2

I arrived back at the house a little after the agreed upon time. I knew Jared was impatiently waiting inside when I spotted a familiar figure standing on the stoop. It was Sarah. At least that was the first name I knew her by. Now, she went by the name Virginia Hudson. She had been with Jared the day he found me. It had taken a while before she saw the value in my presence.

She was lucky enough to have retained her long hair. Her blond, curly locks were pulled up into a more professional bun. She was dressed as a young professional woman. Our home was made up to look like an office and Virginia worked at the front desk as a way to monitor the people who came in and out. Her typewriter she used to record the activities of those who came in down to the smallest detail. Since she had pale skin, her working in an office till all hours of the night made sense. She had been a very lovely woman in her human years since now she was utterly breathtaking. Yet another ruse to fool anyone who might come looking for trouble.

Virginia looked over to me as I made my way up the steps.

"You're a little late…and you smell faintly of blood. What have you been up to?" Virginia asked out loud since the streets were practically empty.

"Unfortunately…" I began as I produced the new knife. "One of the thugs tonight decided to try and avoid paying their dues."

Virginia looked to the knife and then smiled as she crossed her arms.

"And?"

I slid the knife with practiced ease back into the spot in my jacket as I spoke. "And I took care of the matter in the usual manner. Of course, I have to let Charles know what happened and go from there." Charles was the current name for Jared.

Virginia was still smiling.

"Sometime, I would love to go and see this for myself. It intrigues me to hear about this."

I moved farther up the steps to look up at her. Although no matter if I stood on the same step, I would always look up at Sarah since she was much taller and older than I.

"Ask Charles; see what he says about that."

Virginia chuckled before heading inside and I followed along behind her.

I headed up the stairs to go locate "Charles". Oddly enough, he was Charles in public, but in private he wanted us to call him Jared even though we were called by our changed names rather than our former names. I turned and started down the long hallway.

However, I did not have to go far.

Jared's room was the first one on the right. The door was cracked open.

I knocked on the doorframe and waited for the reply. It was no long before the faint sound of a book closing sounded within the room.

"Enter," said the familiar voice.

I slowly opened the door and stepped inside.

The view inside was a familiar one. Jared was sitting in a chair in the corner of his room facing towards the door. He had one leg crossed over the other with a closed book on his lap. Jared was dressed as fashionable as a man could be in this era. His sacque suit was typical of the men in the era though it looked impeccable. The gray jacket of the suit set was open showing his putty colored button down shirt and a dark brown silk tie with diagonal stripes. The tie itself was secured with a tie pin. His shoes were the typical two typed variety of white and tan for his causal look. His bowler hat was hanging on a nearby hat rack that normally covered his auburn hair. That hairstyle had not changed one bit since I first saw him. Men were lucky in that regard.

A slow but handsome smile crossed his perfect lips. That smile softened his square jaw making him look completely approachable. His looks had completely disarmed me the moment we met despite the circumstances. He was an undoubtedly handsome man.

"Ah, there you are. I was beginning to wonder about you. Come, get comfortable and have a seat," Jared said as he motioned to the chair near him.

I carefully removed my jacket that covered me up as I headed over to take the offered seat. Then, I draped the jacket over my legs so I could get to it easily when I reported about the evening.

"Yes, I knew you would begin to wonder," I replied.

Jared looked me over with a smile that I knew too well. A suggestive smile.

"It never fails to make one admire your beauty in a dress like that."

I softly smiled. "Thank you Jared."

"You have everything?"

I looked down to my jacket and pulled out the ten envelopes with the money inside and placed them on the small table between us.

"I counted as I went along. It is all there."

He leaned back into his chair and steepled his fingers.

"I smell blood."

It was then that I produced the knife that he would know was not my own. I also placed that on the table next to the money as I sat back a bit.

"Unfortunately, Mr. O'Connell tried to…dodge a payment. First, by using one of his thugs to appeal to me and secondly by a second thug who tried to stab that knife into my back when I moved over to pick up the money from his desk."

I watched him think that over for a moment. He seemed to be unaffected by this news but he was one that calculated. Those blood red eyes were looking off as he thought over this news. His mind working out the various angles.

"Did you handle this act in the usual fashion?"

I nodded. "Yes I did. I gave them something to think about."

He chuckled under his breath.

"Yes, I have seen your work in that area. I know you followed the protocol. Now, we have some follow through to handle."

I nodded again. "I thought as much."

Jared laughed as he looked over to me. "Ah, you are very smart my dear. You anticipated this move."

"I did."

He smiled to me. "My smart Pauline. Before I decide what the course of action is to be, I need to hear just what happened from the time you walked in."

I nodded to him and calmly explained everything to him. Of course, it was not just the actions I took that he was interested in. He knew I picked out those subtle details. The ability to catch the little things that most people did not pick up on. It was something that had become prominent in me when I became a vampire. It was nearly a form of mind reading save for the fact I could not hear the thoughts in their head. I would pick up on their body language, facial expressions, the way they moved, the move of a hand, the tone of a voice and all of this I could even do to people who were behind me. It was as if my senses were much higher than that of other vampires. It made me valuable to Jared.

Once I was done filling him in on what had happened, I sat back and waited silently as he went deep into thought about what I had told him.

"Well, it seems some retribution has all ready been made. However, if they thought of this once, they will certainly think of it again." Jared looked over to me now. "Tomorrow night, you will go back to them and tell them that I would like to meet with Mr. O'Connell and his crew at our usual place. Pauline, during this meeting will be when you are to act. When I say the words, you are to pick one at random and do what you do best. Do not pick anyone that he would need to keep his operation running. Just someone that will help us get the point across."

I nodded to him. "Understood," I said as I rose from the chair.

Jared smiled up to me. "You have done well. Make sure you treat yourself tonight before turning to your hobbies."

A faint smile appeared on my lips. Jared was rather pleased with me if he spoke in such a manner to me. Normally, he would insist on going with me but he said no such thing.

"Thank you very much Jared. I appreciate it."

Jared picked his book back up and looked back to it. "Of course you are," he said as he opened his book back up.

I turned and walked out of the room closing the door back the way he preferred it before moving to change into some more comfortable clothes. It was always harder when I had to worry about my clothing when I hunted for my next meal. Tonight, however, I would get to do the one thing that Jared usually did not allow. I would not have to pick some person with a home or family that would miss them. For once, I could pick someone that did not have those luxuries. It made it easier on my mind to not think that the person whose life I was taking had something that they lived for.

However, it never made it easy to deal with the taking of a life…even to sustain my own.