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The males filling the doorway froze with their hands halfway to their sidearms. They looked to Tiny for instruction. Their boss, who was wedged into a large black executive chair, laughed. “Kill ’em, you f**king idiots!”
It all happened quickly. The goons started firing. Tiny dove under the desk, pulling the chair down with him. Cursing, I ducked behind the chair and returned fire. I took out the first two, who exploded in the doorway like Roman candles. The resulting smoke and flame slowed down those in the hall.
Slade had squatted behind the other end of the desk. Together, we fired through the smoke to deter any more uninvited guests. Between shots, the sounds of a scuffle came from the hallway. Sounded like Alexis and Adam were taking them out from the rear.
“Slade!” I yelled. “Enough!” I was worried about accidentally shooting Alexis or Adam. But Slade didn’t listen. I finally leapt at him and forcibly pulled the gun from his hands. “I said stop! Adam and Alexis are out there.”
Slade blinked and his eyes finally focused. “Sorry, I got a little carried away.”
Considering my own hands were shaking with adrenaline rush, I couldn’t blame him. It’d been a long time since I’d had the opportunity to have a good old-fashioned shootout with anyone.
“Adam,” I called. “It’s all clear!” Now that the gunplay had ceased, the sounds of a stampede in the club carried back to us. Funny how a shoot-out can clear a joint.
In the next instant, the mancy and Alexis entered the office, stepping over the smoking remains of several of Tiny’s goons. “Holy shit,” Adam said. “What the hell happened? And why is Slade here?”
I let out a shaky breath. “He was in here when I arrived. Looks like we weren’t the only ones who thought Tiny was the perp.”
Slade adjusted the cuffs of his white dress shirt. “Yes, thanks so much for f**king things up. Tiny was about to confess when you came barging in.”
“No, I wasn’t,” a muted voice came from under the desk. We all ignored him for the moment.
“Excuse me?” I rounded on Slade. “You have a lot of nerve blaming this on me. You were the one sticking your gun where it didn’t belong. Besides, if you’d been paying more attention, he wouldn’t have pushed that panic button.”
“All right,” Adam said. “Both of you retreat to your corners so we can figure out what the hell’s going on.” He turned to Alexis, who stood by watching the scene with a disdainful scowl. “Will you help Mr. Malone out from his hiding place, please?”
I crossed my arms and slouched against the wall, shooting glares at Slade, who was returning them with a pretty intense glower of his own. Alexis ignored both of us and helped Tiny get unwedged from beneath the desk. A few grunts and curses later, Alexis yanked him up and pushed him toward the rumpled bed in the corner. On his way down, Tiny knocked over the cache of sex toys he kept within easy reach of his casting mattress.
“Now,” Adam said, his tone overly patient. “Let’s back up. Mr. Malone, we just have a few questions.”
Tiny flailed on his back like a disoriented beetle. When he finally managed to heft his upper body up, he was red-faced. “You motherfuckers! I ain’t telling you shit!”
Alexis lurched at him, a knife flashing in her hand with menace. “Stop!” Adam yelled, obviously annoyed. Turning toward Tiny, he softened his tone and said, “Mr. Malone, I must apologize for my colleagues. Things have gotten way out of hand. We just need a couple of things cleared up and then we’ll be out of your hair.”
“What’s in it for me?” the fat vampire said. His spit a wad of saliva on the toe of Adam’s boot.
At that point, Adam had reached the edge of his patience and diplomacy. He bent over and grabbed Tiny by the collar. “Listen to me, you fat f**k! We just killed all your men. Do you really think we’d hesitate to kill you, too?”
Tiny stuttered and a white globule of spit beaded on his lower lip. “What do you want?”
I stepped forward. Now that the first wave of adrenaline had worn off, I felt more steady. “For starters, where were you the night the mage was killed at Vein?”
Adam released the vampire but stayed close enough to loom over him. Slade remained where he was, looking like he was ready to shoot all of us for screwing up his chance to exonerate himself with the Despina.
Tiny’s beady little porcine eyes widened. “Is that what this is about? I didn’t have nothing to do with killing that mage.”
“He’s lying,” Slade said. “He might not have done the deed himself, but he orchestrated it.”
“No, I didn’t!” Tiny said. “I swear!”
“Cut the shit, Tiny,” I said. “We have a witness who claims you’ve been trying to undermine Slade’s position as leader of the Black Light District.”
Tiny ignored that statement and narrowed his eyes at me. “Wait a second. You look familiar. Who the hell are you?”
I crossed my arms. “I’m asking questions, not answering them. Now, do you deny you’ve been working against Slade?”
Tiny crossed his arms over his enormous belly and pursed his rubbery lips together like a recalcitrant toddler.
“All right, that’s it,” I said. “We’re not going to get anywhere like this. I think it’s time to unleash the Iron Maiden on you.”
Adam shot me a warning look. I shook my head to let him know I hadn’t changed my stance on torturing Tiny. But I’d never promised not to threaten him with torture.
Tiny forgot his silent act and stuttered, “W-what?”
Alexis came up next to me. With a quick, decisive slash downward, she embedded the knife in the mattress, right between Tiny’s fleshy thighs. He yelped and jerked backward, hitting his head against the wall. “You crazy bitch!”
“Start talking or next time I won’t miss on purpose,” she said, her tone ice cold.
“Okay, okay!” he yelled. “I admit I tried to get some vampires together to unseat The Shade.” He swallowed hard, making his Adam’s apple bob beneath his many chins.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because he’s gonna sell us out to the Despina!”
I glanced at Slade, whose face had gone hard. “What does he mean?”
Slade shook his head. “He’s delusional.”
“Ha! I know all about how that ugly Despina’s gonna come in here and start calling the shots. You ask me, once a Domina, always a Domina. The vampires of New York won’t take it, I tell ya. We all came here to escape those crazy bitches.”
