Chapter 6

"What the hell happened?" Jake hissed angrily as she caught up with her outside the entrance to the club.

Izzie just shook her head.

She supposed she should feel guilty for getting distracted and just leaving Jake, but it was for good reason. She had thought she had her target... she had also thought wrong and made a huge mess of things.

Beloved.

The word just seemed to circle her mind, popping up in every thought she had.

It couldn't be true.

He was just trying to get himself out of a bad situation, and it had worked.

He'd gotten away.

No one had ever gotten away from her.

Never.

She always prided herself on that fact.

Now in one single night, she had lost two targets in quick succession.

"Izzie!" Jake pretty much shouted and she realised he'd still be speaking but she hadn't heard a single word of what he was saying.

They were walking back to the car.

"Sorry," she mumbled, feeling a little guilty, but her mind not being able to stay off of Cassius, "What did you say?"

"What's going on with you?" he asked, still a little angry but she could see the concern beginning to creep into his expression, "You've never run out on me before."

"I didn't mean to, Jake," she sighed, here was not the place to talk about it, "I'll tell you when we get back to my place, okay?"

He was reluctant for a few moments before he finally nodded.

It wasn't long until they reached his truck. The car park was just as quiet as it was when she was out earlier. She couldn't help but imagine Cassius cowering in the alleyway as the had passed through, and once in the truck she caught herself looking for him.

She was searching through the few cars that were parked up and see if she recognized any.

The drive back was quiet and she could pretty much feel Jake's concern growing with her silence. Izzie wasn't usually the type to be quiet especially not around Jake. Car rides usually meant blasting music and terrible singing when they were together, but Izzie had decided to turn the radio off as she felt she couldn't think straight with it on.

This whole beloved thing had really got to her, but the more she thought about it the less she believed it.

It was very, very rare for a vampire to have a human as their beloved.

A beloved to a vampire was the one person they were meant to be with for the rest of their immortal life.

Vampires believed heavily that the bond was sacred.

Fate would bring beloveds together and they would share an unbreakable bond like no other.

They were made for each other.

She didn't really understand much of it. Her main knowledge of beloved was that they were a fantastic way of bringing down a target.

Kill a vampire's beloved and it would seriously weaken them, making it easier to kill them.

Cassius had to have been toying with her.

If these 'higher powers' did exist, why would they match him with her?

She was a slayer.

Never in the history of slayers had this ever happened.

Hell, slayers weren't even allowed love lives outside of their own people.

Not that dating was encouraged at all.

It only meant you would then have a weakness.

Beloved.

The word pretty much slapped her in the face again.

Why was this getting to her so much?

Should she tell Jake?

She didn't want to bear this burden alone as it was eating her up inside, but could she risk the leader finding out?

Especially if it was all made up by Cassius to get him out of a dangerous situation.

No, she'd have to tell him.

She couldn't keep it to herself.

She needed advice, or at the very least, to share the weight of it with someone.

Not now, though.

She'd explain it when they got back into the privacy of her house.

"He said you're his what?" Jake exclaimed, looking over her as if she was crazy.

He grabbed his beer and took another gulp.

She didn't blame him.

All she wanted to do was pick up the bottle of wine in front of her and chug it down to forget the night.

"Beloved," she repeated, the word sounding alien on her tongue. The more she said it the more she felt like it confirmed it was real.

Something she didn't want to do.

"Was he telling the truth?" Jake asked.

"How the hell would I know?" Izzie snapped back.

"Well... do you feel anything towards him?" Jake asked tentatively.

"Apart from hatred?" she replied sarcastically.

Jake just rolled his eyes, making her even more frustrated.

"What do you want me to say?" she groaned, "Of course I don't feel anything towards him."

"Then again, you are human, maybe you don't feel the bond like he would," Jake mumbled as he gazed off in thought.

"Not helpful," she groaned again, grabbing her wine glass and downing the rest before pouring a fresh glass.

"I'm sorry, Izzie, but I don't know what would be helpful to say," Jake shrugged, "He could be telling the truth or he could have been lying to save his life.

There's no way to know unless..."

"Unless what?" she snapped, not liking where his train of thought was headed.

"Unless you call him on it," Jake shrugged again.

Izzie frowned, "Call him on it?"

"Yeah, you know, call his bluff," Jake explained, grabbing a handful of peanuts and shoving them into his mouth.

"How would I do that?" she asked.

"Think of it this way," he said, simultaneously spraying her with peanut crumbs, "If you are his beloved then he won't hurt you, he can't hurt you meaning he's an easy target.

But if you're not he will still want to keep up the charade anyway, so he'll want to keep you close, hoping you'll fall for it and then, bam, you hit him before he has the chance to take you out."

As much as she hated to admit it.

It was a good idea.

Although the idea of having to be close to him for a while made her feel very uncomfortable, it would be a good way and possible easy as hell way to complete her mission.

One small problem.

"He knows I'm a slayer," she muttered.

"What? How?" Jake cried.

"Well, if my attempt at killing him didn't give it away, I may have kind of... told him," she admitted.

She flinched in advance, waiting for Jake to flip out on her, but instead, he just stared at her open-mouthed.

There was a long silence between them. Jake just staring, as if waiting for her to say she was joking or something.

"Oh," he finally breathed.

"Yeah," she murmured, the wine beginning to take effect.

"Well... even more reason for him to keep you close, if he thinks you're falling for him, he won't expect it when you turn on him," Jake reasoned, recovering from his shock.

In honesty, she had expected Jake to freak out a little more than he did, because she damn sure had.

"As I already said though, he isn't the target," she picked the one flaw with his plan, "The target is his father."

"I know," Jake replied with a nod, "But a good way to get close to his father is through him. I'm sure you could even threaten his son to draw him out."

"I doubt he'd care," Izzie scoffed, "You've read his file, he doesn't exactly strike me as father of the year."

"No, but surely he'd want to protect his heir," he retorted, "If there's anything that purebloods value the most, it's protecting their lineage."

Izzie nodded.

He was right.

This whole beloved thing, real or fake, could work in her favour.

Now the only question was...

"How would I find him again?" Izzie sighed, feeling like all this talk was good, but putting it into practice could prove difficult.

"You don't," Jake laughed, "He'll find you. After all, you are his beloved," he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Izzie pulled a disgusted face at him, making him laugh more.

"It'd do you good anyway," Jake mumbled, "Getting back into the dating game."

"Not my thing and not with a fucking vampire," she snapped, throwing one of the cushions at him.

Jake just continued to laugh at her expense.

He was such an ass, but she loved him for it. He always knew how to lighten the mood, even if it did mean pushing her buttons first.

She was already starting to feel better about the whole thing.

Talking with Jake had made her realise that this didn't have to be a bad thing.

She could turn the tables on him and make it work for her.

In the end, she would fulfil her mission and bring his father in and then she would get her one-way ticket into the elites.

Now all she had to do, was wait for Cassius to make the next move.