"You cool," Big Mike said with a grin, tossing Rider a vial. "Feel better, now?"
"Much improved, good brother," Rider replied with a nervous laugh as he caught the vial and kissed it.
"I hope you saved a bullet for Dan, just in case," Marlene said quietly.
The group stopped walking for a moment.
"Yeah," Shabazz muttered and checked his jammed weapon, firing once to be sure it would again. "Been thinking about that - he was away from sight, you know."
"This shit can get to anybody," Rider said, now growing somber. "There but for the grace of God go any of us at any time."
"That's what makes this all so ludicrous." J.L. ran his hands through his sweat-slicked black hair. His dark brown, almond-shaped eyes held an intensity that made Marlene acknowledge his unspoken comment.
"I know," Marlene whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder, and forcing him to keep walking with the group. "We're in too deep to get out, but we're all still human. One day this will all be over."
"Don't promise the man a check that will bounce, Mar." Shabazz looked at Marlene hard.
"When we find the main lair, it'll be over, right?" Damali's question hung between them as the limo approached. A hundred questions also ran through her mind. What kind of lair were they searching for? These creatures were different than regular run-of-the-mill vampires, but their weapons still worked against them as though they were normal vamps, albeit it seemed to take twice as much of the auxiliary-type weapons to put one of them down. Stakes had been effective, but the hallowed earth and even the holy water had been slower to take effect. Too weird.
The group backed up when the driver opened the door and a smiling Dan leapt out.
"What in Hell's name was taking you guys so long to page us?"
Dan's upbeat persona made the tension ease its way from Damali's shoulders. She said a silent prayer as Big Mike approached him. Please God, no more tonight.
"Hey, what's with the water thing?" Dan laughed and batted at Mike's ministrations. "The show's over, I don't need to be anointed by the spirits," he added, chuckling.
Mike ignored him and turned to the driver. "Step away from the vehicle."
"Why?" Seeming indignant, the driver opened up his coat to allow what he obviously thought was going to be a frisk, only to swear under his breath as Mike flicked water at him. "Crazy bastards. Damn."
"All clear," Mike called out, after having administered the test to the inside of the vehicle, also spraying the trunk and under the chassis. He helped Damali in first, saw to it that J.L, Jose, and Shabazz were also inside safely, and then got in himself, while Rider took Marlene's elbow.
"This ain't no way to live," Rider murmured to Marlene, whose gaze still scanned the horizon.
Marlene only nodded, but Rider's firm hold made her pause. He dropped his voice and spoke quickly as the group assembled themselves within the vehicle and their attention was on Dan, who was chatting away, keeping them distracted.
"What was that soundproof thing about? Was like what happened down South, right? You've seen this before, or am I wrong?"
"Yes. It was just what I was afraid of - and we'll talk about it later."
The two older warriors climbed into the vehicle and shut the door behind them.
"Anybody hungry?" Dan said in a cheery voice as their limo puUed off. "Chinese, ribs?"
The mention of food made Damali cover her mouth and fight to swallow down the immediate nausea the suggestion brought.
"What?"
All eyes had turned to Dan, and he just shrugged, totally confused.
* * *
"Piles of dust, broken glass, empty rhino shell cases with crosses on them, dirt splattered everywhere - freakin' wooden spikes all around ... and the stink. What do you make of it?"
"I don't know, Malloy," Detective Berkfield muttered, stooping down to study an empty shell case. "It looks like somebody was back here firing enough ammo to start World War Three, but as per usual, nobody heard anything, everybody was supposedly partying inside the club, and down here there's no residences with neighbors close enough to have seen anything from a window. Godammit, these music-and-drug sons of bitches are involved somehow, and I'm going to pin their rich, slippery asses soon - or die trying. Plus where's our backdoor squad cars, anyway?"
Detective Malloy shrugged, lit a cigarette, and inhaled slowly, allowing the smoke to escape from his bulbous, pale nose. "Same place as they always seem to be when this crap goes down - diverted. Doesn't it seem strange to you that they always show up just after everything goes down?"