“Do you get many Fae on your shift?” I asked. I had never seen one of the Fae in the bar.
“Every so often,” she replied. “They mostly hang out in Killarney, but once in a while, I’ll have one or two stop by. But that was the only troll. I think word got around that this wasn’t the place for them to go.”
Steve Dworkin and I left Rosie’s after our shift that night and were immediately jumped by at least a dozen vampires. I followed Steve out the door and didn’t have time to react before one of them shoved a gun against my head and pushed me face-first against the wall. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Steve pressed against the wall and a vampire holding a pistol barrel against the back of his head.
“Don’t move, and no one will get hurt,” a voice said. “Now, girlie, you’re going to walk, and be a good girl, or we’ll blow your boyfriend’s head off. Understand?”
“Yes,” I managed to say through gritted teeth. I was hyper aware that all it took was a jitter by some idiot and my brains would be splattered all over the alley. A fair fight was one thing, but that gun grinding into my skin about made me wet my pants.
My captor grabbed my coat at the shoulder and pulled me away from the wall, then directed me down the alley toward a waiting black car with its back door open. The gun never wavered, pressing firmly against my head. That didn’t stop me from pulling power from the ley line.
When we reached the car, the vampire released me and pushed me into the back seat. The pressure of the gun on my head disappeared, and I felt the barrel catch in my hair, then he pulled the gun away, trying to disentangle it.
I kicked backward and heard bone snap. The gun went off over my head, then I whirled and drove my fist into his throat. My other hand closed over his wrist and crushed his bones. He dropped the gun, and I snatched it up as I took off running, casting my shield as I did so. I hoped my escape didn’t put Steve in more danger. Hopefully, the distraction might give him a chance to escape, too. But I wasn’t about to get in that car if I could help it. I had visions of the cops pulling my body out of the river the next day.
A bullet hit my shield, while another hit the wall of the building next to me, and a third ricocheted off the sidewalk. When I reached the next street, I stuck out my hand and used the building to help me swing around the corner without losing much momentum.
Vampires are supernaturally fast, so I had no hope of outrunning them. All I wanted was to reach a place where I could turn and fight without any witnesses. Between Rosie’s and my apartment complex was a lot of open land—a park, several vacant lots, and an old flour mill that had been closed for decades, a crumbling ruin with a chain link fence surrounding it.
I stuck the pistol in my purse and drew the purse strap over my head. I couldn’t use the pistol with my shield in place, but I didn’t want to lose it.
One of the vampires caught up with me, suddenly running beside me and grinning at me. He thought he’d won the game. I cast a glance over my shoulder and didn’t see any more of them who were close.
I reached out and grabbed his arm, then sent a jolt of energy into him. His arm buckled in an unnatural way, and he flew from me, landing about twenty feet away and rolling along the ground. I kept running.
Two more vampires caught up with me as I reached the park, flanking me, and then trying to get in front of me. I assumed more of their friends were right behind.
As soon as they got close enough, I gave both of them a blast of energy that sent them tumbling.
My morning runs were something I dreaded. Some people got off on the endorphins and enjoyed that kind of exercise. I did it out of habit and the dread that I might fall out of shape. That night, I was glad I had kept up the practice. Vampires had a lot of supernatural abilities, but they couldn’t expend energy at a high rate forever. I had never heard of a vampire exercising regularly. They didn’t chase their prey but were ambush predators.
I reached the old flour mill and scrambled over the fence. The closest vamps were a couple of hundred yards behind me.
Working my way through the debris and junk, I found a wide, open area surrounded by buildings, with the storage towers to my back. Making sure I had good footing in the area, I waited for the vampires to find me.
In discussions with Sam and some of the other people I knew, I downplayed my magical talents. While I couldn’t throw fireballs or orange balls of energy or spin mini-tornadoes out of thin air, I did have a couple of lethal abilities up my sleeve. The spot I’d chosen to make my stand was ideal primarily because there couldn’t be any witnesses.
Three vampires appeared out of the shadows, creeping closer to me, fanning out to cut off any escape. I waited.
As soon as all three were in range, I extended my hand, palm out, and pushed three green balls of energy, a little smaller than a baseball, one at each of the vamps. Pure, unfiltered ley line energy that my Masters had called ley missiles. The balls hit the vamps and vaporized them. No sound, nothing left, just like the Illuminati City after it burned.
Since I had never heard of anyone else creating such a weapon, and the Masters of the Illuminati had never heard of such a weapon, I had always been counseled to be discreet with it. Master Benedict and I had done some limited experimentation with the power, but I still wasn’t sure exactly what I could do with it. I did know that if I missed one of the vamps, the ball would fizzle out past a certain distance. If it hit something before it traveled that distance, it would blow a big-ass hole in whatever it hit. There would be no sound and no debris.
I had never tried to use that power against a shielded mage and had no idea what would happen if I did. In fact, the only time I’d used it in a real fight was against the Austrian vampire lord.
Two more vamps found me about five minutes later and then disappeared from the face of the earth shortly thereafter.
I waited another half an hour, then heard shouting and a muffled explosion coming from the direction I had entered the old mill grounds. Cautiously making my way in that direction, I peered out from behind a building and saw several mages engaged with a group of vampires on the other side of the fence. Farther away, at the main road, a number of cars and trucks were parked. The faint sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.
A fireball illuminated the scene, and a vampire exploded in fire, keening his last farewell to life. As the fireball left the mage’s hand, I could see it was Steve Dworkin, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
In short order, the vampires broke and ran, chased by fireballs and energy bolts. Some of the cars out by the road started their engines, then pulled away.
I climbed over the fence and found Steve.
“Thank the gods you’re okay,” he said, pulling me into a hug that almost crushed me.
“Yeah, I managed to outrun them and hide in there,” I said, pointing to the mill. “I’m just glad you’re all right. I was afraid they might hurt you when I escaped.”
He chuckled. “Your escape and the guy shooting at you distracted the guy holding me. So, I combusted.” He grinned. “As you can see, I survived the experience much better than he did.”
We walked back to where the remaining cars were parked, and I recognized my rescuers as regulars who had been drinking or eating at the bar when Steve and I left. He told me that he had gone back inside and put together a posse to ride to my rescue. I made sure to memorize each of their faces. I owed quite a few free drinks. A lot of my tips were going to saying thank you instead of feeding me.
Sam pulled up about that time and demanded to know what had happened. Everyone had to tell him, so it was quite some time before he told me to get in his SUV and he drove me home.
“Any idea who they were?” Sam asked me.
“Barclay’s men,” I said. “I recognized a couple of them from when we were out at his mansion. Or at least I think so. Flynn seems to know an awful lot of what’s going on at Barclay’s mansion. And since it seems Barclay doesn’t really control the mansion, or the city, how would an outsider know what the allegiances are?”
“Remember that Columbia Club thing you were telling me about?” Sam asked.
“Yeah?”
“Were Ronald Jenkins or Everitt Johnson members?”
“They both were. Why?”
The grim look on Sam’s face got even grimmer. “Both of them were murdered this week. The cops think Jenkins was mugged in the parking garage under his office building. Beaten to death. Johnson was stabbed on the street near his office in downtown. How about Brian Douglas?”
“Yeah, he’s a member.” Douglas was a city councilman.
“He died last week. They say it was a heart attack, but he was only fifty-two and didn’t have any previous history.”
I took a deep breath. “You know, I suspect that whoever brought in the Hunter plans a power grab. Were all of those men backers of our current mayor?”
Sam snorted. “Just the opposite. Douglas was his leading opponent on the Council.”
“I think it’s started. Sam, I think that either Daniel Nava or Charles Mietzner are responsible for bringing in the Hunter.”
We drove on in silence, but when he pulled up in front of my apartment building, he turned off the engine and twisted to face me.
“What aren’t you telling me? For a girl as young as you are, you seem to know a helluva lot about politics, Hunters, and how things work behind the scenes. Erin, if you want me to trust you, you have to trust me. I’ve backed you every step of the way since you walked into my bar. I’ve put my life on the line and asked others to do the same for you. But I need to understand why I should continue to do that instead of just kicking you out and solving one of my biggest problems.”
I sat there, staring down at my hands. He was right, of course. But if even one person knew, would that sacrifice my safety? A voice in the back of my mind said, what safety?
Taking a deep breath, I said, “I’m afraid to tell you, because if anyone knew about me, I’d probably be dead in a week.”
“So, you’re not going to trust me.”