by Martha Carr
“Five million. Well, I never.” The gnome rubbed the top of his head vigorously and regained his composure. “Mr. Bulldog? Do I hear five and a quarter from you? Five and a quarter for the young shifter with enough life in her to…ha. Well, to do anything, really. Five and a quarter, Mr. Bulldog?”
“Yeah. I’ll raise the stakes.” Johnny drew two massive pistols from the shoulder holsters strapped beneath each arm and aimed them at the MC. “For you.”
“Johnny!” Lisa took a long step back, hiked the bottom of her dress up, and drew her service pistol from a thigh holster.
The dwarf fired a monstrously loud shot from one gun that splintered the podium into a million pieces. Lemonhead reached for him with both meaty hands and roared so forcefully in his rage that spit flew from his open mouth. Johnny turned to aim the gun at his attacker, but the hulk smacked his arm and the shot went wild and ricocheted off the penthouse’s marble floors.
The venue erupted into chaos. Some of the mob bosses drew their weapons or summoned spells to aim at Johnny and Lisa. Most of them headed toward the back to claim their purchased girls or hurried to the front entrance, the Monsters Ball be damned.
Johnny ducked another swing from his adversary’s fist—which was three times the size of a regular man’s—and fired his weapon into the magical’s foot. Lemonhead roared and lunged at the dwarf with both arms to catch him. Ducking again, he sidestepped the man, dropped one of his guns into the body holster, and withdrew a small metal bar strapped to his belt.
He threw it at his opponent, and the bar unfolded into segments before it landed on the magical’s enormous shoulder. The device unraveled further into the shape of a spider and climbed along the huge man’s shoulder and up his neck until it latched itself onto his face, poked one long metal leg into his mouth, two more into his nostrils, and two more at his eyes.
Lisa launched a fireball at the wizard Marco and struck him solidly in the gut. His champagne glass spun from his hand and shattered on the floor. She squeezed off two shots at one of the half-Kilomea security guards and disabled him with a well-placed bullet in each of his kneecaps.
Lemonhead flailed at the mechanical spider on his face—which elongated its legs and swung its body out of reach each time, keeping its sharpened legs embedded in the soft parts of the magical’s marred and wounded face. Johnny took a black disk from those he’d replenished on his belt and lobbed it at the stage. It detonated before he could tell Amanda to take cover, but the girl didn’t need his help.
As the Kilomea holding her chain leash staggered under the explosion, roared, and clapped his hands over his ears, the girl shifted. The collar clinked onto the stage with the empty handcuffs and her torn, tattered clothes a second before the small gray wolf buried her fangs in the back of her guard’s ankle. With a snarl and two quick jerks of her head, she ripped her bastard handler’s Achilles tendon out and he fell with a bellow, his foot dangling awkwardly from what was left of his ankle.
Without pause, she pounced on his chest and knocked him onto his back. Her swift jaws and the strength of her rage made quick work of his throat. A thick spray of blood arced over the back of the stage and spattered against the wall of windows to obscure the view of Times Square. Amanda bounded off him and spun toward the crowd with a snarl, then threw her head back for a blood-curdling howl of victory.
As Johnny retrieved his exploding beads from his pants’ pockets and crushed the tops, he caught a quick glimpse of the small gray wolf with blood matting the hair of her muzzle as she growled at the gnome. The MC shrieked and darted away before he flung himself ignominiously off the stage.
The kid has bigger stones than half the goons in this place. I’ll give her that.
Johnny ducked another swing from Lemonhead before the man ignored him in favor of trying to pry the spider off his face. By the time he finally succeeded, the dwarf had already thumped half a dozen explosive beads onto the back of his white suit jacket. He vaulted up and slapped another on the side of the magical’s beefy neck.
Lemonhead crushed the metallic spider in one hand. Sparks and shards of metal erupted and he hurled it across the room. He spun and batted his adversary with a forearm as hard as a brick.
The dwarf catapulted away and landed with a grunt. “I could have done without the bruised ass, shitface.” He drew his second pistol again and aimed with both. “You’re not goin’ anywhere with the—”
The magical roared when the explosive beads detonated and thrust him forward in a burst of light. The bead stuck to his scarred, gray neck whipped his head dangerously and he toppled like a felled tree.
Lisa incapacitated the second security guard with a bullet in his trigger hand and a fireball she’d meant to aim at his gut. A Wood Elf woman attacked her with a strobing pulse of lightning-like energy that raced through the agent’s body and made every muscle momentarily rigid. As a result, her fireball caught her target guard in the groin and he dropped then and there with a bugle-like scream that resembled a rutting elk.
Johnny shot the Wood Elf in the shoulder with his massive pistol and she spun away from the agent with a cry of rage. Ameyna the Heiress floated smoothly past at the same moment and landed a backhanded slap against the elf’s cheek that knocked her out cold. The Atlantean woman hissed at Johnny, her hair snakes hissed at him, and in moments, she was at the other side of the room and getting the hell out of the penthouse.
The elf’s spell on Lisa ran its course and she staggered forward with a gasp. “Wood Elves and their fucking lightning.” She whirled and raised her service weapon toward the wizard who tried to play Catch That Shifter like an idiot. He never saw the shot coming.
Amanda flinched at the clap of gunfire and snarled at the woman until she recognized her.
Johnny’s pistols clattered to the marble floors as he stood and raced toward Lemonhead, who lay face-first on the ground. He drew his knife, straddled the huge magical’s back, and brought his knees down hard on his adversary’s triceps. The knifepoint pressed against the side of Lemonhead’s thick neck, and his other hand forced the guy’s face against the marble floor.
“You came out of hiding on the wrong fucking night, Lemonhead. You shoulda stayed under your rock where you belong.”
The magical froze and his massive back rocked up and down beneath the dwarf as a dark, careless chuckle rose from his thick throat. “Lemonhead? That sonofabitch won’t come up for air again any time soon.”
Johnny thumped the side of his fist against the back of the gray-skinned man’s head and cracked his cheek against the marble again. “What the fuck are you saying, asshole?”
“I’m saying he’s dead, you moron.” The giant burst into laughter despite the fractured cheekbone and the heavy dwarf who crushed his back and arms. “He has been for years.”
“You killed him.”
“Yeah, I’ll take the credit.” The man’s next laugh came out as a wheeze.
“So who are you, shitstain?”
The magical grinned and his eyes rolled to the corners to get a glimpse of Johnny’s face. “The Red Boar rises, dwarf. And this time, I’m here to stay.”
Johnny’s chest tightened. This is him. This is the fucking piece of shit who—
“Johnny!” Lisa wiggled a small radio at him that she’d taken off one of the fallen guards. “They’re sending backup.”
“Give me a minute.”
Amanda uttered a sharp yelp as another half-Kilomea goon working for Boneblade caught her by the scruff of the neck and threw her across the room. She struggled to rise to her feet and snarled and snapped at him, but she now favored her front right paw and limped while she prowled tensely as her attacker lumbered toward her.
“Johnny, we have to go,” Lisa shouted and squeezed off two more shots at the witches who summoned a group spell. The spell winked out when two of them were eliminated and the rest of them were thoroughly pissed. “Now!”
The half-Kilomea stalked toward Amanda, backed her into a corner agains
t the wall, and sniggered. “If I have to physically break you to break you at all, you little bitch, I’m happy to do it.”
Dammit.
Johnny turned to reach for one of his pistols on the ground, and the Red Boar fucker roared and threw his assailant off him fully. The dwarf rolled, managed to snatch up one of his pistols, and aimed it at his daughter’s killer. The gray-faced magical kicked up a silver tray abandoned by a fleeing server and caught it in time to deflect the bullet. He staggered back, the tray dented toward his chest, and snarled.
The bounty hunter aimed his massive gun at the chandelier and sneered. Fuck this. Two shots were all it took to sever the chandelier from its bolts in the ceiling and the crystal pieces tinkled as it fell.
One of the extended iron arms drove into the Red Boar’s back and snagged his white suit. The magical fell with a howl as the chandelier landed on top of him. Crystal shards sprayed everywhere and peppered the penthouse walls. The champagne tower exploded and fell to the marble floor in a shower of glass and bubbly.
Johnny raised his arm to shield his face, turned, and got one foot under him for the momentum to hurl his knife. The half-Kilomea choked on a wet gurgle when the blade pierced the side of his neck and he sagged. Amanda pounced on him, ignored her tender paw, and closed her jaws on his face to tear off a huge chunk of beard and the flesh beneath it. She shook her head and the piece flew across the room. Finally, she sat on her haunches and licked her bloody muzzle as she stared with amber eyes at the dwarf.
He snorted and yanked his knife from the half-Kilomea’s neck. “That’s one hell of a way to send a message, kid. Let’s get outta here.”
Lisa darted toward them, stopped, and stripped her stilettos off quickly before she hurried after Johnny and Amanda with a heel in each hand.
“So much for running in heels,” he muttered and directed another shot at a gnome who raced toward them with a machete in hand. “Who the fuck keeps a machete in a penthouse?”
“Didn’t you see me fighting in these heels?” She turned and drove the sharp end of one heel against the temple of a wizard who tried to sneak up on her from an open doorway into another private room. The heel punctured the soft spot there with a wet thump and she jerked it out again to let him slump to the floor.
Johnny stared at her with raised eyebrows.
“I ran out of ammo, okay?”
A small smile played at the corners of the dwarf’s mouth. “I could watch you do that all day.”
“Uh-huh. Let’s move.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Johnny tossed the keys to the valet in front of their hotel with a nod. “Feel free to ignore the blood in the back seat,” he said with a grunt. “It’s not ours.”
The man’s eyes widened but he was good at his job and slid into the front seat of their rental without comment before he drove it smoothly and calmly toward the valet lot.
Lisa walked beside him, her stilettos hanging from one hand with both heels cracked and crooked. “Walking barefoot in Manhattan wasn’t exactly something I had planned for this trip.”
“Eh. There’s a first time for everything.” He ran a hand through his hair and nodded at the twenty-four-hour doorman who opened the door for them.
The man studied each of them in quick succession—the dwarf with a ripped dinner jacket hanging off one shoulder, the attractive woman in a fine cocktail dress with broken stilettos in her hand and mussed-up hair, and a medium-sized gray dog that looked more like a wolf—blood-matted fur and all—but trotted obediently at the couple’s side. “Looks like a fun night.”
“Somethin’ like that, yeah.” The dwarf glanced at Amanda, who panted and trotted three feet away from Lisa. She’s stronger as a wolf. And I wouldn’t wanna shift into being naked right now either.
They headed to the concierge desk first and he rapped his knuckles on the high counter. “How’s it goin’?”
“Mr. Walker. Lovely to see you. And Ms. Breyer.” The man had done this for so long, he didn’t bat an eyelid at the disheveled appearance of his odd guests with even stranger requests. “Did you have a pleasant evening out?”
“More or less,” Lisa said.
“Excellent. Your four-legged friends have been taken outside a total of six times since you made the request, Mr. Walker. Fine dogs, I must say.”
“Did you walk ʼem yourself?”
“Beg pardon?”
Lisa smirked. “He asked if you walked them yourself.”
“Ah, yes. Unfortunately, I have a duty to remain at my station here during operating hours. But the same young man from our staff has been up to see those dogs each and every time. He’s grown quite fond of them in the last eight hours if you ask me.”
When the concierge noticed Johnny’s confused frown, he took a chance on his years of experience in reading his guests’ expressions to also read their thoughts. After twenty-five years in his position, he’d maintained a ninety-five-percent success rate with this.
“And no, Mr. Walker, I do not man this concierge desk twenty-four-seven as a regular occurrence. But I thought it prudent to remain here at the hotel until you returned. So many things can get lost in translation with a change of staff, you understand.”
The dwarf nodded and reached into the deep pocket of his slacks for his wallet. “Much appreciated. Listen, there might be a few stuck-up assholes rollin’ around asking for me and Ms. Breyer over here. Maybe even our new friend.”
The man leaned over the desk to peer at Amanda. “I see. Quite docile for a stray.”
“She ain’t a stray.” He cast the man a quick glare.
“Of course not.”
“If anyone comes askin’ for any of us, tell ʼem we ain’t here. You never saw us, we never talked, and you have no idea what they want. Understand?”
The concierge didn’t bother to glance at the stack of twenty-dollar bills he had slipped out of his wallet and placed on the desk. He did, however, offer Lisa an apologetic smile.
“To thank you for your dedication,” she translated and nodded at the stack of twenties. “And we’d appreciate it if our stay here was kept under wraps.”
He nodded and slid the stack of bills slowly toward him across the desk before he secreted them with a deft hand. “I will forget this conversation and all others the second you leave the lobby, Ms. Breyer. We always put our guests’ wishes first in this establishment.”
“I have no doubt. Thank you.” Giving him a knowing smile, she nodded and turned toward the lobby elevators.
“You honestly can’t understand a thing I’m sayin’ to you?” Johnny asked and squinted at the concierge.
“Enjoy the rest of your night, Mr. Walker,” the man replied. “You know who to call if you need anything else.”
“Huh. Yeah.” Narrowing his eyes even further, he jerked his chin at the concierge, then turned to follow his companions across the lobby toward the elevators. “Yankees.”
When they reached their adjoining rooms, Lisa pulled her keycard out and flashed it in front of her door. She smiled at the small gray wolf sitting patiently between the doors. “Come on, kiddo. I bet you could use a nice hot shower and I might have a few extra things in my bag that’ll fit you.”
Amanda looked at Johnny with wide amber eyes.
“Go on. We’ll pick this up again in the mornin’. My dogs are achin’ too. And I reckon my hounds haven’t got a wink since we left.”
Lisa snorted and immediately wiped the smile off her face when he fixed her with a confused frown.
“Is somethin’ funny?”
“Not at all. Good night, Johnny.”
“Night.” With a sniff, he unlocked his hotel door and cast a final glance at Amanda as she trotted into Lisa’s room and disappeared. Yeah. She’ll be all right.
He opened the door and both hounds leapt off the bed to race toward him.
“Johnny! Oh, my God. Johnny! You’re back!”
“You were gone forever, Johnny. Like…years!”
Rex and Luther leapt onto the dwarf and one of their paws hung over each of his shoulders as they licked his face.
“Years, huh?” With a chuckle, he gave their sides a vigorous rubdown before he pushed them both off and snapped his fingers. “That’s enough.”
Luther’s tail thumped madly against the carpet. “You bring us anything, Johnny? Huh? We’ve been good.”
“So good.” Rex’s tongue lolled from his open mouth. “The best.”
Johnny eyed the scattered fragments of rawhide bones littered all over the hotel room floor, interspersed with pieces of bone from their steaks. “How about the guy who took you out?”
“He took us out often, Johnny.” Rex followed his master toward the closet. “He was nice. Gave us treats—”
“He what?” He spun toward his dogs and glared at them. “Say that again.”
Luther leapt onto the bed and turned in three tight circles before he curled on the bedspread. “The rawhide, Johnny. Endless supply. Every time he came in here, he magically found another one on the floor and gave it up.”
Rex panted and sat as his master kicked his boots off. “Ha. What a sucker.”
The dwarf smirked and didn’t bother trying to explain that the hotel employee had only thrown them the pieces of one rawhide for each of them. I thought I was gonna have to break someone else tonight for feeding my hounds.
He unbuckled his belt and removed the last explosive disk from his previously full artillery before he let his blood-stained and tattered dress slacks fall to the floor. After retrieving his wallet and tossing it on the bed, he shrugged out of the torn dinner jacket and ripped the button-up shirt away from his chest. Buttons scattered and bounced across the floor.
“Ooh.” Rex ignored his master and turned to sniff the buttons. “How’s the girl?”
“Yeah, we can smell her. Why didn’t she come say hi, Johnny? It’s not like she’s afraid of dogs, right?”
Rex chuckled. “Wouldn’t that be seriously confusing?”
“She’s fine.” Wadding up the dress attire he’d cringed at spending almost three hundred bucks on earlier that afternoon, Johnny strode to the small trashcan in his boxers and shoved everything into the bin. That done, he yanked his black jeans and a black t-shirt out of his duffel bag and pulled them on. “She’s a tough kid, I tell you what. Out of all the—”
