lane. She gave a scream a delight as she sped back down toward the city and her evening plans.

The Dux would have new plans, maybe need a new playmate, and maybe finally get around to killing the mutts that were invading her territory. There were a lot of issues that needed to be dealt with, which was why she was going to the office first.

Once she regained her strength she would head over to the demesne and get her marching orders.

She had many offices depending on what facet of her business she was working on. Tonight, she headed straight for Club Desire. She called Alfred and told him to meet him there, and informed Elisa to have the books ready for review. It was never too early to prepare for tax season. The last thing Vicky needed was getting audited by the IRS.

She’d met the man once, even fucked him to see what the hype was about before feeding on him. His business was nothing compared to hers.

She maneuvered through the beginnings of rush hour with practiced precision, and turned off into an underground parking garage two blocks from the club. Alfred was there waiting for her. During the day he was her bodyguard and her pretend father, even though she’d never call him daddy.

They emerged from the parking garage and entered a small diner on the corner looking like a working father taking his spoiled daughter out for an early dinner before taking her home. Except this diner had an understanding with them and a hidden door in their freezer. The door led to a tunnel that traveled all the way to the sub-levels of the club.

The guard at the entrance was an alert human, who’d be replaced by one of her coven at nightfall. He thought Alfred was the boss too, and gave him a head nod the jiggled his double chin. He was the type of guard who would use his sheer weight to overpower his enemy. And there was over three hundred pounds of power stuffed into his frame.

Vicky checked her watch and sighed.

Blood tasted like blood when a Soulless was as weak and useless as a human. Dealing with extreme thirst during the day was one of the things that drove younger, untrained Soulless mad and got them killed. Cops didn’t like people who were trying to eat other people. It was a shoot first and ask questions later type of situation.

She waved Alfred away and entered her officer where Elisa was waiting.

“Good, you’re…” the look on her assistant’s face made Vicky stop dead in her tracks.

“Hello, Cousin.” A deep voice resonated from the corner of the room where a man sat in one of the visitors chairs. “It’s been far too long.”

Even though no one in here was stronger than a normal human, the man’s presence still sent shivers down her spine, but she couldn’t let him see that.

“Anton, I didn’t know you were coming up.” She continued walking into the room and took a seat behind her desk. “Elisa you may go.”

Elisa looked between her boss and the mystery man and quickly scurried away.

“She’s precious.” The man’s rumbling chuckle sounded like miniature thunder.

“She’s also great at her job.” Vicky looked at the books she’d requested before pushing them aside. “Now that we’ve exchanged pleasantries do you mind telling me why you’re in my territory?”

Anton stepped forward and took another seat directly in front of her desk. He was a massive man, with the light-dark skin of the North African coast. Today, they called the country Senegal, but it had no name when he was taken from there in a slave ship over three hundred years ago. Anton was the leader of a larger coven in Charleston, was one of the oldest Soulless in the south east, and most importantly was a servant of Lucifer.

“Peace, Cousin.” Technically, they were all descendants of the first Soulless, but it was a matter of scope. There were a few hundred Soulless in North and South Carolina. “I am here at my Lord’s insistence.”

Vicky kept her face politely interested and gestured for him to continue.

“He has a mutually beneficial proposition to present to the Dux of these lands.”

“And you want me to introduce you.” Vicky smiled.

“Yes.” He smiled back.

“And what’s in it for me?”

Instead of frowning or looking angry, Anton laughed. “You always did drive a hard bargain, Victoria. Very well. If you introduce me to your Dux I will alert you to the Nephilim that are hunting you.”

She couldn’t keep the shock off her face.

“Now you’ve got my attention.”