The new car
by Belladonna

„Did you hear, he has a new car.“

I'm sitting in the back booth of Huggy's, nursing my alibi beer and waiting for my contact to finally show up. He's left me waiting for a good twenty minutes already and I'm getting a bit grumpy. Also I'm starting to feel a bit peckish, since I had to skip dinner tonight. If that snitch doesn't show up soon, I'll have him for dinner instead. But at the sound of those two guys talking about what I think is my partner I start to listen closer. Might be something important.

„Who?“
„The Slayer“, the first one says, growling. „He has a new car and it makes him stand out even more.“

They laugh and I can't help but grin myself. Oh yeah, they are talking about my partner. And they're absolutely right, it does make him stand out. Like a nun in a strip club.

„He'll be easier spotted then, an easy target for us.“ The second vampire sounds happy. But then, a small paper-cut that's bleeding makes some of them happy. „Makes him easy to kill in this white-striped coke can he's driving.“

Have to agree with him. I've been riding in it with Starsky, he'd shown me his new joy and pride right after he'd bought it. That Torino shines like a beacon in the night, a huge red beacon with a white stripe over the sides. But at the words „kill“ I freeze.

Are they really stupid enough to go against him directly? Apparently so. They have to be new in town. But I don't have time to deal with them now because I see my contact finally making his way towards me. I push my untouched beer aside.
Have to remember to tell Starsky that he has to be careful, now that he's driving around in this red tomato. It does have a huge recogniton value, not just with criminals it seems. But I know I won't be able to talk him out of it again, now that he has it.

And I'll have to remember to stake those two idiots on my way out.
Nobody gets to kill him but me.