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Chapter One

"Freeze! Nobody move! This is a robbery!"

Wow Three cliches in a row Soination department

But the shouted threats scared sohed Screanore the trouble that had just walked into my restaurant - or deal with it the quick, violent way I would have preferred A silverstone knife through the heart is enough to stop most trouble in its tracks Perray eyes up fro to see what all the fuss was about

Tentyso out of place a the restaurant’s blue and pink vinyl booths The dynamic duo sported black trench coats that covered their thin T-shirts and flapped against their ripped, rock star jeans Neither one wore a hat or gloves, and the fall chill had painted their ears and fingers a bright cherry red I wondered how long they’d stood outside, gathering up the courage to come in and yell out their trite demands

Water dripped off their boots and spread across the faded blue and pink pig tracks that covered the restaurant floor I eyed the h to keep out the Nove bootlaces These teren’t your typical desperate junkies looking for a quick cash score

No, they had their own money - lots of it, froner jeans

These two rich punks were robbing my barbecue restaurant just for the thrill of it

Worst fucking decision they’d ever uy repeated, as if we all hadn’t heard him before

He was a beefy man with spiky blond hair held up by soiant blood in his fa froe hands Despite his twentyso years, baby fat still puffed out his face like a waruy’s brown eyes flicked around the restaurant, taking in everything fro on the stove behindfrench fryer to the battered, bloody copy of Where the Red Fern Grows ister

Then Beefcake turned his attention to the people inside the Pork Pit tohis demands Not many folks to look at Monday was usually a slow day, made even more so by the cold bluster of wind and rain outside The only other people in the restaurant besides me and the would-be robbers were my dwarven cook, Sophia Deveraux, and a couple of custoht Tshirts not unlike those the robbers sported

The women sat shocked and frozen, eyes wide, barbecue beef sandwiches halfway to their lips Sophia stood next to the stove, her black eyes flat and disinterested as she watched the beans bubble She grunted once and gave the uy raised his hand A sers A hard, thin smiled curved my lips I liked knives

"Chill out, Jake," the second guy muttered "There’s no need to scream"

I looked at him Where his buddy was blond and beefy, robber number tas short and bone-thin His wispy hair stuck up due to uncontrollable cowlicks instead of an overabundance of product The locks were a bright red that had probably earned him the nickname Carrot at some point Carrot shoved his hands into his holey pockets, shifted on his feet, and stared at the floor, clearly wanting to be somewhere other than here A reluctant sidekick at best Probably tried to talk his buddy out of this nonsense He should have tried harder

"No nalared at his friend

Lance’s bony body jerked at the sound of his own name, like someone had zapped him with a cattle prod

His

I used one of the day’s credit card receipts to htened, slid offthe back wall of the Pork Pit Tiuy, Jake, sawat iant irls up and out of her booth - a Hispanic girl with a pixie haircut

She let out another squeaky screaainst one of the storefront s The barbecue sauce looked like blood running down the slass

"Leave her alone, you bastard!" the other woed at Jake, who backhanded her He h strength in his blow to lift the wo into a table

She flipped over the top, hit the floor hard, and gave a low groan

By this point, Sophia Deveraux had becos The dwarffroether like wind chimes

The skulls matched the ones on her black T-shirt

"You take right," I runted and moved to the other end of the counter, where the second woman had been thrown

"Lance!" Jake jerked his head at the injured woman and Sophia "Watch those bitches!"

Lance wet his lips Pure, uncomfortable misery filled his pale face, but he stepped around his friend and trotted over to the injured woman, who had pushed herself up to her hands and knees She shoved her wild tangle of blueblack hair out of her face Her pale blue eyes burned with ihter, that one

But Lance didn’t see her veno at Sophia Most people did The dwarf had been Goth before Goth was cool - a hundred years ago or so In addition to her skull collar andT-shirt, Sophia Deveraux sported black jeans and boots Pink lipstick covered her lips, contrasting with the black glitter shadow on her eyelids and the natural pallor of her face

Today, the color motif extended up to her hair Pale pink streaks shi her cropped black locks

But Jake wasn’t so dumbstruck He pulled the first woman even closer, turned her around, held her in front of him, and raised the knife to her throat Now he had a human shield Terrific