Texas Hold 'Em (30 page)

“Why not let you continue to run Texas? Couldn’t they have left you in charge, but made you follow the rules?”

“And I totally would have tried to work with that, but Christian had this thing about the Wild West. Some fancy he picked up from newspapers and dime novels. He had his heart set on Texas. And since he was a member of the council, I was out and he was in. He took it all away from me; I got to be Number Two. What a joy that was. He got all the fun bits and I was left with having to make sure everyone followed the rules I didn’t want in the first place.”

“Like a vampiric hall monitor,” supplied Lacey.

“Exactly,” said Marie, picking the game back up.

“And you decided to use vampire hunters to do it?” I asked.

She glanced over the top of the phone. “It seemed like an obvious choice to me. I’m not much for direct confrontation myself.”

“Apparently not. And this council was okay with using vampire hunters?”

“Of course not, silly! But you know how it goes: what they don’t know can’t hurt them.”

“At least until you decided to use the hunters to take them out.”

Marie smiled and nodded. “It seemed like my best option at the time. I certainly didn’t have the political clout to ever wrest Texas back away from Christian, and usurping through murder is frowned upon. Unless, of course, it can’t be traced back to you.” Marie put her finger to her lips and mocked making a shushing noise while she winked. “So this will have to be our little secret.”

“And why should we keep it?” asked Lacey, seizing an opportunity to gain the upper hand on Marie. I had a feeling Lacey would have already been on the phone with the vampire authorities to report Marie if she’d known the number.

“Don’t be that way. It’s not like you don’t have your own secrets. You’re running around killing vampires too, you know, and then there’s the whole blood magic thing. Almost everyone disapproves of necromancy, but we vampires tend to take it personally.”

I nodded, silently pleading for Lacey not to antagonize the manipulative, but momentarily well-meaning, vampire.

“So all of those other times, all of those tips we got back then… those were you, too?” Jacob asked Marie, his mind trying desperately to maintain order in his crumbling worldview.

“Not all of them, silly.”

“But some of them?” he asked.

“Well, not me
personally
, but I made sure you got the information you needed. Like I said, after Christian replaced me as the vamp in charge, it became my job. Keeping the order, you know? As the number two guy, I became kind of like the sheriff, and you were my deputies!”

Jacob looked crestfallen and Marie gave him a pout of sympathy. “Aw, don’t look so sad. It
was
me that called the last time! I felt it only right that I personally make the call to bring Christian down, you know? Seeing as I
was
orchestrating the downfall of the current regime and all. I even went to the trouble of making up that cool story so you guys would feel like heroes!

“Anyway, it was handy having you guys around; I’ve missed you all these years.”

When Jacob didn’t seemed swayed by her olive branch, Marie let out a loud breath of frustration and handed Bryan the phone. “Oh, come on—don’t look at me like that. There’s no need to get all upset about it. We were doing each other a favor! I led you to vampires who were breaking the rules, and you got to kill them. Best of all, the powers that be were blissfully ignorant of our methods. Everyone was happy. Well, except for the dead vampires. But most of them were bad. It was a win-win-win!”

“And so when Christian came back, you decided you’d use us to try for him again?” I said.

“It’s not like I planned this. You sort of fell into my lap. Or, if we have to be accurate, I fell into his.” She smiled at Bryan, who had been trying to digest everything that was happening. “I mean, that’s what you’ re here for anyway, right? Killing Christian? I was just enabling. Again, win-win.”

It was kind of hard to argue her point. “I guess so.”

“Exactly!” Marie said. “Except that it’s getting kind of messy. Christian has already made it clear to me that he suspects I was behind the last attempt on his life, and if he finds proof, it might get awkward. I’d appreciate it if you could hurry up and finish him so I can get on with disavowing any knowledge of what happened when the inevitable inquiry comes from the council.”

“Wait, you’re not going to help us kill him? You’re the one who started this entire thing! You’re the reason Christian wants us all dead din the first place!” I said.

“Wow, hostility. I have so helped you. How do you think you found your mom at that hotel in the first place? Not my fault you lost her again. You should be more careful about where you leave people. I mean, seriously. Do you know what trouble I could get into for doing what I have done for you already? Do you know what the penalty is for aiding and abetting vampire hunters?”

“Death,” said a grinning Lacey, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

“Wow, bummer—I figured it might be,” Marie said. Apparently the question hadn’t been rhetorical.

“How am I supposed to know if it’s death? Aren’t these your rules?” asked Lacey.

“Well, yes, but I’m not entirely sure about helping out vampire hunters. I don’t think I ever read that one. I don’t think any vampire has ever done it before. I’ll have to have Reginald look it up,” said Marie, then she smiled again. “I’m a pioneer! And, as such, I need to be careful. I counted on nudging you in the right direction and letting you go on about your business, but so far that hasn’t panned out at all.” She frowned. “So far I’ve had to do more shoving than nudging, and I’m running out of options. If I want to maintain control of this place after Christian is gone, I have to keep up the appearance of obeying the laws. But, luckily for me, you guys go around breaking all sorts of rules, so what’s a few more? Now hurry up and kill him already so we can all go back to being happy!”

“What about us?” I asked. “What happens to us after we take care of Christian?”

“Totally up to you. There’s always Disneyland, but I’ve always found that a little physical activity is the best way to celebrate a victory.” She nudged Bryan, who smiled and threw an arm around her.

“I mean, what about the rap for killing Christian?”

“Oh—like I said, this is our little secret. As far as I’m concerned, you all stopped on by with Megan to say hello and check out the sights. Sample the local flavor, as it were. Christian…well, if he dies while you’re here, then I’m sure I won’t know anything about it. But you should be careful.”

“Why is that?” Lacey asked, brows furrowing at the slightest perception of a threat.

“Word is out about you all being unorthodox. You know, that whole California thing? Not by the book. I mean, I get it, obviously. But some stodgy types frown on the whole human-slash-vampire-slash-witch-slash- werewolf partnership thing, even if it is to save the world or whatever. They’re not progressive like we are. Some people were seriously tweaked by happened back there. Frankly, when Christian dies, even if you weren’t to blame, they might try to pin it on you.”

“Great.”

“So you might want to prepare alibis. Anyway, I agree with Jacob. It’s been thirty minutes,” Marie said, picking up on a fifteen-minute-old thread—something Megan would have done.

“What?”

“Someone should have called by now, either Megan or Jacob’s nephew. Who, by the way, I understand is good with computers. It’s a skill my team is sorely lacking. Reginald took some courses, but he’s dismal with them, and I have no inclination to learn. Between your knowledge and Kevin’s skills…” Marie’s brows raised as she tried to judge Jacob’s reaction to her subtle proposal.

Marie was right; they should have called. I searched my pockets in vain for a phone.

“Oh, no way!” Jacob said, animation breaking through the funk as the meaning of Marie’s words landed on him like a piano.

“Why not? It would only be a part-time job. He’d have plenty of time for school. Good pay,
great
benefits.” Marie pulled out a several- generations-old cell phone and handed it to me. It was a folding model, covered in little daisy stickers.

“Oh, hell, no! You leave that boy alone,” said Jacob.

“Come on, Jacob—look at all the great work you and I used to do. And I wasn’t even paying you, and you didn’t even know you were doing it! This would be different. Imagine what we could accomplish if you were in on it. Getting rid of all those evil, evil monsters. Cleaning up the town. I’d make it worth both your whiles. Think of it as sticking it to the council!”

I stepped away from the conversation and gave Kevin a call. No answer. I tried Megan next, but it was the same. I left a message on her phone. I was about to head back when, on a whim, I called myself. It was picked up on the second ring.

“City Morgue, where our motto is ‘you bag ‘em, we tag ‘em.’”

“Katy?”

“Chance! I was wondering when you might call. Lonely?”

“Um, no. I was wondering if you had seen my mom.”

“She’s with that annoying kid that asks lots of questions, and the vamp you guys worked over. Martin is watching them.”

I went cold. Damn it, I had told Kevin to get out at the first sign of trouble.

“Where are they?”

“How about you meet me in person and I’ll tell you.”

“That didn’t work out so well for me last time.”

“This time will be different. I promise!”

“Chance, even for you this is a bad idea,” Lacey muttered as I hopped out of Jacob’s van.

I was already closing the door before the dieseling of the ancient engine had ceased. It took everything I had to get Jacob to agree to lend us the battered van. In the end, I had to leave him my Miata despite his protests that it wasn’t a fair trade.

Sunday nights weren’t as bad as Fridays and Saturdays, but Sixth Street in Austin was still packed. It had taken a while to find a parking place, and we ended up a good half-mile away from the pool hall where I was supposed to meet Katy. I walked at a brisk pace, eager to get to my destination despite what, or who, was waiting for me.

It was a typical late-August evening, so the temperatures were still in the nineties—meaning, wearing enough clothes to let me carry anything bigger than a handgun would not only make me look suspicious, but would probably cause me to pass out from heat prostration before I reached my destination.

Normally I used a shoulder holster to carry my handgun, but without a jacket, that wasn’t going to work. So I was forced to pull a page out of my brother’s book and stuff the Browning down the waistband of my khaki cargo shorts, covering it up with an oversized burnt-orange University of Texas t-shirt. I dropped a short stake into one of the leg pockets of the shorts, and that was all she wrote in terms of armament. I took some small comfort in knowing that Katy wouldn’t be able to bring her axe.

I heard Bryan and Lacey behind me, hurrying to catch up. We were down to the three of us. Jacob had elected to stay back in his not-so-safe house. I suspected the instant we left he would be on his way to another hidey-hole. He would have headed straight for the border if it weren’t for Kevin. He was distraught when he heard the news.

I promised I would bring Kevin back safe, and it was a promise I intended to keep.

We had dropped Marie off near Styx before parking the van. She pleasantly informed us that she would rather not be seen in our company in case things went down badly, which she told us she fully expected to happen.

“Dude, slow down, man,” my brother huffed behind me.

I lessened my pace a touch, allowing Bryan and Lacey to catch up to me. The slower pace was less painful, though thanks to Marie’s blood, the wound had healed an amazing amount.

I adjusted the handle of the Browning for the third time since getting out of the van, to ensure it didn’t slide out and fall down a pant leg onto the pavement. Once it was secure, I sped back up again.

“Bryan’s right—a minute or two isn’t going to make a difference. It’s not like they’re going to kill the hostages. Well, at least not before they kill you,” Lacey said, her shorter legs having to work harder to keep up.

I didn’t bother answering. Instead, I kept up the pace as I turned onto Sixth. I weaved around the packs of slower-moving revelers as I scanned the business signs for the right one.

I found the Black Dog Pool Hall a couple of blocks later. It was between a trendy Cuban-themed club and a head shop. A bouncer leaned against the wall next to the door. I thought I would have another struggle getting Bryan to wait outside the over-21-only establishment, but before I could say anything, he altered his course and headed next door to peruse the paraphernalia.

After submitting to a cursory check of our IDs, Lacey and I walked in. Despite the smoking ban having been in effect for several years, the place still smelled musty, though probably more to do with a decade or two of spilled beer and vomit than old cigarettes.

Two rows of dingy tables were lined up with just enough room so the players would not interfere with each other. A bar ran along a good portion of one wall, with the rest of it taken up by a series of both standard and coin-operated dartboards.

Only about half of the tables were taken. Most of the clientele were scruffy-looking, the kind of guys that might typically cause problems for the fun of it, but none of them paid us any particular attention as we entered. Rockabilly music played from the speakers at a volume that actually allowed for conversation.

The smell had become stronger now that we were a few feet inside, and I stopped dead after only taking a couple of steps. I put a hand on Lacey’s shoulder to halt her advance. The smell wasn’t old cigarettes, beer, and body odor. At least that’s not all it was. It was dog.

More specifically, wolf.

I was positive I had stepped into the wrong place until I spotted Katy at a table, playing a round of pool with a clean-cut jock type. They were drawing some attention. Or at least Katy was, wearing cut-offs and a halter top as she leaned over the table to make a shot.