He looked at his watch, it was one forty-five, they had been in this room since ten this morning, going over club business and throwing new ideas round for new locations. They were being approached by a well-known club owner from Texas called Wyatt Blackstone with an offer to buy out his Los Angeles Perdition.
With its high-class clientele and popularity, the LA base was one of the highest and most lucrative of his businesses, there was no chance he was selling up. Harry Gregson, his best friend since school and manager of his American business, was in the middle of explaining the situation. “We’ve faced this kind of offer before. Mr Blackstone is a prestigious club owner and like yourself has expanded his business overseas, he knows if he sets up here in LA our club will wipe out any chance he has at succeeding in profit, therefore, he is offering a generous sum to buy out the building where Perdition is housed. He has heard on the grape vine that your loyalty lies firmly in Ireland since Juliet was killed and was hoping you would allow him first refusal. What do you suggest we do?”
“I have no intention of selling my club, period, it was a business that was built up by my family over centuries. I have worked very hard to expand and franchise the company effectively. I have every faith that Perdition will keep on making us a lot of money and create more jobs for our spectral community around the world.” He scanned the documents filled with his company’s financial data for the last five years. “The figures for this year alone are very impressive indeed, Harry. I am glad to see I made the right choice in offering you this position, not that I ever doubted you. As for Mr Blackstone, let him know my company here or anywhere else in the world is not up for sale nor will it ever be. And he’ll do well not to listen to things he hears on ‘the grape vine’ about my personal or business dealings. My private life is just that. Making me an offer on idle gossip is ludicrous on his part.”
Six hours later...
Dominic pulled his custom-built Harley Davidson Dyna motorcycle into the small car park of Cloudy Jo’s bar on the South Westside of LA.
Joe had called an hour ago changing their plans. He was bringing an informant with him, someone who had been there the night Juliet had shot Amelia’s husband.
The guy didn’t want to be seen around Perdition for fear of any repercussions for his loose tongue.
Joe thought this guy’s information would be something of interest to him, he had agreed. He was now starting to regret that decision as all eyes were on him as he stepped into the dimly lit bar room. Every spectral in the place could sense his magic. He was used to this reaction, he’d dealt with it all his life. Some stared in awe, others had the look of fear in their eyes. But they all knew not to fuck with him. He was having a difficult time keeping the waves of darkness from seeping out of him and the last thing he needed was to be approached by anyone right now. He needed another night in the ring when he got back.
He looked around, trying to ignore the whispered voices about who he was.
It wasn’t the kind of place he was used to, but it had a lot of character. It was a decent sized room. Wooden tables covered the floor space around the large bar area, there were an array of electric, bass and acoustic guitars mounted on the walls, and a small stage area for live music. Next to each of the guitars were pictures of the famous people who had owned them.
There was a woman singing on a karaoke machine in the far corner of the room, slurring the words to Patsy Cline’s Stand By Your Man.
He made his way across the floor thankful he had opted to dress casual in black jeans and boots tonight instead of his usual suit. The bar area was relatively empty. There were one or two couples sitting and talking amongst themselves. He chose a stool closest to the wall facing the entrance; he hated sitting with his back to the room, it left you vulnerable to an attack. He placed his helmet on the bar, left his leather jacket on and sat down. The barman approached, he was a big bearded guy with a shaved head and a full tattoo sleeve on his left arm. He was dressed in a black t-shirt with the bar logo across his chest. This guy was a strong familiar. Dominic watched as his eyebrows raised in recognition of his importance, a look of respect flashed across the big guy’s face. “What can I getchya?” he drawled.
“A Jack Daniels on the rocks, please,” Dominic said.
“That’s a nice ride you got yourself outside, fella. And that accent, you’re not from around here are ya?”
“Actually, I own a bar in central LA, you may have heard of it. Perdition?”
The big guy’s face paled as the penny dropped. “Sorry to be so nosy, Mr Bellator sir, I-I didn’t realise.”
No one ever used his surname, he hated it and hated that just the name instilled so much fear into people.
“It’s fine, call me Dominic. Is this your establishment?” he asked, trying to ease the guy who looked like he was about to hyperventilate.
“Yes sir – I mean Dominic.”
“It’s a nice place, lots of character, you must be Jo?” He offered his hand; the guy accepted, shaking his hand firmly. He could feel the tremors through his palm.
“I am. The name’s Joseph Hines. It’s, er, a pleasure to meet you. What brings you to this part of LA? I can’t imagine this is your usual place to drink.”
“You’d be surprised by some of the places I’ve drank at, Joseph, and to answer your question, I am meeting some friends.”
“Well, anything you need just give me a shout, that last drink is on the house.” The expression on the guy’s face was one of relief.
“That’s very kind of you but also very unnecessary, you have a business to run and staff to pay.” He pulled his wallet from his jacket, taking a couple of hundred dollars out and handed them over. “That should cover our drinks for tonight. Keep whatever is left over.”
Joseph looked at him like he wasn’t quite sure whether to take it or not.
“There’s no catch, Joseph. I am not the big bad warlock everyone thinks unless you get on my wrong side and you have been very hospitable, call whatever is left over your tip.”
“Thank you… Dominic.”
Dominic checked his watch. Joe was late, it wasn’t like him. He pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket, about to send a text when he spotted him.
Joe was tall and still as wide as he remembered. He kept his dark hair shaven to the skin, he had grown a beard since he last saw him though, and his big tribal chest and neck tattoo trailed up to just below his left ear making him look even more like the mean son of a bitch he was. He looked at home in this bar. A smaller, slimmer man followed behind him, he looked about forty, but Dominic had the impression he was much younger.
This guy was either a recovering drug addict or looking for his next fix. His skin hung off his high cheekbones and his eyes were bloodshot and emotionless.
Dominic stood and waited for Joe to approach.
“Good to see you, Joe. Thanks for coming,” he said, taking his hand and patting him on the shoulder.
“No problem, boss man, this is Simon, Simon this is Dominic.”
Simon offered his hand. Dominic stole his chance to find out what was in this guy’s memory from the day Amelia’s husband was killed.
He took his hand.
“Memoria,” he whispered and was transported back in time in Simon’s mind.
Chapter Fifteen
Simon
“Where is he? He is taking too long. Simon, if he’s not here in the next five minutes you need to go and get him.”
He nodded. This bitch was seriously psychotic, he wasn’t going to argue, he was just the hired help for today. The kid had already been put in a car and was on her way to Ireland, they were just waiting on Will, who was bringing his wife with him for the big boss.
There was a knock on the hotel door. Dave, the head of Juliet’s security was there first, pulling the door open in automatic defence mode.
Will stood on the other side, looking dishevelled.
“Where’s Hope?” Will said, barging past Dave, his eyes darting arou
nd the room. Juliet walked to Will and pulled him in for a kiss that was borderline inappropriate in front of company.
“I was starting to think you had let me down, baby,” she said breathlessly.
“Juliet, we need to talk,” Will said. He looked pissed off.
“What is it, Will? Where’s Amelia? You were supposed to bring her with you,” Juliet said. The affection in her voice wavered.
“Emmie’s not coming, I can’t do this anymore, I want my daughter back, this is too fucked up. I won’t do this to them… I can’t.”
Juliet glared at Will for a second before she burst out laughing, the sound sent shivers down Simon’s spine.
“You won’t leave me, you pitiful gobshite, you’ll go and get that whore and bring her here now!” she shrieked.
“I won’t. She is giving me a second chance. I am done with you, Juliet, you’re unhinged and bitter. Emmie is everything I want,” he spat. “Now get me my daughter.”
Juliet backed away and sat on the bed. Simon stared, awaiting the command for them to end this dickhead. Did he not realise what he had just done?
“You. Betrayed. Me,” Juliet said. Her eyes welled up.
“I’m so sorry, Juliet, I really am, but she’s my wife we have a child together,” Will said and took a step towards her. Her face screwed up in disgust.
“Lock the door, Dave. Simon, give me your gun,” Juliet said.
Simon handed his gun straight over. As soon as the lock clicked shut, Juliet aimed the gun at Will.
“Please don’t Juliet, we can—”
She fired once. The bullet went straight through his skull. The spray of blood hit Dave, covering his face and clothes in brain matter; Dave didn’t even flinch. Will’s body landed with a thump on the ground as blood seeped into the hotel carpet from the bullet wound in his forehead. His dead eyes were wide open.
Juliet handed Simon the gun back, her expression blank. There was no remorse, no grief, just pure hatred on her face.
“We need to go and pick that bitch up. Simon, call Phil tell him to get here as soon as possible, we need him. You and him, need to get to that house and grab her, she’ll be waiting for this prick to come home, won’t she get a nice surprise? Dave, phone your clean-up guys to get rid of this piece of shit,” she barked, kicking Will’s lifeless torso.
Dominic
Dominic let go of Simon’s hand. This guy went to Amelia’s house to grab her, what if Colt hadn’t got to her on time? Would he have hurt her? His temper surfaced; he had to swallow it down and remember Juliet had a lot of strings she had been pulling, so she must have had something on this guy. From what he’d just seen in his head he was just a paid help and hadn’t known the bigger picture.
He had looked different in the vision, more filled out and cleaner. What had happened to make him look like a shell of the man he was less than a year ago? If he was here talking now something bad must have gone down.
“We’ll see if there’s a table free. I need you to answer a few questions, I will know if you are lying so I suggest you don’t attempt any bullshit,” Dominic said bluntly.
“Y-yes Dominic,” Simon said, looking scared. Joe had a half smile on his face, telling Dominic he had seen the storm in his eyes and he knew heads would split if his boss didn’t get the answers he was seeking tonight.
Dominic was fully aware of how much Joe enjoyed splitting heads. Joe had been with him through his turbulent days when his father had still had his claws in him, so Joe was also aware of the monster he would become if he unleashed the darkness inside him.
After ordering drinks and speaking to Joseph about a quiet table so they could talk, they were now seated in a booth around the other side of the bar.
Joseph had reassured them no one would be sitting here as this area was reserved for food orders only and the kitchen was closed tonight.
Joe took a massive gulp of his beer.
“Harry tells me you’ve got another club opening in Amsterdam?”
“It’s still in talks, nothing’s finalised yet but there is a big market there for our kind of establishment, so it seems like a wise investment,” Dominic said.
“Indeed, it does. So, what do you want to ask our friend Simon here, boss man?” Joe said, smirking. Dominic kept his face straight and glared at Simon who looked like he was about to shit his pants in fear.
“Where did they take the body?”
“I don’t know, I swear, when we got back the clean-up team was just finishing up. The room looked like nothing had even gone down there. Juliet was busting our balls because the house had been empty, and the woman had somehow got away,” he said.
“OK, do you know who the informant was for Heather that day?”
“It had to be Dave or one of the three guys on the clean-up team, they were the only other ones who knew what had happened.”
“Do you know their names?”
“I was only the hired help. I owed Phil a favour, so I said I would cover a few days for him while he was busy sorting some personal issues out.” The mention of that bastard’s name made his blood boil, he hated the fact that he hadn’t been able to catch the fucker after the beating he gave to Amelia; he had gone incognito and hadn’t been seen since all the shit went down with Juliet.
“Where’s Phil?” he growled, taking Joe by surprise.
“That’s why I am here, Dominic, he phoned me last week asking if I could get him some cash, he said he had been travelling and needed to get back home to Dublin. After what he did I-I told him to go fuck himself, I haven’t heard from him since. I have written the number down for you.”
He rummaged in the back pocket of his jeans and produced a piece of paper with a phone number scribbled on it and slid it across the table.
“I also have the number in my phone if you need to check it to make sure I’ve written it down right.”
“That’s very helpful, thanks Simon. Now tell me what Phil and my psychotic sister did to you.”
Simon clasped his hands together in front of him and looked at them thoughtfully; there was grief and pain on his face.
“I went with them two nights later after Will was killed. They had information that the lady they were after had resurfaced and was back in her house, we grabbed her and dropped her at some warehouse. Phil was pissed off and had wanted to rough the woman up – he kept kicking her. I don’t condone any kind of violence towards women, she was already unconscious from all the sedatives Juliet had injected into her… I lost it with him and left them to it, I couldn’t be a part of that.” He took a shaky breath, a haunted expression on his face.
“A few days after Juliet was killed he turned up at my house here angry and drunk… My brother Tom was home from college and was staying a few nights at mine, while I was at work. Tom let Phil in thinking he was a friend… Phil beat him up so badly he’s now in a wheelchair and needs round-the-clock care, doctors have said he’ll probably never walk again.” His voice broke, he paused for a second as if composing himself before he continued. “I was grabbed and tied up. For two weeks, they injected me with heroin every single day, they said it was my punishment for desertion. I was dependant on it after that. I’ve been clean now for six weeks; my head is now clear enough to know that everything that man has done can’t go unpunished. He thinks he’s untouchable because he has someone important on his side, I don’t know who though, I got the impression with the way he was boasting it was someone from the Domini Bellatorum.” Simon finished and looked from Dominic to Joe.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was someone from my end. I will make a few calls and find out who in the coven is backing him and deal with them personally. I am starting to realise how corrupt my so-called advisors and protectors are. I will not have anyone use my name for their own sick and twisted pleasures, this is going to end now. I am sorry this happened to you. Hold your hands out, palms up,” Dominic demanded.
Simon did as he was told, although there was a flash of fear. Dominic placed
his palms on top.
“Sana,” Dominic whispered. His eyes turned red and his palms glowed; the light passed into Simon’s hands and through his body. He held it for a minute before moving his palms away.
“You will notice the effect of the healing spell within twenty-four hours, it should take about two days for all the poison to be eviscerated from your system. When your body is fully restored to how it was before I need you to report to me in Ireland. I am putting my trust in you, I only ever do this once so don’t let me down. Give me your brother’s address and I will pay him a visit before I fly home tomorrow. I require him to come with you as well. Joe will finalise all the details of your flights and organise accommodation for you both.” Dominic raised his brows at Joe, who was looking at him like he’d lost his mind, but knew better than to question his motives, not that he was certain about his motives himself at this point.
“Wow, thank you Dominic. I won’t let you down. You’re really not what I expected!” Simon exclaimed.
“I am a fair man, Simon, but get on my wrong side and you will know what it’s like to suffer… I have other business to attend to now, so I will have to leave you gentlemen. Joe, make sure Simon here gets a hotel until we can sort out the flight, I have a feeling he could be of use. I need all the men you trust at my club in Ireland next week,” Dominic said, pushing himself out of the booth and offering his hand to Simon who shook it eagerly.
Something Familiar (The Vandran Legacy Book 2) Page 8