"Raise your arms please?" The man with glasses asked. I raised an eyebrow, looking over at Cash. The man chuckled, turning to the glasses kid. "Please excuse my friend. He isn't used to our rules," He said. The strange man introduced himself as Cash as he escorted me down into their office building. The office looked more like a morgue by the dark colored walls, and smell of death, along with the candles on the walls. Glasses huffed, rolling his eyes.
Cash chuckled, nervously. "He's new. Just do whatever he asks. It's a safety precaution," He said. I nodded slowly, eyeing the man with glasses. I did as he asked, still eyeing him quietly. He examined everything, making sure I wasn't carrying anything in. I looked over to Cash, smirking slightly. "Who'd bring in anything here?" I asked, teasingly. The man rolled his eyes, motioning towards the man with glasses.
"Andrew here is just supposed to make sure no one comes in with anything that could harm us. There are some people who don't… agree with what we do."
"Is that so?"
Cash nodded, turning towards Andrew. The younger man cleared his throat, straightening up and motioning us forward. "Sorry about that. The new guy is always quick to irritate people," He sighed. I chuckled, flashing a smirk towards Andrew. The younger man quickly looked away, clearing his throat. "There's some kind of sickness going around our facilities," Cash grunted, "Hopefully, we can solve this plague before everyone gets sick." I raised an eyebrow.
He looked at me, quickly chuckling nervously. "Not that it has anything to do with the plague. It's probably just the flu," He said. I rolled my eyes. Not that I cared either way. Cash took me towards the back of the long hallway, where two more men stood. One man eyed me, raising his eyebrows. It was obvious that he remembered me by the way he stared. I caught his gaze, my smirk turning into a frown. Who the hell is this guy? His stare was intense and grueling. There were several scars around his face, and his right eye was blind.
Cash ignored the man's gaze, approaching the two of them. "Will you excuse us? We're here to see Mr. Wright," He explained. The second man nodded, looking to the other one. The sneer on the second's man face was humorous instead of terrifying like he intended it to be. He turned to Cash, sneering and grunting. "Why the hell is he here?" He demanded.
Cash flinched, raising an eyebrow. The aggressiveness of his voice made me chuckle. "Got a problem with me, pal?" I asked with a smirk. The man stared at me, folding his arms across his chest. The man didn't look the slightest bit familiar, but he insisted that he knew me. Ignoring my words, he turned to Cash again. "Answer my fuckin' question, kid!" Cash flinched again, afraid of the strange man. The second man looked between the two of them, shaking his head. Apparently, this wasn't the first time this had happened. The look on Cash's face was close to terror.
"H-H-He's here to talk to the boss. W-W-We think we've found s-s-sight of h-h-…."
"Spit it out, brat!"
Cash flinched again, and took a step back. He wasn't a small man, but compared to the other he was an ant. "He's just here to talk to the boss about the woman, Roy," He said, oddly calm. Roy nodded, turning back to me. I raised an eyebrow.
What's up with this fellow? He looks like you murdered his mother or something.
"Do I know you?"
The man shook his head, chuckling slightly. Cash sighed, looking over at the other man at the door. He shook his head, trying to further to conversation along. "We can't keep the boss waiting, Roy," He said. Roy shook his head, shoving the kid to the side. Roy started to smirk, fitting oddly on his strange face. Cash continued to push into the conversation.
"We should go," He said, "The boss will get impatient." Roy snorted, stepping towards me. I took a step back, narrowing my eyes. What's wrong? You scared? Rolling my eyes, I turned to Cash. "Who's this?" He swallowed, stepping in-between me and Roy.
What good is that gonna do? He's smaller than you two combined!
Roy looked down at Cash with a sneer. He thought the same thing, and stepped forward. Lifting his hand, I knew exactly what he was planning to do. The man beside the door catch his arm before I could interfere. Roy snarled, turning to the man that had grabbed him. "What the hell, Travis?" He growled. Cash moved back, looking to me with a forced smile.
"We should go," He mumbled. Roy snapped at Travis, who in turn turned to Cash. "You should. I'll take care of him." Cash nodded, motioning me forward. Roy broke from his grasp, grabbing my collar. Raising my eyebrows, I sneered down at the man. "Who the hell you think you are, pal?" I growled. Roy chuckled, smirking devilishly.
"What the hell is a man like you doing here?"
"Do I know you?"
He shakes his head, smirking slightly. "I know people that do. I've heard stories about you. Even seen you a couple of times. Imagine me without the scratched face," He chuckled. I raised an eyebrow, shoving him off. Travis stepped in, pushing Roy back. "Sorry about him," He grumbled. I shook my head, watching Travis pull him away.
"You're an idiot! How many times is that this week, Roy?"
"Oh, shut it, Travis."
Roy snarled, shoving the other man off of him. The size of him would intimidate anyone. He does look oddly familiar. You sure you don't remember him? I shook my head, even though the voice didn't have eyes. It was becoming like a person instead of just a voice. Now, I was convinced I was insane.
Now, you're convinced? What gave it away? Me, your thoughts, or this guy? I can think of several things that make you insane.
Rolling my eyes, I ignored the rest of the conversation it carried on. Roy had stepped closer again, but Travis was still standing close to make sure he hadn't done anything. I chuckled, looking up at the man. Raising an eyebrow, I saw the sneer on his face twist into a smirk. Wow, he's more bipolar than you! I rolled my eyes again.
"Look, pal, I don't know you. If I did something to you…"
Roy shook his head, continuing to smirk. Cash sighed, looking at the door. "We should go. The boss is waiting!" He whined. Travis nodded, folding his arms across his chest. Travis wasn't as large as Roy, but compared to Cash, they were giants.
I wonder why this business calls for such large, brute men.
Cash was sonly the messenger, but according to him he'd helped capture a few… things. He wasn't a large man, and he was the youngest of the three. Travis nodded to Cash, turning to Roy. "Come on. Stop being stupid. We need to get him to the boss before we all lose our jobs," He growled. Roy chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Fine," He grunted, "See you later, DeWitt."
He pushed passed Travis, walking down the hallway. I raised an eyebrow. Cash sighed again, grabbing my arm and pulling me forward. I yanked it away from his grasp, following him through the doors. Roy knew my name. I hadn't seen him before, but he had seen me. Who was he? How the hell did he know me? How do you know he didn't guess, or hear it from someone else?
I shook my head. He obviously knew me enough to hate me. The look in his eyes wasn't anything kind. Did you kill his mother or something? I laughed, shrugging my shoulders. Hell if I know. When the doors opened, Cash closed them behind us, and turned to Travis. He thanked him for earlier, and the man walked off towards the back of the room.
"We have him for you, sir."
"Bring him here, then."
A voice escaped from the back of the room. It was dark, so it disguised his face. It was normal for the boss to never show his face, but this wasn't the mafia. Cash stepped forward, handing the man something from his pocket, then turned to me. "Our boss doesn't like to show outsiders his face. I hope you can… understand," He whispered.
I nodded, not really bothered by it at all. The only thing that was odd was how all of them acted. It was like a secret society underground, instead of an underground organization to wipe out this plague. I followed Cash to the center of the large room, and looked at the dark covered man. His face was covered, except for a few of his fingers. By the look of his hands, he was a larger man, but wasn't as big as his other men.
"Good afternoon, Booker. It's nice to finally meet you."
"Uh... You too."
The man chuckled, waving to Cash. The man stepped forward, swallowing slowly. The boss chuckled again, seeing the fear on his face. "Thank you for bringing Mr. DeWitt to me. I overheard the… dispute with Roy. He will not be a part of us for too much longer. Once we find those monsters... he'll be no use to us anymore," He explained. Cash nodded, his eyes flashing to me. I raised an eyebrow, but didn't catch what he had mouthed.
The boss turned back to me. I could hear the small smirk through his dark voice. "My men tell me that you've seen the woman again?" He asked. I nodded slowly, clenching my jaw. Just thinking about her made me angry. That creature came back, and she knew that I had seen her. Disappearing like that into thin air. She's lucky I didn't get my hands on her. The boss chuckled again.
"Thank you for coming to us with this information. We haven't done a very good job of keeping the secret of the vampires."
"Is that what we're calling them?"
The boss chuckled again, and tapped his fingers on the desk. "Yes. That's what we're 'calling them'. I see that my men haven't explained everything," He said, snidely. I shook my head. Cash sighed, his hands digging into his arm. Does this man beat them? They act like he's a monster. Seeing the way Cash acted, I wouldn't doubt if he did. Most bosses like that aren't kind to men like Cash. When you have that much power, it all goes to your head.
Well, isn't that ironic of you to say.
I raised an eyebrow, listening too much to the voice in my head. Cash cleared his throat, staring at me. I sighed, cursing myself inwardly. "Sorry. I haven't been in the best mindset these days," I mumbled. The boss chuckled, shaking his head. "It's fine. I understand." The slur of his words were too smooth. I didn't trust this guy at all, but if I can get a hold of her in any way, this was it.
"My men and I are working on finding her. Our research suggests she's the leader of these foul creatures."
"Is that so?"
The boss nodded. Cash stepped forward, whispering something to him. The boss mumbled something back, and his smirk came back again. Cash turned to me, forcing a smile and running off. With him being gone, I didn't feel as comfortable. He was the only person here I knew, even if it were just for a day. The other people here were acting too strange. Especially, the boss. The way he spoke was off-putting.
"So... Cash says that you first encountered the vampire two decades ago, correct?"
I nodded, watching him scribble notes down on a piece of paper. Travis still stood beside him, his arms folded across his chest, and a blank stare on his face. The boss read through some papers that Cash had handed to him earlier. I wonder how much about me they knew. If they're like the mafia… Everything. And for the first time, I agreed completely.
Cash came back while the boss was interrogating me further. He asked me a lot of personal questions that made my jaw clench. "Do you have any association with any other strange people? Like that woman?" He asked as Cash approached. I shook my head, and he wrote more things down. "I have the documents you needed, sir." Cash handed him more papers. My eyes trailed over the ink that was scribbled onto it, but I didn't catch it quickly enough.
A document of lease? For what?
I raised an eyebrow. Before I could even question what happened, the boss' attention was on me again. "Where did you say you saw her?" He asked. Cash cleared his throat, flashing his blue eyes my way. These people are acting strange. I wouldn't trust them.
"Uh… in front of my office."
"I see."
The boss shoved the papers to the side, and Cash quickly took them from him. Again I couldn't see what they were, but someone else did. They're definitely for a piece of land, but not around here. Whatever this insane mind was thinking was probably right. Ignoring it, I listened to what Cash had to say. "We had information before you called about another man spotting her as well. He… didn't get to make it back here, though," He mumbled.
"She seems to go after single men. Mostly people in their late twenties, mid-thirties. Although, we've had some younger males been attacked as well," Travis spoke up from beside the boss. He had been quiet up until now. Cash was even surprised that he spoke up, but carried on with the conversation. He pulled up papers of the last three people that were her victims. "Most of them all look familiar in some way," Cash mumbled, "Such as the first two. They both had dark hair, light eyes, and medium build. The last one was different."
He pushed the three pictures towards me, pressing his lips. I looked over them, chuckling softly. They all look like brothers. This girl is smart. She has a type. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. Cash saw my gaze wander to the last picture, and the man was different than the other two. I raised an eyebrow, picking up the picture to examine it better.
Well, would you look at that! Doesn't that fellow look familiar?
Cash chuckled nervously, taking the photo from my hands. I continued to stare at him. The stranger he acted, the more obvious it looked. Travis shook his head, rolling his eyes the same way I had. "That isn't under full disclosure yet," Cash said, nervously. Travis sighed, shoving a paper towards me.
"That man's name is not discovered yet. Although, he's thirty four, six feet tall, same build, almost a mirror image. Only thing is he's a pastor with a famous father. You can imagine what trouble we're in right now because of his death."
"What the hell is the point?"
The boss chuckled darkly. Everyone's attention turned back to him, and I rolled my eyes. The reason for coming here was to get answers, but that didn't seem to happen. I think she's trying to find you. Why in the hell would she? Does she wanna finish off her fucking job? Maybe she's interested in something else entirely. Rolling my eyes, I felt Cash's eyes on me. The kid sighed. "We're trying our best to find her, but she's really smart. You've seen her. There's something not right about her. We've encountered very few vampires, but none were like her. Which is why we believe she's the leader," He mumbled.
"That would explain why she's hard to catch."
"It would also explain why she was able to hide for so long."
Travis nodded in agreement, turning to the boss. There were a few whispers that I ignored. Cash sighed again and again, running a hand through his blonde hair. He seemed nervous now. I hadn't seen him this nervous, even when he spoke to me. That boss had to have done something. It was none of my business either way. Cash was just a stranger, and so was everyone else that was here. My business here had nothing to do with their work.
"Mr. DeWitt, we believe that you could be of help to us."
I raised my eyebrow, looking at the boss. My arms were folded across my chest, and I searched for the man within the dark cloud around his torso and face. Cash smiled, but it wasn't anything genuine. Travis just stood with a straight face, not interested in the conversation as much as he was in the boss' orders. "What might that be?" I asked. The boss chuckled again.
"We believe you'd be good bait."