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“Then we couldn’t see anything. A bunch of flash grenades had gone off. There was some shooting and a lot of noise, but we couldn’t see, we had no idea what was going on. They weren’t all vampires, that attacked, I know that much. A lot of us got wounded, but it wasn’t too bad.
“The hospital is a mess.” Jace informed him, “It looks like it was that bad.”
“Yeah, but the wounds weren’t bad, darling. I don’t think anyone died. Still, some of us were missing and the captain was a mess. He’d been bound and gagged to his chair. It will be funny in a few years, I think. But he had a sign around his neck. It was a ransom note. Crin said that he would give us back our people if we freed theirs.”
“You mean he’s keeping them alive? This is a hostage situation?”
Raz’s eyelids were heavy. He nodded.
Jace’s mouth was dry. His heartbeat was high again. He didn’t think this could be healthy, his heart rate changing so often and so abruptly. He hadn’t heard anything from Terrin in hours.
“My sister…” his voice didn’t even sound like his own.
“I didn’t see her.” Raz shook his head, “I don’t know.”
Jace didn’t say a word. His lip trembled and he couldn’t look at Raz. He couldn’t think about anything in front of him. His mind was far away, on what could be happening to Terrin. She was strong; normally she could take care of herself normally. She was up against vampires though and who knew how many of them were around her.
There was something warm in his hand and it was so comforting, so nice. He looked over at what it was. Raz had taken his hand. He was the hurt one, the one who needed the comfort, but he was giving it instead. He wanted Jace to be alright.
“You need to go?” he asked “You need to find her?”
Jace squeezed that hand that was trying to soothe him. Yes, he wanted to go, he wanted to find her. He wanted to find her and save her. But he knew that he couldn’t. Even if he had been able to walk on his own, there was nothing that he could do. He was just one person. He could do nothing against a team of vampires.
Then there was Raz. He was trying hard to stay awake, his eyelids closing and staying that way longer each time. He would be asleep in moments. He was safe in the hospital. He would heal and be all better in no time.
Jace didn’t want to leave him. “No. I think you need me more.”
Raz smiled at that and that was what his face needed. He lit up, joy showing through the exhaustion and drugs. His eyes even crinkled with that. He needed Jace as much as Jace had always needed him. His family wasn’t there, he needed someone to care. Jace would always care.
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She didn’t want to. That was clear. She glared at him, then over at Jace before looking over Fen. He wasn’t moving. She flipped her hair and pouted, thinking over it.
She should leave. The Vamp was starting to make noise that was loud enough that Jace could hear it over the black and white movie. Jace wanted her out of there. She had to leave. He wanted Fen to be out of there too, but that seemed like it would be a lot harder to accomplish. He was too unconscious.
She ended up stomping out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Fen twitched at the sound of it.
Raz grabbed him, his face right in Jace’s, pushing him against the wall.
“Where’s your gun?” he growled.
“Raz, what are you doing?” Raz was pushing against his broken clavicle. It hurt. Jace needed him to let go.
“You were talking about freeing the Vamp-“
“Yeah, so were you. We were joking.”
“You’re gun is missing! You are a sniper! That tranquilizer came from a distance. It had to be you! No one else would target us like that.”
“Let go of me, Raz.”
“What did you do.”
“Please!”
Raz dropped him and Jace slid halfway down the wall before catching himself. He rubbed at the broken bone and winced.
“I had to, okay? I couldn’t just leave that thing alone. It’s hurting, it’s enslaved. It needs to be free, to be okay again.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Vamp! I couldn’t stand it, not with what Stoker and that Devin guy said. What we’re doing is so wrong. The NHPF. We should let them all go. They should be fed and freed once their sane enough.”
“You stole it?” Raz had his hand on him, ready to do damage if he had to, “Darling, you’ve got to know that you’re going to get in trouble! When the captain finds out you’re going to get suspended, no, arrested.”
“I know. I’m hoping to get him out of here before the captain finds out.”
“You think you can get him human again before I can reach the station?”
Jace’s heart fell. Was Raz serious? He was going to sell him out? They were close, closer than anyone else he knew. He had actually thought that Raz would be on his side.
“I thought we were friends.” He couldn’t even look at Raz. He didn’t want to feel this. He knew that he had been the one who had betrayed the team, but he think he had the best idea. He felt that he was just. It felt like Raz was the traitor. That hurt more than anything.
Raz softened though, and stroked Jace’s cheek. He kept his hand on Jace’s shoulder, but the pressure was gone. He was nicer. He realized how much he was doing because of what he was told to do, not because he wanted to do it. He didn’t want to be against Jace. He just wanted to make sure everything was okay.
“You shot Fen?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you use a real bullet?”
They both laughed at that. It was just the right amount of stark truth to cut the tension, to make them laugh again, to bring them together. Everything was going to be okay.
“Can I see it?” Raz inquired when he stopped laughing.
At that he straightened up, not sure what to do. The Vamp was still too dangerous. He didn’t want it to attack Raz. He didn’t want it to freak out and attack anyone. He just wanted everything to be okay.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“It hasn’t eaten? Darling, it’s going to have to eat at some point.”
“You’re not offering yourself!” he touched Raz’s arm. He didn’t want Raz to hurt himself. Not for this, “I’ve got this covered. I’m going to pick up some blood from The Claret.”
“Petunia agreed to that?”
“Only for some extra money.”
“And you have that?”
“For now.”
The sun was starting to rise in the distance. Jace was growing tired. He’d been up all night and everything was beginning to ache. He needed to go to bed. He didn’t have a choice though. He had to stay up, had to get to The Claret, had to get that blood.
“You’re using your stipend? What are you going to do when that wears out?”
“I might have to get a job.”
“Well that would be terrible.”
They both laughed again.
They stopped though as there was a noise. It was a groan, a tired little noise, and they both turned to look at Fen. He was starting to wake up.
“What should we do?” Jace asked, “When Fen wakes up, he’ll find out what’s going on and everything will be ruined.”
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He aimed, his eyes pressed to the scope. Fen had long, strong arms. He wouldn’t be able to shoot him in the neck from this distance, but an arm shot would work just as well. It wasn’t like he wanted to permanently damage the guy anyway. He stroked the barrel of his gun. His finger twitched along the trigger.
He exhaled.
The trigger clicked and there was a hollow sound as the bullet spiraled through the silencer and out into the night air. It hurtled down, straight as it span, and connected with a muscular forearm, the tip going through the thin NHPF uniform.
He screamed and swatted at it, the motions visible through the scope. He was panicking, a stream of adrenaline running through his blood. The Vamp was spooked and it tugged against the leash, trying to get away from him. Terrin held on as best she could but as the tranquilizer kicked in, killing the adrenaline and knocking Fen out, he collapsed on top of her, knocking her to the ground. She let go.
The Vamp ran off, finally released and not losing a moment to get as far away from the unconscious Fen as possible. Raz ran after him, all the while looking around for the shooter.
Jace retreated to the shadows, taking his rifle apart and putting it back into its hard metal case. Then he was gone, hobbling as fast as he could down the stairs and out into the street. The prostitutes didn’t know anything, hadn’t even changed their expression at what was going on. It was too far away and they didn’t even know that it had occurred. They hadn’t heard the gun shot, either, the silencer doing its job, but even if they had Jace doubted that they would react. Shootings were far too common out here.
He pushed past them, ignoring their pity and touches and insults, and went as fast as he could down the street. He had gotten the Vamp away from the others, apart from Raz, now he had to find it. He had no idea where it would have gone was the only problem.
He hurried down the street, walking as fast as he could, ignoring the pain radiating from the healed wound in his leg. It was strong though and demanding and he ended up slowing down much earlier than he had anticipated. He had to sit down, he had to rest. He didn’t want to do any of those things. He wanted to keep going. He was too far now, had done too much to take a real proper break. He had caused damage to his team, his family, and he had to catch that Vamp, otherwise what was the point of it?
He pushed off of the wall and kept going, only his leg feeling anything. There were sirens in the distance and some shouting, but that could have been anything. He kept going.
Eventually, when he had grown too tired to hurry along the streets, he stopped. There was one way to get the Vamp to come to him and, by now, it should have lost Raz. Raz was only human; there was no way he could keep up with a starving vampire.
He pulled the knife off of his hip. It was tiny, just a little pocket knife, but he bit his lip as he opened it and slid the blade along a few of his veins on the back of his arm. He was distracted by the pain in his leg by the new burn of pain in his arm and the cold sensation of blood dripping through his fingers. It was the best way that he could think of to draw out something that hungry and with that good of a nose.
The blood dripped to the ground as he continued to walk, his eyes and his ears peeled. He could hear Raz shouting a few blocks away, so he knew that it was pretty close. He went the opposite direction. If he ran into Raz, everything would be over. He would be seen with his case and all of the blood on him and Raz would know. He would figure everything out so quickly that he would be in cuffs and at the station before Fen had even made it to the hospital, regardless of their friendship.
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The Vamp would be a few blocks ahead of him anyway.
He decided that his cane was actually holding him back so he picked it up, placing it under his armpit on the same side as his case and started to run, supporting himself on the walls of the buildings beside him. The blood trailed behind him on the wall and he had to ignore it, pretend that it wouldn’t lead Raz straight to him.
The wind picked up, coming from behind him. He hadn’t noticed how cold he was, but the wind tore through him. It must have been the blood loss. Still, the wind was good, leading the scent of his blood out and towards where he believed the Vamp would be.
He could almost hear the footsteps from a few blocks ahead of him. He continued. He had to find it.
He had only gone a few blocks before he was woozy with pain and blood loss but he could see it. It was a blur of pink flesh and the loose torn clothing that made up the Vamp uniform. It was like prison rags from the 1700’s. He looked worse close up.
The Vamp lunged onto him, knocking to the ground. He was groaning and trying to push it off but it was wild, just like he had expected. Its fangs were exposed and it was trying to bite him, the muzzle the only thing keeping Jace alive. It wanted his blood.
He called out as he heard a pop, his clavicle breaking under all the strength in the Vamp’s hands. This wasn’t going as he’d planned. He thought this would be easier, but he hadn’t taken into consideration every variable.
He pushed, hard, and he barely got anywhere with it, but there was some. His blood dripped onto his face. The Vamp stopped moving, staring at it. It couldn’t drink with the muzzle on it. He remembered what Terrin had said, how Raz had fed it a little to get it to calm down.
“Shh, shh.” Jace cooed, “Don’t move, okay? I’m going to take care of you.”
Of course, the Vamp moved. Its head moved with Jace’s arm, his muzzle resting against the wound. Its tongue was out, trying to reach through the muzzle and get to the blood. It wasn’t being too violent though and it had taken as much of his strength off of his bruised and hurt body as it could. It actually seemed like it was trying to be kind to get the blood that it needed.
Jace kept his arm over the Vamp’s mouth and let as much of his blood drip down through the muzzle and into its mouth. It positively hummed as it drank. And it moaned and whined with the blood stopped dripping, the blood coagulating around the cut.
It was calmer though and it only flinched as Jace pet its hair.
“Hey, I got you. I’m going to take you home, alright? I’ll get you something to eat.”
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The Greenbaum district hadn’t been a nice part of town for the past few decades, the buildings dilapidated and worn out. Some of them were hardly more than ruins but were still being rented out to the prostitutes who worked there and their johns of the hour. Others were warehouses or storage facilities, where people camped, looted, and overdosed in.
Jace staggered through down the street, girls in little to no clothes calling out to him and insulting his masculinity when he ignored them. It had been a long time since he’d gotten laid, but he didn’t want any of the thousands of diseases that they were carrying and he had a job to do.
He had a large metal case in his hand, and he kept it close, aware that any one of the people he was passing could just take it for a quick paycheck. They didn’t know what it contained of course, but the case alone would get them more than a john would. He kept his eyes on everyone. At least those hadn’t gone when he lost the use of his leg. They glanced at it, but none of them made a move for it. They just smiled, which was more of a turn off than anything, missing a few of her teeth, and flirted, and called him homosexual scum for not wanting them.
Night would be there in less than half an hour and he knew his old team would soon be out, the Vamp leading them down the crumbling alleyways. The Vamp would have Glamour on it, disguising it as an average person, and the hookers wouldn’t have anything to fear. They’d just think he was high, running around on all fours, twitching for a hit.
Jace entered an old hotel. It had once been a historical building, expansive and expensive, but now there were a few people lounging in the grimy corners, needles in their scrawny arms. He passed them without a look and climbed the stairs as quickly as he could, hearing them crack under his steps. He wouldn’t try the elevator, not after seeing modern horror films. They probably wouldn’t work anyway. The place most likely hadn’t seen electricity since it was abandoned.
By the time he got to the top of the building, where the ceiling had collapsed and the windows had been broken out, he was panting, out of breath, his leg pulsing with pain under him. He collapsed and slid down a wall that looked more like it could handle hi weight than the others before opening his case and setting up. His rifle was in pieces and he put them together, screwing one piece into the other. When it was all ready he set up the stand and loaded the gun, placing it on top and looking over the city.
The Greenbaum district didn’t have much to see unless you were a complete pervert. He could watch the girls and a few boys work, strut their stuff, get in cars, give blow jobs in alleyways, and fuck in hotel rooms. He ignored it though. It wasn’t what he needed to see. He kept scanning.
There were drug deals in one corner of town, a few gang battles, and people fighting over turf. There was a shooting. There were three muggings. There were eleven police cars driving around and at least four recognizably undercover officers.
It took almost an hour for him to spot what he actually wanted to see. Terrin was in control, holding onto a leash that went to the Vamp’s muzzle. He was worse than she had described. He looked more like a dog than a man, his long hair a gnarly group of dreadlocks, long enough to reach past his bottom. There were gashed along his back, long stripes of flesh torn off. His hands and feet, which he was walking on, were bloody, his skin so fragile that every step sliced into him and tore his skin. His eyes were beady and red and glowing around his blinders and he kept turning, kept looking and sniffing for their prey. Its skin was covered in tumors and every breath looked painful.
Jace stared at it without breathing, his eyes burning, and his finger tracing the seam on the trigger of his rifle. He’d wanted to save the Vamp, but now that he saw it, all he wanted to do was put it out of its misery. Raz stepped into his sights and he looked to feel the same way as Jace. His eyes were down and red rimmed, he couldn’t even look at the thing before him. His hand was on the pistol at his hip and he was absent mindedly popping and reclasping the button on the holster.
Fen was the only one who didn’t seem bothered by the apparent agony before him. He looked like he was enjoying himself to be honest. That was fine. The bastard needed to learn that there were things for NHPF members to fear and for them to care about and pity.
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“It was” Jace thought about it. How could he describe it? “Good. Interesting. I learned a lot and I think I had a really good time.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, there was a priest there, he explained a lot to me. I guess I’ve been treating them all like they’re the same thing, like they’re all alike. That’s not true. They’re a lot like us, a lot. I need to start thinking of them as people, not as a huge outlandish concept.”
She raised an eyebrow, “Wow, and here I was thinking you’d be a racist all of your life.”
“I’m not racist!”
“Actually, you kind of are.”
Jace didn’t have a retort for that so he bit into his half black toast instead. He may have had a retort but it was hidden under a couple layers of hangover. He drank the rest of his orange juice.
“How did the job go?”
She didn’t answer him. Instead she drank from her tea, which she made a face at when it burned her tongue, and looked away from him.
“You didn’t catch the Incubus.” Jace taunted.
She glared at him.
“Did you even see it?”
He was walking on thin ice.
“Do you think the captain will let you try again?”
“He is letting us try again.” She finally replied, “It wasn’t our fault that we didn’t find anything. The Vamp is completely insane, worse than any of the others we’ve worked with in the past. He kept trying to attack us, even through its muzzle. It was pathetic, you should have seen. The poor thing was covered in tumors and gashes and lumps. Its body doesn’t even know how to be a body anymore. Every step looked painful.
“He couldn’t find the scent. He could only find a lot of scents, too many. He was going after anything and everything. Raz cut his finger and let him drink from it, ignoring Fen. I’m glad he did too, that jerk doesn’t know anything, he’s a complete bastard; didn’t help us once. The blood didn’t do a lot but it did enough to get the Vamp on the right trail.
“We did see the Incubus but he was a long way off. We couldn’t catch him. Fen shot at it but he missed. I couldn’t believe how bad of a shot he was. He didn’t even have a silencer, so everyone in the area woke up and we had to bail.
“Captain didn’t catch on that Fen was a problem. He’s still on our team. We’re going out again tonight to try again.”
“Still in the Greenbaum district?” Jace interrupted.
“Yeah. This Incubus has been hiring prostitutes and fucking them to death. That makes it murder and not rape, oddly enough. I don’t know why he cares. There aren’t more needy whores anywhere than Greenbaum.”
“Well, I hope you catch him.” Jace smiled queasily.
“Yeah, me too. I don’t want a failure on my record, not like this. If it were actually my fault, sure, but if it’s because we can’t work with this Vamp or because Fen sucks at everything, than no way.”
“Is there anything I could do?” Jace really hoped that there was something that he could do.
“Not without getting suspended.” Terrin smiled at him.
“I don’t care about that. I’m supposed to look after you, help you out. If there’s anything I could do.”
“Well, I guess you could hide out in one of the abandoned buildings and shoot him down for us.” She thought out loud. When Jace looked over at his gun, figuring out just how to do it she grabbed his arm, wrenching his attention back onto her, “I’m joking! I was joking! Don’t do that! Really, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing you can do. This is my job, not yours. You’re just going to have to stay here.”
“What if you get hurt?”
“I’ll have Raz with me. He’s just as much of a stubborn protector as you.”
Jace thought back on the past couple days, all of the things Raz had done for him, making him feel alright, making sure he got home, carrying him back to the apartment, “Yeah, he really is.”
They continued to eat their breakfast, Jace’s mind reeling slowly through the murk of hangover to try to think of some way to thank Raz properly. He thought of flowers, but Raz would scoff at that. A card didn’t seem like enough. He couldn’t afford a bottle of scotch that Raz would even attempt to drink. There didn’t seem to be anything he could do for his friend and he owed him so much. He hated owing anyone anything.
“Why are you here?” Jace finally asked, the question edging through his mind better than his attempts to repay Raz.
“Have you seen your apartment?” Terrin looked at the place as if the touch of it would be corrosive, “I came here to help you clean up the place.”
“Really? When did you become a maid?”
“Shut up.” She tried her tea again and this time it was cool enough for her to drink.
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The exterior was steel and red brick, making the building look like it had stood in that spot for hundreds of years. It probably had. The sign had just a touch of neon on it, the outer edge and a single blood drop hanging off of the r in Claret.
The elated feeling that had been so prevalent in the car vanished as Jace looked up at it, his friend at his side. What if he said something wrong? He didn’t want another experience like the one he’d had with Crin, especially since there would be more of them. He hated vampires anyway, they made him feel dirty, like their disease could infect just by the touch.
Raz’s hand was on his shoulder though and there was a smile on his face. He wasn’t afraid at all. Raz wasn’t afraid of anything. Jace wished he could have his friend’s resolve.
The man put his hand on his shoulder and gave him an inspiring look, letting him know that whatever happened, he’d have his back. That was something at least.
There was a man at the front door, large and barrel chested, the very definition of a bouncer. He glared down at them, arms crossed over his chest.
“Hello.” Raz smiled, “Mind if we come in?”
“This is a good club.” The bouncer puffed out his chest, “And I am a good bouncer. I don’t let in anyone who isn’t on the list.”
“Are we on the list?” Raz inquired, looking back at Jace.
Jace shrugged, “I didn’t give my name.”
“Then it looks like you can’t come in.” the bouncer glared down at them. His eyes were starting to change color from their eerie black to an even more eerie gold. That was a good thing to know about vampires, their eye color switched depending on how hungry they were or how close they were to revealing themselves. It was one of the first things Jace had learned in his training on them.
It was good, they couldn’t go in, he’d wanted an excuse. He smiled apologetically to Raz, who had been so very excited about this opportunity. Now they could go home and pretend that they had never been invited, well, that Jace had ever been invited. They couldn’t go in anyway. Life would go on as it always had.
“Wait.” Raz thought out loud, looking up at the giant bouncer, “We have an invitation.”
Raz tapped Jace’s side, one eyebrow raised and Jace sighed, rifling through his pockets. He handed over The Claret’s card. The bouncer took it and studied it carefully, turning it in the red light of the neon sign.
“Who gave this to you?” the bouncer asked, not looking at them.
“Mr. Crin.” Raz offered, completely polite.
The bouncer stared at them, the gold fading back to black. His mouth was slightly open in surprise and he was still gripping the card as if he had never seen one before. He slowly handed the card back before stepping aside, giving them access to the club.
“If Mr. Crin said it’s alright, than it’s alright. I’m sorry, very sorry, for any inconvenience.”
“Oh no!” Raz waved him off, “Don’t worry about it! I’m sure it happens all of the time. We’re very glad to have gotten it all cleared up.”
Jace stared at the ground, his nerves hypersensitive. He did not want to enter, did not want to be around so many blood suckers. Raz grabbed him by the shoulder, giving him a little bit of his own courage, and they walked slowly inside.
It was dark, the only lights coming from psychedelic neon bulbs reflecting off of a few disco balls. The floor was hardwood and waxed enough to reflected the few lights. The lighting seemed to revolve around the small dance floor that was surrounded by a few leather couches. No one was dancing but there were a few people on the couches, it was too early and no one was yet drunk enough for anything so humiliating. The flooring around the dance floor had black carpeting that was old but not faded or too badly worn. Jace stuck to that, not wanting to slip on the hardwood. He and Raz made it to the bar with only a few stares.
The vampires could smell them, could tell that they weren’t like them. They probably had no idea that they were NHPF, but still, Jace did not feel safe with all of those stares. He sat at the bar, in one of the high stools, his cane leaning against the side of the counter, keeping his eyes down and trying to ignore the stares.
He smelled like blood to them, just a meal. He was sure that they all wanted to be upon him, drain him dry, drink all of his blood until he was pale and dead.
Raz was leaning against the bar beside him, facing the few vampires that were already at the club. It was still early. He didn’t seem to have any of the trepidations that Jace did.
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The next morning was full of pain.
Jace groaned and rolled over but that was a bad idea and his entire body hurt. He felt like he was going to throw up. He groaned again and covered his eyes with his arm, trying to block out that horrible orb of fire that was trying to climb into his bedroom through the blinds. Why did the sun have to exist? He just wanted darkness and warmth and more sleep but instead he was getting bright lights and the cold from having lost his blankets at some point during the night. He couldn’t sleep through this.
There was a noise and it was loud and sharp and horrible. After that, there was another sound, but it was quieter and was the scraping of keys against a lock. The front door opened and his sister called out, asking if he was there.
He groaned in response.
“Seriously?” Terrin was in the doorway, not caring that her brother was only wearing his boxers and there was only one old sheet halfway covering him, “Raz told me you weren’t going to be great but I wasn’t expecting this. Do you have any idea what time it was?”
Raz, right. He had taken him home after the bar, Stoker’s phone number in his pocket. He had only had that one drink, while Jace had had so much that he could hardly see a thing. He couldn’t get himself home, even if he had brought his own car. Raz must have been the one who had undressed him and put him to bed. He should get him something, a card or a gift or a bottle of scotch. He should do something to thank him for taking care of him so much.
“I’unno.” He growled at his sister before putting his pillow over his head, trying to get the sound of her voice out of his head. He’d never noticed how grating it was.
“It’s one in the afternoon!” she grabbed the sheet and ripped it off of him. His body curled in on itself immediately, trying to contain any of his remaining warmth.
“Eugh!” Jace replied.
“You have fifteen minutes, Jace. Then you have to be out of bed.”
She slammed the door behind her and Jace groaned once more.
He was out of bed fifteen minutes later though, pulling on his clothing as best he could with his eyes scrunched shut. Sweatpants and an old shirt was all he could manage to throw on, not wanting to move at all. He just wanted something not to hurt.
When he left the room, leaning on his cane, he could smell everything. There was something green and strong, eggs, toast, breakfast. Terrin was in the kitchen, her back to him, stirring the scrambled eggs on the stove. There were two mugs on the small table, green tea steaming away in them. There was a tall glass of orange juice next to one of them. That was the side that Jace sat at.
“You don’t have to do that.” He mumbled, “I can take care of myself.”
“Drink your orange juice.” Was all she replied.
He did as he was told.
A few minutes later she came out of the kitchen, burnt toast and scrambled eggs on her plates. She put one in front of him and he immediately grabbed the salt, coating the eggs. Terrin had never been good at cooking and she usually lost more than one egg to it sticking to the pan and she always forgot to salt them.
“Thank you.” He bit into them. Parts of the bite were still a bit raw.
“I’ve had enough hangovers to know what it takes to get over it.” She shrugged. “How was the club?”
