For my next trick, I put some minutes on my cell phone and checked the voicemail. The messages were few, mostly Daniel trying to get in touch with me. Nothing recent, he knew as well as anyone else, getting me by phone was unlikely. Daniel would have more luck looking for me in random bars.

The last one was from today, Julianne's irritated voice.

"Drop by the bar before opening." Then a click as the phone receiver was slammed down. The phone was pocketed as I wondered how grandly my screw up had been this time. Both hands beat on the bar door frame creating dull thudding sounds. Julianne's level of trust didn't extend to giving me a key to the bar. I'm not sure anyone but her and the bookkeeper had one, she tended to open and close every night. A vacation in her world meant she just disappeared after opening.

Wolves are territorial.

The door swung open revealing bookkeeper’s face. His uneven hair and coke bottle glasses painted a dirty picture.

"She's in the back." His pitch was surprisingly high.

I nodded and showed myself in. Either it was a real job this time, or an ass chewing.

"What's up?" Julianne was staring at a number of order sheets and computer print outs. The back room was home to it’s usual paperwork nightmare.

"About time, Jay." Julianne slid a fresh paperclip on the latest stack of papers and filed them away. Her chair swiveled around and she looked up. The height difference was so much easier to see now. At least her clothes were less revealing, with plain jeans and a shirt that said 'Bar wench' against a black background.

"Want to explain to me why the twenty third pack Alpha seems to be so upset with you?" She asked. Julianne wasn’t one to remain idle. Her hands were already digging through more paperwork and receipts. There was a pen in one of her hands that banged slightly against the desk in agitation.

I blinked, trying to place which one that was. Officially the packs had numerical designations like army divisions. They also had their own names, like sports teams with shifting ranks as things flared up.

"A northern group?" I wasn't exactly sure which other pack my travels had taken me to. Standing the doorway talking to her was awkward enough.

"Yes, a" her emphasis unnerving "northern group. They said you were in park grounds with silver."

Fidgeting ensued where it was difficult not to put my hands into the modified leather gloves. Daniel pulled his hair when upset. I got ready to punch things.

"Gruff leader, greying temples, knows his way around some wire?" I asked. The man had rather neatly handled one. Enough to make me shiver just thinking about it.

"Better known as my Grandfather." She responded.

Hell. Confession time.

"I was up there, but not for the pack."

"So I gathered. Seems Crummy’s also trying to stir up crap around their woods. Checking out the sector’s land rights, reviewing border skirmishes." Julianne was frowning. The pen banging on the table went into overtime.

Daniel must have been working hard to find me an opening to get by the wolves. Too bad it would require the lot of them out of the woods for a while, and probably a truck to head up that little path.

"I told Daniel he's on his own with that."

"Why would he even care? Daniel’s always left the pack alone." She set the pen down and looked up at me.

"An elf." I said.

"It's not Evan is it?" Evan didn’t sound like an elf name. Neither did Candy.

"I never got his name." Because I hadn't asked, like a moron. "It's that blond one."

"That narrows it down, what with half the elves in the world being blond, the other half being brunette." Sun-kissed or Tree-touched the bottles of dye that humans used to imitate elves. Grey hairs were Silver River.

"The one you gave me a few weeks back. Picture and the lipstick tube."

"Evan." Julianne was busy putting paperwork back into the drawers and sighing. I still stood in the doorway and tried not to fidget.

"Sure."

"Why's he got a hard on for Evan?"

"Tied to some missing rich kid, Arnold Regious."

"Regious? As in owns half the ports on the eastern seaboard, Regious Enterprises?" She asked. I shrugged again. All these names so quickly for people I barely knew.

"Don't know, he's got some reward money he's aiming for, man's getting married." A quarter million that would let him afford some grand wedding. Two hundred and fifty reasons to celebrate if he found Arnold Regious.

"No shit?" Julianne chewed her cheek and mulled over everything for a bit. "Gramps says there was no sign of an elf in the area. I told him to let you back in there to track. Apparently you riled up his boys," Her tone mimicked the older Alphas "so he's not going for it."

"Might have had an issue or two." I wasn't sure how she would feel about my little scuffle.

"Good, Stan deserves more than a few friendly knees to the balls. Fucker." At least she was happy. Her eyes stared off into the distance while smiling at the damage I had done. Go me.

"If the pack finds Evan, will you hold off Daniel?"

Only if I had a few hours with the elf first. Daniel only wanted the rich kid anyway, not Evan or whatever his elven name was. Probably Evil'dinosuar Dandelion or something girly sounding.

"Sure. Daniel just wants the elf."

She smiled and pulled out a notepad with tiny lettering on it. "Deal. Now I've got something else for you."

"Something boring?" I asked as my back straightened. This actually sounded kind of interesting.

"Cleaning up another mess you caused." She said. Scratch the interesting idea. This sounded terrible.

"Which one?" I groaned.

"A certain wife of one Francis Sauter seems to feel you'd be perfect in finding her husband."

"She can't track her own husband?"

"Jude," Yet another new name. Damn Julianne for complicating my life. "believes you should clean up your mess, and I agree. I did say rounds, no violence, and you managed to cause a scene." Julianne heaped the problems against me.

"I didn't cause anything, I asked for Francis, got some interference, and backed out." I said. Getting a wolf in trouble with his pack wife was an effective reminder.

"Sure, except he cleaned out the family's accounts and vanished." She kept talking while unlocking another cabinet.

That amount of balls deserved a whistle. "How much?"

"Between savings, retirements, and some bonds. Four hundred thousand. Ish." Julianne said. Jude's upset response was justified. That wasn't chump change. That was a house or two. College money and future trips. Vacations and cars.

"He's a wolf, isn't the pack in on this?"

"She got him exiled." Julianne responded. A second whistle came forth. Jude had switched to full on bitch mode. She had pull. That dollar would normally put every single pack member on alert for miles. Francis had probably broken bonds as the exile went through. This was the kind of job I could get behind. Hunting down some scum of a husband who took their family's entire life savings sounded fun.

"Why not track their own?"

"Politics, power struggles, and he's staying human in second hand clothes. They could use your kind of tracking."

"Rules?" I asked.

"Bring him alive and the money if you can, Alpha will settle for money and him dead, or him alive and a damned good excuse about the cash."

"How much did he owe?"

"Around fifty." She said.

I raised an eyebrow at her in question. Did she want me to intercept her portion? It wasn't unusual. Julianne shook her head.

"Hand it to the pack, I'll seek compensation through them. Should be easy as long as you bring him in before anyone else does." Julianne shook her head slowly before sighing longingly. Money was her third favorite thing.

"And?"

"Normal cut on the fifty." Which would come out to be five thousand, not a ton, but certainly good enough for a night's work. Not to mention I had been dying for something solid again, something to prove to myself and Julianne that I was ready for real jobs.

"Alright. I'm in."

"Make sure you're ready for this one. That kind of money buys friends, probably paying them to stand in the way while he escapes."

"I can't wait." My hand fidgeted inside the pocket, I slowly crept my fingers through the leather. Delicate brushing of the metalwork helped curb my growing excitement. Finally a chance at something real, a real hunt. Not an excuse to escape Kahina, not a cheap paycheck, not Daniel’s weird elf. It required nothing more from me then to be let loose.

The irony of hunting a wolf wasn't lost on me.

Julianne handed me a small velvet pouch. One she'd kept due to Francis’ gambling debts. Fingernail clippings and hair trimmings. The more someone owed, the more she stored for a rainy day. It was like part of her business revolved around the expectation that I would be around. Maybe she just expected me back sooner or later to pick up where I left off.

"Francis Sauter. One wolf, dead or alive, officially he's wanted alive." She paused for a moment and I stared into her brown and red eyes. "This is unofficial, Jay, but the Alpha would rather have him dead. If you don't, they will. He screwed with one of the few females this pack has, and she outranks him, find the money, go Biblical, no one will press charges."

It might be a crime if this world had only been populated by one race. But we had four different sets of tendencies, views, beliefs. Vampires held no qualms about removing enemies. Elves were only civil on the surface. Wolves and their pack minds would cut out a foul influence like it was cancer.

I looked at Julianne for a moment with an overwhelming grin. She had okayed unrestrained action. And removing scum didn't bother me.

"'Bout time you started treating me like a human."

I paused and covered my teeth up out of habit. Julianne was a wolf wasn't she? We had talked about it. She had probably switched years ago. The woman moved like pack, acted like one, had every tell tail sign.

"You're not pack?"

"Not as long as I own this bar."

"Hell." I had never actually seen her go furry. It made more sense that she wasn't pack. Instincts were worse in their females, and wolves were territorial. People wandering into the bar would've set her on edge.

"Jay, call Kahina before you go. Also, if he does have friends, they're to stay alive, especially if they're human. We don't need Sector involved if it becomes interracial." Pack could order hits on their own, the other governments wouldn't have a say.

Julianne handed me a card with Kahina’s phone number scribbled on it. I nodded and left with barely a wave. The idea of back-up dampened the excitement.

I dialed Kahina's number while standing outside. She used to insist on helping with occasional jobs. Thrill seeking or rebelling against her father. This wouldn't be us as a couple, but maybe exchanging more than a few words.

The phone picked up quickly.

"Who is this?" A snotty sounding male answered.

"Put Kahina on the phone."

"Who is this?" The voice asked again, managing to sound even more arrogant.

"Who is this?" I asked back.

"I'm her second."

I tried to think of what that meant in vampire terms. Next in line for the house? Kahina had a house going? She had been working towards one. It took a lot of pull and political power to form a house independent from all the already established ones. Guess the fancy mansion I had seen wasn't just for show.

"Great to meet you." It wasn't. "Put Kahina on the phone or I'll let her know that her second" and I tried to say it with the same sneer he had. "should be replaced."

It was hard enough bringing myself to call, dealing with a brown nosing idiot wasn't helping. The voice on the other line paused. Probably doing that stupid motionless thing that all partial vampires did when they were thinking too hard.

"One moment." The second responded.

I waited, reconsidering my attempt to reach out. The phone picked up again before second thoughts got the better of me.

"I'm sorry, she seems to be away currently. Can I leave a message?" He didn't sound sorry. Jerk.

"Where is she?"

"It's not my business to pry."

"Guess." I said.

"I would assume the same place she's been every night she finds herself free, searching for her cowardly former boyfriend." The arrogant man responded.

I hung up. Hopefully he would feel a moment of indignation about being cut off. Jerk. I wasn't cowardly, I was sensibly wary.

The woman had her pick of guys in the world. After four years you think she would've moved on. Unless she was still fixated after a single taste of my blood. Fixation, lust, desire, none of those things were enough. Relationships are too fucking complicated.

My phone got pocketed and I checked out the velvet pouch. Trying to contact Kahina had nearly turned something simple into a convoluted mess. I just had to track Francis, disable him, find the money, and return each to their fate. A connection started to form almost instantly as my senses kicked in.

Moments later I knew exactly where Francis was. He sat in a darkened hotel room clutching a train ticket. Picking out the date and time was too fine a detail for my senses.

Tracking him had revealed other surprises between us. Three others, armed with guns, stood guard outside his room. They had been babbling to each other about how easy this job was. Their words feverish and annoying. I learned that their job ended tomorrow morning.

Francis was still in town, earning that idiot label, and might be gone in the morning. The darkened room would prevent elves from casting visions to track him. The change of clothes would prevent wolves. Neither precaution stopped me.

His wolf nature was probably conflicted about abandoning a territory. Instincts were working in my favor, but if he was torn up about leaving then he was likely on edge. Jumpy, prone to poor choices. Desperate.

I headed off. Thinking about it could be done on the way to his hotel. A little hustle and the hike would only take a few hours. The walk would save me money and ensure perfect timing. Humans weren't nocturnal. Wolves tended to do area checks a few times per night and go back to sleep.

An hour later I heard a voice.

"Jay." It was soft, almost a whisper. The scent of crushed peppermint filled my nose. I looked around expecting to see Kahina but there was nothing. Just myself, an empty street, and a stream of words in my head trying to fuel my extra senses.

Moments later I heard it again. A sad whisper of my name, but it was hers. She was playing games and I wasn't in any mood for them. Supposedly she was out looking for me. I hadn't taken a cab to disguise my destination. Julianne would have told her anyway.

On my right was a brick wall with ivy choking it. On the left, rows of mindless little houses were scattered around. I had been taking a back road through some suburbs to get to another part of town.

"Jay." The voice came a third time. It was a lot closer. Both feet halted so I could scan the area again.

"What do you want, Kahina?"

"We need to talk, Jay, about us." Her words were quiet and couldn't be pinpointed despite trying.

"Not now. I've got a job."

"Is that where you're going?" Then just like that she was in front of me. Appearing with a burst of speed that set skin tingling. Her excited face tinted with anger.

In that moment I understood why she had latched onto me. One side effect of vampirism was a difficulty to adapt as time passed. To separate out the recent past from longer memories. Years ago could seem like days ago.

It made me sad.

"How much longer do you have?" I just asked.

"Not long. I've been holding on." Kahina kicked at a can laying on the sidewalk.

"Why?" Please don't say it was for me. Four years, holding onto the last shreds of humanity for four years. Not a record, but too long.

"I've been getting all the defenses I can into place. Just like we talked about. To protect myself while you're gone. So they don't kill me."

"Who?"

She smiled, it looked weird against her face. It wasn't the feral smile I was used to seeing from her. It wasn't the angry excitement, or a sadly twisted expression, just happiness.

"You do care."

"I don't want you dead, no matter what," I paused and took a breath for a moment "happened between us. I just don't want to be dead either."

"I would never kill you."

Every time I recalled that night I was filled with uncomfortable emotions. Not just fear of how close death had been. That was only part of it. Along side it was mounting outrage, heat crawled up my throat in an attempt to vent endless hatred for the violation. I had stayed away for her safety as much as mine. Placing blame on her had just been easier than admitting my own flaws. Each month it got easier.

Tonight, seeing her, realizing how she was stuck in the past, was enough to realize.

"Why me, Kahina? Why am I worth waiting for?" She couldn't want a man like me. No one sane would.

"Because you can protect me."

I laughed at the absurdity of her statement. Me? Protect a person? Bodyguard wasn't the game I played, hunting, retrieving, intimidation, rackets, but not defending people. The only things that really mattered was my collection in the basement.

Kahina had fled during the laughter. Her face had been completely unguarded. There wasn’t just excitement, there was hope. My amusement had crushed it, leaving a blank slate glaring outward, then an empty spot where her body used to be.

My elation at this job had dwindled to passive. When, exactly, had we talked about her protection? Only one conclusion could be made for sure. I had been a true asshole.