by Justin Sloan
She shook her head.
He shrugged, indifferent to her ignorance. “Well, it’s a phrase for a reason. Was even part of a song once, or so I hear.” He downed the rest of his wine and wiped a small droplet of it from his lips, then set the glass aside and smiled. His gray teeth showed he never lacked for wine.
“I’m still not seeing where I fit into this,” she said.
“No?” he laughed. “You’re my ticket home. Win a couple more fights, show me what you’re capable of, and I can make you a hero of the pirate world. They’ll love me for returning with you, and together we can form a crew like the world has never seen. It’s good luck, you know, having a woman onboard.”
“That’s news to me.” She finished her wine too, feeling the effects of it for a second before her vampire healing dealt with the alcohol. None of what this guy was saying gave her any indication that he was either dealing in vampire blood or somehow connected to the CEOs, but it was quite clear that he was part of the problem with this city. All of this underground crime needed to be stopped, fighting, smuggling, and any sort of pirating included. But she had to be sure, so she decided to dig further. “Does your wanting to leave soon have anything to do with the removal of Commander Strake?”
His expression turned to one of suspicion, but he said, “In all honesty, no. I fail to see how the comings and goings of various political or law enforcement type leaders affects me one way or another.”
She made a face, as if he was being obstinate on purpose. “The whole ‘being outside of the law’ deal?” she told him.
He smiled and nodded. “I’m glad you’re smart too, though right now you might just want to focus on the being a badass part.”
She took a moment to look around, assessing her options. Standing up straighter, she turned back to Clive, “I’ve always been interested in adventure. I’m thinking perhaps the pirate life sounds like just the thing.”
He waved his hand, a glint in his eye. “Wonderful! Rest up for now while we arrange for your next fight tomorrow. Cheryl will show you to your room.”
Valerie glanced over her shoulder to where a young woman in a similar leather outfit stood. Did all of these warrior girls wear the same clothes? She supposed this could be why they called it the black side—black for the leather they wore. Although, black for death could work too, if most of these fights ended that way.
“And us,” Valerie asked Clive, seductively, “when do we get more time to talk?”
He smiled at her and laughed. “Oh, honey, you’d be so lucky. But our relationship is purely a professional one. Prove yourself, help me, and I help you. Simple as that.”
She wasn’t entirely sure what he meant, until Cheryl had taken her by the arm and was leading her from the room. They passed the tall man from earlier, who was giving her a nasty glare.
She looked at the man and then to the woman guiding her. “They’re a thing, aren’t they?” she whispered to Cheryl.
Cheryl gave her a shut up glance, but returned a slight nod of the head. Hmm, so getting close to this Clive guy was going to really be about kicking ass.
Luckily for Valerie, kicking ass was quickly becoming one of her best abilities.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Enforcer HQ
Cammie walked along the halls of Enforcer HQ, the limp nearly gone thanks to her healing powers. She damn well wanted to get back to that place in the sewers with all those traps, to discover what they were hiding, but not anytime soon, and not until Valerie returned.
In the meantime, she was content to follow the plan. Get the forces together, and hit the town. The blood trade had to come to a stop. Anderson and his Enforcers had to be found and captured, or better yet tossed off into the water and told to swim over off the Island or be killed.
Ella, most of all, had to be stopped.
And that was why she kept glancing at Wallace, walking three paces behind Colonel Donnoly, and not envying him in the slightest for his predicament. Behind him walked several other cops, including Peterson, with a group of her closest and toughest Weres behind them.
Royland and his crew were already out there on the streets. If recent nights’ reports carried through to tonight, they were likely doing their fair share of putting down riots and stopping what appeared to be one-off violent attacks, although many at HQ suspected these were being carefully orchestrated.
Cammie turned into the lobby, where more of the Weres and cops waited, and here she paused to turn to Donnoly.
“I need your people at the square,” she said. “This gets ugly or people get spooked at the fact that we’re out in force, you might need to do some crowd control.”
Donnoly glanced over his shoulder at Wallace and waited for a nod from him before saying, “It’s a role we’re accustomed to. I’ve also set up twenty pods on patrol to get a bird’s eye view of the city, and have some of my best here defending the building, should it come to that.”
She nodded and smiled, looking over the group gathered there, cheered by the fact that Donnoly still relied on Wallace for all decisions. Yes, Donnoly held the power, but only because of Wallace. The senior cop knew that Wallace held the good grace of the vampires and Weres, a fact that he was smart enough not to ignore.
“Esmerelda and Presley, you’re with me,” Cammie said, seeing the Golden City Weres standing near the door. She knew they’d been training in the week since they had arrived, and were itching to get out on the streets. “Felix, can I count on you to gather some muscle and help hold HQ in case of attack?”
The large Were, also a former Golden City resident, nodded and said, “They come knocking, I’ll be glocking.” He patted the two glocks at his side, earning a quick laugh from Cammie.
“Super lame, Felix,” she said. “But I appreciate the attitude.”
He laughed and said, “You prefer I salute and say ‘SIR, YES SIR!’”
“No, I’ll take the lame jokes. Save the formalities for the colonel here.” She nodded to Donnoly with a smile, then looked at the rest of them. “Duran, you have your team?”
“Sir, YES SIR!” Duran smirked, but quickly ducked as Cammie pretended to throw a knife at him. He straightened, smiling nervously, and said, “I mean, you got it boss.”
She looked to Donnoly and said, “You’re up.”
Donnoly stepped forward so that he was in the center of the room. “Okay, here’s the deal. This city has seen its fair share of violence. Did it see more peace in the time of a violent dictator? Arguably, but not so for the people he put down, hunted, and tortured. And yes, I include vampires and Weres in the term people, because we must. We are all people, and we are all citizens.”
Mumblings of agreement went up from among those gathered, and a couple cops shouted, “That’s right,” or “Damn straight!”
He looked around, “Well, there’s a shit storm and it’s raging out there,” Donnoly continued. “This is our city, and we mean to take it back. We will find Anderson, we’ll flush him and his little rats out of hiding, along with anyone and everyone who has betrayed us or besmirched this great city. But we don’t need heroes out there. We are a team, got it? You come across Weres that are still on the other side, or same with vampires, make a call. Find Royland or Cammie, and get the right people in there for the job. Do I make myself clear?”
“SIR, YES SIR!” everyone yelled together.
He nodded his approval.
“Then get out there and take back our city, dismissed,” he finished, standing straight himself.
Cammie gave him a nod to show she approved, and then nodded for her crew to follow close. Esmerelda and Presley stuck close as they exited the building and descended the stairs, the others doing likewise as more police pods dispersed overhead. But at the bottom of the steps, Cammie paused at the sight of a broad-chested man, walking toward them like he was a boulder rolling along to knock them down.
“You Cammie?” he asked.
She stood her ground and asked, “What of it?”
“Valerie said I should join up,” he said. “Something about helping to fight the real bad guys. Well, I’m game.” He glanced at those with her, “Name’s Dreg.”
“We’re kind of in the middle of something,” she said, but sniffed, and paused. “Were, huh?”
He nodded. “Bear.”
“Damn.” She scrunched her nose, hating the idea of turning down a Werebear, especially if Valerie wanted her to take him in. “How do we know she really sent you?”
“Would I know to say she did if she hadn’t?”
“That’s not a bad point,” Duran said, pausing nearby. “You want me to take him in my group? I could use the muscle.”
Cammie assessed the guy, and then asked him, “You comfortable on the streets? Ready to get to work right away?”
“Do I look like I came here for a spa treatment and a nap?” he scoffed. “Point me in the direction of someone you want answers from or want dead, I’m your Were.”
The male voice became teasing and pleading, “Can I PLEASE have him? Pretty Please?” Duran asked, “With a steak on top, and beer, and more steak?”
Cammie rolled her eyes and shook her head, “Fine,” she told him and hiked a finger over her shoulder, “Newbie, you’re with Duran. Stick close, and make sure none of my people are harmed. You do that for now, and I’ll consider you one of us when we get back. Understood?”
“You’re the boss,” he said, and accepted Duran’s thanks as he welcomed him to the team.
With a nod from Cammie, they spread out into the city.
Old Manhattan Streets
Royland perched on the ledge of a second story balcony, watching as two of his vampires approached a man on the street from different angles. The man had been one they had been trailing for a few hours now, waiting to catch him in the act.
It looked like they just had, as he was pocketing money he’d just received from a woman who one of Royland’s other vampires had split off to pursue.
The man and woman weren’t the real concern here though. This was all about finding the central point, the bar where the blood was being dealt or funneled through.
How Royland had ended up here, leading a group of vampires for the good of the city, was still a bit beyond him. He’d been a Forsaken, after all, and a leader of his clan at that. When they’d been wiped out and he was caught by the hunters, then bled for this blood trade.
He had known he was done for.
But redemption came in the form of a vampire from across the ocean. A vampire named Valerie, who he would forever owe his life to.
He stiffened, ready to move as the first of his vampires confronted the man. It looked like they were about to make a deal, but then the man ran. Here came the second vampire fast, blocking the man’s path.
Royland leaped down and stood waiting, as the man turned and darted his way.
“Step aside, clown,” the man said, charging right for him.
With a shake of his head Royland spun with the man, lifting him into the air, and then slamming against a nearby wall.
“Your supplier, if you want to live,” Royland hissed. “Where?”
“You ain’t cops,” the man spat back. “So I ain’t talking.”
“The fact that we’re not cops means you have all the more reason to talk.” Royland wanted so badly to reveal his fangs or glowing eyes, but that went against their purpose out here. Instead he used his enhanced strength to lift the man into the air with one hand, and then pull a long blade and tap the man’s gut with it. “Start talking, or I spell out a message with your entrails for the next dealer to find.”
The other two vampires stepped up behind Royland, and the man whimpered. Even more so when another vampire appeared, dragging the woman over by her jacket.
“The blood?” Royland called out, not even looking over his shoulder.
“Three vials of it,” the vampire who’d brought the woman replied.
“Please,” she said. “It’s for my sick mother she—”
Royland growled and tossed the man so that he landed roughly next to the woman, earning a shriek from her.
“Justifying the hunting and torturing of some to help others who are sick?” Royland asked. “Sorry, but that will never work for me.”
The man staggered backwards, pushing with his legs, but one of the vampires was at his side in an instant, pinning him down with his boot.
“Last chance,” Royland said.
The man cast a nervous glance down the alley, to a set of wide, metal doors that resembled more of a loading dock than anything else.
“Right there?” Royland stepped forward, picked him up, and shoved him toward the doors. “Great, make an introduction.”
His voice went up an octave, “They’ll kill me, man.”
“Them or us. At least this way, we’ll be there to distract them, give you a running head start.”
With only a moment’s hesitation, the man started walking towards the metal doors. He glanced over his shoulder and told him, “You can let her go. She’s just a customer.”
“I imagine she’ll have information on other suppliers than just you, so,” Royland motioned him onward with an annoyed glare, “hurry this up.”
An awkward glance passed between the dealer and his client, and Royland was pretty sure there was something more there than they had let on. It probably had something to do with why the dealer cooperated. He led them to the doors and then, after a moment to pull himself together, pulled one open.
And went flying back through the air as an arc rod connected, blue arcs of electricity flashing in the night.
Royland’s eyes went wide. That was certainly unexpected. Amid screams from the woman, three men in old Enforcer Uniforms stepped out, arc rods hot with electricity.
“Looks like you boys stumbled along the wrong alley today,” one of them said, and then struck for Royland.
“You all need to get back to your cages,” Royland said as he jumped back and out of the way of the arc rod.
“We figured it’s easier to kill you all from out here,” the man said, and then swung again. This time Royland caught the arc rod at the base, though it still sent a shock of electricity up his arm. He brought his other arm up and snatched the man’s arc rod out of his hands, then blasted him across the temple with it.
He looked up to continue the fight, when several more appeared, rifles and arc rods in hand, and in their midst in the doorway—the former Colonel Anderson.
“An old reunion,” a female voice said, and both groups looked up to see Cammie on the rooftop of a two-story building next to them.
“This is that Enforcer jackass?” Another Were woman had appeared next to Cammie, and Royland thought he recognized her from the Golden City Weres who had recently joined them. “He doesn’t look so tough.”
“Come on down and find out,” Anderson said.
“We’d love that, wouldn’t we, girls?” Cammie said, and a couple more Weres appeared from the shadows in the alley, others on the rooftops. “Don’t mind if we join you, do you, Royland?”
Royland put the arc-rod under his arm for a second, and pulled on each sleeve before grabbing the arc rod once more and responded. “Good to see you, Cammie. I was just about to take out the trash.”
“Oh, then by all means.” She jumped off the roof, her boots hitting the concrete making a loud thump. She walked up to Royland and patted him on the shoulder, never taking her eyes off of Anderson. “Let’s kill some pieces of shit while we’re at it.”
He laughed at Anderson’s frown, and said, “She’s really horrible at these metaphor things. It’s kind of her thing.”
“It’s true,” Cammie said. “You know what’s more my thing? Tearing the heads off of assholes like you, Anderson.”
“Again,” Royland said, holding a finger thoughtfully in the air, “you see how that’s a weird image, right? I mean, technically assholes don’t have heads. Just, you know, pointing that out.”
“Royland,
can we just kill him already?”
“Anything to make you happy,” Royland said, and smiled at Anderson. “Ready to die?”
“What’s wrong with you all?” Anderson said, completely flabbergasted. He looked around at the force arrayed against him, and then shook his head. “Another day, perhaps.” Then he stepped back, pressed a button, and the metal doors slammed shut. Three former Enforcers stood there, completely surrounded by Weres and vampires, and one pissed his pants.
“You three, drop your weapons and you live,” Cammie said. “Presley, get us in there.”
As Presley went to pull at the door, the others circled the three men who were now lowering their weapons.
“What, we’re supposed to go lock them up again?” Royland asked. “Easier to just…” He saw the look in Cammie’s eyes and said, “Okay, okay, we got them.”
The doors slid open, but when they ran inside it was empty. Just a wide, open space that could have been set up like a bar, but wasn’t now.
“Where the hell’d he go?” Cammie asked.
Royland sent his vampires to the far ends to look for escape routes, and then he looked up and saw the flashing light before he realized what it was.
“Eat shit,” one of the Enforcers said from outside, and ran.
“Get out!” Royland shouted, and he pushed himself to the limits, diving for Cammie so that he could throw her into a corner and shield her body with his own. The explosion came a split-second later.
The ringing in his ears was strong, but nothing compared to the pain as the flesh on his back boiled and moved with the flames. Someone was on him, covering him with a cloth and shouting, but all he could do was curl into a ball and do his best not to scream.
He was distantly aware of Cammie there, and through the ringing in his ears he heard her thanking him, holding his face and saying, “Oh, God!” as she put her forehead against his. “Hang in there, Royland!”