“And you want me to infiltrate them?” I asked. “How exactly would I do that?”
Wolfgang reached into a pocket on the inside of his tweed jacket. The old-school vamp needed a serious makeover. Like, he’d be a prime candidate for Queer Eye for the Dead Guy. Hence the tweed jacket that said, “college professor” more than it resembled anything you’d think a vampire might wear.
I mean, the night before he was in black—more typical of a vampire seeking to remain hidden under the cover of the night. But he’d gone out the other night intending to hunt. Tonight he had a different agenda.
Wolfgang handed me a pamphlet from a church about an hour west of Kansas City.
I cocked my head. I knew the church. Who didn’t? Particularly folks in my community. They were the people who showed up with their “God Hates” signs and protested anything that had to do with LGBTQ. Even funerals. It was a wonder I hadn’t seen them outside any of my performances. I suppose I wasn’t a big enough name to merit their bigoted attentions. “You can’t be serious.”
“It’s where they meet,” Wolfgang said. “I don’t think they’re members of the church, if that helps. They just operate out of their facilities.”
“Doesn’t help,” I said. “You seriously expect me, of all people, to set foot in that forsaken place?”
Wolfgang shrugged. “Well, not dressed like that.”
“This is me.”
“And a part of going undercover is playing a part. The whole point is to act, to pretend you’re someone else.”
I sighed. “I’m not going to participate in anything that so-called church does.”
“You don’t have to,” Wolfgang said. “But you’re a vampire hunter, right?”
“Of course.”
“Then you’re in a prime position to make yourself useful to the handlers. And since you aren’t a vampire, you might actually get some names. If you’re good enough, eventually they’ll give you bigger contracts.”
I scratched my head. “To eliminate the likes of you and Alice?”
“They’ve never stopped trying,” Wolfgang said. “And if you’re good enough, it’s just a matter of time.”
I sighed. “Time… How long do I have to put on this charade?”
Wolfgang grinned widely. “It shouldn’t take long. Their hunters, the ones they’ve hired now, they’re amateurs. Not good for much more than eliminating younglings. Prove you’re better than that and it shouldn’t be long before you’re coming after me. And Alice.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Brucie piped up.
I glanced at him on my shoulder, narrowing my eyes.
“What?” Brucie asked. “It’s a good plan.”
I sighed. I had to admit, it wasn’t an awful idea. “So once I get the contract for Alice, then what?”
“The handlers will also turn over all their intelligence on her whereabouts,” Wolfgang said. “Bring it to me and we’ll track her down together.”
“And what if they give me a contract for you first?” I asked. “You aren’t nearly so hard to eliminate as her.”
Wolfgang smiled. “I can be if I want to be, Nyx.”
I cocked my head. “Are you saying you meant for me to stake you the other night?”
Wolfgang steepled his hands in front of his face. “It was a gamble, I have to admit, especially with your recent track record. I had to trust you would recognize that I wasn’t like the younglings you’ve been eliminating as of late.”
I nodded. “Well, I suppose I should feel complimented that you trusted my skill. So, you’re saying they won’t ask me to kill you before they assign me Alice?”
Wolfgang cleared his throat. “They haven’t sent any hunters my way in some time. Not since we came to an agreement. Alice is far more notorious, in their book, than me. She’s the bigger threat. And in their minds, until they can find a hunter who can take her down, I’m still their second-best option.”
“Why second best?”
“Because they’d still prefer to use a hunter to kill Alice than rely on me to do it. Which is another reason they’ve been less than forthcoming with their intelligence on her whereabouts.”
“Because if a hunter eliminates her rather than you, they would no longer be bound to their deal with you.”
“Precisely,” Wolfgang said. “Which is why when you receive a contract to eliminate Alice, you need to bring me the information. I will help you eliminate her, and while you’re good, trust me… you’re not good enough to handle her on your own.”
I took a deep breath. I knew Wolfgang was probably right. Alice had evaded me before, even when I had a vampire and a werewolf at my side to help. Back at the asylum…
I could use Wolfgang’s help, as much as I didn’t like it on two fronts. I didn’t like working with a vampire. But to work with the Order? I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that they were affiliated with that particular… church.
Hell, I’d never been to any church before. Not that I was opposed to religion. I mean, as legend would have it, the God of the Bible was also the God of the great flood, the one who drowned the Egyptians when Moses parted the sea.
The Judeo-Christian God had a track record of providing my kind with ready-to-eat meals. No shapeshifting required. Delivered right to our watery lairs.
If anything, I was inclined to offer the deity a tip for speedy delivery. At least, I would if he ever decided to renege on his promise not to flood the world again. Or if he ever decided to conduct a baptism in the waters I happened to inhabit.
I mean, how much easier could it get?
I sighed. At least that’s how I used to feel about it all… before I’d grown to appreciate a few of those who happen to belong to the human race.
I was also mostly ambivalent about the Order of the Morning Dawn. Heretofore I’d only known them as a bunch of zealots who happened to hunt vampires. Sure, I was less inclined to support their hate of witches. Witches had often partnered with my kind, but it had been a while since witches were a priority for the Order.
So, my feelings about the Order were along the lines of an-enemy-of-my-enemy sort of thing. They were trying to do the same thing I was, even if I didn’t share their beliefs or motives.
But from my human experiences, given who I was and who my friends were, the whole idea that the Order was even loosely affiliated with that church, even if they only met in their facilities…
A part of me didn’t want to get involved.
I loathed the idea of even having to pretend to be one of them.
But Wolfgang’s plan wasn’t bad. And it was the best chance I had of getting actual, hard evidence of Alice’s whereabouts.
“Alright,” I said. “I’ll do it.”
Wolfgang smiled wide. “I suspected you would.”
“But here’s the hard part. If I’m going to be the one to kill Alice, if I’m going to eat her heart, somehow we have to give the Order the impression that you actually completed the kill.”
Wolfgang nodded. “You eat her heart, I’ll deliver the heartless body. For us it’s a win-win, is it not?”
I nodded. “I suppose it is. And you trust that once we’re done with this, I won’t turn on you? I mean, you’re still a vampire.”
“Are you planning to?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t decided.”
“When you go back to your kind,” Wolfgang said, “I highly doubt you’ll want to mess with any more vampires… given your last experience. Not to mention, there’s something about you… a loyalty to those whom you’ve aligned yourself with before.”
I cocked my head. “You don’t know that much about me.”
Wolfgang smiled wide. I diverted my eyes to a blank wall. Something about when he grinned, displaying his fangs… it was proof of what he was. Not like I ever forgot. But it’s one thing if you just happen to know that someone owns a gun, that they have one hidden away somewhere. It’s another thing if they have it out on display. For a vampire, smiling had
a similar effect on me.
The shrink at the asylum suggested I might have a case of post-traumatic stress disorder. A euphemism, I figured, for the terror associated with an experience that robbed me of everything I ever was.
“I’ve been watching you… observing you for some time,” Wolfgang said.
I scrunched my brow. “How didn’t I notice you? How didn’t I smell you?”
“Old Spice,” Wolfgang said with a shrug.
I rolled my eyes. “No, really…”
“When we feed, it isn’t the blood of humans that sustains us. Technically speaking, the nutritional content of blood is limited. The life, the soul, is in the blood… that’s what we feed upon.”
I nodded. “I’m aware.”
“And human souls are magical in a way. Not that most humans ever tap into their abilities at all. Few could, even if they knew how. But when we acquire bits and pieces of souls, from time to time we gain a bit of their magic. Not always—not every feed has the result. But when you’ve been around as long as I have, you’re bound to have gotten lucky a few times.”
“So you’re telling me you have… abilities?”
“I’ve acquired my share,” Wolfgang said.
I scratched my head. “What sort of abilities?”
Wolfgang smiled again. “Suffice it to say I have the skill to evade you.”
I grunted. It made sense that he’d play his cards close to his chest. A vampire doesn’t survive as long as this one by showing his full hand. “And Alice?”
“She has more than her share of… gifts as well.”
“Such as?” I asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Well, she can shapeshift…”
“Of course she can. She stole that from me.”
“Of course,” Wolfgang said. “That is one of her more useful skills. But your former abilities are limited, are they not?”
“I can’t become whatever I want… I mean, I couldn’t. I only became whatever it was the meal I’d targeted desired the most, whatever he or she found most attractive and alluring.”
Wolfgang nodded. “And if Alice assumes a human-like form, I presume it is your power she is relying upon.”
I cocked my head. “But she can assume other forms, too?”
“It’s a fairly common ability amongst older vampires, though typically one more frequently acquired in the old world. It’s an ability that usually run in the blood of Eastern Europeans.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t mean much to me.”
“She can become something like a bat.”
“Something like?”
The vampire shook his head. “You’d have to see it for yourself. And it’s not her only ability, but it is one she’s had for some time. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s gained a few more… especially since she’s been freed from the Order’s restrictions.”
I nodded and opened the pamphlet Wolfgang had given me before. “This is just bullshit propaganda from that so-called church. I don’t see anything here about the Order and when it meets.”
Wolfgang stepped next to me and traced his hand down the paper. It was one thing when he was in front of me, when we were face to face. Opponents, or at least those whose relationship is purely a matter of taking care of business, usually address each other head-on. Standing next to someone, though… that’s the posture of an ally.
It felt like he was getting into my personal space, which sent a shiver down my spine. It gave me the heebie-jeebies.
He pointed at one of the meetings listed under the heading, Church Activities.
I huffed. “The Order of the Morning Dawn meets at the same time as the church’s quilting guild?”
“A patchwork sort of way to remain undercover.” Wolfgang smirked.
“I see what you did there,” I huffed, a bit surprised that the vampire had actually cracked a joke. “But don’t they run the risk that actual quilters might show up to their meeting?”
Wolfgang shrugged. “It’s not exactly a meeting. All I know is that the handler—the one who hands out assignments for the Order—she’ll be there.”
“Quilting?” I chuckled a little at the idea.
Wolfgang nodded. “You’d do well to show up with something that proves you have abilities… that you could be useful.”
“Like an afghan?”
“Not those abilities,” Wolfgang said. “Hunting abilities.”
“You’re suggesting I bring a staked vampire with me to the ladies’ quilting guild at the haters church?”
“Exactly.”
I shook my head. “Humans are weird sometimes.”
9
“YOU SERIOUSLY TRUST that vamp?” Brucie lit a cigar… while sitting on my shoulder.
“Of course I don’t,” I said. “Must you do that on my shoulder? I don’t want to smell it!”
“These Nicaraguans… so smooth…” Brucie took a deep draw on his cigar before blowing his smoke into my hair.
“I just conditioned this morning.”
“You’re avoiding the question. About the vampire.”
“No I’m not,” I said. “I told you I don’t trust him.”
“Then why are you following his lead?”
“Because he and I have a common goal. We both want Alice eliminated. I don’t trust him generally. In any other circumstance, not at all. But until Alice is dead, I think we can at least trust that he’ll lead us in the right direction.”
“That’s so sweet!” Brucie said.
I glanced at him; he was smiling wide even as cigar smoke flowed freely between his lips. “What is?”
“You said we.” Brucie looked to the sky and sighed. “He loves me, he really loves me!” Brucie flicked his cigar to the ground. I wasn’t sure how he always seemed to have an endless supply of those things. Then he snapped his fingers and turned to vapor.
I snorted. “Where’d you go?”
Brucie reappeared on my opposite shoulder. “Still here! Sort of. I’m never far.”
“Didn’t realize you could do that,” I said. “I thought for a second you’d given up smoking for vaping.”
“Funny,” Brucie said. “But vaping is weird. I mean, we’re made of water. Vaping would be like, if we were human and inhaled burning flesh.”
“That’s gross.”
“Exactly!” Brucie said. “This form is exhausting. But I’m always around, buddy. You just have to say my name three times and I’ll appear.”
I cocked my head. I’d seen that late-nineteen-eighties Tim Burton movie, Beetlejuice. After five years, of course, I was still playing catch-up on human culture, but I’d done my best to absorb as much as possible. Movies, television, books—everything was available with a good internet connection. And while I doubted Brucie had seen it, he’d probably siphoned that dated cultural reference directly from my mind.
Brucie snapped his fingers again and re-vaporized.
It was going to take a little getting used to having a cigar-smoking sprite—who used to be a part of me—always nearby.
Apparently he’d always been there. At least, he had been in my former life.
Having him around, as weird as it was when he read my mind, wasn’t a bad thing. Sometimes, even when I was with Donnie or others in the community, this existence could be awfully lonely. There just wasn’t anyone else like me. Not exactly.
Being transgender was one thing. But I still hadn’t met anyone else who was transspecies.
I wasn’t sure if Brucie qualified as “transspecies.” I think he’d always been a sprite. He hadn’t become something entirely different, but he might as well have. This mode of being, living as an individual separate from me or any other elemental for five years, must’ve been as taxing on him as it had been on me.
At least I had the advantage of being able to have a community where I was accepted. I could blend in, somewhat.
I suspected, behind all his bravado, cigar smoking, and womanizing, Brucie was probably just as isolated as I was. Deep down, he
was alone, too.
Until now.
Not like I’d ask him about it. I was pretty sure he’d laugh it off. Tell me to grow a pair. Whatever. But there was no reason he had to start following me around just because we happened to encounter each other again. That was his choice. And generally, if people are happy with their lives, they aren’t as eager to embrace change, to leave whatever they’ve gathered in their lives behind…
I didn’t know much about what Brucie had been doing during the course of the last five years. To hear him talk, it was all sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. I knew better than that, even without being able to read his mind as he could mine.
When I got back to the apartment, Donnie was fast asleep. It wasn’t that she went to bed early; I’d just failed to realize how much time had passed since I left to meet up with Wolfgang. It was two o’clock in the morning…
Of course Donnie was in bed. Unlike me, she worked normal human hours. And she was used to me coming in at all hours of the night. Par for the course when you’re roomies with a vampire hunter.
I loved showers. It was almost like going home.
And after a night like this, knowing what I would have to do when I went to that church… how much I was going to have to pretend…
Well, I might not have been dirty, but the whole idea of it made me feel that way.
A warm shower was a small consolation. But it was just what I needed.
And it was going to be a short night. Not that I needed sleep, really. Not as often as regular humans. But I enjoyed whatever shut-eye I could get, even if it would only be a couple hours. Because I had an hour drive ahead of me.
And the Order of the Morning Dawn met—under the guise of a ladies’ quilting guild—at the morning dawn.
10
I COULDN’T REMEMBER the last time I’d gone for a ride on my bike so early in the morning. I usually wasn’t up and around yet; I often slept until midday. Not because I was tired or needed it—more because there just wasn’t a lot to do that interested me most mornings.
Gates of Eden: Starter Library Page 98