Page 10 (1/2)

~ Macey Bluffs ~

Macey found herself in a plain, well-lit passageway nothat ended in a T One direction probably led Chelle and DottieI to investigateto the outside Thankfully, no one was in sightalthough she could hear the sound of voices in the near distance Two, perhaps three or even four-it was hard to tell, for they were low and intense

Her heart was so high in her throat, she thought shethe corridor silently, trying to figure out exactly what she was going to do when and if she encountered Capone

Suddenly, up ahead, she saw the shadows of several figures reflected on the wall at the end of the hall They weresound of an altercation Bodies thudded and slaht ahead of her She tensed, easing back-but there was nowhere for her to go Aware of the ever-present chill at the back of her neck, she reunshots

Before she could react, suddenly there were threedown the corridor toward her One was Capone Another had blood all over his shirt and he was staggering a bit, held up by the third one-as carrying a pistol

She couldn&039;t arden

"Hey! Who da hell are you?"

Macey was paralyzed Then inspiration struck She sagged and loosened her li the stake, hiding it behind her skirt, she tipped her head aardly and then stood unsteadily as if she needed to push herself away fro wall

"Heyyyyyouseain&039;t sh-posed to be in the ladiesh rooer that e, wavery circles in the air

"This ain&039;t da ladies rooun He looked terrifying "Git outta here We got biz-ness in here"

Macey stuain "Sho where ish the powder roo one arer as if she&039;d thrown herself off balance, all the while keeping the stake behind her back She did her best to keep her eyes wide and glassy, and her htly open But when she noticed the bloodstains on the injured man&039;s shirt were from a wound on his neck, she nearly lost her act

"The goddamned powder roo her Violence and power exuded froest you take your sweet ass out of here sooner rather than later"

"Okeydokey," Macey said But she couldn&039;t leave The -or so, and she was the only chance to save the victim She could pretend to leave, then spin around and launch herself in their direction She&039;d have a good shot if she took the steps toward the painting-door when a strong hand clamped around her arm and plucked her backward so hard she tiny silver cross, and 7V nearly flew through the air

"What the hell is this?" It was Capone, and he yanked her araze speared her, black and frightening, and for a minute, Macey lost her inebriated facade Their eyes clashed, and then she sagged back into her act, stu her head in confusion while looking up at the stake as if she&039;d never seen it "&039;S broken Sheeeeshhhhow&039;d it get bro-ken?" It took every bit of strength she had to keep herself loose-limbed and wide-eyed, as she looked frorip was painfully strong A little harder and he&039;d break her wrist

"Who the hell are you?" Capone de his face close to hers

Her heart was in her throat now, and her insides a jurip on the stake, knowing if she had one chance, this would be it This would be the chance to kill Al Capone She was close enough

She gritted her teeth, struggling to keep focused while finding a way to airipped her wrist in a death-hold All of a sudden, he flung her away froainst the wall, her head cracking hard as it whipped back into it By the tioon with the gun had pushed past her and were gone-back out the painting-door and into the cabaret The injured lassy and wide as blood oozed from his wounds

Macey knelt next to him and checked the bite He&039;d live, but the man needed help And if she went for help, people would panic, wouldn&039;t they? Seeing bite wounds on aany blood would probably turn things upside-down Maybe she couldyes, she could wrap them up so it wasn&039;t obvious

ThenGrady

Damn it It would just make him ask more questions, demand more answers But she knew he&039;d help

Grady was shooting the bull with ul Sa editor, Rob McCorht of Macey I-her face was pale, her expression tight, and her pocketbook and ere rain-distilled whiskey Katz had sh the ever-growing, increasingly inebriated crowd

"What happened?"

She spun at his de obvious relief at his appearance "Thank God Grady I need your help There&039;s a man tiny silver cross, and 7Vhe&039;s injured He needs help"

He didn&039;t give a damn about an injured man Not at the moment "What happened to you?"

Her hair was out of control and her head-thing with the roses was askew The silky, transparent dress she as torn at the shoulder sea And her wrist was red and chafed "Are you all right? Who did this?" He controlled the need to grab her and demand answers

"I&039;m not hurt But there&039;s a man who is Will you help me? Grady, please Before someone else finds him"

She didn&039;t even wait for him to respond; she just turned and started off across the rooh a secret door courtesy of Bacchus and he saw the manand the wounds He looked at her

"What the hell is going on, Macey? Daotten yourself involved in"

She shook her head, her eyes cool and steady "It&039;s a whole lot of bad luck Being in the wrong place at the wrong ti more to-"

"Jesus Christ, Macey, do you really think I&039;m that stupid? Would you believe it if you wereat the er and disbelief at her continued equivocation, he put that aside for the ti to attend to the man

Fortunately, the victih to be helped to his feet, but he couldn&039;t walk on his own and there was blood every-daht of it would send people into hysterics "Where&039;s your wrap?" Grady demanded "Or a scarf"

She understood i more quickly than he expected She had the wrap and her pocketbook back in her possession-which led him to believe she&039;d put them aside herself and they hadn&039;t been taken fro the assault A woman didn&039;t just leave her pocketbook He filed this infor the heavy velvet throw around the injured man&039;s neck, Grady helped hin of blood, everyone wouldwith the to anyone who&039;d listen that her "man" had so much to drink that he&039;d decided to wear her shawl, and wasn&039;t he adorable?

If Grady hadn&039;t been so furious, so deeply confused and concerned, heShe was convincing and entertaining at the sa her eyelashes

And he was completely besotted with her

Between the two of theh a staff elevator, and out a side door of the Palht it best not to alert security, but to take the man directly

He had one of the bellmen hail a cab, and when the taxi pulled up, Grady eased the injuredto Macey

But she was gone

After she ditched Grady (again), Macey didn&039;t want to go back into the secret cabaret again, for fear of encountering Capone She wasn&039;t quite ready to face thefrom him

But if she went home, there was the chance she&039;d be accosted by everyone from Mrs Gutchinson to Chas to Grady

There was always Cookie&039;s, for she knehere a key to the back door was hidden But then she ht have to answer questions about why she wasn&039;t out with Chas, hunting vampires

So Macey sat in a corner of the lobby of the Pal to the jazz trio in the corner, watching the people go by If Chelle or Dottie would appear, o ho Chas and Grady thatto do but think Which wasn&039;t a particularly good thing, considering the fact that she&039;d just had a very unsettling encounter with the kingpin of all gangsters

But she couldn&039;t helpthat had happened in that secret hallway, and all at once it struck her-the chill The chill at the back of her neckhad been gone

Macey frowned and thought very hard, dragging back into her mind every part of the memory from that mo into hers She felt terrified, and adrenalin rushed through herbut she hadn&039;t been cold

Which meantCapone hadn&039;t yet been turned undead

She drew in a deep breath Exhaled So I rong I guess that&039;s good; he hasn&039;t been turned yet

Then a little shiver caught her by surprise Good grief I almost tried to stab him

What would he have done if she had? Macey shivered and felt a little nauseated at the thought Lordy, she hoped he didn&039;t realize what she&039;d been up to Hopefully, he believed her drunken act and wouldn&039;t think twice of it

Why would a guy like Al Capone be worried about a gal like her bothering him, anyway? Surely he wouldn&039;t even re with ahiers Right Alvisi was trying to get Capone on his side What better way to do that than to bring hi reat asset to the vampires, with his network of power, people, and funds Perhaps even more valuable than if he were turned undead Chas and Sebastian rong

The vampires didn&039;t want Capone turned They just wanted him on their side A full member of the Tutela

Macey subdued a shudder at the thought of those people who craved the attention of the undead Likely the man she and Grady had helped was a uest to the undead, just as Alvisi had done to Victoria Gardella a century ago

Having come to that conclusion, and uncertain what to do about it, Macey turned her thoughts to so less unpleasant Flora What was up with Flora?

While Macey wasn&039;t overly worried their friend hadn&039;t shown up tonight, it was still unusual for her not to have heard from her for such an extended time She and Flora had been best friends for o within a roup of friends had telephones in their apart those of others-and rely on anyhad co anyone know And with Flora, things like that happened all the time So her absence wasn&039;t terribly worrisome

But since Temple showed up at Macey&039;s flat and Flora left in a little bit of a huff, Macey realized her friendfor her to contact her And she hadn&039;t Generally, Flora was too happy and upbeat to hold a grudge against anyone, though, so uy

Macey would go visit her toan insisted she coh it was Saturday, because of preparations for the upco Flora out dancing They&039;d have a great tie clock on the lobby wall Nearly n of Dottie or Chelle, or even the helpful hed Might as well go home herself She did have to work toht made her wish she hadn&039;t donated away her wrap The breeze see to draw attention to herself (in case Capone had hisfor her-but would he even do that?) and ask a bell her a taxi, she walked down the block away from the hotel toward the h it was late, people clogged the sidewalks everywhere, co from the vaudeville show, the theater, the hotel-or on their way to one of the if a pedestrian dared set foot in the road nearby

A car slowed next to her, and Macey looked over just as the back door opened

"Get in," said a thick male voice "My boss would like to speak to you"

At the saed froht of a blackelse

She dodged the hand that lunged for her and took off down the sidewalk, weaving between people, bu outcries in her wake Back at the Palh to turn and look back

Her pursuers-if indeed they&039;d even pursued her-were nowhere in sight