Chapter 10

Kandais was on Col's back again. They both agreed that the cracked pavement of the Olds was too harsh for her bare feet.

Col could tell that she was still a little shaken by the episode in the sewer and shivering slightly despite the temperate night. She was a great warmth behind him, grasping just tight enough to keep purchase. Her hair fell partially over his shoulder, occasionally swept into his face by the wind, and smelled slightly of damp funk. Her silence worried him.

Col was walking down familiar streets now. The alleys were clear except for trash. Memories of past fights, of teaching hard lessons to trespassers and troublemakers caused him to chuckle.

“What's so funny?” asked Kandais as they waited at a curb for a car to pass.

“Nothing,” answered Col, shaking his head. “You ok?”

“I dunno if I'll ever be ok again. But I'm as good as I'm gonna be I guess.”

“One more block.”

“What was that thing?”

“ A Lizzaj. A small one. They feed off pain, the more pure the source the better. The holy man will take a long time dying.” Col smiled to himself.

“You call that thing small?”

“For a Lizzaj, yea. If the Gov knew those were down there he'd be shitting himself.”

“Say what?”

“He passed that 'Street Cleaning' act that you were talking about, the one that sent a bunch of homeless into the sewers. Only reason I know what they are is that I've read a few legends about lizard men in the Roman aqueducts.”

“You think those things have been around that long?”

“They've existed, but they may have all died out. I think these are a new breede. Like I said before, sorrow and pain can do a lot to a man.”

Kandais didn't answer. Before too long they came to a large destitute apartment building. There were boards over every window up to the fifth floor. Kandais wasn't sure but she thought she saw a glistening form in a window on the top floor. She told herself it was just a trick of the eyes.

Col mounted a set of cement stairs and strode the landing to a pair of American-style doors. Col placed his hand on one of the rectangles embossed on its surface and the door sprang open. The hallway beyond was dusky streetlight coming in through the boards covering an old set of bay windows. After the hallway was a mouldering lounge. Most of the seating was missing and the receptionist desk had crumbled to a pile of dry rubbish.

“You can walk now, if you like. It's a little dusty but that never hurt anyone,” said Col choosing a second hallway

Kandais slipped off Col's back but kept close, not knowing what to expect from a vampire's lair. She'd half expected flocks of bats and fire-spewing packs of demon dogs. The reality appeared that he was simply squatting in squalor. They neared an elevator. Col pressed the up button and held it. Kandais gave him a confused look.

“'s broken and the maintenance man is on... umm... permanent vacation. Gotta hold the button.” He smiled wryly. Kandais smiled weakly and wrapped her arms around herself.

“Are you cold?” he asked. “I was in such a rush to get here I forgot how you were dressed.”

“I'm fine.”

“You sure? Here, take my coat.”

“I said I'm fine. Besides, your coat's all covered in sewer water.”

“Oh... right,” said Col. He pulled a puzzled face and suddenly his coat began to drip, and so too his pants. “There, all gone.”

“That's hard to believe.”

“Simple trick. Difficult to explain. Not quite reversing time more like going back to how it used to be.”

“Confusing.”

“You'll learn easy, some day.”

“Yea... right.”

The elevator dinged its arrival. Inside it was wood panels and springy black buttons. Above the door was a semicircle and an arrow showing the current floor. They were on 2, Col pressed 8 and the elevator lurched to a start.

“It's old but it's quiet,” said Col. “Built well, 'cept for maybe a few of the buttons.” Kandais shrugged.

They went up and up, the arrow slowly moving in accordance. After floor 3 she began to hear soft sounds like voices. She shot a glance at Col but he appeared lost in thought. She was just beginning to wonder what it was exactly that he still had to do this night. For all the unnerving talk about vampires and monsters of late, he still seemed so human, so real.

“Don't worry baby, it'll all work out. You just give Gramma some shuga.”

“What?” asked Kandais.

“You hear something?” asked Col.

“I thought I did.”

“Sons of BITCHES! Those damn bastards never could know their noses from their johnsons, could they?”

“Ok I definitely heard that,” said Kandais putting her ear to the door of the elevator.

“I'm such a little fuck, I don't know why I'm even fucking here. Worst luck of all.”

“Spirits,” said Col.

“Ahh, another incredibly horrifying development.”

“Harmless, for the most part. My master once told me they're sensitive to emotions, 's part of the reason they stick to a sliver of life. Not sure why they stick around this place in particular.”

“Why wouldn't they, it's so cozy,” blurted Kandais. Col was staring off into nothing again.

The elevator dinged once loud and long and three more times after, then the doors slid slowly open. Kandais's hand found its way into Col's but neither seemed to notice; both were deep in their own ponderings. The voices ebbed from whispers to an occasional wafting of noise that may well have been wind. Kandais frowned at the trappings of the hallway, they seemed too Vampiric - no normal person would choose such foreboding colors.

They hadn't gone too far before a door opened next to Kandais and stopped at the length of a security chain. She shrieked in surprise. Two blue-fire eyes stared directly at her. A hand, as white and frail as a napkin snaked out and reached for her. Col looked over his shoulder and yanked her close.

“Careful,” he said.

“I...” she began but Col had stopped at a door. He ran a hand through his hair, then knocked. The door opened almost immediately to an athletically thin woman with shockingly-bright blue eyes.

“Col! Where the hell have you been? I... we have been worried sick about you!” she said with worry pressed into her face.

“I ran into some... difficulties,” he answered. “I can come in, right?”

“Yes of course,” she said then suddenly noticed Kandais behind him. “And what the hell is this? Leftovers?”

Another face appeared in the entryway behind the skinny woman, pockmarked from acne. He took one look at Kandais and grinned wide. “Shit man we got a chickee here,” he said to someone out of view.

“What's the count?” called a deeper, stuffy voice. “A dozen?”

“Full fucking gross.”

Kandais wasn't sure what they were talking about, but it obviously involved her. Col just rolled his eyes and started in. The woman gave Col room, but kept her eyes on Kandais. Kandais was suddenly aware of how inappropriately she was dressed.

“My name is Yasha, I am one of three of Col's servants,” she said as she closed the door.

“Actually, we are the Master's servants,” interrupted the man with the pimples. “We just help Col out because he's a cool dude. I'm Danil by the way and that over there is Conir.” He pointed to a bulky man with dark brown hair tied in a pony tail. He had his back to the room, so Kandais could not see his face.

“This is Kandais,” said Col. “It's no longer safe for her to stay at her house so I brought her here for a while.”

“It looks like you did more than that,” said Yasha, Kandais noticed a slight Russian accent. “Is this your mark on her neck?”

“That's none of your business, Yasha. It's not permanent; let's leave it at that,” answered Col taking a seat in one of the easy chairs in the living room. Kandais nervously followed him and kept her arms crossed over her breasts. She caught her reflection in an oval mirror hanging on the wall- sweaty and dirty.

“Not permanent?” Yasha made a noise like spitting. “Is that what you have been telling this poor girl?”

“I said let's leave it at that,” answered Col impatiently. “There is no time for this.”

“You, Col, are not my master,” said Yasha.

“Will you please see to it that she is made comfortable, Yasha? There’s much to do before I leave. We just came from the sewers. No doubt she will want to take a shower and definitely find some clean clothes,” said Col with a defeated sigh. “You think you got something she can put on?”

“Yes, perhaps,” she answered softly, perhaps regretfully. She gave Kandais a once-over and a motherly frown, “Come on then. You are a pretty one, aren't you? Let us see if we can get you comfortable. And gracious will you stretch out the chest on my shirts.” She gave Col a disapproving look then.

Col said softly, “go with her, babe. Everything will be alright, trust me ok?” He made a gesture for her to follow Yasha.

Kandais bit her lip to keep herself from saying something out of place and followed.

“Ahh... to be a vampire,” said Danil once the two had disappeared down the hall. He shot Col a wide grin. “Mind if I ask what that's all about?”

Col shrugged. “Some Hunters...”

“Hunters??” blurted both Conir and Danil excitedly.

“They traced my steps to her somehow. I had to find them and rough them up a bit.”

“Jes... Cripes!” said Conir, changing mid-word. He swiveled his chair around. “What the hell is going on in this town? I tell you both this does not bode well at all.”

“No, it doesn't. Can't tell you I ain't worried,” Col began then shook his head, “But once the Master is returned here safe and sound we can get to sorting this shit out.”

“Speaking of that, we nosed around about that card you gave us.” Conir picked up a dozen or so sheets of paper from the printer near his calf. Danil lounged on the arm of the couch near Col. “Liquid Pharmaceuticals United. They have a warehouse in the Industrial District north of here.”

“Hmm...” hummed Col, “What for?”

“Not too much is around on them actually. They have warehouses scattered around the country but no manufacturing plants,” said Conir

“We were thinking they got all their wares from outsourcing or third-party manufacturers. We couldn't find anything to support that theory but that's the only viable answer,” added Danil.

“What do they sell, I mean I assume its consumer drugs and all that, but what kind?” asked Col, accepting the printouts.

“We traced a few products from them to hospitals actually. Painkillers, a few offered during birthing procedures,” said Conir, “makes the mom-to-be very docile and responsive to commands. A lot of places highly recommend it. The FDA hasn't noticed any birth defects or anything in its studies.”

Col looked puzzled. “Yea don't make any sense to us either. What about that involves the Master is a mystery,” said Danil. “Could be just a coincidence, maybe whoever was in your condo had a' alias working there.”

“Could be. I guess it really doesn't matter. It's the only lead I've got.”

“Oh! One thing we pretty much just found out before you got in,” added Danil excitedly

“What's that?” said Col with a wisp of impatience. He had risen to leave but stopped.

“There have been over fifty reports of thefts- hijackings and break-ins- of materials from this company,” answered Danil.

“Someone either has it out for them or at least knows the company is an easy target,” added Conir.

“Hmm... that means they probably have a decent security system set up by now,” said Col, mostly to himself.

“Yea, I'd be careful if I were you,” said Conir.

“Careful about what?” asked Yasha who'd just returned from the inner-most areas of the apartment. A faint roaring in the background was all they heard as result of her absence

“Oh you know, rusty nails, hordes of armed guards,” said Col, exhibiting his first smile since he'd entered the building. He quickly changed the subject after seeing Yasha's frown. “How is she?”

“Didn't say a word, she just nodded or shook her head when I asked her things. Just what did you do to her Col?”

“I've been nothin’ but a gentleman. She's just a shy one,” said Col approaching Yasha. “No worries. I'mma, go say goodbye to her.”

“You are leaving already?”

“Time's not gonna wait for me, and there is still a lot left to do. I got what I needed. Thanks, guys, and umm... you there.” He grinned at Yasha and made his way down to the bathroom. He could tell just by passing the open doors of the unoccupied rooms which was whose. Conir's room was tidy and filled with gadgets with twirling, blinking lights. Danil's was a wasteland, the debris all indiscernible from what surrounded it. The two shared a bathroom that was dingy and only basically clean. Yasha's room and bathroom were at the end of the hall, both doors closed, private.

Col knocked on the bathroom door as he entered. Scented candles burned on a myriad of tidy surfaces, filling the room with the gentle, relaxing smell of chamomile and vanilla. The tiny flames flickered above pink trappings, fluffy seat covers and rugs. Kandais's voluptuous form was distorted behind the sliding, beveled-glass doors of the bathtub as she sadly scrubbed her soft skin. Col wasn't sure, but it seemed that she either hadn't noticed him entering, or didn't care.

“You going to be alright?” He asked after a few moments.

“Come to give me a pep talk? Or maybe sneak a peek?” She asked over the din of falling water.

“Just saying goodbye, and making sure you're comfortable. I really am sorry, you know,” he said.

“Yea, I am too; sorry I met you Col.” There was silence after that statement.

“The serfs will take good care of you while I'm gone. Then I'll see to it that things are set straight.”

“So you say. The woman, Yasha, told me the way out. Can't say I am comforted by your promise.”

“Hmm, well, in any case, I am leaving now. Stay here. You will be safe.”

She didn't respond. Col took one more look at her and felt a pang of loss. As he left the bathroom he though he heard her say, “Yea right.” He didn't press the issue.