with a bitter little laugh, “Me too, but Boris vouches for him, and that’s good enough for Evie.”
I didn’t think I’d ever get over the fact that Yuri had worked for Edwards, kidnapping both me and Lorelei. Although he’d come over to our camp, so to speak, I still couldn’t bring myself to trust him. Evie had faith in Boris’s judgment, arguing that Yuri brought us valuable information about the enemy. My objections to taking him into our confidence had been overruled.
Paul leaned over again to murmur in my ear, “Those commies all stick together.”
Our eyes met, and I could see he was teasing me again. Now we both laughed. Paul had always seemed so stern, but he was starting to loosen up a little, and I was glad to see it.
He had me reload and practice speed firing with one and two hands, drawing the gun out of my purse and releasing the safety with one hand. He finished my lesson by having me clean the revolver, promising to graduate me to a higher caliber automatic for my next target practice
“I’ll just take this one now.” I said, reaching to open my purse. “School starts tomorrow, and I should probably–”
He shook his head no, holding out his hand for the weapon, “Nice try, but not quite yet. I’m going to give you the Taser to carry for starters.”
“Don’t you trust me?” I asked, annoyed.
He shrugged apologetically and smiled a lopsided smile at me; I couldn’t help but notice how charming he was. A good looking, square jawed specimen of military manhood from the top of his close cropped head down to his polished boots, Paul could have come right out of central casting. He may have been used to giving orders, but I wasn’t about to surrender that easily.
“I’m sure that Evie would want me to have it right away,” I said confidently.
“Evie told me to use my judgment,” he said firmly. “Come back to the range next weekend and we’ll see.”
I’d discovered early on that Paul was extraordinarily self-possessed, and seemed to be an extremely muse resistant sort of man. As irritating as it was at the moment, it came as a relief. After dealing with the obsession that hybrids could sometimes inspire, I was hesitant to be around any strange men. If I had any magical effect on Paul at all, it was to make him operate even more strictly by the book, and I couldn’t seem to manipulate him in order to get my way.
It was a little frustrating today, as I was eager to feel secure, and I figured carrying a gun would certainly help with that. After I’d put an end to their latest scheme, I was pretty sure my enemies were angry, and I feared they might come for my sisters again. I had no idea what they might throw my way next, so I was preparing to fight, and I needed to be armed.
Now that I was aware of what Nathan Edwards was really after, I realized that he would never give up on his quest for immortality. He’d used hybrid muses to amass a vast fortune, and now his focus was on the source. He was out to get the mermaids, and use them to obtain the one thing in the world that his money could not buy– time.
His vile depravity knew no bounds. He had kidnapped and raped a mermaid, leading to the creation of a new immortal, the baby mermaid Nixie. Edwards was out there somewhere, aware that she existed, and I suspected that he wouldn’t simply let it go. I appointed myself Nixie’s guardian and protector, and I was determined to stop him in his quest to use her genes to extend his own miserable life.
In fact, I was probably more determined than Edwards could ever be, because fate and circumstance had conspired to make me uniquely qualified for the job. As far as I knew, I was the missing link– the only human that could communicate with mermaids, and just a few breaths of water away from being one myself.
I was both motivated and burdened by this knowledge.
I set my jaw, “I’m ready to try the 45,” I told Paul.
He laughed, showing another glimpse of warmth that made him seem a little more human and a little less terminator, “First things first.” He took the gun from me and re-loaded, adjusting his earphones and taking aim. He fired all eight shots in rapid succession, returning my sideways