by E R Landron
My smile gets large to the point that I fight my fangs not to show. "There is only suggestion of this" the councilman continues. Claude's expression changes, as if he was embarrassed he passes his hand through his grey hair as he lowers his head. A low: "you are right. you are right" came from Claude as he hides his head between his hands. "There's no strong evidence there" he continued. "Oh my, your right..." he continues. I catch the sarcasm in his voice. My smile fades quickly. I tilt my head to the side waiting for what it seemed like a "grand reveal". Everyone was watching Claude as he stays silent for what it seemed like the longest minute in time before slowly raising his head with a smile.
“Nikolay... Lazovsky!”
A deep sting in my stomach. I killed Nikolay some days ago and send some of my men to overlook his stuff and found nothing. What could Nikolay, have on me? Fuck.
“Lazovsky wasn't smart you know. And he liked to brag... a lot. A gambler. He lost money… well, he loses a lot of money, not a very good gambler… the point is he lost on a bet he assured he would have won and his phone was taken from him to cover his debt, besides of been beaten down… imbécil. He lost to one of my clan members, to my luck.”, Claude says smirking looking at his fingers.
I always know what is going on. It feels weird not knowing how the story ends. I always have the upper hand. "Only bet on what you are sure to win," I say to myself countless times, ironically the councilman is talking of losing bets. Now two of my possible objectives could be out the door and what sickens me the most, was the pleasure Claude will have to exile me. My forehead began to perspire more. It was hard to appear unfazed now.
“It seemed my men were so lazy, again… to my luck none the less... that they did not erase the phone and Nikolay tried to verify information on his computer, notifying the phone about it. Also, what was on his phone?”
Claude puts another pen drive on another USB port on the bench, and a low-quality video appears on his screen. A bloodied Nikolay appears on it. It seems he was doing a video journal after been beat down by another loss gambling. It seems they threw him behind a garbage dump.
“It seems this was before gambling with my men. He liked all the modern video selfies.... is that what is called?”, Claude says smiling.
"As you can see you lose some and lose some more", Nikolay says while trying to stand up some ninja figures appear far away. "Chto eto?" Nikolay says whispering while trying to move slowly and the murmurs are getting a little higher until a voice from the ninjas says: "and you are sure Ripa will deliver us that after we kill them?” and another responds, "first the mission then we kill the council." A large gasp did not let the video finished as it showed the camera turning to Nikolay and him opening his green eyes as most as it could. Nikolay closes his mouth with his hands and squints hard.
“I like the full confession of the treason, don't you think gentlemen?”
The other councilmen’s whisper echoes through the room. I try to read their body language. If they will attack me. If I would need to defend himself. Up to this point, nothing I will do will help. Five councilmen do a half moon to the person in the middle while the benches are tall enough to see if the person in the middle will engage on an attack. This will give the councilmen an advantage on how to eliminate whoever tried this foolish act. Fucking canliliks. Bunch of cunts.
“The quality of the video isn't that good but judging by the outfits. Those are Canliliks. A cannibalistic clan banned from the states for their atrocious acts against our kind. I bet the only thing that kept Nikolay safe was him, being a Spakr. Let himself with no sound while letting his surroundings normal. Poor thing... last time someone saw him... he was heading to your building. Where is he now Mr. Ripa?”, Claude turns to me raising his eyebrow.
My body trembles from the inside. The stares given by each and every one of the councilmen full of rage. My whole body is burning up. Embarrassment. Anger. I can read everything that was going to happen now. The councilmen pointed with rage. I’ll be sentenced. Stripped away from all my ranks. Exiled. If I try to do anything, They’ll torture and kill me. I grip the tablet harder just to feel like I have control of anything at this moment. They scream, keep pointing. They throw papers downwards, hit the tables. Everyone was outraged except Claude who was savoring this moment. The words that the men were telling me became a blur, I was feeling nausea. I can feel how sweat beads form in my forehead. My right eye started to twitch until a small beep caught my attention from my wrist. The screen on my watch illuminates. All the noise fades for a moment. All began to slow down. All my bad symptoms cease. I turn to my digital watch slowly until my eyes focus on the words that appear on it: "We got the orb!" All of a sudden everything sounds come back and a gush of strength fills me up. I turn to the tablet and gave it a couple of taps.
“There’s no escaping us through your tablet Mr. Ripa.”, Claude says with a smile.
I finish tapping my tablet and raised my head with more confidence. I pucker my lips. A smiling Claude caught up to me.
“Anything to say?”, Claude asks.
The door behind Claude opens and the man that interrupted earlier appears again. Claude turns and tells him that they didn't want to be bothered. The man stays still until his body begins to decay in front of their eyes and a spit of clogged blood drips from his mouth and some land on Claude's backseat. Claude's eyes grow and my mouth stretches from ear to ear. This time showing my fangs to him. Four ninjas enter very fast, behind the councilmen on the left and on the right and slashing their necks slit open. Blood began to pour down were I am standing. I open my hands as if I’m receiving with grace the offerings of pouring blood. I open my mouth and taste their blood. The councilmen decay even faster and quickly turn to ash. Claude now was standing in the middle of two ninjas on his left and two ninjas on his right. He looks mortified at the scenery. Now he was the one in disadvantage. Claude makes haste through the door but before he could head out a palm strikes him in the face sending him flying and landing all the way down on my feet. The secretary from the entrance was the one that gave him the blow to the face and now it looks like Claude now, faces his executioner. Me. I feel the blood drying up in my face. It starts to turn to ash. I’m dirty as hell. I’ll savor this moment. I clench my fists. I feel a light air come from my hands. Shadow hands form and restrain Claude, securing his hands and feet.
“Mr. councilman, Claude. You have disrespected our kind for far too long. You counts, reveal our people to overthrow powerful vampires, expose us to benefit. For your own businesses. The truce with men aren't enough and yet we have to obey a puny creature that can't access power in their lifespan. You keep distracting us with the humans, with their wars, pandemics, terrorism to keep all creatures at bay.”
I squeeze my hands making the shadow hands clutch tighter Claude. He screams in agony and blood begins to spill from his nose. A low "please stop, please stop" is heard besides the whimpers of him. He starts to cough and blood comes out of his mouth making him gag a bit, s’il te plait, arrete, he continues.
“Besides I was almost going to be a hundred years as a viscount and not a single word on promotion. You were going to kill me either way. A blind man not seeing the true potential of his kind. Any last word?”, I continue.
As Claude is going to say something I put my fist in my chest and with speed open my arms as far as I can. The shadow hands tear every limb of Claude and his body falls on the ground. Claude was still alive and in shock, he didn't faint and still was seeing all his limbs fall all over the room. His body lays on the floor, I bet his vision is blurry. On the five benches, the ninjas and the secretary look down to him. He is trembling. No scream came out of him. I pinch my thumb and index. A shadow mini spike seeks Claude’s head. The spike starts to pierce his skull. I move my fingers forward slowly. I start moving apart my fingers. Somewhat of a dry whine comes from Claude as the spike grew inside him. I open completely my fingers and in an instant Claude’s head explodes. His body also beg
an decaying fast and soon turn to ash. I’m admiring all that is left from the councilmen. Empty seats, dust and blood clogs. Years of ruling with their heads in their asses.
I look upwards to Laim and his ninjas and to the secretary. All of them smile at me and Laim sticks his tongue out in excitement. I calmly tilt my head and make a gesture to go.
“Let’s finish this!”, I say.
Night - Bloody Mary Club, 8:40 PM
We arrive at the Bloody Mary. I finish unbuttoning my shirt. I hate being dirty. New suit and we exit the limo. The secretary follows me into the damp street. Another car arrives with Laim and his crew. We walk to the nightclub and there’s more security than usual. I press my lips hard. I believe something did not go precisely as plan.
Inside the club, there are broken glasses and already some people are working fixing them. They look petrified when I walk in. They continue faster. Some men carry new tables and replacing some broken ones. Other's replacing some mirrors, using a broom, mopping, wiping dust even blood.
Some of the security and a hooded person stand to circle someone. Must be Drake. Why can he dress accordingly at least to the club? Looks like a homeless person. His rings in his hands stick out from his hood. Is this novice waiting for a command? I am baffled at the scenery.
“One newborn Ahket caused this?”, I ask.
I finish arranging my cufflinks. The Ahket is not who is kneeling.
“That is not the girl. What is this?”, I ask.
One in the circle talks: "he came out of nowhere swinging his staff and..." his words got cut as he receives an upset stare from me and quickly I spike him through his heart. His body falls to the floor like a rag doll. Drake turns revealing some skulls dangling in his waist and made a gesture to calm down. "We have the orb", he says. Calm down? Calm the fuck down? After what has happened? If he was not my servant, I would of kill him. Plus, he knows the ritual. He still has value.
"And who is this?" I raise my voice while lifting the man's hair that was all over his face. A pair of caramel eyes was the first thing met me. Who is this man with a trench coat dropping from his shoulders? I feel the warmness creep in me from all sides. I turn to Laim with disgust in my face.
“Is this the Seelisch you took care of?”, I yell.
Laim and two ninjas bowed down their head a little, except the bushy eyebrow one.
“The girl?”, I ask.
“I killed her.”, says the Seelisch.
I punch him in the face and quickly made another fist of shadow bigger than my hand that hit him again causing him slide to one of the security men's feet. The security guard stood like a statue.
“Don’t mock me, crazy! A vegetarian vampire killing? I did not ask to be humor! Check if he knows anything. Fix this place, a big celebrity comes today, and this must be spotless. We open in two hours! Fucking cunts surround me!”, I keep yelling.
I signal Drake and the secretary to follow me. Laim looks upset as a the Seelisch raises and gives him a mischievous smirk. Laim lands him a swift punch that makes him unconscious. Laim gestures some security guards to lift him. The security men drag the Seelisch, and the ninjas follow through the secret elevator on the right. Another security man twists a key inside and lets them in as the elevator door closes. Everybody is useless.
MIEKE Night - Alley 7:40 PM
I tried running as fast as I could but both Kokolite and Hannah were too fast for me. I took the car and I drove for a while looking for them. How do you follow some vampires…? To my luck, I figured out that a crash a couple of blocks had to do with one of these two. To my surprise, an Ezequiel almost buried into a light post is what I encounter. I told the people to move while I verified the area and that I will make a report about it. I didn't want anybody from the force to mess things up or be a telltale to whoever is looking for that stupid orb, maybe. Ezequiel looks at me and plays along as a victim while I help him get up. I can tell that he feels ridiculous since he can easily regenerate, but these people need the façade of this theater to continue with their boring lives. What the hell happen?
Ezequiel lets a grunt out to play along as I help him to the front of my car.
“You are in luck sir, not even a scrap to tell a good story, sir.”, I say.
An onlooker on the street screams at both of us: "you should call an ambulance." I force a smile and scream back, "already did sir, thank you." And quickly change my face. I feel the annoyance. I cannot leave quickly, people get suspicious. At least Ezequiel's outfit passes as another homeless person and people are quickly losing interest on the scene. A couple of youngsters are still excited about what happened by looking at their phones, "Did you see it? Did you see it?". I turn to Ezequiel and lower my voice.
“Hannah?”, I ask.
“Escaped after the moving thing hit me.”
I see the truck with a dent on its grill. The driver flabbergasted at how deep it is and how Ezequiel is still alive.
“Kokolite?”, I ask.
“I saw him rush were she was heading. She had too much distance on him. They crossed that alley.”
“Now what?”
“You the detective.”, he says.
He is right. I am two steps behind these guys all the time, and it is my fault. I should forget that they have powers. I have abilities too and I should not beat myself up because of the situation. We have no communication with Kokolite. Hannah is gone. The only lead that we have is that some ninjas attacked both of them looking for an orb. And the city talks... the city talks? That's it! I Think I have an idea. I hope it works. I feel a bit of air of hope. I make a gesture for Ezequiel to get in the car. We rush to it. Enter and flee the scene. Some people look confused and the kids with the phones were too preoccupied to notice. The trucker kept looking nervously for both of us as some ambulance and police sirens were getting closer.
I drive for a while until I got close to the church and Cat Alley. The street looks deserted although it was not that late.
“Haven’t you have been here already?”, Ezequiel asks.
“Yes I have, but I was searching all wrong. I was thinking like a detective, looking for clues on people. However, this is not a normal scene. Also, you guys are no ordinary people.”
I walk past the alley, and Ezequiel follows. A sound of a metallic shopping cart was heard a little far away. My breath stops for a moment. I gesture Ezequiel to follow. We speed up. A homeless man I interacted with a few days before, pushes a shopping cart with some belongings in it through the street. We hurry towards him.
“Hey, sir!”, I shout.
The homeless man turns his back. His eyes widen. He recognizes me and let's go a huge gasp, and his hands began to tremble.
“I didn't take the radio I swear. It was Bob... big nasty Bob did it.”, he says.
“Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. I had a question if I may?”, I say calmly.
“A question? To me? Oh… ok… I guess so.”, he blushes.
“Have you seen ninjas?”, I ask hoping not to hit a dead end.
I know that a question like that on any given day I will get weird looks. However, if I keep doing the same things I’ve been doing the results will not change. However, at the sound of the question, the man's face turned into a happy one exposing half denture between his facial hair. He almost looked like a shar pei smiling. Ezequiel stays quiet with his hands crossed with no big expression on his face.
“Oh… I knew I wasn't crazy! They told me I was crazy, but I ain’t. Oh, missy, I tell you, the guys from the docks saw some weird shadow men but me and Benny saw them ninjas I tell you.”, the homeless says.
“And where is Benny?”, I ask.
“Benny is close to that fancy club downtown, yes sirey. I tell him to come over here, but he likes to get lucky with those fancy people in their suits, but he gets scared when the ninjas and the shadow people get out. You won't catch me there I tell you. No sirey, you won't catch me there.”
I smile at Ezequiel and back at the man and before leaving I reach for my wallet and give him a five-dollar bill. The man gives a bigger smile than before exposing more of his half denture mouth. That gesture broke a smirk on Ezequiel.
“Thank you. Good hearted mam. She’s a keeper that one. Don’t let her out of your side.”, the homeless man says.
We smile and walk off to the car.
We drive close to the Bloody Mary Club. The homeless man did not say which club, but usually when people say a club or even fancy club that's the one they mean. The lights already illuminate from a distance. My police com turns on and a mentions of Gustav Smirnoff going to the club. Celebrities and rich people. I scoff. Police officers were deployed to parallel streets to keep that area clean. I can’t go any further. We park a few blocks away. We exit the car.
We walk trying to get close but not close enough to be on the security guard’s and/or other policemen doing rounds. No Homeless people here. The police must of take them away until this Smirnoff leaves today. Dead end now? A weird sound catches my attention. I look upwards. Something moves in a small building nearby. Spies? I pointed to Ezequiel to go upstairs the building. I took my gun and started to run to the building to use the stairs leading to the roof. We’re trying to be as fast but as stealthy as we could. We got to the rooftop. Looks empty. The rooftop looks down to the club. We both search. A piece of clothing that is crunched behind an air vent catches my eye. I signal Ezequiel about it.
