Rabid rested his chin on his hands as he thought for a second and said, “We are going stick to the plan. I have a feeling this vampire is not going to make his move before then. He still needs us to take the shipment.” He took a deep breath. “Killian was also twitchy about something. On edge. I think this drop needs to pan out, or he will be in trouble.”
“If that's the case, then I think you need more firepower here on the premises.” Celine’s voice was firm, letting us know that this could get dicey if we didn’t prepare.
Rabid nodded. “And your recommendation?”
Gone was her assassin coldness as she perked up, eyes shining again as she talked about something she was into. “If I were you, I would stock up on UV bullets, as many as you can get. I would get a couple of machine guns for the gate and a few well-placed stash sheds along the back, just in case someone tried to come that way. I see you have cameras, except from what I saw coming in, you have a few blind spots that you need to take care of.” She tapped her chin. “I would also set some timed explosives at key entry points. It causes groups entering to disperse, making them easier to take down once separated.”
Gears spoke up, “Now, I would love to do all that, but I don't have all that equipment on hand. The only thing I could get done today would be setting up the extra cameras. We only have a few boxes of UV ammunition, and that's not enough for a war if it breaks out.”
Rabid opened his mouth, but Celine beat him to the punch. “I have everything else.” The whole table was silent as we all turned to her, mouths open as she smiled. “I have a weapons house that is not far from here. I could pop over there, grab what we need, and be back in a couple of hours, tops.”
“I think it's for the best if you lay low…” Rabid said, even as his face looked like he wanted those guns.
She raised an eyebrow at him while his eyes narrowed on hers, almost like they were having their own conversation, until she said, “I will be more than safe, I promise. If you're that worried, then pick two of the guys to go with me. That way we have both the front, back, and scents covered.” Then she cooed out, “Like you said, he needs you for now, so let's use that to our advantage.”
Rabid’s eyes flared, turning yellow for a second before his whole body tightened, and he swore, “Fuck, all right. You guys will go first thing tomorrow.” She perked up, smiling, until he said, “You’ll take Dino and Gears with you.” She looked at Gears first and smiled, he winked at her, but that was all that was done, and she seemed happy with that. Then she frowned as she glared at Dino, who gave it right back to her.
Gears’ eyes ping-ponged between them before letting out a tired sigh and mumbling out, “This will be interesting.”
Chapter 17
Ihadwokenupearly and started tinkering with one of my projects. There was something about taking an object apart and putting it back together screw by screw that was soothing to me. Helped me think, to focus.
Today, Dino and I were going with Celine to go to her weapon stash. When she told us about it, at first, I was excited to go. If she was carrying such big and expensive gear, I wanted to see what else she had in that treasure trove. Then I remembered her situation with that vampire.
My wolf inside growled at that thought, telling me he would rip him apart limb from limb if he tried to take her from us. I felt his anger fill my body, and I clenched the screwdriver in my fist.
He was already obsessed with her. Whenever he saw her, he kept pushing me to go to her side, to smell her fresh sweet and salty scent. He wanted to invite her back to our bed since her scent was starting to fade from our pillow. While her voice had calmed my mind, her smell had calmed my wolf.
I heard a knock at the bottom of my stairs as a familiar rumble of a voice drifted up, "Are you awake?"
I smiled at Rabid's hesitation. It was something you almost never heard from our stern leader. "Come on up," I called out.
Since I was the last to move into the house, I got this sizeable three-wall loft. I didn't mind, as I enjoyed the openness of the room. It didn't stifle me, but that also meant that I didn't have a door, so the guys all made it a point to knock down at the bottom of the stairs before they came up.
Rabid's solid footsteps pounded towards me in the background as I finished screwing in the last screw. There. Perfect.
"Is that another one of your killbots?"
His voice held notes of interest as he shuffled through my mess to get a better look.
"Yeah. Some kid is paying me top dollar to make one for him to enter into a contest." It was good side money for some of the more expensive parts I didn't want Dino to know about. He would just badger me, asking if it was "needed" versus what I wanted.
"And you're okay with that? Don't you want to enter it yourself?" I smirked to myself before swiveling around to face him. Good old dependable Rabid. Collector of broken souls he desperately wanted to repair. It made me sometimes wonder when he would turn that interest inward.
"What would I do with a first-place trophy in robotic mechanics? Nothing. I just like building them. That's all." I didn't want to say it was a calming technique for my sometimes chaotic life.
He gave me the side eye as he observed the robot. Trying to keep his face neutral as he asked, "So, about the job today… do you have any objectives? Holes you see? Problems you expect to arise?" Rabid was a good leader. He was smart, strong, and capable. He also knew how to ask for help and who he should ask it from.
He and I had done this dance from the beginning when I first started. After joining the Moon Raiders, I observed all the comings and goings for the first six months and gave him a full report on the things I would change to make the place safer for everyone. He appreciated my psychotic attention to detail and the efforts I made for the community. Knowing he could trust me for the honest truth, he made me Road Captain.
I rattled off to him like always. "I mean, of course. There's about a sixty-two percent chance that the vampire is watching us somehow. Then, if he is, it's an eighty-seven percent chance that he would follow us. Then another secret two percent chance he will bring others with him and try to kidnap Celine-"
"Then why did you agree to this crazy idea?!" His voice cracked at the end as his eyes widened with each percentage I laid out.
I shrugged my shoulders as I said, "I am pretty confident in her skills. She is The Songbird, after all, and two… I want to check out her stash. The potential benefits outweigh the risks since it's just the three of us. It's highly likely in the worst case scenario that at least one of us, if not two, could make it out of the worst case situation."
He leaned back onto my dresser hard as he crossed his arms and looked at the floor. "I wish I had your faith."
