by Diana Graves
I remembered an old dream then. Tacoma was burning. I could still remember the smell of the burning wood, and hear the screams. “What did they do to Mort Villa, to you?”
“They attacked us. With guns and fire, they attacked. We did not fight back—at first. We stood our ground but we didn’t fight. I ordered my people not to fight, but when the humans killed a child barguest, just a baby…” she closed her eyes, unable to continue. Tears slid down her white cheeks and dangled from her pointed chin.
“It’s okay,” I said, because that’s what you say to sad people when you don’t have anything useful to say.
“No, it’s not! The child was innocent, stolen from her bed in the villa. And she died an excruciating death at the hands of hateful men because she wasn’t human. They skinned her alive, tore off her limbs! I could not hold back my people, Raina. I could not, I would not. I stood, and watched them slaughter every last bastard that raised a hand against us.”
I sat in shock. The dark throne room would have been better suited for this sort of story, not the bright warm sun and green grass. Perhaps that was the point. Perhaps Adia changed the scene so that it wouldn’t all be too much.
“Soon after the battle I received word. I was excommunicated from the vampire community. The powers that be needed my head in order to keep their good standing with the US government. They could not condone my actions, because doing so would set back all the progress they’d fought so hard for.”
“The vampires wanted you dead too? How could they betray you like that?”
“Every country in the world killed vampires on sight, but not America. America was the land of the free, and I jeopardized that.”
“So, it would have been better if you let those people kill you and everyone you loved?!”
“Yes, for the greater good of our people, yes. But, I wasn’t the only one sentenced to death. They wanted the entire collective purged. Mort Villa was no more. I sent three ships out. One carried my many barguest companions, one carried my legion, and the third carried myself and my champions. We were headed for Canada with the hopes to lose ourselves in the great uncharted wilderness.”
“So, you’re somewhere in Canada?”
“No. We left shortly after we received the news of our sentence, but day was coming fast. I and the other vampires retired below decks as the rest of the crew and collective sailed us through the Puget Sound. At some point, I don’t know where, we were attacked. From what little information I’ve been able to piece together, several fur trading vessels cut off our route and opened fire. A small number of my people escaped, mostly barguests that were able to jump into the water and become fish, and a few humans who survived the initial attack and later claimed they were under our control. But, all the vampires went down with the ships.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I went down with my ship. Right now, whatever is left of my body is buried under heaps of rusted metal and rotting wood. Even with the weight of the ship, and the water bearing down on me, I should have been able to escape my coffin, but my entire legion was underwater. All at once they latched on to me, draining every last drop of my strength in order to save themselves, but they were unsuccessful. They died, and in doing so they took everything from me. I was depleted of power, and separated from every vampire I had under my rule, except Alistair.”
“He’s kept you alive all these years, but he’s not strong enough to save you,” I said, finally understanding many things. Over a hundred years Alistair’s kept his sister alive, but it’s cost him his sanity. I hated to admit it, but I hated him a little less. Fuck.
“No, and after so many years he can’t find me either. It wasn’t safe enough for him to come to Washington until the mid-seventies, and by then he could find no sign of my small fleet. For all we know, the ships are no more, and I have no body to return to. I feel horrible for the burden I’ve placed upon my brother.”
“Alistair’s crazy because of the mental strain, isn’t he?” I asked without needing to hear the answer. I already knew it. All vampires lose their minds eventually. The moment someone becomes a vampire they are bombarded with too much sensory information. That’s where they get their unusual abilities, like telepathy. But the information is always increasing, coming at them faster than they can process it, and eventually it becomes too much.
“Yes, I live on in him,” she said quietly. “And, you.”
“Me?” I said it with wide eyes, and for a millisecond I felt hurt, betrayed even, but that feeling passed. I couldn’t blame her. How many vampires did she have to feed from to keep herself alive? Me, Nick, Michael? Maybe there were others I didn’t know about, others that had been infected with the blood she donated to science so many decades ago. Tonight had been a night of revelations.
IN NEED
FAUNA WAS STANDING over me when I woke up. It was daylight out and she looked worried. She was wearing her house robe and her long red hair was still uncombed. She had the cordless phone to her ear with the mouth piece covered by her hand.
“What is it?” I asked as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
“It’s your mother,” Fauna said. “You need to go home and deal with something.”
I rolled over in my bed and gave Fauna my back. “Can’t it wait? I’m tired.” I hadn’t slept well after Adia’s little bomb shell.
Fauna said her goodbyes to my mother as she walked around the bed. She assured her that I’d be there soon. I gave her a look of contempt. She caught the look and gave me one of patience.
“Raina, I know you and your mother are going through a rough patch right now, but you really do need to get dressed and get over there. There are people there asking for you, and they refuse to leave until they’ve talked to you.”
“I’m sure Mom can take care of them.” By the widening of her eyes when I spoke I knew she caught sight of my new fangs. She didn’t say anything about them, but I tried to hide them all the same.
“She’s outnumbered so unless she’s willing to call the police…” She let the rest of the sentence go unsaid. She didn’t need to explain to me how dangerous it could be for a non-human to call the police. If you were lucky the dispatcher would know to send an ethereal investigations officer, rather than a normal police officer. Ethereal Investigations or EI, were the police for preternatural beings. Normal police officers usually ended up shooting someone or arresting everyone.
I sighed with a nod. I would go. “Did she say who these people are, or what they want?”
“They won’t give their names, but they want to hire you as a bounty hunter. They won’t say what they want you to hunt, though,” Fauna looked suspicious. It was annoying, but I understood their want for secrecy. In a world where the abnormal is met with fear and violence, what people know about you can get you killed.
“I’ll go,” I said, but I wasn’t happy about it. Even though I decided last night that I was going to accept Ruy’s offer, I wasn’t planning to take the gig, no matter what. I had enough on my plate. But, maybe I could pass it off to EI or Ruy or whatever.
“Can I come with you?” I heard Katie from the doorway. She was holding a cup of coffee and a bagel with apple butter spread thickly. She held them out to me.
“What’s in the coffee?” I asked before taking it.
“Heavy on the soy cream, lots of sugar. Fauna told me how you like it,” Katie said.
I smiled, but I gave her narrowed eyes. What was she being so nice for, or was this to be the new Katie from now on? Either way, I gladly accepted the food and took a long wonderful sip of fresh coffee.
“Yup, you can come. But, why would you want to?”
Fauna squeezed past her and headed down stairs, and Katie sat next to me on the bed. She was dressed well, wearing a nice red summer dress and her hair up in a loose bun on her head. Still, no makeup. I liked her face better without all that distracting noise.
“I overheard you talking with Michael and Tristan last night. I don’t want
to be a burden, and I’m a little afraid to live with Nil after what Tristan said about him.”
“Oh, Katie, don’t worry about it. I’m sure Nick’s not all that bad. And, about finding a place and a job, I got that covered. Ruy’s offered me a job that pays well. We’re set.” I tried to give her my best care-free smile, but I wasn’t sure if it made it to my eyes.
“Okay, can I still come? I just want to stop by Dad’s and get some clothes. Your aunt let me borrow this dress, but she had to use magic to make it my size.” Katie made a face of unease. She didn’t like magic, not at all.
“Sure, and thanks for breakfast,” I said, holding up the yummy bagel.
“No problem. Thank you for not telling Michael why I was here last night.”
“What are you going to tell him when he asks you?”
She shrugged her dainty shoulders. There was a guarded look in her eyes. “I don’t know.”
♦
Mom lived in an aged suburb just off the freeway in Tacoma. It was a rundown part of the city, full of drugs, prostitution and gang violence. But, Mom didn’t seem to notice any of that. When she looked out of her window, she didn’t see beyond her beautiful garden with a picturesque view of Mount Rainier.
We had to park along the curb because there was no room in the driveway for us. Not with Mom’s little red car, a huge gold hummer and Ruy’s blue jeep occupying it. The gold hummer obviously belonged to the unwanted guests, but I was more curious about Ruy’s jeep. Mom and Ruy were dating, so it’d make sense if he spent the night from time to time. But, what I didn’t understand was, if Ruy was there already, why were they still asking for me, the apprentice?
Katie asked to wait in the car, and I thought that was a great idea. I didn’t know what was going to go down, but it was a load off my mind knowing that Katie was safe. I heard her lock and alarm the car after I closed the door. She looked scared, probably of the neighborhood. It didn’t bother me, or maybe I was just used to it.
This wasn’t the first prospective client that wanted the recently famous Raina Kirkland to hunt something unusual for them. One other private contract had come a-knocking on my aunt’s door a week ago. A man had lost his gulon, a sort of rare feline from Germany. He kept stressing about how easy the job would be. “Just catch my kitty,” he pleaded over and over again with a thick German accent. It sounded too easy for the amount of money he was offering. I can’t say I wasn’t tempted to take the job, but I stuck to my guns. I wasn’t a bounty hunter and after I looked up just what a gulon was, I was thankful that I refused his contract. I found a website dedicated solely to these strange animals. “Kitty” he called it. Gulons are huge felines with long brown or gold fur, kind of like a scruffy alley cat but five times the size. With no internal trigger telling them they’re not hungry, they’re constantly hunting for food! But, they also have an underactive bowl, so they’re always trying to purge themselves by whatever means. Examples given on the website were; rubbing their stomach along the ground or squeezing themselves between two close trees. I so didn’t want to hunt down a ravenous giant kitty with an eating disorder.
Mom answered the door wearing a lovely green robe with a gold Celtic pattern sewn at the hem. Most of her long black and gold hair was up in a tight bun with strands of gold and black falling around her thin face and all the way down to her ankles. She leaned into the door with a look of exhaustion clear on her face. Even distressed as she was she was still beautiful. She still had all the grace and splendor one would expect from a half elf.
She moved to let me in without a verbal greeting. I walked past her with stiff shoulders. It felt strange being there and not calling it home. My eyes were instantly drawn to any changes she’d made since I left. There were more plants hanging and sitting about. There was a new vase on one of the shelves by the television. She had moved the antique computer desk from behind the Victorian sofa to in front of the wall in the living room that used to hold two dozen pictures of Tristan, Nick and myself. The pictures were gone and the wall was now a barren red surface.
I took it all in in a matter of seconds and then my attention fell on the two men sitting on the sofa with a woman sitting between them. The men looked positively twin-like. They both wore black business suits with their dark hair cut drastically short to their scalps. They were human, their only supernatural power being that they were utterly ripped with muscles. More muscles than I thought the human body capable of growing. More muscle than looked comfy. I could see their muscles move under their perfectly tailored suits as they stood to greet me. I knew their suits had to be tailored to fit them perfectly, because you don’t find clothes off the rack that rest on wide shoulders and hang on narrow hips like that, complimenting every curve. I shook their hands in turn with an odd professionalism I never knew I possessed. Their handshakes were identical as well. Weak, as if they were afraid to break my hand. I took it as an insult.
“I’m not going to break boys,” I said with my big girl voice, deeper and full of confidence. Looks like that one drama class in college would pay off after all.
The first man introduced himself as, Cole. He had dark skin, small dark eyes and large pouty lips. His ears had one inch silver gages in them. I instantly liked Cole better because he smiled at my comment.
“I’m Bayard,” said the other man with what looked like a permanent frown. He looked hard at me with large dark eyes almost as black as Mom’s. His skin was a Mediterranean olive and his high cheekbones and sharp chin gave away a possible distant elfin relation. “We are so pleased you could meet with us,” Bayard said before sitting back down. He didn’t look pleased to see me.
The woman sitting between them said nothing. Her dark midnight blue eyes were an amazing contrast to her rich dark skin. Her short black hair was left down to frame her face, which somehow looked familiar. She was wearing a great deal of gold jewelry and a long bronze colored dress that screamed money, lots and lots of money.
I looked for Mom and found her standing by the hallway like a guard with her arms crossed, as if to say, “You may come this far into my home and no farther.” I didn’t know if she was guarding the guests or me, and that was a sad thought.
Ruy came up from behind Mom from down the hall and patted her shoulder with a large hand. His black curls were long and laying over his shoulders. He was wearing a pair of pajama pants and a tight fitting white shirt that stretched over his muscles. The white of the shirt looked stark in contrast to his tanned skin. His piercing blue eyes watched the room quietly as he comforted Mom, petting her shoulder until she turned to acknowledge his touch.
I took the chair from the computer desk and wheeled it to the sofa for me to sit on. My big black boots made noises as I crossed my legs at my ankles. It felt good to be in my own clothes again; loose fitting jeans, a black tank top and a see-through blue knitted sweater.
“How can I help you?” I asked, and my voice sounded older, even to me.
The woman said nothing. She gave me judging eyes, as though weighing my worth.
“We seek your services,” Cole said in broken English, making it clear that his first language was something acquired out of the country, Africa perhaps.
I hadn’t realized it, but I had been sitting up very straight. What was it about these people that made me want to look prim and proper? That wasn’t me, far from it. I relaxed and let my back fall back to its usual bad posture.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not a bounty hunter yet.” Ruy looked up and he smiled at the, ‘yet.’ “I’m not licensed or anything. But, I’m sure Seattle’s EI can either take care of you or refer you to a fully licensed hunter.” I looked at Ruy. If he hadn’t told them he was a bounty hunter for whatever reason, then I wasn’t going to.
I opened my purse and pulled out a business card that I got in the mail one fine day. Officer Fillips was the new department head, since their last boss was asked to resign after an internal investigation found that he was working for Admetus. That bit of information actu
ally explained a lot about how Admetus got away with as much as he did for as long as he had.
Before being promoted, Fillips was in charge of what was referred to as ‘the chop squad.’ Their job was to make the area safe. Sometimes that meant torching a cave or some other sort of dwelling suspected of being the home of an ill-tempered non-human, or chopping the heads off of supposedly dead non-humans as an extra precaution. I didn’t know who she pleased or pissed off to get the job, but she was awfully enthusiastic about it. She was one of the police officers who still thought I was a bounty hunter in training and she accredited me with Admetus’ death. She threw a party after her promotion and sent me an invite in the mail with one of her shiny new business cards. I declined the invite of course. I was too busy hiding from a demon, like a loser.
Bayard took the card from my hand, while the woman beside him looked at my hand like she wondered what it tasted like. She wasn’t human; that was clear to me. I could always tell if someone wasn’t human. I didn’t always know what they were, but I knew what they weren’t. I could have probed her mind, but I didn’t like doing that to people I didn’t know. When I opened up that part of myself, I never knew what I was going to get. It was sort of like a box of chocolates or Russian roulette.
“We’ve spoken with the EI in Seattle. They were no help. They gave us your number,” Bayard said. He gave Fillip’s card back to me and I slid it back into my purse.
“Damn, aren’t there any other bounty hunters in Washington?” I asked no one in particular and no one answered. I moaned and looked back at the two men and the strange woman, “Why couldn’t EI help you?”
Bayard shifted his weight and spared a quick glance at the woman next to him. Her narrow face and smooth skin said she was nowhere near her thirties, but the look in her eyes was old; like all these precious hours, days and years meant nothing to her. It was damn unsettling. She looked over all of us as though she wasn’t seeing what the rest of us were.