by Sean Hayden
"No."
"Are you nocturnal?"
"Yes."
"Are you sunlight intolerant?"
"Sunburn extraordinarily fast, yes. Do I turn into a cinder, no."
"But you're not a vampire, correct?" Even I could hear the doubt in his voice as it came through the speaker. I just wasn't sure if he thought I was lying to him or to myself.
"From every bit of information I have garnered from the internet on every subspecies of vampire known to man there are many similarities and dissimilarities between myself and vampires, the greatest of them being vampires are created and not born because they are sterile, sir." Uh, oh, there goes the eloquence again. I just hoped it didn't get me in trouble again, even though I impressed myself. If I ever went to school to get my degree, I may actually make my doctorate thesis on the differences between myself and vampires.
I heard the tiny voice in Special Agent Stone's ear again telling him to leave the room. I didn't know if things were moving in a positive direction, but at least the session of twenty questions had come to a halt. Hopefully they wouldn't drum up some charge to hold me with, and I could get out of here soon. Dawn was coming soon and tired didn't begin to describe how I felt.
"I will return shortly, Miss Ashlyn, do you require anything while I'm gone?"
"Could you let me out of these damn cuffs? They're starting to chafe."
"Regretfully no, they are a standard protection for our benefit, not yours. Over the years we have lost too many agents to vampires during interviews. Apparently vampires don't like to cooperate very much with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I am sorry."
He stood and left and I decided against playing the "I'm not a vampire" card once again. Obviously he didn't believe me either. I felt the sun come up in my mind's eye and I knew daylight had come again. I stifled a yawn and tried to make myself comfortable in the chair. At least I had the benefit of being in a windowless room. The sun would have me crying in a few minutes, but the temperature and light levels of the room had been set at a comfortable level.
I waited for over an hour for someone to return, and it wasn't Stone. A grey haired gentleman of upper years entered and closed the door behind him. He wore a crisp black suit with a maroon tie. I could tell he held a rank of some importance by the way he held himself. I wondered if his voice would match the one I heard over the loudspeaker earlier. I watched him as he watched me while he sat down across the tiny table. I noticed his lack of file folder, and I wondered if Stone had anything in the one he brought earlier. Probably just some doodles of robots shooting down jet fighters.
Mr. Cool nodded to the two guards still standing behind me and to my surprise they departed. Now he and I were the sole occupants of the tiny room. Either he held every confidence in himself, or he thought I probably wouldn't be a threat. I could be if I wanted to, but I didn't want the entire FBI hunting me down every minute of every day.
"Miss Ashlyn, thank you for not hiding the truth of your lack of fingerprints, documents, or past. All the channels returned a "person not registered" answer, and to tell you the truth, I have never seen such a thing. You remained hidden quite well for the past seventeen years. How did you manage to pull off such a miracle?" I recognized it as the same voice as earlier so I felt a little more comfortable talking with him.
"My aunt hid me, sir. Don't ask me her name, she died in a car accident recently so she can't be of any use to you and I won't tarnish her name. If you want, I'll write down the story of my birth and life for your records. I guess I'm on the map now and don't have to hide anymore."
"I would greatly appreciate you doing so. Let me introduce myself. I am Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago branch of the FBI. My name is Clifford Reese. I would shake your hand, but I wouldn't want you to needlessly snap another set of perfectly good V-cuffs," he said and smirked.
"How did you…,"I started to ask, but he held up his hand. He stood and walked around the table and produced a key from his jacket pocket. He reached down and not only unlocked the ones binding me to the chair, but also the ones binding my hands and feet. I rubbed my raw wrists. Whatever the cuffs had been made from, it wasn't dull.
"We have had a busy past hour, Miss Ashlyn. We dispatched a team to Fangloria's and apprehended Gloria herself for kidnapping. Unfortunately, she is in some serious trouble. Kidnapping is a horrible offence in and of itself, but throw in the facts you are minor and she is a vampire…it does not bode well for her future. Let's just say she is being very cooperative. I would like a separate statement about the incidents at her place of business if you don't mind."
I couldn't help but thinking what a shrewd man Clifford Reese seemed to be. I thought I might find a pang of guilt over the fate of Gloria, but she decided to fuck me first. Cicero had planned to kill me, so she got what she deserved in my book.
"Am I free to go?"
"Not yet I'm afraid, you're not going to be charged for the attack at the bar, nor for resisting arrest, which is good news, and yes I know it's not your fault the agent broke his leg. Because of this you're not going to be charged with anything. However, there are still some matters we need to clear up, and I need some more information on Cicero. I know you weren't in his office for very long, but we have several outstanding warrants on the current Master of the City, and an attempted murder charge and kidnapping of a minor would greatly help. I even think Gloria may help with his capture to save her ass. Would you mind giving a statement on the incident as well?"
All I could do is shrug. I felt sleepier by the minute. I may not "die" when the sun came up like a vampire, but my body still didn't like it. I stifled a yawn and Clifford Reese noticed.
"If you are exhausted for the day, we have overnight accommodations which are free during the day at this facility. Would you like to rest for a while before giving your statements?"
I nodded in gratitude at his offer. He stood and motioned me to the door. I made a graceful "after you" motion with my hands and he smiled in return. He led me through the door and past the two agents assigned as "guards". As we walked down the hall I heard them fall into step behind us. He may have trusted me more than before, but obviously it went only so far.
We climbed aboard the shiny stainless steel elevator I had pictured earlier and descended two floors. We must have ended up right above the parking garage. We passed a small kitchen, the standard office kind without a stove, just a fridge, coffee maker, microwave, and toaster oven and then two large bathrooms. One marked agents and the other marked agentesses. Apparently someone in this office had a sense of humor. We entered another hall with a bunch of nondescript doors running the entire length. I only saw two with red door hangers, so they must have been occupied. He led me down the hall and stopped at the last one on the right and opened the door.
I glanced inside and found a small cot with what looked like a standard military issue pillow and blanket folded at the foot of it. A small nightstand and table lamp lay right next to it and completed the room. It looked Spartan and cozy at the same time.
"Enjoy your rest, Miss Ashlyn. Just let one of your guards know when you are through. I will be waiting for you."
He turned and spun on his heel. I didn't even look at my guards, just walked into the tiny room, shut the door, and lie down on the most comfortable thing I had ever slept on. I didn't snuggle or make myself a nest. I just put the pillow and blanket at the head of the bed, kicked my tennis shoes off and went to sleep. I didn't even dream.
Chapter 5
I awoke mid afternoon. I could feel the sun making its descent into the west, but I knew it wasn't even remotely dark out. I rose and straightened out my rumpled clothes and put my tennis shoes back on. One of the benefits I enjoyed with my unique physiology is I produced no body odor. I guess when you are designed to be a predator, walking around stinking to high heaven wouldn't be too helpful.
I walked over to the door and thought about just opening it. It probably wasn't a good idea to start the day full o
f holes, so I knocked to alert my guards of my presence. They must have heard me in the room because as soon as I knocked the door swung open.
I had two new faces, so the agents assigned to me must have been relieved at some point during the morning. The one who opened the door actually smiled at me. I wondered if I found the one responsible for the bathroom labels down the hall. He seemed like he had a sense of humor. I gave him a goofy smile back and they both turned and led the way back through the maze I had traversed earlier. We made it to the elevator without encountering another soul, but while we waited for the doors to open, another agent walked up to share our ride.
She stood taller than me by about two inches so I guessed she was around five foot nine, at least if she wasn't wearing two inch heels. She struck me as beautiful, and I felt shabby standing next to her. She wore a plain white blouse under a grey skirt and jacket. Between the heels and the skirt I figured she didn't see much field work. She seemed pretty interested in my second guard though. She kept glancing at him to see if he made eye contact, but to his credit he didn't. I wondered if they had a little history between them.
"Another Hacker?"
"She's wanted for industrial espionage," funny guard answered, saving guard two from having to talk to the pretty agent.
"Nice. Pretty soon these kids are going to take over. I hope they don't screw with my paycheck," she replied.
I watched funny guard press the button for the sixth floor. Must be the executive offices I thought. I hoped our hitchhiker would press a button for a sooner floor but it looked like she would be sharing our ride for the duration. Gratefully she made the minimally acceptable amount of small talk. She exited before us and drifted off to the left while we made our way to the right.
We wound our way through the cubicle farms and hallways to the rear of the building. Apparently being the Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office warranted a corner office made mostly of glass. Agent funny man rapped his knuckles and ushered me into Agent Reese's domain. I walked in and glanced back to see my new friends take up their usual posts at the door. Number two actually reached into the office and pulled the door closed behind me.
Reese gestured to one of the chairs situated in front of his large grey desk and I complied, giving him a small smile to say thank you as I sat. He finished signing whatever documents he had been working on before I walked in and placed them in a clearly labeled "out" box on the corner of the desk. He stashed his pen in the rotary office organizer next to it and pulled another folder from the side partition by his computer. I glanced and saw my name labeled on the little manila tab in the middle.
He set the folder in front of him and folded his aged hands across the top and smiled. I smiled to him in thanks, but his smile made me a little wary. The phrase about the cat and canary popped unwillingly into my head.
"Glad to see you a little rested Miss Ashlyn," he began. Personally I had grown quite tired of the Miss.
"Agent Reese, you have been more than kind to me since you brought me in for questioning. Would you please call me Ashlyn, or even just Ash? The miss makes me feel like I'm still in trouble and I'm not, am I?"
"No Ash, you're not. All charges have been officially dropped in lieu of your cooperation with the Bureau. Would you like to begin? I can get the forms for you now, or I could have the statement recorded, whichever you prefer. I would prefer written forms so we could continue our conversation while you work."
"Writing would be fine with me Agent Reese. Trust me when I say I'm not in any hurry to go anywhere. I probably am safer here right now than on the streets with a certain Master of Chicago still on the loose anyway. Any luck finding him?"
He laughed. "No, Ashlyn, finding any vampire's daytime hiding place is difficult, finding the Master of Chicago's would be impossible. We had to wait till he was awake to try to capture him. Most cities in the country have a Masters of the City who are law abiding citizens, or at least they haven't gotten caught yet. A lot of them have achieved almost a Hollywood like star status. They have paparazzi following them and pose for pictures and sign autographs. It's kind of funny actually, but not Chicago. We have a bona fide gangster for the Master of the City. He's a hell of a lot older than prohibition era Chicago, but during that time he flourished, and so he became stuck in it. How'd we get so lucky?"
As I sat through his little rhetoric on Chicago's vampiric history, he walked over to a gunmetal grey filing cabinet and opened the top drawer. It must have been well oiled because it stood almost four feet wide and yet he pulled the massive drawer open easily. He reached into one of the hanging file folders and pulled out several forms and went back to his seat at the desk. He handed me one form after filling in his pertinent information and asked me to write my statement about the events at Fangloria's. I thought about the events as they unfolded in my mind. I set about the task of putting them down on paper when he handed me a second sheet and told me to do the same for the events at Cicero's. This could take a while I thought.
"I'm setting up a tape recorder so you can tell me your story about how you came to be. I will save you some writing, and I'll admit I'm more than a little curious," he said reassuringly.
"No problem. I can multitask," I responded.
So it went for the better part of three hours. I told him of my early years living with my aunt, but never giving her name. He seemed to respect my privacy and didn't try to pry it out of me while I focused on writing my statements. I told of how I had fully matured by the time I reached the ripe old age of seven and how I spent my nights wandering through the neighborhood, how I fed every other night off my aunt who could have been a witch but chose modern medicine, and how lonely it felt never venturing out into the real world and spending most of my time with books, computers, and television. When I came to the part about watching the newscast of my aunt’s fatal car crash, I heard my voice crack. I had never grieved for the only human I had ever loved, and I couldn't hold back the tears as I wrote on with watery eyes.
I heard a drawer open and I saw a hand holding a tissue in front of my face. I didn't look up, just took it and dried my eyes and kept writing and telling my brief tale. Lady luck finally smiled down me. The rest of the story he already knew, and I had finished with my second and final statement. I pushed the documents forward and refused to make eye contact with the only person who had ever seen me cry. Not even my aunt had had to deal with childish tears. When you are as tough as the toughest vampire, it naturally became hard to skin a knee or get a boo-boo. Even on those rare occasions I had caused enough damage to pierce my skin, why cry when the damage healed before my eyes. Sometimes it is cool being a freak.
Agent Reese hit the stop button on the digital recorder on the desk and placed it in the main drawer directly in front of him. "I'll save your story to a memory disk and place it in your file. We will be the only agency with a record of you and I promise you as long as you stay out of trouble, I will keep it with us and not pass it around for general knowledge."
I nodded my thanks at my mysterious benefactor and watched him stand up and walk back over to his filing cabinet. He placed my statements in the second drawer and reached up to the small surround sound system perched atop the cabinet. I have never been a fan of opera, but apparently he liked it because a screeching aria permeated the room as he sat back down. I must have looked puzzled about the music until he continued our conversation.
"Pardon the music Ash, but I wanted to talk to you about your plans. The only drawback to having a glass office is soundproofing. They gave me double paned glass, but even someone hard of hearing could eavesdrop if they wanted to. I have found opera, with its greater fluctuations, pretty much fills the gaps. I just wish I could stand listening to the shit."
"I feel the same way. If I understand television correctly, most girls my age listen to pop music, but if there is one thing I hate more than opera, it's pop, and rap, and country. Okay, maybe all I like is rock and alternative, but hey whatever."
&nb
sp; He smiled at me again and I found it a little less predatory, and a lot more conspiratorial. He shifted in his seat and folded his hands. "What are your plans now? Are you going to go back to your hotel until your money runs out? Are you going to get a job and buy a small house in the suburbs? Maybe you could find a nice vampire to go work for at one of their fancy clubs? Have you thought about the future at all?"
He had me. I had been planning on lying low for quite a while. I hadn't even begun to tap into the ten thousand cash my aunt had left me. It would hole me up in my cheap hotel for quite a while. My greatest concern would be finding a stable food source. I couldn't exactly run around the city feeding off every vampire I met. Maybe my fairy god mother would poof up a magic boyfriend I could munch on every night.
"Agent Reese, my future is a very dark vision in my mind. I have some cash hoarded from my aunt and that would keep me comfortable in a hotel for a while. My problem is food. I fed off one vampire and you see the trouble I got into. Either I pay for some kind of blood prostitute or I'm going to be knocking a lot of vamps over the head to get what I need. When my hunger gets too strong, it takes over."
"Come work for us," he said without even taking a breath. "Be a Federal Agent. Your salary would cover all your living expenses, and we'll figure something out about keeping you fed. I have already called the Deputy Director and told him about you, and he agrees you pose quite an opportunity."
He seemed very excited. My chin was on the floor. Sure I may be a freak, but why would he possibly want me as an Agent of the FBI? I had no high school diploma, nor a college degree. Hell, I didn't even know how to drive a car! "Why?"
"When things get out of control in the vampire community, it's our responsibility to police it. It's up to us to take into custody or remove the source of the problem. We are comprised of humans, and mages, and a large number of wereanimals such as wolves and lions, but there is not one vampire on the payroll of the FBI. We have a lot of tools to help us deal with the problem, but a lot of the time we get our asses handed to us. You could even up the playing field immensely."