CHAPTER 6

The shop has been extremely busy today. An entire shifter gang came in and wanted custom tats done. I’d spent the bulk of my day doing consultations, taking notes, and trying to keep up with the normal day to day as well. By the time Carson and I lock the door and turn on the closed sign, I’m ready to drop.

Carson’s an odd one. He used to be a criminal defense attorney. A really good one, from the research I did on him. Now he does tattoos. He’s very cheerful and a calming presence, but there’s a wound on his soul. One so deep, I’m not sure it can be healed. I’ve often wondered what caused it, but I don’t pry. He’s never pried into my life, and I feel like I owe him the same respect.

“I didn’t think the place would ever slow down.” He picks up the broom and starts to sweep the front. “How many consultations did you do today?”

“Fifteen or twenty. I lost count after a while.”

“How is it RJ always manages to escape days like today?”

“God only knows,” I mutter and spray down the counter with disinfectant. I do the plastic chairs next. The place has to stay sterile and clean, according to health department regulations.

“You notice the car parked across the street?”

“Yeah. It pulled in about two hours ago and hasn’t moved.”

“You call your husband?”

“No. I don’t want him to get hurt.”

“You think we won’t?”

“They can try.”

He nods and moves into the back rooms to sweep up while I follow him with the disinfectant spray. I wipe down all the chairs and workstations while Carson starts to mop the floors. It’s his turn to mop. Unlike RJ, he never tries to weasel his way out of it. He just does it and gets it over with.

It’s a good hour before we’re finished with the nightly closing chores, and the car hasn’t moved in all that time. We stand at the counter while I close out the register and count the drawer for the next day. To anyone passing by, we’d look like employees just chatting at the end of the shift, but we’re both assessing the situation outside the four walls of the shop. We can’t see what’s behind us. RJ hasn’t put up the cameras I asked him to a year ago. This is why we need them. We need to be able to see what we might be walking out into.

“I don’t think it’s safe for you go to home by yourself,” I say after a minute.

“Why’s that?”

“Because the Master of the City paid a visit to me a few days ago. I get the feeling she didn’t like my attitude all that much.”

“You think she’d use me to get to you?”

“Without a doubt.”

“You’re not wrong.”

“You ever dealt with vampires?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Yeah?”

He nods, a faraway look in his eyes. “I fell in love with a girl who was turned because I defied a powerful man.”

This might have something to do with the wound on his soul.

“She still alive?”

He shook his head. “I had to kill her to keep her from murdering our son.”

That, I did not expect.

“Your son…”

“Is somewhere safe where no one can ever get to him or use him to hurt me.”

“If that ever changes, you let me know, and I’ll do what I can to help.”

“Thanks. So, how do you want to do this?”

“You drinking the sauce?”

“Always.”

“I hate guns, but I’m assuming yours has silver?”

“I make them myself. Silver infused with holy water and the beads of a blessed rosary.”

“Hmm…never thought of that.”

“It helps a lot. Granted, it all depends on the shooter’s faith, but I think even without faith, it can still work in our favor.”

“You’re religious?”

“Much to my family’s humor, yes.”

“They’re not believers?”

“Oh, they go to church for appearances’ sake, but no, I think I’m the only believer in my family.”

“Faith never hurt anyone.” I sigh. “We’d better get going. Let me call Dan to tell him you’re coming home with me to spend the night. I don’t trust anyone right now.”

“You’re right not to. Masters are the most powerful among vampires, and I’m told this one is around seventeen hundred years old.”

Hmm…she felt really old, but that is…wow. I will definitely not underestimate her. Someone that old hasn’t survived this long without learning to be the cleverest person in the room. As arrogant as I can be at times, even I know better than to think I can’t be one-upped, exceptional gifts or not.

I send Dan a text just telling him Carson’s apartment is flooded and he needs a place to sleep. I get an almost instant text back with a single thumbs-up sign.

“Might as well leave your car here. We’re working the same shift tomorrow, and everyone knows not to touch your car. It’ll get them blacklisted.”

Which would be bad. RJ’s place is one of the few in town that can do spelled ink in tats. The built-in protections it provides the gangs is worth more than whatever chopping the car would bring them. RJ banned a bear shifter clan last year when one of the members broke into the shop. Unfortunately for them, if anyone aside from a select few touches the spelled ink, it causes them serious harm. The hospital wrote it off as a severe allergic reaction. If they only knew the welts and blood poisoning was due to the wards set up around the bottles. One of us had swapped them out before the police noticed. I think it was RJ, but it could just as easily have been Carson. I didn’t ask.

“Well, I suppose we should go. Back door?”

I nod, and we head for the back door. I pick up the metal baseball bat we keep back there on our way out. I stand while Carson locks the door, and we both scan the parking lot before we beeline for my car. It’s a Buick sedan, one of the last models they made before they switched over to manufacturing SUVs exclusively. I love it since its seats are soft and the inside still smells new even though it’s not. I left the Lexus back in New Orleans and picked this up at a dealership in Chicago.

“I see them,” I say before Carson points out the figure lurking in the shadows to our right. They blend in well with the darkness, but if Carson can see them, that tells me he’s not as human as he’d like everyone to believe.

I hit the button to unlock the car doors, and we make it inside without mishap. Carson’s gun is out and in his lap. I don’t like it, but I know it’s necessary. Since Dan had been shot and nearly died, and my old best friend did die from a gunshot wound, I hate guns.

Pulling out of the lot, we both take note when the vehicle in front of the shop pulls out behind us.

“We might get rammed.” Carson checks the rearview mirror.

“The bright lights don’t help.” Can I say I despise people who keep their headlights on bright at night? Despise them. It’s rude, if nothing else.

Another car swerves out in front of us.

“Yeah, no.” I twist the wheel and take the alleyway to the right, hitting the gas so I can get out before I’m blocked in. “Hold on,” I say when a car pulls in at the end of the alley, blocking us in. I hit the gas, and the front end of the Buick T-bones the car, knocking it out of the way, and I keep going. Did I mention Dan gave me defensive driving lessons?

“Call Dan and tell him what’s going on.”

Carson does exactly that, and I pay him no mind, all my focus on the vehicles coming at me.

I’m not sure if this is Gloria’s doing or not. I don’t see why she’d do this if she really wants my help. Unless it’s a lesson in humility and she wants to show me I’m not immune to her punishments.

“Squirt?”

“Not now, Officer Dan. I have to focus on the road.”

“How far are you from the precinct?”

“A ways. We literally just left the shop. Twenty minutes if I don’t hit traffic. It’d be helpful if a few patrol cars that are close could come this way.”

“I’ve got six cars coming to you now.”

“Stay there. This might be a ploy to draw you out.”

“I’d already thought of that. Doesn’t mean I’m staying. I’m in a car with Dobbs.”

I hate him sometimes.

No, I don’t. I just hate that he puts himself in danger when there’s no reason to.

The car is hit from the side, and we fishtail, the Buick spinning around. I let it slide and then gain control of it when I feel it slow and keep going in the same direction. I can hear the police sirens. I just have to make it a minute or two more.

“Dan?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Hit the gas.”

Carson shouts a warning, but it’s no good. My poor car is hit from all sides, effectively smashing us with the force of a tractor trailer. Metal screams and glass rains down upon us. Bright lights are the last thing I see before the world goes red and then dark.