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pummel Susan with another
    punch.
    “We need information,” he said as Annis glared at him over her shoulder.
    They stared at each other a beat, then Annis nodded.
    Blake crouched down next to Susan. “So tell me more about this sick, little kiddie ring
    you have going on.”
    Susan breathed heavily, puffs of air wafting up around her. Her eyes flitted from Blake’s
    to Annis, then back to Blake. Her lip was split open, and blood trickled down her cheek to her
    chin onto the snowy pavement. Blake thought she could be sporting a black eye in morning, but
    that could have been a shadow.
    “Who are you?” she asked.
    Blake shrugged. “Someone who doesn’t like kids being bought and sold like a package of
    cheese from the deli.”
    “So you’re not the police?”
    “Nope.”
    Susan licked the blood from her lips, then smiled. “Well, then you can go fuck yourself.”
    Annis slapped her across the face. “Mind your manners, Susan,” she said.
    Blake smiled down at her. “We’re worse than the police, Susan,” he said, “because we
    don’t exist. We could kill you right now, and no one would be the wiser. So I suggest that you
    cooperate a little bit and you may make it out of here with a few bumps, bruises, and that cut
    lip.”
    Okay, so he was a liar. But he was a good one, of that he was certain. Susan wasn’t going
    anywhere but to meet her Maker, and then hopefully on a one-way ticket to Hell where she
    would burn for the rest of eternity, if he had his say in the matter.
    “I don’t believe you.”
    Annis sighed and looked over at Blake. Okay, apparently he wasn’t as skilled of a liar as
    he thought.
    Annis removed the knife from her boot and turned back to Susan. The lights from the
    apartment buildings gleamed from above, glinting off the steel of the blade. The night was silent
    except for the low hum of the TVs playing in the apartments above them. Even the cat by the
    dumpster was quiet.
    “His threats are empty. Mine are real,” Annis said in a soft voice, gazing back at Susan.
    In the quiet night, it sounded like Satan himself had arrived.
    “Look. There’s no need to take this any further,” Susan stammered at the sight of the
    knife.
    “So you’ll start talking?” Blake asked.
    Susan gave him a bloody grin. “No. But you can go your way, and I won’t tell my people
    about you.”
    Annis laughed. It was a deep, throaty sound indicating that she didn’t find a damn thing
    funny about any of it. She turned to Blake. “There’s a diner about a block down that looked like
    it was open. Take the girl there, and I’ll see you in about twenty minutes.”
    Blake stared at her for a beat, then looked down the mouth of the alley where the girl
    stood. He could see her shaking and guessed she was cold and scared half to death. But this side
    of Annis was a little worrisome. Yeah, Susan needed to die, but he just thought he would be the
    one to do it. It was the caveman within him talking, but Annis was more than capable of taking
    care of herself and doing away with Susan with little fanfare or drama. Quiet efficiency was their
    friend.
    He shrugged his shoulders. “Okay. See you in a few.”
    Moving down the alley, he heard hushed whispers behind him, but focused on what was
    in front of him. As he approached the girl, he smiled his best I’m-your-friend look he had
    mastered while working for the FBI.
    “You look cold,” he said.
    She nodded and looked past him toward the alley.
    “You hungry?” he asked.
    She studied him, and the silence stretched.
    “Yes,” she finally said in a quiet voice.
    She was young—he guessed about fifteen or sixteen— and beautiful with milky-white
    clear skin, long black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a long, lithe body. He couldn’t help but
    wonder how she had ended up with Susan about to be sold to some fat-fuck pervert.
    “I’m Blake, by the way, and the woman I’m with is Annis. She asked me to take you to
    the diner about a block from here,