The Slayers Ch. 08

"That will be difficult sire," Raymond replied. She hates all of us female included although..."

Raymond filled Xavier in on the conversation that Carmen had with Ginny.

"Maybe she will be the one to use."

"Maybe," Xavier replied. "Send Ginny to my office and select another guard to assist you in guarding her. I don't trust my fiery mate. As far as the punishment goes, you will be whipped but not skinned or killed. Report back to me after you have selected your assistant and briefed him. "

"As you wish," Raymond said with a nod of his head. He was thankful that he had decided to be honest and approached Xavier before he had been summoned. The whipping would hurt, but it wouldn't be nearly as painful as being skinned. He would be good as new within two hours after the punishment.

***

Carmen fumed. There had to be a way out of the mess she was in and to kill Xavier in the process. She was surprised to realize that she meant every word that she told Raymond. She really did hope that if she had a brat that it was a female. On the bright side, Raymond was probably ashes by now. The new guard had apparently been filled in about her and made no effort to interact with her in any way but watched her like a hawk. The plus side was that he was young and hopefully malleable.

"Good riddance," she murmured quite satisfied that she had succeeded at getting rid of Raymond.

"Good evening," a voice that she recognized said from behind her three hours later.

She whirled around and stared at Raymond who was looking at her with a huge smirk on his face.

"Surprised to see me?" he asked still smirking. "It seems that your little ploy didn't work. In fact, the master has rewarded me by making you the responsibility of Hermes and me. I assume that you already tried some of your tricks on him- don't bother to continue. I am quite sure that you've already discovered that he can turn a deaf ear to your sickening sweet words. "

Not knowing what to say, Carmen turned and walked away. Xavier had surprised her but he also had made a small mistake. It wasn't over yet.

*****

Cherie kept watch over Ben and Jack whenever she could. They were still out of the line of fire but that could change at any given moment. Xavier was unpredictable in the best of times and now that things were happening, he would be even worse. They were still staying in the vacant store and always left together. Safety in numbers she supposed but the reality of it was, if they were attacked; there would be nothing that they could do. That concerned her, but there was nothing that could be done at the moment. Her immediate issue was how to obtain their trust. She had done her homework and found out what had happened to Jack's wife.

"Damn," she swore as she remembered the information. There was no way that Jack was going to trust her or any other vampire for that matter. That meant that she couldn't approach him directly. She had to go through his friend Ben. She had done her research on him too and was quite impressed with his background. But- he was going to be a very hard sell. She still hadn't worked out how she was going to make contact or even how she was going to help them. That would be a moot point if they refused her help and there was only so much she could do without their knowledge. She vanished when she saw one of the men peeking through the window. She couldn't afford to be seen just yet.

*****

Someone's out there," Jack said as he peeked through the window. "I think it's time that we leave here."

"It was one of them wasn't it?" Ben asked concerned.

"Yes but... it doesn't feel the same as the others," Jack replied. "The others have a feeling of evil about them; this one seems to be curious."

"Interesting," Ben mused. "What do you suppose it means?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Jack replied as he began to pack his things. "All I know is that one of those things killed Emily and if I catch it- it's dead."

Ben didn't reply but began to pack up his own things. An hour later, they were in the car and headed to the north part of the city.

"Where are we going?" Ben asked when it became apparent that Jack had no place in mind.

"First we have to get rid of this car," Jack replied. "Whoever was watching us knows this car. I think we'll go to the airport and rent a car. We might as well try to find a place out there too."

"I know where we can stay," Ben said, "and it won't cost us a fortune."

Three hours later, Jack was driving a blue Nissan Versa and headed to the exclusive section of South Philly.

"Who do you know that lives here?" Ben asked as he pulled into a parking spot that was labeled 'reserved'.

"The building is owned by the people that we work for," Ben replied. "Actually, they own places all over the city but I thought that we needed distance from where we were staying."

They took their bags out of the car and went to the back of the building where there was a private entrance. Jack whistled when they were inside of the spacious condo.

"Take your pick of rooms," Ben said as he went to the kitchen. "Each room has its own bathroom and a king sized bed. I'll make us something to eat while you get settled."

While Jack was getting settled, Ben made a phone call.

"Hey, it's me Ben... yes we're fine and no I'm not going to tell you where we are. Yes.... Have you found out whose here? Jian Bo? Are you kidding me? Do you know how I can reach him? Find out and let me know."

"Who was that?" Jack asked.

"That was one of my sources," Ben replied. "I asked her to find out what slayers were in the area and you won't believe whose here."

"What?" Jack asked incredulous. "Jian Bo here?"

"According to my source yes," Ben replied. "He's one of the big guns; actually he is the big gun after his father Hsin. My source- Maggie is checking into how to reach him."

Jack was speechless. He had never met a slayer face to face that he was aware of but he knew who Hsin and Jian Bo were. Anyone involved in the fight with the monsters and even the monsters themselves knew who the Bos' were.

"We have to talk about work," Ben said changing the subject. "If we don't go to work it will raise suspicions."

"Take a leave of absence," Jack said. "Tell them that you aren't done with your family business. I have to go back to work, I'll be missed more than you will be and I have no valid excuse to take a leave of absence. It's common knowledge that I have no family so my absence would be harder to explain. There's another thing, this leaves you free to get in touch with the contacts that I don't have access to..."

"I don't like it," Ben interrupted.

"Neither do I, but it can't be helped."

The men continued to talk while Ben made each of them a sandwich. Ben tried unsuccessfully to get Jack to change his mind about going to work. Jack ended the discussion by changing the subject and would not allow the subject of his going to work to resurface.

****

Cherie couldn't help herself. She had to go back to the vacant store to check on Jack and Ben. As soon as she arrived, she knew that they were gone.

"Shit!" she swore under her breath.

She mentally kicked herself for leaving but she had no choice. She didn't know where to begin to look for them- they could be anywhere and running the license plate of the car would be useless. She knew that they had gotten rid of it. She left the store and went home to think about her next step. She hoped that wherever they had gone to, that they stayed there.

*****

Finally the day that they were returning to work was here. Brittney looked at herself in the mirror trying to decide if she looked any different. No, she decided. She looked exactly the same. Jian was waiting by the front door for her smiling when he saw her.

"Are you ready for our first day at work as a married couple?" he asked kissing her when she reached him.

Suddenly she wasn't so sure, but replied yes.

"The worst of it will be over by the end of the day," Jian assured her, "but beloved, remember that you are to go nowhere alone. Are your weapons in a comfortable place?"

"Yes and yes," Brittney replied. "Let's get this over with."

She was surprised to find a card and a bouquet of flowers on her desk. Several people spoke to her and offered her their condolences. After a few minutes, Brittney began to question the wisdom of returning back to work. Quietly, Jian moved to her side and put an arm around her totally ignoring the raised eyebrows.

"Let's go take a break before we start work," he said as he led her away after the last person left her desk.

Instead of going to the break room where he knew that there would be more people, he took her to an empty office and closed the door behind them. He didn't speak as he held her close until he felt her settle.

"I'm sorry..."

"Sh... there is no need to apologize," Jian said as he kissed her forehead. "Let's sit here for few more moments."

"I'm ready," Brittney said a few minutes later.

As they left the office, someone hurried away. Both Jian and Brittney sensed the person but continued on their way.

"It has begun," Jian murmured to Brittney.

"I know, I felt it too," Brittney replied as she glanced around.

The person who hurried away was a housekeeper who possessed the skill to sense slayers. She could only hope that the slayers didn't sense her as she had sensed them. She rushed to the housekeeping office and made a call.

"Sire..."