The New Deal

I wish the lights had been a bit brighter so I could see Malvolio’s eyes bulge. The werewolf is sniffing like mad. Damn, why did I have to add the Elite part to that pack of goons? The last ace is on the table and it’s the one most likely to get me killed. Vampires just aren’t used to the idea of having to die, period. Maybe Malvolio figured he was fast enough to at least dodge a fatal wound coming from me. I’m sure the other vampires figured that as well. But pretty much every thing they knew about fighting involved hand to hand combat as the only effective way to kill. And most of that you could grow back. Even in a huge skirmish, only a handful ever died. But guns were a different game for them. The idea of dying without doing anything wrong, of death by just standing there, that was starting to take effect and I could tell it was unsettling them. “Think about it, Malvolio. You know these guys have to be wiped out. But if you barge into that place it’ll be Normandy without the scenic beach. You need me and I need to get out of here,” I say. I’m assuming by now the werewolf has confirmed the trooper part and Malvolio is wondering how to handle a full house. “Lower your gun and we can deal,” he finally says. I shake my head. “By the Book of Nod and the purity of my blood, lower your gun and you will come to no harm, mortal,” he says. I lower the gun. “We shall do as you say. I want maps of the installation, number of troops, guard patterns, everything I’ll need for a full scale assault. When you give me that I’ll give you…how much is enough? One million?” Malvolio asks. The guy wasn’t used to valuing money or material goods. “When do we make this trade?” I ask. He is getting nervous and I can tell he’s in a rush to get out of the place. “I would say…two weeks? We will meet at ‘The Montreat’. Room 176. Midnight, naturally. And I warn you, we have observed this installation a great deal ourselves. Any attempts at false information for us, which I expect you to be giving the Paladins, will be dealt with brutally. There will always be night time, Mr. Shade,” he says. With that, he vanishes in the shadows and I barely hear the air move as he makes his escape. A window clatters, the sound of shoe rubber twisting on concrete, and the whole pack is gone. My mind goes back to the kid immediately and I head for the exit.

The kid

I step outside and the place is deserted. The bread truck is still over on the corner but I try to ignore it. I don’t know if those Nod worshippers can be trusted. Well, I know they can’t, but I don’t know if they’re scared enough to really run away. I start walking towards the car in the hopes of finding the kid. As I get closer though, my stomach gets that sinking feeling. The rear door has been left open and the kid is nowhere in sight. I look around. Nothing down the street, no sign around the car, and nothing but that text message to go on. I’d told the kid to stay out of trouble, but to check out anything strange. Damnit, how could I have been so stupid? Of course that got him in trouble. There was no way he could go toe to toe with a vampire, gun or not. He was just a kid and I’d told him to act like an adult. Maybe Malvolio and his goons had caught his eye and he took off after them. The only ones he could’ve spotted that weren’t on the front were down an alley to the right of the warehouse, so I started walking in that direction. My hands were still shaking, the adrenaline pumping from the past hour inside that warehouse. I just wasn’t used to danger, of actually being in fear of dying. Being scared for someone else wasn’t any better. The whole feeling was like being taken out of a padded room and being told anything could happen. I checked over my shoulder twice as I moved across the street. My hand found the gun in my pocket and once again I was surprised at how reassuring the grip really felt. Death didn’t seem so bad when you could order it around. But only a little. Some garbage cans are were knocked over and I can tell by the smell it happened recently. I pick up my pace and start running down the alley way. The kid needed help.

No Last Words

The alleyway swings into a corner of the warehouse but my guess about the windows is moot. They’re all still open. An old rusty light hangs over the wall and illuminates the dumpsters that are around back. And there I see the kid. There’s Jacob, lying in a pool of blood, stiff as the wall he’s up against. The cell phone is in his hand. I just stop, at first. Just sit and stare. Death. His arms are twisted around something and his face is turned away from me. My grip on the gun goes slack. I lean against the wall across from him and slide to the pavement, still trying not to look at him. No. Please, no. The image of that noose I should’ve been dancing around comes to my head and a part of me wishes I’d gone ahead and saved myself the suspense. I fumble for my cigarettes. I finally look back at the poor kid, the kid who was dead because I had told him to chase anything strange. For some reason, I suddenly think he’s going to get back up. I mean, there he is, dead as can be, and it’s like my mind doesn’t recognize it. He’ll stir and we’ll call the ambulance and everything will be okay. At the very least I could get some last words. He could tell me it was okay, that it wasn’t my fault and that he’d be fine. I could tell him I was sorry for yelling at him. Oh God, I’d never even apologized for yelling at him. Nothing but his stiff corpse and me puffing on a cigarette that are killing anything now. I take a drag. “Along with everything else,” I mutter. I should’ve saved myself the damn suspense.

Empty Box

I get up and put my hand back on the gun in my pocket. Whoever did this could still be around. I roll the kid over and the thing in his arms clatters to the side. The cigarette falls out of my mouth as I recognize a metal box with engravings I’d only seen once and would never forget. An empty, used to contain a very specific Book, metal box. The kid’s blood is on it. And suddenly the whole picture comes into focus. Ferris screaming on the radio. Malvolio not asking about the Book’s location. The death. The Book that’s driving this whole operation is currently on the loose. A check over the body and it’s pretty obvious that the hole in his chest is what did the kid in. It’s too big to be a single bullet, unless holy weapons have some kind of extra kick I don’t know about. Could the kid even survive normal gun shots? A werewolf could’ve punched through him like that, a vampire too. Dingo being sent out early on some errand. Anything, could’ve drawn the kid over here. Maybe speared him with a pipe even. He’d had enough time to text me, maybe even before he got hit. Maybe ten minutes had gone by between that and my arrival. Questions were piling up like blank paper and the only answer I had was that it all had something to do with the empty box lying next to the kid. What to do? Go to Mills and the Paladins? Ask Ferris to sniff around? I only knew one thing for certain at that point. Whatever it took, whatever kind of bullet I needed, I was going to plant it straight in the heart of whoever had done this. The son of a bitch was going to pay.

Making Plans

The first thing I decided was to keep the Paladins out of it. If you were to list out the primary suspects for people who could kill the kid and would do so to get the book, I came in with at least the silver medal. I had dumped a lot of bodies before and this shouldn’t have been any different. But when I slammed the dumpster lid down on Jacob’s final resting place, I wondered for a second how he would’ve felt being buried with the trash. But he was dead and would get over it fast. I’d make it up to him anyhow. Just as I was starting to think I’d taken care of my first problem a new one presented itself while I headed back to the car. Standing in front of the warehouse was a group of Paladins with assault rifles. They looked like fans of the team that just lost Nationals and were ready to pick a fight. Before I could decide whether or not it was a good idea to talk with them, it’s guns raised and hands in the air time. “Here’s the fucking traitor right now!” one of them screams. They slam me on the ground and fasten hand cuffs too tightly around my wrists. Damn, and I’d had such a good alibi ready too. One of them gets on the radio and announces that they have captured a suspect. I can keep my cool through just about anything. Back in the day, I could bound through rooftops and go through trouble like it was on sale. But the urge to hit someone was just too much suddenly. I just couldn’t keep my cool. I start screaming and tearing away, shaking them off and telling them to keep their damn human hands to themselves. Maybe I deserved the taser that knocked me out a second later.

Mills Upset

I wake up uncuffed and sitting in a chair. Across from me is a very upset Mills, two armed guards, and some fuzzy blurs in my vision that are tangoing with the lamp. I miss my regeneration powers. “So glad you could join us,” Mills says. I just sag forward and try to adopt my best ‘I just got the shit beaten out of me twice’ expression. It isn’t too hard. “What we have here, Shade, is what we like to call in the police world ‘probable cause’. What that means is there are times when you can take action if a person gives you a reason to do so. An example might be someone…oh, tipping off a group of vampires that they’re about to be busted. Particularly if they did it right…fucking…in front of you. This cause is so probable, in fact, that I’ve hesitated from putting a bullet in your brain on the sheer, barely believable chance that maybe you have an explanation for this,” Mills says. He stands up from his desk and gets a cup of water out of the cooler near him. “Because the thing is Shade, I don’t just need that explanation. I need a couple. I want to know, for example, where my Vampire Falcon is. He vanished and you’re the last person to talk to him. And maybe you could go over what you told those freaks about us inside that warehouse. Or perhaps, you might consi-“ he continues. A guy can only talk so many sarcastic lectures before you’ve just heard them all. Right now my quota was already one over bearable. “What you need to know is if I’ll consider telling you where your Book is before every vampire in the city turns you into dinner,” I say. The look on his face tells me I stole the fifth act right out from under him.

More Threats

“Well?” Mills asks. “I don’t know. What with the mortal coil I started wearing they don’t trust me anymore,” I shoot back. I innocently check my pockets for cigarettes. They took the gun and everything else. At least they’ve got that going for them. “What were you doing in there?” he asks. “Keeping you idiots from getting killed. I know vampires and I know when they’re acting funny. I recognized one of the guys and decided to do things the old fashioned way,” I reply. Mills balls up the cup and throws it in the garbage. It’s annoying because after watching him I suddenly feel thirsty. “And what would the old fashioned way be?” he asks. “I asked him,” I reply. Apparently jokes about the obvious don’t go over well with Mills because he backhands me right over my rosy cheek. “Now you listen to me, you sick son of a bitch. I never wanted you here. I’d have killed you back at the warehouse if it weren’t for Agent Ferris stopping me. I’d have killed you when they brought you in too, three months ago. So start acting like the piece of shit you are and talk,” he snarls. The blood is back in my mouth and I find myself wishing everyone would stop using violence to get information out of me. At least the Nod worshippers had a friend trick me into it. “I don’t owe you a fucking thing, Mills. I don’t owe you or any of these corny Paladin bastards anything. I was one step from the hangman dance when I was hired. So either shoot me or start calming down, but don’t think for a second death threats phase me,” I yell back. He sits down, still glaring at me, and watches me while I pour myself a cup of water. “If you want the Book back, you need to listen to me very carefully. Because without that wad of paper, killing me would be the last happy moment of your life,” I say.