“Yeah. Only drinks the sweet stuff, so our supply is nada.”
“That’s bullshit,” Hoodie said. “Where does that leave us?”
“He’s not staying long. Hates it up here.”
“Don’t we all,” Football Jersey said as he looked around the darkened park littered with people in various stages of drunkenness. “Why’s he coming then?”
“I dunno. Doing some kind of experiment shit or something,” the woman said.
“What kind?” Hoodie and Football Jersey asked in unison. They looked at each other, then back at the DB pair, and laughed.
The woman shrugged, and the man copied her a moment later. “They don’t tell us peons nothing, but it has something to do with Sweet. Better be worth it, that’s all I can say. So, can we interest you boys in a nice BPoz? Next best thing. Real fresh. Give you a good deal.”
Laughter echoed nearby, and they all looked up. Clanking dishes and the sound of stacking chairs reverberated through the back door of a nearby bar as it opened, illuminating two figures in the dark alley for a moment before slamming shut again.
Hoodie held his nose in the air and sniffed. “Dude, it’s your bouncer friend. And the girl with him is APoz. What do you say? I’ll take him and you can take her. Wanna use what your mama gave you?”
“My mama would be pissed if I used it like that.”
Hoodie shrugged. “Let’s go, then.”
“Thanks, lady, but no thanks,” said Football Jersey. “We’re gonna score some off the hoof tonight.”
“Playing with fire, boys. Better watch out. I hear there’s an Agency patrol nearby. Sure you don’t want the easy stuff? Fifty bucks. And I’ll float it with a little APoz for an extra ten.”
“No, thanks. We’ll save our money for the Sweet when it comes in. And fuck the Agency. Come on,” Football Jersey said to his buddy. “I’m starving.”
CHAPTER SIX
Under a darkfreeway overpass in a section of Portland called rough on a good night, Dom spotted a group of vampire youthlings huddled around what could only be trouble. Probably doing Sweet shots.
He glanced at the still darkening sky and cursed. It was too damn early. Usually this sort of shit happened much later in the evening, after the heavy consumption of legal and illegal substances. Someone probably just scored some Sweet, and they couldn’t wait to party.
In a show of intimidation, he flipped open his hip-length leather coat to put his weapons on display and hoped he wouldn’t have to use force. They were just kids, barely old enough to have gone through puberty, when the blood cravings and aversion to sunlight began. “Okay, gentlemen, ladies. Break it up. Time to move along.”
He pushed his way into the circle, heard a mumbled ‘fuck you, asshole’ and ‘goddamn Agency pig,’ but at least half of the kids dispersed and left the scene. Only the hardcore losers remained.
At the center of the crowd, on the gritty pavement, a girl sat straight-legged and leaned back on her hands. With wild,unfocused eyes, she stared up at the young man straddling her as he fumbled with something in his hands.
Dom grabbed his arm. “Give it to me.”
“Go fuck yourself,” the kid said, sounding way too jaded for his age. He stumbled over the girl’s legs as he tried to shrug away from Dom’s grasp.
“Hand it over. Trust me, you don’t want this to get any messier than it already is.” The young man lurched around and thrust a hand into his pocket. Weapon?
In a flash, Dom clamped him into a headlock and twisted the kid’s arm behind him, shoving it upwards, and the kid howled. “I said give me the goddamn Sweet.”
“I swear I don’t have any.” The kid’s voice was raspy, and he choked as Dom pressed harder on his larynx.
“Yeah, and I’m Prince Fucking Charming.”
In the struggle, a small glass vial fell to the pavement, shattering and spilling its contents at their feet. With a snarl, the gawking youthlings leaped in.
For a half-second, Dom considered pulling out his blades and scattering the crowd that way, but he decided to let them act like wild animals, scratching and clawing the dirty cement until the blood was gone. Unfortunately, the micro-cuts on their mouths from the shards of glass would heal almost instantly from the effect of the Sweet. With disgust he watched them tongue the pavement, licking up every last drop.
When the frenzy died down a few minutes later, Dom cuffed the dealer with silver-lined handcuffs and yanked him to his feet.
“Everyone else—out. You’ve had your fun, now get the hell out of here.” Turning his attention back to the dealer, he said, “I’ve got plans for you.”
