Chapter 1

Russell Collins was an ass before he died. Being dead hadn't changed much. He sat across the bar wearing a black business suit. His thinning black hair was slicked back to try and hide the bad spot that had started to show on the top of his head. His angular face was worried and nervous. He always reminded me of the errand boy in old gangster movies, you know, the expendable one.

Now that Russell was a vampire, he wasn't that expendable anymore, but he was still running errands for bigger fish. Nope. Death hadn't changed anything really. As standard policy when dealing vampires, I avoided looking him in the eye. He might have been a shit head but he was an undead shit head. This was a whole new area for me.

We sat looking at each other from across the bar. He swirled his glass of O positive while I cleaned an already spotless glass. Being one of the only vampire friendly bars in the area we served blood. Because of this, we got a lot of vampire business. It was still early so The Circuit was still empty and we were alone.

"You mind if I smoke?" He was twirling a cigarette between his fingers. Who knew vampires had nervous twitches?

"Actually I do. Smoke free club. Go outside." I picked up another glass and inspected the surface.

"You're not going to make this easy for me are you?"

I sighed and looked right at him for a second. He had small laugh lines at the corners of his eyes and lines around his mouth from smoking at an early age I would bet. He caught me looking and I quickly looked away.

He laughed a rasping cough like laugh. "Damn it if I don't love it. You're afraid of me. Don't try to lie, I can smell it on you like something touching my face."

I shrugged. How are you supposed to lie to someone who can smell your fear? "Why are you even hear Russell?"

He looked at his glass and took a sip of his cooling beverage. He used to sip whiskey on the rocks. I wanted to ask what changes? What did it feel like to die and be dead? I knew other vampires but Russell was the only one I knew before and after death.

"What do you want?" I emphasized every word.

"I am here to become a client."He licked his top lip, showing fang.

I kept my face blank but my heart rate sped up. I knew he couldn't hear it over the thumping music. "I have already served you a drink Russell, you are a client." I turned to put the glass on the shelf behind me.

"No, not as a bar tender. I want to hire you to find a kill someone."

I froze. There were a thousand things that could happen in this moment. I pictured a scenario of me luring Russell out back and quickly getting rid of him. Payment or not. How in the hell had he found out. So I did the first thing that came to mind. Deny deny deny. "I think you have the wrong person Russell. That's the craziest thing I have heard all day." I chuckled to give it a little spice.

"Nah. I know about you Lox. I pay attention. You might know your drinks but that isn't the only thing that you know. You know how to kill monsters. It's been you the whole time. You're the Sandman!"

I swung around faster than I thought I could. "Shut the fuck up! You don't know what you're talking about."It came out in a hiss as I looked around the club. Only one person had wondered in. Sally LaGrange. She was a human and already drunk. I would take her keys here in an hour. I would call her son to come and pick her up. It was a several night a week thing. "Let's cut to the chase here. We are going to start getting regulars here," I glanced at my watch, "in about fifteen minutes. Now get serious."

He looked very somber after my outburst. "You know about the vampires that have gone missing right? With the handful of humans last seen with them?"

Because he made it a question I said "I've heard about them." Six vampires had been killed in the last two months in the general area. They had been shown the sun. A couple of them had humans tied to them as they burned.

"Well the cops feel like most, including you, what's one more dead vampire? New laws don't change that." There was a tone of disgust in his voice.

It had been four years since the vamps had come out and made themselves known to the humans. The government had to change the definition of what life was and what death wasn't. It had been two years since the fey came out and they had to change what a life sentence was, but that was a whole new ball game. Vampirism was now legal in the United States, as long as you was over the age of eighteen.

I looked at the vampire in front of me. Did I really believe what was one more dead vampire? Maybe. I shrugged, "If you believe that, why come to me at all?"

"Because the word on the street is that the Sandman is the best and we need the best." He made a slip.

"Who is we? Who are you working for?" My ears had picked up on that. It was the first time he had said we.

"That isn't important. Look, the money is good. We need somebody who knows the night life and can get around unnoticed. No one has ever seen the Sandman."

I shook my head. How did he even find out? If Russell could find out, that means anyone willing to try hard enough could. I had made a lot of enemy's out there but he was right. No one ever saw me and lived. Hell, only certain contacts knew how to reach me when there was a job and even they had never seen my face. I doubt they even knew I was a woman.

"I told them you wouldn't go for this." He sat very still looking at me. Fear crawled over the back of my neck giving me chill bumps. I fought the urge to pull one of the butterfly knives out of my boots. So I just stood there. "Why won't you help us?"

"I'm sorry I can't help you."

"You mean won't."

"Have it anyway you like." He moved with the vampire quickness that the living Russell never had. I still saw him move and jerked back from his hand. "I won't fall for your mind tricks."

"You saw me." He narrowed his eyes at me accusingly.

"You still have a lot to learn about being a vamp Rus."

He was frowning with his hand still reaching across the bar. "I might be new Loxley, but no regular human could have stepped outta the way like that. You're no more a normal human than I am."

Cold sank into my stomach like a stone in the lake. I looked at him with as little emotion as I could muster. "I need to start getting ready for other customers."

"Why won't you help us Loxley? I got to tell them something when I go back."

I wasn't sure but he sounded scarred and his posture had become stiff and almost defensive. Would the little rat get in trouble for failing? I sorta felt sorry for him but that was just plain silly. He was undead.

"Tell them I don't work for vampires." In all honesty, I never met any of my clients. As a general rule, nothing lead back to them, nothing lead to me. So it is possible that I work for one but I didn't see what the point would be when they could kill someone themselves.

"I wish you hadn't said that Loxley. These people don't like being told no." There was something like pity in his voice. I sure as hell didn't need that shit.

"I don't like being threatened. You may leave now." I turned away from him and pretended to check the liquors that I kept well stocked.

"It's not a threat Lox. It's the unfortunate truth."

I closed my eyes and released the breath I didn't know I had been holding. My knees and elbows felt like jelly but there was no time for me to sit here and shake. It was a Friday and the club was going to be busy.

I touched the gun I kept under the counter for comfort. The 9mm Browning high power was just a smidge over two pounds. It had silver plated bullets because I knew for a fact that vampires were not the only creepy crawly in the dark. It also discouraged rowdy clientele. I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants and suck it up. Did it really bother me that some vamps knew my secret? You're damn right it did.