Along Came a Spider by Kate Serine

blinked at him in disbelief. “The Sandman?”
Nicky’s head bobbed impatiently. “Yeah, now can we get in the car? I’m freezing my nuts off out here.”
Once we were in the Escalade and on our way again, I asked, “Why the Sandman?”
“Not sure,” Nicky admitted. “I got a tip something was getting ready to go down here in Chicago, so I headed back.”
“A tip?” I echoed. “How’d you get a tip on something like that?”
Nicky shrugged. “I know a guy.”
Of course he did. . . .
“And you didn’t do anything to stop the vampires from killing him?”
“There was nothing I could do by the time I found them,” he said, his words clipped.
Tim “the Sandman” Halloran had been Nicky’s biggest rival and one of the most ruthless crime bosses among us. Unlike Nicky’s Outfit, which operated on a system of friendship and loyalty in exchange for protection and the occasional favor now and then, Halloran’s tastes ran to trafficking in fairy dust and financing Tale businesses in exchange for more than his fair share of the returns. And there was certainly no love lost between the two men. During the fifties, they’d had a full-out war going on between them, with Nicky’s Outfit coming out the victor thanks in no small part to the loyalty of those who were lucky enough to call him a friend. In spite of their history, I found it hard to believe Nicky would’ve just left Tim Halloran to die. Even so, I could tell he was hiding something, holding back on me.
“I still want to take a look,” I insisted.
“I’d skip Halloran and take a look at those vampire dames if I were you,” he said. “Those bloodsuckin’ broads had a Tale signature, Trish, but they weren’t from any idiom I recognized. What the hell is that all about?”
“Wish I knew,” I admitted. “Unfortunately, I’m not going to find out any time soon. The Agency took them.”
“Sons of bitches!” Nicky growled, something dark passing over his features.
I blinked at him, startled by his sudden rage. “Nicky, I know it sucks, but—”
“Sucks doesn’t even begin to cover it,” he snapped. He glared at the road in silence for a long, tense moment, then suddenly slammed his palm against the steering wheel. “Shit! I’m this close, Trish. I can feel it. I’m this fucking close to bringing down that bastard Dracula and making him pay.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I assured him. “Right now, let’s focus on Halloran. When I was reading him I saw an image of a woman—
stunningly beautiful with white hair and bright green eyes. Do you know who she is?”
Nicky shrugged begrudgingly. “Sure. That’s Sophia—Halloran’s girl. She’s a shape-shifter from folklore.”
I nodded. “Okay, good. Well, someone should probably let her know what’s happened, right? I’ll make the death notification and see what she can tell us.”
“You can’t just go barging in to Halloran’s compound alone and tell his were-tiger girlfriend he bit the big one—or, more to the point, that a couple of vampire whores bit his big one before bumping him off.”
“You’re right,” I readily agreed. “Guess you’re going to have to come with me.”
Nicky’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. I could tell that making a death notification to the dead crime lord’s girlfriend wasn’t the kind of action he was used to taking. But he nodded. “Fine. Have it your way. But, you’re right—if I’m gonna start poking around out in the open I should probably talk to Red first.”
“Where the hell have you been, you son of a bitch?”
Nicky glanced at me, the look he sent my way conveying “I told you so” loud and clear. “Good to see you, too, kid,” he said, offering Red a grin. Then he nodded toward her belly. “You and Nate have been busy. Congratulations.”
“Don’t try to turn on the charm with me, Nicky Blue,” Red hissed. “You couldn’t take five minutes to send me a fucking e-mail?”
“So you could show up on my doorstep when