Free A Low Down Dirty Shane by Sierra Dean Page B

on his own ceremonial knife. She knew better, but it didn’t stop her from wanting him to suffer.
    Shane was pacing the empty street in front of the darkened store, gesturing wildly while he hollered into the phone. “What do you mean you don’t know where she is?” He paused, listening to the response. “Jesus Christ, Nolan, I don’t know. No , I don’t think she just fucking vanished, she has responsibilities.” Shane sighed. “ No , I don’t think you should call them. Look, I need help. Can you meet me on the corner of Ninety-seventh and First?” Another long pause and Siobhan marveled at how stormy his countenance became as he argued with whoever Nolan was. “Okay, thank you.”
    He came and sat next to her on the curb, and she let herself lean into him. Her head still felt like it had been pumped full of helium. The unconscious girl was flopped against Siobhan’s opposite side. They looked like a heap of drunks.
    “Who’s Nolan?”
    “My partner.”
    “Who can’t he find?”
    Shane put an arm around her shoulder, his fingers tentatively touching the wound on the back of her scalp. Siobhan hissed. “Sorry,” Shane said. “Just wanted to see if it’s healing.”
    “It won’t if you keep poking at it.”
    “Sorry.”
    “You didn’t answer my question. Who were you asking about?”
    “Our…boss.”
    “And she’s missing?”
    “She seems to have gone AWOL. No big deal.”
    Siobhan got a sense from his tone she wasn’t welcome to ask more questions about the matter, so she changed the topic. “And once Nolan picks up the girl?”
    Shane smiled and handed her the bow he’d brought out for her, slung across his shoulder so he could still hold the girl. “After that, you and I have a job to do.”
     
     
    Nolan showed up about fifteen minutes later in a beat-up Oldsmobile, and he wasn’t at all what Siobhan had been expecting. He was tall and muscular, equal to Shane in height but more impressive in bulk, lacking all of the subtle wiry strength Shane had. Nolan had a chocolate-milk complexion and short black hair. It was the wide, toothy smile he gave her that threw Siobhan for a loop. The guy was big enough he looked like he could break her in half, but when he grinned at her like a dope, she knew he was a teddy bear.
    “You mus’ be Siobhan,” he said, pronouncing her name shuh-bon . She could hear an accent in his few short words and assumed her butchered name was victim to his way of speaking, not ignorance.
    “And you must be Nolan.”
    “Guilty’s charged,” he said, blushing faintly. “I guess this mus’ be my date for the night.”
    Shane helped Nolan load the girl into his car. “Take her to a hospital. Do you think you can get Brigit’s help, um…making it seem like it’s on the level?”
    “Relax, man. I’m jus’ gonna play good-guy hero type. Found her, don’t know nothin’. Jus’ doing what’s right. Shit gets tight, I’ll call Bri.”
    “Is Brigit your boss?” Siobhan asked, unable to stop herself.
    Nolan snorted. “Well, she’s my boss, know what I mean?”
    Siobhan did not.
    “Brigit is his girlfriend. Vampire,” Shane explained.
    “Ah,” Siobhan said, still not a hundred percent certain she understood why a guy who hunted vampires would be dating one. A lot didn’t add up, but she figured it might take longer to explain than she had time to hear.
    “You good?” Nolan asked Shane.
    “Yeah, I’ll call you if shit meets fan and we need help. You bring the other thing I needed?”
    Nolan nodded and opened the back door. “Never thought we’d need one. Secret’s weapon guy nearly cut off my left nut when I couldn’t cover the whole deposit. Good thing she has a credit account.”
    Shane snorted. “Now you have to worry about her taking your left nut.” He reached into the backseat and swung a pump-action shotgun over his shoulder before he pulled out something heavier, bulkier and much meaner looking.
    “What the hell is that?” Siobhan