by P. S. Power
“Sorry Kaitlyn, you know that normally I'd gladly do it, but right now...” His glance went to the two men tied up on the floor and the corpse next to them. She'd forgotten about the corpse for a bit, not that it bothered her. Over the last year, she'd seen a lot of dead bodies. This one, covered in blood and mouth agape, didn't look that different from most of them. It made her feel a little sad that she'd lost her shock and outrage about such things, her innocence, but it had to happen sometime. At least she hadn't been trying to heal this one when he died. That always affected her deeply, like a little bit of herself died with them every time she failed.
The tall Vampire noted where her glance went.
“Yes. These men are all Human traffickers. They mainly sell and trade children and young women for the sex trade. And worse... still, Troy, if we owe this woman recompense for her work, perhaps you should leave the questioning up to us and see to it? We may need her again someday and we'll want her to come to us knowing that she'll be taken care of. On that note, we also need to work out what kind of payment she'll receive for this.” The tall Vampire turned to her and looked at her closely for a moment, tilting his head slightly before going on.
“I hope you realize that our, organization, isn't exactly cash rich at the moment. Still, there may be services that we can render, or if not, perhaps you would be all right with us owing you a favor? The Line Walker brought you to us, so I assume that he has some plan for repayment for his part, but on top of that?”
Again Claire stepped in for her before she could speak, Kate decided to go with whatever she suggested, since this situation seemed to have moved into the area of Vampire politics again. Claire moved to stand in front of her physically, almost seamlessly, in that smooth way she had that crept up on you if you didn't pay attention.
“Two favors and a third to be delivered if these men provide useful information.” She countered, her voice sounding flat and hard.
The tall Vampire smiled and shook his head.
“I think not. We want her trust and services in the future, not to be enslaved to her whim, wishing for this and that regardless of what we can provide. Two favors, but they must be within our abilities to provide without great hardship. No asking for the moon or anything like that.”
Claire raised her eyebrows and smirked, as if she had him exactly where she wanted as far as this negotiation went. Her light green skirt swayed in the breeze from the air conditioner that ran constantly in Underwood, her brown shoes shining just a little as she stood there, poised and confident looking.
“Two, within the confines of your collective abilities, which are great enough that clarifying that way is specious... and two to be delivered if these men provide usable information.”
The tall Vampire nodded then and turned to Kate again, waiting as if she'd have something to ask for right then, which she didn't. She wracked her brain, her attention caught suddenly by the men moaning piteously behind the duct tape over his mouth, wrapped all the way around his head twice. That gave her an idea that should allow her to discharge one of these favors right now, without actually costing the Vampire and his group anything. She'd have helped take down people like this for free, but Claire seemed to want her to do it this way.
“All right... I know that these men have to be killed. It's not like we can take them to the cops or anything, I get that.” One of the men, the second one cried out when she said this. Turning, her eyes flashed.
“Oh, don't pretend you deserve better! Poor little me, 'I don't deserve to die. All I did was rape women and little children and, oh yeah, got bunches of them killed' right... Don't try playing me that way.” Her voice dripped with acid scorn that made Troy stare at her, since he'd never heard her do more than sound slightly peeved before. Hilda actually stepped back, which drew the attention of the tall Vampire Kate spoke too.
“So how about this. I invested a lot of energy in healing them, and I don't want my work to be wasted all that much. So... if they cooperate fully and easily, kill them quickly and as painlessly as possible? It's better than they deserve, but my people are, at heart, lovers, not fighters or killers.” Turning she glared at the men, who both looked at her with panicked eyes. “If they don't cooperate, then do whatever you need to get the information. There's a difference between kindness and foolishness, after all.”
The tall Vampire turned his back to the men and winked at her a smile crossing his face briefly. His voice though, when he spoke sounded rough and almost angry.
“Well... fine, if that is your wish... We'll be all soft and kind to them if they cooperate. Otherwise we do whatever we want to get them to talk. These fuckers better not talk. I won't be happy about this unless they suffer first!” His voice, as deep as it was sent a shiver of fear through her as he said this he looked seriously angry, but as soon as he stopped a huge grin covered his face.
“Troy, why don't you take the healer out of here while we get the information. If you hear screams you'll know that they made the right choice and tried to resist.” This came out so menacing that Kate knew she'd probably have wet herself if she were one of those men.
That was the point after all. The carrot and the stick.
Troy motioned to Kate to follow him and got all the way outside the door before he started laughing. They walked for a minute, down the mall before he stopped.
“Oh, it's really not funny... I mean, Zack can just pull the information from their heads, so they won't have to be tortured anyway, but I'm betting that they cooperate a lot more easily now. He really will torture them if they don't though... He's really serious about keeping the bargains he makes. You were right, they have to die and they deserve it. If you knew half of what they've done... well, let's just say I don't think you would have left them in there alive if you really knew, and leave it at that.”
He hugged her then, just stopping, standing in front of the dark store front of Beautiful Plus, wrapping her up in his arms tightly. He didn't let go for a long time. Finally she pulled back just enough to see that he had tears in his eyes, which he wiped away, making a light sniffling sound. She started to ask what the problem might be, but he held out a hand stopping her.
“Stuff, you know? I've seen a lot more than I ever thought I would of some really crappy things over the last few months. I've done things... Those men, the ones you healed? I did that to them. They wouldn't talk and Zack wasn't there. So I tortured them. I can still hear them screaming in my head. I killed... I killed four of their friends, Kaitlyn. By myself. I don't know what I'm becoming... I mean, when I'm in a fight, it's like I can't help myself, a rage comes over me and I just do it, I just do whatever I have to and don't stop. Beatrice had to drag me off of the one that died when she got there with Zack... I mean, am I so bad that Demons have to come and rein me in now? Fuck. Just... fuck.”
He didn't cry anymore, so they started walking again, not having any real destination in mind. Every place was closed that they would have normally gone, including the Alede embassy, which masqueraded as a plus sized women's clothing store. It was a shame, since there was a shower in the back and Troy could use one. The armor he'd worn may be magic, but it didn't seem to be very cool inside. He smelled hot still, like sweat and blood. Rage and emotions too complicated for her nose to understand. The only other showers in the building were in the gym where Hilda worked as both a trainer and the front desk person during the day. At night the front desk was manned by Birk, one of the largest of the Trolleinkein at the mall. Kate made up her mind and pulled Troy in that direction.
Inside the door Birk actually smiled when he saw them, from where he sat behind the chrome and glass front desk. The chair he used, more like a stool with no back, had thick legs and would have made her feel like a tiny child if she'd tried to sit in it.
“Troy friend! Have you come to work out then? I'm not your regular trainer, but I have your schedule here, if you seek some extra work... And you bring Kaitlyn the K'slyphou! I thought you were off at the plac
e of learning until the warm season came, though it pleases me to see you!” He walked around the desk, hesitated for a moment then gave her a hug.
She smiled up at the big man, realizing that he'd covertly sniffed her before moving that close. Troy seemed to get what this meant and his eyes went wide. Of course he would get it, living so closely with Hilda, they shared a room and everything, even though Trolleinkein didn't need to sleep.
Laughing, Kate explained the emergency, not even bothering to cover up that the men would probably not live through the night, which made Birk nod. He didn't offer to help, but only because he knew that the people involved could handle it. If it had been serious, they would have asked for his help. Obviously. She sure would have at least, since in a fight a single Trolleinkein, even fairly small ones like her friends here, were about equal to a tank. A fast, agile tank. Even Vampires didn't willingly get into a fist fight with them. Vampires had speed over just about everything, but her big friends here could just weather the punishment until they got a hold of them. After that the Vampire wouldn't normally live very long.
She explained that Troy had come with her for sex, so she could feed, and asked if they could use the showers. Birk just smiled and got them some towels, the over sized fluffy white ones that the gym provided. They smelled like lavender. Since she didn't smell like sex and wouldn't mind if Troy did, it would be all right by the standards of his culture. Even if they'd wanted to use one of the lifting benches in the main room. The Trolleinkein were so sensible in some ways, Kate thought. Now if only she could work out that little scent problem.
They made love in the shower, taking a long time, which let Kate really get into it. She harvested the energy that came off of him, since it was free and would go to waste otherwise, even though she also intended to get some off of Zack later too. The closer she stayed to topped off all the time, the happier she'd be.
Since Troy was able to get hard again after a while, with only a small projection of pleasure on her part, she dropped to her knees and took him into her mouth. She was careful, so that he wouldn't get too big a jolt of pleasure, since that could be highly addictive and was generally frowned upon by Alede everywhere. It could and did happen by accident from time to time, if the person using the pleasure got lazy or didn't control themselves properly. That created too many problems to be worth bothering with, given all the stalking and mental problems it could engender, so the vast majority of her kind just took care not to give in to the temptation.
At least Troy knew who to go to if he ever needed a fix. If anything like that ever happened, since he knew what an Alede actually was and had slept with about a half dozen of them himself, he could get things taken care of. If he went to Patty, or came to her even, with that kind of problem, they'd make sure he got help. Most people that slept with an Alede would only be able to associate any addiction with that particular individual, not something a whole group could do. That led to obsession and could create huge problems, since by their nature a Succubi or Incubi had to have so many people in their lives. It most often ended in death, usually for the Human that got addicted, sometimes for the Succubi or Incubi that had messed up. Either way was bad.
When he came, she swallowed, then carefully licked him clean, her tongue moving over him slowly and carefully, because it caused him to keep putting out energy, even past the point that the pleasure had stopped. It seemed a little naughty to him, she knew, even after all the experiences he'd had with her people so his mind fully engaged in the process.
Then they took a normal shower for a while, since the gym had hot water on demand and the energy for it provided for free by the Djinn. Shower heads could be pointed from several points along the wall so neither of them had to stand in the cold air while the other got clean. The shiny, silver spray nozzles worked hard putting forth steamy water that almost burned her flesh. It felt nice, after the shared lukewarm things at school. They both scrubbed for a while, then held each other under the hot water, slick skins touching as water ran down their backs. A scent of flowers filled the air, the soap that the power lifting gym used. The scent wasn't manly for a Human, but she doubted that anyone seeing Birk or Merle, the Ambassador, a huge hairy man, would ever think they were girly. Finally, Troy suggested that they go back and see what the situation might be, since his work may or may not be over for the evening.
“Not that I get paid for this. Still, not everything worth doing is something you get paid for." He looked at her, not a hard thing, but a searching one, as if he really wanted her to tell him he was right and that the work he did hunting down criminals that hurt innocent people held value. So she did, because that kind of thing did hold worth. No one sane could doubt it. Honestly, it was pretty close to the best use of his time that could be come up with. Illegal in most places, but legality seldom made things right or wrong.
When they got back to the frozen yogurt shop they found the bodies gone and only Zack, Hilda and Claire remained in the back. Hilda ran over and gave her another hug. This time she pulled back rapidly, wrinkling her nose slightly. She smiled and patted Troy on the shoulder without commenting.
Claire came over and gave her a hug too, this one more lingering than most of the others had been, now that everyone else had taken off. Kaitlyn, deciding to be daring, leaned in and kissed her firmly, grabbing her behind before pulling away. No one blinked about it. Not even Zack, who had probably ignored the display of sexuality by her anyway. He did that, she knew. Ignored the parts of the world he wasn't comfortable with. Any sign of sexual interest from her got that, which kind of hurt her feelings.
Claire wearing an old fashioned dress, which would have looked right on a show about the old west held her hand as she stepped back a soft, almost mysterious smile touching her lips.
“You did marvelously earlier. As you probably noticed, Zack's ability to restore energy is being kept as secret as possible for now, even from our friends. At least in the Vampire community. It will get out eventually, but the longer it takes, the better off we'll all be. Has school been treating you well?” The sudden change of topic was typical Claire.
She'd finished saying what she wanted and moved directly to something else, taking full control of the conversation. Usually without anyone else ever noticing it. Kate just shrugged. If the Vampire wanted her to just accept the idea for now, she would, since it involved the other woman's culture here. Rather than ask a question or answer immediately, she kissed her again, a dry kiss, even though on the lips. A slight taste of lipstick coming off her friend's mouth.
Hanging on to Claire's hand, which felt cool in her own, she told them about her new friends, classes and the trouble Britney had with Don. Gossip, but interesting enough to catch everyone's attention. She also mentioned how she hadn't gotten any sex at all during the first week.
“I mean, there's a huge amount of people there, but I'm holding out for actually meeting them first, and my group of friends is a little small yet, since I'm not just looking for sexual partners. So, if someone else could do it with me before I go back, that would be great. Troy's about tapped for today, I think. So, someone else?” She looked around the room, and smiled when Blake raised his hand a little and said “Me! Pick me!” under his breath.
Claire started to scowl at him, but stopped when Kate smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, actually I was hoping Blake would volunteer. If I can get him free from work for a bit before I leave?”
Looking around the store, which fairly gleamed, Claire shook her head.
“I would, but he still needs to clean up the back room. If the blood sets, the scent will linger for weeks, making everyone hungry all the time. Now I could clean it up myself, but that would set a bad precedence...”
Blake's shoulders slumped but he didn't say anything, since this fell into that Vampire politics stuff, Kate didn't either.
Troy looked around and checked his watch.
“Hmmm. Well... I'm not actually in your chain of command, Vampire wise at
least, so I could cover for him and clean up the back room, if that's all right with you Claire? I mean his shift ends in what, half an hour anyway? I can certainly mop the floor a couple of times and put down some disinfectant and what not. I've done it before, so I think I can manage...” He didn't smile or anything and didn't address Blake, instead looking only at Claire while he spoke, knowing that the decision lay with her.
She nodded at him very formally.
“Very well Troy, if you wish, since that does take care of the political end of things nicely. What do you ask in return for this service?”
Blake perked up behind the counter and he gave Kaitlyn a longing look, then frowned.
“I... don't really have anything that Troy would want. I mean I'd offer to have sex with him for it, win-win for me, but he's all pent up that way still, only doing women. I could offer him Betty, but he's already had her and besides, while I don't think she'd mind doing it, she's not really mine to offer. The same is true with Rebeca, and she's shy around men. Nikki outranks me, and I don't really want to be beaten down that badly, it would be embarrassing. I could offer to work for him, but he only does day shifts here and I can't. I don't have very much money at all... I don't know, Troy, is there anything I can do for you that you'd find of equal or greater value?”
Troy looked at him and finally nodded.