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Tyra caught Devon’s eye across the street, his face was already wolfish as there was no reason to hide his super nature. He gave a slight toss of his head and turned toward the alleyway. Tyra knew to follow. The smell of human blood increased with each step she took.
At the end of the alley, three young male vampires stood ready, facing them with furrowed brows, elongated teeth, and fangs. Their long thick fingernails, they held as claws. Tyra scanned the alley. Not so much room for battle, yet it would do. Devon walked right up to the vampires, all three managed to not cower as they looked to the others. They seemed to decide to stand firm, blocking the back door entrance to the building behind them.
“Don’t start nothing and there won’t be nothing,” Devon told the nervous youngsters.
“You-you can’t go in there!” The vampire in the middle spoke up and took a step backward. “This is private property.”
“Is it your property?”
“Who wants to know?”
“Who do we look like?” Devon snarled.
The vampire looked him over and clearly recognized him to be a werewolf. He looked at Tyra, his eyes bucked in his head when he noticed the twin swords she revealed under her duster.
“You fellas move on,” she said. They were too young and scared to be more than disposable looks outs.
“We’ve got our orders, Miss Washington.”
“I’m not Velvet Washington, you idiot. I’m Tyra Kincaid,” she corrected the assumption with just a bit of a boast.
“The slayer!” The other two vampires cried out at the same time, pulling swords from down their backs.
Tyra sighed and snatched the vampire in the middle up by his jacket. In his face, she said, “You fellas want to die tonight?”
“No,” he answered. “Sparks, Stan. Y’all back down with the swords.”
“DC...”
“This is Tyra Kincaid! Y’all know she’s one cold ass bitch!” DC yanked himself free, ripping the collar right off his jacket. “And that werewolf is crazy!” DC ran to the back door. Without warning, he opened the door, slammed it shut, leaving his boys in the alley with the slayer and a growling werewolf.
Devon abruptly spun around, grabbing the wooden cross attached to his utility belt.
More vampires. Tyra sensed them rather than saw them. “Sparks. You and Stan, drop those swords right now, or I will kill you in two seconds.” They dropped their weapons then split in the same fashion as DC.
From behind the shadows of the dumpsters, several vampires stepped into the moonlight. In front was that Japanese guy with the long cornrows. A step behind him was Darnell. Tyra had heard about Darnell being known to pack heat. She stepped forward meeting them. Darnell snickered in her face, showing his fangs.
“You going to pull those swords or what, slayer?”
“You really want me to, Darnell?”
“You know me,” he asked mildly.
“I’d be a sorry vampire slayer if I didn’t know the major vampire’s in my own city.” Besides, Darnell was next to Jerome, about the best-looking man she’d ever seen, living or undead. His creamy peanut butter complexion just about matched her own.
“You have no business back here. This is private property.”
“I’m smelling human blood. For me to smell it like this means there is an awful lot of it in the air.”
“Considering we are vampires, why wouldn’t you smell blood?”
“Because it is illegal to operate blood bars in Fairlight.”
“This building is private property, not a public bar. If you think we’re breaking the law call the police.”
“I don’t need to call anybody,” she said stepping back and pulled her swords out. “I’m more than capable of handling this.”
“No one is here against their will.”
“I don’t believe you. March all your vamps out of here, or I will drag them out by their feet. You decide how you close this joint right now.”
“Haido,” Darnell said to his stylish, silent friend. “Take the boy wonder and I’ll show this bitch how I’m not about to close shit!” He commenced to swiping hard and fast at her head and face. He was good. A lot better than Tyra would have guessed. But he was angry and letting the vampire inside him rage and relied on his speed and strength to overpower her. Tyra was strong and fast and knew her skill outclassed Darnell by a mile. After a few minutes, he knew it as well. He glanced in Haido’s direction as if accessing the situation. Haido was without a sword and up against the wall. His throat was dripping blood. Devon had dug in and was ready to rip him apart.
“Now, think it through, Darnell,” Tyra suggested. “You can save your boyfriend’s life by backing off and getting your crew out of here. Or you can risk more of your people to save him and defeat me. Just remember, it’s an amber moon tonight. Werewolves get real turned up on that.”
“Fine,” Darnell said. “Let Haido go.”
“Haido leaves last. Don’t for one moment think I won’t know when every bloodsucker is out of this neighborhood.”
“All right, you win this one, Tyra. At least, tell him to get his claws out of Haido’s throat!”
“I’m not his boss,” Tyra said. She watched the other vampires back off and finally step out of the alley. “Now, drop your weapon and sit your punk ass down.”
“And spoil this suit?” Darnell gaped at her like she was nuts. It was a nice suit and he wore it very well. Tyra had to admit Darnell had it all going on with his fair skin tone and light brown eyes, a faint dusting of freckles across his nose. “I’m not about to sit down in filth, Tyra.” He adjusted his tie to make it lie flat on his chest.
“Devon, hurt Haido.”
Devon pushed a single claw deeper into Haido’s throat. “Aaaah!” he screamed until Devon paused to glance back at Tyra for further instructions.
“Stop it, Devon!” Darnell swallowed hard. “Tyra, you know a serious injury from a werewolf can be devastating to a vampire!”
“So? You think we care? You care more about staining your suit than your buddy?”
“Make him stop,” Darnell said. “You already won. Don’t keep pushing it.”
“How about, you don’t make me? Devon, let him lose. He’s useless for the time being.” She walked up to Darnell. “You tell Jerome, I said, he better not be starting up again.”
“That’s funny, Tyra.”
“Then why aren’t you laughing?”
“Like we don’t know what they did to him.”
“What who did to whom?” Devon frowned, keeping an eye on the entrance to the alleyway.
Tyra caught the look exchanged between Haido and Darnell. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m done with you tonight.” Darnell turned his back on her.
“Hold it! If you are going to accuse somebody of something, say it straight out. Ain’t nobody got time for bullshit.”
“Come on, Tyra.” Darnell included Devon with a look. “You know Jerome has been missing since that night.”
“What night?” There were a lot of nights. “Jerome is missing? Since when?”
“That night Troy tried to slaughter him on his dance floor!”
“Oh, you mean that night he had Rex sever Rankin’s head!” The memory filled her with sudden rage. Poor Rankin and Vee! She hadn’t known who to pity the most. Velvet was a wreck over that for days until she saw with her own eyes that Rankin was able to recover. “And you shot Troy’s hump with silver bullets! You bastards were lucky, Devon and I weren’t there that night!”
“Tyra.” Devon pulled her back out of Darnell’s snarling face.
“Yes, that’s the night.” Darnell took a handkerchief from his hip pocket and wiped his mouth. Glaring at the pair he went on. “Jerome wasn’t healing so good until- never mind that. I had to leave him and when I got back there had been a fire, signs of a struggle and no Jerome. And not one of you, until now, even mentioned Jerome.”
“Boy, if one of us did away with Jerome, you can bet your last meal, we wouldn’t keep it a secret!”
“He’s nuts,” Devon said. “Don’t know what he’s talking about.”
“I don’t? Or have the two of you been kept in the dark?”
“No damn way,” Devon insisted.
“Then ask her if she and Troy sneaked out to finish Jerome off!”
“Why are you bringing Troy into this?” Tyra asked. If Velvet needed back up to take out Jerome, the person to have along was herself. Not a werewolf wounded with multiple silver bullets.
“He’s her boyfriend, isn’t he? Who but Velvet and Troy had so much to gain from Jerome’s demise?”
“You think he’s dead?”
“Why else wouldn’t he be involved in his operations?”
“Wilder sired him,” Devon reminded them. “He’d know and be affected if Jerome was murdered. He ain’t showed any sign of anything being wrong.”
“He’d know,” Darnell agreed. “But affected? Not necessarily if Velvet were involved. She’s been hexing that guy for years. She’s capable of anything.”
“Well, we already knew that bright eyes,” Tyra bragged. “But Velvet doesn’t keep secrets from her associates. Why would she hide it? She’s always wanted to kill Jerome.”
“Doesn’t make sense,” Devon put in. “It’s more like the ole boy had enough of Troy’s claws and hauled ass out of town.”
“Not in a million years,” Darnell objected. “You two have no idea what kind of vampire Jerome is, and you sure don’t know the kind of woman you work for.”
“And guess what else, bright eyes? I don’t give a damn. You ready to head out, Devon?” She didn’t wait for an answer, but calmly walked past Darnell and stepped over Haido lying on the concrete panting to relieve his pain. He'd heal soon enough, no need for the murderous glares. Smiling, she exited the alleyway trailed by Devon.