(66) Trevor Wallace – Dhampir

Vik pulls me from the car. I’m not liking this one bit. Hands tied behind my back. Helpless. No weapons. At least he’s armed. With his and mine.

He pushes me forward. Punks on the stoop stand. Eyes hard. Hands ready though no weapons pulled. Yet. One whistles three notes then two. A signal. The door to the house opens.

A tall man stands there. Atypical Vampyre, but Vampyre none the less. Kindly looking. Short brown hair. Glasses. Cross hanging on a cord around his neck. Living up to his press apparently. He looks at us. Stares. Nods once. Points to two of his followers and says something. They come forward.

“He says you’re to come inside with your prisoner,” one of them tells Vik.

Vik propels me forward to the house. I put up a show of resistance. One punk grabs my arm.

“Back off, this one’s mine,” Vik hisses. Punk backs off.

The Vampyre leads us inside. Looks me over. Cold dead eyes. Takes us to his office. Sends his punks away.

“Welcome fellow traveler,” he looks at Vik. “Who is this?” A nod at me. “And why bring him here?”

“This is a Dhampir. I caught him…” He tells the Vampyre the story. Ends with, “I thought he’d make a nice gift for your boss.”

“And just what do you know of my boss, assuming I have one.” Fingers drumming the desk.

“Word gets around,” Vik replies. Knowing smile. “I want to meet him. I have something he might be interested in—well other than this creature here that is.”

I snarl. “You’re the creature.”

He backhands me. Not as hard as it looks to the Vampyre. I play that it is. The Vampyre smiles.

“And what if I want to keep this one for myself? My boys could use a training dummy. They’re getting a bit lax if they let him take them down.” Sneering.

Vik laughs. “An idea but no deal. If you don’t take me to your boss I’ll find another one of his underlings that will. I just figured, since I was in the neighborhood and you were so close… But if you’re not interested…” He shrugs. Grabs my arm. Ready to leave.

“Hold on, I never said I wasn’t interested.” I see the glint in his eyes. Anger. Greed. Not liking the ‘underling’ comment. Thinking how handing me over will boost his caché with Dalca. How we both will. “Wait outside while I make a call.”

Vik drags me out. Pushes me against the wall by the door. The punks watching. I can’t let Vik know I get it. Listen to the Vampyre's call. Good ears here. One of the perks. The Vampyre’s arguing. Wanting to convince Dalca to let him bring us there. Crawling a little. Verbally. But he prevails. Hangs up. I nod once to Vik. Mouth, “We’re in.”

The Vampyre comes out of the office. “He wants to see you and your prisoner.” The way he says ‘prisoner’ doesn’t bode well. “I’ll take you there.”

“I have a car, I’ll follow you.”

The Vampyre shakes his head. “You’ll go with me. My boys will watch your car.”

Vik frowns. Yanks me away from the wall. “Alright. But no tricks. This one is mine, I hand him over.”

“Of course.” But the look on the Vampyre’s face says otherwise.

I glance at Vik. He’s seen it too. His mouth tightens. “Let’s get this over with.”