0.6-The Asylum Interviews: Trixie (5 page)

With a sigh, I leaned forward in my chair and freed one of Jo’s hands, which were tucked under her breasts. Holding it in both my hands, I squeezed gently. “Jo, if you want me to walk away from this, for you, I will. And if you want me to kill him for you, I will. I just want you to be happy and safe.”

Jo closed her eyes. Her expression was sad. “Is there no happy medium for you?” She opened her eyes and stared at me.

I smiled, raising her hand to my lips. “I’m still searching.”

“Well. Well. Well. Isn’t this a cozy little group?” The cold voice swept over us, but I didn’t pay it much attention until I felt Jo stiffen while the hand I was holding clenched around my fingers. I looked up to find Chester casually strolling toward our table, an evil grin on his pale face. “Jo, you didn’t tell me that you were meeting with two old friends tonight.”

“My plans were to meet with Trixie, as I told you. Gage just happened to be in the area and stopped by our table,” Jo woodenly explained. I was surprised that she retained her hold on my hand when it dawned on me that it was a way of keeping me in my seat and away from Chester.

“I think you’ve had enough excitement for one night,” Chester said in a firm voice as he lifted a hand toward her.

Jo hesitated, tightening her grip on my hand at the same time. Her body language was saying that she didn’t want to leave with Chester, didn’t want to be anywhere near him, but I knew she was considering leaving with him if it meant protecting Trixie and me.

Trixie smoothly rose from her seat and stood before Chester, stunning me speechless. Good grief, the woman was fearless and reckless. I liked it, but I was also worried. Elf or not, she could easily find herself disemboweled before she took her next breath.

“Jo doesn’t need to leave with you,” Trixie countered, stepping closer so that she was nearly in his face. “I think she’s fine just where she is and you need to leave her alone.”

“This is none of your business,” Chester snarled.

“Jo is my business.”

I’m not sure what Chester was attempting to do, but he never got the chance. He dropped the hand he was holding out to Jo and moved his other one toward Trixie. The elf easily ducked under his arm and slammed the heel of her palm straight into Chester’s nose, snapping his head back as he stumbled a couple steps backward under the force of the blow.

Jo immediately slipped from the table and rushed over to Chester’s side. She clutched his shirt front in one fist while clenching her jacket in the other, standing between him and Trixie. “I’ll go with you. We can leave now. Please,” she pleaded in a low voice.

Blood dripped from Chester’s nose as he glared at Trixie with red eyes. They stared at each other for several seconds before his hand clasped the back of Jo’s neck. Jo winced but didn’t make a sound as Chester smiled at both of us before shoving her toward the front door. He was going to make Jo pay for Trixie’s attack, even if he had attacked first.

“Shit,” Trixie muttered under her breath as the door closed behind Chester. It was only then that I realized the entire bar had gone deathly quiet and everyone was watching our table. Jerking to my feet, I pulled out my wallet and threw a few bills on the table to cover whatever the girls had been drinking before I followed after Trixie as she rushed out the door.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t think,” Trixie apologized as we headed toward the parking lot.

“It’s not me you should be apologizing to,” I mumbled as we neared my car. I dug in the pocket of my jeans for my keys. “You should go straight home and keep your head down until I can figure out what to do about Chester.”

“What?” Trixie recovered from her momentary shock and horror. “You’re going to keep me out of this?”

“Yes, it’s for the best.”

“You can’t!”

“I have to. Tonight, he’s going to hurt Jo. He’s going to use the excuse that I was in the bar and she didn’t tell him about me. He’s also going to use the excuse that you attacked him. Jo is going to get hurt because of us.”

Trixie paced, shoving one hand through her brown hair to move it away from her face. “I know that! That’s why you have to let me do something.”

“That’s not all.” She stopped pacing and turned to face me. “You attacked him and I don’t think Chester is the kind of guy to just let that go. You need to get home and put up a little protection against vampires. I think he might come after you once he gets bored with Jo.”

Trixie lifted her chin and shrugged. “I’m not scared.”

“Then you’re an idiot,” I snapped. “He’s a master vampire. They’re fast, strong, and usually a little insane. Not a great combination.”

“I’m not hiding. I’m helping you get Jo out of this guy’s hands.”

I stared at the woman standing in the middle of the parking lot, her arms folded over her chest and a stubborn expression on her sweet face. This wasn’t just about a friend in trouble. I could see it when she talked to Jo, trying to convince her to act. I saw it now as she stubbornly refused to protect herself against Chester, and would rather throw her life into the balance to protect a friend that I was willing to wager she didn’t know that well. Without telling me, I knew she had either been in a similar situation herself or was still in one considering that she might be on the run and hiding.

“Fine,” I said, throwing my hands up. I wished Bronx were here to be the voice of reason and common sense.

“Really? You’re not going to try to do something without me?”

“No, you’re in and I’m sure I’ll need your help,” I muttered, silently cursing myself.

Trixie rushed and gripped me in a tight but brief hug during which I resolutely kept my hands to myself. I was making enough stupid decisions already. I didn’t need to start thinking with my dick as well.

“Thanks, Gage. I knew you weren’t a complete asshole,” she said as she stepped away from me.

“No, you’re right on that count. I am a complete and total asshole. It just serves my purposes right now to put you in the way of danger instead of myself,” I quickly argued, but one look at Trixie’s expression showed that she wasn’t buying a word of it.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
Not only were Jo and Trixie in danger from this master vampire, but Trixie’s belief in my prickishness was fading fast.

Priorities
. I needed to focus on getting Jo free of Chester permanently while protecting Trixie from any backlash from the master vampire. I could always prove to her later that I was a dick.

“Focus,” I said. “Why is Chester harassing Jo in the first place?”

“Jealousy,” she suggested, taking a step back from me. “Maybe he’s jealous of her success. Most vampires prefer to keep a low profile because of the old vampire hunts, but Jo doesn’t hide what she is and lots of people love her.”

“Possibly,” I murmured. “And maybe he’s scared that she’ll off him and take his place as master vampire of the nest. Jo didn’t mention anyone else in the nest that was over the age of three hundred. If there was, I would imagine that she wouldn’t have a problem with offing Chester and letting someone else take his place.”

Trixie gave a little shiver as she nodded. Wrapping her arms around her middle, she rubbed her hands up and down her arms against the cold night air. She wasn’t wearing a jacket and the material of her blouse didn’t look particularly thick, especially against the fall chill. “That’s true. Maybe he sees her as competition. Unfortunately, as long as Jo is a part of the nest, he won’t feel comfortable around her. We have to get rid of him.”

Fishing my keys out of my pocket, I hit the remote to unlock the doors. I jerked open the back door behind the driver’s seat and pulled out the jacket I kept back there. It was an old green jacket I had picked up a few years ago at an army surplus store. It wasn’t fashionable, but it was warm. As I handed it to Trixie, she looked at me confused. “Put it on.”

“Are we going somewhere?” she asked as she slipped her arms into the sleeves. It was a couple sizes too big for her, but she already looked warmer.

“You’re going straight home. You’re not going to answer your door when you get there. You’re going to throw a handful of seeds or popcorn kernels outside your front door and you’re going to use a bar of soap to draw some protection wards on your windows.” Grabbing my wallet from my back pocket, I pulled out a business card that had my cell phone number on it. “You’re going to call me tomorrow around noon so we can plan our next step.”

“That’s it?”

“We need a plan. You don’t take on a master vampire without a plan.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to see an associate about some protection and then try to find out where this nest is located. You don’t happen to know, do you?”

Trixie shook her head. “Why can’t I help?”

“You will, but not right now. If you can locate the nest without leaving your place, then do it. But I need you safe. If you’re safe, then I can focus on getting Jo free.”

“You’re not safe and I can take care of myself.”

“Oddly enough, I am safe. Chester is pissed at you and Jo, not me. I plan to change that soon enough, but I’ve got to take advantage of the time I have when he’s not stalking me. And yes, you can take care of yourself. You’ve done a great job, but please, help me by laying low.”

“Are you mocking me?”

“Absolutely not. I don’t want to risk you breaking my nose.”

Trixie shook her head, shifting from her left foot to her right foot. “Back to being an asshole.”

I grinned at her. “Every chance I get.” Trixie looked away from me, but I could tell she was fighting back a smile. “Text me your address. That way I will have your address and phone number in my cell phone. I’ll leave you a message tonight updating you on what I find out. You’ll still be in the loop. Trust me, I’m not taking on Chester without you and preferably Bronx at my back.”

“Sounds good,” Trixie said, turning back to look at me again.

“Now get out of here before Chester starts prowling the city again.”

Trixie turned toward her car and suddenly stopped. As she turned back toward me, she started to shrug out of the jacket I had given to her.

“Keep it on,” I said with a wave of my hand. “It’s cold. You can give it back to me tomorrow.”

She smiled at me, her face bathed in the light thrown down from a lamp in the parking lot. She was lovely, even if it wasn’t quite real. “Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.”

It was only when she was driving away and I had climbed behind the wheel of my own car that I realized that I should have taken the jacket back. Damn it! I had to work harder at this asshole thing if I was going to keep her hating me. Shaking my head as I started the car, I reminded myself that I would have to try harder tomorrow. And here I thought that being an asshole came naturally to me. I guess I was wrong.

For now, my focus was on trying to get Jo free of Chester and the only option I had was to get rid of Chester. Not the easiest of tasks. Despite my hatred of the bastard, my first choice wasn’t to simply kill him, regardless of all my angry bluster. I wasn’t a killer. I had never taken a life before and I didn’t plan to now that I was free of the toxic Ivory Towers. That left getting Chester removed from the nest, which meant jail. There weren’t a lot of ways for a vampire to get sent to jail, but I did know of one.

Unfortunately, that meant seeing Chang if I had any hope of surviving the plan I was slowly developing. And Chang’s help was never cheap.

CHAPTER FOUR

C
losing my eyes, I leaned my head against the back wall of the elevator. A low growl beside me brought my eyes open again and I looked down at the Doberman pinscher seated on the ground beside me. The other Doberman sat next to the floor buttons, watching the doors as we descended. After passing through the Diamond Dolls strip club to a back entrance, the two identical dogs had become my guides down to Chang’s collection.

Diamond Dolls made the perfect entrance into Chang’s black market operation. If you had the stomach to make it through the strip club and the balls to get past his dogs, then you had a shot at seeing Chang. Even with an introduction from my tattooing mentor, it had taken me the better part of four years to get in to see Chang. The man made you jump through ridiculous hoops, but it was so worth it. He could get his bony hands on anything you could imagine—it just cost you. I had a feeling that if I wasn’t careful, he was going to end up with a part of my soul one day.

The elevator emitted a soft ping at the third sub-basement floor and the doors slid open with a soft hiss. One dog walked out of the elevator and I followed with the second close on my heels. The room resembled a giant warehouse with two-story ceilings filled with row after row of crammed shelves. Books, rolled scrolls tied with ribbon, crystals, intricately carved wooden boxes, and more. Despite being a little dusty here and there, everything was in pristine condition as if it had been made that day.

I shoved my hands in my pockets as I weaved up one aisle and down another behind the dog. The items tempted me, making my fingers twitch with the need to pick them up and inspect them, but I didn’t take my hands out of my pockets. I couldn’t risk angering either Chang or having his dogs take a chunk out of my ass.

We rounded a corner to find a spindly little Chinese man sitting on a banged-up metal folding chair beside a shaky card table. When I reached the table, I silently waited for him to notice me as he chewed on the end of his pen while glaring at a crossword puzzle. A transistor radio sat in the middle of the table playing scratchy jazz music as if it were being piped directly from the 1920s. When it came to Chang, it actually could be.

He wasn’t a warlock. I knew that much, but that was about all I felt like I could be sure of. Thin and wrinkly with pale skin dotted with age spots, he looked like he could have been born about the same time as dirt or maybe he had been hatched in a nest with some dinosaurs. I never sensed any magic use when I was around him, but I knew there had to be something more to the little old man. He had this amazing collection of rare artifacts and the only security system I ever saw was a pair of mean-looking dogs.