Where was I . . . oh, that's right. I was giving in to Jared's Master Manipulator tactics.
Some of you may get this, but only on a very small scale. Everybody has that emotional leech in their life and at some point you just need scrub them off for the sake of your own emotional health. Sometimes.
The problem facing vampires is that well, we don't really mature. Over the years you humans grow wiser, more tolerant and educated and shift your tactics. We don't have that luxury. The maturity level we have when we become vampires remains pretty constant over the decades and centuries, which can be okay if you're, say, forty when you cross over.
But that's hardly the case, isn't it? I mean, you have a bunch of twenty something boys and girls running around still trying to figure out what an adult relationship is seventy five years and hundreds of companions later. What's a vampire to do?
Like a well-trained yet needy Labrador I wagged it over to the Dead Rest gentleman's club and bar in the heart of Seattle.
--------------------------------------------------
It was raining, cold and downright depressing. Ever since the onset of the industrial age, Halloween had really lost its flare and flavor. What was true a hundred years ago was still true today concerning Halloween; people are fucking weird.
Two large men stood at the door of the gentleman's club, alone controlling the universe behind the mahogany doors to Dead Rest, weeding though the thin line of oversexed testosterone with malignant, judging eyes. Too skinny, too fat, too aggressive, too confused about his gender, scoping out for just the right individuals man enough to be called gentleman.
Of course I was stopped at the door, but not because I didn't make the cut. I'm Machiavelli Mondragon for fuck's sake.
"What do you want, Mac?" Dominic held his arm out in front of him while the other, a new guy, puffed himself up trying to look more intimidating. Between you and me, it worked. The man was a beast and from the smell of him I'm sure he was a moon dog.
"I'm not going to lie to you Dominic, I'm here to see Sebina."
"You think telling me that is going to get you past me? Shit, I ought to shoot you now."
"Or, and this is just a suggestion, you can let me in on my word that all I'll do is talk and promise on the eyes of my mother that I won't cause any hassle."
"All you do is talk. Your mouth is what worries me. What's this about?"
"Word came to me that she was in trouble. I'm here to verify that."
"Help from you is not help, if you catch that."
"Well, I need to hear it from her, you understand."
Dominic probably knew he was going to regret his decision just as much as I was. But also like me was weak and it made him feel better about his weakness to put up the obligatory front of being an obstacle.
"Fine, go on in. The first utterance of trouble from you and I'll be marching down on you."
"With a vengeance, I'm sure. Keep dry."
"Go to hell," Dominic motioned to the next guy in line only to deny his entrance.
A humid wave of heat met me mingled with an enticing aroma of blood, pain and tears. I owned my breath once more for a few more hours and meant to enjoy it.
Scantily clad women walked around the fairly silent room serving drinks to the patrons. By 'scantily clad' I mean they might as well have been wearing nothing at all. Lace covered their taught stomachs and fishnet stockings clung to their legs, but all their pink and private areas were exposed.
Not that I was opposed to that, not at all. I just failed to see such a subscription to clothes while at the same time such a commitment to nudity. Why go through all the trouble and effort of getting dressed just to be naked? Celebrate and embrace the nudity.
At the bar Claire was serving drinks to the few patrons not relaxed in a sofa.
"Machiavelli. Why bother?" She knew why I was here. Hell, everyone knew why I was here. The creatures of the night were nothing more than a small community similar to any in backwater USA, really. We are pretty susceptible to gossip too, which only compounds matters dragging drama and disputes out longer than is sometimes healthy or practical.
"Claire. A shot of Seagrams."
Honor bound by to her post as bartender, she poured the drink and set the shot glass in front of me with a disdain chaser.
"You're on a fool's errand."
"Just tell her I'm here."
"She's busy," she spat. Like I didn't know.
"No shit. Go tell her I'm here."
She turned away from me.
"Either you tell her your way or I'll tell her mine. Your way may be better for the client she's servicing, but my way will be more fun."
Claire thought it over for a minute. I could see the wheels turning around in her head as she contemplated what my way would do for business. She opted for her way stealing my fun before I got the chance to exorcise it.
I slammed the shot, enjoying the disdain more than the alcohol and waited for Claire to return. It felt odd being back at the club. Well, it didn't feel odd, it felt like I had never left, like putting on an old jacket that still fit. It was the ease of the situation that felt odd, like it was supposed to feel uncomfortable and stilted yet it didn't.
Claire returned, still wearing the mask of spite proudly on her face.
"She'll be out to get you when she's done."
"See how easy that was?" I left Claire fuming behind the bar and found a vacant comfortable sofa with a good view of the waterfall.
One of the features Dead Rest was notorious for was their water feature. A ten foot high waterfall lit softly with shifting lights. Six dancing nude silhouettes stepped in time to the gentle music around and through each other. To some they were the center of attention while to others merely white noise in the scenery.
The display was almost hypnotic and a lesser man truly would have been too engrossed to hear someone sneaking up on them.
"Hello, Sebina."
"Mac." She sat in the space next to me. Intentionally close? I couldn't say. I'm arrogant enough to think so, after all there was plenty of real estate on that sofa to allow some breathing room between us, yet there she was practically asking for a skin graph.
I was glad for the life in my senses; I could smell her perfume and the copper tones of blood on her breath.
"Jared came to me this evening." I stated, still slightly engaged with the waterfall.
"I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean for him to get you involved."
"Right," I scoffed.
"Mac, really. I regret even telling him about it. I've got it all worked out. I need you to convince Jared to let it drop and keep out of it."
"I've already told him as much. He's a stubborn ass to be sure, just like his sister."
"You're going to stay out of it, right?"
No. That would be the wise thing to do.
"Of course," I smiled. "You're a big girl and can deal with your own debts. I just needed to hear it for myself."
"And Jared?"
"He's a big girl too."
"You should leave before Geofre finds the time to give you a thought."
"I might, when I'm ready."
"Please."
"You care?"
"About me."
"You've given me fair warning, you've done what's expected of you."
"Mac-"
"Enjoy your evening, Sebina. Go on." My eyes bore into hers free of the weight apologies bring. She was worried about me, I could tell. She was also lying to me through her ivory incisors about the debt, two things that told me she still cared about me.
I should make time to kick my ass for caring back.
It wasn't long before Geofre made his way down to welcome me home.
"You ass lick! You must think your balls are made of iron to just dance your way back in here."
"I'd like to think so." I have a smile that can be both endearing and annoying at will. Right now it was being annoying to a fault.
"Get out of my place before I forget how close we were."
"Are you still mad at me, Geofre?"
"I would kill you now if not for all these witnesses."
"That hurts. I kill one small band of drug dealers one time and I become a pariah. It's not like I got drunk and danced naked at your wedding."
"Every crime taskforce in this state is investigating that. It's only a matter of time before pieces fall into place and they come sniffing around here. The fact that you are alive is a testament to your infuriating luck, nothing more. Get out."
"I'm gone. But know this; I'm still around." I got closer to Geofre, close enough for him to feel the last of the breath I had. "Know that if anything happens to Sebina or Jared for that matter it will be your kneecaps I come to harvest."
I left the club and wandered the wet streets to enjoy the scents the fall rain had to offer up as my breath ran out and I was once again the walking dead.