Cut and Run 7 - Touch and Geaux

town, Tyler?” Gaudet asked.
    Ty worked hard to swallow. He shook his head. “You wouldn’t believe me.”
    “Try us, son. We got all day and all night to get the real story from you.” He held up a syringe and waved it for Ty to see. “We can make it a quick overdose, or we can make it a painful one. Your choice.”
    Ty closed his eyes and nodded. “Okay. Okay.” He licked his lips and began to flex his muscles, testing the ropes. His wrists were tied to the back legs of the chair, and his ankles were secured to the front legs. The water had given him a little leeway, but he still couldn’t get free. “I . . . I’m here on a job.”
    “What sort of job?”
    Ty opened his eyes as the buzzing in his ear continued. He was breathless, but that was good. It gave his words an element of truth, made it harder to detect a lie. “I hunt vampires.”
    Gaudet stared for a few seconds before straightening with a loud sigh. “Vampires.”
    “You have a very serious vampire problem here.”
    Gaudet rolled his eyes and scrubbed at one cheek. He looked at his son. “Shine? Make him sorry for pulling my leg.”
    The big man began to wrap a strip of cloth around his knuckles.
    “No, Shine,” Ty groaned. He shook his head. “Down boy.”
    Shine began to laugh. “Boy, you got bad gris-gris sticking to you. Almost like you’re cursed.”
    “That was you, huh?” Shine nodded and Ty chuckled, even more breathless and hoarse than before. “Is this a bad time to talk about how I fucked your sister?”
    Shine backhanded him hard enough to tilt the chair.
    Gaudet sneered. “You got a smart mouth on you, boy. Always did. Shine’ll fix that right up, though.”
    “He better hurry,” Ty managed to say. He gulped for air, trying to force himself to hyperventilate. He had to be convincing.
    Gaudet bent in front of him, narrowing his eyes. He waved at Shine. “He’s having one of those damn allergy attacks,” he said, disgusted. “I told you not to use that damn powder, boy, now he’s gonna die before he can talk!”

    “How in the hell are we supposed to search an entire neighborhood of ruined houses?” Owen hissed.
    Zane pulled out a top shelf bottle of whiskey and didn’t offer to share.
    Nick sat beside him and leaned close so no one else would hear him. “You want to go easy on the hooch, Garrett?”
    “What’s it to you?” Zane whispered. He stared at the tabletop, unable to get Ty’s face out of his mind.
    “You’re sitting here drinking when Ty’s in trouble. That doesn’t seem like the Zane Garrett I met.”
    “That man died last night.”
    “I get it,” Nick said. “He lied to you.”
    Zane glanced at him then looked away quickly. The last person he wanted to talk to about this with was Nick O’Flaherty. Hell, the man was probably standing in line waiting for Ty to be single.
    “You know what, Zane, he lied to us too. In fact, I don’t know a single person Ty hasn’t lied to, including himself.”
    Zane huffed and took another drink of whiskey. “You must be one hell of a loyal bastard.”
    “He’s earned it.”
    “Has he? Has he really earned that from you, O’Flaherty? Because I thought he’d earned it from me too, and then I found out the truth. I found out he uses things like love and loyalty as tools.”
    “You have no idea what love and loyalty mean to him if that’s what you really believe.”
    “No?” Zane took a gulp of whiskey. “Why don’t you educate me then, O’Flaherty, because you know him so fucking well.”
    “I know Ty’s not all there,” Nick said, tapping his temple with a finger. “He has always been a step away from the wrong path. One screw comes loose, and he’s gone. The only thing keeps him on the side of the righteous is his loyalty. His sense of purpose. You take that from him? And you’re looking into the eyes of a monster.”
    Zane glanced at Nick, surprised by how hard the words hit him.
    “So you question his motives. You question his tactics. But you be damn sure you know what you’re doing before you question his loyalty.”
    “Two days ago, I was trying to decide how to ask him to marry me,” Zane whispered. “Tonight I’m trying to figure out if I can even love someone like him.”
    Nick was silent for a long while, long enough for Zane to drain his glass. Then he leaned closer. “You ask yourself if you’re in love. You’re not asking the right question.”
    Zane laughed bitterly. “What’s the right question?”
    Nick