Vampire Enforcer (Hidden Blood Book 1)

by Al K. Line

  "Exactly, and there you were being all angry, accusing us poor imps of stealing it."

  "But you did take it!" he said getting all red at the cheeks.

  "Prove it." Intus put her hands on her hips and stared him down, and for a while I thought something terrible would happen. Finally, Intus asked, "Shall I do it now?"

  "Wait for the kids. Oh, and they brought a dog with them too."

  "A dog?" asked Intus, looking worried and darting a nervous glance at the door.

  "Yes, a dog."

  Kim smiled, Intus' ears flattened to her head, and then the twins ran into the room yelling with excitement. A moment later a thing, which I guess you could call a dog if you used the term very loosely, crashed through the doorway, a shoulder breaking the frame, dislodging plaster and several bricks.

  "I hate dogs," said Intus, "especially the cute ones. They trick you then when you go to pat them they eat you. It takes ages to come out the other end and you have to get the lava super hot to get the smell off."

  With that, the twins pulled up to a dead stop at the sight of the cowering imp in my hand and grabbed the dog's trailing collar. Ben whooped, "Cool, an imp. Can we keep it, Dad, can we?"

  "Now," I whispered to Intus, and then things got seriously freaky.

  Breaking the Law

  As Intus, along with everything else in the room made of flesh, apart from me, disappeared in a cloud of choking fumes, I shouted, "Thank you," and she reappeared for a moment, said, "That dog's already demolished our key mountain. It took ages that did," then was gone again.

  I sank back onto the sofa and wondered what kind of trouble Intus would be in for taking them with her. How long it would last was anyone's guess. Kim was sure to have a few tricks up his own hellish sleeves, so I wasted no time calling home to warn Faz and Mithnite. How could Mithnite have done this to us? How had he done it at all for that matter? And how were we going to get him out of this undoubtedly serious predicament?

  I had absolutely no idea.

  Part of me, make that most of me, wanted to curl up on the sofa and hide until it all went away, but that isn't the vampire way, and sure isn't the enforcer way. So I waited impatiently as the phone rang. And rang. And rang.

  Both mobiles went to voice mail, which seemed ridiculous, but I left messages nonetheless. Telling Faz to get Mithnite to call me as soon as possible, him too, and that Mithnite was to get out of the house and meet me in the city center.

  We had to talk and soon, and Mithnite had to get trouble well away from our home. Faz was a wreck, wouldn't stand a chance against Kim and his "dog" in his current state, and as I hung up I wondered if I'd done the right thing.

  Should I go home, or wait for Mithnite in the city? I ummed and aahed and got myself in a muddle, all thought of my brand new job forgotten. Family first. Always family first.

  As I left the strange, empty house I searched the area, feeling all kinds of stressed. Something was on my radar but I didn't know what. Then it hit me, it was dark. That couldn't be, it was afternoon. "Damn demons," I muttered, knowing they had no concept of time like we do and that things can get weird when in their company. My phone rang, startling me. So much for the vicious vampire enforcer!

  "Kate, what's going on?" asked Faz.

  "Where are you?"

  "Just put some milk out for the hobs. I'm home. What's happening? Why do you want Mithnite to get away from the house? What's this got to do with him?"

  I was confused for a moment. "What's what got to do with him?"

  "I assume this is about your job, the no fear thing?" Faz sounded as confused as me.

  "No, it isn't. Have you seen him? Have you spoken to him?"

  "He's right here, just walked in. Wait, I'll put you on speaker."

  "Hello?" said Mithnite.

  "You lied to us? How could you?"

  "I don't know what you're talking about," said Mithnite.

  "You bloody do. How could you? I met Kim, and his kids. And their dog."

  There was silence, followed by a conversation I couldn't hear, and then Mithnite asked, "Are you okay? I'm sorry."

  "Yes, I'm fine," I said sharply. "I got rid of them, for now. Look, you have to leave. It's not safe for you or Faz. Certainly not Faz. We need to meet. You have some serious explaining to do."

  "Shouldn't I just go?" he asked, sounding so sad I couldn't picture him as anything but the young man I knew.

  "No, you need to meet me and you need to tell me how this happened and then we need to find a way to get you out of this awful mess."

  "I... I don't know what to say."

  "Just tell me you'll meet me." I thought for a moment then said, "Take the phone off speaker for a minute." There was a crackle then Mithnite said, "Okay, it's just me. I'm halfway down the garden," he whispered.

  "Let's meet outside the church."

  "How about the Hidden Club? Meet me there. Safety in numbers."

  "If you're sure," I said warily.

  "Yeah, should be safer."

  "You need to tell Faz that if anyone comes asking that you went out. Don't tell him where you're going, that way he won't have to lie. You know he's awful at it. Put it back on speaker and go back to the house," I ordered.

  I heard Mithnite panting as he ran, then Faz came on the line. "Kate? What's happening?"

  "Mithnite will tell you some of it, right now, won't you, Mithnite?" I had an edge to my voice; he knew better than to try to squirm out of this.

  "S'pose."

  "Don't you go all bloody moody teenager on me!" I shrieked, tugging at my coat like it had answers. I noticed tiny beads of blood soaked through my white shirt from Intus' claws, and wished I'd done what Faz always did and worn red. Ah well, maybe next time. If there was one, for any of us.

  "Sorry. I'll tell him. Just quickly, then I'll meet you. Bye."

  "Kate, you're scaring me," said Faz.

  "Don't worry, just make sure he leaves and that he tells you first. You have to know this, but don't be angry. I'm sure he meant nothing by it. Um, maybe. Love you."

  With that I hung up, knowing I'd crack if I talked any longer.

  The gate swung closed behind me with a squeal. I wasted no time getting back to the city and the car.

  Minutes later, I sank into cooling leather.

  "How the hell does Faz do it?" I wondered, knowing this madness was nothing compared to some things he'd been involved in.

  More Questions Than Answers

  Whatever Kim had done to time threw me completely off stride. It's disconcerting to say the least when you lose hours and there's no real explanation. But it happens, and I had little choice but to go with the flow.

  Traffic was light now, most people at home in bed, or watching TV. Pubs were busy, a few souls wandered the streets, and sleepy drivers navigated the drowsy city. The shift workers or the traveling salesmen, a different world to mine, one I would never want to be a part of.

  My phone beeped and I checked the message.

  WHAT THE FUCK?!!!

  It was from Faz. Guess Mithnite had told him then.

  How long did we have before Kim returned? And what could he do when he did? I didn't have a clue how these things worked, the Laws for true Hidden like him, especially a Creator, were unknown to humans. I mean, if he was part of the society that ran and maintained the whole shebang then could he do exactly as he pleased? Or, did he have to stick to the rules his kind imposed, created? All of this was way beyond me, and most other humans.

  It takes someone utterly dedicated to the Hidden realms to have even an inkling of the endless systems they contain. There are so many worlds, so many categories of being, that you could spend an eternity studying just one sub-species, let alone the whole thing.

  The Creators are those in charge of the human afterlives, keeping them stable and in order, and I wanted nothing to do with it, with them. Who would? Guess it was easy to see why Mithnite had left, just not how.

  Pointless speculation ran around my over
loaded mind as I got out and locked up the car. I don't even know why I'd got in it as I hadn't driven anywhere. This was stupid. Why ask questions I had no answers to when I could ask a Creator myself soon? Mithnite would tell me what I needed to know, or I'd spank him so hard he'd have to sit on a cushion for the eternity he'd helped create.

  I walked through the city center, a cool breeze whipping at the leather coat, flapping the tails and making my hair fly. It felt good, refreshing. I let it scour me, take away some of the confusion and concern, the regret and sadness that my life was going to change once again. Just when I thought this existence, this happiness was stable, that things were going well, something would happen to turn everything upside down. Here it was again, fate playing her cruel tricks on me, disrupting my happy life, my home, my family.

  Mithnite was family. I thought of him like a son, just a very dangerous one. I was under no illusion about the strength he had even if he was still learning. If you looked at it from the Regulars' point of view then he would seem impossibly powerful, otherworldly. I loved him. He wasn't just someone Faz had taken under his wing so he could complete his studies and become a true wizard, he was part of my life.

  And he'd duped us, lied to us, pretended to be something he wasn't even if I didn't know how. Had he taken over this man's body when he was a boy, dislodged the rightful owner and stolen his identity? Or had he been born into the body, like reincarnation or something?

  All of this was new, unchartered territory, and I didn't know anyone I could call upon to ask. Still being relatively new to the Hidden world, there's lots I don't know yet, but I was pretty damn sure there had never been a case of one of these demonic human overlords of hell popping up and living here just because they fancied a change of scene.

  I set my shoulders, buttoned my coat, and clenched my jaw. I'd find out the truth or Mithnite would be goo on a dirty floor beneath the city in a dark place known as the Hidden Club.

  Outside the door I paused, took a deep breath, then went on in.

  The Hidden Club

  A wall of sound assaulted me as the door closed. As I descended the steps to this subterranean club, a sensory barrage to rival the noise hit. In fact several did. The heavy smoke of untold incendiaries that various human and true Hidden liked to puff away on formed a dense cloud. My lungs began to burn. Combined with the heat, thanks to several excitable imps no doubt, it felt like I was descending into hell to meet Mithnite.

  Faz loved this place, and it did have its attractions. There was something about it. You felt safe even though the air crackled with danger. You were with like-minded people, although people is a very loose description for those who frequented the Hidden Club.

  It was open all night, blatantly ignored the smoking ban, and served cheap beer. This made it popular with Regulars—although most left quickly because the vibe was anything but normal, stepping out into the fresh air, shaking their heads and wondering where the hell they'd just been—and the only place in the city human Hidden and true Hidden could relax and drink away the night.

  And fight. It was renowned for fighting. Every evening Brewster Bunker, the troll owner, would put out small red lamps on the tables dotted around the large room, and every night they would be smashed, used to burn someone or something, and the chairs and tables didn't fare much better. But it was all in fun, a way to vent, let off steam.

  It got rowdy but in that depressed, drunken, addict kind of way. Much of the clientele were morose, nursing beers and staring into the murky depths of their dirty glasses, whiling away the hours, seeking solace, finding oblivion.

  As I stepped off the stairs, my boots stuck to the beer-stained floor, and I kicked through the cigarette butts and empty crisp packets, the tiny lumps of discarded mineral rock a troll had obviously dropped, and other esoteric snacks, and squinted at the room. It took a while for my eyes to adjust and they burned like crazy from the smoke and general odor—some creatures definitely smell gross—until the magic inside did its job and my vision cleared like I'd put on 3D glasses after staring at the world through a clouded lens.

  I'd never seen it like this before, not with such clarity. The few times I'd been with Faz were hazy and hurried, me getting a sense of danger and little else, but this time it was different. I saw clearly, could see the place as it truly was. Many Hidden were veiled as there were several Regulars drinking sullenly in a corner, but even as I entered they got up, shook their heads at the room in general as the bickering and the fights got out of hand, and they left, along with quite a few human Hidden too, unable to stand the level of insanity in progress.

  I walked across the room and nodded to the Chemist, up on the stage, doing his best to complete his comedy act. Why a ghoul with a penchant for all things alchemical punished himself in this way night after night would seem strange to some, but I'd met him and understood that he saw this as his calling, his curse, his addiction and his delight. He had to get up and tell lame jokes, it was in his twisted DNA.

  He nodded back, then shouted abuse at the unenthusiastic crowd before finishing with several jokes too lewd for me to repeat. He flounced off stage in a huff.

  Sudden anger took me, an all-encompassing surge of adrenaline and vicious hatred. I staggered, reached out for the bar and grasped the ancient wood with shaky, pale fingers. What the hell was this? My body temperature rose, not just from the heat of the room, and I felt flushed, like I was a lobster not far from the plate. I wanted to rip my skin off, to shuck off my clothes, tear my hair out, yank my chipped fingernails away with my teeth and run around screaming while I flayed myself to stop the burning.

  I was bubbling like one of the Chemist's noxious potions, my insides volatile and ready to burst. Would I spontaneously combust? Were my tattoos to blame? Had something gone wrong in the process? Perhaps the magic couldn't find release, would split my body and spew my anger into the faces of the boisterous boozers like acid?

  Frantic, I leaned forward over the bar, ignored the stench of stale beer, and closed my eyes. I searched inside and tried to calm my overactive imagination. I was all right, I was fine, I was just having a panic attack. Was I? Was this what they were like? Why the anger, the vitriol? Because the Chemist looked so sad, him up there with his broken, misshapen body, his elongated arms, his face half melted off. They'd laughed at the ghoul and that wasn't nice.

  An understanding came then that this was merely the new me settling in, everything too fresh and unstable to truly be called my own yet. I was reborn fresh from the womb of the Hidden world. A vampire, not a witch, not true Hidden and this wasn't mine, not really. Not yet. My frustration and shock over the revelations concerning Mithnite and the job I hadn't even begun to deal with had merely got the better of me and needed a release.

  I controlled my pounding heart, let my breath in and out slowly, and the hormonal cocktail that raged inside dissipated until I felt almost whole again. The magic receded, the tattoos relaxed and freed my skin; I felt in control.

  I'd been warned about this, both by the tattoo artists and Faz. The power offered was too fresh and alien to the host body for it to run like clockwork instantly. You had to guide it, accept it, control it. Get a grip, Kate, you're the one in charge here, not the damn ink.

  Slowly, I came to my senses, the club having been lost to me while I battled inner demons, revealing numerous real demons standing on tables or shouting at each other or throwing Brewster's little red lamps. But it wasn't the usual boisterous misbehaving, this had a definite edge to it. This lack of fear had spilled over into many more Hidden now, making the club erupt into a huge bar fight to end all bar fights.

  Why here? Why did Mithnite want to meet here of all places when it housed more of our kind than anywhere else in the city? Surely he knew how wild it would be, how dangerous? Maybe that was the point?

  Ugh, here we went again. More second-guessing, more thinking, more questioning of things I had no real answers to.

  As chaos reigned all around and dwarves swu
ng axes at goblins and goblins spat at imps and imps stole the socks off unwary wizards and wizards patted at their burning beards while sprites laughed and fire-starters threw tiny flaming balls into the burning hair of the pissed wizards even as they threw their beer at each other to douse the flames, I did something strange.

  I smiled.

  Why? I have no idea, but it seemed funny at the time.

  "Can I have a lemonade please, Brewster?" I asked the immobile troll standing the other side of the bar, staring at me impassively.

  He grunted and served me.

  Guess it was just another night's work for the owner of the Hidden Club.

  An Impatient Wait

  Every so often I'd glance around to witness another brief bout of violence or another quick dash for the exit, but no sooner had one lone bruiser or one group left than others would descend the stairs to take their place. It was as if everyone had been drawn here to unleash the pent up emotions within.

  Was this the cause of my own inner rage? Why I felt so keen to crack heads? I'd thought it was merely the ink but now I wasn't so sure. Was I myself? Was I hell! I had to keep pushing this anger down or it would surge up again and I'd lose myself to one heinous act or other.

  Was that why Mithnite had asked to meet here? Because he too had this burning desire to go nuts and smash faces or blast the dark arts at anyone that looked at him funny, or even if they didn't?

  Maybe.

  But, and I was becoming angry just thinking about it, he wasn't here. Where was he? He knew how serious this was, why hadn't he come as fast as he possibly could? Had something happened? Was he lying in a ditch somewhere having encountered someone or something that wanted a fight? Or had Kim returned, angry and not in the mood for the nice guy act, snatched Mithnite and dragged him kicking and screaming back home? Damn, I was annoying myself now with all these questions. What was wrong with me?

  The more I pondered my own wellbeing and whether or not I truly was myself, the worse it got. I was back to sweating and feeling freaky, skin itching like the ink was full of red ants, and I wasn't in the least bit surprised to find my mostly white t-shirt glowing all kinds of colors as the magic swirled and eddied and flashed off in dancing sparks that shone through the cotton.