by C. B. Miller
“Hey there. It’s been a bit.” I grinned.
A rush of emotions flooded across her face as she stared at me. Ignoring the broken glass at her feet, she set her jaw, reached over the bar and slapped me.
A small gasp rose up from the crowd around us and Alex gave me a worried look as Helen placed her hands on her hips and flicked her golden ponytail over her shoulder.
“It’s been six months. No calls, no texts, not even an email, and now you just show up like - “ She spread her arms wide, shaking in anger. Her eyes flickered over to Alex and she frowned.
“Oh, hell no. You didn’t just walk in with another one of your conquests did you.” She spat.
Alex’s eyes went wide and she bolted out of her seat. “Um, I don’t know what is going on here.”
Helen and I broke out into laughter and hugged across the bar. Confused mummurs floated through the crowd as we let go of each other and I turned to Alex.
“Alex, meet Helen Dow. The owner of the Black Mamba and my best friend.”
Helen smiled and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you Alex.”
Alex shook her hand, staring at both of us with a perplexed look on her face. “What the hell was all that?”
Helen chuckled, “Kaedin keeps thinking he can beat me at trivia. He can’t and he’s a bad gambler. When he was so positively dead wrong and made a bet that the winner gets to embarrass the other in public at a time of their choosing, I couldn’t resist.”
Alex turned to me, her eyes flashing. “Why didn’t you warn me about this little bet of yours?”
I shrugged. “I had no idea what she was going to do or when. She’s been holding that one over my head for about three months now.”
“Three months?”
I nodded as Helen cleared her throat, looking at the two of us. She leaned in and gave us a knowing look.
“So, business or pleasure?”
I laughed, “Business of course.”
Alex gasped and punched me in the arm, “What? Are you too good for me or something.”
Helen and Alex shared a laugh at my expense before Helen waved for us to follow her. She led us into her office, and her expression grew dark as we explained our situation.
“I don’t recall seeing this MacKenzie around the bar. I don’t like the thought that she managed to get in past the Council’s goons.” Helen’s voice was hard as she stared off at nothing.
“One problem at a time, besides it’s not like we can trust the source of that information either.” I replied.
“No, but that doesn’t mean they were wrong either. You know weren’t you always telling me that there’s no perfect defense.” Helen kicked her feet up on the desk and grinned.
“I’m not sure I like where this is heading.”
“I think I do,” Alex said smiling as she leaned forward. “Something just occurred to you didn’t it.”
Helen nodded. “Absolutely. Security is tight around here or at least that’s what I’m told. There’s bound to be some gap or hole in how the Council protects my place and I just figured it out.”
I facepalmed and groaned.
Alex looked back and forth between us. “What?”
I shook my head and grinned at Helen. “It’s every vampire’s favorite weapon.”
“And what is that?” Alex settled back into her chair, circling her finger over the top of her hand.
“Intimidation.” I replied.
I gestured towards the entrance. “Remember your reaction when I mentioned this place. Utter terror. At the door were two vampires, serving as very visible guards, and there’s at least another enforcer running around inside some of time right?”
Helen nodded and I continued, “So where’s the one place in Chicago a visitor could meet up with people and not attract unwanted attention?”
“I wouldn’t come here.” Alex replied.
“You’re right. You wouldn’t come in here.”
Alex’s eyes lit up. “You think she’s somewhere close by then.”
Helen stood and cracked her knuckles, “No one really uses the alley behind the place. We don’t take deliveries at night.”
“Not so fast my good friend. We’re just talking to MacKenzie, not throwing down. I can’t have the Council pissed at me for dragging you away from the bar and into a fight elsewhere either.”
Helen’s lips flattened and her body tensed up as she glowered at me. I stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You know I’m right. I’d love to fight beside you again if you get involved, all this protection goes away. Kind of defeating the point, right?”
Helen stared at me with glassy eyes for a moment and then nodded. “I hate this you know?”
“Me too. It just is what it is for right now, but it’s just right now.”
She jerked her head toward the door, “You guys better get a move on if you’re going to find her.”
I pulled her into a quick embrace. She sat back in her chair as Alex and I left her office in silence.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Before you ask, she killed a werewolf and saved my life. That resulted in a number of complications to her life when the rest of the werewolf’s pack found out about it and that’s how we got here.” I pointed at Amari as she made the rounds through the crowd.
“There’s still a lot I don’t understand about that, I’m thinking it’s better that I don’t. Where’s the back door?”
We rushed through the back and popped into the alley to the sounds of violence. Half a block away, a group of people were fighting, and I caught the glint of more than one blade in the mix. MacKenzie ran a sword through a man’s chest and ripped the blade upward, splitting his torso in half for a heartbeat before the flesh started to regrow.
“Looks like the party has already started,” Alex growled. Her body stretched out as she grew a foot taller. Her skin hardened, long claws pushed their way out of her fingertips, and she charged forward. She blazed down the alley, crossing the distance inhumanly fast.
I picked out Red and Skeeter fighting beside MacKenzie as I ran forward. The three of them were barely holding their own against six vampires when Alex joined the fray. Alex sunk her claws into the back of a vampire’s head and lifted, parting his head from his shoulders. MacKenzie used Alex’s distraction to decapitate another vampire and yelled at them in a foreign language.
I threw two knives at another vampire as I ran forward. One was off-target, passing harmlessly by his leg while the other sank into his hamstring. He yelped in pain and whirled to face me. Alex hit him from the side, raking her claws down his shoulder and sank them into his forearm. She placed a foot against his hip and ripped his arm away.
Skeeter cried out in pain as a vampire ran her hand through his chest. She pulled her hand away, and blood gushed out the hole as he slumped lifeless to the ground. Red kicked her in the head, and she fell back a few steps. His strike left him open as another vampire smashed him in the groin, and then in a blur of strikes pulverized Red’s face. I lost sight of MacKenzie in the fray as I ran up to the vampire that killed Skeeter.
Erukzakir’s Judgment materialized in my hand and her eyes went wide as the blade severed her leg off at the knee cap. I cut through her other leg as she fell.
“Why?” She stammered as I drove the blade through her heart.
“Footwork matters,” I replied.
I sliced through her neck and the light went out of her eyes.
Crimson stained the concrete as I looked around. Alex and I were the only two standing and a few seconds later Alex relaxed. Both Red and Skeeter were dead, as well as five of the vampires that had attacked them. The one that lost his arm to Alex must have run off. I let out a small sigh of relief when Alex checked over MacKenzie and she was still breathing. She had an ugly knot on her forehead, along with several purple bruises.
“That was too close,” Alex muttered.
I looked back at the female vampire’s corpse, “It looks like Elizabeth wasn’t a hu
ge fan. And I might have just killed her.”
“What to do with her?” Alex pointed at MacKenzie.
“Let’s get her inside. Then we’ll get this mess cleaned up and figure out next steps.”
MacKenzie’s phone rang, startling me and I fumbled with my blade trying to answer it. the contact read ‘Elizabeth’. I showed the phone to Alex and answered it.
“Hello.”
“Huh, I thought you were a woman. No matter. I guess we can talk?”
“Is this Elizabeth?”
“The one and the many, my dear. And you are?”
“Kaedin Jones.”
There was a gasp on the other side and a muffled squeal of delight before the woman spoke again. “Well, isn’t this is a pleasant surprise. I was looking for you.”
“A happy little accident then. It appears I’ve been searching for you for a bit.”
“Star-crossed fates. Who knows what the future will hold. I didn’t realize you and MacKenzie had joined forces.”
I stared at her unconscious form laying in the alley. “You know what they say. Necessity is the mother of invention.”
“Huh, I’m not familiar. It doesn’t matter, I like it! Now, about our mutual business. I have a proposition for you. Are you interested?”
“I’m listening.”
“I’ve come to a decision regarding my current employer. Would you like to know what it is?”
I put her on speaker phone and mouthed “You’ll want to hear this.” to Alex.
“Sure.”
“I’ve decided that - drumroll please! I’ve decide that our deal is off, that is assuming you and I can come to an understanding.”
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at yet, but I’m listening.”
“Swell darling, that’s just swell! I’m going to send you a picture. Now, if you can give me the home address of the woman in the picture in the next oh, five minutes or so. I’ll let you know where my employer’s home is. And I’ll even sweeten the pot because I know for a fact he will be home all night.”
The phone dinged as a new text message popped up.
“Hang on just a sec.”
I opened up the text message and expanded the picture. The phone slipped from my hand at the sight of the couple in the photo. Alex managed to catch the phone and looked at the screen, her face wrinkling in confusion.
“Why do you want her home address?”
“She possesses a piece of information that I need. An important piece of history. My employer promised it to me and well, I’m tired of waiting while my people die. When I found out about your little on again, off again status I realized you be able to help me, and imagine my surprise when you answered this bitches phone. I won’t hold your poor taste in company against you.”
“That’s a lot to unpack here.”
“Well, I mean take your time by all means, but tick-tock. The clock is a tocking, and we wouldn’t want the last tick to strike. Would we now?”
“Umm, no. I guess not.”
“That’s right. Tell you what since I’m such a good sport, I’m going to shotgun a beer, chase that with some type O negative, and I’ll give you a call back. Have an answer for me then? Pretty please. Ok bye.”
The line went dead. Alex and I shared confused looks as I tucked away the phone into my pocket.
“Ok, what the hell was that?” Alex broke the silence as I hauled MacKenzie over my shoulder into a fireman’s carry.
“Your guess is just as good as mine. I don’t know even where to start, but we should move. Now. Last thing we need is stay still while she puts a sniper in place.”
“Who does that?”
“My old boss for one. If his guy had been a better shot, he’d still be alive and I’d be dead.”
We busted through the back door to the Black Mamba. A couple, seeking a modest bit of privacy in the dark hallway yelped and jumped away as we filed past them. A silent alarm system or something must have been triggered as Amari rushed around the corner and was halfway to us, fangs bared and fist raised to strike, before she recognized us and skidded to a halt.
“Who?”
“They’ve been dealt with. Mostly. I need this one detained for a bit.” I jerked a thumb at MacKenzie, “Alex and I, have some business to deal with.”
Amari placed MacKenzie across her shoulders and nodded, before rushing away. Alex’s jaw dropped as she gaped at me.
“I thought you were full of crap before about being allowed in here, but that…” She pointed in the direction Amari vanished in. “That is - you just ordered an enforcer around like it was nothing. Another day. Who the fuck are you?”
“Kaedin Jones ma’am. Most people know me as Henchy the Henchman. At your service.” I laid on the worst southern drawl I could imagine and bowed.
“Now, I know you have some questions, and I’m sure we’ll get there in due time.” I stood up and took a step closer, lowering my voice as I stared Alex in the eyes, “But I need your genuine opinion and quick, because I don’t think we have much time before Elizabeth calls back.”
Indecision passed behind her eyes for a moment, and then she set her jaw and nodded.
“If I handover this person’s address, I have no doubts Elizabeth will kill her because well -” I gestured vaguely at everything. “If you couldn’t tell, I have a past with her, and I really don’t want her dead. Thing is, I don’t think Elizabeth is the only being she’s in danger from either. And, I’m one hundred percent sure I know who the Aezzai is now.”
Alex’s eyes went wide at the last part and she cocked her head to the side, giving me a side-eyed look. “Whoa, that’s a lot there. Ok, so your sure the Aezzai is involved with that woman, who I assume is one of your ex’s. So you think she’s fodder for the Aezzai or a blood sack for Elizabeth no matter what we do here, but what if we just go and pick her up?”
I started to speak and then stopped, my mouth open as I processed her words. It was an obvious solution and in my rush I hadn’t thought of it. It’s was so simple. Grab her, rush her off to somewhere safe, find out where Colin lived, and send in Eden and company to wipe the Aezzai infestation out. We’d be chilling in the hot tub while this whole thing blew over.
“I - I can’t argue with that. Shit.”
Alex tapped her temple and smiled. “I’m a smart cookie. If we get to Elizabeth first, she’ll know where the Aezzai’s home is right? And we already know he’s going to be there all night. I mean if Elizabeth was telling us the truth that is.”
I shrugged. “It’s a risk, but I feel better pissing off a mercencary vampire than selling out a former lover.”
“I mean if she did you dirty…”
“You have no idea.”
We were almost to the car when MacKenzie’s phone rang.
“Sami’s Shrimp House of Surprises, how may I take your order?”
Elizabeth chuckled.
“Oh, I had no idea you were cute, fierce, and funny. A true triple threat Kaedin. So… I hate to be that kind of guy, but I thought I’d give you a heads up that our deal is off.”
“What do you mean our deal is off?”
“Turns out, the Internet has an amazing trove of useful information. And, as you know Shirene is a public figure and well, it just wasn’t as hard as I thought to find her address.” A smack and grunt echoed through the line as Elizabeth yelled, “If you had just spelled her name right Kyle!”
I started the car and pulled out, while muffled yelling poured out from her end. A minute later, the sounds of the scuffle ended with a heavy thud, the chorus of angry voices suddenly cut off, and Elizabeth returned to the phone.
“I”m sorry about that, so rude we know. Kyle has decided that it was time to take advantage of other gainful employment opportunities.. Now, where was I?”
“You were about to tell me where your boss lived.”
“Ahh yes, he lives at - wait. No, no, no. I was most certainly not going to mention that. You didn’t hold up your end of the bargain
.” Elizabeth voice continued to rise in volume, finally turning into a screech.
“Hey, Elizabeth. One quick question for you.”
“What is that oathbreaker?”
I shook my head, and exhaled before continuing. “That’s cool that you found her house, but you do realize that she has more than one place right?”
“What! That incompetent -” Elizabeth’s voice was panicked as I clicked end call.
Alex gave me a wry smile, “So does this Shirene actually have multiple homes?”
“Yes, and she never stays at the house she owns. It’s a tax write-off and income generator. She has a place that’s owned by a shell company,. That’s where she spends the time at when she needs space, and that’s also where anything of personal value is stored.”
“So, all this seems complicated.”
“Not so much, when you realize that I was the other man and I never realized she was cheating on her husband with me, That’ll teach me to not pay attention to politics.”
“Why is that?”
“Because Shirene Behren’s is the wife of the assistant-city manager. He’s about to toss his hat in the ring for the mayor’s office, and had been making the right friends for years. All I had to do was a few searches on the Internet and read some local news. She was almost always by his side. Stable family image and all.”
“She come from money?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Her or anything else about our past. Right now, let’s just get to her and find out where Colin lives, so we can stop this ass-hole.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Things had always been complicated between Shirene and I. When we started dating, I hadn’t realized just how complicated her life was or dating here would be. And how that would complicate my life, although all things considered those things seem simple and uncomplicated now. It had been a whirlwind romance, full of fire, passion, break ups and make ups. I knew she was in a odd home situation, which I thought meant she had left her husband/boyfriend we never talked about, and because of their financial situation and status in the community there was still some sharing of living space and finances. Those things take time to unravel and allow people to move on. I got that.