Saturday, November 03, 2012

Day 3

Here's Day 3 of my NaNoWriMo novel. Again I'm disabling comments on these entries. Don't get me wrong, I love feedback and comments, in this case though they would only serve to distract me and cause me to second guess myself.  Finally, this novel is of course Copyright © 2012 Steven Lake & Engen Books. Word Count today: 1688



"Hungry? You were hungry?" Ryan's mind cleared enough that it was making mental leaps and he didn't like where this was headed. He decided to keep her talking, as long as she talked he had time to figure a way out of this. "You could have just sent out for a pizza."

"I could have I suppose," Kenna sighed as she turned to face him, revealing her now glowing red eyes and twin fangs that were just peeking out from under her upper lip. "But you can only do that so many times before they get suspicious about the delivery boy not coming back."

"Alright, so you're a Vampire. There are other, totally legal ways of getting blood you know. Hospitals have over stock for this reason, and there's always the butcher shops selling by the pint. No Vampire these days needs to resort to what amounts to murder." - Keep her talking, just keep her talking - that was the main thought running through Ryan's mind - Frank'll get my note when he gets back to the office and come looking for me.

Kenna scrunched up her nose in disgust at Ryan's statement "With the anti-coagulants and serums the hospitals use, the blood is barely drinkable and always has a sour taste to it, and I refuse to lower myself to drinking animal blood, that's the lowest form of bottom feeding." Standing now, Kenna started to pace as she preached. "Vampires used to do that for survival on long trips before there were motorized cars and planes. No I like my blood to be hot and fresh and pure, and that only comes from one place...straight from the jugular!"

"Like the couple upstairs?" Ryan asked.

"Yes exactly!" Kenna replied, running her tongue along her upper lip as she smiled at the memory. "They were delicious, but didn't last as long as I would have liked. I tried to feed slowly, to keep them alive as a source as long as possible while I set this up, but they were old and their hearts just gave out. So I moved up my plans for you."

"Why me specifically? Why not some random John Doe off the street?"

Kenna turned to face Ryan again, her red eyes cold and filled with hatred. "It's more because of what you do than who you are. You're a Private Investigator, but you don't just stick to human crimes. You pursue my people and stake us without a second thought. You hunt people like my associate over there and murder them in cold blood without the least hint of mercy."

"That's not true!" Yelled Ryan. "Well the no mercy part anyway. Yes I've staked Vamps and yes I've slain Weres, but only those that had broken the law. I only act as a licensed bounty hunter after I get proof of a crime and a warrant of execution from the courts. I don't indiscriminately kill every preternatural person I come across." He was getting angry now and started to strain at the bonds that held him, testing for any weakness that might let him escape.

 The big man took a step forward and Kenna held up her hand to stop him.

"Now now Evan, there's no need for force....for now." She said as she moved back to the table and placed her hand on Ryan's cheek. "You can't break those chains, you don't have the strength..." and she leaned down to Ryan's ear and whispered "...yet." then nipped his ear as she pulled back.

 "Hey now" yelped Ryan "What's your game?"

"Well...." purred Kenna climbing up on the table and straddling Ryan "I said I was hungry, and a woman has lots of different hungers, it's not my fault you thought I meant the vampire hunger for blood..."

"Hang on a minute." Interrupted Frank "You mean to tell me that little blood sucker actually...."

Ryan suddenly became very interested in the contents of his coffee cup, and as he kept his eyes cast downward at the cup, a broad grin started to spread across his face.

"Son of a Bitch. I'll be damned. You mean she.." Frank just couldn't finish the sentence.

"Hey I was stalling for time, trying to stay alive." Ryan looked up from his coffee and directly into Franks eyes. "I was chained to a table praying, for the first time in years I might add, that you'd come crashing through the door to save the day. Besides there are worse ways to go out. But I'll get to that in a minute, while I'm on the subject of you saving my ass, just what took you so damn long?"
* * * * * *

Frank got back to the office later than he expected, old Mr. Finestein just didn't want to accept that he had shuffled off this mortal coil. The whole affair felt more like an intervention than an exorcism, but finally between Frank and the family Rabbi, they were able to convince the ghost of Sydney Finestein that his wife and family loved him, that they would be alright and that it was time to move into the light. Frank had just put away his pocket Torah and his copy of Tobin's spirit guide and was pouring himself a drink when he found Ryan's note.

Lucky bastard - thought Frank as he sipped his gin - neither of us has gone on a proper hunt in a long time, 'bout time something came up this city's been too quiet lately. Taking a couple of remotes out of a drawer, Frank turned on the monitor on his desk and queued up the night's security tapes.

Might as well see who the client is and hear her story before I follow them

They had setup a decent security recording system in the office, in case of burglars and so they could review statements from clients at anytime. Frank pressed play and what he saw almost caused him to drop his gin. The recording showed Ryan sitting behind his desk having a conversation with... no one. Then he saw Ryan pluck a note out of thin air and hand it back, again to no one. Hitting reverse on the remote, Frank also turned up the volume to see how much of the conversation was recorded.

"Okay, so you found your parents, but how do you know your brother was taken? He could have just been late getting home like you."

"No, he was home when I left for the movies. He's sixteen and Dad had grounded him after he came home drunk the night before."

"Well sixteen year olds don't always do what their parents tell them to, he could have sneaked out, I know I did when I was his age."

There was definitely someone in the room with Ryan but she didn't show up on camera. Frank put two and two together pretty quickly, vampires didn't reflect in mirrors, didn't show up in pictures, and apparently couldn't be recorded on video, except for their voices being picked up on the audio track. Downing the last of his gin Frank listened to the rest of the tape as he got out the silver bullets and the spare 19 round magazines for his two 9mm Glock 19 handguns. Even if her story was a lie and there was no were-panther, the silver would still slow down the vampire long enough to stake her and save Ryan. After sliding both pistols back into their shoulder holsters, Frank grabbed his fedora from the hat rack and started for the address Ryan had left.

III

Hunger is a powerful force. Hunger is an incredible need. Hunger divides groups into hunter and prey. But there are different types of hunger. There is the hunger sustenance, the hunger for knowledge, the hunger for power and many many more. The different hungers started to gnaw away at it from the inside. It needed to feed, it needed to learn, most of all it needed power. In the time before time it's power had been absolute, but now it held just a fraction of that power, much had been lost. These hungers would only be ignored for so long before they became unbearable. Soon the hunters and the prey would start to take notice that things were changing. The darkness they each relied on for concealment and safety was changing. Soon they would take notice that the darkness was also hungry....

Kenna called over her shoulder “Evan be a dear, go upstairs and stand watch just in case Ryan’s partner decides to crash out little party.”

“You sure you’ll be alright alone with him?” Answered Evan “I could stay here by the door and keep an ear on upstairs and still back you up if I need to.”

Kenna did a half turn and bared her fangs in anger “He’s chained to a table, human, and I’m strong enough to crush his wind pipe like a paper cup. I’ll be fine, now go upstairs.”

Evan’s shoulders slumped and a disappointed look settled on his face as he turned and started up the stairs. When he closed the door at the top Kenna turned her attentions back to Ryan. “Now where was I?” She asked as she started to unbutton Ryan’s Shirt.

“Y’know with him around it’s a wonder that you have to go looking for someone to satisfy your…um…hunger.” Said Ryan still trying to stall for time.
“I mean he seems loyal and I’m sure a pretty lady like yourself wouldn’t have a hard time convincing him. He did seem eager to stay by your side.”

Kenna laughed as she started working on Ryan’s belt. “Don’t try to flatter me. Evan didn’t want to stay because of me. He was hoping for a turn after I’m finished”

Ryan stopped struggling against his bonds “Hold on, what do you mean ‘a turn’?” he asked, hoping the conclusions he was coming to were wrong.

Her laugh got louder “Silly man, Evan is gay, and I’m pretty sure he likes you. Too bad for him though, you’re all mine.”

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