Lost Son

by Marcus Abshire

  I went down the steps and stood about five feet from the vampire bouncer.

  “Invitation?” He asked, his voice was like a sweet lie, it had a softness to it that masked a gravelly dryness.

  “I don’t have an invitation. I’m here to see Agatha.” I said waiting for the reaction I knew saying her name would entice.

  Vampires are stronger than werewolves, faster than werewolves and had a few neat tricks that werewolves didn’t. They had some pretty devastating weaknesses to. Crosses and silver do nothing, but sunlight and garlic can kill them and kick their ass in that order.

  When he came for me I was ready. I knew he would, but his speed still surprised me. I took Neal’s advice seriously and made sure I was quicker. While we talked I reached in the pocket not housing the coin and grabbed the handful of garlic powder I had picked up at the airport. He moved with the quickness of a cobra, but I was his mongoose.

  His hand flashed up, straight for my throat, but I side stepped and reached out with my garlic hand and grabbed his wrist and used his own momentum to slam his face into the brick stairwell behind me. The instant my hand touched his wrist I saw pain in his face, far more pain than hitting a wall gave him.

  I pinned him there with my own strength and said into his ear.

  “I’m only going to say this one more time. I’m here to see Agatha, she owes of me a debt, I carry a coin with me that ensures an audience and safe passage. If you come at me again you will be violating coven law and Agatha’s decree.” I held on for another second before pushing away from him.

  He turned on me instantly and for a second I thought he was going to attack again, but he controlled himself. His glasses had broken during the scuffle and his eyes flashed bright silver, before they dimmed to their normal spooky shade.

  “Show me the coin or you will die where you stand.” He ground out.

  Vampires were sticklers for laws and decrees. It was actually something I liked about them; at least I knew they were consistent.

  I reached into my pocket and held out the golden coin, letting him see it. He narrowed his eyes and went very still for a few seconds before refocusing on me.

  “Lady Agatha gives you permission to enter; she waits for you in the lounge.” He said, stepping aside while still trying to kill me with his glare.

  Atlanteans were not immune to a vampire’s gaze, but we did have a tolerance for it. It would take one with far more power than this bouncer to get inside my skull and I was walking straight towards one who could.

  I entered Club Red and was caught off guard. It wasn’t the sleazy dark filled cave I remembered. If anything it reminded me of an Irish pub. The bar was made of what looked like a tree that had been cut in half and stained and glazed. The stools were also of a natural wood design; almost lodge like, but still holding an old world look that made me think of the movies about the “one ring to rule them all”. The three individuals who came in before me sat at the bar and had drinks in front of them; they were talking affably with the bartender who, despite her pale skin and silver eyes, seemed warm enough.

  The last time I was here was years ago and Agatha had just taken over as coven leader. I had to say, looking around, I approved of the new décor. I wasn’t fooled; however, I knew the purpose of this place. It was where vampires lured humans to feed from them, a process that enslaved the human and left them forever linked. It was better than outright killing humans, but getting them addicted to being fed on was akin to a drug dealer who makes addicts wherever he goes.

  Vampires needed fresh, hot blood. The crap where they drink cold bags of human blood from the Red Cross is just that, crap. This was kind of a compromise, no one went missing and they got the blood they needed. I still didn’t like it, but you have to learn to pick your battles, like Neal always said.

  Off to the side of the bar was a doorway that led into a hall, standing next to the door was a young looking man with black hair and the same silver eyes as the other vampires. He nodded to me and motioned for me to follow. The weight of my sword on my back was a comfort as I followed my escort down a very dark and very narrow hallway. He stopped in front of a solid looking steel door and stepped aside.

  “The Lady Agatha will see you.” He said, opening the heavy door with one hand.

  I walked in the room and looked around at first thinking I had entered some strange, alternate dimension. The bar occupied about one-tenth of the building’s space, the rest of it was Agatha’s. The ceiling stretched up about thirty feet, ending in a large array of lights that illuminated the vast space before me. There were plush couches, chairs and lounging areas everywhere. Not to mention vampires. There must have been thirty vampires spread out among all the comfortable furniture. Incense assaulted my nose and easy, light music played from speakers I couldn’t see. The atmosphere reeked of relaxed aggression, like a pride of lions, lying around before going off to hunt.

  In the back of the space, furthest from the door sat Agatha. Her chair looked like a throne, but it was covered in lush padding and felt. It must have been the most comfortable throne ever made. I took a deep breath realizing I had to walk past thirty hungry vampires who all had their eyes on me. I felt like a steak walking through an all you can eat buffet after church lets out.

  I kept my eyes only on her, not letting any of the others get the impression I was challenging them, or seeing if they could paralyze me with their gaze. One on one I could take almost any vampire, but in here I was sorely, badly outnumbered. I hoped the little piece of metal I carried would keep me safe.

  I got to within five feet of her and stopped.

  Agatha was beautiful, but that didn’t surprise me, I don’t think I have ever seen a vampire that was ugly. Her silver eyes roamed over me, taking in my appearance and smiling slowly. She was as pale as the rest of her kind, but her hair shone with a red sheen that seemed to glow, when she spoke her Irish accent filled her words with a cadence that was almost musical.

  “I like what you’ve done with the place.” I said.

  “Thank ye. The old motif was very dreary. It now reminds me of the old country.” She said.

  A sound drew my attention and I turned around, seeing as one of the patrons was being led into the room, a beautiful pale girl on either arm.

  “Only three tonight, slim pickings.” I kept still, not wanting to set anyone off.

  “The night tis young, we never seem to have a problem filling our needs.” She oozed sexuality, almost like it was a death ray.

  She narrowed her eyes at me and everything seemed to dwindle down to a single point, the only thing I could see or focus on was Agatha, her silken pale skin drew me to her and her red full lips beckoned me to come to her and see how sweet they were.

  I focused my mind, realizing what she was trying to do. I used the techniques Neal taught me and boxed myself in, away from her power. It was hard with all the distractions, but my life was on the line.

  “I came here under your assurance I would have an audience, it would not be very hospitable of you to try and seduce me before you have met your obligations.” I said, keeping my mind shut.

  She stared at me for a few seconds, and then let out a hearty laugh, the "I want to take you right here, right now" vibe vanished, but I didn’t let down my mental defenses.

  “Ye are an enigma, aren’t ye?” She squealed.

  “First ye beat my bouncer like he was a toy, then ye come in here smelling almost human, and then ye shrug me off like it was nothing, very interesting.” She purred. “Alright, ye seem unwilling to play, so it must be business then. Ye have in yer possession a coin I am told? Let me see it, then we can continue.” Her demeanor had shifted to one of cool indifference. This was her professional side then.

  I opened my hand and held out the coin. She motioned to one of the vampires nearby and another gorgeous woman came over, she had blonde hair and silver eyes and was wearing a dress that just barely covered her nitty-gritties. She reached out and took the coin, I felt her
fingers on my palm and they were ice cold.

  She took the coin to Agatha and handed it to her. Agatha brought the coin up, staring at me the whole time and once the coin was eye level she turned her gaze from me. She inspected the coin for a moment before tossing it to the same woman who took it from me.

  “Alright, Jack isn’t it? What do ye wish to discuss?”

  Wow, I had only been here once, years ago, looking for a missing girl. The place was run differently and you had a much easier time getting in, but it led to more chaos and that was something Agatha had put a stop to. Knowing my name was impressive, she wanted me to know she knew.

  “I’m here to discuss two men who were killed after kidnapping a child.”

  “What does that have to do with me?” She asked.

  “They were acting under the control of a vampire.” I started, but she cut me off.

  “Impossible, no one would do such a thing without my express permission.” She said, her eyes narrowing.

  “Well, apparently it has happened and I was hoping you could tell me why a vampire would use two humans to kidnap a little girl.” I said, keeping my mind shut.

  I noticed that there were more humans in the lush couches, being seduced.

  “I should kill ye now for even insinuating such a thing!” She hissed, rising from her chair.

  “I am not lying. Check for yourself, search my mind, if I am wrong you can always just kill me.” I said. More surprised that she knew nothing about it than her reaction. She could always be lying, but I felt that she wasn’t. She prided herself on control of her coven and even a lie about rogue vampires could threaten that.

  She sat back angrily, glaring at me, trying to peel my brain open for her to sift through. I brought the memories of what I witnessed to mind, letting it slip through my mental barriers, giving her a view of what I saw. I made sure not to put anything about Neal in them, keeping his unique abilities a secret.

  After a moment she sat back in her throne, pensive. Obviously what she saw made her realize I wasn’t lying. At least I believed what I said, that didn’t necessarily mean it was accurate.

  She leaned back in her throne; seeming to relax even more, if that was possible.

  “Ye know I haven’t quite figured ye out Jack. Ye have the shape of a human, the attitude and mannerisms of a human, but yer blood stinks of the dark, deep fathoms. Ye run colder than humans and yer mind is far more powerful and disciplined than humans.” I was not expecting a litany of my attributes; I never really knew how I was perceived by others of the non-human persuasion, hell I never cared.

  “Not to mention I love watching reruns of I Love Lucy.” I added, just because.

  Her eyes narrowed to dangerous levels, the silver became small slits of threat.

  “I could use a man, or whatever ye are, of yer talents. It is hard to find good help that is reliable during the daylight hours. I am a woman of immense resources and power; I can make working for me a very enjoyable and lucrative experience.” I had no doubt about what she meant by enjoyable with all the innuendo she heaped on the word.

  “As fun as it sounds to spend my time around a bunch of vampires, I have to regretfully decline. I would rather gouge my own eyes out than work for you.” I said, wondering how fast I could draw my sword.

  She didn’t move, not one muscle, it was really freaky. She almost turned into one solid pale marble statue, her immobility was so absolute. Then a slow smile spread across her sensuous lips and she visibly relaxed.

  “Remember it was ye who came to me fer help.” She said low, almost in a whisper.

  “Ye have shown me enough to make me realize that the situation requires further inquiry. Our audience is concluded, ye have safe passage out of my club.” Then she stood up and walked off, leaving me alone with a bunch of vampires and humans, some of whom were already being fed upon.

  I turned around and reached my hand into my pocket, gathering what garlic powder was still there. It didn’t feel like much. I wasn’t expecting trouble, but you can’t ever be too sure. Besides, I knew Neal would have told me to be prepared, just in case.

  I walked back through the vampire’s buffet room and opened the door leading to the bar. I saw that the place was already pretty full. People from every walk of life were drinking and talking at the bar like they were all good friends. Here and there I saw a pale figure slipping through the crowd, hunting.

  I slipped outside and saw bouncer boy giving two middle aged women stamps on the back of their hands. They each had a glazed look, like they were paying attention to a conversation only they could hear.

  I went up the steps and hurried away from the club, walking at a brisk pace, hoping to get somewhere I could hail a cab before I ran into any trouble.

  As I walked I went over what I knew so far. It would appear that Agatha was unaware of any vampire’s putting the mental whammy on the two kidnappers. Vampires were very loyal creatures, there had to be some reason for one or more of them to commit an act that could earn them an instant death sentence. A punishment that kept most of them in line, being immortal wasn’t something they gave up lightly.

  I heard motion behind me, a scuffling as someone approached. I turned to find three of the homeless guys I saw earlier come at me from the shadows of a nearby building.

  “Hey, mister, what’s the hurry?” One of them said. The strong smell of cheap whiskey and body odor stung my nose.

  “Look fellas, I’ve got somewhere to be, I don’t want any trouble.” I said, hoping they were just trying to scare me.

  “Yeah, so do we, we’ve got a job interview tomorrow, we was hoping you had some money to lend us, you know so’s we can get a nice suit?” One of them said to snide laughter.

  “Tell you what, I’ve got two hundred bucks on me,” I said, reaching into my jacket and pulling out the money, “You guys take it, go get some food, maybe a nice place to stay the night.” I held it out for them.

  The guy in the middle, who was wearing a dirty and stained camouflage jacket, took a few steps towards me, thinking it was a trick. He reached out and took the money before jamming it into his pants pocket.

  “A guy just walking around with money like that probably has other things that are worth something. Why don’t you gives us your jacket and boots too, so we can make sure you ain’t hiding nothing.” One of the others said, he pulled a knife from his back and held it low, showing me he had it.

  Crap, I didn’t want to hurt these guys; there was no telling what type of circumstances led to their situations. Life had dumped on them enough; I didn’t want to add to it. I was just about to try to reason with them some more, hoping I could still salvage the situation when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck tingle and a ghost of Neal’s familiar voice rang in my head, “You must listen to your body, it has the ability to sense things the mind cannot.”

  I dropped and rolled to my left as something hard swished past where my head would have been. I popped up in a defensive crouch, pulling my sword free in a fluid motion. The blue steel reflected the meager light of the moon.

  “What the fuck?” One of my would-be thieves uttered at the appearance of bouncer boy.

  He stood apart from us, right where I had been a second ago. In his hands he held the remnants of a parking meter, or at least the part he had ripped from the concrete. I guess that’s what he planned on bashing my head in with.

  “Leave us, if you wish to see the next sunrise.” He snarled at the homeless guys.

  His eyes flashed bright silver for a split second and he raised his lip so that his long fangs were visible, even in the dim night. All three turned and ran, not interested in finding out what kind of crazy they had just stepped into.

  I wished I could do the same. I didn’t really want to fight, but I knew I couldn’t outrun him and to be honest, running from a fight just wasn’t my style, much to Neal’s chagrin.

  “Look, I know I’m an attractive guy, but if you really want to go out with me, you should just
ask me for my phone number, like everyone else.” I taunted him, hoping he would get mad and make a mistake.

  Instead he just smiled at me, it was very creepy, his mouth seemed to split his face in half and his eyes glowed with a silver sheen.

  “I had planned on just breaking a few of your bones and being done with it, but now I think I might take of you your blood. That way you will belong to me. And then I will break both of your legs and when they have healed, I will call to you again and you will come and then I’ll break your legs. I will do this over and over until you are an old man, crippled with pain begging for death and then I will give you just a taste of my blood, to keep you alive for another twenty years so that I can haunt you forever.” He snarled, almost in ecstasy.

  “Man, that kind of commitment sounds like work. I don’t know if you’re up to the task, I mean you are just a bouncer for god’s sake.” I said, slowly turning so that my back was to the open air, I didn’t want the building behind me, limiting my ability to move.

  That’s when he lost it, his face changed to one of fury, his mouth split and grew, his razor sharp teeth gleamed in the night. His eyes blazed with silver fire and he flew at me, faster than the eye could track. I didn’t have to be faster than the speed of light, just him.

  I started moving before he launched at me. He brought the concrete encrusted meter up, intending on bashing my skull in. I moved to his left, making him adjust his angle of attack and diffusing some of his power. I met the metal of his weapon with my blue steel and sliced it in half, the end bouncer boy wasn’t holding clattered on the ground.

  Having his weapon cleaved in half stunned him for a split second but that was all I needed. I dropped down with one knee bent and the other off to the side, I swiped low across his legs and heard a scream of pain as his body and upper thighs slid off of his now amputated lower legs.