VAMPIRE IN PATHOS - CHAPTER 1

Chapter 1: Nightlife

-Tina-

„What if he doesn’t show?” I asked carefully.

Jamie let out an annoyed sigh and I winced slightly. “This is the umpteenth time you’ve asked that Tina. The answer’s the same as before: He’ll show. Would be fucked in the head not to.”

We were sitting in a side alley behind the club. It was 3 am, but the city was still fairly busy. Nightlife was big in Pathos, especially near the river.

The dark alley was briefly illuminated as another glider passed over them. Not the cops, I assured myself after checking the model.

I was pacing back and forth in between the club and the adjacent housing unit. Jamie was lounging on the trash container in her usual calm self. She was sort of my supervisor ever since I joined Kitsune three months ago. My parents always warned me about this kind of stuff. In their eyes, gangs were the epitome of evil. The reason Pathos was such a violent city, why crime rate was steadily increasing the past fifty years, why there were so many gays around all of the sudden.

Well, when I told my parents my name was Tina now and my pronouns are she/her, they threw me out of their ten-million credit penthouse. When I told the guys from Kitsune my name was Tina and my pronouns are she/her, they gave me free surgery and a bunch of other useful implants. In exchange they got a grateful trans girl with a grudge against capitalism. A pretty fair deal if you ask me.

The only problem was, I absolutely sucked at this kind of work. I was never actually good at the whole violence thing, growing up in the upper echelons of society didn’t help with that. But it was either merchandise deals or the Vixen’s Den and while I was very happy with the new “equipment” Kitsune gave me, I wasn’t so eager to let others pay to use it.

So I got stuck with whoever they figured had the most patience, Jamie. The redhead was still lazing about on the container while I finally stopped my pacing and leant against the concrete wall of the housing unit.

I felt kind of tough, for once. I got a new jacket the other day that somewhat put together my whole ensemble. I had tight black jeans, a pair of white sneakers with neon pink accents. I wore a tight white shirt with a low neck that showed off my modest fair skinned boobs and my push-up made them look just a little bigger than they really were and on top of that was my shiny new leather jacket, metal studs and all.

My shoulder long, straight pink hair that matched my new lavender eyes sort of finished the “dangerous-street-kid” look I was going for. It would almost even work, if I wasn’t hilariously tiny at 153 centimetres.

Jamie on the other hand looked like a lesbianified version of one of those guys out of those ancient westerns from earth. Brown leather boots, blue jeans with that leather wrap around the legs, a black sports bra and a loose oversized red flannel shirt on top. All she was missing was the hat. Not that she didn’t have one. I knew she did. She just wasn’t wearing it today.

And honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. The look matched her freckled face and red wavy ponytail perfectly and if she wasn’t my mentor or something I’d definitely hit on her. If I had the confidence that is, which I didn’t.

The bunnies in my chest were just telling me to start pacing again when I saw three guys enter the alleyway on my side.

“Jamie, I think he’s here,” I blurted out without stuttering once, yay me.

My mentor flopped down from the container and quickly checked her gun before stepping up next to me.

“You Raish?” she yelled towards the approaching trio.

“Sure am! You got the merch?” the man in the middle yelled back. The group came to a halt about three metres away from us. All three wore dark clothes. Two of them had some sort of trench coat situation going on, but the guy in the middle, Raish I assumed, wore a nicely tailored grey suit and some fine white gloves. He sort of looked like a butler and a CEO had a baby.

“Depends, you got the cash?” Jamie demanded. The way she exuded dominance made me feel so many complicated things.

“Thirty thousand bills. Clean and safe.” The guy to the left of Raish held open a suitcase with a bunch of credits, all still wrapped into bundles.

“Tina get the merch.” I spun around and walked over to the container. I pushed open the lid and carefully took out the black urn. I had no idea why anyone would pay thirty thousand credits for some ash-filled pottery, but I wasn’t paid to judge, I was paid to make this deal happen.

I carried the dead people vase over to Jamie and gently set it down on the floor.

“One of you gets the urn. Tina, you get the money,” my mentor commanded. Her hand was firmly placed on her revolver and I had the feeling she was suspecting trouble. Not that I had any idea about this sort of stuff, my instincts were apparently pretty horrible, but I hadn’t died yet so I must be doing some things right.

I slowly stepped up to the three buyers and walked towards the guy with the suitcase. The guy to then right of Raish passed me and headed for the urn. I took the suitcase and walked back towards Jamie. I was just about to pass the guy with the urn when I heard the shot.

Jamie started screaming, she grabbed her revolver and unloaded two bullets into the guy next to me. I wanted to drop the suitcase and grab my gun, but I couldn’t move. I noticed the suitcase was already on the floor, next to the slightly cracked urn. My body felt so light but so heavy at the same time. Like I was floating in the air, while every part of my body was weighted down.

I looked down and there was a bunch of blood soaking through my white shirt. I could tell something had gone wrong, but before I could guess what my body collapsed to the ground. The last thing I saw was the urn crashing into my head before darkness took me.

Or maybe my head crashed into the urn? That was more likely. Am I dead? I couldn’t feel my body, or any body, for that matter, but I was still able to think.

Is this what the afterlife is like? Alone with my thoughts in the dark?

That sucks…

-Luis-

I checked my Rolex again. 8:45 pm. 15 Minutes late. I had a really bad feeling about this job. Usually I’d follow my gut in these sorts of situations, but I wasn’t working privately anymore. I was on the clock and paid by the hour. I couldn’t just up and leave whenever I got the jitters.

I washed down my building stress with another swig of red wine. I used to like fancy drinks, but ever since I’d been turned this stuff just didn’t hit the same as it did before. When this meeting was done, I’d enjoy a nice warm glass of blood, I promised myself.

I decided to go over my cover again. José Maria Santiago was 34 years old. Born in León, Spain 1924, moved to the UK in 1945, right after the war. Graduated with a master’s in history and anthropology from Edinburgh University in 1953. Started working at the British Museum later the same year. In his free time he attended a high society literature club and regularly went to the theatre. His poison of choice was Merlot. He was a social smoker and a womanizer.

I checked my outfit in the mirror behind the bar again. My light grey striped suit looked alright on me, but more importantly, the gun was perfectly hidden under the tailoring. I had to admit the lighter colour fit well with my olive skin. My long black hair was tied back into a slick manbun. I preferred to wear it down, but the manbun fit José Maria better. The middle name was my idea, to make the character more “me” since it was also my own middle name. They agreed, though they also wanted me to wear a neatly trimmed beard, but an hour before the take-off I decided to shave it off. I always hated the way my facial hair made my skin feel all prickly.

The barkeep refilled my glass for the third time, when my target finally arrived. Penelope Bauer was a tall, imposing woman. She wore a long red dress that worked amazingly with her long wavy dark brown hair. She wore matching lipstick and some subtle, but effective makeup to accentuate her high cheekbones and cutting jawline.

She was also the heiress to Direcorp, a robotics and cybernetics corporation based in the US. And according to my employer right now they were the most dangerous company in the supernatural underworld. My job was a simple kidnapping. A black limousine was waiting in an off section of the hotel garage. All I had to do was snatch the girl and stow her in the back seat.

I’d already found all relevant cameras and linked them up to a remote small-scale emp. Additionally, there was a bomb in my apartment that would detonate at the same time to pull the attention away from the deactivated cameras.

“Mister Santiago, I assume?” the girl greeted me warmly.

“Yes! Miss Bauer, it is a pleasure to meet you!” I got up and shook her hand, making sure to get my charming smile just right. Not that it would do me any good. The information package from my employer was very clear in the part that stated Penelope Bauer’s sexuality. It made me think again how much easier this job would be as a woman. Most targets were male and flirting always seemed easier for women. Even as a kid I was always a fan of femme fatales. I even told my mom how much I wanted to be one when I grew up, but obviously kid-me didn’t understand how the world worked.

But I was still supposed to play the womanizer role, to make her feel in control and it seemed she took the bait.

“Oh, call me Penelope, we’ll be spending quite some time together, I’ve heard. Might as well get friendly.” She shot a heart wrenching smile back to me. Honestly if I didn’t know she was homosexual I’d even believe she was into me.

“Well then, Penelope, call me José,” I replied cheerfully, brushing my hand across hers. “May I interest you in a glass of wine?”

I spent the next hour sipping the lesser red liquid and getting to know Penelope a little more. Or rather, pretended to get to know her, since I was already intimately familiar with her file. Then the conversation moved to my visit itself. The pretence was rather simple, really. I was here on behalf of the British Museum to potentially acquire an artefact that was uncovered at the dig site of one of their new factories in Alexandria.

“Do you want to see it?” she asked excitedly. We were on our third glass now. The alcohol had no effect on me, but she was getting drunk. It was going flawlessly, I thought, but the nagging feeling that something was wrong didn’t go away.

Getting her out of the hotel bar was a perfect invitation, though. We’d look at the artefact, then maybe retreat to a more private area to discuss some of the “finer details” and I’d knock her out.

“I would love to Penelope!” I laughed. Her eyes lit up with excitement. This was so easy.

She dragged me to my feet and I hastily left some 50 Egyptian pounds on the table before she could drag me too far away.

I had to hold her upright somewhat, but eventually we made it to a taxi that drove us to a secured storage unit where Direcorp held the artefact.

The room was completely white, from the floor to the walls and to the ceiling. In two of the corners stood armed guards. In the middle of the room was a glass vitrine with a black and gold urn inside.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it? We hired the top archaeologists in the country to dig it out and clean it up. Some of the black could use some repainting and a bit of the gold flaked off, but aside from that it is in pristine condition.” I could tell how excited Penelope was about the whole thing. I almost felt a little bad for her, she seemed really invested in this stuff, but a job’s a job.

“It looks fantastic, Penelope,” I slurred so realistically I could have been nominated for an Oscar. We stepped up right in front of the vitrine and Penelope walked around to the other side of it.

“Our archaeologist team estimates it to be around 2200 years old. It was originally made in Crete and there is a similar one currently in New York,” Penelope explained, it was hard to believe she was actually drunk, the fervent way she spoke about the urn.

“It was originally used the cremate Greek citizens who died in Alexandria, but we emptied out this one just for you Luis,” she mused. I nodded along for a moment before the words hit me. I immediately froze. I wasn’t supposed to freeze, but I also wasn’t supposed to be called Luis.

When I finally pushed through the shock, I immediately grabbed my gun and shot at the guard at the righthand corner. I was about to turn to the other guard when I noticed my bullet had stopped mid flight and was stuck in the air. I held my hand out to it and felt the invisible wall. Magic.

My eyes flitted to the ground and I caught my breath when I saw the chalk circle ringed with runes. The formerly white chalk was glowing red and holding me tight. I’ve used them before and I was stupid not to check for them on my way in. I was careless, overconfident. I should have listened to my damned gut. There was no way out until the circle was dispelled.

Penelope slowly moved around the urn again and stopped next to me just outside the magical runes on the floor. “I was so excited when I heard you were finally going to visit us, Luis,” she teased. “We’ve always wanted a vampire in our collection and your kind has been so rare since the Middle Ages.” She opened her lipstick to reveal a piece of chalk and gave me a wink before bending down to draw around the containment circle.

As she was drawing, she continued speaking about my untimely fate. “The runes I’m drawing right now will designate the urn as your new coffin. When you die, your form of mist will enter the urn to repair itself. I’ve already prepared the outside of the urn with another containment circle that will keep you from actually forming a new body or escaping any other way.”

She finished up the new rune circle and stood back up to face me. “It’s been an absolute pleasure to meet you Luis, you will make an excellent addition to our collection.”

The second circle lit up and Penelope raised a gun to my head.

“CABR- “was the last I could say before my essence was pulled into the dark confines of the urn.