1
I looked at the crowded streets around me. My dark red eyes easily picked up the various people passing under one street lamp and the next to reach their destinations. The night had settled onto the city of Chicago and whole new breeds of humans were walking about the sidewalks. True, there were the fine upstanding citizens that were merely out for a night on the town with their friends or loved ones. Yet, there were others that inhabited street corners and darkened alley ways. Of course, it was the 1920s. It was the age of the speakeasy and the classic gangster.
For years, things had been working up to this. The world had been racing to this era like it needed it to survive. I had been wandering this Earth for forty-seven years now and everything moved faster and faster. Though, I did not look one bit of those forty-three years.
How was this possible you might wonder?
This I will tell you briefly.
I was born on the twenty-third of September in 1878 as Nicole Ann Fisher. However, through a series of events I came to discover one crucial fact. Vampires exist. Due to those very circumstances, I was soon one of them. I was made so by the leader of our group named Jared. For years, he and his group trained me in the ways of being a vampire. They showed me the life that I never knew or dreamed could exist. This very group of vampires, myself included, moved around through the decades changing our names as needed.
For this current year, Jared brought our group to Chicago having heard many rumors of underground activities. Such things are havens to those like us who have to remain hidden and unheard of through the passing ages.
Jared was currently the owner of a small jazz club that was a secret front for a speakeasy. Yet, more often than not, various patrons who entered the little speakeasy in the back were never seen or heard from again.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
The year is 1921. I would specify the month and day however it is only the years that matter to a vampire. You have to be wary of the changing eras. A vampire must always keep up with the changes in style and ways of thinking.
My always wandered like this when I was doing my job. I was waiting for the usual signal. It was my job to gather certain monetary funds from the various businesses and families to which Jared granted protection and services. This became my job, even though I was not a human as they had used in the past, primarily because of my nationality at the time I was turned.
From my mother's side of the family, I gained the rich and dark skin of her native Cherokee tribe. Even though my skin had been paled by the act of becoming a vampire, I retained more color than other vampires giving me a look that allowed me to pass as a human to all the mortal eyes.
I gently tugged at the dark turquoise blue hat that fit over my raven black hair that had been cut into a bob to match the times. A part of me still mourned the loss of my long hair that I had cherished as a child. Yet, I knew it could be grown back with Jared's assistance. The hat matched the blue flapper dress I wore under a white jacket. This was so primarily since I was playing the part of a young girl simply strolling around town. I sincerely appreciated the simple fact that our business was done mostly outside and at nighttime. I was never fond of the very short hem lines up to the knee, the lack of a sleeve and the dip in the collar giving any man a view. My slim legs were encased in the stockings that had become so much a part of the look that it seemed unfinished without it. A simple pair of black pumps completed my look.
I was nearly about to walk into the establishment myself when I finally saw the signal that they were ready.
A young man stepped out alone onto the sidewalk. He leaned against a nearby light post, ignoring the passersby and those entering the jazz club as he lit a cigarette. It was a nasty habit; however, it was something easy to spot.
I slowly rose from my seat outside of a closed café and carefully headed across the street to avoid being run over by the various motorcars traveling up and down the road. My eyes never moved to the individual smoking. After all, it was not him I had business with.
As I entered the establishment, I placed a smile on my face to match the other merry makers. However, my goal was not simple merriment as I headed over to a man sitting at a table near a wall. My smile and demeanor would suggest I was his date.
"Well, there you are. I am surprised anyone can be found in this place. It is really jumpin," I said full of faked merriment. I removed my jacket and slipped it over one arm. The dress served its usual purpose, to disarm whatever thug they had brought in for the job.
The thug in his chair looked me over in surprise. It took him a while to remember what he was supposed to be doing.
"Hey Pauline wondered when you'd be gettin' here," he said once he regained a portion of his wits.
I smiled slyly as I slowly settled into a chair across from him. Carefully and pointedly, I crossed one hose clad leg over the other.
"It took me a little longer than usual to get in tonight." The layers of insinuation started to build with each sentence.
"Yeah, the boss is gettin' up tight about the way things have been goin lately."
I slowly leaned in closer. A playful smile on my lips reddened with lipstick that glistened in the lights of the club. However, the tone of my voice dropping to its low warning tone that no one else would hear over the music and chatter.
"If the boss has any problems with the situation, then he should come along with me and explain to my boss why he feels the way he does about the arrangement. Then again, if he does, you guys might be picking out a new leader for your little band of misfits." I laughed coyly to keep things looking light before speaking again. "I suggest we head on into the back and do business as usual before my boss starts wondering where I am. He does not like sending someone out to look for me."
I slowly leaned back into my chair and watched his face across the table. I watched as my word caught hold of something in his mind. He was new at the business and thought he was a tough guy. Maybe he thought the rumors his buddies had told him were just talk, until now that is.
He took a slow sip of his drink on the table before nodding to me. Slowly, he rose from the table looking a bit shaky. My words really had shaken the boy up. Part of me wished I had been lying, but that is just the way things were when you did business with Jared.
I rose from my seat slowly and followed the thug behind a curtain that most people thought was a decoration when it really hid the passageway to the establishment's second business. They ran a speakeasy just the same as Jared. Except theirs was for humans. This was the price they paid for running their business in Jared's neck of the woods. True, they could have run to the cops but what would they say? They were being extorted for money to keep their speakeasy under wraps? Then again, the better reason for not trying to pull things on Jared is because Jared knew how to make people disappear. Of course, they'd reappear eventually on their doorstep, piece by piece.
The thug led the way through the hidden bar to the manager's door and knocked on it.
"Enter," the voice on the other side of the door said.
The thug opened the door and instead of walking in looked to me nervously.
I looked up at him expressionless before simply turning and heading into the office. My eyes took in the man behind the large desk and the oversized chair. A guy trying to play king of the castle. It was rather pathetic. He did not have a chance in the world.
He finally looked up to me as the door closed. His brown eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh, did not expect to see me tonight? This is the usual night for my pickup from your business. Or rather, did you think I would merely walk away at the suggestion that you did not feel like paying anymore?" My faked act fell away like a sheet. No need to pretend here that I was anything other than what I was.
"No…no, of course not. I merely thought that…"
I interrupted him. "That is just it. You were thinking that Jared would let you off the hook. You feel that with your business picking up that you want to keep all the profits for yourself. Trust me, Mr. O'Connell, men have tried and failed to do the very same thing. Why not prevent the repeat of history and simply pay what you owe?"
Mr. O'Connell sat back in his chair and seemed to really be thinking on my words. He was scared, I knew it. I could smell it. It was a very distinctive smell. One I had smelled far too often. He gave in as moved to pull out a nearby drawer. His hand moved inside and placed a large envelope on the counter.
I pulled my jacket on as I walked up to his desk. My petite hand reached out for the envelope. However, I felt movement behind me. Well, they were about to be surprised.
Before they could even think that they were going to walk away clean, I made my move. I did not even have to think about it anymore.
I dodged the thrust of the thug with his knife meant to catch me in my back. Stupid man thinking I would go down easy. About the time I snapped that same arm, he realized the mistake of believing in the packaging. I scooped up the knife before it hit the ground and in one swipe I sliced through his neck like butter.
This man's death took only seconds for me. It took longer for him to drop to the floor dead and start bleeding his life blood out on the floor.
Slowly, I turned back around to face the man in charge of the operation with the bloody knife still in my hand.
"Foolish mistake on your part. Jared will learn about these events and he will come looking for payment. If you are lucky, you'll see me coming. If you are not lucky…you will not," I said in warning. I knelt down and wiped the blood off the knife on the dead thug's shirt before slipping it into a handy little pouch that carried another knife for emergencies or jobs. Slowly, I looked back to the boss who had turned rather pale looking.
I grabbed up the envelope, tucked it away in my jacket and left. Truthfully, I hated this life. Hated simply existing like this. I knew that by Jared's standards I had done the right thing. By his standards, I was on top of my game and he would be amused.
Yet, as I made it outside the club into the cool night, I knew this was not to my standards. I did not want to kill anymore. It was never part of my life before him but now it was the way things were. Despite my qualms about murder, I knew too well the price of refusing to obey. It was a time that I envied the humans. They were simply killed. Death is easy.
I brushed aside those thoughts as I worked my way down the sidewalk. I still had a part to play and money to collect.
A few hours later, I stepped out of the last club for the night. I had collected from ten different businesses tonight. Only that first one had given me any trouble. I had been looking forward to having tomorrow off. Now I knew that Jared would send me out to deal with the problem placed before him. The only thing left for me to know would be whether or not they would see me coming.