Athena hefted the bag of takeout to her chest and pulled the collar of her khaki-colored coat closed. She kept her senses open, and walked briskly with her head held down. Feeling the adrenaline pumping through her system, she struggled not to rush.
Athena was only a few inches over five feet, something she had always believed to be an asset. She blended well in crowds and disappeared instantly when she wanted to. However, she wore heels in class because she didn’t want to appear like a total wimp, especially for a small woman making a living as an assistant professor at Harvard.
Though petite and delicate-looking, Athena was more than capable of handling herself. She had a black belt in several forms of martial arts, as well as an uncanny interest in all sorts of weapons. Even without the dagger strapped around her right thigh, she was a dangerous woman.
She caught someone’s shadow a few meters away from her on the path and carefully looked up. Though he was tall, blond, and inhumanly handsome, evil intent emanated from the stranger as Athena eyed him warily and slowed her steps.
“Hello, sweetheart,” he said, before contorting his strangely gorgeous face with a malevolent smile.
Athena stopped walking ten feet away from him, but even from that distance, she could see his extremely white teeth.
She felt, rather than saw, the others surround her. Just as the first man, they all looked preternaturally handsome, if you ignored the flash of red in their eyes and the menacing glint of fangs.
Athena narrowed her eyes. They were all going to die.
---
HE WAS THE NIGHT, one of the monsters in the closet, one of the legends of darkness. And, ironically, he was also one of the gods-be-damned heroes. At least, as far as all those people he had saved were concerned.
He didn’t really see himself as a hero, just an average guy doing his job. That job entailed kicking trash and leading the army of a goddess, but he didn’t think it was out of the ordinary considering who and what he was.
And, right now, he was angry as hell.
He stood at the ledge of one of the buildings looking down as six shadows followed in the wake of a petite, young college co-ed carrying a loaded take-out bag from the local Chinese restaurant. The woman was foolish enough to be walking alone in the dark, in her sensible above-the-knee skirt and less than sensible three-inch ice pick heels. He had seen her enter the restaurant from his perch where he had settled down to watch the night, and had watched her come back out to her spiffy silver Aston Martin Vanquish. She was of below-average height without the impractical heels, but he had to give her credit since, even from a distance, he could see what those heels did for her legs.
Her oval-shaped face was rather pretty, dominated by a pair of eyes that he’d kill to see the color of. Her nose was pert, her mouth full. A curly mass of ebony adorned the top of her head in a haphazard knot.
He wanted to read her mind, look into her future, just take a quick peek to see what would happen to her. Would she get home early? Would she graduate from school? Marry, live in the suburbs with a staid, accountant husband and raise 1.5 kids?
But before he could try, he was distracted by the familiar tingling at the back of his neck, warning him that they were near.
They. The damned. The vampires. He watched as they followed her into the park, watched as the lights on the lampposts flickered, watched as they surrounded her.
Mykonos Agraeus smiled. Business time.
He took one step and prepared to teleport himself behind her when he saw the first vampire attack. The pretty woman with the gorgeous legs only lifted one foot and let the vampire’s momentum propel him to the deadly heel of her strappy sandals. With a cry, the creature impaled himself on her heel and was dusted.
What the-?
She bent down from the waist to avoid the next vampire’s fist and her leg shot out again, connecting with his jaw. For a tiny thing, she could kick high as hell. When the vampire’s head snapped back, she whirled around, coat billowing. In the next instant, she revealed a deadly looking dagger in her hand and destroyed the second vampire.
And she was doing it all with the bag of Chinese takeout still in one hand.
---
ATHENA CURSED WHEN SHE heard her skirt rip and felt the more generous give of the torn fabric. She moved her head with lightning speed out of the way of an oncoming fist, and caught the vampire with her heel to the chest. He exploded into a million dust particles that fluttered in the breeze.
Thank the Gods for Manolo Blahniks.
The two remaining vampires circled her. If they got smart and decided to jump her at the same time, she was going to lose the Chinese. If she did, and she got out of the fight alive, Tori was going to kill her.
They sneered at her, and she whirled her knife in her free hand before making a mocking, come-on motion. Suddenly, she felt them. There were more. And they were coming from out of the dark.
“Just great,” she muttered as she turned around in a wide circle. “Why don’t you guys just drop by a blood bank and leave me alone?”
As if on cue, they rushed her.
Athena prepared to fight for her life when she realized that she was surrounded by a thick, gray fog. A large blur moved around her like the shadows cast by a flickering candle flame. Her head swiveled from side to side, trying to follow its movement, but the fog had gotten too thick. She waved her hand to dispel the haze and stepped out of it to see better.
There was a huge shadow in the shape of a man moving among the vampires, dusting them one by one by one before they could react. She watched as whatever it was defended against the attack of three vampires, turning them to dust before they knew what had hit them.
She was too preoccupied watching her rescuer that she didn’t see another vampire sneak behind her until it was too late, and he had twirled her in his arms. The bag of takeout flew from her hands and dropped to the ground. Dumplings and spring rolls went every which way.
The vampire was grinning at her, fangs bared, eyes glowing.
Athena snarled. “I am so going to hurt you,” she said before her arm flew and the base of her hand snapped his head back. The vampire screamed and released her, and she went at him in a flying leap, dropping him to the ground before she dusted him.
She smirked, brushed off her hands, and stood up. She turned around to face the tallest, most blatantly attractive man she had ever come across in her entire life.
He was probably close to seven feet tall, dressed in all black to better blend with the night. Dark blond hair was carelessly tied at the nape of his neck, and tendrils had escaped the band to frame his face. Wide shoulders framed the lean body of a runner. His narrow face was that of a fallen god, powerful, wicked, arrogant, handsome beyond any human’s ability to comprehend. He looked at her through midnight blue eyes centered above a perfect nose and a full mouth that could only exist in a woman’s dreams. And at that moment, Athena’s mind went totally blank.
He stood, still as a statue. But even in the lack of motion, there was something compelling about him. Something that drew her to him, moth to flame, but at the same time, repelled her and told her to back away. For all she knew, he was a lethal, wild animal, waiting in the shadows, hidden, biding his time before he pounced on his unwitting prey. Feeling as if she were that prey, Athena wanted to take a cautious step back. But she stood her ground.
Something powerful and dangerous surrounded the man, so thick she could reach out and touch it. She almost did, but he straightened to his full, daunting height, as if daring her and warning her at the same time. She shook her head clear and licked suddenly dry lips. Squaring her shoulders, she looked up at him and asked, “Are you hurt?”
Her eyes were pale, silvery blue with wild hints of a stormy sky, Myk noticed as he stood before her, mesmerized for the first time in his very long life. He was right about the body beneath the coat. Lush and rounded, it was a woman’s body. He looked her over, checking to see if there were any marks or scratches on her creamy, alabaster white skin.
Again, for the first time in a long time, he felt interest in a woman. Interest in this woman, and by all the gods in Olympus, he couldn’t see her future.
The man just stared at her, making her feel like an attraction at the Franklin Park Zoo. In fact, he made her feel like an attraction at the Franklin Park Zoo that had gotten loose and was dancing the tango in front of him. Athena blinked again.
When he spoke, his voice was deep, smoothing over her the way silk would feel on bare skin. “Who are you?”
Athena raised an eyebrow. “I’m royally pissed. It’s nice to meet you.” She bent down, picked up her Prada backpack, and shook it free of dirt and dumplings. “The stupid army of darkness just won’t quit,” she continued with her tirade as Myk watched her. After her bag, she brushed off her skirt and her coat. “But that doesn’t really answer your question now, does it? My name’s Athena Parthenos. It’s Greek. Don’t ask me to spell it.” She tilted her head back and looked up at him. “You’re really tall.”
Myk continued to appraise her with curiosity. She stood in front of him, none the worse for wear, unaffected by the fog he used to camouflage his attacks on vampires when a human was around. In fact, she had fought the vampires, had known how to kill them, had moved almost as fast as they had. He noticed that she was staring at him with half a smirk. “I know how to spell it,” he said in Greek. He continued watching her. “Why are you looking at me like that?” He switched to English, and spoke with a heavy Greek accent that all but made her melt. It was seductive, sexy, and hot as a summer’s day in the Sahara.
“What? You were the one staring,” she said, slipping the straps of her backpack over her arms.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes narrowing. There was nothing about the woman he could read. Not her future, and definitely not her mind. And Myk had incredible talents in foresight and mind-reading. “You shouldn’t be walking around on your own.”
“Considering the fact that I live nearby in one of the apartment complexes, my car got busted, and, as you can see, I can take care of myself…”
“The ones who attacked you are no ordinary muggers,” Myk told her.
“I can see that,” she sniffed. “No ordinary muggers turn to dust when you stake ‘em.”
“This isn’t a joke.”
“Who said I was joking?” Athena sighed with frustration. “Look, pal. I can handle myself. Sure, you helped me back then, and I’m too polite not to thank you, but I’m also not a coward and I’m not a weakling. And I don’t fight like a girl.”
“’Vampire hunting’ is not for little college girls.” He wanted to kick himself for that sexist comment but he couldn’t think of anything to say. There was nothing left of the Mykonos Agraeus who could kick both vampire and collective hunter trash. She had reduced him to a sputtering idiot, and thank the gods it was just inside his head.
“Do I look like Buffy to you?” she retorted.
Mykonos observed her for a couple of long seconds before he smiled. Athena’s breath backed up at the tilting of his lips. To say that this man had a killer smile was an understatement. Athena found herself dead, done, and long buried.
“Watch yourself,” then he slowly turned his back on her.
“Wait! What’s your name?” Athena called back.
“Myk,” he said. “And I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing each other more often.” Then, like the mist, he disappeared into the shadows, leaving Athena alone, surrounded by darkness and spilled Chinese food.
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