Butler held Artemis's arm as he opened the door to the Kickin' Club. He
opened the door a little wider, letting Holly and Root in first, who had
their shields on just in case anything happened. The sound of Marilyn
Manson's song (s)AINT was booming throughout the whole building. The bass
rumbled and vibrated Artemis's stomach and the sheer volume of it made him
go temporarily deaf. Butler and Artemis weaved through the crowd, looking
like an angry father and a teenage son who snuck out of the house. On the
dance floor, Artemis saw the most variety of people he had ever seen in his
life. There were pale people clad in black, people with bright pink and
yellow on, people with Mohawks and people with tattoos. The list went on
and on. The place reeked of rancid sweat and alcohol. Artemis tried not
to gag as he was pulled through the mass of bodies.
Butler stopped before the tables and eyed almost everyone that was in firing distance from Artemis. He then sat down at the nearest table, pulling Artemis with him. It was almost ten o'clock and kids where still out and about, defying their parents. Speaking of parents, Artemis wondered if his father was still waiting for him at the hotel. Artemis scanned the other people who were seated at the tables. He found no one worthy of suspicion until he saw the lone guy in a secluded corner, talking to himself and looking straight at Artemis. A panic rose up in his chest. He realized how many people could be a part of Axl Blair's scheme, Vampires or not.
Root hadn't explained much about this Axl character, except he was highly dangerous and was one of the LEP's most wanted criminals, alongside all of his gang and he was one of the most powerful Vampires because Dominick was one of the first vampires. Foaly admitted mournfully that he didn't know Axl reasons for attacking Artemis except for rendezvousing with the LEP.
Artemis's heart skipped a beat as he saw the man in the corner stand up and head toward him and Butler. He took a shaky breath and calmed himself. He felt a tug at his once broken wrist (which Holly healed before they came in) and heard a male voice shout over the music. "That's Nick Carvier. The number one vampire hunter in the world; let alone Paris." The man bowed slightly and smiled. Butler nodded and picked up Artemis by the arm again and the three exited through the back entrance. The fresh night air was a relief for Artemis's lungs and the ringing in his ears started to subside. Footsteps echoed behind them and Holly and Root unshielded with Reret and another girl beside them.
"No need for weapons, big guy . . . and little guys."
Root snorted and pulled about his gun. "You have the vampire, she's considered a weapon. And your teeth can't be taken off either."
Artemis nodded in understanding, took a long look at Nick. He was barely twenty, and he defiantly a vampire. Before the question rose out his mouth, Nick said, "I have chose to hunt my own kind for revenge. And I still drink blood, so don't think I won't get hungry."
"Sheesh, stop cajoling the victim," Holly said, rolling her eyes.
"So, you are the infamous Artemis Fowl the Second?" Nick said scanning Artemis, then his bodyguard, almost like he was sizing them up.
"Have you heard of my crimes?" Artemis asked, almost thrilled that word was getting around about his ability. The key word here, almost.
"No, Foaly told me about you. You are a troublemaking brat aren't you? I suggest we take you somewhere so you can't cause too much trouble. What do you think, Reret? Solo?"
Both girls shrugged, but the girl named Solo hid her face behind her sunglasses. Artemis was close to being surprised when Butler agreed with Nick. "I think so too, Carvier. Artemis is a potential target and our primary objective should be to get the target out of the hit man's sight."
Holly already was shaking her head before Butler even finished his sentence. "Haven is off limits," she jerked a thumb towards Artemis, "to him." Holly was a strong believer in the sayings 'Old habits die hard' and 'once a thief, always a thief.' With habits as huge and old as Artemis's, well, let's just say that his criminal activity will take a while to die, in Holly's opinion. She could imagine the child breaking into every bank in Haven while the LEP's best officers are frolicking above ground with a male Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Holly would have had her way if Root hadn't been there. If there was a chance to get the Mud Boy Artemis out of his hair for a second, it was appealing to him. "But what if he dies Holly?" Root asked in an unusual tone of voice that was rarely heard on him; sympathy. "How guilty would you feel if you knew you had a chance to save a life and didn't take it?"
Holly didn't really like the idea, but the subject of death was always a soft subject for her. She shrugged and said quickly, "And Butler goes just in case Artemis has any . . . urges?"
Artemis exploded. "Urges? What's that supposed to mean you midget?"
"You know exactly what it means, genius."
Root and Butler dragged off a yelling Artemis. The nearest pod chute was at least a mile away. It was better to get started early. After the trio disappeared behind a corner, Holly tugged on Nick's sleeve. "What's a midget?"
- - - - - - - -
Artemis finally gave into Butler and Root after two blocks. Artemis thought that people would at least look at a boy being dragged off by a gigantic man (Root hand shielded), but not one head turned toward his direction. Artemis could feel Root's little hand pushing him forward. Butler stood slightly in front of Artemis. The fact that he had been outdone, even though he was outdone by something that wasn't human, had hurt his pride. Now, Butler wasn't taking any chances at all. "Turn here," the disembodied Root grunted. Butler obeyed with Artemis at his heels. They passed two bums but kept walking, even when one grabbed toward Artemis. Butler didn't even miss a stride and just whacked the guy up the head. It was enough to knock the poor man down. After that, the other bum backed away and left them alone. Root unshielded and picked up a large cardboard box that was bigger than Artemis, revealing a hole in the concrete. "Ladies first," Root laughed and shoved Artemis down first. This caused an evil look from Butler. Root just chuckled and fixed the cardboard box after himself.
Artemis sat in the pod and closed his eyes. He was in for a rough ride if Root drove his pod like Holly drove hers. Lucky for him, Holly was the wildest pod pilot in the LEP, and Root gave up his craziness about one hundred years ago. After the okay from Foaly, they were off. It was a pretty smooth ride for Artemis, though he couldn't say the same for Butler, who was crouched like a cat on its haunches and even then, his bulky shoulders still brushed the top of the pod.
Once they reached the landing area, Root called the LEP headquarters with a small radio. "Yes, I have a couple of Mud Men in the need to be hidden from the public."
"Yes Commander," Trouble Kelp almost shouted.
- - - - - - - -
Holly, Nick, Reret and Solo were waiting for Root's return. Holly was acting as if she was a child, had ordered a glass of Coke. Solo ordered a margarita, though she looked way too young to drink, Reret ordered a coffee and Nick went for a glass of orange juice. Holly's curiosity rose quickly once she saw Nick taking a large swing for his orange juice. "Erm . . . do you really drink that?"
Without taking his eyes of her and saying with a totally serious face, "No, it's all done with magic wands, smoke and mirrors. You know, the works." Reret laughed out loud. As old as she was, there weren't a lot of things she hadn't heard. That was one of them. Holly kept an eye on Nick's glass and saw that it didn't change level at all. But Solo's margarita was drained in two minutes flat.
"She's human," Nick said as if he read her mind. Holly started to understand why Foaly used to wear a foil hat. Nick leaned over the table and touched Solo's face. "She's my mortal slave."
"Ha! You're soooo funny, Nick!" Solo said, her voice thick with sarcasm. "I prefer the term apprentice."
- - - - - - - - -
Butler looked around the room Root had set up for them. It was a bit small for Butler's tastes, but then again, everything is a bit small when you are the size of a male hippo. There were blankets of the floor and a screen on the west wall for getting in touch with Foaly or the LEP. Root sniggered behind them. "We would have brought the noise and picture machine you call a television, but it ran off electricity and we are so beyond that level. But I gave you blankets, so say thank you."
Artemis rolled his eyes and mumbled something that wasn't 'Thank you.' Root turned a deep red and started yelling.
"Do not dare think I don't know your Mud Man slang! I know what that meant!" The lights suddenly flashed off as if it was an effect for Root's anger. "Wha?"
The screen on the wall came to life and a disheveled Foaly came on the screen. "The Vampires got out!"
Root's eyes glowed with anger. "Stop fooling around!"
There were several pounds at the door behind Root. The door became dented and collapsed. A vampire burst into the room, heading straight for Artemis. Butler pounced on it and they wrestled for a second and Root took a needle out of his pocket and stuck it in the vampire's neck. It became limp. "Paralysis isn't permanent for a vampire." Artemis and Butler ran out of the door, with Root behind. The lights were flickering on and off, annoying Artemis deeply. He stumbled more than once on their way to the pod chutes. Apparently, Haven wasn't as safe as they thought.
Butler squeezed in after Root and shut the door. Root started up the engines and pulled Foaly on the screen. "All okay?"
"You can go in about a minute. The vampires are all out down here! We've got a few down, but there are still rogues running around."
The flare kicked up around them and Artemis ran a theory by Butler and Root. "Maybe they were planning this. How could they have known we were down here? Did you tell anyone about us?"
"Nope," Root sighed. "I told Kelp about a couple of Mud Men, but I didn't release any names."
"When did you catch these vampires?"
"Yesterday. We though that they were causing trouble with revealing about Haven."
Artemis thought hard. "He set us up. If I were killed here, it would have saved him the trouble of doing that himself. I suggest we stay with the vampire hunter."
"God idea," Root said, opening the pod door to the cardboard box. He checked to see if anyone was around and when he was sure there was no one, he got out with Butler and Artemis behind him.
- - - - - - - -
It was almost three in the morning when Butler, Artemis and a shielded Root came into the café. This baffled Nick and Reret, but Solo just nodded and said, "I had a hunch about that."
Artemis tried to get more information about Axl, but Reret insisted that they needed to eat. Butler almost said he'd pay for whatever they bought, but realized they didn't want chicken. Reret, Nick and Solo stood up and started leaving. Holly jumped up and grabbed Nick's arm. "You're going to kill someone!" she hissed so no one would overhear.
"No, Solo is my donor. She gives me a little less than half her blood and then we take a little bit from bums. We get mixed blood, but we aren't retarded enough to get dead bodies turning up everywhere. People feel dazed and wake up not remembering anything. It's hard, trying to keep yourself from killing your victim, but I manage."
With that, he left. Reret sighed and whispered, "He almost killed Solo once, he just couldn't stop. I hand to rip him off her."
"Yeah, and I got the scars to prove it." She pointed to her neck and there were long slits across her neck. She just laughed. "I thought he was going to turn me to one of his 'Blood-sworns,' but he was just really hungry."
The two left, leaving Holly, the invisible Root, Artemis and Butler by themselves. Open to anybody to attack. Butler stood up and told Root to keep an eye on Artemis, he had been holding it since they left the restaurant hours ago. Holly nodded okay and Butler went off toward to restrooms. A police officer opened the door and looked around. He spotted Artemis and headed straight toward him. Suddenly, Artemis felt paranoia rise up in him. The officer took out a picture and held it out to him. "Are you Artemis Fowl the Second?" Artemis took the picture and almost burst with laughter. It was a school picture of him from three years ago. The picture was a lot paler than Artemis and he had an evil glint in his eye. That glint was still there but was barely noticeable. Artemis almost answered when Holly suddenly said, "It looks a lot like you, Uncle Crazy, doesn't it?"
It took a moment for Artemis to realize what she was talking about. When he felt the eyes on him, he figured it out. There could be Axl's henchmen in here and Butler was taking a pee and their vampire hunter was feeding on his apprentice. "Yeah," Artemis lied, faking a perfect British accent. "It kinda does. But his forehead is higher than mine."
"And he looks like a ugly, fugly zombie, right Uncle Chaz? And he looks like he has AIDS. I wonder if he does have AIDS. Does he, Uncle Chazzy?"
"You can't tell looking at people from the outside, honeybunchkins." Artemis glared at a giggling Holly. He cleared his throat and said, "Kids, eh? Never shut up. I am sorry to say that I am not he. But who could have lost him?"
The officer pocketed the picture and said, "His extremely rich father. He says he has been gone for only a few hours, but he would have been at the hotel by now. Rich losers. But since he was loaded with money, we decided to take on the job. We got an extra five hundred dollars today from him." He smiled and walked away, asking other costumers.
Butler came back and raised an eyebrow at Artemis who was trying to grab Holly, who was blowing a raspberry, from over the table. "Keep you hands to yourself, children!" Butler boomed. Artemis and Holly stopped.
They retold the story about the officer and Butler nodded as if it happened all the time. The door opened again and Nick, Reret and Solo came in. Solo was wearing a scarf around her neck. "Come, we must find a safe place to stay before the sun comes up."
- - - - - - - - - - -
The motel was disgusting and had cockroaches skittering across the floor. Nick took out the heavy blankets from the cabinet and pinned them over the windows. By 5:57, Reret and Nick suddenly went limp and rigid. Artemis suspected that this was the exact time the sun came up. Not long afterward, Artemis dozed off.
= = = = = = = = = = = =
Yay! Another chapter up! Review now! Hehe. If there's anything you think I have done wrong, please tell me and I'll try to fix it. Keep in mind that this is before the C Cube. I know it was a lot, compared to my other small chaps, but I am trying to please my readers. ///.^; New chap up soon!
Butler stopped before the tables and eyed almost everyone that was in firing distance from Artemis. He then sat down at the nearest table, pulling Artemis with him. It was almost ten o'clock and kids where still out and about, defying their parents. Speaking of parents, Artemis wondered if his father was still waiting for him at the hotel. Artemis scanned the other people who were seated at the tables. He found no one worthy of suspicion until he saw the lone guy in a secluded corner, talking to himself and looking straight at Artemis. A panic rose up in his chest. He realized how many people could be a part of Axl Blair's scheme, Vampires or not.
Root hadn't explained much about this Axl character, except he was highly dangerous and was one of the LEP's most wanted criminals, alongside all of his gang and he was one of the most powerful Vampires because Dominick was one of the first vampires. Foaly admitted mournfully that he didn't know Axl reasons for attacking Artemis except for rendezvousing with the LEP.
Artemis's heart skipped a beat as he saw the man in the corner stand up and head toward him and Butler. He took a shaky breath and calmed himself. He felt a tug at his once broken wrist (which Holly healed before they came in) and heard a male voice shout over the music. "That's Nick Carvier. The number one vampire hunter in the world; let alone Paris." The man bowed slightly and smiled. Butler nodded and picked up Artemis by the arm again and the three exited through the back entrance. The fresh night air was a relief for Artemis's lungs and the ringing in his ears started to subside. Footsteps echoed behind them and Holly and Root unshielded with Reret and another girl beside them.
"No need for weapons, big guy . . . and little guys."
Root snorted and pulled about his gun. "You have the vampire, she's considered a weapon. And your teeth can't be taken off either."
Artemis nodded in understanding, took a long look at Nick. He was barely twenty, and he defiantly a vampire. Before the question rose out his mouth, Nick said, "I have chose to hunt my own kind for revenge. And I still drink blood, so don't think I won't get hungry."
"Sheesh, stop cajoling the victim," Holly said, rolling her eyes.
"So, you are the infamous Artemis Fowl the Second?" Nick said scanning Artemis, then his bodyguard, almost like he was sizing them up.
"Have you heard of my crimes?" Artemis asked, almost thrilled that word was getting around about his ability. The key word here, almost.
"No, Foaly told me about you. You are a troublemaking brat aren't you? I suggest we take you somewhere so you can't cause too much trouble. What do you think, Reret? Solo?"
Both girls shrugged, but the girl named Solo hid her face behind her sunglasses. Artemis was close to being surprised when Butler agreed with Nick. "I think so too, Carvier. Artemis is a potential target and our primary objective should be to get the target out of the hit man's sight."
Holly already was shaking her head before Butler even finished his sentence. "Haven is off limits," she jerked a thumb towards Artemis, "to him." Holly was a strong believer in the sayings 'Old habits die hard' and 'once a thief, always a thief.' With habits as huge and old as Artemis's, well, let's just say that his criminal activity will take a while to die, in Holly's opinion. She could imagine the child breaking into every bank in Haven while the LEP's best officers are frolicking above ground with a male Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Holly would have had her way if Root hadn't been there. If there was a chance to get the Mud Boy Artemis out of his hair for a second, it was appealing to him. "But what if he dies Holly?" Root asked in an unusual tone of voice that was rarely heard on him; sympathy. "How guilty would you feel if you knew you had a chance to save a life and didn't take it?"
Holly didn't really like the idea, but the subject of death was always a soft subject for her. She shrugged and said quickly, "And Butler goes just in case Artemis has any . . . urges?"
Artemis exploded. "Urges? What's that supposed to mean you midget?"
"You know exactly what it means, genius."
Root and Butler dragged off a yelling Artemis. The nearest pod chute was at least a mile away. It was better to get started early. After the trio disappeared behind a corner, Holly tugged on Nick's sleeve. "What's a midget?"
- - - - - - - -
Artemis finally gave into Butler and Root after two blocks. Artemis thought that people would at least look at a boy being dragged off by a gigantic man (Root hand shielded), but not one head turned toward his direction. Artemis could feel Root's little hand pushing him forward. Butler stood slightly in front of Artemis. The fact that he had been outdone, even though he was outdone by something that wasn't human, had hurt his pride. Now, Butler wasn't taking any chances at all. "Turn here," the disembodied Root grunted. Butler obeyed with Artemis at his heels. They passed two bums but kept walking, even when one grabbed toward Artemis. Butler didn't even miss a stride and just whacked the guy up the head. It was enough to knock the poor man down. After that, the other bum backed away and left them alone. Root unshielded and picked up a large cardboard box that was bigger than Artemis, revealing a hole in the concrete. "Ladies first," Root laughed and shoved Artemis down first. This caused an evil look from Butler. Root just chuckled and fixed the cardboard box after himself.
Artemis sat in the pod and closed his eyes. He was in for a rough ride if Root drove his pod like Holly drove hers. Lucky for him, Holly was the wildest pod pilot in the LEP, and Root gave up his craziness about one hundred years ago. After the okay from Foaly, they were off. It was a pretty smooth ride for Artemis, though he couldn't say the same for Butler, who was crouched like a cat on its haunches and even then, his bulky shoulders still brushed the top of the pod.
Once they reached the landing area, Root called the LEP headquarters with a small radio. "Yes, I have a couple of Mud Men in the need to be hidden from the public."
"Yes Commander," Trouble Kelp almost shouted.
- - - - - - - -
Holly, Nick, Reret and Solo were waiting for Root's return. Holly was acting as if she was a child, had ordered a glass of Coke. Solo ordered a margarita, though she looked way too young to drink, Reret ordered a coffee and Nick went for a glass of orange juice. Holly's curiosity rose quickly once she saw Nick taking a large swing for his orange juice. "Erm . . . do you really drink that?"
Without taking his eyes of her and saying with a totally serious face, "No, it's all done with magic wands, smoke and mirrors. You know, the works." Reret laughed out loud. As old as she was, there weren't a lot of things she hadn't heard. That was one of them. Holly kept an eye on Nick's glass and saw that it didn't change level at all. But Solo's margarita was drained in two minutes flat.
"She's human," Nick said as if he read her mind. Holly started to understand why Foaly used to wear a foil hat. Nick leaned over the table and touched Solo's face. "She's my mortal slave."
"Ha! You're soooo funny, Nick!" Solo said, her voice thick with sarcasm. "I prefer the term apprentice."
- - - - - - - - -
Butler looked around the room Root had set up for them. It was a bit small for Butler's tastes, but then again, everything is a bit small when you are the size of a male hippo. There were blankets of the floor and a screen on the west wall for getting in touch with Foaly or the LEP. Root sniggered behind them. "We would have brought the noise and picture machine you call a television, but it ran off electricity and we are so beyond that level. But I gave you blankets, so say thank you."
Artemis rolled his eyes and mumbled something that wasn't 'Thank you.' Root turned a deep red and started yelling.
"Do not dare think I don't know your Mud Man slang! I know what that meant!" The lights suddenly flashed off as if it was an effect for Root's anger. "Wha?"
The screen on the wall came to life and a disheveled Foaly came on the screen. "The Vampires got out!"
Root's eyes glowed with anger. "Stop fooling around!"
There were several pounds at the door behind Root. The door became dented and collapsed. A vampire burst into the room, heading straight for Artemis. Butler pounced on it and they wrestled for a second and Root took a needle out of his pocket and stuck it in the vampire's neck. It became limp. "Paralysis isn't permanent for a vampire." Artemis and Butler ran out of the door, with Root behind. The lights were flickering on and off, annoying Artemis deeply. He stumbled more than once on their way to the pod chutes. Apparently, Haven wasn't as safe as they thought.
Butler squeezed in after Root and shut the door. Root started up the engines and pulled Foaly on the screen. "All okay?"
"You can go in about a minute. The vampires are all out down here! We've got a few down, but there are still rogues running around."
The flare kicked up around them and Artemis ran a theory by Butler and Root. "Maybe they were planning this. How could they have known we were down here? Did you tell anyone about us?"
"Nope," Root sighed. "I told Kelp about a couple of Mud Men, but I didn't release any names."
"When did you catch these vampires?"
"Yesterday. We though that they were causing trouble with revealing about Haven."
Artemis thought hard. "He set us up. If I were killed here, it would have saved him the trouble of doing that himself. I suggest we stay with the vampire hunter."
"God idea," Root said, opening the pod door to the cardboard box. He checked to see if anyone was around and when he was sure there was no one, he got out with Butler and Artemis behind him.
- - - - - - - -
It was almost three in the morning when Butler, Artemis and a shielded Root came into the café. This baffled Nick and Reret, but Solo just nodded and said, "I had a hunch about that."
Artemis tried to get more information about Axl, but Reret insisted that they needed to eat. Butler almost said he'd pay for whatever they bought, but realized they didn't want chicken. Reret, Nick and Solo stood up and started leaving. Holly jumped up and grabbed Nick's arm. "You're going to kill someone!" she hissed so no one would overhear.
"No, Solo is my donor. She gives me a little less than half her blood and then we take a little bit from bums. We get mixed blood, but we aren't retarded enough to get dead bodies turning up everywhere. People feel dazed and wake up not remembering anything. It's hard, trying to keep yourself from killing your victim, but I manage."
With that, he left. Reret sighed and whispered, "He almost killed Solo once, he just couldn't stop. I hand to rip him off her."
"Yeah, and I got the scars to prove it." She pointed to her neck and there were long slits across her neck. She just laughed. "I thought he was going to turn me to one of his 'Blood-sworns,' but he was just really hungry."
The two left, leaving Holly, the invisible Root, Artemis and Butler by themselves. Open to anybody to attack. Butler stood up and told Root to keep an eye on Artemis, he had been holding it since they left the restaurant hours ago. Holly nodded okay and Butler went off toward to restrooms. A police officer opened the door and looked around. He spotted Artemis and headed straight toward him. Suddenly, Artemis felt paranoia rise up in him. The officer took out a picture and held it out to him. "Are you Artemis Fowl the Second?" Artemis took the picture and almost burst with laughter. It was a school picture of him from three years ago. The picture was a lot paler than Artemis and he had an evil glint in his eye. That glint was still there but was barely noticeable. Artemis almost answered when Holly suddenly said, "It looks a lot like you, Uncle Crazy, doesn't it?"
It took a moment for Artemis to realize what she was talking about. When he felt the eyes on him, he figured it out. There could be Axl's henchmen in here and Butler was taking a pee and their vampire hunter was feeding on his apprentice. "Yeah," Artemis lied, faking a perfect British accent. "It kinda does. But his forehead is higher than mine."
"And he looks like a ugly, fugly zombie, right Uncle Chaz? And he looks like he has AIDS. I wonder if he does have AIDS. Does he, Uncle Chazzy?"
"You can't tell looking at people from the outside, honeybunchkins." Artemis glared at a giggling Holly. He cleared his throat and said, "Kids, eh? Never shut up. I am sorry to say that I am not he. But who could have lost him?"
The officer pocketed the picture and said, "His extremely rich father. He says he has been gone for only a few hours, but he would have been at the hotel by now. Rich losers. But since he was loaded with money, we decided to take on the job. We got an extra five hundred dollars today from him." He smiled and walked away, asking other costumers.
Butler came back and raised an eyebrow at Artemis who was trying to grab Holly, who was blowing a raspberry, from over the table. "Keep you hands to yourself, children!" Butler boomed. Artemis and Holly stopped.
They retold the story about the officer and Butler nodded as if it happened all the time. The door opened again and Nick, Reret and Solo came in. Solo was wearing a scarf around her neck. "Come, we must find a safe place to stay before the sun comes up."
- - - - - - - - - - -
The motel was disgusting and had cockroaches skittering across the floor. Nick took out the heavy blankets from the cabinet and pinned them over the windows. By 5:57, Reret and Nick suddenly went limp and rigid. Artemis suspected that this was the exact time the sun came up. Not long afterward, Artemis dozed off.
= = = = = = = = = = = =
Yay! Another chapter up! Review now! Hehe. If there's anything you think I have done wrong, please tell me and I'll try to fix it. Keep in mind that this is before the C Cube. I know it was a lot, compared to my other small chaps, but I am trying to please my readers. ///.^; New chap up soon!