Phillip held up his hands, as if in surrender, “What there isn’t a Stalwart discount?”
Turning,
she graced them with a view of her trim, and just this side of perfect,
body. Her waves of golden hair covered more of her than the tiny pink
lace bra and thong she wore. “Discount,” she tiffed, which caused her
tight breasts to bounce ever so slightly,
“I should charge you double
after all the trouble you and your kind get me into.”
Phillip moved in closer. “It’s not our kind you need to worry about now, gorgeous. The Xemmoni are gearing up to-”
“Who’s your friend?”
“Oh, this is Jack. A rogue man of Yig.”
Stalwart
She
graced them with a smile that could have melted a foot of ice. “I tend
to like rogues. Him, I might be willing to give a Stalwart discount to.”
Jack
felt the heat rising on his cheeks, but walked forward and tried to
keep his eyes on her face while he said, “We’re in a very serious
situation, miss. You might want to stop and listen. You may not make it
through the night if you don’t.”
“How
exciting,” she said, still smiling. “You Yig types are always so full
of action and adventure.” She stood up and moved her slim body close
enough to his that she was able to reach out a run a hand down his arm.
“Am I going to need a big hero to protect me?”
His arm tingled at her touch, like she was made of electricity. “Ah… quite possibly.”
“Well
why don’t you stay and see my show. If you like it, you can fill me in
on all the spooky dangers we all face later on when-”
“That’s
just it, Lanna,” Phillip blurted out, “There might not be a later. The
Dark Alliance seeks to claim Boston for its own and have demanded that
all Stalwarts leave by sunset or be exterminated.”
Lanna almost looked serious for a moment. “I’ve dealt with Xemmoni trying to screw with me before.”
“This
is different,” Jack said. “They want to claim this town and I’m sure it
isn’t for a good thing. Some evidence we have received points to Boston
being special to Vile Darken.”
“What that old boggy man. I doubt he even exists.”
“He does exist. I fought him. Currently he’s the only Xemmoni I have fought that is still alive.”
She eyed Jack again. “You fought him, huh? What are the others saying?”
“There
aren’t many of us left,” Phillip said. “Felix seems to think that his
healing will keep his safe, while you obvious tend to please in your own
fashion. But this time, I’m not sure it’ll be enough.”
Throwing
out a hip, she said, “What are you proposing that I pack up a suitcase
and move into a van with you two. That might be fun for a day or two,
but I get bored quick. Besides I have family to take care of here.
People that need me.”
“We
could fight back,” Jack said. “That’s what we should do. But we’ve
fought a few of them and they’re powerful. We’d need everyone.”
“Honey,
I’m not a charge em, kinda of girl. I like to fight behind the scenes
or if needed, shot fish in a barrel. I’d rather not go toe to toe with a
bunch of ugly creeps that would rather eat me than kiss me and I don’t
mean in the good way.”
“I think you should come with us. No matter what happens we’ll be able to protect you,” Jack said.
She
placed a gentle hand on his face. “Oh sweetie, you are still a young
one aren’t you? I’m not trying to be mean, but I’d imagine I’d be in
thirty times the danger tooling around with you two. But tell you what,
do what you need to do and if you’re still breathing find me here after
midnight. We’ll compare stories and if I’ve been forced to fight off any
Xemmoni I might change my tune and if I’ve just had a normal night,
I’ll buy you a drink.”
Jack sighed as they exited the strip club. “We aren’t doing to well, are we?”
“I
guess not. As I told you the first day we met, Boston has been hard on
its Stalwarts lately. The few that remain all think that keeping a low
profile will save them where their brothers and sisters perished for
fighting back against the night.”
Jack and Alex
“So where to next?” Jack said without much enthusiasm
“Blaze wanted us to meet him at a coffee shop not to far away from here.”
“Oh
you won’t be meeting anyone ever again, little Stalwarts,” a dry voice
hissed from over their shoulders. Turning, they saw six Glooms stood
between them and the pickup. Their glowing eyes cut through the
gathering fog with would soon conceal the whole scene from the street.
“At them and no mercy. Ghost wants them all dead!”
“So much for giving us till sunset,” Phillip said as he drew his cutlass.
To be continued next Monday
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