Read night moves - a holden chancery story for Free Online

was broken anyway. It appeared as if the sanitation department hadn’t come to this particular area in months, judging by the overflowing trash bins and the newspapers blowing like tumbleweeds across the empty sidewalk.
    Shaking his head, Holden repeated the question. “What are you doing here?”
    “I’m here to finish a job,” Charlie replied coolly.
    Charlie was Rebecca’s second shot after Holden had proven not to be the kind of charming hunter she was hoping for. Holden preferred to seduce and feed, letting his conquests go free. Rebecca, before coming to America, hadn’t been so considerate of whether their victims lived or died, unless she wanted to make them a vampire. She often told Holden his insistence on letting his feeds live was a sign of weakness.
    Charlie, with his dark curls and gleaming blue eyes, had the alluring sex appeal no woman could resist, decade after decade. And like Rebecca, he didn’t concern himself over the lives of those he fed on. Charlie was beautiful and cold, and that was what had made him her favorite once she lost interest in Holden.
    “What job? Are you doing something for Rebecca?”
    “Why don’t you ask the lovely little creature you were so recently bewitching with your terrible pick-up lines?” Charlie smirked. “Honestly, Holden, in almost two hundred years you would think you might have learned a few things about seducing a woman without making her want to throw up on herself.”
    Felicia, who had been hiding behind him, squeezed his arm in one quick pulse, like it was an involuntary spasm rather than an intentional signal.
    Job? What would Felicia know about—?
    You idiot .
    Of course. He’d wondered if she’d chosen him at random, or if the attack earlier that night had been premeditated. He’d liked her explanation of how she’d spotted him, because he’d wanted to believe she was what she said. But it made so much more sense if she’d been sent by someone.
    Sent by Charlie.
    Felicia must have felt him go rigid, because she released her grip on him and stepped between him and Charlie, but. The other vampire was wearing a smug, triumphant expression, but Felicia wouldn’t know that because she refused to look back at him, her attention all for Holden.
    “I didn’t know.” Her voice was low, almost inaudible.
    “Didn’t know? Didn’t know what?” Holden snapped. “That you were planning to kill me? Sure you did. You gave it the old college try.” He stuck a finger inside the hole in his shirt to remind her of the attempt. She flinched.
    “I didn’t know you .”
    “ Awww .” Charlie stuck his hands in his pockets. “The mortal has feeeeelings , Chancery. You must have kissed the sense right out of her. The girl I met would have sold you down the creek just for having fangs. Or, you know, because I gave her ten thousand dollars.”
    Felicia’s cheeks flushed pink. Now she wasn’t looking at either of them.
    “Ten grand.” Holden nodded. “Sure. I get it.” He glared at Charlie. What was he attempting to prove with this? Holden had known Felicia wanted him dead, so what did it matter if someone had paid her? He knew what he’d felt between them, and knew she wasn’t the same woman he’d met earlier that night. He might be able to offer her something better than money. He was giving her a way to flex her slayer muscle and become what she was meant to be.
    True purpose had to trump a big paycheck, didn’t it?
    “I’m not going to do it.” Felicia turned to Charlie, her raspy voice full of intensity and anger. “You told me he was a killer. You told me he’d done horrible things.”
    Charlie shrugged. “Sure I did, baby. I lied . I’m not sure what you expected. A noble vampire? Those don’t exist. Not even him.”
    “Stop it.” Holden kept his voice low. “Just stop.”
    “I’ve got to say, it’s been entertaining as hell watching you two tonight. The show had everything. Angst, action, a little romance.” He licked one