A shudder ran down my spine right then, which had nothing to do with flickering precision of Candy’s pierced tongue. I felt the dim, flickering sense of residual magic coming off the group, dappled with a lingering taste of spiritual decay. There was something not right about these guys.

I reined in my senses and looked back to the club doors. The couple had retreated inside, but the drunk followed. A second later I heard someone cry out. Another second after that, a choir of horrified shrieks rang out, drowning out the music and rattling my eardrums.

Candy popped up again and I shoved her back down fast, pushing her to the floorboard on the far side of the car. She started to complain, probably thinking I hadn’t paid for any rough stuff, but I put my hand over her mouth, gesturing for her to be quiet. She complied meekly. She was confused and scared, but amenable. She hadn’t survived this neighborhood by being stupid.

“Stay down and keep your mouth shut,” I whispered as I packed all my parts away and did up my pants angrily, trying not to catch anything in the zipper. There’s something wrong with the world when a man can’t even pay to get off without interruption. I was gonna be asking for a refund, no doubt about it.

Things situated as well as they could be, I reached under the front seat and pulled out my chromed. 45 and bullet belt. Candy whimpered as I checked the chamber, probably thinking I was gonna use it on her. I did my best to calm her with a toothy smile as I strapped the belt on.

“Don’t move. I’ll come back and get you once I figure out what’s going on,” I told her as I opened the car door as quietly as possible. Not knowing what I was dealing with, I didn’t want to announce my presence any sooner than I had to.