manage, and babysitting didn’t pay shit. I also crossed out tutoring, waitressing, Uber driving, and all sorts of low-paying jobs. I could land any of those jobs no problem, but they wouldn’t pay enough to feed myself for a month, never mind my siblings. But I wouldn’t find any high-paying jobs since I’d majored in screenwriting and had only been in college for two months.
I also needed to cover energy bills, phone bills, car insurance, school supplies for my siblings next year, and many more. They were growing up too fast for my taste, and they’d shout for new sets of clothes and shoes very soon.
I prayed to the universe to slow their growth. I didn’t care if the universe made my siblings small and short, as long as they didn’t add more inches to their height so quickly and cost me money.
A ray of light suddenly shone into my head and my eyes brightened.
I could be an assassin. I had the skills. I knew how to trap, hunt, and shoot. I handled both swords and guns well, and I knew how to ambush people.
But then who would hire me? I had no contacts that could refer clients. It wasn’t like I could set up a website and advertise with Google.
I sighed. I needed a decent paying job now, or my siblings would go hungry soon, which was unacceptable.
Then another idea struck me.
Several months ago, my friend Becca, her cousin, and I had tried to sneak into this club. According to Becca’s cousin, this bar was the most dangerous underground bar in California. Even its name—Claws, Fangs, and Fiends—made us shudder.
“Rumor says Claws, Fangs, and Fiends hosts the wildest parties ever,” Becca’s cousin had said. “Their memberships are the most exclusive in the country and they tailor to dangerous kind of patrons.”
He’d heard about this place from his friend, who’d learned about it from another friend, and so on. He’d also mentioned in envy that even a bartender in that club was paid six-figure salary with bonus and medical coverage that included vision and dental.
That night, we’d gotten the address and called an Uber, riding straight to the club. The driver had cruised around Old Town Pasadena for over half an hour and couldn’t find it, and he’d insisted that the address was wrong and that he’d never heard of any bar or club had the ridiculous name of Claws, Fangs, and Fiends. So we’d jumped off the Uber and given him poor tips. It took us another hour to find it by walking around and searching every brick—I spotted it at last by chance, as if it’d been intentionally concealed.
And then the bouncers had thrown us out before we could even get in, even though I’d protested that I was old enough to drink and Becca had shown them her fake ID. But one of the big asshole bouncers had still ended our daredevil club hop adventure with an unnecessary threat.
Walking down the memory lane, my heart lurched. I could try that club again, this time not to crash the party but to get a job. If even a bartender could earn a six-figure income, what was I waiting for?
I had dealt with clawed, fanged fiends this morning. After chasing off a Nightling, two Fae ringleaders, and two squads of Fae thugs, I was definitely qualified to work in that kind of environment. I doubted that club had any patrons scarier than what I’d met today.
I would head to that underground club, apply for a job, and convince them to let me try the day bar, so I could still pick up my siblings after my shift and guard them at night. As I went through the plan again, it sounded farfetched, even to me.
But didn’t they say fortune favors the bold, and often the dumbass?
I glanced at the retro clock on the nightstand. I still had three hours to kill before I had to go get my charges.
I changed my outfit swiftly, patted my cheeks hard to give them more rosy hue and courage, and glossed my lips. I didn’t look too bad in the mirror.
I jogged to my van, flipping the bird around the perimeter to the Fae gangs and anyone else spying on me, before I entered my vehicle and pulled it out of the driveway.
Chapter 8
My van cruised past Holly Street and the old Pasadena historic district, then the train station. I recalled the station was where our Uber had gotten lost last time when