Blood Debt (Judah Black Novels Book 2) (28 page)

“We agree,” I said, nodding. “But killing Crux only costs more lives, Robbie, more fae lives. This retaliation needs to end here.”

He didn’t seem completely on board, but I didn’t have time to do more convincing. There was a knock at the door and Tindall poked his head in. “She’s here,” he announced.

“Bring her in.”

Tindall threw the door wide, revealing Kim Kelly beside him dressed in a form fitting, off the shoulder black dress. She smiled at me, but the smile quickly faded when she saw Robbie. “What the hell is this?”

“Call it an intervention,” I said and gestured for her to come in.

Her eyes drifted from me to Abe and back again before she lifted her chin and stepped into the room. I stood and offered her my chair. She took it, but only after pulling it as far away from Robbie as she could manage. “I don’t know what you think I could possibly—”

“Oh, stow it,” Robbie spat, rolling his eyes. “They know everything already.”

Kim swallowed audibly against silence.

“I can help you,” I said, sitting on the table and turning to Kim. “But you’ve got to help me first.”

“Help me?” She laughed. “Unless you’ve got two million dollars just lying around, I don’t think there’s much you can do. Even if this deal with Crux goes away, I’m still going to owe the money.”

“Perhaps I can help with that,” Abe interjected. “Agent Black has told me about your financial situation. Let me speak with my clan mistress.”

Kim’s eyes flicked up and down Abe. “You’re an Upyri?”

Abe conceded the point with a nod of his head. “And the mistress owes me a favor. Several, in fact. Help Judah find her friend and I will see to it your debt with the Upyri is settled.”

She rolled the idea around in her head, jaw shifting back and forth as if she were literally chewing on it. When she’d made her decision, she turned to me and nodded. “Tell me what you want, Judah.”

“Call Crux. Set up a meeting.”

“What am I supposed to tell him?”

I tapped my fingers on the table a minute, thinking. “Tell him we have Sven, and we’re willing to make a trade, Sven for Mara.”

Kim’s eyes widened. “Mara?”

“Tamara Speilman. You know her as Tammy. You should remember her. After all, you hired her at Aisling and then stood by and did nothing while Harry stalked her.”

“I couldn’t do anything!” Kim said, clenching her fists. “You have no idea what kind of connections Crux has. I could have lost
everything
.”

“And what if things had gotten out of hand? What if Harry had hurt her, or worse, killed her?”

Kim turned her head to the side. “One girl, one
human
, isn’t worth staking my entire business over.”

“That’s why I stepped in.” Robbie sank down further into his chair. “Once I finally heard what was happening. No one scares my girls. I had it handled.”

“All your leather-clad friends did when they beat up Harry was make it worse,” I snapped at Robbie. “Harry was even more fixated on her.”

I brought out Mara’s phone and showed her the texts.

“Bloody Mary,” Kim cursed. “If I had known the girl would be so much trouble, I never would have brought her in.”

“Why did you hire her?”

Kim shrugged. “She had a hell of a body and she could dance. Why wouldn’t I hire her?” She sighed. “It’s not my fault Harry had to be a stupid dick. He started following her. Cornered her in the dressing room one day and all but forced her to give him her number. The next day, the bouncers had to break them up. He had his hands all over her. Next thing I know, he wants her for his movie or no deal. What was I going to do? Say no? I had too much to lose. I told her to take the job or hit the street. I figured she’d quit, but she had to be a stubborn whore. She took the fucking job. I was trying to help her, the stupid bitch.” She crossed her arms.

“If you really want to help Mara, you’ll make a phone call to Crux.”

Kim stayed completely still for a moment, examining every face in the room.

“Best not to argue, love,” said Robbie casually. “She’s got her heart set on it and won’t listen to reason.”

Kim held out her hand. “I need a phone.”

Abe slapped his outdated cell phone into her palm and she stared at it for a moment before a bemused smile sparkled across her face. Then, she punched in a number and brought the phone to her ear. “Yes,” she said after a moment. “It’s me.” Pause. Her eyes fixed on me. “Yes. No, Crux. Not anymore. I’m here with Agent Black and she’s got a message for you.” There was a slight pause before she pulled the phone away from her ear and held it out to me. “He says he wants to talk to you directly.”

With a little hesitation, I took the phone and spoke into it. “Crux,” I said.

“Where is Sven?” Crux’s voice was dripping with venom.

“He’s here. Alive, which is pretty generous considering he tried to kill me and found himself on the wrong side of a werewolf.”

“You will return my property
at once
!”

I hopped off the end of the table to pace. “You want him back? How about a trade? Mara for Sven.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end before Crux broke down into a laugh. “Oh, you think you have it all figured out, do you?”

“Do you have her or don’t you?”

“I have your human,” he acknowledged dismissively. “She is owed to me. The blood debt must be paid, a life for a life.”

I paused in my pacing. “You think Mara’s behind these murders?”

“Who else would it be? The little whore refused Harry, refused me, didn’t show up to film…And then that thing showed up to protect her when I confronted her. Now I find she’s had magick the entire time? She’s shown us nothing but disrespect. It’s time for her to pay. But I won’t trade her, not for something rightfully mine. Return my Sven and I will allow you to say goodbye to your friend.”

I swallowed and put my hand over the speaker of the phone. “He doesn’t want the trade.”

Abe rolled his eyes. “I told you it would not work.”

I ignored him for the time being, going back to my conversation with Crux. A hostage exchange wasn’t the only trick I had up my sleeve. Vampires, like every other thing, had an instinct for self-preservation. All I had to do was convince Crux he was safer away from Mara than with her, which shouldn’t have been hard to do considering she had a freaking ice giant as a guardian.

“Crux,” I said. “I know you didn’t get away unscathed. You ran into some trouble when you went to get her, didn’t you?”

“That beast broke one of my fangs. No matter, though, I got away with my prize.”

“Do you really think you beat the giant, Crux?”

“Beat it?” He laughed again. “No. But I don’t have to, do I? Eventually, you’ll do it for me. I’m sure you have a plan. You wouldn’t just stand by while it rampages through a city looking for me, would you?”

“Dammit, he’s not buying it, either,” I muttered to Abe.

Abe held out his hand. “Give me the phone. I will get you your meeting.”

I hesitated. If Abe told him Sven was the real killer, he would kill Mara just to piss me off. Crux had no regard for human life, and she was sure to bear the brunt of his rage at finding out he’d been betrayed by his own blood slave.

“Trust me,” Abe insisted. I tossed him the phone. “
Allo
, comrade Continelli,” he said with a chipper voice. “Yes, it has been a while.” I have no idea what kind of response Crux had but it must have been exactly what Abe expected because he smiled. “I see you do remember me! Can I also assume you also remember your way around a saber? Very good! Yes, and nothing would give me more pleasure than to repay you for that particular scar. What do you say we settle this as our blood dictates we should in a duel? If I win, you will agree to give us the girl and forgive Kim Kelley’s debts. If you win, we shall turn Sven over to you, no harm done, and you’re free to go. What? The debt?” He glanced over at Kim. “Should you win, which you will not, the Upyri family will concede any and all claims to…let’s say the portion of Hungary west of the Danube? No, that would not include Budapest. Very well, then. One third of Budapest. That is, if you win.”

Kim leaned in closer to me, resting her chin on her fingers. “Who is this man?”

I wished I could answer her. Abe was a pickle. That a half-blood vampire would have any authority to negotiate territory was surprising, especially given he was an American citizen. Then again, I knew only a little about the clan from which he claimed lineage, the Upyri. I knew only they were based out of the former Soviet Union. It was unsettling, sitting there helpless while listening to a half-vampire negotiate away a million or more lives should he lose.

“No idea,” I answered Kim, containing my distaste for the situation as best I could. “I didn’t even know he could do that.”

“Very good,” said Abe, still in his cheerful tone. He checked his watch. “Midnight, then? Aisling? Of course. I look forward to it.” He pulled the phone away from his ear, pressed the antenna back down and pocketed it. “There has been a slight change of plans,” he announced.

“The original idea still stands,” I said, putting my hands on my hips. “But you’ll need to beat him quickly once the giant shows up to settle things on your behalf. I’ll deal with the giant. Can you do that?”

Abe puffed out his chest. “I can. I will.”

Robbie let out an exasperated sigh and tugged on the cuffs he was still wearing. “So, you
are
going to wreck my place of business, are you?”

“He said a public place,” Abe answered with a shrug. “And the club is the collateral used in the loan. It only seems fitting.”

“And when the giant shows up to protect its mistress?” Robbie said, jutting his face forward and placing his hands on the broken table, palms up. “What then? Who’s going to pay for the damage to the club?”

Kim reached over and put her hand over Robbie’s. “If we humiliate Crux or, better yet, kill him, I’m sure my father will be grateful. Once he hears it was all your doing, I’m sure he’d forgive you. He’d have to.”

“But…It wasn’t my idea.”

I tugged the keys to Robbie’s cuffs from Abe’s belt, much to his displeasure. “If it stops the fighting and stops the bad guys, I don’t give a damn who takes credit,” I said unlocking the cuffs. “Only that it gets done.”

Robbie rubbed his sore wrists and looked up at me. “Ice giant, eh? Do you think once it realizes Kim isn’t a threat, it’ll leave her be?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea how it will react. I do know there’s no way to call it off completely, not yet, anyway. If it comes down to it, we’ll have to put it down.”

“Not that I like to brag or anything but…” Robbie snapped his fingers. A bright white flame appeared, floating above his middle and pointer fingers. “I’m a hobgoblin, love. A little heat would do you well, provided it doesn’t burn down the place. Just be warned I’m a bit rusty, considering I haven’t fought any giants in a few eons.”

“You?” I held back laughter. “You fought giants?”

He grinned ear to ear, but not in a happy way. No, his face was filled with enough mischievous malice I was worried he was no longer in chains. “Fought and won, love, albeit I had an entire army at my back last time. But you’ll do, since it’s only one giant. If we lose, I guess that’s not my problem.”

“I fail to see how it’s not your problem, Robbie.”

He shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “I’ve got options. You, on the other hand, not so much. I’m offering help, love, help you desperately need.”

I thought hard about Robbie’s offer. On the one hand, I had Creven to help me. If he’d prepared as I asked, I wouldn’t need Robbie’s help. But if things didn’t go as planned… “You hang back,” I told him. “I’ll call if I need you.”

“I hate to interrupt,” Abe said. “But if we are going to do this, we are going to need to go.”

All three of us looked to the clock on the wall. Already, it was after five. Kim let out a curse. “Aisling’s supposed to open in twenty minutes. We can’t let people in and then have a duel.”

“It’s an active crime scene!” I said.

Kim stood and pressed her hands over the front of the dress. “I have a private party booked for tonight, the patrons of which will be more than a little angry with me if I turn them away last minute. You’ll have to move the venue.”

I stepped up to Kim. “Cancel the party.”

Her mouth opened, revealing her fangs, and she drew her tongue over her painted lips before smacking them.

Abe’s hand came down heavy on my shoulder. “We can tell them ourselves, Judah. Perhaps they will respond better to a badge. That way, the blame falls on us and not the proprietor of the business.”

“Fine,” said Kim, and she spun on her heels, headed for the door. “Your funeral.”

“If that’s all then,” Robbie said, standing. I waved for him to go and said I’d take care of all the paperwork.

Abe’s face twitched as he watched them leave. “What a strange little town this is,” he said.

“Can you really beat Crux?”

He looked down his nose at me and then cracked a reluctant smile. “We will see, will we not?” Then he left.

Alone in the interrogation room, I sat down in the chair and stared at my hands.
Mara, why didn’t you come to me?
I thought. All of this could have been avoided if she’d just trusted me enough to let me help her. I couldn’t blame her, though, not after everything that had happened to her. Hell, it hadn’t been long since I gunned down her parents in front of her.

What a skinny waif she’d been, her limbs all bruised and her face covered in dirt. They’d dressed her in bib overhauls and a dirty white cotton shirt and put two of those little plastic barrettes in her boy cut hair. Cowering in a corner of the shack, just inches from where her parents had been shot dead, tears streamed down through the dirt on her cheeks.

I told her I was there to help her. Dammit. I owed her more than the occasional lecture or ride. Even if it cost me everything, I had to save her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

As soon as we arrived at Aisling, I realized why Kim was so reluctant to cancel the private party. The lot was empty of most of its cars. Instead, it was full of motorcycles. A burly looking, leather-clad set of guys stood out front, smoking and joking. One was a big potbellied fellow while the other was a tall, lean muscle-bound guy. Both wore long hair and plenty of tattoos. When Abe and I got out of our respective vehicles, one tapped the other on the shoulder and pointed at us.