Хлоя Нейл: Hard Bitten

I maneuvered out of the lane of traffic and stopped beside a booth, closing my eyes until the world settled back down to a dull roar.

“Coupons?”

I opened one eye.

A woman balancing a wailing, pink-cheeked toddler on one hip held out a stack of food coupons. “We have extra, and it’s getting late, and Kyle is just freaking out, so we need to go.”

She smiled sheepishly. “Would you want to buy them by any chance? They’re still good.”

“Sorry,” I kindly said. “I don’t need anything.”

Obviously disappointed, she sighed heavily and lumbered awkwardly away, the baby now beginning to squall.

“Good luck,” I called out, but she was already looking for someone else to tempt.

I didn’t always get to play the hero.

I walked around the tent and back into the flow of people, and I was nearly overdone again.

My stomach growled at the smells; there was only so much blocking that a vampire could do. I silently promised myself a deep-fried candy bar and a paper tray of bacon-wrapped Tater Tots if I made it through the night unscathed. Not a good nutritional combo, but I figured the odds were low anyway.

I walked to a sign that identified the tents’ locations, found the Town booth, and checked my watch. It was about ten minutes until eleven.

Ten minutes until showtime.

A hand suddenly gripped my arm. I jerked, expecting to see Celina. For better or worse, I got a different kind of surprise.

“Hello, there,” said the man at my side.

It was McKetrick, having traded in his fatigues for jeans and a snug black T-shirt. The better to blend in with the humans, I assumed. He smiled grandly at me. He might have been handsome, but the effect was still creepy.

I pulled back my arm. “If you’re smart, you’ll walk away right now and go about your business.”

“Merit, you are my business. You’re a vampire, and I’d be willing to bet you’re carrying a weapon here in this public place. It would be irresponsible of me to let you go on about your merry way, don’t you think?”

It would save me a lot of trouble, I thought, because there was no way I could explain why I needed him to leave me alone. He’d go ballistic if he knew I was here to entertain Celina. And speaking of, time was ticking down, and I needed to get to the Town tent.

“If you’re smart,” I told him, “you’ll be on your own merry way.”

He tilted his head. “You seem a little preoccupied. You aren’t planning to start trouble, are you? That would be most unfortunate.”

“I never start trouble,” I assured him. It just usually seemed to pop up in my vicinity. Case in point: “Since I was minding my own business before you grabbed me, you’re the one causing trouble.”

“If you minded your own business,” McKetrick retorted, “you’d be home among your own kind.”

I was saved the trouble of responding to his prejudiced idiocy by the sound of an argument moving toward us. I looked up. A man and woman bickered as they walked, each clearly irritated by the other.

“Really, Bob? Really?” asked the woman.

“You think the best course of action is to spend an entire week’s salary on food tickets? That’s what you think? Because you want to eat gyros and fried cheesecake for the rest of the week?

Not that I should be surprised. It’s just the kind of harebrained thing you’d do.”

“Oh, yeah, Sharon. Lay it on. Lay it on thick.

Right here in public where everybody can see!”

The man, who was only a couple of feet from me, lifted his arms and moved in a circle. “Did anyone not hear my lovely wife berating me?

Anyone?”

The people around us chuckled nervously, not sure whether they should step in and put an end to the dramatics, or ignore them.

I had the same question—until the man made the full turn and I could see the red T-shirt beneath his thin jacket. MIDNIGHT HIGH SCHOOL was written in faded white letters across the front. These were my RG helpers.

The guy winked at me, then stepped directly between me and McKetrick. “I mean, really, sir, is this the kind of behavior you’d expect from your wife? What happened to ‘for better or worse’ and all that?”

The woman stepped up and poked a finger into the guy’s chest. “Oh, just another thing for you to criticize me about, huh, Bob? I’m shocked.

Really shocked. I should have listened to my mother, you know!”

“Oh, yeah, Sharon. Bring your mother into this. Your poor, woebegone mother!”

A crowd began to gather around the couple, creating a thicker human barrier that put more space between McKetrick and me. Two security guards also ambled over, adding two more humans—and two more weapons—to the fray.

I got while the getting was good.

I found the Town booth and camped beside it, but fifteen minutes, and then half an hour, passed with no action. I cursed McKetrick, positive that he’d scared Celina away.

For the twentieth time, I stood on tiptoes to get a better look at the grounds, nearly falling over when a dark-haired woman nudged past me.

Absently, I watched her dark ponytail bob as she walked, but it wasn’t until she was nearly gone that I felt the tingle of magic in the air. I hadn’t recognized her—and wouldn’t have, but for the power that lingered behind her. My heart began to thud with anticipation.

Before she could escape, I grabbed her wrist.

Celina slowly turned to face me. She wore a one-piece, royal blue jumper with ankle boots, her hair in a ponytail. Her eyes widened in apparent shock.

Okay, now I was confused. Why did she look surprised to see me?

Her arm still in my hand, she moved a step closer. “If you’re smart, child, you’ll let go of my hand while you still have yours to use.”

“I was told you wanted to meet me,” I informed her. “By a mutual friend.”

Almost instantaneously, her expression changed. Her eyes narrowed, her nostrils flared, and her magic rose in an angry, peppery cloud.

The humans still moved past with fair food and plastic cups of beer in hand, completely oblivious to the magical reactor who was throwing off enough power to light the Loop.

“That little shit,” she muttered, followed by a few choice curses.

I assumed she meant Paulie, but if she hadn’t been expecting me . . .

“Who did you think you were meeting?”

Her expression went haughty. “As you are well aware, and as the GP has reminded you, my life is none of your concern.”

“Chicago is my concern. Cadogan House is my concern.”

She scoffed. “You’re a vampire in a fourth-rate House. And sleeping with its Master isn’t exactly a coup.”

I resisted the urge to do the nail raking and hair pulling I’d complained about only a few days ago. Instead, I gave back the same pretentious look she gave me. It wasn’t that I was naïve about Celina or her power—or the damage she could do to me. But I was tired of being afraid.

And if the GP was going to act like she wasn’t a threat, then I was, too.

“My life is none of your concern, either,” I countered. “And I don’t care how well you’ve managed to convince the GP you’re a good citizen and have nothing to do with the havoc in this city right now. I know it’s bullshit, and I am not afraid of you. Not anymore. I’m also not afraid of the GP, so I’m going to give you one chance to answer this question.” I pressed my nails into the flesh of her arm. “Did you put V on the streets?”

Celina looked around, seemed to realize that the people around us were beginning to stare.

And of all the reactions I might have imagined, the one she handed back wasn’t even on the list.