by Selina Woods
“You have a problem with my killing him?” I stared the shifter in the eye.
Rather than duck his head in fear, the guy grinned. “Nope. I just admire it, that’s all. You gave an order, and he died because he ignored it.”
“Stupid-ass should have known better,” one of the others muttered. “You never ignore the boss’s order.”
Feeling a little more inclined to like these guys, I studied the menu and decided to try the fried chicken this time around. “That’s a good choice, boss,” said one of them after we ordered. “The cook spices it just right, I’m telling you.”
As before, none of the diners seemed to realize the city’s gang lord sat among them, and I discovered I liked not creating a panic. I watched the crowd around the corpse come and go and stiffened when a trio of enforcers arrived to study it. They talked among themselves for a few minutes, the people hurrying away from them, and when they turned, I saw what I had most hoped to see on their faces.
Fear.
“They won’t mess with that little gal again,” said a guard, satisfaction in his voice. “Look at them. They’re about to piss their drawers.”
I joined in the general chuckles around the table and watched while eating Hyde’s delicious food. More enforcers came; some left with anger on their expressions, most with fear, a few with bewilderment. Now that they knew what happened when they disobeyed me, I hoped Iliana would remain safe.
Chapter Five
Hyde came, as before, to check on the quality of the food. “Is everything all right, sir?” he asked, his voice deferential and hardly what I had experienced the night before.
“Yes, it was excellent. My regards to your cook.”
By the near smile that creased his lips, he heard what I truly meant—my regards to Iliana. “I will convey them, sir. Thank you. And once again, the meal is on the house.”
We sat there for quite a while longer, sipping sodas and watching the ebb and flow around the body, and I planned to leave a healthy tip for the waitress who served us with terror in her eyes. More enforcers drove slowly past the corpse in their vehicles as others gaped on the sidewalk, while the civilians in the neighborhood had pretty much stopped coming by.
It had become like old news to them.
“Think it’s come to stink by now?” I asked my guards.
“Not yet,” one replied. “By tomorrow, yeah.”
“Brand will cut it down and haul it to the quarry after nightfall tomorrow,” I said. “It’ll be ripe by then.”
“Poor guy,” one snickered.
“Hey, that’s why he gets paid the big bucks,” said another, and I almost laughed aloud.
By midafternoon, I’d had enough, tipped the waitress sufficiently to make her eyes go round, then left the Headmaster. I headed toward the cars on the next block, the other guards seeing me and drifting along to follow. Rather than get into the big SUV, I leaned against it.
“Where to now, boss?”
I glanced around the street with its few cars and trucks passing by. “Where do you think the night stalkers would get their dope?”
I received many shrugs and questioning glances, but one big shifter stepped closer to me. “I heard a rumor, boss,” he said, “just a rumor now, that there’s a guy near the old car manufacturing plants that makes the stuff.”
“You sure about that?”
“No, sir, as I said, it’s a rumor I heard. Only the stalkers know for sure, and they ain’t gonna tell the likes of us.”
“No,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest. “They aren’t. Did your rumors say anything else?”
He nibbled his lip, glancing away, thinking. “If I recall, and I’m not saying my memory is exact, sir, but I heard he works out of the old Ford plant.”
I adjusted my sunglasses. “Does anyone besides the night stalkers use that shit?”
Scoffs and eye rolls met my question. “None of your guards do, boss,” he replied. “I doubt the enforcers do, as they know the consequences. You’d hang them higher than that feller over there if they did.”
While I never gave that particular order, my predecessors had, and my crews merely expected me to do the same. I would hang any who used that shit, of course, had I discovered any of my people using. “What about the ordinary people?” I asked. “Would they use it?”
The guards glanced at one another. “Not likely, boss,” I was told. “It’s expensive, and they can’t afford it.”
“So how do the predators get the money? They don’t work, and they rape and kill as much as steal. How do they manage to pay this fellow who makes it?”
For that question I received confused gapes. “No idea, boss.”
I straightened from the hood of my vehicle. “I want to take a drive by the old Ford plant,” I said, walking around to the driver’s door.
Following the two cars in front, my little motorcade drove among the rutted streets and dilapidated structures where the once-thriving vehicle industry had operated. These days, no more cars or trucks were manufactured, and good mechanics were well paid to keep what vehicles were left on the road in good working order. Cars were expensive, and only those who could pay for them had them.
As I drove, I wondered how difficult it might be to start these plants working again. To start manufacturing cars and trucks, and selling them to other cities, safe zones as well as those still ruled by gangs. I’d have almost complete power over the land. I’d have power, authority, almost beyond belief, and the temptation to further examine the issue took hold of me.
“First, I have to get rid of the dope,” I muttered, gazing around at the rubble, the wrecked cars and semis along the roads. “Keep the people safe first, then start hiring workers to run the plants.”
As I had no idea what to look for, I saw no structure that might house a drug maker. I didn’t find any night stalker heading for a particular building to point me in the right direction and found no people on the streets at all. That struck me as peculiar, as even in the most run-down areas of Detroit, the former slums, had people living in the old, half-destroyed buildings.
There were none at all here.
I saw no evidence that any residents lived in this region of the town.
“Interesting,” I said to myself as I turned my SUV toward the turnpike that would take me to my penthouse.
Once there, I called Brand to me. “I think I may have an idea,” I told him, pulling two sodas from the refrigerator and handing him one. “Have your people look around the old car manufacturing plants.”
He frowned, popping the tab and releasing a hiss. “Why there?”
“No one lives there.”
He had started to take a drink, then spluttered, spraying soda everywhere. I grinned.
“Seriously?” he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Think about it,” I said. “Even the poorest folks who have nowhere else to go will avoid places the night stalkers frequent. They’d be raped and killed, and will go elsewhere to live before that happens.”
Brand took a full drink, then swallowed, nodding thoughtfully. “You have a good point, Griffin. They’d know that neighborhood, and of course, they’d stay away from it, if you’re right, of course.”
“I won’t say that I am,” I told him. “With less than a quarter of the population this town used to have; anyone can live anywhere. I just have never seen an area that had no one at all.”
“Nor have I.”
“Send the enforcers who have nothing to do in there,” I told him. “Let them search, from building to building, and find this drug dealer.”
He eyed me with uneasy speculation. “They won’t like this particular detail. boss.”
“Nope. They won’t. And any with a complaint can come to me.”
He shook his head. “To be killed? I don’t think so, sir. They’ll desert you.”
I shrugged lazily. “Let them know that any who tries to desert will be drawn and quartered in full view of the publi
c. Then I will hire civilians to work in their place. I have no doubt the population will jump at the chance to gain good cash while getting rid of those who prey upon them.”
Brand’s eyes bulged in his head. “You’re talking about setting up a democracy.”
“If I have to.”
Now that statement would be the greatest test of Brand’s loyalty. I had just either gotten myself killed or Detroit would become a city ruled by a governing council with me at its head, and an armed civilian militia to keep the peace. If he wanted to maintain the status quo, he’d immediately begin to plot my assassination. If he agreed with me, I’d just won a good right hand.
His expression gave me little to go by. “I will send the enforcers into that area with strict orders to find the drug manufacturer,” he said, “and inform any that object that they will be drawn and quartered in full public view.”
“Great,” I replied, my voice neutral.
“Uh, what is it to be drawn and quartered?” he asked, his face sheepish.
I chuckled. “Hung by the neck while pulled apart from the arms and legs,” I answered. “In ancient days, they used horses. These days, I expect we’ll use vehicles.”
Brand shuddered. “What a horrid death. I will make sure all those going in there will understand their fate if they plan to object.”
“You do that,” I replied, and watched him head for the elevator.
After he had gone, I paced to the balcony and endured the cold wind as I gazed out and down. I knew I dared not trust him, for he could swing either way. I simply had no clue what he thought of the current system, or if he had hopes for a city with less death and cruelty. I could easily stay in power, even as the head of a democratic council.
“Especially if I got the plants running again,” I muttered as I gazed out and into the distance. “If I did that, I could rule what was once America.”
That is, I reminded myself, if I could survive the transition.
My wounds itched, and that reminded me of Iliana. I craved to see her again and wondered if Hyde would approve of my paying court to her. Paying court. What an old-fashioned idea. These days, people mated without much pomp or circumstance, as the need to keep each species alive by procreating quickly spurred them to mate. I knew I liked Iliana, but did I want her for a potential life partner?
I had no answer to that. I grew cold enough to finally wander back inside and close the glass doors, locking them. As usual, I quickly grew restless and bored again and pondered ditching my guards to roam the streets again. Deciding that guards tagging along while on a romantic jaunt would effectively deter said romance, I locked the elevator and shoved my gun into the small of my back.
Taking the stairs down again, I changed forms and loped out of the alley. Sunset was still a few hours away, and the streets I went down held the usual number of civilians, and yet many of the lounging enforcers were missing from their street corners. Hoping they were on the drug-sniffing detail, I hit the downtown area and changed into my human half.
Without the rifle-toting guards and the black SUV, I was relatively anonymous as I walked down the sidewalk with my hands in my pockets. Heading for the Devil’s Headmaster and hungry again, I thought perhaps to have an early dinner with Iliana. I went inside, seeing the place half empty at that particular hour, and went into the back.
Hyde sat in his office with papers strewn across his desk, and he glanced up to find me in his doorway. “Hey,” he said, surprised. “What’s up?”
Feeling sheepish for asking what I didn’t truly need permission for, I tried not to squirm. “I, uh, was wondering if you’d object to my, you know, seeing Iliana.”
Hyde’s surprise changed to incredulity. “I can’t believe you just asked me that.”
Irritation at his words grew, and on the heels of that, anger. “Why? Am I not good enough? Shit, man, I saved her life.”
Oddly, Hyde laughed. “You misunderstand me, Griffin.” He stood up and came around his desk. “I can’t believe it because it’s such an old-fashioned notion to ask my blessing.”
My anger deflated like a popped balloon. “Yeah, well, maybe it is,” I said, shoving my hands into my pockets. “But with everyone and their brother trying to put their hands on her, I just wanted you to know my intentions are, well, a bit more honorable.”
“So, you really like her then?”
I tried not to squirm under his scrutiny. “Yeah, of course. She’s sweet, and kind, and has guts for such a tiny thing. If it weren’t for her jumping on the enforcer’s back when she did, it would have been tougher for me to kill him.”
Hyde nodded, a peculiar smile creasing his lips. “As it happens, Iliana likes you, too. She thinks you’re cute.”
“Cute? Good God.”
He laughed again. “Yeah, you have my permission to see her. Being the overprotective fool that I am, I need to know where she is. That okay with you?”
“Why not? If I plan to run away to mate and raise little Griffins and Ilianas, I’ll let you know.”
“Do that. She’s working in that little cubicle down the hall.”
Like her father, Iliana looked up to find me and frowned slightly. “Is something wrong?”
“Nope. I just wanted to see you,” I told her, wondering if despite her father’s approval, maybe she didn’t want to see me. Even if she did think I was cute.
Her warm smile and the brightness in her blue eyes had my heart flip-flopping in my chest. “Really? That’s, er, wonderful. Sit down. I was just going over invoices.”
I sat down in the chair in front of her desk, admiring her perfect features, and the sleek fall of her hair. “So, you work for your old man?”
She grimaced slightly. “Yeah. It keeps me from going out of my mind with boredom. You know I can’t go anywhere, or do anything, so it helps to have something to do.”
“Maybe you might like to go somewhere?” I asked. “With me?”
“I don’t know if my dad will let me.”
“I already asked him,” I replied with a grin. “As long as he knows where you are, he’s cool.”
Iliana brightened considerably. “You know, I’d really just like to go for a walk. Just to breathe the fresh air, and see people and things.”
“We have about an hour before it gets dark,” I said. “Want to go now?”
“Yes.”
We checked in with Hyde, who granted his permission. “Just be careful, all right?” he asked, his expression slightly worried.
“I’ll have her back before dark,” I promised.
Iliana breathed deeply as we walked away from the Headmaster, and didn’t seem to mind when I held her hand. People passed us by with faint smiles, and if I was recognized, no one panicked. “Tell me about yourself,” she said, smiling up at me, the sun dancing across her eyes.
“What’s to tell?” I asked, strolling along with her and yet keeping a watch at our backs.
“Do you have family?”
“Nope. I was raised in an orphanage,” I told her. “I was on my own by age eight, and became an enforcer when I was twelve.”
“How terrible.”
“Yeah, maybe. I had to fight to survive. Being big for my age helped, and I killed my way to the top.”
I half feared that statement, that confession, would make her pull away from me, withdraw her hand from mine. I expected her to, for how could a sweet, beautiful girl like her want to fall in love with a killer, a murderer? Me and my kind preyed upon her and her kind and forced her to become a hermit in order to survive.
Yet Iliana didn’t pull away from me. I didn’t sense her emotional withdrawal in her silence, and I glanced down to see what might be on her expression. Perhaps feeling my gaze on her, Iliana looked up. “This isn’t a kind world we live in, Griffin,” she said softly. “You aren’t the only one who had to kill to keep on living.”
“Maybe not,” I replied. “But I also didn’t have to become an enforcer and keep killing. I made that choice.”
That silenced me and forced me to think about my life and what I had done. “No,” I replied. “I can’t. I did what I had to do at the time, or I’d have died. I sometimes wish circumstances hadn’t forced me to do what I did, but I can’t make myself regret anything.”
Strangely, Iliana smiled. “And it made you strong, tough, a leader. And now, my protector.”
“Is it possible to be more than that?” I asked.
“If it weren’t, I wouldn’t be here with you now.”
“Because I saved your life?”
Iliana grinned. “Because I liked how you looked at me when you smiled.”
“Oh.”
Wandering on, we stopped at storefronts and talked of inconsequential things, her dreams of one day having a mate and little ones. I refrained from telling her my ambitions to one day turn Detroit into a city that manufactured vehicles again, and putting myself at the very top. The idea was too fresh in my mind to share, and might very well get me killed.
“We’d better turn back,” I told her. “I don’t want Hyde getting pissed at me.”
Iliana laughed. “That’s funny, you know. You have the power to do what you want, but you’re worried about making my dad angry.”
“Your dad has a temper equal to mine,” I replied with a grin. “He won’t let me see you if he’s mad.”
Ambling back toward the Devil’s Headmaster, my stomach rumbled. “Think we might eat before you and Hyde head for home?”
“Yeah, we usually do. Then get home before the night stalkers come out.”
“I have plans to get rid of them,” I said. “I want this town to be safer for everyone.”
“That’s a very noble plan, Griffin,” she said, squeezing my hand. “But how? Those predators are so hard to find, much less kill.”
“I’ve got my enforcers out searching for the source of their drugs. Knock that out, bring them out into the open.”
Before she could answer, I spotted a pair of shifters watching us closely. They lounged across the street from us, intermittent cars and trucks rolled in between. I stiffened as I walked, my instincts screaming a warning as their eyes never left us even after we passed them. A quick glance over my shoulder showed me the pair crossing the street.