Do You Like It?

Do you like it?

The atmosphere in the bar was stifling. No one said a word as they waited for Alvin and Kingpin to see who would speak first.

Alvin had never intended to cause trouble for these gangsters. He glanced behind Kingpin and saw a sexy blonde beauty leaning against the wall, fiddling with an exquisitely crafted iron ruler. She was the girl Blind Matt had always been hung up on. Now she worked for Kingpin.

To ease the tension a little, Alvin pulled two cigars from his coat pocket and handed one to Kingpin. Their host, Clark, promptly produced an elegantly designed lighter.

Alvin lit his cigar, took a puff, let the aroma swirl around his mouth, and slowly exhaled. Smoke drifted between the two of them as Alvin smiled and said, "No need to be nervous, Kingpin. I already said over the phone that today's business has nothing to do with territory."

Kingpin breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Alvin wasn't here to seize territory, anything else wasn't a major issue.

"Alvin, you only arrived in the Dock District the night before last, wiped out one of Lanshe's smuggling warehouses, and now you've brought your big dog to Twenty-Seventh Street. It's hard not to misunderstand."

Alvin looked at Kingpin with amusement. This guy really kept an eye on him. Alvin had only gone out once at night, and Kingpin already knew about it. Judging by the ugly expressions on the others' faces, though, they were still in the dark and genuinely thought the police had done it. Only one gray-haired old man from Eastern Europe glared at Alvin with fury and viciousness.

Ignoring the old man's stare, Alvin looked at Kingpin and said, "I said I was going to perform a magic trick. Want to see it? It's very exciting!"

Kingpin frowned. "What exactly do you mean? Alvin, get to the point."

Alvin smiled. "Have that idiot with the target tattooed on his head bring a few men and follow my big dog to capture someone. I'll explain it to you then." He took another puff of his cigar and casually spread both hands over the back of the long bench. "Oh, and remember to bring a big trash can. Put it in there and bring it back. That thing is afraid of sunlight."

The sexy beauty burst out laughing when she heard Alvin's description of Bullseye. She didn't always like that lunatic either.

Hearing her laugh, Alvin winked at her. She really was his type: a fiery figure and a straightforward personality. Unfortunately, she was Blind Matt's sweetheart—and Matt was both dead blind and broke. Alvin valued loyalty, so he let the thought go!

The others didn't dare mock Bullseye, because he really was a lunatic.

Kingpin ignored Bullseye's angry expression and instructed him to do as Alvin had said.

Angry, Bullseye shot Alvin a glare, went outside to find several men, and dug a trash can out of the back alley. Then he set off with the three raring-to-go Ghost Wolves. Their target wasn't far away—it was right on this street.

With the tension eased, the gang bosses dragged the bar owner out. Despite it being early in the morning, they each ordered a glass of Hard Liquor and started chatting. The subject matter, however, was completely at odds with their identities.

"My kid actually got an A yesterday. Can you believe it, man? His teacher called me and asked me to help him consider which university to choose. No one in my damn family has ever gone to college, and my son actually got in on his own."

"My kid's on the football team. Did you watch last week's game? Six touchdowns, and my son scored three of them. Yesterday, some coach from a place called Texas A&M University called me and asked me to bring my son to tour the school. He said they could offer him a full scholarship. I told him to get lost! What kind of school is an agricultural and mechanical university? Do they want my son to drive a tractor? Do I look like I can't afford tuition?"

Those with children who were doing well kept bragging about them. Those whose children were underperforming buried their heads and drank, deciding to teach their own little brats a lesson as soon as they got home. Damn it, if your grades were bad, I couldn't even go out and talk to people anymore.

Kingpin's subordinate Bullseye was fairly efficient. He returned in less than half an hour, though his expression looked terrible.

Seeing the trash can sitting in the middle of the bar, Alvin gestured to the owner to turn on the lights, close the doors and windows, and draw the curtains.

Two of Kingpin's men held down the trash can's lid. Bullseye clutched several darts and watched the trash can warily, clearly frightened.

Alvin looked around, then took a decorative Viking-style hand axe off the bar's wall and swung it once. Hmm. The workmanship was average, but the weight was decent.

Alvin raised his eyebrows at Kingpin, signaling for his two men to move aside.

The Vampire inside the trash can had been badly injured by the Ghost Wolves, but the moment the pressure on the lid eased, it still shot out and pounced on Alvin, who appeared to be the only threat in the room.

Alvin wasn't very good at fighting, but he looked down on the Vampires' tactics. Leaping into the air and diving down in an attack might look impressive, but once you were airborne, you couldn't dodge anymore.

The hand axe wasn't easy to wield, and Alvin hadn't gripped it properly. He swung the flat of the axe viciously into the Vampire's face. The unlucky Vampire's entire half-face exploded. One eyeball was knocked away, and the mangled facial muscles could no longer conceal the toothless half of its gums.

The Vampire flipped through the air twice before crashing heavily into the floor with a bang. The hearts of every gang boss in the bar jolted along with it.

With his cigar clenched between his teeth, Alvin planted one foot on the struggling Vampire's back. He flashed a savage grin at Bullseye, who was staring at him, then gripped the axe with both hands and brought it down hard on the Vampire's waist.

Alvin shook his head, dissatisfied with the result. The hand axe was, after all, a decorative piece and not sharp enough. It hadn't cut the Vampire completely in two; it had only severed half its waist and its spinal column.

Everyone present shuddered, gaining an entirely new understanding of how dangerous Alvin was.

With its spine severed, the Vampire lay facedown on the floor, dragging its mangled organs as it struggled in agony. Alvin kept one foot on its back to stop it from scrambling away. With his left hand, he removed the cigar from his mouth and exhaled a thick dragon of smoke.

He looked around at the flustered gang bosses and smiled. "See? This is the magic trick I was talking about. Do you like it?"

Everyone stared at the thing beneath Alvin's foot. It was missing half its face and half its waist, yet it was still struggling desperately. It clearly wasn't human. Their hearts turned cold. What the hell is this thing?

Kingpin's mental fortitude was the strongest. He approached and examined it carefully. "Are there many of these things in Hell's Kitchen?" As he spoke, he stomped on the Vampire's wildly flailing right hand, crushing it completely. Seeing the Vampire still struggling and howling, trying to say something through its mangled mouth, he gave a savage grin and swung his thick cane backward into the still-intact side of its jaw. Even if this Vampire survived, it would have to eat through a tube for the rest of its life.

Alvin watched Kingpin with admiration. This was a first-rate villain: calm, resolute, and ruthless.

"This thing is a Vampire. It only comes out at night and survives by drinking human blood. There are a lot of them. I can't control what happens elsewhere, but every one of these things in Hell's Kitchen has to be killed. They have fatal weaknesses: silver weapons and sunlight."

As he spoke, he gestured to the bar owner to draw open the curtains. When sunlight fell on the Vampire, everyone watched as it ignited from the inside out like a wad of dry toilet paper, crumbling into a speck of ash.

Alvin liked it. Very environmentally friendly!