Rafe Takes the Heat, page 1
Copyright © 2023 by Gerry Bartlett
Dragon Lady Publishing
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover Design & Interior Format by The Killion Group, Inc.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Dear Reader
Also By Gerry
About the Author
This book is dedicated to dear friends Nina Bangs, Donna Maloy and Jo Anne Banker. Their fingerprints are all over this book. Thanks for holding my feet to the fire and making my work better.
CHAPTER ONE
“I hate to tell you this, but your place reeks, bud.”
Rafael Valdez gave his brother a hard look. “What do you mean by that?”
“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.” Tomas held up his hands. He looked around the busy bar. “There. See that one? He’s heading for the door now.” Tom leaned in. “Demon in a man’s clothing. See for yourself.”
Rafe was out of his chair and at the door before the man, who did carry the stench of evil, had made it to the sidewalk outside. Rafe grabbed the back of the pricey jacket and walked him around the corner and into the alley.
“Hey, watch what you’re doing.” The creep struggled, looked over his shoulder, then gave up pretense. Hissing, his forked tongue flickered as his eyes turned red. “Take your hands off me before I fry you where you stand.”
“That the best you got?” Rafe slung him farther down the alley, where the lights suddenly died in a burst of sparks. “What do you want? Why were you in my bar?” He shoved the demon against the brick wall.
“I don’t answer to you.” The man, who now sported claws instead of fingers, carefully brushed at his shirt. “Keep your hands to yourself. I was minding my own business. Checking out the scene. I paid for my drink with real money.”
“Demons aren’t welcome in N-V.” Rafe let his own eyes glow.
“Why not? You’re not pure, but carry enough of the blood that I can smell our kind on you.” The man snarled. “Think you’re better than we are, shifter?” He glanced down the alley toward Sixth Street where people were beginning the nightly stroll toward shops open late and other night clubs. “Look out there. Take a whiff. Hate to tell you, brother, but there’s a hell of a convention coming to town.” He chuckled. “Yeah, Hell’s meeting here and the party’s already started.”
Rafe moved closer. He didn’t like this guy’s attitude. Mocking. As if he knew a secret. “What do you mean by that?”
“Haven’t you heard? Lucifer has spoken. He’s offering a prize. A bounty. First one to bring the big guy a certain child will get riches and perks beyond imagining.” The man polished his long nails on his lapel. “I think you know something about that kid, don’t you?”
Rafe’s inner demon roared to life. His humanity, even his shifter side, began to fall away, leaving him in the grip of a rage that he struggled to control. A bounty? On a certain child? He would destroy this son of a bitch. He gripped the demon’s shoulders, sending him to his knees on the cracked pavement. When a hand clamped on his own shoulder from behind, he growled, ready to rip that hand from whoever dared touch him.
“Stop. You’re never going to get the answers you need if you kill the son of a bitch.” The soft voice was close to his ear.
“Release me. This isn’t your concern, Cisneros.” Rafe ignored the whimpers coming from the demon on the ground in front of him.
“When the Devil sends his minions here, it concerns all of us.” Miguel Cisneros did let go but didn’t go far.
Rafe spared him a glance. The vampire had a point and could be useful. Ancient, with some kind of Mayan blood, Cisneros was damned powerful. While Rafe didn’t quite trust him, he knew his best friend Glory St. Clair treated the man like a long-lost brother. Which he just might be. They both had Olympus ties. Yeah, a very powerful man.
“I can help. Let me get the truth out of this devil’s spawn.” Miguel moved around Rafe and kicked the quivering demon with one of his fancy ostrich boots. “Tell me something, Ezra. That is your name, isn’t it?”
“This week.” The demon’s teeth started chattering. “What are you doing to me?”
“Freezing you. It’s a new power I’m playing with. How do you feel? Icy?” Miguel smiled at Rafe. “One kick between your legs from my friend Rafael here and your frozen nuts will shatter. Want him to try it?”
“No, please!” The cry was from what passed for the demon’s heart. He jerked his knees together and covered his eyes, sobbing. “What do you want to know?”
“How many are coming to Austin and what’s the plan? What does Lucifer want?”
The shivering demon told them everything. Greed was a powerful motivator in the demon world and Lucifer’s favor was highly coveted. Dozens of demons that Rafe considered merely annoyances were already here, but some high-level characters who he knew had powers too terrifying to dismiss were also in town or on the way.
A child. Yes, he knew the child. His child, beautiful and born with enough of his demon blood to be of interest to Lucifer. He had prayed this day would never come. No surprise that his prayers had been ignored. He shuddered. He glanced at Miguel and got a nod. Sympathy? From this hard-eyed man? This was bad. A disaster.
“I’m sorry.” Miguel easily read his mind. “Let me know if I can help in any way, Rafael.” He spoke his name with the inflection of a native Spanish speaker.
Rafe felt sure if he broke into the language the man would never miss a beat. “Why are you helping me?”
“Why not?” Miguel smiled. “Gloriana reminds me that our kind, paranormals she calls us, should stick together, have each other’s backs.” He shrugged. “She has urged me to stay on what she called the right side of things. Once, I would have gone after this so-called bounty. Been willing to face Lucifer himself for a chance to gain riches.” He shook his head. “But I have plenty of money and it seems I have gone soft. Because I realize I have limits. A child? No, hermano, I cannot sacrifice a child. El Diablo goes too far.”
Rafe held out his hand. “You’re right about that. Thank you.” Miguel was what Rafe’s wife would call a handsome man—tall, powerfully built and always in black. His smiles were rare, Rafe had noticed that. He’d come into the club from time to time, ordering the synthetic blood Rafe kept in stock for his vampire friends and sitting in the balcony with Glory and her husband. But not often. He seemed to be a loner. This gesture was unlike him.
Miguel shook his hand. “You are Gloriana’s friend. She will be pleased if we can protect your little one.” He reached out and picked up the demon. “I will dispose of this trash.” Miguel nodded, the limp demon under his arm like a bundle of rags bound for a dumpster.
“Truly, Miguel. Thanks. I won’t forget this.” Rafe walked back to the street and looked around. He took a deep breath and the taint was still there. More demons close by. They weren’t all so easy to spot. Ezra had been low level. The elder demons with strong skills cloaked their true natures and were well-disguised. He was going to have to be constantly on guard from now on. And he couldn’t protect his family alone.
He had always taken care of himself. Even spent most of his life protecting others, for pay, working as a bodyguard. But when it came to his family? He’d take any help he could get, even from a man like Cisneros who seemed to have more than a little darkness in his own soul.
Rafe headed back into the club. Tomas still sat at the table, gesturing for a refill. Rafe looked around and noticed there had been more arrivals since he’d been in the alley. The vampires Rafe welcomed into his club were up on the balcony, sitting at the table that was their usual hangout.
“What did you find out, hermano?” Tom took a full glass from the tray the waiter brought and took a deep swallow of bourbon. “You look rough, man. I’m not surprised. I smelled evil. Not a little bit, like you put out with a flicker of red in your eyes. No, I’m talking full-on bad ass, I’ll-drag-you-to-hell-if-you-look-at-me-wrong evil, bro.” Tomas shuddered
“You’re right. And I’ll need your help. If you keep drinking like that, you won’t be able to give it to me. You remind me of our father, drowning your fear in expensive bourbon.” Rafe wanted to shake Tom. “If your wife sees you, Chica will drag you out of here by your ear.”
“Shut up. She is too busy shopping at your pal Glory’s vintage clothing shop to bother with me.” Tomas gestured for yet another refill. “I love you, bro, but this demon thing you live with every day is too much for me. It’s getting on my last nerve, I tell you.”
“Slow down on the booze. Come upstairs with me. I want to discuss the situation with my friends.” Rafe picked up his own full glass. He waited for Tom to follow him. When he didn’t get up, he grabbed Tom’s sleeve. “That was an order.” He’d given his brother a job here, as assistant manager. He didn’t often issue orders but this time he needed him to step up.
“You know how I feel about those vampiros.” Tomas frowned.
“Suck it up. I need you. Those demons are threatening my family.” This time Rafe did let his eyes glow red.
“I’ve never seen you afraid of demons. Of anything, bro. Me? I don’t have your courage. Suck it up?” Tom shuddered. “Would you not say that?” He picked up his fresh drink and followed Rafe to the stairs. “I know these are your friends. You say you trust them, but I don’t have your demon blood, or your history with them. That woman Florence… She is one hot tamale, eh? She caught me looking down her blouse and showed her fangs to me.” He tripped on a tread as they walked up the stairs. “Then she sniffed the air near my neck. Called me deliciouso. I almost pissed my pants.” He grabbed Rafe’s arm when he saw Florence da Vinci and her husband Richard Mainwaring turn to stare at him. “I’m a dead man. They hear everything, don’t they?”
Rafe stopped at the top of the stairs. Besides Flo and Richard, Jeremy Blade was there, sipping premium synthetic blood. No sign of Blade’s wife, Glory St. Clair, but there was an empty chair next to Blade.
“Relax, hermano. I know Flo. She wore that low cut blouse on purpose. She would have been insulted if you hadn’t noticed her beauty, right, Flo?”
“But of course.” Florence put her hand on her husband’s shoulder when he started to rise from his seat at the long table. “Darling, I was teasing this shifter. Tomas, how are you tonight? Don’t be scared. Relax. I am drinking a glass of something much more exotic than your common shifter blood.” She got up to walk around the table and give Rafe a hug. Then she patted Tom on the cheek with one beringed hand, her diamond leaving an oozing scratch. She ran a fingertip through the blood and tasted it.
“Oh, you have been hitting the drink hard. I wouldn’t mind being a little tipsy if I did take you down a pint.” She leaned in closer, inhaling deeply. “This makes me sorry that I like your wife too much to lay a fang on you.”
Richard Mainwaring watched this with narrowed eyes. He grinned when Tom stepped behind Rafe to use him as a shield.
“Darling, behave or I’ll have to take you home and teach you a lesson in manners.” Her husband picked up his goblet and sipped, eying her over the rim. “Tomas is shaking in his shoes.”
“A lesson? Really, Ricardo?” Florence strutted around the table. She was dressed as usual in full seductive mode, her high heels making her a little over five feet tall. Her nails were painted black to match her tight leather skirt and she tapped those nails on Richard’s head as she passed him to settle in her seat. “I will be interested to see what that could be. But Rafael is here with worry on his face. We must hear him out, I think. Before we can move on to our pleasures.” She picked up Richard’s hand. “And it will be pleasures, am I right?”
“Of course, you are right.” He kissed her palm. “What’s amiss, Rafe? How can we help?”
Tom rubbed his cheek. “There is evil in the air.” He glared at Flo. “Maybe it’s not from demons like I thought, maybe it’s coming from here.”
“I told you there is demon activity in the area.” Blade, once known as Jeremiah Campbell, leaned forward. “Glory told me she had a minor demon in the shop last night. She managed to run him off with the holy water she keeps next to her cash register, but we all know a demon when we smell one. He damaged some clothing and lifted a piece of jewelry. Just to prove he could, I’m sure.”
“I don’t like to hear that. I just found out that they’re here about me and my family.” Rafe took a seat at the long table. He and Jerry had come to terms a long time ago. They both loved Glory, Jerry’s wife. Rafe was firmly in the friend zone with Glory now, happy in his own marriage. Jerry had a jealous streak, but he’d learned to trust his wife. And the fact that Rafe was in love with his own Lacy had convinced Jerry he had no cause for jealousy in Rafe’s friendship with Glory. They had even done some business deals together recently and been comfortable enough to call each other friend. Now Jerry frowned.
“What do they want with your family? As leverage against you? I know about your demon blood but what . . ?” Jerry glanced around the table. “What are you not telling us?”
Rafe could feel the concern from these people, these vampires and his brother, half-brother. He and Tomas shared a father. Lucky for Tomas his mother was one of his father’s mistresses and a member of the shifter clan, not a demon. Rafe had two other half-brothers who shunned him because of his demon blood. Wise of them. Hanging out with a demon was dangerous and stupid. He should send Tomas away. Or disappear himself. Except there was a problem.
He really didn’t want to tell these well-meaning people about it. But he couldn’t face the coming situation alone. Not and prevail. Hell was coming to call. If he could just face it and, if he had to, sacrifice himself, maybe it would all go away. He’d die for his family. But he knew that wouldn’t be the end of it. Too many demons were circling. Too many high-level demons. Obviously this bounty being offered was so huge that even the laziest demons were stirring and coming out of their lairs to see if they could win it.
“Rafe, you look like you are facing Hell itself. What is it? You’ve fought demons and won before, haven’t you?” Tomas sat beside him. His glass was empty again and his words slurred. “What is it that has you so upset? Why are you turning to these, um, people?” He waved his hand around the table. “Do we need to send for some of our own? From the clan?”
“It would do no good. These vampires are my friends. They are strong and decent. If it comes to a fight with Lucifer himself, I would trust everyone here. Glory too, of course.”
“What the fuck are you trying to drag my wife into this time, Valdez?” Jerry was on his feet. “I may have something to say about that.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t risk anyone else. It’s just that it’s not for me. Not just my life at stake.” Rafe put his face in his hands. He had sworn to keep this a secret. Only four people knew the truth and that was already too many. But if danger was coming, the secret was going to come out. No doubt about it.
“Jeremiah, let him tell us what has him so upset.” Glory St. Clair’s voice came from the top of the stairs.
Rafe looked up and met her gaze. “I’m sorry, Blondie. I really shouldn’t get you involved. Jerry’s right.”
“I’ll be the judge of whether I want to get involved or not. Tell me what has you in a bad way.” She walked over and stood next to him, her hand on his shoulder. “Please. You know you can tell me anything.”
“It’s Daniela, Glo. My beautiful little girl. I knew the first time I held her.” Rafe took a shaky breath and clasped Glory’s hand. “I saw it in her eyes. She’s got the demon blood. Now Lucifer is going after her, claiming her. He’s offered a bounty and is determined to drag her down to Hell.”
CHAPTER TWO
“I’ve got to go. My family...” He hadn’t taken two steps when his phone vibrated in his pocket. One look and he was afraid he was too late. “Lacy, everything okay?”
“No.” The clipped way she said that, the lack of explanation, made his heart shudder.
“Speak to me.” He ran down the stairs. He could feel Tomas on his heels, the vampires moving silently behind his brother. No one spoke. It was as if they’d formed an army at his back. It should have been reassuring but terror squeezed his lungs as he heard his wife breathe into the phone. “Lacy, please.”
“Your mother is here. She, she says she must take Daniela with her.” She sobbed, and it tore through him.
His mother, a demon who never should have spawned a child. Him. Threatening to take his baby. He struggled to speak past his rage.
