Charlie’s door stood open, the soft murmur of his TV let me know he was probably asleep or close to it. I walked past his door and didn’t see him anywhere. The flush of the toilet announced his whereabouts. I left him alone and went upstairs, the familiar creak of the wood making me smile again. Couldn’t help it. I opened the door to my room and flipped on the light. My room was completely empty. The contractor’s stickers were still on the new window. New miniblinds. I slumped against the wall. Aside from what I had on my back and in my hands, everything’d been lost. My records. The other guitars. What little furniture I owned. My books.
Darrell was in his room playing a video game with the door ajar when I tapped on the frame. I didn’t talk to him much. He was Josh’s best friend, after all, so most of the band communication went between those two.
“Oh, hey, you’re back,” he said, switching to the menu screen to pause his game. He tossed his controller to his side on the beat up loveseat he had in his room. A Speedy Pizza’s uniform shirt lay over the arm with the nametag still pinned to it. He followed my gaze.
“I got a delivery job.”
“Where’s Josh?”
“He’s at home with Bea. Have you heard from Serv?”
I shook my head. “I don’t see him coming back anytime soon. What are you playing?”
His face fell and he looked at the screen. “Some Western RPG-shooter thing. Did you think Serv took off to do that other band thing, maybe?”
He’d shaved off his goatee. It made him look much younger.
It took a lot of effort not to wince. I was still raw inside from his loss. “Probably. What have you guys been up to?”
Darrell shrugged and cleared off the other half of his love seat, gesturing for me to sit down. I straddled the arm instead, and we both looked at the TV instead of each other.
“You thinking of restarting the band?”
I glanced at him. He wasn’t frowning, but I could tell he was disappointed by the slump in his posture. “Definitely.”
He brightened.
I stared at the floor. “I had some shit to take care of.”
“I figured. Charlie said you would be back.”
“Yeah, I was down south. Family issue.”
“We haven’t heard from Serv, either. Pale Rider is supposed to reopen next week. It took over a month to get it fixed up.” He laughed. “We missed you, man. We haven’t played shit since you left.”
“What’s Josh been up to?”
Darrell shrugged again. “Helping rebuild this place.”
Even though Josh was a good drummer, he still had a family to feed. Playing for some cover band in a one-horse town didn’t pay bills. Construction paid good money. Playing in Crooked Fang wasn’t really to make money. We played because we loved to play. That was just how it was.
“We’re gonna have to replace Serv.”
“I know, man.” Darrell picked up the controller again and resumed his game. “I can’t believe he bailed on us like that.”
“I was already thinking we’d try to find a vocalist and get Crooked Fang back in gear.”
Darrell’s character died on-screen as he gaped at me. “When?”
“Sooner rather than later.”
Darrell clamped a hand on the arm of the loveseat to get up out of it. I say out, because it was the kind of furniture that pretty much ate his ass when he sat on it, which is why I was on the arm instead.
“You’re serious.”
“As a heart attack, man.”
“I’d call Josh but it’s really late.” Darrell paced the floor a little. He stopped in front of me. “What about vocals?”
“We can figure it out.”
Darrell shook his head. “No, we need to put an ad in the paper.”
“Darrell.” I rolled my eyes. “Dude, let’s just get Josh in on it. We’ll figure out the vox later, man.”
Darrell threw his hands up in the air and plopped back into the loveseat. “I can’t sing. Josh can’t sing either. I’ve heard him and eww.”
Which of course left me, and I wasn’t too keen on standing up front and singing covers. I wasn’t any good at imitating all of those bands our fans were familiar with. I used “fans” loosely because...well, okay. We had some fans. If I counted people looking for something local to do in Pinecliffe. Like I told Serv once, we were an amplified version of good karaoke.
“So, what has Charlie been doing?”
Darrell smirked. “He stayed with Linda when they were fixing Pale Rider. But the minute his room was ready, he was right back in here.”
“Committed, isn’t he?”
“Yeah. You could definitely say that. It was like time just stopped for a little while. Never thought I’d say it but this damn bar is home to me now.”
“I know, man. I know.” I stood. “I guess we can start jamming together to stay in practice. By then–”
Downstairs, there was a knock on the door. Darrell couldn’t hear it, and I know damn well Charlie wouldn’t. I was the only one because of my fancy vampire hearing. I turned to face Darrell. “You know what? Let’s just talk about this tomorrow. It’s been a real long day for me. I’m gonna hit the rack.”
“Right on, man. See you tomorrow.” Darrell picked up his controller and went back to his game as I slipped out his door. The knock sounded again. It was late, and I didn’t trust it to be a courteous call, especially after the shit I’d been through.
I turned the bar lights off completely, leaving the outside dimmer on. A woman stood outside, with her back to me. Maybe she needed help. I opened the door, and she spun around at the sound.
Fucking Nin, of all people. She had a hell of a lot of nerve, especially after the shit she pulled before. I growled and closed the distance between us.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
She blinked, her dark eyes reflecting the red neon Coors sign on the back wall behind me, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked almost like a normal girl in a tan wool coat and jeans if one didn’t study her face too closely. Her mouth opened as if to respond then closed again. The planks in the porch appeared to be damned fascinating to her.
“I should kill you where you stand,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Seskrit is dead.”
“Krit? Why?” Even though he was a Nesferata, he hadn’t been too bad. A little thread of disappointment tickled my brain.
Restrain tightened her features. “Jack made an example of him.”
“Jack killed him? For what? He didn’t do anything wrong. He was just a little stupid.”
Her gaze locked with mine, jolting me. “The loss of his arm made him useless to The Core. And since he made another vampire without my consent or knowledge or without notifying anyone in The Core, he went against regulation.” Her gaze dropped to her feet again. “Can I come in?”
“You are not crashing here. It was you that left me high and dry in New Mexico and damn near got me arrested, wasn’t it? I was lucky that the cops had already taped off the scene. And now you come begging at my doorstep? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“You’re the only immortal I know that is not Nesferata. I did not leave in good graces.”
“You’re not staying here with me. No fucking way. Get lost, Nin. Go find some other sucker to shack up with.”
“I just heard somebody talking down here and wanted to make sure everything was okay. Who’s that you got there?” Darrell stood by the bar behind me, stifling a yawn. He blinked at the girl at the door.
I moved to stand in his line of sight. “She was just leaving.”
He tried to see around me. “Is she all right?”
Nin’d started crying. Darrell did as expected of any idiot male and came to the door to check out the situation. “Hey, sweetie. Are you okay?” He looked up at me. “Do you know her?”
I sighed through my nose. “You could say that.”
He shot me a dirty look and took Nin by the arm to bring her inside. I
knew it’d be asking for it, letting her back into my life.
Darrell left her in front of the bar and went behind the counter to flip on the secondary lights. Pale Rider was filled with a warm glow from the hanging brass lanterns positioned over each table. Some had been replaced, I noted absently. Nin sank into a chair and buried her face in her hands. I grumbled and fished out a cigarette while Darrell sat across from her and tried to get her to talk.
“I am sorry, Darrell.” Her voice was thick. Was it genuine grief? I couldn’t tell with her. “I will only speak with Xan on this matter.”
Darrell waved me over and vacated his seat. “You should talk to her. She’s not telling me anything.” He laid a hand on her arm. “I have a couch you can crash on upstairs if Xan gives you any shit, okay?”
She nodded wordlessly and waited until Darrell’d gone back up the stairs.
“Let’s take this outside,” I said sweetly and stepped out on the porch without waiting for her. She came up behind me after a few seconds and we walked around the side of the building, out toward the dock. Grass crunched underfoot. I flung my smoked cigarette away.
“Why did you rat on me back in New Mexico, Nin? ’Cause I know it was you.”
She shook her head. “Things have changed. Before, I was just following orders.”
“From Jackie-boy?” Jack hated being called that.
She nodded. “Until he took Krit away from me.” A tear slid down her cheek.
“Jesus.”
She snorted softly and walked faster. “I felt him die. He cried for me. He said he was sorry.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It seems everyone is sorry. I left afterward. I put my things in a suitcase, and I left California.”
“How did you find me?”
She let out a laugh. “You only think you are safe here. That no one knows you are living in the Pale Rider in Pinecliffe, Colorado. The Nesferata know. The others are bound to have discovered as well.”
“As long as they leave me the hell alone.”
“And they will, until you are not important anymore.”
“Important?”
She shook her head. “It does not matter. Jack is aware you have had interaction with an aware human.”
I guess she meant Freddie. Or was it Tabby? I hadn’t heard “aware human” used before so who knew what the hell Jack had in mind? And important? I wanted to ask a bunch of stuff then I wanted Nin to leave. But I looked at her standing there, her hair floating on the breeze over the collar of her coat. She looked pretty. She also looked really fucking alone. I grumbled and kicked a clump of dirt.
“I don’t have anything to sleep on. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard about the fire.”
She looked over at me and away again. “I can help you with that if you’ll let me.”
“You can stay a night or two if you need to, but the last thing I want is your sire up my ass wanting to know where his girl went.”
“He is aware that I am angry with him.”
“You’ve been in The Core. How in the hell do you manage to hang with those criminals anyway if you have a conscience? They’re nothing but a bunch of hired thugs and black market dealers.”
She was quiet for a moment, careful with her answer. Maybe she didn’t know the connection my bitch of a sire had with the Jackal. Yeah, Jack had been fucking my sire. A constant power struggle existed between the two of them, and I saw Jack more often than was acceptable, but they had a love-hate thing going on and I had to deal with it, like it or not. “It’s a family. We take care of one another. Over the past century our numbers have tripled.”
“And you only made one. Why?” I turned her chin to make her look at me, and she pushed my hand away. “Love?” She didn’t need to answer. I could see it in her face. “You fucked me over once, Nin. How do I know I can trust you now?”
“You don’t.” The cold gleam in her eyes sent a shiver down my back.
A part of me responded to that look in a filthy sort of way, so I shifted my view out to the water. “Fine.”
We stood a reasonable distance apart, just taking in the stillness of the Colorado night. I didn’t touch her and she didn’t ask for consolation. That wasn’t her style, I knew that then. She didn’t try to fill the silence with inane chatter, which was something that drove me nuts with other women. She suffered, I could see that easily. It must’ve been a tough decision to count on me letting her in. She’d dropped the bitch attitude and, for the moment, seemed like a woman I could actually stand to be around. But Nin wasn’t a woman, she was Nin. And Nin punched like a dude.
Crooked Fang Page 27