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The rest I could figure out tomorrow.
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About L.A. McBride
As a child, L.A. McBride loved all things vintage and Halloween. Fortunately, she moved to the Kansas City area where she discovered the wonders of old stockyards, world-class barbecue, and some of the greatest haunted houses in the country. When she’s not writing urban fantasy, she spends countless hours treasure hunting in thrift stores and attempting to win the devotion of a flock of chickens named after Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters.
Death Uncaged
BY C. Thomas Lafollette
Death Uncaged by C. Thomas Lafollette
When a supernatural creature from another realm is turned loose in Red City, Dax is the only one who can track it before it starts feeding on the souls of the innocent.
Author’s Note: This story contains some Louisiana French Creole words that use the Creole spelling.
Chapter One
Something in the aether felt…off. Narrowing his eyes, Dax stared down at the antique clay teacup in his hand, wondering what could be causing the feeling. Perhaps the life threads that connected everyone to the tapestry of the universe from birth to death and beyond were vibrating those intersecting with his thread. Or it could be lingering paranoia after being shot several times the previous month.
Getting shot not once, not twice, but many times would do that to a person. He and Tomi still didn’t know who all the various shooters were, though he’d removed one of them from the game board—he hoped. He hadn’t heard from Jamie since he’d rescued her and her family, and he doubted she’d pick up a gun again, at least to use against him.
Perhaps he was just feeling peckish. As if to tell him that was the reason, his stomach grumbled. He wished Tomi’s mother Adele had the kitchen up and running on the soul food restaurant. Tomi and Dax had used the money they’d stolen from the bikers to expand their tiny business empire, but unfortunately, she was still waiting for inspections and licenses. Across the street for pho would have to do.
Dax drank the last of his tea, gave the cup a rinse behind the bar in the tearoom, and headed out to the front of his dive bar. “Tomi, going across the street to pick up some pho. Want some?”
“Sure, boss, the usual sounds good,” the tall, fat Black man replied as he reached into the undercounter cooler to pull out a tallboy of PBR for a customer at the bar.
Strolling through the sparsely occupied tables, Dax pushed the door open, slipped out onto the sidewalk, and waited for a few cars to pass before jogging across the street, the chain across each of his boots jangling with every step. Once he stepped up onto the sidewalk, he reached out to open the door but stopped. A photocopied picture of a young Vietnamese woman on it stared back at him.
Missing—Minh Dang
Last seen Monday the 11th.
Pulling open the door, he strode in and stopped at the counter in front of an older Vietnamese man with gray streaks in his hair. “Thuc, I just saw the poster on the door. What the hell? What happened?”
Thuc’s whole face sagged. He looked older and more tired than Dax had ever seen him. “We don’t know, Dax. She just didn’t come home after her shift three nights ago. We called the police, but they refused to do anything until she was missing for at least forty-eight hours.”
“I’m so sorry, Thuc. I’ll put out the word to some of my contacts to see if they’ve heard something.”
A note of guarded hope perked the man up a bit. “Really? Thank you, Dax. I don’t know what to do. The police said to call them if we hear anything, but they didn’t seem that”—he sighed—“interested in helping.”
Dax nodded. The cops in Redemption City were at best disinterested in helping most of the citizens they were supposed to be protecting. The daughter of the owner of a small convenience store wouldn’t rate much effort. Now if Minh was the daughter of a man with money and power, something might get done. But likely the energy to take the police report would be the last effort the Red City Police Department would spend on Minh Dang.
“Are you sure your contacts will help?” The old man looked up at Dax hopefully.
“I’ll owe them a favor, but if anyone can find Minh or knows someone who can, she will.”
“Oh, thank you. If she can help bring my Minh home, I’ll do whatever I can to pay your friend back.”
Dax gestured with his head toward the cooler. “I’m going to grab a couple bowls of pho, and then I’ll go call my acquaintance.”
Thuc nodded and sat back onto the stool he kept behind the counter. Dax grabbed two bowls of ready-to-make pho and paid Thuc, taking a couple copies of the flyer with Minh’s picture on it from the counter. The old man looked like a hopeful puppy as Dax walked out.
