by J.D. Rogers
***
O Positive occupied the top two floors of a steel and glass tower. Not only did Titus Hawthorn own the club. He owned the entire building. A glass elevator located on the outside of the tower led directly to the club.
A big human wearing the same outfit Elvis vamp wore guarded the elevator. He was the one that decided who got to go up and who didn't. He had a line of about two dozen people standing there, waiting, hoping to get into the club. We bypassed the line, pausing just long enough for him to call the elevator.
The club occupied two floors, three if you counted the mezzanine where Titus Hawthorn held court. The first floor contained a chrome dance floor. Red, blue, and green lights hanging overhead changed color at regular intervals.
The second floor was a balcony that circled the first floor. A chrome and smoked glass bar covered three of the four exterior walls. The fourth wall contained a chrome staircase leading to the first floor as well as Titus's little balcony. The interior of the second floor contained a chrome and smoked glass rail. Chrome and smoked glass tables rested against the rail, allowing customers to look down on the dance floor. Music with a driving beat pounded out of speakers hidden throughout the club.
We headed up to the mezzanine, where we found Titus. He was in his usual spot, sitting at a chrome and glass table, looking down upon his domain.
He looked just like you'd expect a guy named Titus Hawthorn to look, tall with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and blond hair that just covered his ears. He appeared to be in his late twenties and wore a dark gray suit made out of a material that shined. His shirt was light gray and made out of silk. The top two buttons were open. He wore no tie.
The look was just that, a carefully cultivated look. Titus Hawthorn had been around a long time, hundreds of years, maybe thousands. In truth, I had no idea how old he was. Nor did I know where he came from, let alone what name his parents gave him when he was born. I was pretty sure that it wasn't Titus Hawthorn.
Before we came out of the closet, so to speak, it was standard practice for supernaturals to change their identity and move around, less people realize that they didn't age like normal humans.
“I see you found her,” Titus said, when Elvis vamp and I stepped onto mezzanine. “Nice job.”
“What's up?” I said.
Titus waved the fingers of his right hand in a brushing style. Elvis vamp bowed his head and headed down the stairs, leaving Titus and I alone, which in itself was unusual. Every other time I was there, Titus was feeding off the thigh of a leggy blond. Like Elvis vamp, he detested drinking cold blood out of a plastic bag. Unlike Elvis vamp, he had lots of money, which meant he didn't have to drink cold blood out of a plastic bag.
I moved to the seat across from Titus and sat, crossing my right leg over my left. I was wearing a conservative suit, black knee length skirt, white silk blouse, black suit jacket, black two inch heels. It was the first time I met John's new boss so I opted for a professional appearance. My hair was short and red, not human red, mermaid red. Human hair that's red is either brown-red or orange-red. Mermaid hair that's red is cherry red. I used to wear it long, but I cut it awhile back, when I was working on another case and needed to change my appearance.
“I want to hire you,” Titus said.
“I'm not swimming topless in that mermaid tank at your strip club.” Not that I had a problem with going topless. Like most mermaids, I'm not what you would call shy. A lot of supernaturals prefer to keep a low profile, but mermaids aren't among them. I had a problem with swimming around in a tank in mermaid form so people could gawk at me. It was kind of like being a freak in a sideshow, or an animal in a zoo. “And I can't work as an exotic dancer. I have a boyfriend now. I don't think he'd approve of my doing that kind of stuff.”
“A boyfriend,” Titus said in a mocking tone. “Pretty soon people will start confusing you for a real girl.”
“What do you want?”
“I want to hire you. As a bodyguard.”
“You've already got plenty of muscle working at this place. Both human and supernatural.”
“I don't want to hire you to work at my club. I want to hire you as my personal bodyguard.”
“Why do you need me?”
Titus was the oldest, most powerful vampire in the city, not to mention the richest. I couldn't imagine who he feared so much that he felt he needed me to protect him. Then there was the fact that protecting Titus kind of went against everything I believed.
My mother, the mermaid, taught me how to be a mermaid. My father, who is human, and an ex-cop, taught me to protect the little guy, protect those who couldn’t or wouldn’t protect themselves, protect those who had no one else to help them. Titus was as far from the little guy as you could get.
“The Count is coming to town,” Titus said.
He spoke like I should know who the Count was. Maybe in vampire circles the Count was famous, but I wasn't a vampire, so the name meant nothing to me. “And you fear this count because?”
“Not this count, the Count. It's his name. Or at least the only name he's known by.”
“And you fear him because?”
“Because he's the oldest vampire in world. And in vampire circles the older you are the more powerful you are.”
“What do you think he might do to you?”
“He likes to push people around, take things from them, torture them, kill them.”
“By people, you mean vamps.”
Titus nodded. “I mean vampires.”
“How does he do all of that?”
“He compels vampires that are younger than him to give things to him, or to walk out into the bright sunshine and stay there until they burn up.”
“And you don't like being pushed around.”
“It’s been awhile since I've met a vampire that's older than me, that had the power to take my empire from me, let alone kill me.”
“I take it you and the Count run in different circles.”
“He lives in Europe, has never paid much attention to the new world. Until now.”
The fact that Titus referred to this as the new world, gave me a clue as to just how old he was. Usually he avoided terminology that gave away his age. The fact that he was using it now, told me just how scared he was.
“So you want me to stop the Count from bullying you, forcing you to turn over your empire to him.”
“Because he's older than me, he can compel me. You on the other hand are a mermaid.”
“And like most mermaids, I'm not very good at taking orders.” That was how I became a private detective. I had been a cop, like my father, but I had trouble following orders. I received a lot of commendations for saving lives, and a lot of reprimands for not doing what I was told. Eventually, I decided I was better off on my own.
Titus reached underneath his chair and set a wooden box on the table. The box was made from polished maple. The hinged lid contained pieces of ivory inlaid in the shape of a star. The box was one foot long, one foot wide, and one foot high. It reminded me of a jewelry box. A very large, very old, extremely well made jewelry box. The fact that it looked like a jewelry box made my mouth water.
There are a few things you should know about mermaids. We don't live in coral castles at the bottom of the sea. That's a myth. You may not be aware of this, but it's cold and dark at the bottom of the ocean. Plus there are some really weird looking fish down there. And just for the record, none of them sing and dance.
If you throw water on our legs, they won't turn into a tail. That's another myth. We can change form at will, like most shape shifters. Nor do we have gills, we're not fish, we're mammals, like whales and dolphins.
We do love shiny things. That's not a myth. Mermaids are obsessed with collecting shiny things. I converted the extra bedroom in my condo into a walk-in vault. That's where I keep my shiny things. My gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and pearls. My treasure.
Drugs and alcohol don't affect me the way the
y affect humans, probably because of my accelerated metabolism. When I want to get high, or just need to relax, I walk into my vault, turn on the spotlights, and stare at shiny shiny treasures.
If Titus was intending to pay me with whatever was in that very large, very old, very ornate, jewelry box, then he was serious about needing my help. Deadly serious.
“You must want my help pretty bad if you're offering me whatever is in that box.” I was trying to act like I didn't care what was in the box, but I'm not sure I was succeeding. I had already uncrossed my legs and slid forward in my seat, anxious to see what Titus had inside the box.
Titus hesitated for a few seconds, letting the anticipation build, then he opened the box's lid, slowly. Resting on a cushion of red velvet was a crown. A genuine honest-to-god crown.
It was hand made, out of solid gold. There were seven peaks on top of the crown, with a small cross on top of each peak. In the middle of each cross was a small diamond. A line of rubies, emeralds, and sapphires circled the middle of the crown's headband. The rubies were diamond shaped. The emeralds were oval shaped. The sapphires were cut in the shape of rectangles.
“You agree to serve as my bodyguard,” Titus said. “Protect me from the Count, and this crown is yours.”
I had to give Titus credit. He knew how to get to a mermaid. How to win her over. I had a lot of stuff in my vault, chests full of gold doubloons, chests full of silver pieces, a fifty gallon Plexiglas barrel full of pearls. I had a chest full of diamond rings, another full of emerald and ruby necklaces. I had gold and silver bracelets up the wazoo. I even had a couple dozen diamond tiaras, but I didn't have a crown, let alone a solid gold crown that had been around for centuries as this one clearly had.
I could already see myself walking around my condo with that crown on my head. I would have to hang a few more mirrors in my place, so I could really enjoy it. But that was okay. What was the point of wearing a crown as magnificent as this one if I couldn't see myself in it?
I reached for the crown, wanting to touch it, hold it, try it on, but Titus snapped the box's lid shut, almost taking my fingers with it.
“First you agree to protect me from the Count. Then you get the crown.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I needed a minute to come down from the high I was experiencing. The high that shiny shiny crown had given me.
“I take it you've had that for awhile,” I said when I felt more like myself.
Titus smiled. “I took if off the head of the king it once belonged to.”
“What king would that be?”
“Doesn't matter,” Titus said. “His kingdom doesn't exist anymore. Hasn't existed for quite awhile.”
“How did you know I don't have a crown?”
“Lucky guess. Do we have a deal or not?”
“We have a deal,” I said.
Truth be told, I would've taken the job even if he hadn't offered me the crown. I wanted to meet the Count. I wanted to meet the individual who could scare the most powerful vampire I knew.