by Paula Weston
Jason couldn’t look less interested.
‘It’s your loss.’ Mya nods in Maggie’s direction. ‘But if you want your girl here to stay safe, Rafa will be coming back to my crew.’
‘It’s not your crew,’ Rafa says. ‘And don’t threaten Maggie.’
I nearly kiss him right then and there.
‘Start back with one job,’ Mya says. ‘With Gabe.’
My stomach clenches.
Rafa doesn’t flinch. ‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because this isn’t a game. And that’s not Gabe.’
‘That’s why it’s too good an opportunity to pass up. Can you imagine what those self-righteous bastards will think when they hear Gabe has done a job with us? How Daniel will react?’
Something passes between them, some joint history. Different to Iowa, but still something. It reconnects them again for a second. The idea must hold some appeal for Rafa. I preferred it when they were sniping at each other.
‘Being blackmailed isn’t the same as choosing,’ I say.
‘Then don’t make me blackmail you.’
Rafa sees my face. ‘Don’t look at me like that. We’re not going anywhere with her.’
‘It was good enough for Jude,’ Mya says to me. ‘You still think you’re better than him, don’t you?’
Before I know it, my hand is around her throat. I shove her to the window, press her face to the sill. ‘Don’t talk about my brother.’ I’ve got her awkwardly pinned so she can’t lash out.
‘I see you remember you don’t like me,’ she says out the side of her mouth.
I put my face close to hers. ‘No, this is my opinion based on our time together today.’ Her submission is strangely gratifying. ‘Don’t threaten me or my friends. Ever.’ I let go.
She stands up and wipes beer from her face. There’s a lull in the bar: drinkers inside and out watch us. Mya gives Jones a black look. ‘Thanks for the back-up.’
‘You want to take on Gabe, go right ahead,’ he says.
Mya straightens her top. ‘I see you remember a few moves.’
I stand my ground. ‘When pushed.’
‘Then let’s see what else you’ve got.’ She brushes past me and heads for the bar.
‘Ah, crap.’ Rafa and Jones exchange a quick look and follow her. I hesitate and then cross the room behind them.
Two guys I recognise from the party where Maggie was snatched are propped against the bar, chatting with Simon. Sun-bleached hair, boardies low on narrow hips. From memory, one is Dane; the other is Tyler. They’re both bare-chested, making the most of happy hour before Rick tells them to cover up.
Simon notices Mya and gives her an appreciative once-over. Then he spots Rafa. His eyes flick from Mya to Rafa to me. His mouth forms a hard line and he moves away again.
Dane and Tyler take one look at Mya and make room for her.
‘Good evening, boys,’ she says. ‘What do you recommend?’
‘Me,’ Dane says.
Tyler laughs. ‘Dude, get your hand off it.’
‘How about you buy me a drink and I’ll decide which of you can take me home.’
Jones has elbowed his way near Tyler; Rafa and I are next to Dane.
‘What’s she doing?’ I ask.
‘Starting a fight.’ Rafa watches Mya in the mirror behind the bar. ‘She’ll tease them for a while, draw in a few more suckers and then turn them all on each other.’
‘Come on, they might not be brain surgeons but they’re not that stupid.’
He glances at me and then checks the mirror again. ‘They’re human. Of course they’re that stupid.’
I catch a whiff of chargrilled lamb from the kitchen. I’d really rather a kebab than a second pub fight today. The floor is cleaner here than at the Imperial, but still.
‘Maybe I can stop this before it gets out of hand,’ I say.
Rafa raises his eyebrows. ‘What are you going to do?
‘Run interference.’
‘You’re going to flirt with those two?’
I give a self-conscious shrug. ‘It’s not my strongest skill, but it’s better than a punch-up.’
Rafa’s mouth curves into a slow smile. ‘Now this I want to see.’
TONIGHT’S SPECIAL:MOLOTOV COCKTAIL
Mya is laughing at something Tyler said, a hand on his chest.
‘Hey guys,’ I say. ‘Mind if I join you?’
Dane checks me out. ‘Sure.’ He and Taylor grin at each other. ‘Especially if you two are planning on some girl-on-girl action.’
Mya runs a fingernail down his stomach to the top of his boardies. ‘Would you like that?’
‘I’d like it a lot,’ Tyler says, and hooks an arm around her.
‘I don’t think you’d find it sexy if I split her nose all over her face,’ I say.
I catch a glimpse of Rafa in the mirror. He’s smirking. Oh yeah, I’m a natural.
‘Dude, that would be extreme,’ Tyler says. ‘I was thinking more jelly wrestling.’
‘Dude,’ I say, keeping my tone light, ‘think again.’
Dane leans close, breathes beer on me. ‘When are you going to start talking to our boy again?’ He tips his glass at Simon.
‘As soon as he starts talking to me.’
‘Man, what you did at the party…that was cold.’ Great. He thinks I ditched Simon for Rafa the night Maggie was taken. Well, actually, I did. But not in the way he thinks.
Taya is trying to reach us, but she can’t ignore the growing press of drinkers shouting orders at her. She shoves a pink drink with an umbrella in front of Jones by way of insult and then gets sidetracked by a cocktail order.
‘Recognise her?’ I flick my thumb in Taya’s direction.
Dane eyes her up and down. ‘Nope. Undoubtedly bangable, though.’
‘She was at the party at the falls—made a cameo right before Maggie left. Remember?’
He frowns. ‘That’s not her. Seriously?’
Tyler looks around for Maggie and finds her at the window with Jason. They’re deep in conversation. He checks out Taya again. ‘That’s Jason’s ex?’
Mya turns to me, eyes like granite. ‘Jason used to date Taya? That Jason, over there, who claims he’s never been near the Sanctuary.’
‘What sanctuary?’ Dane asks.
Oh shit. I’m trapped between lies. And here comes Taya, who still doesn’t know Jason is Rephaite.
‘I hear you’ve been busy since you hit town,’ Mya says to her. She’s acting tough but I notice she takes a step back.
Taya looks at me for an explanation.
‘She means you breaking up with Jason and taking Maggie away from the party for a chat the other night—in front of these guys.’ I gesture to the two surfers.
Taya narrows her eyes. I can almost hear the gears grinding in her head. I don’t know what would be worse: if she denies it, raising questions about what really happened at the party, or if she plays along and Mya thinks Jason is connected to Nathaniel.
‘You and Jason?’ Mya asks.
‘Yeah,’ Taya says, seeing how much the idea grates on Mya. ‘What’s it to you?’
Mya tilts her head a fraction. ‘It’s nothing to me. How did Malachi take it?’
‘It’s got nothing to do with Malachi.’
Wait. Taya and Malachi had a thing? Seriously? I try to picture Taya flirting with him—or anyone. I can’t. Her idea of foreplay probably involves some sort of blood sport. Around us people are still shouting for their drinks. She quickly pulls two beers.
Mya waits until she’s close again and then says to the surfers: ‘So Taya wanted Malachi, but then I came along and showed him what a real woman can do between the sheets…and against a wall…and on top of a car.’
Tyler swallows.
‘And still you can’t keep a man,’ Mya continues, nodding in Jason and Maggie’s direction.
Taya slams a glass down on the counter. She’s not playing happy bartender any more.
‘Let it go,
’ I say, trying to drag her attention from Mya. ‘None of us needs this right now. Think about where you are.’
Her eyes lock on me. ‘Did you bring her here?’
‘You’re joking, right?’
‘Oi!’ A guy yells for Taya further down the bar. ‘Where’s my bloody drink?’
Taya ignores him, gets her temper under control.
‘Get your bony arse down here and pour me a beer.’
I take a quick look. The guy—who’d be more at home at the Imperial—is hoisting his gut over the bar, trying to reach the row of taps to help himself.
Simon hurries over and tries to push him back. It’s as if he’s trying to roll a whale into the sea. The guy grabs an empty glass. Taya begins moving but not before he smashes it into the side of Simon’s head. Simon staggers back. His hand comes up and finds streaming blood—and then his knees give out.
Taya flies down the bar, lands a brutal kick to the guy’s jaw. She drags him over to her side and lets him get to his feet. He snarls and swings at her and she king-hits him back to the sticky bar mat.
Everyone is watching Taya. I use the distraction to push Mya away from the surfers and Rafa grabs her arm. ‘Enough of this shit,’ he says.
Mya jerks away from him. ‘Don’t touch me.’ She says it loudly enough to distract the surfers from the one-sided fight behind the bar.
‘You,’ Dane says to Rafa. ‘Piss off.’
Rafa gives him a pitying smile. ‘Let it go, boys. This is what she does for fun.’
‘Don’t—’ I say, as Dane throws a sloppy punch at Rafa. Rafa catches him by the wrist, wrenches Dane’s arm behind him and shoves him at Tyler. They stumble into a pack of drinkers in polo shirts—who shove back, hard.
‘Watch it, mate,’ someone says.
There’s more pushing and sledging. A shirt rips, a glass breaks, another punch is thrown. It’s on.
It’s not even dark outside.
Behind the bar, Taya is still hammering the guy who hurt Simon.
‘Taya,’ I call out, ‘bigger fish to fry!’
She looks up, blows a stray hair out of her eyes, and registers what else is going on in the room. A second later, she’s over the bar, hauling people towards the door.
The brawl spreads out. I lose Rafa as people scurry out of the way, clutching their drinks. A girl with a see-through blouse launches herself onto the back of one of the polo shirts, her skirt hitched up to her hips. She’s trying to get him to release Tyler, who’s now trapped in a headlock.
It’s a shit-storm all right.
I dodge an airborne stool and jump on the bar to get out of the way. More than a dozen guys are now wrestling or punching each other. Everyone else is streaming out onto the street. Not running away, but getting a good spot where they can watch and cheer from a safe distance. Jason has his arm protectively over Maggie’s head, guiding her through the mayhem.
Where’s Mya?
I scan the room. She’s sitting on the cigarette machine, sipping a neon cocktail, watching.
Rafa and Jones are in the middle of the fracas. They’re not breaking up fights, just holding their ground like outcrops in a river, letting the chaos flow around them, deflecting bodies and punches.
Simon is back on his feet, a tea towel to his head. I drop down to his side of the bar.
‘What just happened?’ he says, as I check his wound.
‘Hurricane Mya.’
‘Where’s Rick?’
I scan the room, spot him helping Taya thin the crowd.
‘He’s fine.’ I press the tea towel back on his scalp. ‘You’ll probably need a stitch or two.’ A siren sounds further along the esplanade.
‘Is this what it’s going to be like from now on?’ Simon asks. ‘What do these people want?’
I breathe out heavily, still holding the cloth to his head. ‘Me.’
‘I can’t deal with this.’ Simon leans against the fridge, slides back to the floor.
‘I was trying to keep you out of it.’ I spot one of the kitchen staff hovering in the doorway and wave for her to take over with the tea towel. ‘Make sure he gets an ambulance.’
I jump back up on the bar and wait for Mya to look at me. I point to the alley. Time to end this.
She pushes herself off the cigarette machine and skirts around Taya and Rick, now wrestling a shirtless man with a hairy back. I catch Rafa’s eye and make sure he sees Mya leaving. I pick my way around the room, trying not to breathe in the heady cocktail of beer, rum and post-mix cola sloshed over the timber floor. My shoes crunch on glass.
I duck into the alley as the cops pull up; the crowd on the street scatters. The piercing siren goes on for a few more seconds before someone finally kills it. It’s quieter out here but smells even worse than the bar.
Mya steps out of the shadows. Flickering blue light from the police car washes over her.
‘I can do this every night,’ she says, still holding her drink. ‘It never gets boring.’
I turn at the sound of footsteps. Rafa and Jones.
‘I thought you fought demons?’ I say to her.
‘We hunt demons. We amuse ourselves in bars.’
‘Speak for yourself,’ Jones says. ‘I came for a quiet drink.’
‘Blame Rafa. I didn’t throw a punch.’
Another police car pulls up. We move further into the shadows.
‘Come with us,’ Mya says. ‘One job. Open your eyes to what goes on in the real world.’
‘No.’
‘I’m happy to come back tomorrow night. And the one after. My calendar’s free, Gabe.’
I can feel Rafa beside me. His anger.
‘I only found out a few days ago that I can use a sword. I’m not a mercenary, Mya. I’d get in the way—or get myself killed.’
She studies me. ‘What if I told you I had something of Jude’s? Something you could have if you did this job.’ My breath hitches.
‘For fuck’s sake,’ Rafa says, voice tight. ‘Don’t get sucked in.’
‘Like what?’ I ask.
‘His laptop.’
For a second, nobody speaks.
‘Bullshit,’ Rafa says. ‘He had it with him.’
‘No, he didn’t. And I took it.’
‘You what?’
‘I took it. Come on, we all knew something was going on when he started talking to Gabe again. When he left that last time, I borrowed it. And when he didn’t come back’—she pauses—‘I kept it.’
‘You’ve had it this whole time?’ Rafa’s words are measured, loaded.
‘I’ll give it to you and Gabe if you do this job.’
I swallow. Find my voice again. ‘What’s on it?’
‘You can find that out for yourself.’
Rafa shakes his head. ‘There’s nothing on it. She wouldn’t be offering it up if there was.’
But it’s Jude’s laptop. The real Jude. Whatever’s on there will tell me something about who he was. Maybe something about where he is now. It’s another lead, another possibility.
I fold my arms, dig my nails into warm skin. ‘If we do this, will you stay away from here? No more fights? No more threats to Jason or Maggie?’
Rafa steps in front of me. ‘You seriously want to go with her?’
‘No, I want that laptop.’
He breathes into my ear. ‘We need to leave, Gaby.’ Searches my face for something he doesn’t find. ‘Fuck.’ He kicks an empty can into the wall. Walks from one side of the alley to the other and back again.
‘What is it—a lead on the Fallen or a paying job?’ Even in the shadowy alley I can see how coiled he is, how furious.
‘Paying job,’ Mya says. ‘A big one.’
‘Where?’
She finishes her drink, puts the glass on a ledge. ‘I’m only giving the briefing once. You’ll have to turn up like everyone else.’
‘Where?’
‘The sandbox. Pack light. You’ve got an hour.’
‘What about—’ I say, but I�
�m talking to an empty alley. Bloody Rephaim and their ability to always get in the last word.
Jones rubs his knuckles. ‘I’m sorry it went down like that,’ he says to Rafa. ‘But I’m not sorry you’re coming back. And you,’ he says to me. ‘It’ll make for a nice change to be fighting on the same side again.’
And then he’s gone too.
I can’t bring myself to face Rafa. I’m glad for the distraction of an ambulance pulling up in the street. Its sirens are off, but the lights are flashing, and—
‘Shit!’ I flinch. Taya is standing in the shadows inside the alley, half her face lit by the streetlight.
‘You are not joining that whore and her Outcasts.’ She’s breathless, a black eye already blossoming. Someone got in a lucky shot, but I bet it wasn’t so lucky for them a split-second later.
‘You’re right,’ I say. ‘I’m not. I’m doing one job.’
‘Do you even know what a job with Mya involves?’ She looks at Rafa. ‘Have you told her?’
He doesn’t answer.
‘You may as well spit in Nathaniel’s face if you do this,’ she says to me. ‘And your own. If you remembered who you were you would never team up with that psychopath.’
‘You saw that debacle in there. I don’t have a choice.’
‘Of course you do. I can have twenty Rephaim here tomorrow night—’
‘And turn Pan Beach into a war zone? How many innocent people do you think will get hurt?’
‘Not too many innocents in there, Gabe.’
‘Of course there are! Have you people completely lost all value for human life?’
‘What? No…’ She frowns. ‘Of course we haven’t.’
‘Then value the people who come here for a few hours to escape all the other crap they have to deal with.’
‘We can take Mya—’
I smack my palm on the bricks. ‘I don’t want you to take her. There’s been enough violence between all of you already.’
‘Since when did you care?’
‘Since she started thinking like a human,’ Rafa says, gruff. I have no idea if that’s a compliment or not.
I look from one to the other. ‘I’m not screwing anyone over. I’m not taking sides. I’m trying to keep everyone safe. And if you overheard that conversation then you know Mya has Jude’s laptop, so there’s a chance I can find out more about what was going on a year ago—’