Page 20 of Death Wish

Kay quickly grabbed her seatbelt and fastened it. There was no need for me to. My hand went right through the thing.

“I think it’s still your turn technically,” he said after a moment.

“Uh, yeah.” I went through my mental laundry list of questions. “What were you doing in the alley before I found you? What happened?”

His jaw tightened. I could see the muscles pulsing by his ears as he ground his teeth. “Xaver.”

“You got into a fight or something beforehand?”

“I’ve been chasing Xaver for a while. After he possessed your friend, I followed him to your shop, Kay, and surprised him. We scuffled for a bit, but he threw me against the wall. I guess it knocked me out. That’s all I remember before you showed.”

I wondered if he was telling the truth. His profile had said he’d been hit with a blunt object and had suffered major head trauma. Enough to kill.

Really, he could be lying, and I had no way of knowing. On the other hand, he could be telling the truth, too. What reason did he have to lie to us? I couldn’t think of any at that moment, but then, I couldn’t think of any reason for him to want to tell the truth either.

“Why were you following him to begin with?” I asked.

“Hey, you asked your question. Now it’s my turn.”

I scowled at him. He returned it with a wicked smile in the rearview mirror.

Now in the heart of Fairport, Cole turned left, deeper into the newer part of town, past high-rises and expensive storefronts. I wondered where this safe house was that he was taking us to. Was it in one of these five-star hotels?

“Why were you there in the alley in the first place?” Cole asked me, breaking the silence.

Of course he would ask the one question I really didn’t want to answer. I sighed. “Take a guess.”

He stopped at a red light. A herd of people crossed in front of our Jeep as the Walk light flashed.

Cole turned in his seat. “Me? You were there to reap me?”

I nodded. “You were my next assignment.”

His expression became unreadable. Plain and guarded, as if my admission to almost killing him wasn’t shocking. “But I wasn’t dead. I wasn’t even close to dead. Just knocked out.”

“I’m just as confused as you,” I said, the weight of the situation only growing heavier and more suffocating. “It’s never happened before.”

Once the light turned green, Cole punched the accelerator, making me jerk back.

“Shit,” I said.

“We’re almost there.”

When I looked out the window again, I realized we had traveled to a very different part of the city. Graffiti decorated the many closed storefronts and walls. Bright neon lights flashed from both sides of the street, beckoning for patrons to come get dollar peep shows and see live nudes. Something told me that if it wasn’t pouring rain, we’d see women dressed in scandalous outfits and high heels gathering on the street corners.

Uneasiness crept up my spine.

Kay finally spoke again. “Uh, where are you taking me?”

“A friend of mine owes me a favor,” Cole answered. “He’ll keep you safe for me while I figure this out with Xaver and Laurence.”

“You won’t hurt him, will you?”

“I’ll try.”

However, the severe pinch between his brows said he couldn’t make any promises.

He whipped his car into a handicap parking spot along the curb and shut it off. After reaching behind him, he snatched his backpack and jumped out. I hopped out, too.

Kay struggled to get her umbrella open again, so she left it behind. The harsh rain continued to whip against her and Cole.

Cole gestured to the building in front of us. “Here we are,” he said. “You’ll be safe here.”

Its brick face had been painted black, making the neon sign stand out even more against it. The word Red gradually flickered from crimson to white and back again. Every window was covered by dark curtains, but they didn’t completely block everything from view. Silhouettes of women danced in the background, shaking their asses and gliding up and down poles. Just enough to tease. Top that with a muscular bouncer beside the door, and I knew this wasn’t your typical twenty-four hour bar. This was something more devious.

“A-A strip club?” I sputtered in disbelief. “Your safe house is a strip club?”

“Not just any strip club,” Cole replied with another grin. “A vampire strip club.”

---