Freak Show (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #7)(82)

“Hey, Alexa,” he called after me. “Welcome home.”

Chapter Nineteen

I sipped a cold beer and eyed the TV in the corner of the bar, the cause of so much shouting among the patrons. Sports lounges really weren’t my kind of place. I waited for Agent Thomas Briggs to arrive for this little meeting he’d insisted upon.

Arys sat beside me, watching the big screen with veiled interest. He might be a big bad vampire, but I’d seen him rant and rave at the TV during an intense game. There had been no convincing him to let me handle Briggs alone. He was determined to show this city our united front, to spread and enforce the word that we were in power here. I imagined that wouldn’t go over too well with others.

“We’ve barely been back a week, and the FPA is already demanding secret meetings in neutral locations. That’s bullshit. They want you bad, and I don’t trust how far they’re willing to go to get you.” A muscle in Arys’s jaw twitched, a sure indicator that his temper was on a short leash.

“Briggs is as bad as Shya when it comes to collecting people,” I said with a shrug. “He’s an idiot if he thinks I can be persuaded to work for the government. I think the demon is less corrupt.”

Arys’s blue gaze traveled over the other lounge occupants. He scrutinized them each in turn, as if deciding if they met his criteria for a potential victim, whatever those criteria were. Every time I thought I knew, the vampire surprised me. His boundaries were few and far between.

“Jenner did one thing right,” Arys mused. “Getting the FPA on his pay roll was a smart move. Harley never bothered with such things. He preferred his FPA encounters to be bloody.”

The lounge door opened, and Briggs strode in, looking every bit as much like a movie Fed as I’d ever seen him. With his dark hair cropped short, tailored suit hugging his body like a glove and sunglasses hiding his brown eyes, he had a real Men in Black thing going.

At his side was my younger sister and fellow werewolf, Juliet O’Brien. Brunette curls gave her a soft edge that was otherwise missing in her stiff appearance. In jeans and a leather jacket, she exuded a sense of badass that didn’t match her federal agent status. She was wolf and family. She shouldn’t be with them. But she was. And I would have been too if the FPA had it their way.

“Something tells me that Briggs isn’t the kind of guy that can be bought,” I said beneath my breath.

Arys gave my thigh a squeeze and murmured, “We’ll see about that.”

Juliet and Briggs slid into the booth across from us. A waitress promptly appeared to take their order. Juliet requested an iced tea, while Briggs barked a short order for coffee.

“Thank you for being so accommodating,” Briggs said when the waitress had departed. “I appreciate it.”

His gaze flicked from me to Arys, and I saw the derision in his eyes. If he’d had it his way, Arys wouldn’t be here. Briggs wouldn’t be the first to find dealing with the vampire to be difficult, maybe even unbearable. Arys didn’t like to play nice with very many people.

I exchanged small talk with my sister, feeling somewhat awkward but finding genuine warmth in her smile. Things had been strained between us since I’d discovered she survived the wolf attack that turned us both. The Feds had raised her into someone I couldn’t trust. That was so hard. Slowly, we were getting to know one another again.

Arys waited until the waitress had come and gone again. Then he leaned forward and said, “Start talking, Briggs. Why did you call this little gathering? I’m sure it wasn’t because you missed us so damn much while we were away.”

“Not at all.” Briggs removed his shades and set them on the table beside his coffee cup. “I don’t want to be here anymore than you do. When we get reports, I have no choice but to follow up.”

“What now?” I had a sinking feeling that I knew where this was going.

Briggs gave me a level stare. As pretentious as the Fed could be, he was a pretty straight shooter, a no nonsense kind of guy, and I could respect that, even when he accused me of murder.

“Did you kill a federal agent in Las Vegas?” His question was for me. The way he said it came off as more of a statement than a question.

I took a long, slow sip of beer, choosing my words carefully before responding. Good news sure traveled fast. “I killed a vampire in Las Vegas. One who was running a very sick and f**king twisted blood ring. If he happened to be a Fed, then that’s on you guys. Not me.”

“Son of a bitch.” Briggs took a swig of coffee, putting his mug down so hard it splashed over the edge. “It’s a crime to kill a federal agent, even one that isn’t human.”

Arys’s energy buzzed with displeasure. “Is it not also illegal to traffic human beings? Are you saying that you turn a blind eye to agents involved in such activity?”

“No. Of course not. That kind of shit is inexcusable.” Briggs scowled into his mug. “Can you provide some kind of proof of this allegation?”

I didn’t know whether to laugh in his face or claw his eyes out. “Are you kidding me? I shouldn’t have to prove that one of your guys was up to no good. That’s the FPA’s problem. Which we are solving by taking over the blood ring with the intent to disband it entirely. If anything, you should have come here to thank me, not question me.”