Death's Rival

“You’re the brawn. You can supplement my own skills and maybe teach me a thing or two. The kid, if he’s any good, can take me and my business all kids of places. He’s valuable.” I looked Eli over, smelling his shock, and I grinned, knowing I had just verbally socked him in the gut. Men are so easy. After a moment I tossed him a bone. “I need a secure room in this house, one with egress in case of fire. I was nearly burned out not that long ago. Updated windows and doors. My vampire landlady and employer”—I pointed out the back of the house—“needs a safe room too. I started one. Got as far as installing a sprinkler system and dedicated communication devices. You can take that over too. Assuming your brother is as good as he thinks he is.” The kid snorted and said something my house mother in the children’s home would have washed out my mouth for saying.

 

“Alex?” He looked up from the screen to me. “You ever say that in my house again, or any other curse or swearword or phrase, in English or any other language, and I’ll wash out your mouth with soap, something antibacterial, with a real slimy degreaser.” His eyes sparked sullen again. “My house, my rules. Are we clear?” He looked at his bother and nodded, lank hair falling forward. “And if you get the job, you’ll shower every day, and you’ll do your own laundry and pick up after yourself. Your brother cooks, so you’ll wash dishes and keep the entire house swept. I am not your mother. And if I was, I’d be twice as hard on you for showing disrespect to me and to your brother. Nod if you understand and agree.” A long moment later, the kid nodded, but I could see the anger and a blue screen, both reflected in his eyes.

 

My cell rang and I opened it without taking my eyes off my current guests and potential employees. “Yeah.”

 

Derek said, “We got a route for Leo. According to the crispy vamp, he was drained in what sounds like a gang-feeding, and then whisked away by two vamps and two blood-servants. Angel hacked the GPS of the car they were in and Chi-Chi, Lime Rickey, and Hi-Fi are heading to observe and gather intel. I assume you want to be there, so I’ve sent the coordinates to your cell.”

 

I inhaled slowly, letting the shock settle. I could think later about what the gang-feeding analogy might mean to Leo, and moved to my bedroom to weapon up as I checked Derek’s GPS info, merging it into a map and then taking a look at it on webcam pics. The car was on the far side of Highway 10, parked at a one-story house on Ursulines Ave. According to Google, there was a high school nearby, but not much else. Of course, Google was not something I wanted to depend on when planning an op.

 

“Trap for us?” I asked, sliding into my M4 harness and the holsters for the nine-mils.

 

“Could be.”

 

“Okay. I’ll meet them there.” Behind me, I heard the familiar clicks and metal-against-metal of guns being checked and glanced back to see Eli Younger weaponing up as well. I watched to see what he carried and it was pretty much standard, the kind of stuff I had utilized when I first started out.

 

“If it looks reliable,” Derek said, “we’ll send Leo’s blood-servants to be available.”

 

Leo was drained. Drained vamps are dangerous. Very. “Okay. I’ll get back to you.”

 

From my closet floor I lifted the boot box I use for a jewelry box and set it on the bed. Inside were the few pieces I owned, each stuffed inside athletic socks to keep them from rattling around. And to keep my socks all in one place. I placed the black velvet gift box on the bed and lifted out my silver and titanium vamp-hunting collar. Underneath it was the coyote earring that had appeared in the box following a particularly horrible nightmare one night. I paused at the sight. I didn’t have nightmares often, but this one had stuck with me. So had the earring, which was weird, but no weirder than the fact that the pocket watch had somehow gotten into the black velvet box with it. I distinctly remembered dropping the watch-amulet into the box, on top of the socks. The amulet’s magic still smelled like meat. Like blood. Good thing Beast wasn’t hanging around too much. She would want to taste it. Along with the watch, I stuffed the earring in a sock, wondering if they would both reappear, in a different spot in the box the next time I opened it. I removed the collar and put the box back on the floor of the closet.

 

“You going somewhere?” I asked Eli, questioning his weapons with lifted brows.

 

He shrugged. “Consider it a job interview for the brawn half of the Younger team.”

 

“Suit yourself,” I said. “We’re going to rescue a starving master vamp from some kidnappers and torturers. Try not to get your throat torn out.” That made Eli pause half a second in his prep work. He looked over my necklace collar, considering the implications. “No. I don’t have another one,” I said. “If I keep you around—”

 

“Yeah, yeah. You’ll spring for one.”

 

“Heck no. These suckers are expensive. I’ll send you to a supplier and you can buy your own.”

 

“Sweet lady.”

 

“Your brother had it right. I’m no lady. We’ll take your vehicle.”

 

Eli shrugged and we were out the door and heading toward Highway 10, Eli driving, me reading out directions on my cell.

 

*

 

The house was in need of a paint job, but it had a newish, post-Katrina roof. It was deep but narrow on the front, with steps up to a porch and working shutters closed over all the windows. In the Deep South, shutters are for hurricane protection, not just looks. Unlike most of the duplexes around it, this was a single-family house, up on seven-foot stilts, with the lower area used for low-head parking and storage. We pulled down the block, behind the SUV, and parked, trees between us and the house.

 

Chi-Chi climbed into the backseat and closed the door softly, handing us com units. “Lime Rickey and Hi-Fi have reconnoitered and are in position,” he said as we slid into the units and tested functionality. “The front door is six, and Lime is at two, Hi is at seven. We have a single-family dwelling with six-foot alleys to either side and a small backyard, fenced, with a couple of pit bulls, unchained. We have tranks and Lime can take out both dogs safely. What we don’t know is if Leo is inside.”

 

Faith Hunter's books