Protected by the Damned BoxedSet 1

by Michael Todd

  He smiled. “Welcome to Ferrari. How can we help you today?”

  “I am in the market for a car, and I thought this would be a good place to come,” Katie explained.

  “And that it is,” he agreed. “Come on.” He gestured. “I’ll tell you a little about Ferrari, and we can walk around the show room.”

  “Perfect,” she said, following him down the hall into a large open space with a number of exotic cars.

  “Ferrari was officially recognized in 1947 when the first one was completed and ready for the road,” he told her, walking along the line of older Ferraris on display.

  “Enzo Ferrari was a race car maker and driver, but in 1939 he quit and started his own business, Auto Avio Costruzioni. The cars were still for racing, but geared more toward your weekend gentleman racers. When the war hit, though, all production came to a halt. When the war was over, Mr. Ferrari built the 125-S which went on that very month to win the Rome Grand Prix. Ferrari boasts over five hundred wins with its vehicles.”

  “Wow.” Katie looked at the pictures, reaching up to one that had what she guessed was Rome in the background. “I didn’t realize they were that far into racing.”

  “Very much so.” He smiled. “Once that started happening demand for Ferrari cars became overwhelming for Enzo, so he sold fifty percent of the company to Fiat. They helped move the production along fast and efficiently. In 1988 Mr. Ferrari died, and Fiat’s ownership in the company grew to ninety percent. But we still make the genuine Ferrari car Enzo made first—and that brings me to the California model, the car I pictured you driving as soon as you drove up.”

  The salesman stopped in front of the last car on the showroom floor and Katie’s eyes got big. It was smooth, sleek, and absolutely gorgeous. It was the exact car that she could see herself driving around Las Vegas in.

  The question was, was it affordable?

  “This is the Ferrari California T,” he said. “On the inside it’s for the gentleman—or gentlelady—weekend racer. But the outside is luxurious, and it will give you a smooth ride anywhere your heart desires.”

  Wow! Pandora exclaimed. He is good.

  Tell me about it, Katie replied.

  He tells a story about a car like he is talking about a woman, Pandora continued. It’s kind of hot.

  “This is a beautiful car,” Katie admitted, her eyes sweeping the lines of the car.

  “That it definitely is,” he agreed. “My first luxury vehicle was a California T. I still have it parked in my garage, though I don’t drive it as often as I would like.”

  She turned to look at him. “What do you drive the rest of the time?” she asked.

  “A Fiat.” He shrugged. “It’s ecologically more responsible and my wife is a climate change researcher, so she gets on me for the cars.”

  “That will do it.” Katie nodded in understanding. “So what colors does it come in?”

  “There are endless colors.” He waved a hand to show a few on the floor. “And we can get into that all when you decide that you want to purchase it—and trust me, you will want to purchase it by the time the day is over.”

  Yeah, he just told you what the hell you will do. Pandora snickered. If he wasn’t showing you a car, I would say kick him in his machismo for being too forward.

  I bet that line works more often than not. Katie laughed. Get it in your head that the car is already yours. It’s much harder to back out of something you have an emotional attachment to, and he is definitely creating that for me.

  “What are you driving now?” he asked.

  “Oh, my company vehicle.” She wrinkled her nose. “I haven’t picked a car to buy, so the boss lets me drive the SUV.”

  “That’s cool of him.” He smiled. “I have to say though, I would feel so limited if I didn’t have my car. It’s literally a tool for getting out of bad situations.”

  Katie walked around the car, continuing to speak as she looked at it from all directions. “I feel pretty naked without a car, which is why I am here. To get one, I mean, but it won’t be stuck away in a garage somewhere. It will be used on a regular basis to get me either into bad situations or out of them.”

  “Touché.” He laughed. “I seem to do both myself, as well.”

  “That’s what makes life fun,” she murmured.

  “Come with me,” he replied, and waved a hand as he started walking down the hallway.

  Katie followed him to the outdoor show area, where he brought her to a red California T, top down and ready to go. She smiled and walked around it once more, coming to a stop next to him.

  “Now, my suggestion would be to custom-order yours so you get everything that you want,” he said, handing her the keys. “But I figured you might want to drive one first.”

  She accepted the keys, her eyes wide. “I’m nervous,” She laughed.

  He opened the driver’s door for her. “Don’t be. You’ll see how well you fit into it.”

  He closed the door once he made sure she was in, and walked around to the passenger side to climb in himself.

  He took two Ferrari ball caps out of the glove compartment and handed one to Katie. She chuckled and put it on as he did the same.

  “This should keep our hair out of our eyes.” He grinned; both of them knew that was so much bullshit. It was the art of the deal, and he was helping her sign onto Team Ferrari.

  Katie started the car and rolled her eyes in ecstasy; now she knew what Pandora meant about her lips being wet. The car purred to her, and begged her to drive it.

  She slowly pulled out of the dealership and onto the road, gripping the steering wheel tightly. The salesman, who was wearing a perfectly pressed suit, looked at her and chuckled.

  “Why don’t you take a deep breath and open her up?” he suggested. “You can stop white-knuckling the steering wheel. We have insurance for a reason.”

  Everything felt so comfortable and nice that she didn’t know how she could walk away from the thing. Her body molded into the seats, and although it had originally been created with a man in mind, the whole thing fit her like a glove. She relaxed a bit and glanced at the salesman.

  “All right,” Katie said, “talk to me. Tell me about this car.”

  “Well, it comes in at just under two hundred and fifteen thousand, depending on what you include with it,” he began. “It has five hundred and two horses under the hood.”

  Damn, Pandora said. That’s even more horses than I’d care to have between my legs.

  Holy shit, Pandora! That is so fucking gross.

  I’m kidding, for fuck’s sake, Pandora replied. Don’t slide on your prude panties! Lighten the hell up.

  When you talk about screwing horses, it’s hard to lighten up, Katie argued, taking a right and enjoying the feel of the acceleration.

  Well? Pandora asked.

  Well what? Katie replied.

  What do you think about this car? she asked. I have to admit, it is way cooler than I thought it would be. It also fits your style perfectly. How does it drive?

  Like you are navigating through the clouds, Katie replied. I am pretty much in love with this car.

  Yessss, Pandora hissed. I knew you would be, the moment you got into the thing. It’s no Spyder, but it’s definitely hot enough for me.

  Katie drove down the Strip and back to the dealership, pulling the car up in front. The salesman showed her a couple of cool things on the inside, then took the keys and helped her from the car. She stood back and looked it over, knowing that it was definitely the car for her.

  “So,” he asked. “What do you think?”

  “I think I am in love with the thing,” She laughed, and the sales guy glanced at her.

  “Everyone has that response after driving it.” He chuckled. “When people think Ferrari they think race cars, so they are expecting a loud hard-to-control car, but these California T’s are made for the customer who just wants a car to drive. They are built to be a daily part of your routine. The convertible gives i
t that California feel, which I love since I am from there.”

  “Nice,” Katie replied. “I love Cali. I was actually just in San Diego and LA for business.”

  “Were you there when the cemetery was vandalized?” he asked, just making conversation.

  “I was, but not real close,” she said, feeling a twinge of fear in her belly.

  Liar, liar, pants on fire… Wait, that’s what I’m supposed to be working on. Keep up the good work!

  “Well, that’s a good thing. From what people are telling me, whatever did it was something they had never seen before, and a lot of people died.”

  “That’s what I heard too,” Katie said, wanting to change the subject.

  “Anyway, we are safe here in Vegas. Do you have any questions that I can answer?” the salesman asked, clapping his hands together—or rather damn near rubbing them together in glee, already counting his commission in his head.

  “I can’t really think of any,” she responded.

  “If you were to buy the car, would you be financing with us?” he continued down his path of closing, closing, closing.

  “No,” she answered. “I will be paying in cash.”

  “Well, that makes everything a lot less complicated.” He pointed out the closer entrance to the building. “It will be just as easy as you sitting down with me and designing the car, signing a couple of papers, and coming back to pick it up when it is ready.”

  Katie smiled. “I guess we should get started, then.”

  “Excellent!” he exclaimed. “Let’s go to my office, and you can start looking over the options.”

  Katie nodded and followed him inside and around the corner to his office in the back. The walls were glass, but the room was large. Katie wondered if every salesman had an office like his.

  When they walked in he pulled out a chair in front of his desk, motioning for her to have a seat.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “What is your name?”

  “Ka—Elizabeth,” she said. Damn fake identities!

  “Nice to meet you, Elizabeth.” He pushed her chair in. “My name is Brian.”

  “Nice to meet, you, Brian,” She laid her purse on the desk.

  “Okay,” he said, sitting down behind his desk and turning one of two screens toward her. “We’ll go over all the different options you have for the car. I can explain anything you don’t understand, and we can get the order sent off to the manufacturer so they can customize your car.”

  “All right,” she said, sitting up straight and looking at the screen.

  “First things first: what color do you want the exterior to be?” he asked.

  Katie had thought she would choose black, but when she looked through the swatches and California Blue came up, she changed her mind. It was almost the perfect mixture of grey and aquamarine.

  “California Blue,” she said definitely. “Hands down. No contest whatsoever.”

  “An excellent choice,” he agreed, typing it in. “Let’s move down to your wheels and calipers. You have several choices for the rims, some in silver and a couple in black. You can press the different options on your screen to see how they look.”

  Katie went through each rim, and the matte-black Grigio wheels caught her eye. They were a good contrast to the shiny blue. After that she picked out a caliper that was the same color as the car, and opted for a replacement wheel kit for the trunk. That ensured that if anything were to happen, she had a spare tire in the back specially made for the California T.

  “That is looking really nice,” Brian said. “Okay, next we have the body components. The shield option is completely cosmetic. It puts the Ferrari shield of honor right next to your mirrors.”

  Katie nodded. “I like how that looks.”

  Yummmm…

  “Good, and from there we have the sport exhaust system, which I highly recommend since the car is so powerful,” he continued, watching her click on it. “We will skip the black pillars and move on to the front grill. Now, you can have the whole thing chrome, the whole thing black, or you can do chrome-tipped so it’s not overly shiny but has an air of luxury to it.”

  “I like the chrome-tipped,” Katie decided, selecting that option.

  “The special handling package changes the look,” he warned.

  “Yeah, I don’t like that. I’m going to keep it how it was,” she replied. “I’m going to go with dual suspension and the Anti-stone chipping, but what is ‘AFS?’”

  “AFS is a system we’re pretty proud of.” He looked at her. “What it does is change your nighttime driving headlights to whatever brightness and angle you need, depending on your location, speed, and handling. It also engages the lights anytime you park, to avoid running up on curbs in the dark.”

  “That’s cool,” she said, clicking it. “And the high emotion-low emission is…”

  “This is also a nice feature,” he said, watching her choose on the heated windows and the front and rear parking cameras. “It creates a system where the car will run optimally, and therefore it uses less power than if it were running without the system.”

  “All right,” she said, clicking on the option, along with electric mirrors inside and out.

  “Now comes the fun part—the interior.” He laughed.

  “Oh, that’s easy.” She smiled. “I would like all black, with the black gear shift, diamond back design, and black leather on the doors.”

  “Those are excellent and very sleek choices,” he agreed. “Just a couple more things. Do you want a CD player, or are you okay with USB plugin for music?”

  “I don’t need a CD slot as long as I have plenty of places to plug things in,” Katie replied.

  “There will definitely be plenty of places,” he told her. “Now, last question…do you want this delivered here or to your house?”

  “Oh, here, please.”

  He smiled. “Okay, then we are all set. Once you pay, I can send in the order.”

  “Sure.” She pulled out an envelope of cash, looked at the final number, and pointed to the screen. “Everything is in this final price, including tax and title fees?”

  “Yes,” he told her.

  Katie started counting. He tried to keep his face still, making his best effort to not look surprised by the money stacking up on his desk. He printed out some paperwork, made a deposit slip for the safe, and handed her a pen.

  She took the pen from him and smiled.

  “Okay, once you sign these we are good to go,” he said. “I will have to check if there is a model that is similarly equipped in the US, that we can customize to your specs. If so, your car will be here in a week or ten days. If not, it will be eight or more weeks coming from Italy. I’ll let you know as soon as I do some research.”

  NOW we’ll have us some fun, Pandora cooed.

  Chapter Five

  “Do you like this?” Korbin asked, holding up a swatch of cloth.

  “Are we picking out curtains together?” Calvin teased.

  “No, you idiot.” he chuckled. “It’s for the shop. As much as possible, we want to try to make it look like a house.”

  “Oh, well, then yeah, I like that,” he said. “It’s masculine with the dark blue and gold. No man wants to walk into a brothel and be surrounded by pink and fluffy.”

  “A brothel?” Korbin asked nonchalantly. “What makes you say that?”

  Calvin looked up at him and raised one eyebrow. Korbin sighed and nodded, tired of thinking about stupid details like fabric for the fucking windows.

  He put the swatch down and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face.

  He was about done with everything to do with the cover up. He just wanted the business—that was it, no sparkles or vanity. Just simple, unlike most things in his damn life. Before he could go back to work, though, the phone rang.

  “Hello?” he answered.

  “Hey, it’s Charlotte,” the reporter said.

  “Hi there,” Korbin replied. “Hold on, let me put you on speaker.
Calvin’s here too.”

  Korbin looked at Calvin and mouthed Charlotte’s name, watching him knowingly nod his head. He clicked on the speaker and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. He was a note taker, especially with so much on his mind.

  “Hey there, Charlotte,” Calvin greeted her.

  “Hey, Calvin,” she replied. “So, I have an update for you guys. I’ve been checking up on the politician, but he hasn’t done anything strange…yet. Currently I am working his background, but it’s going to come up with his human record, not anything demon-related.”

  “You need to be careful,” Korbin warned her. “He is willing to kill anyone who stands in his way.”

  “I know. I’m inquisitive,” she replied, “not suicidal.”

  “I need to get out of this place,” Eric told them. He was sitting across from Jeremy and Katie in the living room. “I need to feel normal again. You know, walk the streets like a normal person.”

  “Whatcha got in mind?” Jeremy asked.

  “I was thinking we go to downtown Las Vegas and play around for a while,” Eric replied. “You know, do as the tourists do.”

  “I’m up for it,” Katie agreed.

  “Me too,” Jeremy replied.

  “Awesome!” Eric exclaimed. “Okay, we gotta make ourselves look different. There are bound to be a lot of people down there, and none of us want to get caught by someone we know.”

  “Sounds smart.” Katie stood up. “Give me twenty, and we’ll meet back out here?”

  “Yeah,” Eric said.

  “I mean, don’t go too crazy trying to change things up,” Jeremy offered. “Most of downtown is tourists, and most locals avoid it like the plague. Just make sure you look different than you did in your prior life.”

  “That won’t be a problem.” Katie laughed. “Much of me has changed since everything happened. I’m pretty sure my own mother wouldn’t recognize me at this point.”

  “Better to be safe than sorry, though,” Eric replied. “It would be just our luck if we didn’t do something. We would definitely run into someone we knew, and then there would be mind-erasing and a scene. That is just not what I’m looking for tonight.”