So You Used to Be Human - Book 3 (Original Version)

Chapter 14: The Art of Revenge

-33-

The vampire looked familiar but for the life of me I could't figure out exactly where I had seen him. Some people have those faces that are really hard to place, and then again some people like me really don't pay attention to individual faces or names unless they were being particularly useful. More recently when people had started trying to kill me, I had made a note of paying more attention to faces, but old habits die hard and I'm not paranoid by nature.

Dude was about six feet tall, Persian and scruffy in a typical rich douchebag kind of way, so I was already forming opinions about him on the short walk across the street, before he even opened his mouth. Yes I was being highly judgemental but I wasn't in a great mood and I was beginning to get antsy about the fact that the sun was coming up in an hour and I still had to find a place to spend the daylight hours.

I could see the sign for the Shangri-La hotel a few blocks away down the the deserted streets that would be coming alive slowly over the next few hours as exhausted night workers made their way home on seriously fucked up and limited public transit. The Blueline Express, the bus I usually caught to get home, would be passing by in about ten minutes, mildly shaking its half-asleep passengers of shift workers who appreciated the night but right then just wanted to go the fuck home and sleep. I wasn't looking forward to crashing at the Shangri-la and spending close to six hundred bucks on rooms for myself and Jaime, but I somehow doubted that I would have much time left after this particular bit of nastiness was over.

Damn I wish Claude had let me keep the car. Now it was stuck in the alley behind Beatrice's apartment and there was nothing I could do about it.

"You're supposed to be out of town Bob..." dude was saying and he had the smug kind of look on his face that I just wanted to punch so fucking hard. I have no idea how I restrained myself.

"Yeah, well things came up. Did Harry send you to kick my ass in gear or something?"

"Not exactly. But he did let a bunch of us know that if we saw you around, you were no longer under his protection. It's open-season on your ass and a bunch of us have a few bones to pick with you."

"Lucky me there's only one of you-"

Two more vampires emerged from the shadows and once again there it was, that sense of familiarity, like I knew these guys pretty well, almost like they were old friends-

"You don't have a fucking clue who we are."

"Nope."

Four more vampires exited a parked car on the left and I finally got a clue. I knew that if I looked to the right, there would be another set of vampires coming my way. After all, this was an ambush. Persian douchebag was already looking way too cocky.

"If you remembered, then you'd be already running."

He was right, but there was no way I was going to admit that. Besides, I was already calculating the escape routes and they all sucked and were filled with vampires. I hoped Sammy and Jaime weren't busy inside telling bad stories about me. I had a feeling I was going to need Sammy's pepperspray pretty soon.

"Dammit, where do I know you from? It's killing me here. Right on the tip of my tongue."

"The Hotel Astoria you fuck!"

I relaxed and shrugged.

"Well why didn't you say so? Which one of you did I kill again? Oh wait, I forgot: it was all of you!" Douchebag didn't look too impressed by my sudden recollection. I smiled disarmingly and pressed on. "I didn't think I caught your name-"

"Fuck y-"

That was as far as he got, mainly because of my fist slamming into his throat, surprising both of us, but seriously me more than him. Part of me had realized that time time for talking was over since there was no way in hell this situation was going to turn out favourable. I didn't have an escape plan, I was about to be surrounded, I sure as hell wasn't about to be rescued and nope, the sun sun was still an hour away from rising, so no act of God was about to occur.