“Yes.”
“If you’re afraid of heights, how did you get the one of the Grand Canyon?”
“I didn’t take it from the edge,” Ed blurted, looking up with a start.
Sam laughed so suddenly, it caught him off guard. “S-sorry.”
“No, I… suppose I am pretty ridiculous sometimes,” Ed said with a soft smile.
Soft. He could be soft, truly, despite his terrifying power.
“Thank you for being honest about the safe,” he said.
“That’s how I got the cash. The type of lock on your safe can be hacked pretty easily.”
“You’ll have to help me find a new one, then. Here.” Ed handed the drive back to him. “Use it how you planned. Tell them you’re on your way, that everything went fine. You’re going to give your employers exactly what they asked for. I’ll get it all back eventually.”
“But what—”
“Do that much for now. I’m going to get dressed.”
ED HAD to get dressed. He didn’t want to be naked around Sam when he already felt so exposed.
Having Sam’s eyes on him had reminded him of when they first met and Sam had him tripping over his tongue. Maybe Sam’s advances hadn’t all been a lie. Not that it mattered anymore.
Ed grabbed a change of clothes and shut himself in the bathroom, leaving the door cracked enough to hear Sam, who left the room for a while. There was no sound at any of the doors, and he soon returned. Ed had already deposited his bloody clothes and the towels in the basement. His secret staircase connected to the second floor, so Sam hadn’t seen him descend. The towels Ed would wash in the extra machines he had down there, the slacks might be salvageable too—he’d at least try—but the shirt he’d incinerate.
He wasn’t always good at his finances or organizing his possessions—or schedule or life—but he was an expert at covering his tracks.
Once he’d changed into a fresh pair of slacks and a simple long-sleeved shirt, he hung his robe behind the bathroom door and exited to find Sam sitting on the bed beside the refilled backpack with his laptop out.
“The information is copying,” Sam said, not quite as timid, but there was wariness in his eyes when Ed sat next to him. “I was going to put the drive back after so you’d be less likely to notice anything right away.”
“But I surprised you and upset your plans?”
“Yeah.”
Ed wanted to ask if Sam would have just left then, never to return. Likely, yes. That would have been the smart play.
Which meant his “Goodbye, Eddie” had been final.
“I need to find out what these people know and who gave them the information.” Ed focused on the matter at hand. “I also prefer to only kill when I need to feed, but I don’t require blood more than once a week.”
“Once a week?” Sam blinked rapidly, but it was difficult to tell if that meant he’d expected it to be less frequent or more.
“I can go longer, two weeks, even a month if I have to, but it’s dangerous if I get too hungry.”
“What happens?”
“I become less discerning,” Ed said shortly, not wanting to discuss that right now, since Sam’s spine had grown so rigid.
He just wished they could go back to the banter, the subtle flirting, the easy smiles and furtive touches, and pretend none of this happened, living blissfully ignorant in the past few weeks, but that wasn’t possible now.
“We’re going to take our time and pick off your employers one by one,” Ed continued. At least then he’d get to see Sam for a while longer.
“But they know my friends and I were planning to leave town after we got our share.”
“Tell them you want to keep the con going, see if you can get even more out of me. Make them think you want to win their favor, that you’ll give them that much more of the final payoff. Sell it however you like, but from their perspective, you’re the one taking the risk. They’ll go for it, if this really is all about money.
“As for your friends, tell them the truth. That I caught you, and we’re working together now to take out your employers. They can know I’m dangerous as long as they think I’m human. When this is over, I’ll pay you handsomely, and you won’t owe me anything.”
“You’ll pay me?”
“You work for me, don’t you?”
Sam blinked again, like he wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
The copying finished, and Sam handed the flash drive back to Ed. “You’re going to need the information for the accounts they transfer everything to if you plan to get it all back.”
“I’ll get what I need.” Ed could stand right over one of the thieves’ shoulders while they logged into their accounts, and they wouldn’t notice him if he didn’t want them to.
“Also, you can have this back.” Sam pulled the cash from the backpack. “It’s not part of what the Cramers are expecting. I just took it for travel money.”
“Then keep it.” Ed waved it away. “Tell your friends it’s an advance from our new deal.”
“Are you sure—”
“Keep it.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to let you go now, but I will be right behind you.”
WHAT DID Ed mean—he’d be right behind him? How? On foot? Could he turn into a bat and fly?
Sam hurried through the dark to where he’d parked his bike, constantly looking over his shoulder but not seeing anything. Some of the blushing nerd he’d come to care about was still in Ed, but he couldn’t shake that lurking sense of dread.
He needed to focus on following Ed’s orders. And he had to up his acting game, because if he stuttered or faltered around the Cramers, they’d never buy this.
He’d texted Mim earlier that everything was fine, that he’d be leaving soon. Now, as he reached his bike, he messaged Alverez for where to meet and make the exchange. The address Sam received back wasn’t for a club but a building in the warehouse district. A safe house. Somewhere secluded.
“What if they just kill me?” he wondered aloud.
“I won’t let that happen.”
He spun around at the sound of Ed’s voice. He hadn’t heard any extra rustling or a single stick crack underfoot during the walk from the house, yet there Ed was, materializing out of the darkness like a phantom.
“I’ll keep you safe,” Ed said earnestly. “I promise. Now go. I’ll be watching.”
There was still dread and fear, but something thrilling tingled at the base of Sam’s spine at having such a powerful being as his dark guardian angel.
That thought assuaged his nerves during the ride into town, knowing that if anything got out of hand, Ed would be there to save him. Though he tried not to imagine the type of carnage that might leave.
The warehouse was indeed secluded. Sam didn’t see any people on the streets nearby, and barely any vehicles. His shirt had dried by now from rinsing out the blood, but he still put on his blazer before heading inside with the backpack.
“Look at you,” Shaw said with a whistle, lounging on a sofa. Alverez and Fitz were shooting pool in the back, and the Cramers sat at a table. All of them had drinks nearby or in hand, and there was cash out like they’d been counting it from another score.
“Everything as agreed,” Sam said, setting the backpack on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
Shaw righted herself with a greedy grin, and the others crowded in. Sam retrieved his laptop and tried to hand it to Brock, but Fitz snagged it first and rushed over to a computer desk against the wall.
“Careful,” Sam warned Shaw when she almost tipped the backpack upside down to get at the rest. “Some of what’s in there is breakable.”
“This junk is worth something?” Alverez scoffed once they’d removed it all and unwrapped the more fragile items.
A Baccarat crystal clock, antique gold Cartier pocket watch, and hand-painted porcelain vase from Germany were the highest-ticket items.
“I did the research,” Sam said. “Go to you
r fences; you won’t be disappointed. And Simons won’t miss any of it.”
“This is legit!” Fitz called from his computer. “It’s all right here. And holy shit, this guy’s loaded. It’s even more than we were told.”
“You did good,” Brock said with a smirk.
“What about my cut?” Sam asked.
“You’ll get your five percent.”
“Make it ten again.”
“You having a laugh?” Alverez threw down the pocket watch with a snort.
“Just thinking we can end this with a bigger payout.”
“What are you selling?” Shaw asked, half enamored with a silver serving dish.
The Cramers and Alverez all drew closer, surrounding Sam, but he forced himself to look bold.
“I’ve got Simons wrapped around my finger. He won’t notice any of this missing, and we can get more. We can get everything. What he’s most protective of are his stateside accounts. The offshore ones barely touch the surface. He’s already asked me to stay on full-time. He hasn’t given me his account numbers or passwords yet, but if I play this right, I can get him to turn over everything.
“I’m talking a real long con. Another month, six weeks tops, but I’ll have him so head over heels, he’ll be gifting me half of what we want to steal.”
“You’re seducing the fucker?” Shaw snorted.
“Hope he’s worth it,” Alverez said.
“You don’t know what he looks like, do you?” Sam gauged their responses carefully—they didn’t. “He’s worth it. A nice bonus for me. But the best part of going back in for more is that everything new we take, you won’t have to split with your source.”
“He’s got a point,” Celia said, crossing her arms with a contemplative glint in her eyes.
“Cece,” Brock reproached.
“Come on, baby. What do we owe Midnight anyway?”
Midnight?
“So what if he brought us the job? What has he done since, and he expects half? Let him have it.” She gestured at the loot on the coffee table. “And we take a hundred percent of the bigger pie.”
“Ninety,” Sam corrected. “I get ten. And ten from this take too.”
“You’re sure confident tonight.” Alverez glowered.
“Because I earned it.”
“Hang on,” Fitz called, spinning around in the computer chair. “If you’re willing to take such a risk, why bring us in on it? You could have kept everything for yourself.”
“I’m no idiot. If you’d seen me in town or caught wind of me still being in that house, you would have thought I was betraying you to Simons or the police. I don’t make enemies where I can make friends. I want things right between us,” Sam said, looking to each of them. “But if this all goes sideways, you already got the original payday, and the only one they can pin anything on is me.”
“My, my,” Celia said. “Maybe you’re not just the pretty face we took you for. I say it’s a deal.”
“For now,” Brock interjected, “but we’re going to expect updates. Progress reports. Regularly. There could be a lot of heat coming down if Simons catches on, and even if that’s only on you, we don’t want our source finding out either.”
“Who is this Midnight anyway?” Sam tried to ask casually.
“Oh no.” Alverez pushed forward, following up with a rough push at Sam’s shoulder. “So you can go over our heads right to him? No fucking way.”
“Enough,” Brock said in warning, and Alverez backed off. “You want to know about Midnight, Goldman? We never met in person, but he made it clear it would be in our best interest to take the Simons job when he offered it. Remember Lawrence Santini?”
“Drug and gun runner, right? He ran off about the time you came to town. Made sense to me, since you would have fought over turf.”
“He didn’t run.” Celia chuckled. “Who knows what really happened? But we got his finger in the mail as a nice incentive to do as Midnight asked, sporting the Santini family ring.”
Sam didn’t try to hide how that disturbed him.
“We have work to do transferring the money and getting all this lovely merchandise appraised for sale,” Brock said. “By morning, your initial cut will be in your account, and you and your friends can move out of that shithole.”
Sam hadn’t thought about Mim or Gerry much yet, but even with just the stack of cash Ed had let him keep, he could take care of his friends for a long time, which would hopefully soften the blow of no longer leaving town.
That still wasn’t going to be an easy conversation.
A knock at the door gave Sam more of a fright than he’d admit, suddenly wondering if it was Ed, and if he was going to kill them all right away anyway. These were bad people, the worst, but the thought of watching Ed tear into them and seeing more blood churned his stomach. Maybe he couldn’t go through with this….
“Must be that late runner,” Alverez growled, storming past Sam for the door.
Sam held his breath, but when Alverez lurched the door open, it was a runner, some gangly teenager, ragged-looking and far too thin. He passed a backpack to Alverez, who checked it and pulled out a wad of cash.
“That’s it? Get in here!” Alverez grabbed him by the hair, tossed the backpack into the room, and slammed the kid face-first into the wall. He twisted his arm behind his back, and while he kept one hand on the kid’s head, the other started to bend back his first two fingers.
“S-stop!”
“You make us wait, don’t offer the full payload, and think I’ll go easy?”
Sam glanced warily at the others, but while Brock was watching with mild interest, the rest weren’t even paying attention, back to sifting through their haul. Sam didn’t know what the money was from—drugs, guns—but Alverez kept bending the kid’s fingers, ignoring his screams, until the bones snapped.
“Ah!”
“Shut up. Next time, it’ll be the right hand.”
He shoved the kid out the door again and slammed it in his face, laughing as he picked up the bag on his way back to the coffee table.
“Aren’t you glad you’re playing nice with us now?” Alverez sneered at Sam.
Fuck them, Sam thought with a surge of anger. They deserved everything Ed did to them.
“I’ll give you my first status report next week,” Sam told Brock.
None of them moved to stop him as he reclaimed his empty backpack and turned to leave.
The kid was about a block down when Sam exited, whimpering and still nursing his hand. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about the Cramers for much longer.
Sam didn’t expect Ed to show himself while he was still near the warehouse, but now that his next destination was home, he started to grow wary again. Ed would know who Mim and Gerry were. Wherever he was, watching, he’d know their faces. With that thought came dread again, but Sam had to trust that Ed would keep his word.
“So?” Mim ran up to him as soon as he entered the loft, Gerry on her heels.
“The money will be in our account by morning, ten percent, and I got a bonus.” Sam grinned, pulling the wad of cash from his pocket and tossing it onto the table. He set the backpack down too, much lighter now holding only his possessions.
“Sweet!” Gerry snatched up the cash. Everything was already packed behind them, ready to be loaded into Gerry’s car. They weren’t taking any furniture, since they planned to buy everything new once they decided where to stay.
Had planned. Had.
“The bonus is from Ed,” Sam said.
“What?” Mim turned to him with a frown. “What do you mean, from Ed? He gave you a stack of cash before you robbed him?”
“No. He gave it to me after. When he caught me.”
Mim and Gerry both froze.
“It’s okay. Everything is going to be fine. We just have a change of plans.”
He sat them down at the table and explained what had happened. Well, he explained that Ed had caught him and their new deal, leaving out the vampire p
art and the man Ed had eaten. The important thing was for them to understand that while Ed was dangerous, he was still on their side.
“Are you saying your blushing, swooning, stuttering—”
“Don’t start that again,” Sam interrupted. “But yes. He’s a lot more dangerous than the Cramers, but he’s going to let me work this off. We’ll still get paid, and when it’s over, we won’t have to worry about the Cramers or their goons ever again.”
“What about Simons?” Mim demanded.
“We won’t have to worry about him either.”
“You don’t sound sure about that.”
“He promised me.”
“He’s apparently pretty good at lying to you.”
Sam had to admit that was true, but what other choice did he have?
“You’re scared of him,” Mim said with a start.
“I thought you had, like, all this chemistry,” Gerry added.
“We did. We do. He’s just not… what I thought. But it’s going to be okay.”
“You’re not telling us something,” Mim insisted.
“I’m telling you everything you need to know. It’ll be fine. I’ll handle it.”
“You keep saying that,” Gerry argued, “but are you really okay with letting Simons kill the Cramers? I mean, that’s what you’re implying he’s going to do, right? I thought we didn’t like working for murderers.”
“We do when one of them’s on our side.”
“Sam—”
“I’m tired.” Sam pushed from the table. “I’m going to wash up. Then we’re going to pack everything in Gerry’s shitty Volvo and get a nice fancy suite at a hotel. So start picking one.”
Before either of them could say more, Sam escaped into the bathroom, the only place he could be alone without leaving the loft.
He collapsed against the door, letting his eyes close and taking several shaky breaths.
“You did well.”
Sam gasped as he opened his eyes—to see Ed sitting in the window. It hadn’t been open when he entered, had it? But he hadn’t heard a thing.
It was a large window that faced the alley and usually had the curtains drawn. Ed sat casually on the ledge with one leg propped.
Their Dark Reflections Page 6
