Andrei

 

“Hey, Dean!” I heard a voice call out and I turned, watching as the girl calling herself Bess walked down the beach towards me. She was wearing a crop top, bikini bottoms and a killer smile.

I was propped up on my elbows, a board next to me, and wearing a wet-suit top and surf shorts. Baseball hat and sunglasses in place. For all Bess knew, I was Dean Whimby.

She stopped and stood next to me, staring out at the horizon. This gave me a moment to take her in, standing there in the sunlight and smiling. Around 5’7, she had the long, muscular legs, flat stomach, and toned arms of a typical surfer girl, but with curves to spare.

My eyes lingered on her neck before moving to her face. Round, with a pointed chin, and almost a little impish with her light brown eyebrows. Thick, wavy gold hair that fell to her lower back. It seemed to absorb the light, picking up hues from white gold to amber.

Her warm amber eyes glowed at me as she looked over and I caught a whiff of her scent, causing my pulse to speed up. She smelled like sunshine – suntan lotion, wisteria, and sandalwood.

I knew you weren’t dead, Faye. I thought to myself.

Looking away before she caught me, I gritted my jaw and stared out at the horizon. My instincts were clashing, screaming and pulling me in two different directions. The soldier in me was sternly reminding me to the get job done.

But the man in me knew Faye Knight was innocent.

I'd felt a dull shock go through my body when I saw Faye yesterday. She'd been alone, walking out of the ocean in a group of people, but utterly alone all the same. The sadness and strife in her eyes was stark, even as she offered some guy a brief smile.

Her cheeks had hollows and it was clear she’d lost weight. This was not the blonde I’d briefly caught a glimpse of in Bear Valley – charging up the stairs with utter confidence. Her shoulders were slumped, head bowed and there were purple smudges under her eyes.

The wind had picked up her hair and she’d glanced back out at the ocean, every line of her body betraying her.

Faye was lost.

Turning and walking away, I knew I couldn’t do it. I could not kill Faye Knight.

If she’d been a traitor, maybe.

In that moment, I’d toyed with the idea of contacting Mirois, telling her she was wrong, but I’d refrained. It wouldn’t work without proof. Not if, as I’d suspected for a few months, one of the Heads had betrayed us. And now they were pulling strings to ensure Faye didn’t talk.

Thus, I had to get her to trust me. I had to find out the truth.

Why did you run Faye?

She sat down next to me and her arm briefly brushed mine. A tingle raced along my skin and I glanced down, bewildered. What the hell was that?

“You going surfing?” she asked and I fought down a smile. Faye’s attempt to mask her Australian accent was hilariously terrible and I wanted to tell her so.

I suddenly wished I’d met her before this. It would have made things so much easier. If I said the wrong thing too soon, she’d spook and take off. Not that I couldn’t track her down, but this was a gorgeous place where Faye was in a bikini most of the time.

No reason to leave sooner than we had to.

“Think I might head out right now,” I said, trying to hide a smirk at how good my fake British accent was. You’d never know I grew up in a tri-lingual household, learning Russian, Bangladeshi, and English. “You?”

“Usually I catch some rays first,” she said, sounding wistful. “Kind of my routine.”

“Oh, you been here for a while, then?”

“Uh,” she said, her eyes flicking to me. “A bit.”

“Vacation?” I asked casually, slumping back a little.

Her shoulders, which had been creeping towards her ears, now loosened. “Yes.”

“Yeah, I’ve been dying for a vacation,” I said cheerfully. “Thought work was gonna break my balls or my back or both the day before I left. Bloody nightmare.”

She laughed at that and I smiled to myself. “What do you do, Dean?”

“Construction,” I said, fully investing in “Dean” who was a bit of a posh prick, but loveable all the same. Spent half his days on a job site and the other hunched over a desk, then a few hours at the gym so he could do what he really loved: sport.

“Yeah, I’m big into just about everything if it’s dangerous enough,” I said in a roguish voice. “Think I might go snowboarding next time, though.”

Faye looked at me and her face lit up. “Oh, I love snowboarding!” she enthused. “There’s this place in Big Sur, it’s to die for.”

“Northern California, yeah?” I asked. “That’s where I was looking at.” Cocking my head, I grinned at her. “Thought you said you were from the East Coast, love. Isn’t it all mountains and snow in New England? ‘Cause we were also thinkin’ of Vermont… Been there?”

Blinking, Faye quickly recovered herself. “I am. I’ve been out there to visit friends, from college,” she said in a rush. “But there’s plenty of mountains back home, of course. Anywhere in Vermont is great.”

“Nothing specific, though?” I asked, unable to resist needling her a little.

“I’ll think about it and let you know,” she said with a grin. “Too many good places to choose from – you get decision fatigue just thinking about it.”

Nice recovery, I thought, watching as Faye stood up, grabbed her bag, pulled out a wetsuit top and yanked it over her head. “What happened to gettin’ some rays?” I asked innocently.

“Eh, might as well change it up,” she said, her American accent slipping. “See you out there.”

Sitting up, I watched her walk away and glanced at her bag. Quick as lightning, I flipped through it, finding lotion, a cover-up, and a towel. Nothing else, damn.

I glanced back at the ocean to see Faye was paddling out and seized my own board.

Might as well catch some waves with her.

 

Each day, I managed to get Faye to trust Dean a little bit more.

I was never pushy, always friendly and made a point to become buddies with the other locals. People trusted a people person. Yet anytime I brought up anything remotely close to home or work, she’d find a reason to evade me. So, after a day, I stopped. I’d had a feeling there was no point in trying to get her to trip up, but it’d been worth a shot.

A few days later, I happened to mention to Faye that I was thinking of cutting my trip here short to catch up with some buddies who were in Samoa. At that, her face fell and I’d grinned.

“I haven’t made up me mind, don’t be sad, Bessie,” I said in a teasing voice.

“Oh, please,” she retorted. “I think you should go. Your friends would be happy.”

There was no denying the wistfulness in her voice and I eyed her. “Come along if you’d like. Me friend’s chartering a private puddle-hopper, that way we don’t have to go all the way back to Hawaii or New Zealand, just to go a bit north, you know?”

At that, Faye gave me a strange and searching look. Her lips pursed as she tried to smile. “Thanks, I’ll think about it.”

I didn’t bring it up again after that. Of course, there was no way I was leaving Faye, but I wanted to see how much she trusted Dean. Not enough, apparently, as she politely declined the trip the next day.

Tsch. She has to make this harder for me, I thought.

But at the same time, I was impressed. Faye knew how this dance worked. How to be friendly and outgoing, but never let down your guard. It wasn’t an easy skill and very few Shifters of Anubis had it mastered to my level. But Faye might have been close.

On a plane, though, she’d have nowhere to go and I could get her to listen to me.

That was the crucial thing, I needed to get her somewhere safe and where she couldn’t get away. For one thing, it would reflect badly on me. And for another, it would put her in more danger.

I could tell from the way her eyes sometimes swept the beach or a crowd at Big Vern’s that someone was after her. If I had to guess, it would be Rasoir of the TLO. Lilian Frost must have found out there was a lone Shifter of Anubis on the loose and wanted to hunt her down.

Just another way for the TLO to hurt the Order.

That night, I put together a plan to confront Faye. From what I knew of her, it should work, though I hated stooping to that level.

All the next day, I purposefully kept busy, only seeing Faye for a little while on the beach and leaving the ocean while she was surfing.

Later, at Big Vern’s, we ran into each other and had part of our lunch together. She teased me, asking why I never took my wetsuit top off and I shot back I was shy about my body, making her laugh. When in reality, it was annoying and itchy to have to keep wearing it all the time. But any Shifter of Anubis would instantly recognize my tattoos.

Having already scoped out Faye’s little hotel room, I made my way there, knowing she wasn’t home yet. Easily slipping in, I inhaled her scent as I prowled around, before finding a diary and a treasured photograph. Holding it between two fingers, I took a seat and watched the door.

Purposefully, I’d changed into a black tank top and loose pants. A circlet of wire was in my pocket and my fingers brushed it as I pulled out my phone to check the time.

Any minute now.

Light footsteps came down the wooden boardwalk and keys jangled. Faye came in, her silhouette outlined before she closed the door and hit the light. She’d taken a few steps before she froze and stared at me, the color draining from her face.

“Dean?” she asked uncertainly, her feet already sliding into a more stable base.

“No,” I said. “Andrei Zima.” My rough Russian accent cut through the subterfuge. “Enough is enough, Faye.” She clenched her fists. “Faye Knight.”

Her pupils dilated with rage and shock as I smiled at her lazily. “You’re…” she whispered.

“Yes,” I said, smirking now. “I am. It is so nice to finally meet you, Faye. And I’m sure you feel the same way, but unfortunately, I am here to kill you.”