Page 79 of Hell on Wheels
He’s definitely an ex, and if the rest of these schmoes don’t see it, they’re in for a surprise.
“Why is this taking so long?” I grumble as we watch the crews set-up and half-naked dancers perform while they do so. “This is weird as fuck.”
Rebel snorts. “My guess is that people are clearing out the shit I had to dodge.”
“I still think it’s odd that they tried to frame you for reckless driving, then escalated to snipers,” Rogue murmurs, tapping her fingers against her lips. “Seems like a big ass jump, no?”
“It does, Princess,” Angelo replies before passing the cheesy fries Archie got to her. “Almost like the race had two separate saboteurs.”
“Nowthatis a theory I can get behind.” Javi leans back, snatching a fry as his back touches my legs. “Maybe the people and shit were an idiotic way to beat you, just timed poorly on the night someone else tried to take you out.”
The green-haired Fae sighs, nodding at our friend. “It’s possible. The purses are high tonight. One of the racers could have been desperate enough to arrange some obstacles to help them catch up.”
I smile as Rogue leans her head on his shoulder before murmuring, “The snipers are the bigger problem. They weren’t aiming for your car and they were good enough to hit you if you weren’t such a fucking amazing driver. That takes serious cash.”
She’s got us there; someone with the money to hire a vamp is rolling in it.
“Merra,” Angelo murmurs. “But she’s not the only one. There are a lot of supe faction and family leaders in Bay City with the pull and the money to spare—our father being one of them.”
My ire flares and I have bite my lip hard to keep from letting my wings unfurl in fury. Once I’m under control, I nod at my twin. “Mom, too. Several high-ranking demon families within the organization.”
“So many shifter groups have the clout and cash,” Archie growls softly. “Though outside of beating teams in the derby, I can’t see why.”
Javier frowns and looks at his hands. He finally adds, “Quite a few of the mythical groups, too. They’re more legit, but equally ruthless and rich. But to Archie’s point, I can’t see why.”
“The council would just eliminate us with one of their assassin teams, so not them,” Rebel says as he flicks his tongue stud over his lower lip thoughtfully. “Neither of us are connected to the Veil Realm at all, so they don’t make sense. That’s not to say they wouldn’t or couldn’t… but they wouldn’t use vamps. They’d send dragons.”
“Great, my life is turning intoGame of Thrones, and I don’t even get a fucking crown. Awesome,” Rogue mutters before shoving some fries into her mouth angrily. That gets a snicker out of us all, but she crosses her arms over her chest. huffing as her eyes scan the crowd. “I don’t enjoy seeing Mina and her cronies with the Mounties still. They’re involving humans—that’s a big no-no, but no one’s saying shit.”
“Leans towards Merra being her sponsor.” Rebel flicks his gaze to the shielded VIP boxes set-up by powerful mages to protect the identities of the attendees from prying eyes. “It just doesn’tmake sense for that bitch to get involved in derby unless she’s considering buying the Sickos.”
“She can’t,” Archie pipes up. “The official athletic leagues are purposefully guarded by the Society and the local Councils to ensure no illegitimate business holders can purchase them, even through shell corps or whatever. It was the lesson they learned after Vegas was taken over by the mobs.”
Humans have no idea how deeply entrenched supes were in their precious city of excess for decades, but it’s how a lot of the families in various big cities made their fortunes.
“True,” Rogue muses. “But how careful are they about influencing greedy humans to front for them? Maybe the gang running the human derby team is an arm of the Stuhlls, just in a roundabout fashion.”
Rebel shakes his head, grimacing. “That would definitely merit a deep dive into every college and pro sport in the country that supes play in. Yikes. It would take a lot of infrastructure, both on the human and supe side, and a lot of complicit people in top positions in leagues or schools.”
Angelo frowns, looking at me, and I pull my phone out, making some notes for research. It would also take a third party involved with neither side to be the middleman.Demons, perhaps?Our people consider themselves on the outside of supes and I could see someone in Hell’s corrupt royalty assisting with this sort of thing if it made them enough money. They’d have the skilled minions to send in to get humans on board, too.
It’s just bigger than most demons envision; they just want control of our realm, not everything.
“I’ll work on possibilities,” I say finally. “I can run some probabilities through my systems, see if any names or odd occurrences pop.”
“Good,” Angelo replies as the cars line up to begin. “I don’t know if our father’s in on it entirely, but seeing Lucian—of all demons—at that meeting makes me worry. He’s always wanted to climb the ladder to the top and being head of the most elite university in the pits isn’t high enough for him. He could easily be swayed by alliances with other beings if he’s promised what he wants in the end.”
Fucking Luca. That man stopped doing us favors the moment we were born and has been a problem ever since.
Stand Your Ground
My step-brother’s stupid assassination attempt foiled my plans to race the last card. His car needed more work than the crew could do, and I wasn’t about to drive someone else’s vehicle when there were snipers on the loose. I’m stubborn, but I’m not stupid.
As Archie pulls into the drive with his car crammed to the gills, my Spidey sense goes off. Before he can stop, I hop out, dashing across the pavement. The guys are yelling behind me,but something in the air is calling to me. I have to find the source of this energy; I just know it.
Imagine my surprise when I find a fucking kraken swimming in our pool.
Slamming the brakes on my run, I put my hands on my hips and stare at the half-shifted idiot. “Who the fuck are you and how did you get past the security?”