by Simone Lari
Christopher did not notice to begin with; his friend usually did things that for him were nothing more than a dangerous weirdness with no sense. Once he was in the car, though, curiosity got the better of him.
"Explain to me why you continue this sunbathing thing? I've tried it myself, and it's not at all pleasant."
"I'm not a masochist, if that's what you're wondering."
"To tell the truth, I've had my doubts."
"Training. It's just training" he specified.
"You can't beat the sun, even someone as crazy as you should know that."
"I can't beat it, but I can tolerate it, lessen the power that it has over me, and defy it. This is enough for me, and furthermore... "
"I know: you've always loved the sun."
"Exactly, it was like that when I was human. But now, on the other hand…"
They travelled along secondary roads to the town, and then continued toward the Black Sun. They parked in front of the club, closed as usual on Mondays, thus completely deserted.
"Do you think we'll already have our answer?" Sting asked.
"Something tells me we will."
They got out of the car and went to the entrance.
As soon as they were through the door, the young barman noticed them and quickly rushed to them.
"I have a message for you..." he began nervously, swallowing and looking over his shoulder.
"Talk" Christopher urged him.
"Miss Nina told me to tell you that ...”
"The hunters would like to learn more about your proposal" interrupted Vans from behind them, revolver pointed and spike in hand.
"Of course, and we like to be prudent, so don't worry, it's nothing personal" added Gabriel, popping out of the cloakroom with a small silver bottle of holy water in one hand and a gun in the other.
"If I were them, I'd be a little worried" concluded Lynn, appearing on the raised stage with a crossbow aimed at them. She turned it to the bartender and, with the tip of an arrow, motioned to him to leave quickly. He took off at lightning speed without being asked a second time.
"Please see reason, we're just here to talk” Christopher tried to cajole them with a persuasive voice, while Sting looked at them with contempt.
"Where is your female? From what they told us, there are three of you in this happy clique" Vans continued.
"She's at our hideaway, keeping guard on an important element that is part of the agreement" explained Christopher.
"Meaning?" Gabriel invited him, lowering the weapon slightly.
"Not so fast, my good man. Let's go over the agreements" intervened Sting, urging Christopher to speak with a brief gesture.
"You already know what the terms of our proposal are, and I imagine you have reflected on all its implications, both for us and for you."
"The Duergar are one of the most dangerous clans around” argued Gabriel. "They nourish themselves only in the traditional manner, kill their victims and usually make the bodies disappear. They train their warriors in the use of the katana, and each year they replace their losses with new recruits. They don't disdain the elimination of vampires of other clans, or putting the blame on them for their own killings, as long as it's the hunters who deal with it."
"You've done your homework." remarked Sting, surprised.
"Therefore, this makes them our enemies, and yours too" concluded Gabriel.
"And the enemy, in this case you, of your enemy is your friend. In short, we understand each other" said Vans in an offhand manner.
"He's an idiot" stated Sting, pointing to him.
"Hey, match head, careful not to give me paltry excuses to get rid of you, because they'd be more than enough!" he shot back, pointing the revolver at him.
"Oh-oh, prejudiced or just touchy?"
"I'm getting bored!" exclaimed Lynn, never taking her aim from the two vampires.
"Perhaps we should get to the point" urged Gabriel, impatient.
"We help you find and eliminate the Duergar clan," stated Christopher, "and you, through your network of contacts, will find the information that we need. It seems like a fair exchange to me."
"Do you know what would be even better? If we let you and the Duergar screw each other, and then we get rid of the survivors" retorted Vans, hostile.
"That way, in the meantime, one of the little girls will die with her throat cut. What a genius, and what a lot of confidence in yourself." Sting provoked him, sarcastic.
"We can't do it alone either, and it would be impossible for you to find their hideout without our help" Christopher warned him.
"Do you know what I say, you ugly pieces of shit?" Vans burst out. "I really don't believe you know how to find those monsters, so now we'll turn you into lovely little piles of smoking dust, then we'll go looking for the Duergar by ourselves."
Sting displayed his incisors and his face transfigured into a sadistic grim mask. Christopher slowly brought his hand to the handle of the katana.
Lynn prepared to shoot at the first vampire who dared to move a muscle, while Gabriel and Vans gripped their weapons, taking a step forward.
The tension was sky-high. In a blink of the eye, all hell would be let loose.
"Stop!" a young voice broke in, startling everyone.
"Nina'" said Vans, astonished.
"And what kind of agreement is this?" she yelled, looking first at the hunters, then at Christopher's sad eyes.
"I always said that the theory about Twilight is true" muttered Vans, glaring at his friend.
"Nina, please, you must go away from here” Gabriel ordered her.
"No way! Do you read the newspapers? There was a massacre at the clinic! There are murdering monsters out there and you're here arguing with the only ones who can help you?"
"Nina, I appreciate your intervention, but we can resolve the issue perfectly well between ourselves. Keep out of it, please" Christopher pleaded.
Sting looked at his friend, then the hunter and finally the girl; he shook his head several times, and then shouted, tired: "I can't stand these heartbreaking scenes, so we have two choices. Either we confront each other, and some of us will not leave this room intact, or we come to an agreement, and perhaps we tell you where we're holding the Duergar we've captured."
Vans lowered his weapon a little.
"You have a prisoner?"
"What's wrong, can't you hear? Do you need me to tell you again? Yes, we have a prisoner!" he confirmed.
Chapter 17 - It's Part of My Job
Vans, Gabriel and Lynn exchanged suspicious but interested glances.
"How did you manage to capture it, uh, whole?" asked Gabriel.
"We have our own methods; now it's in a safe place, completely inoffensive" retorted Sting.
"Who can guarantee us that it's not a colossal load of bullshit?" Lynn broke in, pointing the crossbow at him.
"Let me think, sweetness. Hmm, it's difficult ... oh, that's it! No-one?" Sting mocked her.
"I can guarantee it!" announced Nina. "If it can help... "
The hunters winced at that statement. But the two vampires gave her a quick glance, incredulous and grateful, that she returned with a smile.
Then Christopher said in a firm voice: "We will deliver the prisoner to you, with or without Nina's intercession; you'll make him talk with the methods you deem more suitable."
Sting scowled, annoyed and disgusted.
"So we make him talk, he tells us where his bloodsucking buddies have their hideout and we all go to kick his ass, right?" Vans summed up.
"That's right. After which you'll give us the information that we asked you. It's an act of trust on our part, I'm sure you'll agree" he remarked, turning to Nina again.
"Obviously, if you betray our trust, somebody is not going to get out of this alive" Sting announced with a large sly smile. "I'm sensitive, I get really upset, and so I harbor a greeaaat amount of resentment."
Nina gave him a filthy look and he opened his arms wide, mouthing a 'wh
at's wrong?' with his lips.
"Assuming that we agree, how do you intend to act'" Vans asked Christopher.
"There are very few alternatives" he answered, "You’ll have to follow us to where we live The Zmeu is there, and moving him would be risky."
Vans and Gabriel threw questioning looks at each other. Neither of the two liked the idea of finding themselves in a den of vampires.
"Hey, it's not reassuring even for us if we let you know where we rest during the day" Sting rebuked them, tired of the unnerving procrastination.
"Come on, guys!" Lynn berated them, "There are no other solutions with less risk involved, so make up your minds or we'll be here all night."
"After the trust that they've shown you, I think you could give in and return it, just for once" Nina added.
"Well, I hate to admit it, but we'll have to trust them" said Gabriel to Vans.
The latter, albeit unwillingly, agreed: "Ok, we have an agreement, perhaps the first in history between hunters and vampires, and a real record."
Lynn put down the crossbow and left her position.
"Well, let's get moving then, because at this rate it will be daytime before we know it!"
"You know, sweetness, you took the words out of my mouth" remarked Sting, with a charming smirk.
With a resounding snort, Lynn replaced the crossbow and stood by Vans, who said: "We'll follow you, but first we'll take Beautiful home."
"What did you call me?" Nina snapped.
"Please, Nina, do as he tells you and everything will be alright" Christopher soothed her.
"The hell, it will!" Jude said, bursting into the room like an equatorial cyclone. Angelique was behind her.
"Girls!"
"Shit, but why do the little girls always complicate things?" Vans shouted, annoyed.
"What are these two doing here?" asked Lynn.
"The fan club is spreading like a virus" remarked Gabriel, gloomily.
"Hey, red, did you miss me?"
"Drop dead, you microcephalus dwarf!" Jude threw at him and then snatched her friend by one arm. "No, I mean to say, are you crazy to come here alone in the middle of the night?"
"How did you know ...?”
"I called your home an hour ago, and your mother told me that you'd gone to study at Jude's, so I called Jude, and ... "
"And I nearly had a heart attack when she called me! You're coming with us right now!" she roared like a banshee.
"That's right, very good, disappear" Lynn urged them.
"No, wait, but I... “Nina tried to argue, despite the fact that the Trequetra had been burning hot for some time.
"No buts, we have to go" Angelique insisted.
Just as they took a step in the direction of the exit, Christopher burst out: "Just a moment!" All eyes turned to look at him. "Perhaps it's better if you three come with us."
"Are you crazy?" at least four of them yelled.
"Think about it for a second, damn it! The alleys, the clinic... the Zmeu are familiar with our movements because they've probably always been following us. They could even be outside here right now, so we can't risk sending you out alone in the city, and it's just as risky to take you home. If they came to get you, there would be no one to defend you and your families."
Gabriel looked surreptitiously at Angelique, who was pretending to bite her fingernails in fear, and clenched his fists. He looked at Vans, and of all people he declared: "The Morland is right."
"And when we're out hunting?" he asked his friend.
"We'll leave them with Jared." He clicked his fingers, "You three, with us."
Jude took a step forward. From her height, she towered over them with a finger raised, screaming as if she were possessed: "We don't go anywhere, least of all with back from the dead and deadbeat psychopaths like you! We're going home right now, and you go and get stuffed, clear?
Her voice reverberated loudly through the empty room, until a surreal quiet fell on the place. Lynn laughed, looking at her with interest, and hunters and vampires exchanged glances.
"She's coming with you" replied Vans, drily.
"Wow, I'm beginning to like this collaboration!" Sting exulted.
Vans and Gabriel decided on a tortuous alternative route so as to shake off anyone who might be stalking them.
They'd been in the car for several minutes when, to ease the tension that was gripping them, Gabriel began to speak: "You took a big risk coming here this evening." He turned, meeting Angelique's lost and guilty eyes. "You must be very close friends. You've shown courage."
"The question is" intervened Vans, eyeing Nina through the rear-view mirror, "why did you come? You couldn't know that we'd go there, or that the Morlands would come tonight to get the message."
"And you, on the other hand, why were you there?" Nina retorted.
"First answer my question!" ordered Vans, annoyed.
Nina thought for a few moments, looking at the boy's serious eyes reflected in the rear-view mirror, and the tense look on the faces of Gabriel and Angelique.
"I felt a strong sense of unease, as if something could go wrong at any moment, so I hurried to where I thought I'd find all of you. And just as well I came: two blockheads like you and Sting would certainly have finished up arguing."
"Don't you dare to compare me with that bloodsucking monster!" he roared, offended.
"Vans" said Gabriel, seeing Nina's face drop.
"So sorry, I'm a little pissed off" he muttered unhappily.
"This doesn't give you the right to speak to me like that, nor to blow everything just because you hate vampires."
"You know, I have every reason to do so."
"All the same, you were about to lose your head and unleash all hell, even after they'd shown they were going to collaborate."
"Especially that Christopher, Mister sad eyes, so dark and handsome. He's the one who knows how to remain cold blooded, right?"
"It would seem so" she retorted, drily.
"Well, I just don't trust a person who's always calm and relaxed. Who knows what's going on behind that deadpan face."
"You, though, you can't ever relax, can you?" she contended, annoyed by the constant verbal attacks.
Vans sighed patiently.
"No, it's been many years since I could, unfortunately" he replied sadly, with his gaze fixed on the road, but lost in dark memories.
That tone surprised Nina and she took a breath to reply, but the stereo being turned up to full volume showed the boy's clear intention to put an end to all dialog until they arrived at the meeting place.
Jude was in front of the club with Lynn waiting for the two vampires to arrive. They had taken the car to do a tour of reconnaissance, useful for diverting anyone who was tailing them.
She was rather edgy, so she tried to calm her nerves by smoking a cigarette, something that was absolutely forbidden in the presence of Nina and Angelique.
She walked along the sidewalk for short stretches to beat the cold, alternating impatient sighs with nasty sideways looks at her companion.
Lynn didn't take her eyes off her. Occasionally, she looked around for safety, with the crossbow always at the ready, but then returned to look at her.
At a certain point she started to speak, but Jude stopped her coldly: "If you think I want to socialize with you, you're on the wrong track, sister."
"Well, I'll remember that when someone has to save your ass, sister."
She got a toxic look in return that the huntress exchanged with a pleased half smile. Jude put her lips around the filter and took an avid draw, which flowed out again as a gray cloud in the space that separated them. She started walking again. A few minutes later, with a squeal of tires, a sports car came down the road around the bend, and stopped right in front of her.
"Get in, red" called Sting, lowering the tinted window of his sports car.
"Get stuffed, you prick" she retorted, flicking the cigarette butt at him.
After making sure there was no damag
e to the interior of his precious car, he was about to answer harshly but Christopher gestured to him to remain calm.
"Miss, would you like to kindly get in" he rephrased with a false and forced tone.
She smiled smugly and got into one of the rear seats. Lynn followed her.
Sting put the car into gear. "Good, now we're going to pick up the rest of the gang!" and took off with the tires smoking on the asphalt.
"Welcome" said Christopher, like a perfect master of the house, opening the front door.
Alyna was waiting for them in the atrium, the whip hanging from her belt and a grim expression on her face. When she saw the unexpected guests, she couldn't refrain from asking for explanations.
"What are they here for?"
"Collateral, that's what they are" Sting lied so as not to arouse any unhealthy jealousy in the vampire.
"Take no notice, please sit down" insisted Christopher in a courteous tone. "This villa belonged to the vampire elder who ran our group, Abraham Tasker."
"Who prematurely passed away" Vans said sarcastically.
"I guess they'll be the ones who'll gather the information from the Duergar" Alyna cut short, closing the door after the last of them had entered.
Christopher nodded, Sting scowled.
"Then there is no time to lose: whoever is involved in the interrogation follow me, the others can wait in the great hall or in the library. Don't roam too far around the villa" he warned them.
With a bag held tight in his hands, Vans followed the vampire.
"Have patience, everything will be over soon and you'll be free to go" Christopher reassured the girls.
Nina smiled timidly.
"Gabriel, you stay here to check that everything is okay" said Vans. His friend nodded in agreement. Then he turned to Lynn, already in line to follow him: "I'd prefer that you didn't assist."
She stared at him speechless, looking into his eyes which were resolute but sad. Nina too caught that gaze, which she was unable to interpret.
