Karma's Revenge (A Bad Girls Novel) Read online

  Axel moved his body so he could keep an eye on the bathroom, but scanned down at his phone. He was a gun for hire, more or less. Assassin if he wanted to get all professional and was filling out a résumé. He received all jobs on an untraceable e-mail. Half the funds were deposited into a banking account and the other into a different account when the job was complete. He always got the job done, and he wasn’t cheap, which was the reason for two accounts. No need to raise suspicion with large deposits; plus, it was harder to trace.

  He scanned his phone only looking up when there was movement near the bathroom. The description he received of the target was female, red hair in a single braid down her back, five foot six, and approximately a hundred and forty-five pounds. All of the descriptions were the same except for the hair. It was the color of red, brown, silver, black, and all in various lengths. Eye colors were different also. No noticeable tattoos or skin markings. Her choice of weapon was a short sword, which wouldn’t be hard to hide.

  Axel looked up from his phone, his eyes on the bathroom with a cocked eyebrow. Well, either that was the Slayer of Vampires and she was killing the vampire as he scanned his phone, or they were really enjoying themselves. A man beat against the door, but then left going into the women’s. Either way, he didn’t give a shit. He wasn’t here to judge, and he wasn’t here to save a vampire. He was here to collect on his six figures and go home for a beer.

  This Slayer chick had hit three bars in the last month. He had taken a shot with this one tonight based on a gut feeling. His feelings were usually never wrong, so he came, he watched, and he waited. She would mess up eventually, and when she did, he’d be there.

  Killing women wasn’t high on his list, and he almost didn’t take the job, but for some crazy reason, he did out of pure curiosity. What drove this woman to kill vampires? The rumor was she was human. How in the fuck could that be? Even he had a hard time killing them, but then again, her targets were all men and she had tits; Axel had a dick. He snorted with a cocked eyebrow. Admittedly, a lot of vampires swung both ways. Maybe that observation wasn’t correct. So yeah, his first job at killing a female target was because he was morbidly curious.

  He received odd looks wherever he went. His six-five frame encased in a long, black trench created an imposing figure. Not many fucked with him, and if they happened to make that mistake, then they didn’t a second time. He knew he was gaining attention for just standing there in a trench coat leaning against a pole, so he started to move, but then the door to the bathroom opened and out walked one person. The woman.

  Axel watched with a professional eye as she shimmied her skirt down, even though there wasn’t much of it to shimmy. His eyes automatically went to her legs that were muscled and fine as they disappeared into knee-high black latex boots. His eyes went to her face, taking in her emotions. She didn’t appear nervous or scared. She also didn’t appear satisfied. That thought made him chuckle. He had satisfied many women, so knew firsthand what that emotion looked like. She appeared confident as she made her way from the bathroom through the crowd.

  Their eyes met briefly, but no doubt she dismissed him without a second thought and didn’t that fucking rub him the wrong way. What the fuck? The only part of his body that moved was his head… okay, and his cock, as he watched her traverse through the crowd. She was definitely a beauty, and he would hate like hell to have to kill her. Fuck her, oh yeah, and he knew for damn sure she’d wear a satisfied look once he was finished with her.

  At that reminder, his eyes shifted back to the bathroom as a man walked inside, then his gaze roamed, looking for the tall vampire. He wouldn’t be hard to miss, and he was nowhere in sight. Again, he turned his head to stare at where the woman vanished, and his eyes narrowed. She looked a little too confident and walked with a slowness that sent alarm bells off in his head. Shit! If he hadn’t been looking at her fucking gorgeous legs, he would have realized something wasn’t right. But nope, his dick took over his brain… again.

  Pushing away from the pole, he walked to the bathroom, using the palm of his hand to slam open the door. A guy was at the urinal taking a piss, but the vampire was gone. His glance went to the two stalls. Both doors were closed. As soon as the guy pissing gave him a nervous glance, he practically ran out the door. Reaching inside his coat, Axel put his hand on his gun as he stood in front of one of the stalls. Using his boot, he eased the door open. Empty.

  He sidestepped to where he was in front of the other one to do the same thing, but the door didn’t open. Frowning, he moved enough so he could see between the thin crack of the stall door. “Fuck!” He growled then kicked the door in.

  The vamp lay wedged between the nasty toilet and stall wall, dead. Not that he wasn’t dead before, but this was final. The letter K was carved in his forehead, the Slayer of Vampires’ calling card.

  As he rushed out of the restroom and through the throng of people, he had to wonder how such a small woman could have wedged that big-ass vamp into the stall. He knew for a fact no one had helped: two went in, and only one came out.

  Once outside, he scanned the area, zoning in on cars coming and going into the parking lot. A small black Nissan edged toward the road at a quick pace almost hitting a car coming in. Axel’s eyes narrowed at the driver who looked his way to check the oncoming traffic. Their eyes met, and at that moment, he knew that she was his target. Her eyes gave her away and then she was gone in a cloud of smoke from her rushed exit out of the parking lot.

  “Gotcha.” He smiled, heading toward his bike.

  “Shit! Shit! Shiiiiit!” Sophia weaved in and out of traffic. She hit the button on her steering wheel, connecting a call. “Come on! Come on!”

  “Whaz up?” The only friend she had in the world answered, his tone of voice indicating he didn’t have a care in the world. Well, she was about to change that.

  “I’m coming in hot!” she screamed in the phone as she glanced in her rearview mirror then back to the road. “Have the garage door open, the back door open, and get shit put away. I may have been spotted.”

  “Girl, I told you!” Darin shouted, his voice no longer carefree. “How many. Dammit, Soph! I haven’t even changed from my performance yet. I’m still in high heels.”

  “One, I think.” Sophia ran a yellow light, then squealed when a car pulled out in front of her. She locked her brakes and came inches from hitting them in the ass. “Move you piece-of-monkey shit who bought their fucking license from Walmart!”

  “Calm down!” Darin, who didn’t sound calm at all but appeared to be out of breath, wheezed into the phone. “God, I think I’m going to faint.”

  “Don’t you dare faint,” Sophia warned as she passed the slow dumbass who was looking at her. She almost flipped him off but didn’t have time to pull her death grip off the steering wheel.

  Going down side streets, she kept watch in her rearview mirror. “Two minutes!” she shouted into the phone that was stuck to her magnetic phone holder. “I don’t see anyone following me, but just be ready.”

  Before Darin could reply, she hit the button to disconnect. She needed to focus. Sophia knew the chance she was taking with making so many kills within a short amount of time, but dammit, she was always in a different disguise. No way would anyone know what she was going to show up looking like.

  She whizzed down another backstreet, thanking God that it was late and no one was out on the streets. Her mind flashed back to the man who stood outside of Maloney’s.

  Once outside the club, she had hurried her pace, and in that hurry, she’d dropped her keys, kicking them under a parked car. With as much dignity as she could muster, she’d gotten down on her hands and knees in a freaking miniskirt and managed to grab them. By the time she got to her car, unlocked her door, and turned the ignition, panic like she had never felt slammed into her. Too much time had passed, and without a doubt, she knew the asshole bloodsucker had been found.

  Her stomach clenched as she bit her lip, glancing once again in the rea
rview mirror. The man’s image filled her brain. He stood tall, very tall in a dark trench coat with hair black and shoulder-length blowing back in the breeze, but it was his eyes. Knowing and judging.

  With more gusto than she meant, she swerved into her driveway, fishtailing into the yard. The garage door was open, and she promised herself to buy Darin a new dress. Yes, a dress. He was a drag queen with expensive tastes. He was also her dearest confidant, and she loved him fiercely. Sophia had never met another soul as pure and sweet as him. He also knew her secret and helped her with the dangerous endeavors she put herself in.

  Guilt clogged her throat, giving her mouth a sudden dryness. If anything happened to her friend, she would never forgive herself, but the more she tried to push him away, the more involved he became.

  Once in the garage, she slammed the brakes before putting it in Park. Darin came running out like the house was on fire, and together they threw a tarp over it along with anything else they could use to make it look like it hadn’t been driven in years. Out of breath, they closed the garage door, then stopped, staring at each other in horror. The sound of a motorcycle coming up the road reached their ears. Normally that was no reason to be concerned, but tonight was different, and they both knew it.

  “Go!” Sophia pushed him toward the house, following closely behind, yanking off her wig. Once inside, Darin slammed and locked the door. Sophia ran toward the bathroom, stripping the whole way with Darin following, grabbing her clothes. He already had a wet washcloth laid on the sink, and she grabbed it, scrubbing her face violently to get the dark makeup off.

  She dropped the washcloth from her face and screamed with Darin squealing right along with her. “Oh, honey!” He shook his head, then held up his finger as he dug through a bag. “Here, use this. It will take three-day-old makeup off in a flash.”

  “Why didn’t you change at the club?” Sticking her fingers in the container, she smeared the clear goo substance on and continued with her violent attack on her face. Using the washcloth again, she rinsed it and tried to wipe not only the dark makeup off but the goo Darin had given her. She was a mess.

  “Ah because, Miss ‘I’m Going Out to Kill a Vampire Tonight’ didn’t give me much of a heads-up after my performance. I needed to be here just in case you needed me, and thank the goddess I left when I did. You know how long it takes for me to unglam myself. At least I was already out of my dress when I got your text,” Darin said as he reached for some of the goo to take his own makeup off. “Here, give me some of that so I can get this off my face.” He went to reach for his wig but stopped, his eyes widening in fear.

  Pounding on the door startled them both so badly they bumped heads.

  “What are we going to do?” Darin’s whisper was high-pitched with fright.

  Sophia panicked until she saw her friend’s true fear. She had done this, and she was going to fix it. “Go answer the door.”

  “Are you crazy?” Darin’s drawn-on eyebrows rose into his wigged hair. “I’m about ready to piss myself, and you want me to answer the door? You know how I get when I’m nervous or excited. My sugar drops like a ton of bricks, and I faint.”

  “You won’t faint,” she assured him, but inside, she was praying like a nun on Sunday he wouldn’t.

  The pounding sounded again, and Darin truly looked like he was going to cry, then faint. She was also on the verge of crying but stopped herself. She didn’t come this far to be caught. Savior wasn’t dead yet, so she couldn’t die. Not today, Satan, not today.

  “I’ve got a plan,” she whispered, pushing him toward the bathroom door. “Just stall. You are Darlene the Darling Drag Queen. Don’t you ever forget it. You are one badass bitch! Now go, and I’ll be right there.”

  For a minute, she thought Darin was going to call her on her bullshit. Actually, it wasn’t bullshit. She had seen Darin pull off some clever shit in their days, but this was going to have to be an Academy Award performance. If the person pounding on the door was who she thought it could be, some heavy-duty acting was going to have to take place.

  “I’ve got a plan,” Sophia repeated as she looked him straight in the eye, both her hands on his shoulders.

  “Jesus, take the wheel,” he cried out. “She’s got another plan. Well, it better be good ’cause I haven’t even written out my amazing eulogy or bought my damn burial dress.”

  “Exactly.” She let go of him and pushed him out the door. “So don’t fucking die.”

  Chapter 3

  Axel knew this was the house the Nissan and woman pulled into. Whether she was here or not, he didn’t know. He had parked his bike down the street after seeing the taillights of her car disappear. The car was nowhere to be seen, and he had looked inside the window of the garage only to see a car covered with a tarp and other crap. That could be the car, but then again, she would have had to have been ready with help to pull that off in such a short time. No way could she have gotten all that done alone.

  Now he pounded on the door after just knocking got him no answer. He was getting ready to do it again when the door suddenly opened.

  “Goodness, I said I was coming,” a man wearing full-on makeup and a fancy red wig said as he swung open the door. “Well, hello. How can I help you?”

  The first thing Axel noticed, other than the wig and makeup, was that the man was sweating profusely, his breathing irregular, and he looked nervous as hell, but he’d give him credit. His voice was smooth and confident. Axel’s keen observations had saved his life more than once.

  Glancing over the man’s head since he stood well over the man’s height, his eyes didn’t miss a thing, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. When he looked back at the man, he noticed he was getting a good looking over.

  “Are you alone?” Axel waited patiently for the answer since the man hesitated.

  “I don’t think I’m comfortable with that question,” he finally said, then started to close the door, but Axel stopped it with his boot.

  “A black Nissan with a woman pulled into this driveway.” Axel’s eyes narrowed.

  The man swallowed visibly as he stared wide-eyed at Axel. “Well, as you can see there is no Nissan in the driveway. You wouldn’t catch me dead in one of those dreadful vehicles.”

  “What’s in the garage?” Axel eased himself more inside the door, his booted foot pushing it open slowly.

  “Oh, that garage is a mess. I haven’t been able to get out there and clean, but there’s paint, tools, and who knows what else.” The man waved his hand back and forth, trying to fan himself. The sweat was pouring off him, his makeup starting to streak.

  “Under the tarp?” Axel knew he was about to break the man. He actually thought he recognized him from Ruby’s Drag Queen Bonanza down on Washington Street. One thing about Axel was he had a good long memory.

  “Is none of your business.” This time it was a woman’s voice who answered him.

  The voice caught him off guard, but he didn’t let it show on his face as he looked in her direction. She walked toward them with purpose. Her short white robe wrapped around her, but not doing a good job of hiding her voluptuous figure underneath.

  “Actually, it is my business,” Axel replied, still taking in every detail of her blushed face, large blue eyes, and her hair that was so pale it looked like a silver cloud around her face. She was the polar opposite of the woman he was after, and that set off red flags. “A woman in a black Nissan pulled in here, and she or the car couldn’t have just disappeared.”

  He was impressed. If this was the woman he was after, she didn’t show any signs of distress. He was confident in his job, at what he did, that he was often blunt and to the point. Fuck anyone who didn’t like it.

  “What did the woman look like?” the man asked as he dabbed his face with a Kleenex the woman handed him.

  Axel knew when he was being played, and right now he was being played. He hadn’t put everything together yet, but he would. His eyes shot to the woman. “About your size, short b
lack hair with brown eyes. And….” His gaze slowly moved down her body, then back to her face.

  “And?” she countered when he paused as he raked her body with his eyes.

  “Definitely your legs minus the black latex boots.” A half grin tipped the corner of his mouth.

  “Well, since my legs have been here all night and I don’t own latex anything, you must be mistaken,” she said without hesitation. “Now please, remove your foot from my door and leave.”

  He liked her and was a little turned on because she wasn’t in the least intimidated by him. Everyone was intimidated by him. Even the man who stood in the doorway sweating profusely was intimidated, but not her. The half grin turned into a full-fledged smile. He had a strong feeling he and this woman were about to head down a road that he hadn’t traveled in a very long time, and he was definitely looking forward to the journey.

  Sophia stood there about to piss herself. She had never been more afraid in her life, and her fear wasn’t for herself. It was for poor Darin who she kept having to hand tissues to. Sweat was flowing from his pores at such a rate she worried he was going to become dehydrated within minutes. She had been listening before making an appearance. She couldn’t let poor Darin handle this situation alone, and this stranger wasn’t your typical man. Somehow she knew that in the confident way he handled himself. She had told him she had a plan. She didn’t, not even a hint of one.