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The police patrolled the alley searching for Mackenzie. O’Donnelly was among them. Now she’d never get him off her back. She watched from the rooftop above along with Taryn. He had woken up in time to get her out of the building before the police came in. They would no doubt want to question her about the dead body.
A wave of dizziness washed over her and she nearly pitched off the roof. Taryn caught her around the waist and led her away from the edge.
“I’m going to end up in a cell next to my mom,” she groaned.
“No you won’t,” Taryn said, unconvincingly. He was texting something on his phone. “We need to go see someone about the spell.”
“Are you listening to me? I’m going to jail. And I‘m pretty sure I have brain damage from all the knocks to the head.”
“Doesn‘t stop you talking, does it,” he muttered, “Trust me, by morning there won’t be a body to find.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you really think the demon world would leave a body lying around and risk exposure?”
“I guess not,” she said, “Does that mean someone moved Cray’s body?”
“Yes, I did. Come on, we need to go.” He led them across rooftops away from the police.
“Where are we going?”
“Downtown. Don’t worry we can steal a car.”
“And draw more attention to us? No, we’ll take the bus.”
“The what?”
“Bus. Big. Shiny. Runs on wheels.”
He scowled at her, “I know what a bus is.”
“Have you ever been on one?”
“Not exactly.”
“This will be an experience.”
She was supposed to be with her mother, not traipsing all over town avoiding the cops. What if her mother woke up and she wasn’t there? There were so many things she needed to ask her mother and if anything happened to her, she’d never find the answers.
They walked to the nearest bus stop. Mackenzie was glad to find she had enough change in her pocket, because she doubted Taryn carried any money. An old woman was seated on the bench, her bag in her lap. She glanced up at Mackenzie and smiled. Her gaze fell on Taryn and she quickly looked away.
“Can you at least try to blend in?” Mackenzie hissed. He was still wearing his long leather coat and one of his knives was showing on his belt. He covered it with his shirt.
When the bus arrived, they got on and sat in the back. Six punks, the seat of their pants hanging almost to their knees, covered with a over-long t-shirt, and rags around their heads, got on and started talking loudly and shouting insults at the bus driver. One of them sidled into the seat beside Mackenzie, grinning at her.
“Want to get with a real man baby?” he said.
“Yeah, sure, do you know one?” she retorted.
One of his friends laughed hysterically.
“You little...” he never got to finish. Taryn moved so fast the punk never had time to react. One minute his leering face was in hers, the next, he was clutching a bloodied nose. The bus driver slammed on the brakes, “That’s it! All of you off now.”
Mackenzie stalked along the street while Taryn strolled behind her. She was so pissed at him. She whirled on him. “Why is it everywhere we go there’s always a fight? I’m really starting to see a pattern here. You could have just ignored him.”
He simply stared at her, with an amused look on his face.
“New rule. If it’s demon, you deal with it. Human— I’ll handle it myself. Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
They walked downtown. The moonless night swallowed the heat of the day and she was freezing. She hadn’t had time to grab a coat and was wearing only a long sleeved top over a pair of jeans.
As they approached a garage, Taryn stopped, “When we get in let me do the talking. Don’t stare at him. He doesn’t like being associated with his old life. So don‘t say it, no matter what.”
“Say what? Who is this guy?”
“You’ll see.”
Mackenzie rolled her eyes. Was it somebody famous? Maybe it was Elvis. She snorted at the thought, and then wondered if it was possible.
The garage was dimly lit and grungy. Weak fluorescent lights created distorted shadows on the concrete walls. A heavyset man in a biker’s vest was working on a Harley. The only other vehicle in the garage was an SUV, with what looked like bullet holes in the side. Nice neighborhood.
“Klaus?”
He turned around and Mackenzie was disappointed to see that it wasn’t Elvis. He was about sixty with a long grey beard. He had two tattoos up his arm, one was of a baby-faced cherub carrying a bow and arrow and the other was what looked like a meteor. They seemed a little strange on a biker. Of course, she could hardly talk; she did have Ramone’s initials on her shoulder blade. He had broken up with her a week after she had it done, so she had it changed into a pair of angel wings. A little hypocritical now considering what she was.
“Well, I’ll be. A Duke come to see little old me. What do you want?”
“I have a list,” Taryn replied, handing him a slip of paper. Klaus glanced at it then laughed.
“What makes you think I’m going to help you?” He said squaring up to him. Mackenzie took a step back, waiting for the fireworks to start.
“Prague in ‘06?”
“Never going to let me forget that are you, you bastard,” Klaus gave a rumbling laugh and clapped Taryn on the back, “How are you boy?”
Mackenzie relaxed.
“Not great. I really need those things.”
Klaus looked at the list again, “No problem, I have most of it here. You’ll need to come back tomorrow for the rest.”
He glanced at Mackenzie, “Who’s the skirt?”
“The skirt can speak for herself,” Mackenzie said.
Taryn cleared his throat and shook his head at her. She glared at him, but closed her mouth.
“Just ignore her,” he said. He pulled Klaus aside, so they could talk in private.
Chauvinistic jerk, Mackenzie thought.
She strolled to the other side of the garage. Strange noises emanated from behind a door. She craned her neck to see if the guys were paying any attention to her and when she saw they were not, she pushed open the door and peeked in. Behind the door was a pen full of hay and inside the pen was a fully grown, real life, reindeer.
“Oh. My. God.”