Page 13 of Spooks & Specters

“Rich bitch. Gonna fuck you up.”

“Should’ve stayed on your end of town.”

Isadora laughed softly.

Both of the bangers stared at her.

“What are your names?” Isadora asked.

“Why ya want to know?” asked the banger who had shot out her SUV window.

“Because I like to know the names of my victims,” Isadora said.

He laughed. Loudly. “Victims? Only victim around here is you, bitch. But sure. I’ll play. Name’s Carlos. Make sure you scream that when I fuck you.”

“The fuck you givin’ her your real name for?” demanded the other banger who had first approached her driver’s side door.

“Ain’t like she’s gonna tell anyone.”

Any questions she might have had about whether the two of them deserved their fate or not were answered. “And you?” Isadora asked the other one.

“You don’t need to know my name,” he said, pulling a gun from his waistband.

“Well then, let’s get this party started.” Isadora grinned.

Her spinnerets formed on her forearms. Raising her right arm, she pointed it at one of the humans and pressed her middle finger and ring finger into her palm.

Webbing shot out, attaching itself to the gun. Isadora yanked, and the gun went flying out of his hand. Both of the young men started screaming, but Isadora was past caring. Yelling was common and often ignored in this part of town.

Still, it was better not to attract notice.

More webbing shot out, covering the other banger’s mouth. When she had that taken care of, she shot more webbing at him, knocking him to the ground, where he was then pinned. Eyes wide above his gagged mouth, he struggled fiercely.

“Don’t go anywhere,” Isadora said as she kneeled and checked to make sure she hadn’t accidentally covered his nose.

She didn’t want him to suffocate, although that’d probably be a nicer ending than the one she had planned for him.

One down.

One to go.

Standing, she watched the other banger haul ass down the alleyway. She shot webbing from her arm again, which latched on to the back of his shirt, and yanked him back to her. He landed at her feet in a messy pile.

Grabbing him by the arm, she threw him against the alley wall. Even from a few feet away she heard his head hit the bricks. She could’ve used her webbing to stick him there, but where was the fun in that?Quickly she stalked toward him, pinning him against the wall, trapping him.

Of course the first thing he did was swing at her. His fist collided with her jaw, and Isadora’s head snapped to the side. Turning back slowly, she faced him. Lifting her hand, she rubbed her fingers across her mouth.

Looking down, she sighed. “Congratulations. It looks like you drew first blood.”

“What the fuck are you?” he shouted in her face.

Holding her hand up, she let a partial shift take over. Long black nails extended from the tips of her fingers. Only, these didn’t look like human fingernails. These were thick and slightly curved.

“Whatthe—”

“You like to prey on the weak, don’t you, you big bad gang banger? Like to throw your weight around and threaten people. Hurt them. Maybe even kill them. You’ve never stopped to think that there might be something bigger and badder than you out there.”

She wrapped her hand around his throat and slammed him back against the wall again, his head bouncing off the bricks.

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