with me; I was forced to skip with him tucked under an arm—for the second time. He didn't remember the first time, actually; he'd been unconscious during that trip.
By the time we walked into the bar, it was to find six angry vamps headed toward the front door. That's when they saw Mason. Their attention shifted from their first targets (I could only assume they were Mike and Rick), to Mason and me in the space of a heartbeat.
None of their hearts were beating; I could only count nanoseconds between the beats of mine. Those had ratcheted up to an alarming rate the second the vamps settled on us as a suitable second objective.
"Well, well." The six separated into groups of three to allow a seventh vampire through.
Granger.
No, I'd never seen him before, but I could put one and one together, just like most people could. The way he eyed Mason, too, spelled doom for the vampire at my back if I didn't do something quick.
"Clear the bar," Watson shouted behind the counter, before blasting the ceiling with the rifle he kept within easy reach below the bar.
Granger didn't blink while everyone else ran past our little standoff and out the door.
"You on their side?" Granger turned to Watson, then.
"Yeah."
"Then get over here," Granger sounded magnanimous. He and six other vamps intended to make mincemeat out of us—in short order.
Watson left his rifle on the bar and walked past several tables to get to my side. "You ready, bro?" He gave me a dark look.
"Oh, yeah," I agreed. I skipped Mason and Watson six blocks away, landing on the sidewalk just in time to hear the explosion and watch the fireball from Clawdia's bloom upward into the foggy night sky.
* * *
"Didn't kill a single one of the vamps," Watson reported the following morning. "That means Granger will be more determined than ever to wipe the floor with what's left of us after his goons are done. They ran away when we disappeared, so they weren't caught in the blast. What I'm worried about," he hesitated, "what I'm worried about is the news guys. They went toward the restrooms with two women just before you came along. I expected the vamps to have blood on their claws after coming back down the hall, but they didn't. I have no idea why that is, or why there weren't any bodies found in the restroom area."
"This was Clawdia's plan? To blow the place up? While there were humans inside?" I shook my head at Watson.
"Yeah," he shrugged. "Humans getting too close; she gets rid of her problems and still owns the ground the bar stood on. It'll sell for quite a bit. She has plans to rebuild the bar somewhere else."
"Insurance?"
"Werewolf-owned company," Watson shrugged and went to find something for breakfast.
"They didn't find a finger or anything else?" I pursued the human aspect of Watson's story.
"Nothing. That's what Claudia called to tell me a few minutes ago. According to the police, fire and everybody else at the scene, the place was empty when it blew."
"Then how the hell did they escape? Through a window?"
"Not unless they made one," Watson replied. "Want eggs?"
"I guess I'll know for sure if Mike doesn't show up for work today," I growled.
"Well, you won't have to worry about Vann sticking his nose into werewolf business, now," Watson snickered.
"You," I pointed at him, "are a piece of work. Or shit. Take your pick. What about the women who came in?"
"Both lookers, but the one with long, platinum hair and a black eye made everybody sit up and take notice, if you know what I mean."
"What the hell?" Smoke escaped my nostrils as I went for Watson's throat.
"Dude, stop choking me," he managed to get out as I bent him over the island and breathed clouds of smoke in his face.
"Look like this, did she?" I jerked my cell phone off the counter with one hand and scrolled through my recent photos until I got to the one I'd secretly taken of Lexsi.
"That's her," Watson coughed as I let him go. "Who is she?"
"None of your business. If I find out she got