Forever After

Chapter 4

She didn’t like it. Not one bit. Usually, she was at home in the darkness but now it seemed to enclose her, bind her, threaten her. She tried keeping her cool but the night seemed filled with dangers and threats. She knew it'd be no good entering this meeting in a cold sweat with her heart in her throat. That would be very bad. Good or bad, her body wouldn't listen. She tried to calm herself, get to her natural state. She imagined death and mayhem and that soothed her a bit. She ran her hand longingly over the cold steel slide of her holstered .45. Like always, the familiar piece soothed her mind, a mind honed to razor sharpness out of necessity.

She combed her fingers through her long, curly hair.  Not nervous, impatience possessed her as she looked at her watch. Her client was late. She hated tardiness. A slight scowl came over her face that did nothing for her features. Good. Mad was good. Annoyed was better.  She was accustomed to being annoyed when encountering these things. Though, if she was going to be honest, nowadays, emotionless was more common. 

She checked her watch again. Fifteen minutes late. She rested her hand on the stakes shoved in her belt, reassuring herself with their solid weight. One wrong move, just one, and the bloodsucker would be history. She almost wished it'd try something. Actually, if she was being honest with herself, she did wish it. Then she’d get both ends of the stick, no pun intended. 

She sighed and was once again at ease. Except, of course, for the fact the BS, the bloodsucker, was late. Her mood sank again.

She leaned against the old brick wall when a snide little wisp of what passed for a man with a wicked grin on its face darted into sight. 

“You’re late, Nickolaus." She didn't even bother to disguise the venom in her voice as she hissed out the name.

 It jumped on a post easily eight feet from the ground and said, “You’re early.” Its words were laced with a slight accent and a hint of the gentile under many layers of superiority. 

Of course, an insecure jackass would NEED the reassurance of attaining the high ground.

“Do you really want me to smack that look off your face?” she snarled, positioning her body slightly forward in that way only women could do right, but gay men sometimes achieve. She bet she could kill it from here, if she tried. The thought brought a grin to her face that would have sent chills down the spine of any normal person; that and the urge to run.

Holding up its hands, it said, “Hey, hey! Aren’t we here to do business, vampire hunter?” 

Diplomatic asshole. She resisted the urge to finger her weapons again.

She glared at the monster before her, “We are. Just hand over the money and the information and I’ll be on my merry way.” And know someday your ass will be grass, asshole.

 It stretched its lips in a hideous imitation of amusement. “Now that’s a little more to your reputation, vampire hunter.” The vampire slipped its hand under its coat and pulled out an envelope. “Here you go, sweetie. All there, as we agreed. Just know, if you fail, I will kill you." 

 Yeah, win or lose. Ditto, dumbass. 

"I think I’d rather enjoy it. From the smell of you, your blood would be sweet.” Its expression gave her chills before it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. 

She rolled her eyes at the arrogant display of speed, and opened the large, flimsy, white envelope. She was curious, if nothing else, why a vampire would contract a vampire hunter to kill one of its own. All the better for her. After all, the money wasn’t that great in her chosen field. 

She pulled out a picture of a skinny but pretty girl with black hair. She had a mischievous smile on her face. She pulled out the bio sheet and stopped dead when she read the vampire was only a year old.