Monthly Bonus Content #2— Ava Version (Patreon)

“We’re in position,” Ava whispers, hunching down low against the tree. The leaves are lush and thick, providing cover to camouflage her muscled frame, but also add a tangy warm aroma to the area. It’s enough to almost distract her for a second.

Mason’s footsteps pad up softly beside her, light enough that a human would never hear them, even with his feet encased in thick-soled black boots.

Ava casts a glance down at the bulky shoes, the black laces partly undone. “Those are a tripping hazard.”

“You’re going to get upset about my fashion choices now?” he asks. His fingers dip into the pocket of his dark jeans, the fabric far too tight to offer any use in a combat situation.

“You should have dressed more suitably,” she chides.

He scoffs as a flame erupts from his lighter. “So we should all dress like you? Bland and functional?”

Her lips purse for a mere second before she glances down from the slight incline they’re on to the building below. It’s a flat, unassuming building. Large windows panel the entrance, but they are blacked out, obscuring the dangers that may lie within.

“Are there many guards?” Nat’s voice asks through the earpiece.

Ava flinches. Although the Agency make earpieces specifically designed for vampires—to help dampen the burst of sound in one’s ear drum—it still vibrates and aches inside her mind to wear it for so long.

Mason discarded his an hour ago.

Ava did not chide her for that.

“No,” Ava answers, scanning the concrete patio in front of the building. “Seems they are not expecting us.”

“At least that’s something,” Nat breathes.

“Jeez, you lot are way too slow. I’m already inside,” Felix comments through the earpiece, the grin on his words made more obvious by the slight echo of his voice. He must be inside the storage room as planned. He truly is far ahead of the rest of them with their plans.

“Good work,” Ava states with a nod.

Mason shuffles forward, leaning close in order to peer over Ava’s crouched body towards the lay of the land below. “Now all we have to do is get inside the front.”

“There’s only one person there.” She nods a head at the human sat at a desk near the front doors. A scanner is placed beside them. “They must be checking people’s validity for being on the premises.”

“One of us is going to have to give them a reason not to be checking while the other sneaks in behind,” Mason states.

Ava glances back at him with a brow cocked.

He smirks. “Charm them.”

A snort of breath escapes Ava at the notion. “Nat is not here to perform that task, and Felix is already inside.”

“Which is why I said one of us is going to have to do it,” he repeats with a shake of his head.

Ava’s stomach twists and churns. People are not her forte…unless she’s taking them down.

Mason slips his fingers into the cramped confines of his pocket again and tugs out a coin. The bronze disc tries to glimmer in the dappled light, but it lost its luster long ago.

“Flip for it?” he asks.

He’s already flicked it into the air before she can answer.

It twirls upwards before tumbling down, landing in Mason’s open waiting palm, which he slaps onto the top of his other hand.

“Head or tails?”

“This is not—”

“Fine. Tails.” He lifts his hands and smiles. “Looks like you’re up.”

Ava groans.

--

Stepping out of the bushes, Ava brushes down her trousers with a couple of sweeps of her hands, dislodging the sticks and branches that had caught there.

It seems appropriate to at least be free of debris if she’s really got a chance at pulling this off.

“Disconnecting communications with Nat and Felix,” Ava mumbles before switching the channels on his earpiece so only Mason can hear her. He'd reluctantly put his communicator back in before she'd left.

She doesn’t need play-by-play comments from those two. More specifically, Felix.

Her boots thud solidly against the flat concrete, the stability helping to ease her, even as her palms sweat. She presses her hands to her thighs and sucks in a breath, finding the fresh aroma of the foliage once again to help ground her.

The desk clerk glances up at her approach, glances back down, and then quickly back up. Their eyes widen, a flush of pink heat travelling across their porcelain cheeks and neck. They brush a quick hand through their short hair to tidy it.

Ava can feel the waves of attraction from here. Smell it like perfume. Taste it like sweetness against her tongue.

It’s not a sensation that she revels in, even if it occurs regularly with humans she meets, and she works hard to hold her frown in check.

She leans a hand on the desk. It creaks beneath her.

“Well…hello there…” she begins.

Mason snickers through the earpiece. “That’s what you’re opening with?”

Ava ignores him. “You, uh…,” she rubs down her neck as nerves make her throat dry, “you come here often?”

“Shit, we’re never getting in…” Mason mumbles.

Ava ignores him again, instead sweeping her green gaze back to the desk clerk.

They tilt their head to look up at her with a frown. “This is my job. I’m always here.”

“Right. Of course,” she stumbles. The attraction that had been floating around them like flutters of a butterfly’s wings turn sour as the clerk examines her closer.

She’s losing them.

She stands straighter, flexing her biceps as she folds her arms, and forces a smile onto her lips. She can feel her cheeks dimple, even with the false expression.

It’s enough to win their entire attention back, as well as a definite flush of hormones to radiate from them like an aura. The strength of it batters against her, and she shifts uncomfortably on the spot.

They clear their throat and lean back in their chair, almost toppling backwards. “I haven’t seen you before. Are you visiting?”

“Maybe I’ve been here before and you’ve just not noticed?” Ava replies. She can hear the soft pad of footsteps about twenty feet away. Mason is on the move.

Hopefully this experience won’t have to last much longer…

“Oh, I definitely would have noticed you,” the clerk purrs, arching forward and pursing their lips.

Is everyone better at this than she? She avoids groaning at the intrusive thought.

Her cheeks strain with the effort of holding the smile. “I’ll, uh, I guess I should take that as a compliment?” She didn’t mean for her voice to pitch so high at the end and clears her throat.

They flash a smile of their own, much more genuine and meaningful than Ava’s. “You should.”

When they reach out towards her, that’s when Ava retreats.

“Well, good day to you!” She flees, thankful that no one can see her scurry away from the slight desk clerk as though they were a fully-armed enemy.

“I can’t say that was smooth. You’re certainly no Nat,” Mason comments through the earpiece.

Ava finally lets the frown fold over her features as she shakes away the nausea that swirls inside of her. “We speak nothing of this to the others. Understood?”

“I’ve got your back,” Mason replies…though it doesn’t stop the chuckle at the end of his words.