Green Flame Assassin (Demon Lord series, book 2) (16 page)

He held up three fingers.

“Fine,” she said, “three beers.” 

I held up two fingers.

She huffed.  “Five beers.”

“Imported?” I asked.

She growled at me.  “Don’t push your luck.” She gave Josh the tray and headed back for the fridge.  He and I relocated to the living room.  Josh put the tray on an end table and took an armchair.  I flopped onto the couch, setting my feet on the steamer trunk next to Dani’s butt.  She faced the big screen TV, channel surfing once more.  Teri and Cleo dropped to either side of me so they had me surrounded.

Josh leaned forward.  “So, Caine, what do you want from me, specifically?”

“You’re one of the major players in this town—”

He shook his head.  “No, I’m not.  I’m not playing games.  I’ve let everyone know that if they leave the Cat Clan alone, I won’t break them into small pieces.  Otherwise, I’m a live-and-let-live kinda guy.”

“The wolves might disagree.  You did kill their Alpha.”

“They messed with my people.  They messed with Kat.  They needed to learn a lesson.” 
              Kat entered the room, handed me two beers, and moved over to Josh.

I stared at him, hard.  “So you’ve got no problem with a new Alpha taking over the Wolf Clan in
Sacramento?”

“Long as they don’t push the other weres around.  I don’t like bullies.”  He reached up and took the beers Kat brought him, opening one as Kat sat on one of the arms of his chair.

I sighed.  “I don’t think you’ll be left alone.  The wolves want to run the city.  They know they can’t if you’re a rallying point for malcontents.  Same goes for the dhampyrs.  It will cost them dearly, but if they all come for you at once—”

  “Then I’ll pick up the phone and make a call to some of my friends.  The PRT will sweep in and put down the threat.  The cats and I will go underground until the smoke clears.”

I opened my bottle and took a much needed pull.  “So you’ve got no interest at all in becoming Master of the City, running the supernatural element?”

He chugged a bottle empty and met my gaze again.  “None at all.  I start running things, I make a lot more enemies.  I make more enemies, Kat and her people become targets, hostages to be used against me.  Power is a consuming mistress.  I enjoy being retired, looking after a very small piece of the world.”  He opened his next bottle, unscrewing the cap.

I considered his words.  He seemed sincere in his disinterest, but I thought it best to keep an open mind.  It would be better for my mission if he wanted power.  He had too much power not to be committed to an agenda of some kind. 

Kat caught Cleo’s attention with a wave of fingers.  “You girls got a place to stay tonight?”

Cleo looked at me.

I looked at Kat.  “We were going to grab some rooms at a hotel just off the highway in Old Sac.”

She shook her head.  “No way, you’ll all stay here.”

Josh rumbled, “They will?”

She glowered down at him.  “They will.”

I was glad for the invitation.  It was an opportunity to keep working on the liger.  “Well, if you’re sure you don’t mind…”

“I mind,” Josh said.

Kat smiled.  “Good, it’s all settled.”

Phone in hand, Osamu came in from the front porch and walked over to me.  He passed his phone to me. I put it to my ear.  “Caine here.”

“It’s Vivian.  I need you.”

“Where?”

“A brownstone in
The Pocket
.  I’ll text you the address.”  She hung up.

I handed Osamu his phone.  “I’ll be going out to meet Vivian.  Stay here and make sure nothing happens to anyone.”

“Yes, Caine-sama.”

My phone vibrated.  I pulled it out and opened it.  Getting directions, I turned the phone screen toward Kat and Josh.  “You guys know this place?”

Kat took my phone and checked the address.  Her eyes went wide.  “You sure you want to go to Greenhaven?  The top dhampyr live out on Moonlit Circle.”

“Not the Darth Vader building?” I asked.

Josh said, “Nah, that’s just middle management.”

I took my phone back.  “Well, I suppose I can always use the GPS to get there.”

“Don’t bother.”  Josh climbed to his feet, looming over us all.  “I’ll take you.  I want to make sure the dhampyrs know I’m not in their way, as long as they leave my people alone.”

I stood up.  “They might not want to see you—without an invitation.”

He grinned, showing a bit of fang, gold eyes smoldering.  “That might be interesting.”

ELEVEN

Here’s a choice for you: give me what

I want, or give me what I want.

                                                 
—
Caine Deathwalker

We took Kat’s battered, moss green, VW bug.  Unlike my vehicles, hers lacked flames painted on the side.  It had a
Hug-A-Tree
bumper sticker on the back, and a radio tuned to a country station.  A singer with a gravelly voice was whining about his ex taking off with his beloved pick-up truck.  I resisted the urge to shoot the radio
.  Later
, I promised myself,
business first
.  I donned sunglasses, hoping no one I knew would see me in this junker. 

Tall as he was, I didn’t see how Josh managed to squeeze into the front passenger’s seat.  We rattled off, shuddering to a stop at every light.  I think the vehicle wanted to find a place to die, but somehow, Kat kept it going. 

Along 19th Street, I noticed how dead the city looked: no one walking around, clubs and bars open, but no sign of business.  We passed more houses modeled in Victorian style, but less sprawling.  Such structures vanished as we crossed downtown.  Ten minutes later, we entered the pocket community of Greenhaven, a genteel area which could have been a prize-winning model for clean and tidy neighborhoods.  Upper middle class homes dominated.  If Norman Rockwell had immortalized suburbia, this place would have inspired numerous paintings.  The air of innocence and normality gave no clue to the presence of day walkers.

“The house is a couple blocks away,” Kat said.

I leaned forward, gripping the back of her seat.  “Okay, stop here.  I’ll walk the rest of the way.”

“Why not drive up?” Kat said.

I shook my head.  “Your car isn’t cool enough.  I have my reputation to think of.”

Josh gave a grunty sound of agreement, quickly muffled as Kat glared at him.  He got out to accompany me, and slid the front seat forward so I could escape. 

“Fine,” she said, “next time walk all the way!” 

Free of her tin can, I pulled out my phone and texted Vivian:
Two blocks away, on foot with the liger.

She texted back:
I’ll come out to get you.

As Kat’s classic VW lurched away in a snit, Josh and I walked on.  A tattoo along my spine burned like hellfire sinking into my flesh, as my
Dragon Sight
kicked in, letting me
see
magic.  Dark red tendrils of energy snaked along various estates, webbing the fences, lawns, sidewalk and the street.  Smaller offshoots, like fine hairs, fanned up to wave in the wind—a magical nervous system capable of sending out an alarm.  The growths weren’t visible or material to humans, thickening as we approached the dhampyr stronghold.  The predatory hunger and faint blood scent in the air reminded me of vampire magic, but weaker.  The quality of restraint shouted
dhampyr
.

My shield turned the gentle strands aside, not letting them find me.  Filaments brushed the liger and deepened to an arterial red, pulsing with sudden interest that drew more of the strands his way.  He gave no sign he knew they were there.  Had he known, I don’t think he would have cared.   

An iron fence separated the sidewalk from the lawn until we reached the open gate, where baby palm trees played sentry at the mouth of a private drive.  Josh and I started up the drive.  I shut down my
Dragon Sight
as Vivian stepped out of a two-story Tudor style building with white walls, pale blue painted beams.  Above the house, I saw the tops of evergreens and one blue Douglas fir.  Parked in front of the house was a fleet of black sedans, mostly Jaguar XJs, but a Tesla model S, and a red Maserati Quattroporte as well.

Vivian walked out on a concrete porch, waiting for us with the stillness a vamp would have shown who’d forgotten to breath.  I shut down my
Dragon Sight
to conserve magic as we made our way to her.  She spoke, keeping her voice almost inaudible, “There are thirty high-ranking dhampyr in the house, ten of them female. You’ll want to keep an eye on Mason.  He has a lot of influence.  I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.”

I nodded my understanding.

Vivian’s hard stare raked Josh over.  She didn’t seem intimidated by the fact that he towered over her, and carried his over-muscled body with lethal grace.  Her voice came up to normal levels.  “And you would be?”