Ante Up: A Sin City Collectors Novella

by Amanda Carlson

  “Okay,” Sofia started as she perched on the arm of the sofa, “to make myself perfectly clear, I had no idea Diesel was anywhere near here when I called you.” She directed her gaze at Neve. “I’m new in town, and I had no one else to turn to, so I called you. But don’t worry, dhampir, I fully intend to pay you for your time.”

  Before Neve could answer, Luke interjected, “Why was the incubus after you in the first place?”

  Sofia shrugged. “Now that, I have no idea, but I’m hoping we find out very soon.” She directed a pointed look at Ginger, who was actively focused on reading the back of the cracker box.

  Luke followed Sofia’s gaze and arched an eyebrow. Once his eyes landed on Ginger, they stayed there.

  Ginger appeared uncomfortable as all eyes in the room turned to her. She finally sighed and gave in. “The incubus is my brother.”

  When she said nothing else, Neve said, “And?” It was two in the morning. That didn’t help matters.

  Ginger set the cracker box down and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt for a moment. She stood a foot taller than both Sofia and Neve. The best way to describe her was statuesque. When she finally met Sofia’s eyes, she appeared resigned. Sofia nodded once to let her know it was okay to share. “My brother has been estranged from me—and my entire family—since he came of age. For an incubus, that’s age sixteen. It’s been many years since I’ve last seen him. He belongs to a group of incubi who hold very stringent beliefs—beliefs not shared by most of us. It has…changed him.”

  “What does that have to do—”

  Sofia cut the dhampir off with a slice of her hand. This was her inquisition. Sofia had waited a long time for answers, and she was determined to get them herself. “How come you never told me you had a brother? We lived together for years.” Sofia tried to keep the hurt out of her voice, but it seeped in around the edges anyway.

  Ginger flashed Sofia a weak smile. “Damien was out of my life by that time. I’d tried for years, before I’d ever met you, to save him from his fate. But during that time…awful things happened”—she glanced down at the floor, her cheeks flaming for a moment—“and in the end, I realized I couldn’t save him. So, with a heavy heart, I moved on with my life, which meant leaving him out of it completely.”

  “Is that why you were Collected back in New York by the GCC?” Sofia asked. “Because of the awful things?”

  Neve and Jake both straightened in their seats. Neve narrowed her eyes. “She was Collected? How long ago?”

  Ginger met the dhampir’s stare head-on and answered, “Twenty years, but I was released. They didn’t have enough evidence to pin anything on me. But that wasn’t surprising, since I hadn’t committed any crimes in the first place. The group my brother was involved with framed me.”

  Sofia asked, “Why?”

  “I snuck into the organization under the guise of a pallakis, which is the equivalent of a concubine to an incubus, but I was soon discovered. The Sumerians took me prisoner, but I eventually escaped. Once I did, they retaliated with brutal efficiency by framing me for the things I had witnessed. I’d become a great threat to them. But I swear to you all, I’m innocent of any wrongdoing. The only thing I’m guilty of is trying to save someone I loved very much.”

  Neve gazed at the succubus intently. “If the Collection agency thinks you’ve committed crimes,” she said, “they’re not going to give up trying to find you. If they didn’t have enough to convict you twenty years ago, I guarantee they’ve been digging for information on you ever since.”

  Ginger nodded. “Which is the reason I’ve been in hiding all these years. But once I received news my brother had reached the age when he’s required to take…a wife, I knew I had to come out of hiding and interfere once again, no matter the consequences.”

  “Once the SCC finds out you’re here, you’re at risk for an immediate Collection,” Jake commented.

  “Yes,” Ginger replied simply.

  Sofia bit her lip and tossed the information around in her head. “How long have you known I’m your brother’s target for a…wife?” Sofia finally asked.

  Ginger cast her gaze past her friend before answering. “I knew you were on The Sumerians’ radar many years ago, but I’d only discovered it by chance. I’d hoped, after leaning on them, that they would ultimately decide to leave you alone. For two decades, I’ve worked tirelessly against them, trying to convince them to give up their pursuit of you,” Ginger answered. “The Sumerians answer to one leader.” She held up a finger. “And that incubus is supremely powerful. He controls all the decisions, chooses all the brides for himself and his following. I haven’t been able to dissuade him in all these years. It’s now become a big game to him.”

  “Brides, as in plural?” Sofia balked.

  “Yes, every bride is required to marry into the organization first, which technically means you must first marry the leader,” Ginger said. “It’s all about gathering power, and he does so by choosing strong women with unique talents.”

  “How did you find out they were coming for me now?” Sofia asked.

  “While I was their prisoner, I made secret connections within the organization, and I continue to pay dearly for the information.” Ginger smiled. “Actually, keeping you safe has blossomed into a booming business for me.”

  “Really?” Luke piped in, curiosity in his voice. “And what business would that be?”

  She glanced around the room. Sofia could see that Ginger wasn’t happy about sharing with a group of strangers. Sofia nodded, letting her know she could trust them. Ginger folded her hands in front of herself, looking resigned. “I run the biggest supernatural spy network in the world. We buy and sell everything, but mostly information,” Ginger said. “It’s a booming business, but it’s very dangerous. Let’s face it, none of us really wants our secrets out there, so once they’re leaked, supernaturals tend to…retaliate.”

  Sofia shot a glance at Neve and saw that the dhampir appeared as shocked as she felt. Jake cleared his throat. “If you’re the biggest network in the world, there’s only one organization I can think of. Are you with Dossier?”

  Ginger’s eyes twinkled. It was the first time Sofia saw her old friend shine through. “I am Dossier.”

  The information almost blew Sofia over. She was extremely glad she was sitting down. Everyone knew about Dossier. It’s where you turned when you wanted the goods on anyone and everyone. But the cost was unimaginable, and the organization was cloaked in secrecy.

  “Why are you telling us this?” Neve demanded as she stood up. “The agency has a folder on Dossier as thick as my thigh. Your spy network probably breaks about a thousand of our laws. If you were up for a Collection before, this will ensure you’re locked up for decades, if not worse. I don’t get it.”

  Ginger shook her head and calmly folded her arms across her body. “No, I’m not at risk to be Collected for Dossier. Because, without me, your agency loses at least half of its capacity to gather intel. I’m vital to your organization, whether the SCC wants to admit it or not. And everything I do is up-front. There is no illegal activity. I just told you I buy and sell information for a living—I’m not in the pixie slave-trade business.” She smirked. “But I can tell you who is for the right price.”

  Sofia saw that Neve was ready to explode, so she stood up herself. “Okay”—she put her arms out—“everyone needs to calm down. This is huge news, but that doesn’t erase the problem in front of us right now. The priority has to be what’s going on with The Sumerians. Why is the incubus here in the first place? We can worry about Ginger’s line of work later.” And worry she would. She directed her next question to Ginger. “I’m getting the picture that you’re appearance here is not just about me. Yes, I’m being targeted, but this is bigger than that, isn’t it? It’s about getting The Sumerians once and for all for you.” She glanced hard at her friend. “Don’t lie to me.”

  “In a way, yes,” Ginger conceded. “I’ve waited a very long time to get
my retribution. Their leader is here, in Vegas, with just a few of his following. One of them is my brother. None of them has any idea I’m here. Their leader thinks he has successfully led me on a wild-goose chase and believes I’m currently halfway around the world, which is why I couldn’t take your phone calls for more than a few seconds. I also had a modifier on my phone, which made it difficult to communicate, but it was a necessary step to cloak me. The leader of The Sumerians is extremely powerful.” She grinned. “But I’ve always been more clever. Make no mistake, this is about you first, my dearest friend and sister. I couldn’t stand it if anything were to happen to you. If you were to fall victim to The Sumerians, after everything I’ve done to protect you, I would never forgive myself. So here I am.”

  Sofia was once again astounded by this information. While she’d been living in San Fran, selling spells and living a moderately mundane life, her best friend had begun a secret spy network to protect her. Sofia’s stomach heaved with the news. “Why did you leave me so quickly all those years ago? Was it because of Dossier?”

  “No,” Ginger replied. “I started Dossier after I left. As I said before, I found out you were on The Sumerians’ radar by chance—in fact, I might have been directly responsible for leading them to you in the first place, which makes me sick to think about. It was all a mistake. I was tired and wasn’t paying attention, and I never meant to leave so abruptly, but I had no choice.”

  Sofia could hear the sincerity in her voice. “Tell me what happened. I need to understand it all.”

  “The night I was freed from my wrongful Collection, I was unaware that some of The Sumerians followed me home. Once I arrived back at our house, you were sleeping soundly on the couch, and I was ashamed I’d made you worry, so I left you to your dreams, knowing I would have to tell you everything in the morning—”

  Sofia cleared her throat, interrupting. “I wasn’t asleep, and you know it. You’re being too kind. You saw the needles. I know you did. I was tranqed up on a special witch’s concoction. I hadn’t slept for the entire two weeks you went missing, and I’d just received your phone call. I needed sleep badly. That was my only excuse. I didn’t wake up for another sixteen hours, and by the time I did, you were long gone.”

  Ginger bowed her head. “It’s true, I left. But it was because later that night I awoke to a commotion, only to find the leader of The Sumerians hovering over you. He said one word—one I was not supposed to hear. Mine. I knew then and there that I had to do everything to protect you from the horrors of his organization. So I did the only thing I knew how—I blackmailed him into leaving you alone.” Ginger shrugged her shoulders. “I told him what I had on him, all the proof I’d gathered, what I’d kept from the agency on purpose to save my brother. I told him that I’d happily go back and give them what I had if he didn’t leave you alone. He agreed to the bribe, but I knew he wouldn’t keep his word. Once he found a way to kill me, or to destroy the evidence, he would be back. I had no choice but to go into hiding. My business endeavors worked perfectly with my lifestyle, and the rest is history.”

  Sofia glanced over at Diesel on the couch, processing what Ginger had just told them. Diesel still slept, but she’d seen him twitch a few times. He’d wake soon. She was going to have to reevaluate weight specifications with her spells. Diesel wasn’t a normal-sized supernatural when he was under the moon’s harsh grasp, and her spell had been crafted for the standard supe.

  Diesel was not standard.

  Sofia was relieved he’d be waking up soon. She found herself looking forward to hearing what he had to say about all this. She knew he’d have something relevant to add. She paused before she said, “The rest is history, Ginger. A history we don’t share. After you sold the house, I moved, and I didn’t keep in contact with any of our friends. I wanted a clean slate. Everything between us over the years has been separate.”

  Ginger looked a little sheepish. “Not everything. I’ve been keeping tabs on you to make sure you stayed safe.” Sofia didn’t know whether to be happy about that or not. Her friend had known where she was and had never reached out, but at least now Sofia understood why. “Please,” Ginger said, “you have to understand. I sold the house to get you to leave. I needed you gone, away from where The Sumerians would search for you. It was no mistake you met Raoul, either. He was my saving grace and ended up coming to work for Dossier after you were settled in San Francisco.” Ginger grabbed the box of crackers off the counter, shaking it once before she plucked one out. “Once Raoul made sure you hadn’t been followed, I made sure there was no way to trace you.”

  There was a grunt from the couch. “Who the fuck is Raoul?”

  Diesel shook himself awake and opened his eyes. Man, he felt like he’d been asleep for a week.

  “What did you just say?” Sofia asked as she leaned over him, her hair like a curtain around them. For a full second, all he could think about was kissing her.

  “Huh? I didn’t say anything.” Diesel sat up, rotating his neck, making the joints pop, while he took in his surroundings.

  “Yes, you did, wolf.” Nevada actually laughed, which was a rare sound. “You said, and I quote, ‘Who the fuck is Raoul?’ We all heard it.”

  Damn, he’d said that out loud?

  He looked over and saw that Jake was grinning like a madman, but Sofia had her arms crossed in front of her. She had a small smile playing on her full lips, so he knew she wasn’t too disgruntled.

  “Hmm, I guess I did,” Diesel admitted. “I sorta woke up and heard what sounded like background noise, but some of the conversation must’ve come through.” He glanced around, his gaze landing on the only person he didn’t recognize in the room. “And when I heard her”—he nodded toward the redhead—“mentioning Raoul saving someone, I guess it stuck with me.”

  Without missing a beat, the redhead answered, “I said he was my saving grace.” She punctuated it by popping a cracker in her mouth. “And he’s just a friend of Sofia’s, so don’t worry too much.”

  “Not worried,” Diesel said. “Now, can someone please tell me what the hell is going on? I was sent here with a job to do, which clearly just went into the shit can. I need to know why I’m sitting in Sofia’s living room and what happened to the incubus I was after. I can only remember bits and pieces, but I know I had that bastard by the throat at one point.”

  He also remembered being close to finishing the asshole, which may or may not have been a good thing. He should feel relieved about that, but his feelings were mixed.

  “You’re going to have to tell us,” Sofia said. “We have no idea why you’re here. An incubus was harassing me, and all of a sudden you were here tearing through my neighbor’s garage after him. My human neighbor, by the way. It’s a good thing he is out of town. And before you say anything about me defending myself, the incubus was cloaked. I still can’t figure out what spell was used. I should’ve been able to detect his location if he was that close, but nothing registered.” Sofia looked puzzled. “That’s never happened to me before.”

  Diesel scratched his head. He remembered breaking off from Luke, but then things got real fuzzy.

  He glanced over at his brother.

  Luke shrugged. “I can’t help you, DJ. I have no idea why you were going after this guy in the first place. And, I might point out right here, you never told me he was a sex demon either.”

  “Of course I didn’t.” Diesel held his tongue, wanting to add more, but this wasn’t the venue to air his grievances. “If you’d known, you would’ve tried to talk me out of it. It wasn’t your job to do, it was mine. He’s wanted for questioning, but that’s all I’m saying.”

  “So what you’re telling us is, he’s not up for a Collection and Louie just wants to talk to him.” Neve snorted. “If you’re not here on official business, you should be able to share some details without being penalized. Now we’re all curious, especially after what Red just told us about her spy network. This entire thing just got a whole lot more interestin
g.”

  “My mouth is closed on the subject,” Diesel said firmly as he stood and stretched, looking directly at the succubus. “Spy network? You must be Ginger. Sofia’s long-lost…friend.”

  “I am.” The redhead nodded.

  “Is the incubus your brother?” he asked.

  “He is.”

  Diesel glanced over at Neve and Jake, and then his eyes landed on Luke. He wasn’t going to discuss anything with them, even if he wasn’t on an official Collection. Betraying Louie’s trust his first time out of the gate wasn’t cool. But if what Louie had told him was the truth, the real person he wanted was the succubus standing not twenty feet from him, not her brother.

  He rubbed the back of his neck while he turned it over in his mind. Never in a million years had Diesel thought the incubus Louie had tasked him to find would have anything to do with anyone he knew—much less Sofia. Now he had to figure out what to do. Sofia was staring at him with a particular look on her face, but he had no idea what she was thinking.

  This whole scenario was confusing as shit, but the only thing to do was wait it out until he had more information to go on. He wasn’t going to call Louie half-cocked.

  Sofia interrupted his thoughts. “Are you hungry? You went through quite an ordeal out there. Can I offer you anything to eat or drink?”

  “No, I’m fine,” he answered. “I just need to know as much as you can tell me about the incubus. Why was he here in the first place?”

  Sofia tossed Ginger a look. “It seems The Sumerians are interested in making me their communal bride. Am I right?” She directed her question at the succubus, but her eyes edged back to Diesel before the redhead answered.