Fury of a Phoenix (The Nix Series Book 1)

by Shannon Mayer

  He sat up, his ears perked as he watched me leave the room. Asking him to guard would mean that if anyone who wasn’t me tried to enter the room, he’d attack and go for the kill.

  I locked the door behind me and headed down the stairs. The boots were snug, comfortable, and gave me an extra three inches, also adding to my disguise.

  On the street, I hailed a cab.

  “The Lounge on 36th Street,” I said, accenting my voice ever so slightly to come across as a touch Southern. The cabbie nodded and pulled into traffic.

  The stop and start of the cab through Manhattan lulled me, and for a moment, I let myself think about Bear. His birthday was coming up. He’d have turned eleven in May, and I’d promised him this year we’d do a week-long camping trip in the mountains, just the three of us with the dogs and roasting marshmallows and hot dogs over an open fire . . . I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat and the dreams of the future that would never be now.

  I looked out at the city as it passed by in a weak attempt to distract myself.

  I never thought I’d come back here, to this life and the death it afforded the world. My father would have something to say about it, I was sure. Something stupid like “birds always come home to roost.”

  There would be no mention by my father about how alike we were. Because I knew now, more than ever, I was more like him than my other siblings. I could hate the fact all I liked, but the truth stared me in the face.

  Like him, if it meant finding my boys’ killers, I would make a deal with the devil. Mind you, my father made that deal for money and power, not for something like saving one of his kids.

  My jaw tightened at the thought of Tommy, Daniel, and Gabe. The three boys were the oldest, in that order. And while they were the heads of various departments of my father’s business, they didn’t have his killer instinct. They were mean bastards who loved to torment others, especially those smaller and weaker. They were womanizers and gamblers and stupid as a bag of rocks as far as I was concerned. It wasn’t just the killer instinct they didn’t have, it was the intelligence. They floated along on Daddy’s money and they thought they’d earned their places in his business.

  I snorted to myself softly.

  No, the intelligence and killer instinct had come through in Luca’s two daughters. I frowned as I thought about Bianca. Older than me by almost six years, we had not been friends, not by a long shot. She’d been the beauty queen, working hard to take over our father’s empire at some point. I was the ugly duckling she looked down on. But as I’d finished my training with Zee, and I’d grown into my looks, there had been an understanding that grew between us. It was us against the boys, and it was only after her death that I’d realized I had no choice if I wanted to live any sort of a life. I had to walk away from everything I’d ever known.

  I had to try to be normal and re-write the future that waited for me.

  That had been her one and only gift to me.

  Her death had opened my eyes.

  My four siblings had belonged to our father’s first wife. I was the only one my mother, Sophie, had. I kept my breathing slow and even as the thoughts and memories played through my mind. All the years of self-analysis had taught me a few things. I was something of a sociopath, and there was no denying it. No one who did what I did and slept soundly at night without remorse for the deaths I caused could be anything but.

  My brothers and father all fell into the severe narcissist category, and my sister . . . well, she was somewhere in between.

  Not that it mattered what she’d been. I struggled to get my thoughts off my family and back onto the task at hand.

  My only plan at the moment was to have a nice, long chat with Tank Follietta, and then from there I would take my next step. Tank was one of the few men on Mancini’s roster who wasn’t an abnormal.

  After my run-in with Mary-Ellen, I wanted to keep my interaction with the magical community limited.

  From Tank, I would start breaking down exactly who had called in the hit on Justin, and just what I was going to do to them.

  Sure, I had my ideas, but I liked to personalize things when it came to people dying. I blinked and looked out the side window, taking note of where we were as the cab slowed.

  The Lounge rose from the underground like a beast climbing out of a cavernous lair. There was only one level on par with the street, the rest of the building was sunk below. Dirty and gritty, it was a hotbed for both Mancini’s men and those looking to deal with the Mancini. On the outside, it looked a bit like a seedy, nondescript strip bar. Which was the front of it.

  “You sure this is the Lounge you want?” The cabbie looked over his shoulder at me. “I know so much better clubs in cleaner areas. Nice girl like you shouldn’t get mixed up with places like this.”

  I handed him a fifty-dollar bill. “Who said I was a nice girl, old man?”

  The cabbie’s mouth tightened. “Get out.”

  Yeah, that was about right. Soon as you claimed bitch status, the guys thought you weren’t worth protecting anymore. I clenched my mouth into a smile, and blew him a kiss before I stepped onto the sidewalk. Adjusting my trench coat, I tucked my hands into my pockets, fingering the box with the sedative darts in the right side. I walked up to the entrance, keeping my senses on high alert. The sign above the building was bright neon-red looping letters that sagged a little as though their weight was slowly tearing them down.

  I didn’t knock on the door, just let myself in. There were two large burly men standing side by side with arms the size of chopped firewood between me and the interior door. Bouncers in every sense of the word. I turned my head to the side, letting my eyes unfocus. There was nothing around them that made me think they were abnormals.

  I loosened my smile and gave them a wink.

  “Hello, boys.”

  They didn’t smile back, but that was no surprise. “We’re full tonight. No more dancers needed.”

  I laughed softly and flicked a hand through my hair, tossing the long, loose blonde curls. “I have a private with Tank.”

  They exchanged a look. “Tank ain’t here yet.”

  I shrugged. “You want me to wait here for him?” I gestured at the dank space they stood in. “I don’t mind. You two can keep me company.” I slid one hand down my upper body to settle onto the crook of my waist.

  The one on the left shrugged. “Fine. Tank lets you in, then so be it.”

  “No, the boss said no more tonight.” This from the one on the right.

  I held up both hands slowly and wiggled my fingers. “I don’t want to cause trouble. I’m just here to make a living, you know? I’ll wait for Tank out front.” I turned and let myself out.

  Calculated risk, that was what I was doing. Tank had come here every night as long as I’d known him, and it looked like that much hadn’t changed at least. I settled in for what I hoped was not a long wait, leaning up against the building, keeping myself partially in the shadows.

  Minutes later three men strolled up the sidewalk from the north side of the street. Laughing, talking, two smoking, the other not. Dark suits and ties, two in ankle length trenches. I narrowed my eyes, watching them, noting their laughter because one of them sounded familiar.

  “Gabe, your father is going to let that merger go through, isn’t he? Mancini has a lot riding on that.” The one on the far right spoke loudly, already inebriated by the way his words were soft on the edges. But that wasn’t what I was focusing on. I wasn’t sure if luck was on my side or not.

  Gabe. The youngest of my three brothers, and the one who’d tormented me the most. The one who’d set me up for a beating and whatever else happened.

  He’d be in his early thirties now, a few years older than me. His dark hair was slicked back in the latest style, and he was the only one of the men not wearing a trench. He grinned and my heart tightened seeing the whisper of what Bear would have looked like if he’d made it to adulthood. Charming, handsome, the strong bones of his face edged with
stubble. My father made pretty babies, I’d give him that. But Bear would never have Gabe’s mean streak. Bear would have been a good man. His heart was too kind to be the asshole my brother was.

  “Of course the merger is going through, Johnny boy. As long as the money is there.” He slapped Johnny on the shoulder and gave him a strong look. One that said it all, at least to me. As long as Mancini coughed up the money, and whatever else the deal entailed, Luca Romano would make sure John and his boss got what they wanted.

  I kept my back against the wall for a split second before making a decision that was probably wrong. I did it anyway. I had to know if I could slide by my family, and there was no time like the present.

  I pushed off the wall and took a step into the light. “Hello, boys. Which one of you is Tank?”

  The three men stopped, one of them swayed and they slowly took me in with three almost identical looks that started at my feet and slid up my body. I had to grit my teeth to keep the smile plastered on my face.

  Gabe grinned as his gaze slid from my face down my body and back up a second time.

  “Tank is your date tonight? Poor girl, you should come with us. Not only are we ten times as good-looking, we’re loaded.” Gabe held a hand out to me, a ring set with a large ruby on the middle finger of his right hand. The same kind of ring my father wore. The rings that gave them access to three very big, bad guardians from the demon world.

  “We’ll pay you well. Big tips.” He winked, and my stomach rolled with disgust.

  John laughed. “And you’ll like the look of us better than that asshole Tank.”

  I pouted my lips and cocked a hip. “But he’s already paid me. I don’t welch on my business deals. That goes poorly, you know, for girls in my position.”

  Gabe’s eyes narrowed suddenly and I kept my face open, free of emotion even while I longed to snap a fist out and punch him in the face. I wanted to pull Eleanor and show him just what a bitch she could be. Almost as if sensing my thoughts, Eleanor shifted on my back.

  I let him take my hand and pull me close even as sweat dribbled down my spine and hatred filled me. If he recognized me I would have to kill him right here. But this was the test I wanted. Could I slip by? Would I be just another stripper to take advantage of?

  “You smell far too nice for the usual ladies Tank employs.” He smiled again, and whatever wariness was in his eyes was gone.

  “Tank likes the best,” I said.

  “I do, do I?” A rough, gravel-filled voice cut through. I spun away from Gabe and all but fell into Tank’s arms, letting my ankles buckle in the high heels, forcing him to catch me. His massive hands gripped my upper arms and steadied me. I flashed my long false eyelashes up at him.

  “There you are. I’ve been waiting on you. Can’t pay a girl top dollar and then make her wait. It’s rude, you know.” I looked up at him from under my lashes. His hands tightened on me. Tank was easy to manipulate. Big and having been beaten with the ugly stick repeatedly as a child, he had a hard time coming by women honestly. That and the fact he worked for the Mancini family, which made him known as a danger . . . none of that added up in his favor.

  He all but lifted me around so I was at his side. “I didn’t pay for you.”

  Gabe, John, and their friend went still. I ran a hand over Tank’s neck. “Mr. Mancini said you haven’t taken enough time off lately. He sent me over as a surprise.”

  Tank’s face lit up with a smile, showing more than one missing tooth. “Well, Mr. Mancini is right about that shit. Come on, baby, it’s cold out here.”

  I had to give it to Tank. He was about as strong as they came, hence the nickname. He lifted me as though picking up a child, his arm around my upper back and away from my guns, thank God. He carried me with one arm so my feet barely brushed the ground all the way into the Lounge.

  The two bouncers gave him a nod and didn’t even look at me. I kept my eyes and ears open as Tank walked us through the bar. A few drinks on the tables fizzed and popped with an energy that was all potions. In the corner of the room, there was a soft growl that could only belong to a shifter of some sort.

  No matter how hard I looked, I saw nothing out of place, all the way to the only elevator. Tank hit the button, looked me over a couple of times and shook his head.

  “Must have spent a fortune on you. You look too fresh to have been doing this long.”

  “I’m worth it,” I whispered in his ear. “Best you’ll ever find in the business. The very, very best.”

  He grunted and put his lips to my neck, in an attempt at foreplay. I let him, as I wrapped my arms around his thick neck. We stepped into the elevator and he had me against the back wall which pressed Dinah into my right kidney. She gave a grunt.

  I could see past him to Gabe and John watching us. I gave them a wave as the doors slid shut.

  “Tell me there’s no cameras in here,” I whispered.

  “Nope, not here. Just in case someone gets lucky.” Tank slid his hand down the front of my coat, plucking at the ties of the trench.

  Again, I let him. My coat fell open, showing thick leather straps around my waist holding the dress to my body.

  “Kinky.” He grinned up at me.

  I smiled back, and let the darkness swell in me. “Useful, too.”

  I shot my hand around to my back and pulled Eleanor out at a speed that left him still smiling even though I had her pressed her to his already-hard dick. With the other hand, I hit the stop button. No one would think anything of it. They’d seen us making out on the way in. I was betting on having five minutes, tops.

  “We need to have a chat, Tank. Your mark was left on a brake line in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Recall it?”

  His eyes were wide and the smile slowly slid from his doughy, pockmarked face. “Who the hell are you?”

  I pressed Eleanor harder against his dick. “If you want to continue enjoying the pleasure of the women you hire, I suggest you answer my question first.”

  “I ain’t never been to Wyoming.” His eyes didn’t leave mine. He was an accomplished liar, but I didn’t think he was lying right then. Hard to lie when your dick is being shoved up the barrel of a half-cocked gun.

  I kept the pressure on him. “Then who else uses the puncture clamp technique?”

  “I taught one guy. Let him use my tools.”

  “Why?”

  He shook his head slowly. “I’m not a young guy anymore, and too damn big to fit under most of these new-fangled low chassis cars. ’Sides, I don’t like to travel, and the boss is bringing in fresh blood. I only have to train them, and I get to keep my job.”

  I leaned into him a little harder and he flinched, and swallowed hard.

  “His name, and I’m gone.”

  He blew out a breath before answering. “Stephen Demetris. Young guy, like I said. Handsome asshole. Abnormal.” He frowned at that.

  “Where will I find him and what kind of abnormal is he?” The thing with the Mancini crew was they all liked their particular clubs or bars. That was where they could be found, where people knew to go to hire them for their dirty business.

  “Avalanche, it’s across the bridge out in Brooklyn. He’s a ghoster. Sometimes you see him, sometimes you don’t. Depends on his mood.”

  Ghoster. I’d dealt with them before. The trick was to make sure they never saw you coming before they had a chance to disappear.

  I reached over and hit the stop button, releasing it, and the elevator slid downward.

  “You . . . are you still coming with me?” His eyes were just a tad too hopeful.

  “Like it rough, do you?” I arched an eyebrow. That hadn’t been a side of Tank I needed to know.

  “Yeah, I kinda do.” As the door to the elevator slid open, I put Eleanor away and turned. “After you . . . my friend.”

  He spun as he stepped out and stared at me, his eyes widening again. “Only one girl ever called me that. She’s been gone a long time.”

  Damn, he was smarter than I though
t under all that dumb.

  “And that’s the only reason you aren’t splattered all over the wall, because she once thought of you as a friend.” I hit the button for the first level and the doors slid shut. He knew who I was but no one would believe him. Again, a calculated risk.

  Tank was a gossip, always telling stories. More than once, he claimed to have seen a UFO that turned out to be a plane landing at JFK.

  The elevator ticked upward and I adjusted my coat over my dress. The doors slid open and I stepped out, starting across the open floor of the upper bar.

  “Well, I’m not all that surprised Tank blew his load so fucking fast.” Gabe laughed as I walked by him and his arm snaked out around my waist, brushing against my guns. I spun with his pull, and slammed my elbow into his nose. The crunch of cartilage was immediate and he hollered, let me go, and grabbed for his nose.

  “You weren’t invited to touch me, little shit. I suggest you think about that the next time you try to grab a woman without being asked.” I turned on my heel and walked away. I still had work to do tonight, much as I wanted to continue to pound my brother into the ground.

  “You bitch!” Johnny boy’s slurred words were more than enough of a warning.

  The elevator dinged and Tank stepped out. Shit, what did he want?

  I did not want to kill them all, but at the same time, the urge to wipe the floor with them was strong.

  That would be a big-ass mess to clean up and hard to keep quiet that I was back in town.

  Johnny grabbed my shoulders from behind, tugging me to his chest. I swung my head back, and caught him on the bridge of his nose. He let me go and I swung a leg out, driving the heel of my boot into his belly and sending him across several tables, people, and a variety of drinks. The spell drinks fell, and three exploded, sending people screaming every which way.

  Tank hurried to my side and motioned for me to move. “Outside, quick, I’ve got more to say to you.”

  He didn’t touch me, which told me he remembered the rules I had. Smart man. I let him walk beside me, curious as to just what was going on.