by J. P. Rice
The valet greeted me and pointed toward the front door. He didn’t give me a ticket as he jumped in the driver’s seat and took off. Rows of columns featuring babery carved in high relief lined both sides of the covered porch leading to the front door. The grotesque art climbed up the columns and out of sight. I also noticed rune symbols and prepared for the worst.
I walked in the front door to a dimly lit lobby area with a cut out reception counter on the right. I nodded to a pale woman with blond hair, wearing a tight dark dress that I couldn’t decide was black or blue. Depending on the way I tilted my head, the color changed. Not magic, but pretty cool.
I dipped into my reservoir and let some of my magic come to the surface. I didn’t detect a strong wave of magic. Yet.
I spoke in my normal tone, “I’m here to see Jonathan.”
“I know,” she said in a deep voice with an eastern European accent. “He’ll be right out to speak with you.”
A door popped open and two chuckling men walked out into the hallway. One man turned and went in the opposite direction, and I could only assume that Jonathan Rickleshaw was the one headed toward me.
The short vampire walked with long, elegant strides. His clothes, forked dark goatee splotched with notes of gray and black hair pulled back in a ponytail gave off a vamp vibe, but the rest did not.
The vampire’s face looked orange, like he had been fake tanning for an extended time. He flashed a pearly white smile. No fangs. Huh. He wore a white button-down shirt with black pants and a dark gray, dovetailed, long-sleeved jacket. I had one very similar to it.
“Micheal Merlino, I presume.” He pronounced my name correctly again. Bonus points for the vampire.
“I can only assume you are Jonathan Rickleshaw.” I’d heard his name many times before, but hadn’t seen a picture. The elder vampires stayed somewhat under the radar.
He turned around and gestured with his arm for me to follow. I felt much safer walking behind him. He opened a door on the left side of the hallway and invited me in. He flicked on the lights and I almost had a heart attack.
The small office had some of the most amazing antiques and paintings I had ever seen.
“That’s not real, is it?”
He put a firm hand on my back and fired back with a question, “Why would you think I’d put a fake on my wall?”
I put my hands up. No need to be starting fights with the vampires. Remember the rune symbols on the way in. This place is protected. “I’m not calling it a fake, but the original Guernica is in Queen Sofia’s Museum in Madrid.”
He smiled, still no fangs. “Not anymore. Anyone or anything can slip into financial trouble it should seem. The museum sold it through an auction at Sotheby’s. I sent a representative. I told her to raise her hand when the bidding started and never let it drop. A few hours later, I was in a back room, signing some papers and taking my painting out of there.”
Jonathan went and sat behind his rich mahogany desk as I continued staring at the wall. I came out of my trance, thinking about the sheer value of the objects in this room.
I wasn’t going to ask about the veracity of the Egyptian artifacts on his desk. I sat down in one of the chairs facing him. “So what is it you want from me?”
“Waste no time. You are young, this is evident, but enjoy yourself. Would you like a drink?”
Immortals didn’t see life as a race. It was to be savored. I inquired, “I don’t suppose you have any Jameson handy?”
His eyebrows lowered and his lips pursed together, creating a look of, ‘don’t be stupid.’ “Of course we do. We have anything you could desire.” He picked up the phone and pressed a couple of buttons. He had a corded phone in his office too. Probably the only similarity between our workspaces. He talked into the phone, “Yes, I’ll have a red and my guest would like a rocks glass of Jameson.” He looked to me and held the mouthpiece. “Neat?”
I nodded, and he removed his hand from the mouthpiece. “Neat it is. Thank you.” He hung up the phone and focused on me. “What do you want out of life, Micheal?”
“Right now. I just want to know what is going on here. I’m a little tense right now because you invited me over on a business premise and it’s turning into a first date.”
He laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself, little wizard.” He chose his words wisely and I realized that I might have hurt his feelings.
The door opened and a dark-skinned beauty with short black hair entered the room. Her hips swung up and down, pulling her short red skirt even higher up her thighs. She walked by me and the aroma of cloves followed. She bent over Jonathan’s desk to hand him his drink.
She. Wasn’t. Wearing. Underwear.
Turning away quickly, I tried to un-see that considering I had a girlfriend that could gaze directly into my soul. Hiding things wasn’t an option. I was extremely tempted to peek back until I felt a drop of liquid on my pant leg. Looking up at the serving vixen holding my drink with a shaky hand, I reached out my arm.
I grabbed the Jameson, and she walked to the door. “Anything else, Mr. Rickleshaw?”
“That will be all for now, but stay around.”
“Yes sir.” She curtsied and left the room, slamming the door.
Jonathan’s face got oranger and he looked like he was cursing under his breath. Mental note: don’t slam the door.
He focused on me with a forced smirk. “Like what you see there?”
“I have a girlfriend, sorry.”
He said, “Young man.”
“Excuse me?”
He explained, “You’re a young man. You are going to have twenty more girlfriends before you settle on the right one. You need to experience all life can offer. Taste everything you can.”
“I’m trying.” I sipped on my Jameson that tasted a bit stronger than normal for some reason. “Can we please get down to why you called me?”
He stuck his finger in what I hoped was a bloody Mary and mixed up the drink. “I need your help tracking someone down and we are prepared to pay you a great sum to do it.” He licked his finger clean.
I didn’t want to get dollar signs in my eyes too early. “Before we even talk about money, why don’t you tell me about the someone?”
He undid his ponytail and shook his wild hair around. I smelled Head and Shoulders. I guess vampires battled dandruff too. “Without going into too much detail, we had someone run away, so to speak, and we need them returned.”
“Why do you need them returned? Taking someone against their will is kidnapping, you know?”
He tilted his head and rolled his eyes. “It’s nothing like that. We just have a confused member who can’t be running the streets because of the obvious implications involved. We have a deal with the police that we police our own, so to speak.”
“Implications. Such as?”
He ran his long fingers through the tangled mess, trying to comb out the knots. “Again, I’m not at liberty to go into great detail, but if someone from our clan did something foolish and put all vampires under higher scrutiny, the Council would not look kindly on our clan. If the Purples are ousted from the truce, we’ll be hunted and killed like wild dogs by all the other clans. Perhaps now you understand.”
“I do understand, but I can’t help you out.”
He rubbed his upper lip with his thumb and forefinger. “Perhaps we should talk about the payment first.”
Money meant nothing at this point. “I don’t think it matters, Jonathan. I know that if I return a shunned vampire to the clan—let’s just say I know what will happen, and I can’t willingly do that.”
The elder vamp laughed, and sipped his drink. The thick, crimson liquid made me think it wasn’t a bloody Mary. At least not the version I was thinking of. He said, “You think you know what will happen. Are you a mind reader?”
“I’m not. But we both know I wouldn’t be sitting here listening to this offer if I didn’t have a slight idea of what’s going on.”
He leaned back and
steepled his fingertips. “I can’t believe you are going to easily turn down fifty thousand dollars, just like that.”
My eyes widened in excitement and Jonathan noticed. His lips curled up on both sides, but never exposed his teeth. He asked, “Does that change your mind?”
I knew I had to play this carefully. If I refused him, he had every reason to have me killed. I had to act like I was interested. “That does change a few things. Let’s talk about who I might be looking for.” I flashed a fake smile and hoped he didn’t detect it.
He peered at me for an uncomfortable amount of time. “She’s young. About your age.” He slid some papers across the desk.
I stood up, took two steps forward, and grabbed the pages and picture off the desk. Carolyn Albertross. Twenty-two. The picture revealed someone who looked even younger than that. She looked—innocent. Precious almost. The skinny pale girl with black hair, dark eyes and several lip rings appeared harmless.
“What’s the story?” I asked, genuinely intrigued.
“She just up and vanished. We usually celebrate that kind of sorcery, but not this time.” He chuckled.
He wasn’t exactly a comedian. I took a sip of my beverage. “Do you have any ideas of where she might have gone? Family? Relatives?”
“We’re monitoring all the normal areas. We need someone to start looking in different spots.”
“I could try, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
He tapped the rim of his drink. “I assumed you were a detective from the number I called. Your business card certainly implies that you know the craft. You simply need to open a case, ask questions, but do so in a private manner. We don’t need the wrong ears finding out about this.”
“I guess I could give it a try if I get some time.”
His face brightened. “That’s the spirit. Let’s get one thing straight from the start though. Don’t you lie to us or ever try to screw us over.” He flashed a toothy smile and two normal incisors grew into fangs, nearly making me soil my pants.
I tried to refocus my mind and bring my magic back to the surface in case I needed it to fight my way out of this house.
He continued, “You bring her back to this house, you hear. This house only. Don’t even think about returning her to another clan. If they offer you more money I will match anything. Do you understand?”
Jonathan was scaring the shit out of me, so I thought it was a good time to return the favor. “I understand and would never do that. It’s not in my best interest to start a supernatural war in Pittsburgh. That would be no fun for me.”
He nodded. “Perfect, then we understand each other.”
“We do, but just make sure you understand that if anything happens to me, the cops are going to know it was the vampires. And just so you know, they’ve been building up quite an arsenal to go to battle with the vamps.”
He laughed. “They can bring all the silver bullets they like. UV lights too.”
Damnit. He had a good point. “They’ve actually taken a step back technologically and now they are making cross-bows that shoot stakes and holy crosses at amazing speeds. They also have super-soaker type weaponry that shoots boiling holy water.” That sounded kind of stupid, but his squinting eyes told me that it was a legitimate threat. “I don’t want you to go under heavy scrutiny the same way that you don’t. But if something happens to me, you can rest assured that the cops are going to turn up the heat.”
“I rather like you,” he said, and rubbed the silver spots on his goatee. “You know how to handle yourself. I mean, you are in a den of vampires who could kill you with great ease, and you still hurl threats at me.” He picked up his mysterious drink, swirled it around, and took a swig.
“These aren’t threats unless you take action against me. After that, they’re promises. I’m going to look for the girl, but only for the money.”
He almost choked on his drink and put it back down on the desk. Smiling, he said, “Yes, I suspect that. I’m not getting the warm feeling of a budding friendship developing here, which is rather sad. Look around you. You can have even nicer things if you wish it to be. Eternal life. Material goods. Gunshot wounds that heal within hours. And you’ve only seen two of our girls. So you can get it out of your head that I’m trying to hurt you. I’m trying to help you, kid. Would you like to be an immortal?”
I hadn’t expected to end the night by being recruited to be a vampire. “I appreciate the offer and I will mull it over while I look for someone who doesn’t exist.” I winked at Jonathan and immediately felt sleazy.
“Smart young man, Micheal. This could be the beginning of a great business relationship. Bring the girl back, and fifty grand in cash will leave with you.”
His office was one hell of an advertisement for working together and I knew fifty thousand dollars meant nothing to him. “I could always take Guernica and we could call it even.”
He shook his head rapidly, hair swinging from side to side. “Sorry, but I don’t pay forty-one million dollars for a painting to give it away to someone who gives me a hard time.”
I almost soiled my pants again. “You paid that much for it and you leave it in this little office?”
“I spend most of my time in this little office. Being an antiques dealer has rewarded me with some great treasures and I prefer to look at them as much as I can.”
That actually made perfect sense. I thought about my little rinky dink office and hoped to someday upgrade to Jonathan level. I left the vamp mansion and opened the window to let some air in.
My heart was still in overdrive from the meeting with Jonathan. That was the most intense meeting I’ve ever been involved in. My head buzzed as I picked up some speed and the cool breeze came in through the window. My mind raced from being within an arm’s reach of one of my favorite paintings.
I didn’t have high hopes that I would be able to find the girl considering the amount of money involved. After second thought, that amount was nothing to Jonathan. Maybe I could find her. From the picture, I couldn’t believe she would be hard to detain.
But I couldn’t toss a young girl to a bunch of vamps, could I? I rubbed my eyes and shook my head. Jonathan’s material goods and high money offer were clouding my better judgment. Perhaps that was his plan?
Feeling awake from the drive, I decided I couldn’t aid in the murder and would tell Jonathan that I couldn’t find her.
That would be best for all involved. I got out of the car, mentally wishing the young vampire the best of luck in avoiding Jonathan.
I walked up to my front door and sensed something inside. It didn’t feel like magic and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it as I peeked in the window. When I heard Colossus whimpering, I busted into my house.
The big search was over before it started. Easiest fifty grand ever.
Carolyn Albertross stood in my living room with a travel bag over her shoulder. Or at least a spitting image of the vamp in the picture was in front of me. She said, “I need to talk to you.”
Chapter 5
No introductions were necessary. “I normally take appointments at my office, but I already know this is important. You know how much trouble you’re in?”
She pulled the lip rings inside her mouth. “That’s why I need you to keep me safe.”
“Me? How am I supposed to keep you safe?”
“Because you are a wizard. Duh.”
I can’t fall for flattery. “Young, inexperienced wizard. If you think I can defeat entire clans of vamps, you’ve got the wrong person. That’s not even mentioning the After Midnight Council”
“The council won’t send anyone. Jonathan wouldn’t risk the exposure and he won’t even tell any of the other clans. Everything is supposed to be handled in-house.”
I got down to business. “Why did you run?”
“They were going to kill me.”
That was a pretty good reason. “Why were they going to kill you?”
I gestured for her to sit down o
n the couch and I joined her. We turned toward each other, and she said, “For a misunderstanding. They think I killed someone, but I didn’t. I went into his room and he was already dead. When I told Jonathan about it, he accused me of murdering the man. I knew where it was headed from there.”
“So this is all one big misunderstanding? It just so happens that I was just talking to Jonathan. Do you want me to talk to him about this? Maybe try to broker a deal?”
She laughed at me. “Jonathan’s the elder. There’s no vote or anything. It’s what he says and that’s that.”
“That doesn’t seem like a very democratic system.”
“I’d like to see you argue with a six-hundred-year-old vampire.”
“I was arguing with him earlier tonight. Do you really think that I can keep you safe? Furthermore, why would I want to put a bullseye on my back?”
“Because I’ll pay you handsomely.” She kicked the shoulder bag on the ground.
“I’m not sure you’d be able to match Jonathan’s offer.” I wasn’t sure if she would take that comment as a threat. I noticed the small vampire didn’t have any fear of me, the supposedly dangerous wizard.
“There’s one-hundred-twenty thousand dollars in this bag. You get me to the airport in one week, and half the money is yours. I know it’s probably not as much as Jonathan, but I figured you were a good wizard looking to do the right thing and help someone in need. A white hat.”
I had trouble focusing on her words after she announced the dollar amount. That’s uh, that’s a lot of cheese right there. “The problem is it’s one vampire’s word against the other. If I find out you committed a crime, I have a duty to bring you to justice. I wouldn’t be able to protect someone like that.”
“Unless someone can be convicted for walking into a room, I’m innocent, but you don’t understand how it works. Everyone will take Jonathan’s side. If he tells them to kill me, they’ll follow the orders. No questions.” Her dark eyes flashed with fear.