I find it rather entertaining that I post a chapter for The Formative Years and get a bunch of follows for this story. *grin* I'm glad you folks enjoy it. I've been writing on it like crazy lately and, while The Formative Years is shaping up like a manga or anime series, this one looks like it's going to end up a bit like a novel…probably the length of one too. O.o
I'm really having fun with it. Please let me know what you guys think. I live for reviews. They let me make a connection with my readers and that's a really amazing thing for an unpublished writer. Maybe even for a published writer. I wouldn't know. But maybe someday I'll get to find out! *wink*
Chapter 9: Poaching Vampires
Alexis jerked awake at the wound of a heavy fist pounding on the front door. A disorienting sense of déjà vu washed over her before she remembered that Joey would come to collect Finny's money today.
Grumbling, she rolled out of bed and reached for her robe, pulling it on. After being bitten, facing down her attacker and seeing Alucard in full nightmare form, Finny's goons didn't seem nearly so scary as they had.
She grabbed the envelope with the money Alucard had given her as she headed for the living room. The wall shook as the pounding started up again.
"I told you last week, you don't have to break the damn door!" She yanked the door open and felt the blood drain from her face at the sight of the red head on the other side. He had a snub nose and a smattering of freckles across his cheekbones. His fair skin held a perpetual pink tinge, as though he didn't have enough pigment to his flesh to cover up the blood underneath. With a head full of riotous curls, he would have looked adorable if not for the mean glint in his stormy eyes.
"Uh…Finny. Hi. I didn't expect you to come collect in person." She glanced behind him, spotting Joey slouching against her neighbor's wall. The muscle mountain stood next to him, arms crossed. Both of them towered over their boss by almost a head.
"Let me in, Alex."
Alexis scowled at the man that had been her bane for years. She wanted to tell him to shove his orders up his ass, but you didn't talk like that to Finnegan McElroy. Especially not if he had dirt on you. Sighing, she stepped back, pulling the door open and gesturing with a hand to invite him in.
He stepped over the threshold, eyes sweeping around her apartment as though looking for something. Alexis glanced at Joey, wondering if he'd said something to Finny about the coffin or her attempt to pay him off to keep quiet about it. He could have given all of the money to Finny and narced on her. The red head turned back to her, eyes narrowed.
"I've heard you have a new friend," he said, eyes flicking around her living room again. "A rather close friend. Close enough that he's living with you."
Alexis scowled. What did it matter to him if she decided to shack up with someone? As long as he got his money, he should have nothing to do with her life.
"I live in a one bedroom apartment. Where would this mysterious new roommate sleep?"
"That is the question, isn't it?" Finny turned those dark green-gray eyes on her. "If he was a lover, he'd naturally sleep in your bed with you, but you call him a roommate. Curious."
"I never admitted to having someone living with me!"
Finny smirked at her.
"You don't have to. We've seen him here. We've seen him arrive and not leave."
Alexis felt her eyes widen and a sudden lump formed in her throat. Had they seen him phase through the walls? Had they seen him dissolve into a pool of shadows? That could explain Finny's sudden interest. He had always been fascinated with the supernatural. Ghosts, demons, powers outside the normal human purview. She'd thought him crazy, but now that she'd met Alucard, he didn't seem quite so mad anymore.
Finny smiled, baring crooked, stained teeth. Alexis shuddered.
"Where is he, Alexis? I know about the coffin. I know he's not human. I want to talk to him."
Her stomach lurched and she shifted her glare to Joey. He must have said something. He shook his head ever so slightly and hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the blond bodyguard behind him. Muscle boy gave her a triumphant leer. She hadn't even thought about him.
"Finny, please don't. He might kill you." Not that she cared about his death. In fact, she'd gladly dance on his grave, given the chance, except…
"You know what will happen if I die," Finny said with a sneer. "It'd only be a matter of time."
"She may know, but I am morbid with curiosity."
Alexis winced at that voice. Wasn't it too early for vampires to be awake? She turned to see the monster himself walking through the door to her bedroom…literally. Did he have to do that? They didn't know how much Finny really knew and how much he was fishing for. Now, the vampire had erased all doubts.
"Fascinating." Finny headed toward the red-clad vampire, ignoring her entirely. He walked around the monster like a buyer at a horse fair. Would he try to look at Alucard's teeth? Alexis had to stifle a hysterical giggle at the visual that popped into her head at that thought. "A real, living, breathing blood drinker."
Alucard watched the man with an amused smirk that widened into a fang-baring grin. "No. I have not lived, nor breathed in the human sense of the term for many centuries."
Finny stopped, staring at the fangs and needle sharp dentistry in that sadistic grin. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning. The vampire lifted his head and Alexis could feel those red eyes behind their orange lenses lock onto her.
"Such a rude hostess, Alexis. Won't you introduce me to your guests?"
Alexis rolled her eyes toward the ceiling as though begging a higher power…any higher power…for the patience to deal with the infuriating vampire. She glanced toward Joey and found him peeking out from behind muscle boy who stood, arms crossed and eyes hooded. The blond exuded calm, but something about the tilt of his shoulders and tension in his arms gave off a sense of fear, like he'd really prefer to bolt for the door.
"Fine. Finny, Joey…muscle boy, this is Alucard, vampire and my new roommate. Alucard, meet muscle boy, bodyguard, Joey, crony and Finny, blackmailer." She gestured to each one as she named them. Finny shot her a dirty look over his shoulder.
"Information broker," he said, turning back to the vampire.
Alexis sighed and muttered under her breath, "Same thing."
Ignoring her, Finny stuck his hand out, plastering an oily smile on his face. Alucard looked at the proffered hand and a sardonic grin spread across his face. He took the hand in his own, gloved one, and squeezed. Finny's throat worked and his freckles grew considerably more noticeable, but he didn't make a sound as the bones in his hand creaked.
"It's a pleasure, Mr. Alucard," he said, voice only a little strained. The vampire's grin didn't really change, but something about it suddenly seemed overtly threatening.
"Please. Call me count."
Alexis frowned, something tugging at her memory. Why would he make Finny call him count? How cliché was that? It wasn't like he was the real…no. He couldn't be. It was just an affectation of a fictional character. Count Dracula, the vampire, wasn't real.
And two weeks ago, she would have sworn vampires as a species didn't exist. A thousand questions popped into her head and she shoved them into that little space she had reserved for bafflement about Alucard.
"Ah…count. Sure. I can do that." Finny smiled, thrown off by the honorific, but he recovered quickly. "I have to say. These…arrangements seem beneath your station. I could offer you much better accommodations. I have a penthouse in the Victoria Grande, downtown. It's considerably more comfortable than this hovel."
Alexis bristled, fists clenched at her sides. How dare he try to steal her vampire? Sure, there were times she wasn't sure she wanted him, but Finny certainly didn't deserve him, unless it was in a very lethal sense…for Finny.
"Oh, no. No, no, no." She marched across the room, inserting herself between them with her back to Alucard. She glared at Finny and took a step back, pressing against the vampire in an attempt to make him open some space between him and her blackmailer. "I pay you an exorbitant sum of money each month to keep your mouth shut about certain…things. I pay it on time and without complaint. You're not going to poach my vampire, too. Mine!"
She felt the rumble of Alucard's chuckle against her back as he took that step back to open up some space, but as he did, he draped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her with him. She couldn't decide if she liked being pressed against him and didn't have time to worry about it as Finny glared daggers at her.
"So, you haven't told him? That's not very responsible of you. Even a vampire deserves to know when he's living with a murderer." Finny smiled, a baring of teeth that had nothing of happiness or good will in it.
"Oh? Murder is it?" Alucard's voice rumbled through his chest and she could feel it against her back. It felt somehow comforting and she decided she might actually like this position, after all. "That sounds like a story I might enjoy hearing."
"So would the police. That murder has remained unsolved for…how long has it been, Alexis?"
She glared at Finny, loathe to answer the question, not because she didn't want Alucard to know. She'd been thinking about telling him, anyway. No, she just hated to do anything Finny told her to.
"Eight years. It's been eight years."
"You murdered someone at age…what? Sixteen?" The vampire sounded surprised and maybe a little impressed. "Was it a crime of passion?"
"No," said Alexis before Finny could. "It was in cold blood. I planned it."
"Which is why all the evidence the police need to convict you is safely tucked away in a safety deposit box with instructions in my will to deliver it to the police if I ever come up dead or missing." Finny leered at her. She glared back, refusing to back down. She didn't really need the reminder of how thoroughly he had her bent over a barrel. He was just showing off.
"It appears you have this all fixed to your advantage," Alucard said. Finny shifted his glare from Alexis to the vampire and his expression melted into a gloating smile.
"I am a very rich, influential man, count. I could make it worth your while to engage in an exchange. Money, women, all the blood you could ever want, and all I'd ask for is a little transformation."
Alexis felt her blood run cold. She didn't think Alucard could turn Finny into a vampire. If the man was a virgin, then she'd eat her shoes without salt, but the fact that he wanted to become something like Alucard…frightening.
Behind her, the vampire threw his head back, laughing in great guffaws of hilarity. His whole body shook with the force of his amusement.
"All the blood I could ever want? Do you wish for the extinction of your species? You have no idea what I am capable of, you simple peasant." He reached into the pocket of Alexis's robe and pulled out the envelope of money she had stuffed there. He held it out to Finny, keeping an arm wrapped around her shoulders. "Take your payment, little man. You have earned it and all that has come before with your machinations, but it will be the last. She is under my protection, now."
The look on Finny's face melted into a fierce scowl. He didn't like being laughed at on a good day, but he could tolerate it if he was getting something he wanted out of it. With Alucard's words, that thin line of tolerance snapped.
"You forget, vampire. I have evidence that will lock your little slut away for the rest of her life!"
Alexis felt a spurt of panic and opened her mouth to assure Finny that Alucard didn't mean it. She'd get his money to him next month, as always. Before a single word came out, the vampire clamped a hand over her mouth.
"You forget, human. I have power and abilities that you can only dream of."
Finny's eyes suddenly darted around them, a touch of fear seeping into his expression. Although the vampire felt perfectly solid against her back, Alexis could imagine him melting into tendrils of darkness at the edges. The man's stormy green eyes widened to show white all around the irises. Behind him, Joey bolted for the door, but the knob wouldn't turn. He rattled it and then pounded on the wood, panicked.
Alexis smiled behind the hand over her mouth. She'd never gotten to see Finny frightened before. Despite her certainty that he'd turn her in as soon as he got away, she couldn't help but revel in the fear that crossed his features.
"Oh, god, Finny! Apologize! Promise him whatever he wants! I don't want to die!" Joey ripped at the door, desperate to get out as he dissolved into hysterical sobs.
"It's just an illusion," the red head said as his bodyguard moved up beside him. Muscle boy looked ready to bolt, himself, but Alexis had to give the man props for courage. "He's just manipulating our minds. Don't give in."
Alucard's laugh echoed around the small living room and from either side of her, black tendrils shot out, slamming into the blond bodyguard. His scream ripped through the room as blood burst forth from his body. Alexis watched the panic bloom across Finny's face, watched his resolve and courage shatter under the bombardment of muscle boy's death cries. He broke for the door, joining Joey in his desperate attempt to flee. Together, they pummeled at the door, kicking it and screaming demands for release as the vampire destroyed the muscle-bound human that had followed them to his death.
Suddenly, the door flew open, spilling the two men into the hall. They stumbled but recovered quickly, racing down the hallway. Alexis wondered what her neighbors thought of the commotion as Alucard left her to sink fangs into the bleeding, broken body of the late bodyguard. She'd seen him feed so many times by now that she thought nothing of it as he consumed the body except that he was useful for covering up the crime.
"What a shame," she vampire said, reforming from his shadows. He had an envelope in his hand. "Finny forgot his money. I suppose I'll have to deliver it to him."
He grinned in anticipation. Alexis just sighed and sank onto the couch, putting her head in her hands. As much as she loved the idea of Alucard slowly torturing her nemesis, she couldn't help but picture the contents of that lockbox on its way to the closest police station.
She was doomed.
A/N: So, does anyone besides me think that Alucard is having entirely too much fun with this whole situation? And it would appear they've claimed each other…sort of… Heehee.
One thing I really would like an opinion on…does anyone see even a touch of romance starting here? It's rather hard to put Alucard into a romantic situation, really. He's not really a lovable sort of personality, nor the type to *fall* in love. More like, if it happens, he'd just sort of wake up one day, there, with no clue how it happened and a little befuddled about it and not about to let anyone see that. *grin* I think he's starting to develop something for Alexis, though. What do you guys think?