This is going to be the last chapter of "Kiss me, Kill me?". I have already begun working on a follow up piece that I'm calling "Alliances". I want to throw a few one shots out there before I start posting it. I promise I won't take too long. Thanks for sticking around. It's been a wild ride.

This is in two parts, one for each of them. It's funny how they have 2 very different points of view on their lives. Just like all couples I suppose. It's a bit darker than usual, but that will only make things more interesting in the next installment.

I do not own any of the characters from Southern Vampire Mysteries. They all belong to Charlaine Harris. Bless her for sharing them with us. Mattie is my very own.

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Chapter 26

When we got home was when life took a turn for the bizarre. More so than usual I mean. I got less than a week off to settle back in before I got my first assignment. Bill drove me to Baton Rogue to meet my mark. I made him promise he'd stay at the hotel so he didn't have to witness what it was I had to do. He wasn't very happy about it, but he obliged me none the less.

I'm not sure what this poor soul did to piss off Felipe De Castro, but I'm guessing he was wishing he hadn't. I trailed him for 2 nights until I was able to corner him in a bar. He wasn't very bright for a Vampire, didn't know what I was until it was too late. I lured him out of the bar and into the alleyway so I could knock him out and throw him in the trunk.

I had keys to a warehouse where I was to carry out his punishment. I had him tied and gagged with silver as he tried to use his remaining energy to glamor me into freeing him. The smell of charred flesh made my stomach churn. That night, tears streaming down my face, I cut off both of his arms with a saw. I would have much preferred to slice quickly with a sword, but I was told to make his pain linger. It was horrible.

That was only the beginning. I was sent all over Louisiana and Arkansas, a bounty hunter stalking her prey. Sadly the details of my contract had been specific enough not to worry Eric, but also vague enough not to clue us in to the king's ideas on punishment. I finally ended up back in Las Vegas where I had to disembowel a small female who had apparently embezzled money from the Maison de Prés. Felipe watched the whole thing with a glee that I didn't think any being on Earth could possess. I hated him more than usual from that moment on.

I had always assumed that there would be a certain amount of seduction involved in my position. I didn't realize how much I would hate it. I loved Bill more than I could possibly explain to anyone. He was in my soul in a way no other being was capable of. Each time I had to let someone touch me for the sake of the rouse I was performing, it made my skin crawl. The first time that happened, I barely made it into the bathroom before my stomach wretched.

I begged Bill to touch me, erase the scent that I could still smell on my skin. I cried all night. I felt as if I had betrayed him in the worst way possible. He was as understanding as he could be. I knew he would have liked nothing more than to kill anyone who dared come within a foot of me. Despite the dark cloud looming over us we became closer than we had ever been, drawing on each other for strength.

Eric still had me staging fights with Pam a couple of nights a week. Honestly, humans must be so stupid to think we hadn't killed each other by now. We had fun adding new elements to the brawls. She had become my closest friend and confident aside from Bill. Her outrageous ideas and sense of humor had me in stitches every night. I loved to watch her at play.

Wait a minute. Did I just say humans were stupid? I guess I am not all together human anymore. I've become somewhat of a hybrid due to the large amounts of Bill's blood I had been ingesting lately. He always felt the need to heal and soothe me in that fashion. I was all too happy to reciprocate. But I digress.....

Eric had become the perfect big brother that I had always wanted. I hated him from the moment we met, but his personality was too much for me to resist for very long. I now trust him with my life. Underneath the tough guy facade was an Eric he seldom let people see. He was silly and fun, I knew why Sookie loved him the way she did. He almost never shows that side to Bill. He still holds a bit of a grudge. I still hate him some nights. Does that make us even?

Victor slowly became a big part of the picture through all of this. He wasn't exactly what I would call a friend, but he was a huge help to me. Felipe was never aware of the projects Victor took on in my stead. I did side jobs for him in exchange for the brutal assignments I was uncomfortable with doing. He had become an enormous Alli. Bill seemed to think Victor had what he would call "designs on me". I dismissed that thought from his head as quickly as I could. Didn't he truly know the depths of my commitment to him? I could feel his within me even when we were apart. Couldn't he feel mine for him as well?

The shiny spot on the last few months was the party Eric threw for Bill and I. We were for all intents and purposes married in Vampire circles. Pam made a huge deal of it and spared no expense playing with Eric's money. I had a wonderful time, but got the feeling Bill felt sort of awkward. He didn't like the fuss made over us and would have been content alone at home just the two of us. I made sure to make it worth his while the moment we arrived back at the house. His appreciation was apparent for days. Or I guess I should say nights.

It was with Victor and Eric that I began keeping secrets from Bill. It wasn't intentional at first, but it grew more and more necessary as our plans evolved. When Bill went to South America, I feigned busy in order to stay behind and develop some strategy. We sat in Pam's living room for two weeks discussing who we would be allowing in to our circle. Sookie was not included, neither was Bill. The sole concern of Eric and myself was their safety. Ignorance is bliss, so they say. Eventually when we had our act together, we would pull them into the fold. They would have their own parts to play.

Felipe was becoming far too powerful with his recent annexation of Arizona and California. Most of the Kings and Queens in our part of the country were beginning to buzz about it. The time was coming to take him out of the picture. I had asked to be part of it for personal reasons. My job torturing for him was torturing me worse. I needed him gone if I ever hoped to lead a normal life. I would have no problem working for the new kings once Felipe's former realm was split up. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that neither of them would subject me to what he had.

Bill had become somewhat secretive lately as well. I hadn't quite put my finger on it yet, but I could always tell something was up. His feelings were still light and happy around me, but he had developed a constant need for me to reaffirm my love for him. Knowing him the way that I did, I had a hunch. I was willing, he needed only to ask.

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We had been home for mere days when Mattie began small local projects for the king. He never had her traveling further than New Orleans and I always accompanied her. She finally had to leave the state about a month later and we had gone back Las Vegas 3 times since then. We were both exhausted from travel and wanted nothing more than to settle back down in our home.

Her assignments paid well, but left her feeling unfulfilled. Mattie was not one for torturing anyone. She was forced to cut off body parts and pull out the fangs of Vampire delinquents. That was in the beginning. As time went on, her job grew darker, more macabre. The tales she would tell had me fearing for her every night. It left her very unhappy, dreading each call she received from Felipe. I saw her as his pawn and once again I was getting dragged through this ridiculous shit.

Some of the requirements of her position left me feeling ill. No man but me should ever touch her. I didn't even want them to think about her. I tried as hard as I could to understand her situation, to persuade her that it was not her fault. I was aware it was also not her choice. I spent as much time as I could loving her and reassuring her that she was mine and that would never change. To her credit, her spirits remained high and she never showed a bit of stress once she walked through our front door. Mattie had become very good at compartmentalizing her feelings.

She had never been bothered by the work she did for Eric and was still at Fangtasia as often as possible. Victor often came to call on her requiring her help locating some of his wayward underlings. He never made her do anything she was uncomfortable with and Mattie didn't mind working for him. He seemed to enjoy her company a bit too much for my liking, but Mattie dismissed it as nothing more than a good working relationship. I trusted her feelings, just not his.

Eric threw us a party at the bar in celebration of our bond. He had always been quick to show Mattie his respect and admiration of her. She was clearly a favorite of his, spoiling her as if she were his daughter. He let Pam plan the whole thing and she and Mattie went a bit crazy with the arrangements. I certainly didn't need anything special. I already had the most precious thing in the world. I had her.

My work continued as usual. I made only one trip away from Mattie to gather additional information in South America. I was gone for two weeks. They seemed the longest of my existence. She had work to do in Shreveport and could not accompany me. I never realized how much it would pain me to be away from her. She stayed with Pam. I was uncomfortable leaving her alone.

There was only one unresolved issue in my life, something burning a hole in my pocket. I had the who and why, I just needed to work out the where, when, and how. Then there was the matter of her father. I removed the small box from my desk drawer rolling it in my hands. I opened it to look inside. I was sure I had made the right choice. On both counts.