Zombie Jamboree Page 3

  “Precisely. Thus our mission tonight is to case Assan’s home, mark his security arrangements, and return in the wee hours of the morning. We will remove Assan from the premises, interrogate him back at Diamond Suites, and then terminate him.” Well didn’t that just shine a whole new light on this job? If we could stick it to the Sons of Paradise and make Assan identify the Raptor, maybe give us a location, we’d be rockin’.

  The Raptor had been our department’s number-one target for nearly a decade, as more and more evidence had surfaced against him. His lethal mix of charisma and savagery had raised him high among the ranks of the Vampere from the start. But apparently vampire domination hadn’t been enough. He’d learned to consolidate power globally, accepting fealty oaths from a dozen large U.S. nests, two covens of black witches in Scotland, and several packs of Spanish weres. His tactics were brutal, his intentions vicious.

  Vayl ran his fingers across the black cane that lay beside him on the couch. A museum piece, it had been hand carved in India and had inspired almost as many whispers around the office as its owner. A procession of intricately detailed tigers marched around the leg of the cane up to a gold band, which separated it from the multifaceted blue jewel that topped it. When you twisted the head, the tigers shot away from it, revealing a hand-hammered sword whose maker had been dust for centuries. It was unusual for Vayl to carry it with him here, where he should’ve felt safe. Where I’d felt pretty cozy myself. I sat up straighter and looked around the room.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” I demanded.

  “We are going to have to be extremely careful. While we believe the Raptor to be Assan’s new puppet master, we think there is also at least one U.S. government official dancing from the same strings. This is no simple hit, Jasmine, far from it. And… ”

  “What?”

  Vayl shook his head. “Just keep your eyes and ears open. Something about this feels… wrong.”

  And that was really saying something, coming from the CIA’s number-one assassin.

  About Orbit Short Fiction

  Orbit Short Fiction presents digital editions of new stories from some of the most critically acclaimed and popular authors writing science fiction and fantasy today.

  Visit www.orbitshortfiction.com to learn more about our publishing program—and to join the conversation. We look forward to hearing from you.

  Copyright © 2011 by Jennifer Rardin

  Excerpt from Once Bitten, Twice Shy copyright © 2007 by Jennifer Rardin

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

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  First eBook edition: September 2011

  ISBN: 978-0-316-18800-5