Vampiric: Chapter Two, Part 1

Chapter Two: Learning to Live

The drive was longer than it had to be, in my opinion. But everything Caroline did seemed to be done with the utmost care and secrecy. I had just finished the thought when Drei commented that she was an intelligent person, seemingly for no apparent reason to our driver. Not for the first time, I reminded myself not to think so loudly.

We circled various sections of the city until I thought it was a joke and some movie star was going to jump out screaming with laughter. The thought of punching said movie star in the face crossed my mind briefly, before I realized we were driving in absolute darkness. Looking back through the rear window, I saw the city lights twinkle in imitation of the stars.

Drei took my hand, gazing at me in a way that seemed to say wait. He knew I was impatient—though it contradicted the common nature of air elementals—but he also knew I could wait if he reminded me to.

It seemed hours later—I cannot begin to explain how numb my rear end was or how badly I needed to stretch—we finally pulled into a pier with rundown warehouses and a shabby looking dock. Ghostly tugboats rocked fitfully against their ropes, wishing to drift aimlessly into retirement.

He stopped the car outside of a stoic warehouse, a soft light falling through one of the broken windows at the top momentarily before flitting away inside again.

“We’re here;” the driver climbed out of the car.

Drei and I followed suit, walking next to each other a few paces behind him. Pulling a strand of air towards me, I heard voices inside. Though soft, I could hear them perfectly.

“—they’re here, C,” a masculine voice said.

“About time,” she replied in her smooth voice, a note of irritation apparent.

“You never told Ian she’d be difficult to locate.”

“Well, I didn’t know,” she snipped back.

We entered through a side door then. From the inside, it became obvious the windows of the lower level had been covered with black paint, explaining why this warehouse also seemed disused.

Caroline stood in the center of the room, a black, long sleeved tunic and blue skinny jeans covering her thin frame. Her hair was down, the natural curls framing her sharp features.

“Finally,” she huffed, crossing her arms. “Ian,” she nodded in our driver’s direction, “and Conan,” she said, motioning to the other man standing beside her. He was medium-height—just slightly taller than I—with crew cut brown hair and sea green eyes. A few other people dressed in dark colors moved around behind them, but she didn’t bother introducing them. “We’re the only ones you need to know;” she signaled us to follow her. “Now we get down to business.”

She walked from the large front room and jogged up a set of stairs, disappearing into another room. This one was smaller, containing a couple of file cabinets, a desk, and three chairs. She sat on the far side of the desk, shuffling the haphazard piles of paper out of the way. We sat in the chairs opposite her.

“Give me a moment,” she said, still shuffling through papers. “Conan was supposed to clean this up for me and now I’ve lost your stuff.”

The room was cold, the chilly tendrils of air burrowing into my skin. Drei stood momentarily, removed his coat, and dropped it over my shoulders. He shook his head as I opened my mouth to object. There was no arguing with him, at least not on this, and most definitely not here.

Caroline watched the exchange, slightly interested, as if trying to figure what had happened or why. She then cleared her throat loudly to draw attention back to herself. “Sign these,” she ordered, handing us each a pile of papers. “The first one is your waiver paperwork, since I can’t guarantee you won’t be injured. Signing it means you won’t hold me accountable for anything that happens, though we do try to prevent injury.”

I skimmed over the packet of possible injuries—one of which was death through various means (electrocution and shooting for two)—slightly shocked at the list. Drei signed his, handing it back, so I did the same. If I died doing this—I couldn’t think about that. It was like setting myself up for it. Besides, the thought was actually pretty bitter, and not towards the person rubbing me the wrong way.

“The next is an agreement to follow all of our policies, rules, regulations, and to keep your traps shut on matters concerning our operation,” she said, filing the waiver forms into separate folders.

The policies and such were straightforward, including regulations on apparel while working and tips on how not to have your head burned off, though it didn’t explain how the burning would occur; so while it was useful to know, it was apparent Caroline wasn’t letting everyone know about her secret. As for the confidentiality agreement, it too was blunt—I was beginning to think she didn’t know how to do things any other way.

“Don’t say anything about our operations, ever. Don’t question motives or activities. Don’t even think of whining. Not when you’re alone, and not when you’re at work. If you can’t hold your liquor, forget about drinking and find an AA group to join.”

I signed both forms, handing them over before I could change my mind and shred them. Drei had been watching me as I read through everything; I think he was scared I would change my mind about this. He should have been, though. It wasn’t something I really fancied doing at all; but he had asked me to.

Caroline filed them separately again, leaning forward when she was done, fingers laced and set before her.

“Jobs;” she sighed and grimaced. “I’ll find the actual descriptions in a moment;” she waved dismissively at the file cabinets, probably not wanting to think about dealing with them at all. “Both of you will be backup. I run the show because I am the show; everyone else just gets to help. Buddy—Drei was it? You’ll be on my security team, inside circle. You look tougher than most of the guys I have now.”

He nodded, as though he had expected this. I guess he kind of had. If looking around downstairs had been any indication, he was the tallest and strongest person she had currently. Then again, if that was everyone she had downstairs, this wasn’t as big of a setup as Drei had led me to believe.

“What exactly that entails, you’ll see when I get you the description sheet Conan drew up for me.” She turned towards me. “You are on my lookout team. Your talents would be most useful there from what I can guess. If not, tell me now so I can reassign you.”

“I can do it,” I said firmly. She was not going to intimidate or insult me. I wasn’t in a very generous mood, especially not towards her. There was just something about having your evening ruined with a ridiculously long car ride and being talked down to that didn’t sit well with me.

“Not what I asked,” she snapped, her eyes cold and her features hard. Maybe she was used to making people do what she wanted by intimidating them, but it made it that much more apparent she underestimated me. I wasn’t scared off as easily as most—not in situations like this anyway. “I asked if your talents are good for it.”

“They are,” I replied flatly, wishing I knew some way to shut her up. She might have been older and whatnot, but that did not give her the right to snap at me.

“Good.”

While she searched through the cabinets to find the job descriptions, Drei whispered into my ear, “You gave her the right when you signed the agreements. She is the boss now.”

“Be in the same place you were tonight in one week, at five. Don’t be late.” She handed us our respective descriptions. “You aren’t needed now, so you can do whatever.” She waved a hand toward the door, settling back down to glower at the mess of paper surrounding her.

Ian herded us through the now busier warehouse and out to the car.

“Welcome aboard,” he said, tearing away from the pier and taking a different route back to the city.

All I could think about was how I was going to survive taking orders from someone as hotheaded and infuriating as Caroline. I didn’t care who she thought she was, but she wasn’t so great I couldn’t live without her.