So I'm a Vampire... Now What? - Book 2 (Original Version)

Chapter 12.3 - The Chosen Ones pt 3

For some stupid reason, I thought I would be safe at HTDK.

I was one block from the club when my hidden reserves of speed suddenly clicked off, and the pain of running for so long kicked in and left me gasping at the side of the road. A group of older ladies were startled by my sudden appearance and walked past, giving me a wide berth as if I was going to attack them at any moment. I glanced behind, sure that Lillian and her goons would be right behind me, but they were nowhere to be seen. At least not yet.

There was a yellow Beck taxi parked at the side of the road, and the driver, a young Middle-Eastern looking man, was staring at me. I waved feebly, not sure what he had seen.

"Where were you ten minutes ago when I needed you?" I muttered under my breath.

I could see the shape of the building that held HTDK ahead, and that gave me little extra motivation. The staff had been busy decorating the exterior with an excess of Christmas lights, and it stood out like a beacon in the rapidly advancing night.

I got within sight of the entrance—

"Shit!"

A black official-looking SUV had just pulled up to the entrance, depositing Lillian and Daemien onto the sidewalk and yes, there was motherfucking Harry himself welcoming them.

I immediately turned right back around, trying to hide my face but totally not in a conspicuous way.

I almost screamed and gave myself away.

Agent D'mallo had somehow discovered the art of teleportation and had appeared right behind me. He was, of course, casually lighting up a cigarette as if teleportation was no big deal.

"Where the fuck did you come from?" I whisper-yelled at him.

"Well, don't you look like shit. What are you doing here, Mister Diego? You really shouldn't be here."

"No shit," I said with a glance back towards the club where Harry and Lillian were talking animatedly. I looked back at D'mallo. "Believe it or not, somebody is trying to kill me."

"Oh, is it Tuesday already?" D'mallo quipped, then shrugged. "This is exactly why you shouldn't be bere. You are persona non-grata after you tried to blow up the club—"

"Oh come on! That wasn't even me!"

"It's a loophole. Miss Lestrade has been trying to cut some deals in more unofficial channels—"

"Is that her name?"

"Lillian Lestrade, daughter of Michél Lestrade. She was born a vampire in eighteen twelve and is now favoured to take over the family business and run the city of Montreal when Michél retires or dies. He's been promising to do that for the past three decades."

"Die?"

"Retire. But Lillian has been known to be impatient. We might be witnessing a coup in the making if she can gain enough allies."

I stared Agent D'mallo, trying to absorb all of this new information. I grinned hopefully and held out my wrists in surrender.

"So... does this mean you won't be arresting me?"

"I work for the Agency," Agent D'mallo shrugged."And besides, I'm on break for the next fifteen minutes."

D'mallo sucked hard on his cigarette and offered a rueful smile.

"This sucks. I thought for sure this time, Harry would be on my side."

"Officially, he's totally on your side. Unofficially, not so much."

"Well, at least that saves me from having to completely fail to fight my way out of a club filled with vampires. That would not have been pretty."

"This is a shit situation, Bob. You should find someplace where you can lay low for a while. Get your friends and just go. There's probably only one vampire in this city you can trust right now—"

"You mean Madame Vera?"

"I was going to say Beatrice..." Agent D'mallo said with some concern, and I was already shaking my head firmly in the negative.

"Nope, nope, nope, nopenopenope. Girlfriend's gone psycho loco. Put two knives through my shoulders." I shuddered at the memory.

"Well, that's Beatrice for ya," he said way too nonchalantly.

Something occurred to me. "Hey, um... can you fly?"

Agent D'mallo looked at me as if I had lost my mind. "Flying is a myth. They say the old masters used to do it, but there's no one alive who's ever seen it." He looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. "You really don't know anything about how this all works, don't you?"

"Nobody wants to teach me. Harry's made sure of that."

"You've been lucky so far, but will luck will only keep you alive for so long." He sighed and reached into his coat to pull out a battered booklet with the dubious title of Karate for Beginners. "It's not much, but it will get you started."

"How is this supposed to help me?"

"You have an eidetic memory—"

"Bullshit. My memory sucks."

"It only works if you learn what you're doing. Reading isn't enough. It's about building muscle memory. Take this book and spend a morning going through all of the katas. It will change your life."

I pocketed the book gratefully. My mind went to the couple of times I had woken up to see Beatrice slowly going through her morning exercises. Only now did I realize what she had been doing. She had even tried to get me to join in, but we had just ended up fucking instead. Dammit, dammit, dammit.

"I hope you know I still think you're an asshole," I said and he shrugged. "But thanks for this."

A black Cadillac SUV that looked like the one Lillian had arrived in raced past us. I turned my face away towards the wall, but anybody looking for me would have spotted me in an instant. Agent D'mallo just sucked on his cancer stick as if he didn't give a shit.

"You should get out of here," he said as he watched the car drive away.

"On a scale of one to I'm totally fucked, how bad is it?"

Agent D'mallo flicked his cigarette into the street and shook his head, then looked me in the eye.

"You may have to fight at some point before this is over. Just don't fight on their terms. You can still pick the battlefield."

I watched Agent D'mallo walk back toward HTDK.

"So totally fucked then?" I called after him.

Agent D'mallo just kept walking.

I turned and walked away from HTDK. My hand went automatically to my pants pocket in search of my phone, so I could call Claude. If Lillian was coming after me with Daemien looking for revenge, there was the possibility that Claude and Ronnie were also in danger. If he caught Claude at home, then Daemien was probably going to be toast, literally. The problem would be if they waited for Claude and Bettina to leave the condo...

"Fuck!"

I didn't have my cellphone.

Or my wallet.