Vampire for Hire: The Nephalem Files (Book 2)

by Douglas Wayne

  I heard the fabric in my coat tear as I made my leap. With my arms outstretched, I latched onto the railing on the other building with an audible clang. After I crawled safely over the rail, I looked back to see the police dog snarling with a piece of my coat in his mouth. The officers on either side of the alleyway moved closer after hearing my noise, both approaching with flashlights drawn instead of guns. Both of them scanned the railing, passing over me a few times before stopping on the snarling police dog in the next building. Below, I swore I heard one of them laugh at the dog before they both turned around and returned to their posts.

  I still wasn't home free, but I was in a much better spot now that they had no idea where I was. The only clue they had was the dog that had finally left the room to join his master somewhere in the building. Once the officers were back at their post, I climbed back to the upper platform. Climbing over the guardrail, I placed my foot on a nearby windowsill. Carefully, I scooted over to the edge and peeked around the corner to see another window on the other wide.

  Grabbing a hold of the edge of the window, I leaned my body around the corner hoping to reach the one on the other side. My foot found purchase after a minute with my hand following suit right after. I stood there for a minute to take a breath and to steel myself for the next move. When I was ready, I clutched the side of the window and swung my body around. My leg swung around wildly, crashing through the glass before I was able to regain my balance. Once again, the flashlights filled the air, but this time I didn't wait for them to look around, instead leaping onto the lowered roof to get away.

  I didn't stop once to look back to see if they noticed the window. My only thought being to get out of there before they could secure these buildings too. I had to climb between levels a few times but I reached the other end without incident before creating a cloud of air to fall onto to escape on foot into the city, and away from the cops.

  - 15 -

  I kept walking the streets of Cincinnati until I was comfortable the police weren't following. My veil was starting to fade long before I walked into an old coffee shop on the east side of town. I felt uncomfortable sitting at my table, but it was preferable to wandering the streets any longer.

  When I was sure nobody was watching I poked my hands further out of my tattered jacket to rub my wrists that were red and raw from walking with my hands in my pockets. I didn't have a key, or a place to get one, but I didn't let it bother me much. Instead I pulled the sleeves around the edge of the handcuffs, tucking the excess fabric under the metal to hold it into place. I needed to make a call and the last thing I needed was someone noticing the cuffs on my wrists and calling the cops in to investigate.

  Once I was finished, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pulled up his number.

  "I see you survived the night, however that isn't the important thing. Did she survive the night too?"

  "She's gone," I said, waiving off the waitress who moved in to offer me a small slice of carrot cake. "When can we meet so you can hold your end of the bargain?"

  Silas laughed. "As soon as you are ready. I trust you remember the location I sent you to last time."

  "I do," I said, hesitant. "But I have a problem. Seems Cincinnati PD are swarming all around my car."

  "That is quite the predicament," he said. "Where should I send my associate to pick you up?"

  I didn't have the address, so I gave them the only thing I knew; the name of the coffee shop I was sitting in. Before hanging up he had me give him the location of my car so he could send someone for it as well. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but I went along. It wasn't like I was going to get it back anytime soon. Knowing the cops, they would have a unit on standby all night. Probably for the next few days. If I were to go back anytime soon, especially dressed like this, they would have me handcuffed or at gunpoint before I could react.

  To make matters worse, I couldn't just leave it there for a while either. At some point they will start to get suspicious and run the plates. Sure, the car wasn't registered to me, but it wouldn't take much for them to put me in the middle of it. One unwitting phone call to Stacy could end the whole gig. With any luck, they'll think the car belongs to someone in the bar. As long as it was out of the parking lot tonight, that's all that mattered.

  I finished my cup of coffee and walked out front, stopping to place a five dollar bill in the tip jar on the front counter. The attendant, a girl with short blond hair wearing a knee length blue dress with a lightly stained black apron over the top. She looked over and gave me a smile before going back to cleaning up the coffee pots.

  I took a seat on a nearby bench. A sharp wind blew from the north, silencing the stars with a blanket of cloud cover. Something smelled off though I couldn't pin the cause as the streets were clear, other than the occasional car driving down the street. The wind shifted again, changing to the north, bringing the smell of rain. I looked around, hoping to find a better place to sit until I noticed the familiar glow of Stacy's headlights coming down the street. The passenger door opened as it pulled up to the curb. A female's head waving me in.

  "Bus to Silas leaves in ten seconds," she said, bluntly. "You coming or do you want to play in the rain?"

  As to accentuate her words, lightning flashed off to the west, a rolling thunder followed a few seconds after. I didn't hesitate to take her up on the offer as I ran up and took my seat in the car. The woman in the driver's seat had long flowing brown hair draped carefully over her left shoulder, the smell of her perfume filled the cab of the car. She wore a short black dress that barely covered her upper thighs with a pair of black pantyhose covering her legs. Her shoes were sitting between us, right below the center console. A red pair of stiletto heel shoes.

  "You're new," I said, pulling my sleeves from under the handcuffs. My wrists were burnt from the constant friction of movement and from the lack of air. "I thought he would send the other guy."

  "He's out of town," she said, placing her hand on my wrist. "So you were the guy who caused the mess on the other side of town?"

  I nodded, yet stayed silent.

  "I can help with that," she looked over, drawing me into her light green eyes.

  "You can take them off?" I said, forcing my head away.

  She giggled. "And a few other things." She pulled off on the side of the road, stopping in front of a baptist church. Awkwardly, she reached between my legs to grab her red leather purse stashed under the seat. With a smile she opened the side compartment and pulled out a handcuff key. "I'm into some kinky things."

  I shook my head and offered my wrists which she took into her hands. She gently turned my wrists to get a better angle to unlock the cuffs, unlocking them once they were. The handcuffs fell onto the center console, landing cleanly on top of the maps and paperwork I had inside.

  "This next part is going to sting a little."

  I snorted. "Couldn't sting worse than it already does."

  With that her eyes changed from her previous shade of green to being completely white. I held my breath not knowing what to expect from her. Sure, I've dealt with witches over the years, but rarely has it been on good terms.

  And never this close.

  Her hands threw off a yellow glow as she started her chant. Then I felt the sting she warned me about, but it was closer to a stabbing sensation than a sting. I bit my lip, struggling not to cry out as the glow moved into my hands. Around my wrists, where the handcuffs just were, was shining brighter than the rest.

  "Stay with me, Mr. Gilmore," she said, ending her chant though continuing the flow of magic into my arms. I smiled the best I could muster with my lip still firmly between my teeth. Then, as sudden as it started, the pain and the glow stopped. I watched her eyes as they changed back to her original green, the white fading fast under her lower eyelid.

  She held my wrists tight for a few moments after, allowing my head to stop spinning long enough to stay awake. "Coulda warned me you were a witch." I said, trying not to sound ungrateful. />
  "Would it have changed anything, Darlin?"

  I shook my head. It didn't change a thing. After all, what was there to change about a strange, albeit beautiful woman sitting in the driver's seat of my assistant's Honda who just-so happened to be a witch. Already on this trip I'd had about as much of the old world as I was prepared to handle, which was odd considering my profession. "How'd you get the car?"

  She smiled. "Surely you already know the answer."

  I had to admit, I had a good guess.

  She gave me a moment to sit back in my seat before getting us back on the road. The rain started to fall from the clouds, forcing the woman to slow down as the window wipers failed to keep up.

  "So you work for Silas too?"

  "The day a witch works for a vampire is the day the world ends," she said, matter-of-factly. "He is more of a mutual acquaintance of the you scratch, I scratch, variety."

  That was her way of telling me they didn't work together, but were willing to put their natural instincts aside when the time called for it. It was a smart way to do business, even in a city teeming in the paranormal like Cincinnati seemed to be. Each one of us has natural limitations that the others are capable of filling when we aren't busy trying to kill the other side.

  "Lived here long?" I asked, wanting to change the subject. Not that talking paranormal politics wasn't my cup of tea, I just didn't want another person prying into my business here unless I had to. It was already bad enough that a vampire was involved.

  "I like the quick ones," she said, grinning. "I moved here from Atlanta a few years ago. I had to leave after getting myself in a bunch of trouble. Silas here helped clean up the mess and gave me a fresh start."

  "Sounds like I pleasant guy," I said, turning my head out the window.

  "He's skeptical about everyone at first. He wouldn't have had me get your car and bring you to him if there wasn't a level of trust."

  Hopefully he didn't try to pay me in trust after getting rid of his newborn vampire problem. I needed answers if I was going to get the council off my back.

  She pulled off the road and into the same abandoned parking lot I met him in earlier. Under a spotlight in the middle of the lot, Silas stood under and umbrella. He waited patiently as the woman pulled up next to him so he could get in.

  "Mr. Gilmore, I'm glad you could make it."

  "Thanks to your associate here," I motioned to the woman. "I never caught her name though."

  Silas laughed. "I don't know how you managed to live all these years if you were always willing to get into the car with a complete stranger."

  She reached over the seat and slapped him in the arm. I half expected him to retaliate, but he shrugged it off and continued to laugh. "My name is Astraea Renata," she said, offering her hand. "You can call me Ast."

  Silas's laugh changed to a chuckle. "Justice reborn. Remind me to tell you that story once your problems settle down, Mr. Gilmore."

  I filed that into the part of my mind with all the other worthless stuff I didn't have enough room for. "I take it she is trustworthy?"

  Silas nodded. "She wouldn't be here otherwise."

  "Can we drive?" I asked. "I don't feel comfortable sitting on one place right now."

  He nodded one more time and Ast put the car into gear. I waited until she pulled onto the highway before handing him my phone, the photos of Judy's burning body ready to go.

  "Trapped her in sunlight." Silas rubbed his chin. "I never thought she'd let you do that."

  "She didn't have a choice," I said, pressing play on the video of her burning at the end of the file.

  "Remind me to never get on your bad side," he said. "Or to kill you before you can do this to me."

  I hardly wanted to tell him I didn't wish that fate on her either. If it were up to me, Judy and Evan would still be alive, albeit not the fully functioning family they once were. Silas would've given me the information I needed last night and I would have the case solved by now. At best I could've been home, at worst I should've been making the long drive back down 70.

  "Is that proof enough?"

  "For information?" he hesitated. "Yes."

  "Good. You mentioned that you might not be the only vampire linked to that number."

  "Ahh yes." He handed me back my phone. "The number you dialed works like a routing service. There are four of us on the network though only two of us do any serious work."

  "You mean to tell me, you aren't the only one to take these calls."

  Silas smiled. "Something like that."

  "Any idea on how the calls get routed?" I asked. "Like who gets sent to you?"

  He shook his head. "No idea, but I imagine the answer is in your file." He pointed to the stack of files sitting on the center console.

  "What would the missing and dead millionaires have to do with it," I said, scratching my head.

  "Think about it, Darlin," Ast said.

  "By the amount they'll spend?"

  "That and what each of us is willing to do. I shy away from murder, so those calls usually don't get routed my way."

  "Usually?" I said, studying him. "That mean you've been contacted for one before."

  "I don't blame them for asking."

  While his answers helped, it was still missing a critical piece of information. How was I going to find this other vampire or even get my call routed to him. There had to be something I was missing.

  "Any idea who routes the calls?"

  He shook his head. "Never cared to ask."

  "Then how about the other vampires. Any idea who they are?"

  "We are a tight knit community, Mr. Gilmore. Of course I know who they are."

  He nodded. "The only one that takes on work is Corbin Osborn."

  "Any idea where I can find him?" I asked, wanting to end this sooner than later.

  "I'm afraid I'm unable to help you with that. He was never one to stay put for a long time."

  I glanced down at the files and came up with an idea. If someone was routing the calls, there might have been a chance they were able to trace the number to its owner. After my time in Boulder, it wouldn't surprise me if someone had written a program that was able to pull information like age, location, and income bracket before deciding who got the call. There wasn't enough time to dig up a phone from one of the dead millionaires, but I did have someone to call that could make that irrelevant.

  - 16 -

  "I saw your number on a bathroom stall," I said, voice veiled to sound like Winston, the old man who won the huge hand my first night in town. That was only part of the magic that made this call work.

  The first thing I had to do was come up with a different phone number than the one I already had. Ideally the number also had to be tied to a person worth at least six if not seven figures. My base assumption was the cheaper clientele were being routed to Silas, who seemed to be willing to negotiate on price or services as he proved by having me hunt, and kill Judy.

  This part of the plan involved my friend who helps manage the federal database, Sam Calwell. Sam and I go way back, to some of my earliest memories from childhood. He was a loner kid who always had a thing with computers. In another life, I could easily see having him as my assistant, saying Stacy didn't exist in that one either.

  I always felt bad for involving him in my messes, especially when it could risk his job. Truth be told, ninety percent of the things I had him do could cross that line. From something as simple as scouring the federal no-call list database for the phone number of a prominent millionaire to something more scandalous like giving me the social security numbers and identification of a few deceased persons every year. I always made sure he picked those people without friends or family that could end up being on the hook for anything I did.

  Our relationship was a good one, albeit unconventional. He never brought up how he was able to get me the goodies he did and I never asked. If it was up to him, I wouldn't owe him a thing for any of it, but even that had a workaround. He is a fan of b
aseball, nearly as big as me. While he moved closer to the capitol and became a Nationals fan, I never wavered from my love of the Cardinals. Twice a year I treat him to a game, once in St. Louis, the other in Washington. The seats weren't anything to write home about, but I did generally buy bleacher seats when they were available.

  The second part of the equation I called Sara to handle. Having the phone number wasn't going to do me any good unless I was able to call from it. Over the years she has used a program that did something similar to help put feelers out across many of the police departments in the states. At first I was able to get a few quality jobs, but things dried up. It wasn't the fault of the program or the plan, but most departments already had someone on standby to handle the stuff I did. While most of them notably weren't part of the old world, most knew enough to point the police in the right direction. It probably didn't help that my prices were higher than most, but I brought something to the table those other investigators could only dream of.

  My magic.

  The last part of my plan required some luck. As much as I hated to say it, it needed it in spades. All it took was one of the parts to fail to bring the rest of the plan crashing down to the ground in a fiery heap. Even with the elements of the old world I had at my disposal, luck was the one ingredient that none of us could provide. Thankfully, I had just enough of it to get the call to go through. Right to my intended target.

  "Indeed," the vampire said. While I was waiting for Stacy and Sam to get their parts of the plan out of the way, Silas and Ast filled me in on the man on the other end of the line.

  Corbin Osborn was a vampire who happened to reside here in Cincinnati for the last fifty or so years. He was young, by vampire standards, which meant he was a long way from being in a position of power. If every one of us has one thing that motivates us to go the extra mile, Corbin's was power.