Executioner's Death
Trace
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Chapter One:

I had barely gotten under the covers with Sigmund when the phone rang. It was three in
the morning, and I was *so* not in the mood for this.
Stumbling out of bed and making my way to the phone in the living room, since I’d
recently killed the one on the bedside table by hurling it into the wall, I snatched up the phone.

“This had better be important,” I said.

“Anita.”

I held my breath for a second. “Edward.”

“You have twenty four hours,” he said, voice absolutely deadpan. “Get your affairs in
order.”

“Why?” I asked. I knew why, but I wanted to hear him say it.

“I have to know.” Was all he said, then I was standing there listening to the line buzz.

I felt cold all over. Fear had crept up on me while I was busy trying to figure out how to
talk Edward out of what he had planned. Too bad he’d hung up before I’d thought of something brilliant to say to dissuade him. Figures.

“Shit!” I said to the empty house.

I went back into the bedroom and got dressed. Twenty four hours until Edward came
after me. Twenty four hours until the hunt started. I had no intention of ‘getting my affairs in order’. I didn’t plan on being the one to die. And if I did, so what? I didn’t have anything to leave anyone anyway.

After putting on my holster, complete with Browning, the knives on my wrist, short
sword in the spine sheath, Firestar in the inner pants holster and a derringer in my front hip
pocket, I still felt unarmed. Which was ridiculous. I had enough weaponry for a small army. But no matter how much firepower I had, I wasn’t sure if it was enough to take Edward down. And I wasn’t sure if I wanted to.

Chapter Two:

I was sitting in the Circus, waiting for Jean-Claude to come talk to me, when I felt the
tingling of being watched. I turned to see Asher leaning against the wall. I hadn’t heard him come in. I was more distracted than I thought.

“Are you alright, Anita?” he asked.

I looked at him, face blank. “Peachy.”

Asher smiled, flashing fangs at me. Somehow, I didn’t think he believed me.

“No lies, Anita.” Shucky darn. I was right.

I gave a little shrug. “I’m okay, given the circumstances.”

“What circumstances? I can taste your fear,” Asher said, walking closer.

I frowned at him. Asher usually didn’t remind me how not-human he was.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

I sighed. “Because, you’ll do something stupid and heroic and get yourself killed.”

Asher raised an eyebrow. “Someone is after you.” It wasn’t a question.

I nodded. I wasn’t going to tell him who, no matter what he did. I may not have as
many morals as I used to, but Edward had almost none. I didn’t want Asher interfering and getting himself killed. Jean-Claude would be pissed, to start, and I liked Asher. He was one of the few vampires I liked, trusted, and would kill or die for. I didn’t want it to come to that.

“Who is after you, Anita?” Asher asked. I just looked at him, trying to think of a way to
put him off without being outright rude. It was unlike me.

Fortunately, I was saved having to reply by Jean-Claude’s voice. “Ma petite, what is
it?”

I turned to face him, eyes roaming from his blood-red silk shirt, open to expose a pale
expanse of chest, marred only by the cross scar, to his poured on black jeans, to the knee high leather boots that looked like a custom job. As always, he looked perfectly edible.
“I need to talk to you. Alone.” I said with a pointed look at Asher, who merely smiled
at me and stayed where he was.

Jean-Claude gave him a mildly irritated look, then held his hand out to me. After a brief
moment’s hesitation, I took it.

This was the first time I’d seen Jean-Claude in a month. And I had come to tell him
what was going on, and to stay out of it. He was not going to be happy. In fact, I was pretty sure he was going to be completely pissed off.

He led me into the coffin room. I didn’t really care. He stood a few feet from me,
somehow managing to look comfortable standing with his arms hanging limp at his sides.
I sat on a coffin, dimly wondering whose it was, and looked at him. “I need to ask you a
favor.” Straight off with the gloves.

He raised an eyebrow, looking at me quizzically. “A favor, ma petite?”

I nodded and plowed ahead. In for a penny, in for a pound. “I want you to promise me
to stay out of it.”

He frowned. I think I’d lost him. Goody. “Out of what, ma petite?”

“Edward and I.” Almost the second I said it, I regretted the wording.

Jean-Claude blinked at me. “Excuse me?”

I sighed. “I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Edward is hunting me. He wants to know
who’s better.”

I saw real shock on his face before it went back to the perfect blank expressionless
mask. “And you want me to stay out of it?”

I nodded. “This is my fight. I don’t want you involved. Or Richard. Or anyone else.
Promise me.”

Jean-Claude shook his head. “I cannot. If you die, so do Richard and I. Normally, I
would say I trust your judgment, ma petite, but in this, I do not.”

“Too bad, Jean-Claude. Either you stay out of it, or I put you out of it.” I wasn’t above
putting a bullet in him to keep him on the sidelines until this thing was over. Richard either.

Jean-Claude actually looked angry. “You are threatening me?”

I grinned. “You bet.”

He glared at me, obviously well and truly pissed. “Remember that you can not kill me
without risk to yourself, Anita.”

He used my name. Oh, yeah. He was pissed. I grinned more. “I never said I’d kill you.”

Jean-Claude threw his hands up in the air and made an exasperated sound. “You are
one of the most stubborn...” He couldn’t seem to think of what else I was. I was having a hard time not laughing now.

I stood up, still grinning. “I’ll be in touch.” I said, then walked out, passing Asher, who,
of course, had snuck to the doorway and heard everything we’d said. Oh well.

Chapter Three:

Richard wasn’t any happier than Jean-Claude had been, and had gone so far as to
threaten locking me up. I told him that would just make it easier for Edward to kill me. He
didn’t argue much after that, just looked at me sadly, like his hurt puppy look would talk me out of doing this with Edward.

They didn’t seem to get it. It wasn’t me they had to talk out of the hunt. It was Edward.
And there was no chance anyone would be able to talk him out of it.

Which was a bad thing, from where I stood. I was *so* not looking forward to this. I
didn’t want to have to kill Edward. But I didn’t want him to kill me either. Sort of cut my
options. Here’s hoping we’d both come out of it alive.

Thank God Micah was out of town. At least I didn’t have to argue with him before I
met Edward. Yippee.

Chapter Four:

When I went home to call Bert and have him cancel all my appointments for the next
night, I found my door standing open, and a note on the kitchen table.

Anita,

A few extras. Be in the woods by eight tomorrow night.


It wasn’t signed. Confident little bugger. I guess I couldn’t blame him.
Then again, he’d lost some of his edge lately. Maybe it was being around Donna and
the kids, who knew? It looked like I was going to find out if it was enough for me to stay alive.

The extras Edward had left me were another sawed off shotgun, mini-Uzi, night vision
goggles, and what looked like a tazer.

Curious, I pointed the tazer away from me and pushed the button to activate it. Half a
second later, my coffee maker was dead.

“Fuck!”

It wasn’t just a tazer. The damn thing *shot* electricity. Which meant, if I could get
close enough to Edward, I could take him down without taking him completely out. I smiled a little. Finally, a plan.

Only problem was, Edward was a very hard person to sneak up on. My luck, I’d
sneeze or something and he’d turn around and shoot me in the head.

Oh,well. Maybe I should take some Sudafed before I went.

Chapter Five:

It was completely dark in the woods next to my house at eight o’clock. I’d been there
since six, looking for hiding places, ambush points, the usual. Okay, maybe not the usual, but it was for me tonight.

Edward was going to try to kill me. I was going to try to disable him, and keep him from
killing me. It made it harder for me, and easier for him.

I was crouched in a stand of rhododendron bushes when I heard the first crackle of
leaves underfoot. Edward was close. Damn, and I thought I’d hidden my tracks.
Looked like I was going to have to get on the move. I’d half-hoped that I could just
take him out from where I was, but apparently, it wouldn’t work. If he was heading this way already, chances were, I’d left evidence behind that I didn’t know I had, and he would find me.

I snaked out of the bushes, wincing at the sound of rustling leaves, and froze. I listened
for about five minutes, crouched down behind the bushes, muscles screaming from being in one position for too long.

I didn’t hear anything. Slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible, I got to my feet and ran,
feet barely touching the leaves on the ground as I pulled on the marks between me and Richard.

I hoped he didn’t shut them down because he was angry with me for the whole thing.
I finally stopped, realizing I’d just covered two or three miles in the space of as many
minutes. And I wasn’t even out of breath. Breathing heavy, yes, tired, no. As long as I could keep pulling on the marks, I should be okay.

Almost as soon as I thought it, I felt Richard’s tension from his end, and faintly,
Jean-Claude. It almost distracted me from listening to my surroundings. It had been too long since the marks between us had been opened. It was a shock.

A few minutes later, I heard footsteps, clearly this time. My heart started pounding, and
I had to force myself to focus, to not let the fear take hold and leave me huddling in the bushes like a rabbit.

Edward may have initiated the hunt, but I’d be damned if I’d let him be the only hunter.
I started toward the sound of his footsteps, using the marks to move silently. I could feel
Raina dimly in the back of my head. She was excited. The bitch was enjoying this!
Pushing her down as far as I dared, I honed in on Edward’s location, drawing the tazer
as I moved.

Chapter Six:

I didn’t sneeze as I was sneaking up on Edward, but he seemed to know I was there
anyway, somehow. I didn’t have time to ask as he turned, drawing a gun.

I had the Browning out, but not aimed when I was staring at the barrel of Edward’s gun.
He hesitated, giving me the second I needed to point the gun at the center of his chest and pull the trigger.

The sound of the gunshot was deafening, and it seemed that time slowed down as
Edward’s body was catapulted backwards, down onto the leaves. His gun hit the ground a few feet away, and I left it there as I walked up on him. The Browning was pointed steadily at his chest, just in case he was still alive and had another weapon out.
I knew he had more than one weapon on him, even Edward isn’t *that* confident. The
trick was checking to see if he was down for the count, or if he had another gun and was
waiting to shoot me when I got close enough.

He was laying flat on his back in the leaves, eyes closed, arms outstretched in a sad
parody of Christ on the cross. He didn’t move, even when I kicked him hard in the ribs.
I felt the sting of tears and brushed them away angrily, looking at the blossoming blood
on his chest. Somehow it didn’t seem like enough.

I turned my back on Edward’s body and walked a few feet away before falling to my
knees and vomiting into the leaves. I’d killed him.

Chapter Seven:

I heard a rustling and had the Browning pointed before I saw who it was. Asher had his
hands in the air and a solemn look on his face. I swallowed thickly, lowering the gun and
staggering to my feet.

“It is not done,” Asher said softly.

I looked at him, scalding tears flowing down my cheeks. I didn’t fucking care anymore.
Edward was dead, because he thought I was enough of a challenge for him. He’d wanted to know who was better. Now he did. Only he didn’t know anything, because he was dead, and I had killed him.

I glared at Asher. “Fuck off.”

I turned to walk away, holstering the Browning and scanning the groundcover for the
tazer, which I’d dropped when I pulled the Browning.

“He is not dead.” Asher’s voice froze me on the spot.

I turned slowly. “In case you haven’t noticed, I put a hole in his chest.”

Asher nodded. “Yes, you did.”

I just looked at him, waiting for him to explain.

“He is merely wounded, Anita. You did not kill him.”

I looked at him like he was insane. “He’s dead.”

Asher shook his head and walked over, grabbing my hand and dragging me back to
Edward’s body. I shrank away from it like it might bite me.

Put me in a crime scene, and I’ll examine the corpse to the point of being obsessed, put
me with this particular body, and I treated it like an airborne toxic event. All because he’d been my friend. Sort of.

Asher gave me a look and pulled my hand down to Edward’s neck. I jumped as if I’d
been bitten when I felt a pulse, slow, but there.

“Shit!”

Asher smiled a little. “You did not kill him.”

I just looked at him, swallowing a few times and having no idea what the hell to say.
Asher seemed to understand, because he picked Edward up like a small child and
nodded with his head toward the direction of my house.
I followed Asher, thanking God that Edward, who had wanted to kill me, wasn’t dead.

Chapter Eight:

I’d called Rafael and had him send Lillian, the rat doctor, to my house, almost as soon
as we’d gotten inside.

She was there in a few minutes, which left me wondering where she’d been. My house
was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, for St. Louis, anyway.

Edward was sprawled on my kitchen table when she arrived, and she wasted no time in
ordering hot water and towels from Asher and I.

When we came back with what she’d asked for, she was cutting Edward’s shirt off.

She let out a little laugh and motioned for me.

“What?” I asked, stepping closer to the table.

She didn’t say anything, just pointed.

I looked at Edward’s chest, which I’d assumed was bare and would have a hole the
size of my fist in it. It didn’t. Instead, it was covered with a Kevlar vest.

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered.

Lillian smiled a little. “I see he knows you well,Anita.”
I frowned at her. “He knew I’d shoot him.”

Lillian nodded. “Why did you shoot him?”

I sighed. “He wanted to know who was better; me or him.”

She looked slightly startled. I can’t imagine why.

Edward moaned and we both jumped.

He opened his eyes and tried to sit up, and Lillian pushed him back down and swatted
his hands as he tried to push her away. “Hold still. You’re injured.”

Edward glared at her, but held still as she found the velcro fastenings of the vest and
pulled it off of him, revealing a dime sized hole in his chest. If he hadn’t worn the vest, I’d have
taken out his heart.
As it was, the bullet was stuck in the vest. Lillian held the vest up and showed me, and I
had to fight not to walk over and knock the shit out of Edward for the whole stupid game.
Edward seemed to sense what I was thinking, because he gave me a little smile. “Now I
know.”

“I didn’t kill you.” I reminded him.

“But you would have. I hesitated. You didn’t,” he said, wincing as Lillian cleaned the
wound on his chest.

I was well and truly pissed as I pushed Lillian out of the way and glared down at
Edward. “You think this is some kind of game,Edward? I could have killed you. I *should* have killed you. And I *would* have killed you if you hadn’t been wearing that fucking vest.”

Edward nodded as best he could laying flat on my kitchen table. “I know.”

“You know? Why the hell are you pulling this shit now, Edward? I thought you were
over being competitive.”

Edward grinned. “I’ll never be over being competitive, especially with you.”

That was it. I’d had enough. I drew the Browning and pressed against his temple.
“If you plan on pulling this shit again, tell me now and I’ll blow your brains all over the
kitchen. Otherwise, cut it the fuck out, because I’m not in the mood,” I hissed.

Edward’s eyes were a little wide, and he swallowed once, then nodded. “It’s over. I
just had to know.”

I glared at Edward again, then turned and walked out of the house. I didn’t want to be
around Edward right then, because I wasn’t sure if I could keep myself from beating the shit out of him.

Raina was fighting me to go back into the house. She wanted to lick the blood off of
Edward’s chest. That was not happening.

I got in my Jeep and drove off, spitting gravel in the wake of the truck as I sped out of
view of the house.

The next time Edward wanted to play rough, I’d make it a head shot.

The End.

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