Grave Mistakes (Hellgate Guardians #1)(13)

“Sounds like a plan,” I finally respond. “Are you the head of security?”

I’m guessing he must be if I’m reporting to him. He’s probably in some plush office right now, pretending to watch security cameras while he eats chips and plays games on his phone. I’m sure he’s not dressed in all leather, either. Lucky bastard.

“Something like that,” he replies vaguely. “Over.”

Ha! I knew “over” was a thing. Wait...did I just get dismissed?

“Double over,” I quickly reply.

Static ensues before I hear, “You can’t double over. It’s just over, and I already said it.”

Wow. Someone is getting testy. He must have run out of Candy Crush lives already.

“I can do my own ‘over’ after your ‘over’ if I want to,” I say with a frown.

There’s a long pause. A really, really long pause.

Why am I even arguing with him? Are these tight as fuck pants cutting off the circulation to my brain?

“Just go do your job, Maverick. Be sure to stay alert. Over,” he finally responds.

Yep, I definitely annoyed him already. Look at me, making friends so seamlessly.

I blow a few purple strands of hair that rebelled against my pony tail, out of my face. I stare at the radio for a moment, trying to come up with something that will have my potential boss or coworker less annoyed with me, but I come up with nothing, so I figure it’s better to just stop before I dig myself any deeper. I replace the radio back into the holster on my hip belt and decide to do exactly as instructed.

The sun dips lower and lower as I make my way around, and the various bright colors that paint the sky slowly give way to the dark purples and blues of impending night. I let my eyes adjust as the sun tucks in for bed, and the almost full moon begins to work its magic in the sky.

My eyesight has always been pretty good in the dark, so I’m not worried about being out here all night. I liked that about the bar scene, too. The low lighting thing really worked for me.

As night officially stakes its claim, a calm peacefulness seeps across the graveyard’s grounds like fog. I reach the end of the path around the entire perimeter and start to pick my way through the moon-kissed headstones.

I get lost in reading the names on them and tracing the details of the intricate stone markers that now represent people’s lives. I’m surprised by all of the different last names I find. I figured, with it being a private graveyard, this would have a lot of family names, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Just as I’m settling into what is looking to be a tranquil first shift, an incredibly loud and alarming whoosh sounds off to my left. The onslaught of it startles me, and my heart kicks up and starts running a race that would impress Secretariat.

“What the fuck?” I murmur, my eyes scanning my surroundings.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I was getting crop dusted by a damn tornado, but the loud noise stops just as suddenly as it began. I start to move in the direction I think it came from, my eyes zeroed in on a cluster of mausoleums.

I probably should be scared, but mostly I’m a little salty that something is messing with my new cushy job already. Whatever that was needs to know that it’ll take more than that to send me running away from eighty dollars an hour and benefits.

Cautiously, I approach the largest of the mausoleums in the graveyard, shock filtering through me when I hear voices inside.

“Fuck, don’t tell me I’m going to have to face off with vandals on my first day?” I mutter to myself as I try to suss out how the hell people got in there without my catching them. I’ve been vigilant as fuck.

I let out an irritated breath and tighten my grip on my walking stick which now has a very weapony feel to it. This will be just like kicking a drunk out of the bar. Be firm and authoritative, I tell myself, and take no shit.

And here we go.

I hurry over to the stone mausoleum and press my back against the wall near the door. I try to listen to what’s being said, but I can’t make anything out. It’s just a low murmur of voices speaking back and forth. I don’t know what they did to make that loud noise, but they better not be breaking shit on my first night here. If they are, the cost of damages better not come out of my paycheck, or this Xena reject will be raising hell.

I try to wait for the voices to stop talking, but they just keep going on and on. It’s safe to say at least one of them likes the sound of their own voice. Seriously, who hangs out in a mausoleum? If they’re crazies trying to sacrifice a squirrel to the devil, I’m going to be so pissed.

I can tell that there are at least two of them in there, and they’re both men. That means that I’m outnumbered, but I’m scrappy as fuck, so I got this.

Tired of waiting for the assholes who seem to be taking their sweet time doing whatever they’re doing in there, I move toward the door, tensing and tightening my grip on the walking stick. After counting silently to three, I push the heavy wooden door open. I notice some intricately carved rings on the outside of the polished wood as it smacks loudly against the stone wall inside. I try not to cringe at the intrusive boom of sound that it creates. Although, if the noise scared the squirrel-sacrificing little shits, then I’ll call that a win.

I blink furiously as I try to adjust to the darkness inside the mausoleum, but when I scan the space, I only find that it’s...empty. “What the hell?”