***
Brody’s entire body buzzed with repressed excitement, standing in the shadows, silently observing the club’s front entrance, sipping yet another coffee, his fourth in the past five hours. The afternoon he’d spent watching the coming and goings at the club was so boring. It was still relatively early, and Alexander had arrived about half an hour ago.
Brody shuddered at the thought of the look Alexander had thrown in his direction. He wished Alexander would get over that one mistake he had made with Lorella. He was getting really tired of apologizing, but trying to tell a were, you were drunk, and it hadn’t been your idea, wasn’t a good enough reason to get sent to the hospital.
Lorella was a bitch. He really wished that Alexander would see her for what she really was, but until he did, this was as close as he was likely to get to Sanctuary. He was so lost in his thoughts that Caleb’s hand landing on his shoulder made him jump.
“God, you’re worse than Roderic, dude. I swear, I’m going to put bells on your shoes, so I hear you coming,” he complained, his hand clutching his chest. He observed the men before him with a bit of envy, for the features and builds they possessed were what he aspired to. The battle scars and the way they carried themselves stilled women, and warned men instinctively to take care, and not raise the ire of such as these two.
“That would defeat the purpose of maintaining a low profile, wouldn’t it Brody? So what’s happening?” Caleb questioned, as he looked across the street to the entrance of the club. “It looks quiet.”
“What do you expect? It’s early, this place doesn’t get rocking until at least 11:00; it’s only 9:30 now,” Brody explained. “Man, you guys need to get out more. I wish Niall was here; now that man knows how to party.”
“Niall isn’t here, and the club idea is pointless unless I have a good looking woman to go with.”
“Dude, how else do you meet the good looking woman?” Brody questioned him, with a look of disbelief. “Whatever, look, it has been really low key. Alex went in not long ago. Hey, did you by any chance...”
“What?” Caleb questioned.
“You know,” Brody pleaded, “access to Sanctuary?”
“Why would I want to do that?”
“Oh man, this really sucks. It’s not my fault that Lorella is a horny bitch, who took advantage of me when I was drunk. How the hell am I supposed to do my job when I can’t access one of the city’s best resources, for fear of a trip to the hospital, or worse, the morgue?
“Man, you are so easy,” Kayne grunted, shaking his head.
“Stop your whining. I talked to Alexander, he said stay away from Lorella, and he’ll let you back into the club, but word of warning, Alexander is not someone to piss off, so stay away from Lorella,” Caleb informed him.
“Hey,” Brody threw up his hands in surrender, “trust me, I want nothing to do with the bitch, so no problem there,” Brody told him. “I think Lorella was trying to get Alexander riled at me.” He felt lighter with the thought of being able to get back into the club.
Suddenly the atmosphere surrounding them shifted. The tension flowing from Caleb made Brody look towards the club, and he saw the cab in front lose its passengers.
“What?” Brody asked Caleb, then Kayne, who only raised an eyebrow with bored curiosity.
“Shit!” Caleb spat, “It’s them!”
“Who are they?” Brody asked.
“Brody, use that thing on top of your neck,” Caleb swore at him.
“What! You’re joking, right?” Brody questioned, suddenly click in whom Caleb was referring to.
“Do I look like I’m joking?” He looked at Kayne, who tilted his head in Brody’s direction.
“You are going to be our inside eyes and ears,” Caleb instructed Brody.
“What, really?” he said, getting excited. “All right!” Brody jumped up, about to take off, only to have Caleb stop him.
“This is not a joke Brody. Tonight we will be dealing with natural born killers, and not the human variety. You keep your head down and your eyes open. Make sure that the ladies are protected, and at the first sign of anything, you call us, understand?”
“This isn’t my first time at the rodeo, dude.” Brody stopped when he saw how serious Caleb was. “I understand man, I do. Thanks for trusting me,” he told Caleb. He was gone, racing across the road, barely dodging the car coming down the road.
Caleb looked to Kayne, rubbing his face, “I hope I didn’t just make a huge mistake. Why does he insist on ‘dude’?”
Kayne chuckled, showing his amusement, “We have to trust he’s able to use the skills we’ve been instilling in him since he was 13 years old. Besides, it’s not as if we have a lot of choice; our presence would divert the bad guys. Brody’s smart, he won’t let us down.”
“Gods, I hope you’re right.” Caleb’s instincts told him that lives were about to be messed with, and shit turned upside down.