“Hey, no one’s forcing you to buy them.” He looked back down at his magazine.
I tossed the Twizzlers back on the shelf and moved on, not sure if I was going to be purchasing anything but not ready to go back to the love bug yet.
I forced myself to move on to the next overpriced package of empty calories as the Twizzlers continued to taunt me in my peripheral vision.
The door squeaked open as my internal clock told me it was three minutes past my unspoken allowed time frame when Fate would start getting edgy. I couldn’t leave though, not while I had a raging debate going on in my head over whether two Ho Hos were worth twelve dollars. Those Twizzlers were looking like a bargain but I couldn’t get them now, not with Mr. Economics ringing me out and my prior statements. But I really wanted that damn twisted red licorice. Maybe I could make Fate buy them. I’d have my candy and my pride.
“Mr. Healthy, you want some brownies?” I asked when a tall body cast a shadow on my package.
I suddenly knew it wasn’t Fate. It didn’t smell like him and even though whoever was hulking behind me wasn’t touching me, it didn’t feel like him either. Fate caused a certain sizzle in my senses when he came close.
It was probably some idiotic human drinking whatever crazy juice Malokin was handing out. I should handle him before I eat my snack. Didn’t want to fight on a full stomach.
“No, that isn’t what I was looking for.” The voice was deep, and monotone. I couldn’t explain why, but I’d guarantee the guy who owned it had less IQ points than the lump of chocolaty goodness in my hands.
I also recognized it immediately. I’d saved him—Eddie, the petty thief. I’d dragged him kicking and screaming out of an alleyway when he would’ve been stabbed with his own knife.
Somehow, I didn’t think he came here to show his gratitude. I wasn’t sure if he had found me intentionally, although I couldn’t imagine how, or perhaps the lack of shopping opportunities had created this chance meeting. Either way, he was on my bucket list. And here he was, serving himself up like a chilled bottle of champagne and yet I wasn’t allowed to pop his cork, so to speak.
I turned to face him and realized someone had already beaten me to the killing. He was already dead or at least not human anymore. Oddly, he didn’t look that much different from when he’d been mortal. Or maybe he did and it was just me?
It was still strange how I could recognize anyone after they changed but I did. Like with this guy, I knew he looked different but it was still him somehow. And it hit me. This was the first time I realized I wasn’t recognizing him as a human would recognize another human. I was recognizing him on some other deeper fundamental level that had my thoughts spinning.
All those times I’d thought I’d recognized someone in my human life but couldn’t put a name to the face, this is what it had been. The thing that makes us who we are, that goes with us from life to life, it never changes. We always know the people that have surrounded us deep down, whether they are meant to be in our lives at that moment of time or not.
As much as I wanted to drift off into my memories and musings, standing before me was a problem wrapped up in a black tracksuit. He wasn’t alone. He had two others with him, neither of whom I recognized, but definitely not human either, and it looked like they’d all done their shopping in the same place.
I didn’t know what happened when people were recruited outside of the agency but I knew it made them stronger, quicker and, in essence, a match for me. The biggest problem was, there were three of them and, if I had to guess, everyone outweighed me by almost double.
A couple of things immediately ran through my mind. Firstly, how had I been so lax that I hadn’t noticed three large men approaching me? Secondly was that Malokin must have been very busy and it better have been before the truce he’d called for.
The fact that there was a truce should’ve put me at ease but something didn’t feel right about this. I saw intent in their eyes, their stances, in the forward tilt of a head and the way one was rolling up his sleeves. They wanted to inflict pain and wouldn’t be happy until they did. They probably wouldn’t be happy afterward either, but that was their shrinks’ problem.
I belatedly scanned the store. The clerk was gone, and the back door was also wide open. I was glad for it even if I was silently calling him every name for coward that existed. This had the smell of something that was going to get ugly. The clerk hadn’t needed any more help in that area. He’d had a face that perfectly matched his shitty attitude. I wouldn’t want to be partially responsible for kids everywhere running away in tears.
I held up my hands, palms outward, toward the three undead amigos.
“I’m not looking for trouble.” I sounded like a bad action flick. Even in those movies that line never worked. I needed something extra. “Seriously,” I tacked on. Oh, yeah, that made it so much better. Now they wouldn’t screw with me, for sure.
I could always try the honest approach and tell them I didn’t want to fight because I was outnumbered. I’m sure that would get them to leave me alone.
In actuality, I wasn’t adverse to a fight. My mouth drooled at the idea of taking out Eddie, just not three on one. If I could only get them to take turns, my night would be perfect.
Most likely it wouldn’t matter what I did or said. I was fairly certain a fight was coming. This wasn’t bluffing and showmanship.
Eddie reached out with his club-like hand and grabbed my arm, yanking me to him. Immediately I knew something was off. I felt like a rag doll. The guy was freakishly strong, even for one of us.
One hand wrapped around my back as the other groped my breast. “Nice and full, just how I like them.”
“Wow, what a charmer you are. I’m even getting foreplay and dirty talk.” There went my mouth, taunting him when I should’ve been trying to calm him down, especially since I couldn’t budge him. I was torn between pure rage and full blown “I really stepped in it this time” panic. He shouldn’t have been that much stronger than me.
No, I couldn’t get nervous. Panic was bad. So was rage. This wasn’t anything worse than I’d already dealt with. It was certainly less intrusive than a wiretap on my entire existence, like Malokin had done. Plus there was the truce. They wouldn’t kill me. They couldn’t.
Remain calm and talk to him. “Listen to me. We have a deal with your boss. You can’t do this. It would be very bad for your newly burgeoning career. Don’t you want to be Mr. Second Bad in Charge someday?”
He smiled. His teeth were perfect but that made him as appealing as getting bitten by a viper with gleaming scales.
“You’re right. I can’t off you. No one said shit about having a little fun with you.” His eyes looked even smaller when he smiled like he was.
I was shoved backward, the metal shelves of the rack pressing into my spine. His hand went from my breast to my hair, gripping it and pulling back on my scalp painfully as his mouth tried to close over mine. He didn’t want to have sex with me. He wanted to humiliate me and it looked like he had some experience at the job.
I pushed and shoved but he still didn’t budge. What the hell was up with this guy that I couldn’t move him even slightly? Eddie the pickpocket had just shown his value for recruitment. It wasn’t that I’d grown weaker; he’d become much stronger.
When his tongue shoved into my mouth, I bit down hard and then gagged on the taste of blood. He yanked back quickly, yelling out in pain.
“Grab her arms,” Eddie said to his two companions.