The Fourth Force

"Amidst the depths of twilight, a glow about to dawn? No... What kind of words are these? Twilight? How horrible! Better yet: Amidst the darkness... A glow. No... A twinkle... In the darkness... A twinkle. She, once the despicable one breaks free of its cocoon, expanding its wings thus becoming... An angel.

"What art thou doing m'lady?" I ask.

My lady laugheth.

"Oww, my baby... I was thinking of writing a book. An account... About our future. About our rise."

"Would it not be too soon for that?"

"Not at all, my baby. Not a little. You wouldn't imagine how advanced we already are."

Sublimely prosaic. My lady describeth herself in the same way as I see her. Her vampire wings, though despicable to human eyes, gleam in my retinae like angels.

However, she doth not describe herself, but our progress, our egress into the Sproustown underworld, To the fascinating journey of Deluxes' transaction journey. My lady explaineth:

"There are currently what? Three? Yes... Three major points. Controlled by 'The Dragon', 'Verde' and 'Wilkinson'. Hmmm... They sound dangerous to me. Better for us to keep away? Hide and not draw attention to ourselves? I'm afraid of being hunted and beheaded.

My lady's words are the pure definition of irony.

"If my lady thinkest of getting attention, dost thou expect anything big tonight?"

"Dirty innuendos aside, my baby, I do expect something big tonight. The work we are going to do now is by far not the most important. More important than it is its consequence."

"Wouldst thou be thinking of doing something about the invitation?"

My lady for the first time turns to me, hiding her beautiful wings and her gleaming blond hair from my sight, ending up to show her canine teeth as she respondeth:

"Hmmm... The invitation. Arthur Cooper's invitation to the clandestine Arena tournament. If I'm not mistaken .. Was there a robbery at the SAD building earlier this week? If we add two plus two, it's safe to admit the invitation is already in the hands of I don't know who but the police... Don't you agree, my baby?"

"It is safe to assume so, m'lady."

Which brings us to four possibilities: Wilkinson stole the invitation. Verde stole the invitation. The Dragon stole the invitation. Another interested party stole the invitation. If the fourth option is true, the culprit will be hunted and beheaded by one of the first three and thus the choice becomes one of the previous three. What should we do about it?

My lady walketh across the wooden floor elegantly as she cometh to me, her hand resting lightly on her chin.

"Guess one of them? "I think it's this one." And from then on do what? Chase? Observe? Risk stealing the invitation again?"

"With my finesse I could at least try to locate the culprit, m'lady."

My lady laugheth once again.

Well, aren't we exceeding ourselves. You're all action, aren't you? You're a good butler, Jarbas.

"I would rather you not call me Jarbas, m'lady. I am better known as Shinobi; the mercenary."

"After all... The other two groups who don't have the invitation... Are going to try to do the same don't you think? What do you think, Jarbas?"

And now that. Jarbas. Why? Is it because I'm black?

"It is safe to assume so. But by the tone of thy words... Could it be that thou already hath something in mind, ma'am?"

"Of course I have something in mind, Shinobi. Come on... Let's get this job done once and for all."

She beckoneth me to follow her with her forefinger. Along the way she explaineth:

"Wanna guess which is the way to go as the three groups focus on fighting over the invitation? The hidden way! The ignored path. We will not join in the fight for that embellished piece of paper. First we shall focus on securing customers for our small Deluxes sales group! While no one is really focused on the candies... We are. Everything is business, Shinobi my baby. Sell, sell and sell!"

I see. Nothing better than taking advantage of the carelessness of other trafficking leaders to increase our market preference. After all, if the other groups really are all they say, it is safe to assume they wilt resolve the invitation case among themselves. My lady is certainly an entrepreneur.

Alluring, elegant and a paranormal vampire. My lady is called Cayme. Cayme and I have been in Sproustown for only two weeks. Her goal is to gain space in the illegal market, although I believe such is already saturated.

Sproustown hath three imaginary dividing lines, each manipulated by its dominator. The southern region is dominated by Verde. Near the center is the Dragon empire, and further north of the city, almost near Orchid Highway, the trade belongs to an unknown being they call Wilkinson.

Is it not that I once argue with my lady? - God forbid, not violent arguing, but mere discussion - I bother to explain that many tried to rise to the market due to the tempting demand for consumption, but all have perished to the cartel. He who settles in Sproustown and dares fight these three bosses doeth not escape alive.

As typical of my lady, she laugheth and claimeth to trust herself.

I start not doubtful, though a tad curious about her success. However so far my lady hath been doing very well. We got information about the main sales points, details about the service offered by the competition, we even got some customers. And as far as our knowledge extendeth, the top three competitors still don't acknowledge our existence.

Almost all of our clients transaction flawlessly, but one: Daniel Carter. Occupying a considerable position in the state court, he findeth himself in need of increasing his wealth by trading Deluxes. Purchaseth in very high quantity, which makes clear his intention to make profit unlike one who buyeth for own consumption.

Big and influential tycoon, he is hardly used to getting away with illegitimate tasks. Believeth not to be subject to the consequences of his contracts. Having luxurious residence in High Cheawuld Garden, Daniel Carter believeth himself to be sufficiently secure by his guards and therefore doeth not return us the expected amount of money at the time of the transaction. How doeth he achieve such a feat? My lady is not the type to verify the amount in front of one of our first clients, as such an attitude would not inspire confidence in our line of work.

Unfortunately for him, we are aware of the location of his residence.

Because we are new to the business, he seeth hinself in position to pass us behind. Just experienceth our services and he already calleth for gaffe of such caliber...? A course of action shalt be taken.

On this pretext, the two of us leave that night. The contract of accounts with Daniel Carter.

High Cheawuld Garden is a chic and quiet neighborhood, each block is adorned with huge villas belonging to the wealthiest fellows of the city. It is a quiet and well located neighborhood, in the center and in the highest part of the city. As it is too quiet and covered in nature, it is not exactly free to attacks at night. I shall be honest: it's not a dangerous neighborhood. If there were too many criminal occurrences, the police would quickly take action, hence is otherwise scarce in thefts and evils. However this conveys a sense of false security, helping to mask the few occurrences.

Thus we both camouflage ourselves in the dark of dusk and make a brief visit to Daniel Carter.

The mansion is dark outside and bright inside. We see the silhouettes of the security guards. They make their routes buzzing. Dressed in black coat and white shirt, equipped with weapons and radio transmitters, the most dangerous the last of them.

"Hmmm... Should I just leave this to you? You are the shinobi here," my lady whispers, "what do you think?"

I turn to her and spot her sharp smile like her teeth, gleaming against the night. She clearly mocketh me.

"Let's go straight to it." She declareth.

I hurry and tiptoe to my feet, landing quietly on the porch attached to Daniel Carter's office, accompanied by two guards. He is on the phone. The guards are inexperienced and have their guard down. I could offer a description, but I advance they shall be in decomposition within a few paragraphs, thus it doeth not matter.

I make a panorama of the office: the table is small and the tycoon is on the chair. One of the guards right next to him, the other closer to the door behind the desk. There is a bookcase and a cupboard against the wall, also another vacant chair.

With my brain pondering my possibilities, I work out an assault plan. I visualize myself quietly entering the room, knocking down the table guard and then the one past the door, making use of my laminate equipment and my finesse in less than three seconds. I am used to doing such work without leaving visible noise or clue. Such a sequence of events is accessible to me.

Briefly, I forget my lady's company. She has a more straightforward plan in mind.

From below, she jumps right into the window, shattering the glass all the way into the living room. Daniel Carter jumps in his chair and tosses the phone to the floor making a fussing moan. The guards are intimidated and draw their guns from their pockets, pointing them at Cayme, who enters carrying a sublime and fearless pose.

One. Two. Before they fire, two bodies perish into the ground. They are the guards mysteriously dying at the wrong time, apparently for no reason at all.

"B... But what? Didn't Verde say that... What are you doing here? Get out of my .."

The tall and burly Daniel Carter shudders not only his body but also his words.

"Hmmm. It would be a problem if the others came in firing guns and making a mess. Lock the door, Shinobi."

With the maximum of my indarra I run to lock the door by dragging the bookcase in front of it. None of the other guards can enter the room.

"How!? What happened??" Carter looks incredulously around him.

"Well... Aren't we having a heart attack in the wrong time." My lady looketh at the bodies on the floor. She doeth not bother to explain what happened.

However I see it necessary: as incredible as it sounds this is ductu. Yes, ductu. That same little fear cast by the so-called paranormal beings when in the presence of the other species. What happens is that a vampire's ductu is of a much higher intensity.

Is it possible to take the life of living beings - even more so: human beings - only by directing natural fear to them? Until then I believed uncertain, but as I live alongside my lady, I see such a possibility realized. Cayme handleth her nature with such virtuosity that she directs panic like a pointed weapon, straight into the hearts of those present. The only way to survive such an attack is to use the anti-ductu on time, which only paranormal beings can do.

Of course, since she doeth not intentionally drive terror into Carter's heart, Carter remaineth alive. Only the guards perish.

My lady, smiling calmly, walketh slowly and mysteriously to our charlatan client's chair. He retracts and retracts until physics no longer allows him to. Poor little one. Little does he know the fear he feels is not only given to the situation, but a natural consequence of a vampire's ductu.

I shall be frank: even I shudder at such intensity.

"But now that this coincidence has occurred... We can exchange words in a civilized way. No sound of bullets or security guards screaming. Tell me, mr. Carter…" She looketh him straight in the eye. I can feel the cold in my spine that I imagine he feeleth. When close one noticeth the unique color of her eyes: gray and yellow, that color is inhuman, particular to a vampire.

"...Tell me, mr. Carter: When you handed over that bag with our payment on Sunday... Didn't you forget something?"

"I... I... Please..."

My lady toucheth lightly Carter's head as a mockery. He contorteht his face, closeth his eyes and expecteth the worst. She just smileth and stepeth back, releasing him.

"Okay, okay. I can imagine you might have forgotten. Or counted wrong. Yeah," she puteth her hand over her chin, "must have counted the bills wrong. What do you say?"

"Look... If it's money you want then..."

"Shhh. Aren't we exceeding ourselves? I'm the one making the talk here, mr. Carter."

He maketh immediate silence.

"Let the bigones be bigones, mr. Carter. What I want is not the rest of the money. I'll leave it to you... It is a gift from the beginning of our relationship. A toast to the first of many businesses! The business principle deserves a bonus, don't you think?"

Daniel Carter hath one hand in his pocket, glaring at my mistress as he babbleth. She approacheth and forcibly taking his hand from his pocket, taketh his phone from him.

"Is this your phone? Your number is still the same, no? Let's do the following, mr. Carter: I'll call with some instructions. If you want to redeem yourself, you better follow them. In other words you have no choice but to follow them."

My lady giveth him a look cold like the death.

"Don't think about trying to pass me behind again, mr. Carter."

He paleth as he stareth at her. She walketh away with a smile.

"Just kidding! I know, I know... You miscounted the bills, don't you remember? Yes!" We hear knocking on the other side of the door. I ignore them, because I rest assure the bookshelf holds it. "So what I'm doing is just asking you a favor. After all what is a business relationship but a favor exchange? Anyway... What I ask you to do is as follows:"

She throweth Carter's phone into his hands again.

"I want you to hire two people for a certain job. Two mercenaries. I know, I know... The cost is high. But hey... It's only two. It's lower than if you actually had to pay the rest, is it not mr. Carter? What do you think?"

Very reluctantly, his terrified face manages to move slightly, vaguely resembling a nod.

"Great! Then keep your ears alert. Just follow the orders and we will no longer suddenly appear in your house."

He instinctively looketh at the shattered glass. He looketh back at her as she changeth her voice to that cold, abyssal tone again:

"We'll leave you and your family alone, mr. Carter."

My lady walketh calmly to the window.

"Everything I want is some mercenaries. I could hire them myself, but they have to think it was you. Hehehe"

My lady humeth some music lightly to herself as she approacheth the window near where I rest myself.

"Just that. Shall we be going, Shinobi?"

Readily, I jump to the front of the house again. I hear her utter her last sentence to the defeated legal worker:

"By the way, my condolences for your guards. They should've had a heart disease, no? What do you say happened here? They couldn't stand my dramatic entrance?"

She jumpeth down the window and runneth toward the entrance until she reacheth me.

"See? That was easy and fast." My lady sayeth to me as we make our way back to the previous hiding spot in the city center.

"And unnecessary, m'lady. I could have taken care of it myself."

"Are you suggesting you don't want my help, my baby?"

"It's not that! I Just... Think it is unusual for the head of the trafficking herself to appear in person when dealing with delinquent clients, m'lady. Thou shouldest consider leaving the dirty work for me only."

"And leave all the good part to you only? Hmmm... I'll think about it... Done: No, thanks."

"Thou riskest exposing yourself unnecessarily. Remember that Wilkinson, The Dragon and Verde could have eyes and ears anywhere."

"So the less I show myself the better? Is that what my little black guy means? You're right... With your dark skin and your assassin experience you can hide much better than me at night, my baby."

"My lady..."

"Speaking of the dark of the night, she's beautiful, isn't she? The moon is full! Full as a pure vampire likes."

"My lady... We should have turn around. We missed the street..."

"Oh! No. We won't go back there today, my baby. Didn't you hear Carter? Did he mention something about Verde without thinking? Don't tell me you thought it wasn't important information that escaped there?"

"I did not forget. But I don't see what he could mean with that name. What could it have to do with hiding, ma'am?" I speed the step to accompany her.

She beckoneth me to follow her.

"Just listen to me till the end, Shinobi: why would Daniel Carter, knowing I'm a vampire; a freak..."

"Thou art by no means a freak, my lady..." She dismisseth my courtesy with a gesture.

"...Knowing I'm a freak, why would he come home even if we know his address and even if he've stolen more than half of the agreed amount? Does he think there will be no repercussion?"

I remain silent. I can't imagine a reason other than simple stupidity.

"Because he already has ties to another Deluxes distributor, my baby! He thinks of buying our products at a bargain price and then reporting to his distributor that there is new competition in the market. In this way when the cartel makes their thing and we 'disappear'..., "she maketh a cross gesture in her throat, "...from the map, then he gets the hands on the products for which he only paid a third. Sounds like a good deal to mr. Carter, what do you think?"

I see! Carter also hath a scheme of his own.

"Therefore when you hear the name Verde' from his mouth you get an idea of which of the three parties he's involved with, don't you?"

"Being this way, m'lady... Isn't it safe to assume Daniel Carter will still contact his supplier to get us out of the field?" If he planned to do it before, now even more. Would it not be better to come back and..."

I step back and turn in the opposite direction, preparing to return to the manor and finish the job. But Cayme stopeth me with a gesture.

"No! It's better to leave things as they are! Either way... By now Verde should be already aware of everything and that's why we are not going back to the same hiding spot of before, but instead to a new one."

I see. The idea was to outwit Verde from the start.

After a few minutes we arrive at the destination. On the outside it is just a regular hotel. Not too fancy, not too ordinary. Although located in downtown it is not built on a busy street which is good. My lady and I go by walking by her preference, who liketh to walk under the moonlight. But I don't favor the idea of her walking without proper wing cover. We shall never draw too much attention. Fortunately, we have a shortage of witnesses all along the way.

My lady is used to not caring for appearances, but here in a city ruled by drug dealers with access to knowledgeable rent killers... Mauhaps it's wise to be a little more careful. One doeth not reveal his identity in a city where there are connoisseurs of the paranormal.

Inside our destination, a hotel called Pinnacle, the walls are peach colored. The breeze drifteth lightly through the windows in its corridors and its atmosphere is relaxing. We headed for the reception. The attendant already knoweth who she is. Where doeth my lady get such contacts? If there is a receptionist who is aware of our position, it means more existing people we need to entrust. Afterwards I must check the credibility of the receptionist's origin.

We are guided to the room against the wall of the first floor hallway. As we enter, a button is pressed on the receptionist's control and a new entrance opens on the wall behind the bed. The receptionist greeteth us and leaveth us alone.

The door is small and leadeth into a vast corridor, leading to another part of the hotel which, though can be seen from the outside, hath no apparent access from the inside.

"I see." I comment.

My lady jumps quickly ahead of me, landing in the middle of the classy corridor.

"Like it? The rooms in here are much more luxurious, my baby. If someone came after us here it would be already hard enough to find this entrance, and there is an exit to the back street from inside in the case such unlikely event happens."

I follow her into the hallway until we come to a hall with leather armchairs and a table gleaming so polished. She dropeth her body into one of the armchairs.

"Ok ... Now it's all settled. Now we just have to wait and see how Verde responds to our influence. I would like him to abuse in the answer. It would make my reputation grow exponentially in Sproustown."

"I call it dangerous, ma'am. And it doesn't change the fact that at least Verde already knoweth of our existence by now."

"Hmmm... But he must be very busy with the story of the invitation. Of course, unless he himself was the one who retrieved the invitation on Monday, but I find it difficult. What do you think?"

"I still name it dangerous, ma'am."

"Nonsense... They won't find us here. Sit down. But get a sparkling wine from the fridge first." She pointeth to a fridge in the corner of the room. I proceed as my master suggests.

"What happens is that we made a deal with a bad customer, that's all. Still we win, Shinobi! Consider the facts: Our reputation will grow because of the rumors. It will be spread out that there is a new Deluxes distributor and that he cannot be passed behind so easily. A bonus: I can hire two mercenaries without making a personal appearance or from any of my trusted men. You wouldn't want to hire a mercenary yourself for the purpose of following orders from a new distributor don't you think? What if this mercenary was a double agent already working under another boss's orders? Hmm... Now that sounds dangerous. What do you think?"

"I could do the mercenary work easily, my lady."

She looketh at me ignominiously.

"My baby... The great difficulty of this work doesn't lie just in its complexity of doing it, but in the need to do it without showing the face. We can go out at night and break into a customer's house being aware that he will at most reveal us to his supplier and that won't mean much, because if he has a supplier he is already aware of ourselves to begin with. Now this tas ... This task cannot be assigned to our party... To Cayme's party. This must be an anonymous task."

"And what would such a task be, m'lady?"

She presseth the sparkling wine by applying extreme force on her fingertips as the cork leaks out, stopping across the room exactly into the appropriate waste bin.

"Oh, you'll see Shinobi... That you'll see. For now... Just toast to our ascension."

"To our ascension!"

We toast at the dawn of the night.