Figments and Things I'm Not Working On

Alyx Pierce: The Vampire Solution

Blonde curls tossed in the evening sunlight, mussed and moist from the dripping water from the hole in the ceiling. Mouth open wide in a half-asleep yawn, Alyx Pierce slid herself out of bed and touched her hair, reeling when she noticed how wet it was. The sticky, half-moldy, half-polluted rainwater smelled of various oil and febreeze. "Not again," she moaned, reaching across the floor to grab her bucket. "Patrick was supposed to get here yesterday to fix that hole in the roof. Goddammit. I bet she'll take another two days to do it--if she ever actually decides to get around to her job."

Slowly, she roused herself up and started to get herself ready for the day.

Taking a shower did little to help her hair, which remained in a permanent state of 'oh god what did I do' despite her best efforts. Still, she tried her best to get the dirty water out with slightly-better-water from her low-pressure water faucet. Sighing, she blow-dried her hair, letting the curls fluff themselves into a state of near-death until she couldn't feel the wet anymore. As the steady drip, drip, drip reminded her once again that a cheap apartment on the west side of Memphis meant that one little hole was the least of her worries, Alyx pulled out her laptop. Work, at least, was always consistent. Besides, at least there wasn't an apartment on the top of hers. Those who lived across the hall, and never turned off their country-pop-embodiment-of-evil music during the day were hard enough to deal with. If she had neighbors who had caused her roof to leak, water wouldn't be enough to put out her flames.

"Three articles to review and fourteen column posts to rewrite. Perfect. God bless Shannon." Alyx smiled, knowing that her best friend since college, and her favorite movie-watching date, always made certain to email everything in perfect fashion. The notes were aligned, the assignment clearly noted, and the hours they were due were marked in bold. If she'd ever wake up and go to the office during the day Alyx could just receive everything there, but forcing herself to wake up and deal with the sunlight, regardless if it burnt her or not, was enough to make her want to tear her hair out. Daylight people were high-strung, too noisy, too chatty, and never cleaned up after themselves. At least the nighttime people had the decency to remove the bodies after they killed someone.

Just as she'd gotten her towel-hat to stay on, her laptop to rest on her knees just right, and her shirt to stop falling off her shoulders every two seconds, a knock came at the door. Of course, because she'd actually woken up and started on her work before watching the six-pm news, someone would be there to bother her.

"One second," she shouted, tossing her laptop onto her desk and dropping from her chair. Her feet slipped over the wood and her ankle twisted just enough to make it hurt but not enough to ice. Seriously? The evening just couldn't get worse. Groaning, she plunged herself the last seven feet to the door and threw it open with a bang, her towel falling onto her face and shirt once more slipping down to reveal her bra. "Alyx Peirce, how can I help you?" With a shy smile, she took off her towel and looked at the man who'd opened her door.

He was six-foot-five, wore jeans tighter than her father's muscle shirts, and for some reason his wife-beater showed off more of his chest than one normally would. Wild brown eyes with red crossed through the center and lips that were a deep pink and half opened awaited her as he broke down, tears fighting to exit first as he leaned against the doorframe. The first words out of his mouth were a broken mumble of discombobulated sounds that were too fast and cracked to make sense at all.

"...my wife and she's not--and I just need--they won't listen and...it's...no please, please don't shut the door on me too!" By the time he'd finished the sobbing had stopped and he stood up again, his head bobbing back and forth as his hands shook.

"Whoa, big guy. Let's get you inside and at my desk, okay? What's going on?"

Pushing the books that were stacked on the chair in front of her desk away, she pulled it out and let him fall into a deeper state of despair. Something about seeing that large man entirely broken before her left chills down her spine. Jesus Christ and Cheese Crackers, what the hell's gotten into the world today? Can't anything calm down? For two seconds? She closed her laptop and rested her elbows on it as she leaned across the table. The cheap, printed out name tag that read 'Alyx Pierce: Private Eye' had never looked so pitiful.

"My daughter!"

"Yes, what happened to her?"

"My wife tells me to...listen to the cops...fifty-seven days and not one damn lead! She's missing and I need her back. Everyone else has given up on me. Please, Pierce--I need someone to find my angel." He reached across the desk and grabbed her hands, his much larger and rougher. Guess he's never heard of lotion.

Alyx pried herself out of his hands and gave him an uneven smile. Her shirt kept slipping and the ceiling kept dripping and by the frustrated beeping and whirring coming from under her arms, her laptop had started an impromptu update. Perfect. An unstable man and an already full night.

Just what I needed.

"What's your name?"

"Daniels. Sonder Daniels. My daughter's name is--was---was..." The tears came back and Alyx threw out her hands, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him until he regained himself some. "Mariana Daniels. I have...I have a copy of the police file. I can get you more, whatever you need---just tell me, tell me you can find out who took my baby! I want her back. If anything...I want her body back, if...if that's all there is. I need to know."

A light sputtered inside of Alyx. "Wait, you don't think whoever took her left her alive?"

"No ransom. Just notes, throughout the city...I've found two, the cops found a third...they say she's doing well, but..."

"But what?"

"They had her blood on it."

Looked like things were about to get a whole lot darker and the evening had just begun.