“Butch, Leon, give us a moment alone.”
Neither of them moved. Way to blow my image, guys.
Butch stepped a little closer. “I don’t really see the need—”
“I’ll be fine.”
Leon coughed. “I think that for the—”
“I said, it’s quite all right.” Neither of them budged. Wonderful. This was exactly what I needed to enforce the image of me being capable. Two babysitters.
Alexandria laughed softly. “Aw, they’re afraid to leave their little ward. How sweet.”
“Butch, Leon, please step outside so that I don’t have to go into the alleyway with Alexandria, unless you want me to do it while you’re napping.” I knew I was getting the evil eye on both sides. Maybe that had been a little low of me, but couldn’t a girl protect herself once in a while?
They were both grumbling as they left, Leon saying something to Butch about how I was bluffing. Butch was physically urging him toward the door anyway, saying he didn’t want to take the chance. Thank God for Butch, because I was pretty sure I had been bluffing.
I waited until the door closed and I saw them take a few steps away before turning on Alexandria. “What did you come here for?”
She stood and circled the chair until she was resting both hands on the back of it. “I was concerned for Kane, is all.”
“Nope. Try again.”
“Why is that surprising to you? We have a very long history. And now look at him. Slumming it with the poor little Shadow Walker who’s so fragile she can’t be left alone.”
“As fun as this verbal swap is proving to be, I’ve got other matters I need to handle today. Get to your point?”
She leaned forward. “You need to leave, and I’m going to give you the opportunity to do it on your own.”
I should tell her to fuck off and get out of here, but instead I asked, “Why is that?” Stupid. You don’t engage with crazy. As someone who used to be crazy, I knew this all too well.
“Because Kane is getting attached to your pathetic little life, and I’d hate to see him hurt when you die.” She stood and leaned over the desk, all done in super speed.
I knew it. She still wanted Kane. “Don’t you have a hairy little man already?”
“You must know you don’t measure up. It will never last. I mean, look at you.”
Fucking yoga pants. “And if I don’t take this gracious opportunity you are affording me?”
She looked toward the door, where Leon and Butch had left. “Then that was a really stupid move.”
Common sense was screaming to tell her I’d think about her offer and get back to her. Or better yet, tell her that I agreed and then do nothing. I was too tense to choose those options. Had too much pent-up anger toward myself over the fact that Kane wasn’t here and I didn’t know what to do about it. So, instead of using common sense and stalling the problem until the future, after I had some time to ponder it, I said, “Get the fuck out of my face.”
“Bad choice.”
She was a blur until she materialized in front of me and I felt teeth sink into my skin.
It was painful as hell, and I realized this bitch wasn’t messing around. She was going to kill me. Here and now if I didn’t do something. “Get off me,” I said, feeling like I needed to offer her a warning as spells I didn’t know I possessed were filling my head.
She pulled harder on my vein, and I felt a weakness spreading through me fast. I wasn’t going to last long enough for another warning.
The words spilled out of my mouth, and I knew as I tasted the spell on my tongue that this wasn’t weak magic. I’d pulled from the top shelf.
Her fangs loosened their grip as she staggered back, grabbing her stomach. Her eyes were wide in horror. Her mouth opened as if she were trying to speak but couldn’t.
She was doubling over as I wondered what I’d done. How had I done it?
She fell to her knees, one hand wrapped around her throat now and the other planted on the floor as she looked up to me, agony showing on her face. And shock. Complete and utter shock. I recognized the expression, because I was feeling a good dose of it myself.
Was she dying? Oh shit. This…was not good. I scrambled inside my head for something to save her, but now I was drawing blanks.
I ran to the door, making sure I kept my still-bleeding neck out of sight. I forced a fake smile as I caught the eye of Butch, who was standing five or so feet away with Leon, still on the upper-level walkway. I nodded toward the inside of the office, and they did their best to not mad-dash it inside.
I shut the door as soon as they came in, and then all three of us were staring at the vampire in the middle of the room as the last twitch left her body.
Butch leaned down and flopped her over while trying not to touch her at the same time. “Holy shit! What did you do?”
I thought about the words I chanted as she’d sucked away on my jugular like she was having an afternoon smoothie. Thinking back, I might’ve said something along the lines of “final death,” and something or other about “hell and no return.” Yeah, definitely not worth repeating. “I don’t think I should repeat the spell.”
Leon nodded. “Very good idea.”
Butch looked at me. “Why’d you kill her?”
“I didn’t mean to. She started sucking on my neck. The words just came out,” I said, pointing to where I could still feel blood dripping. I was glad I’d worn a ratty sweatshirt now. If I’d been prancing around in a good dress, I’d be mighty upset.
Alexandria was completely still now, my blood still red on her lips. If she hadn’t been trying to kill me, I might’ve felt worse about it.
Leon started shaking his head. “Fuck. This is all we needed.”
“We shouldn’t have left her alone. I was afraid of this,” Butch added.
My head jerked from where Alexandria lay to them. “You mean you weren’t worried for me?”
“No. Her,” Butch said, pointing at the body. He stared for another few minutes before he groaned. “We’ve got a room full of vampires downstairs that all saw her come in here. Now what are we going to do?”
“What about the dungeon?” I pointed toward the closet that led to the door.
Leon squatted beside her. “Her body isn’t the issue. She’s going to be a pile of sludge soon anyway. The problem is, she goes missing and the last time she was seen was up here.” He was shaking his head. “The vampires already don’t like you.”
“If you’re going to dredge up the past, let me remind you that the first vampire I killed was in defense of a young girl who was being fed on, and—”
I had to hold my hands up before they started that same old argument that she wasn’t going to be killed.
“We don’t know whether or not she was going to survive. I did what I had to. And this was not my fault. If Alexandria had kept her teeth to herself, none of this would’ve happened.”
“If you’d let us stay in the room, none of this would’ve happened. You were itching for a fight, and you got one,” Leon said.
“Excuse me, but who were the two people who warned me about leaving little fleshy bits in the alley?” I waved my hands dramatically. “Oh, no, not you two? You never get your hands dirty.”
Butch glanced at Leon, who shrugged.
Leon straightened, wiping his hands on his pants. “Okay, so maybe we’ve done a few things. Now what?”
I walked over to the window, trying to get a head count. At nine in the evening, the place was already starting to fill up. “We create some sort of emergency that sends everyone running.”
This would still be her last known location, and I’d learned this wasn’t like human law, where you needed proof beyond a reasonable doubt before they threw you in jail. It was more along the lines of she was last seen at the Underground with the three of us and now she’s missing so let’s go fucking kill them this afternoon before we have our tea and cookies.
But it would buy us some time.
&
nbsp; “Like what?” Butch asked.
“I don’t know about this,” Leon said.
Butch turned to him before I could. “It can’t get any worse. We’re already fucked. Load up on French vanilla and man up.”
“It can always get worse,” Leon said, right before he headed over to the Keurig. “There’s only hazelnut.”
Chapter 33
Leon walked around the main floor of the Underground, kicking debris out of his way and shoving at an overturned table with only two legs left. “What did I tell you both?”
I glanced at Butch, who did a swift shake of his head. Yeah, he didn’t think we were actually supposed to answer either. I brushed some cement dust off my leg and kept quiet.
“I told you, it can always get worse. I know this from lifelong experience. What did you two say? No, we’ve got this under control. It’s just going to be a flash of light, all smoke and mirrors to scare them off. Well, now look at us.” Leon stopped walking long enough to throw out his arms in dramatic effect that sent out a dust cloud. “What are we going to say when Kane gets back? Sorry, we destroyed your building? We had to cover up a murder that never should’ve happened?”
“The whole building isn’t destroyed. It appears to only be this main floor.” I patted the air in front of me. “We’ll get it fixed.”
My reply didn’t seem to have the effect I’d hoped for, as Leon ignored me and turned to Butch. “What did he tell us? Don’t let her do any magic in the building.”
Butch didn’t respond as he picked up a stray piece of metal and looked over at the window, as if trying to determine if it was from there.
Leon kicked another piece of cement. “And what did we do? Say yeah, good idea. Do your magic.”
I didn’t know who he was speaking to anymore, and I definitely didn’t remember the conversation sounding like that. Although he had a valid point.
Leon paced another circle around us, kicking up more dust as he moved. I leaned back on my hands, trying to evade an especially bad swirl, and immediately sat back up to pull a splinter out of my palm. “Let’s look on the bright side. The place looks like it was hit with a nuke—”
“That’s the bright side?” Butch asked, appearing to think I’d lost my marbles. “You were making more sense when you were hiding in the shower stall afraid of the crawlers.”
“First off, that’s just plain ole mean. I understand this didn’t work out so well, but what I was going to say was, we’re lucky the beam of light went off first and they all ran like hell. We could be sitting in dust and guts instead.” I was going to need tweezers for this.
Leon huffed. “Yeah, who knows what your body count would be up to by now.”
“She was sucking me down like I was her favorite afternoon smoothie. What was I supposed to do?” Oh, maybe I could suck the splinter out?
Leon circled around. “We are so fucked.”
“No, we aren’t. I’m going to get this fixed.” I gave up on the splinter and dug into my back pocket to find my cell phone had a smashed screen. I’d forgotten I’d landed on my ass during the blast. “Anyone have a working phone?”
“For what?” Butch asked.
“A contractor.”
I heard some cement shuffling around and a cough before DiC, Dwarf in Charge, walked in through a newly made hole in the wall.
“Seems like you’ve got a problem here,” he said, surveying the room. He pulled out a small spiral notepad from the inside of his impeccably tailored suit and started writing on it.
“You’re not getting the job,” Butch said.
DiC ignored Butch and continued around the room, making more notes.
“You can fix this?” I tossed Leon his phone back.
DiC stopped writing to look down his nose at me where I was sitting on the floor. “Of course I can.”
“I don’t want any part of this,” Butch said, and headed toward the office stairs that had survived the blast.
“How much?” Knowing the dwarves, it was going to cost me through the nose in spells. I had spells, though, and I didn’t want Kane to come back to his home looking like this.
“I’ll let you know after it’s done.” DiC scribbled some more.
Leon dipped his head in my direction and mouthed, “No.”
I ignored him. “How quick?”
“Couple of days.”
“Done.”
Leon was rolling his eyes when Butch poked his head out of the window in the office that overlooked the Underground. “The office is still mostly intact, other than missing windows.”
Leon leaned back to look at him. “The Keurig working?”
Butch ducked back in and then yelled, “Think so. Its light is on.”
The three of us were sitting up in Kane’s office a couple of hours later when I realized we’d fallen into this unhealthy pattern over the last few days. We’d all sit around in silence, as if we were mourning Kane, which was ridiculous.
I was standing by the window, distracting myself by watching the dwarves starting work below. I glanced over my shoulder. “Are we nervous about Kane missing yet?”
“Not yet.” Butch said it with less confidence than he had yesterday. Every day it got a little shakier.
“He said he was leaving. He didn’t just disappear,” Leon added.
I nodded. He was right. Too soon to panic. I looked back at the construction when two witches made their way in. It was the one I’d accidentally punched with magic and the one who’d run my memories like it was a cinema. I’d had a special hatred for Cinema Queen after she’d shared all the top hits of horrible moments from my life.
They stepped through the blasted door and made their way across the floor, swerving to avoid dwarves carrying supplies. They headed right for the stairs to the office. If they were here to screw with me, they’d picked the worst time.
Butch caught a glimpse of them climbing the stairs.
“Oh no, we can’t do this now,” Butch said, his words slightly mumbled as he ran in front of the door.
Leon obviously thought this was a bad idea too, since he ran and stood beside Butch, physically blocking the door.
I saw Leon’s hand shifting to the knob and locking it. “What are you doing? Let them in.”
“Oh no,” Leon said. “Not until you promise no more magic.”
The two witches were fast approaching, in clear view, since there was no window or shade on the door. “Let them in and I’ll try.”
Leon glanced over his shoulder. The witches were almost here. “Promise.”
“What if they try to kill me?”
“Everyone tries to kill you. That’s not good enough,” Butch whispered as the witches closed the distance.
They politely knocked on the office door, which struck me as a bit ridiculous. After all, we were all staring at each other, nothing separating us but dusty air.
“If you don’t let them in, I’m going to go out there.” I waited for that to scare them a little before I added, “And I won’t hose down the alley afterward.”
They gasped.
I nodded. That’s right. Stinky, fleshy bits in the alley.
They stepped out of the way.
If the witches had a clue what not hosing down the alley meant, it wasn’t obvious, as they said my name in a soft, polite tone. “Ollie?”
I opened the door and motioned them in.
“Do you mind if we call you Ollie?” Cinema Queen asked.
I shrugged. “What do you want?”
Broken Nose visibly swallowed, showing herself as the weak link. “We think we got off on the wrong foot.”
I nodded slowly. “Really? You do? That’s very interesting.”
Butch and Leon had worked their way around, so they were at the witches’ backs, and I quickly realized why. Leon shook his head, mouthing, “Don’t do it.”
Butch’s hands were in the prayer shape, and I’d love to know what god he prayed to. These two were way too dramatic. I wasn’t going to kill m
ore people today.
Most likely.
Cinema Queen took a half step toward me. “When you first came here, we didn’t really know what your intentions were, so we might’ve been harsh on you. Then, after the rain, we were understandably upset. We both took some shots at each other, but we’d like to bury the hatchet if you are willing.”
Leon and Butch vigorously nodded.
I made a hmmm noise. Butch and Leon might’ve been desperate for peace, but I saw some wiggle room here. “I don’t know. I might have to think about it.”
“Maybe we could…” One witch looked at the other witch as they scrambled to come up with a bribe.
Seriously? They didn’t have anything planned? They thought I’d roll over that easy?
“We could…” Broken Nose trailed off, as if she couldn’t come up with anything. She stepped a little closer to Cinema Queen, and I thought they might start hugging each other and crying soon.
Really? I was going to have to walk them through this? “How about you write me a check? I’ll consider it payment for past damages.” And my bank account could certainly use it.
“Definitely. How much would you like? Ten thousand?” Broken Nose asked.
My upper lip lifted, as if there was an odd smell in the room.
Cinema Queen jumped in. “A hundred thousand. She meant ten a week until we paid you a hundred.”
I didn’t look like I was smelling something funny anymore, but I wasn’t quite smelling roses either.
“And fifty. One hundred and fifty!”
Cinema Queen waited for my reaction to her latest offer. I probably could’ve upped it a bit more, but I had made it rain on them.
I smiled. “I think that would be very generous of you.”
They ran from the room and Leon shut the door, locking it again, for whatever good that did.
Chapter 34
Walking in the Dark Page 21
