Page 27 (1/2)

"I will Thank you"

"Anytime" Kyrian knuckle-bu hospitalized, I’ your pay"

"Yeah, and I’ll start scratching your car paint"

Kyrian laughed "You know I value ht?"

"I don’t believe it for a minute," Nick called out as he left

But Kyrian didn’t respond

His , Boo You do need to learn to drive If you’d been in a car going to Liza’s, none of this would have happened…"

Joy rushed through hi to teach me?"

She visibly cringed "Yes," she said in the hed "Would you like ed even s uppeople Especially those with hot heads I’ve been training folks for years"

Man, that was an understatehter

Hisstare

"You don’t look old enough to have been doing anything for years"

If his ed "No offense, but I think I’d rather have Ash do it, too He won’t be screa me if I make a mistake"

She opened and closed her ue, but she knew the truth as well as he did "Fine But if I had a Porsche, there’s no way I’d ever let a fifteen-year-old in it, neverin my Porsche It’s a standard I think it’d be best to teach hiet used to the feel of the car and traffic rules before we co ADD needs is one more distraction"

"Hey!" Nick protested "I’m not that--hey, did you see that?" He pointed to the wall as a joke

"Ha, ha," Ash said

"So whose car will you use to train him in?" his mom asked

"One of my others"

His mom quirked a brow at that "Others? How many cars do you own?"

"Uers "A lot"

"You don’t know?" she asked, aghast

"Not really Most are kept in storage and I have them delivered when I want to drive them"

She pinned hiht he was a drug dealer or a car thief "What do you do again for a living?"

"Wrangle people"

Her eyes widened "You work in the sex trade?"

"No!" Ash practically roared that word

Nick sucked his breath in There was one of Grier words Wow That was a violent reaction He’d never seen Ash explode like that to anything

His breathing labored, Ash clenched his teeth, then seeet ahold of himself "Sorry That’s a subject I take very seriously Children should be protected, not…" His nostrils flared "Anyway, I train and consult personal security personnel"

Nick was impressed with Ash’s spin on what Dark-Hunters did Personal security personnel

For the whole world

"Why do you call it wrangling?"

Ash shrugged "My people get et hinky at ti into town for Halloween, in fact And it’s why I’m not always here I travel a lot to different cities and countries where we have staffs"

His aped "That’s so ie How old are you exactly?"

Nick arched his broaiting to see what Ash would come back with

"Older than I look, Mrs Gautier Much older than I look"

Yeah, he looked like he was in his late teens No one would believe he was an ancient Atlantean as over eleven thousand years old

She se either Sorry to be so personal But I feel even better having you here now that I knohat it is you do Have you ever had to deal with sohing Hard "Uh, yeah All the time My people specialize in the truly unruly"

"Good" She stepped away fro outside to make a call to Menyara I’ll be back in a few minutes"

"Take your time, Mrs Gautier"

"Call me Cherise," she said with a smile "I think we all knoas never esture Thank you"

"Any time, Cherise"

After she left, Acheron sat in the recliner "So ent down?"

"With hed "I don’t know There’s so around ain"

Nick laughed "No, Madaug’s been banned froain, he has a giant ’s prized co needed the threat He learned his lesson quite well"

Acheron nodded "I i on?"

"Soe about h truths toat each other’s throats over it"