Prison of Blood and Lies

Two

My dinner sat on the filthy duvet in the disgusting hotel room. I wished that I didn’t have to eat in such conditions, but my work came first.

I hiked my skirt up and sat on his lap, straddling him. He rubbed his hands all over my body. I swallowed back my nausea and focused on the task at hand.

“So, is this your first time?” The light from the lamp on the bedside table reflected off his gold wedding band. I felt pity for the fool he was married to.

“Mm-hmm,” he murmured.

“What about your wife?”

His glassy eyes found their way to my face from my breasts. “What about her? This is between you and me.”

I leaned in and pressed my nose against the nape of his neck and inhaled. My hunger gnawed away at my stomach and irritated the back of my throat. His arousal was the icing on the cake and I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into it.

“Well, baby, I’m interested in how you knew about my little corner of town? You know any of the pimps?”

Fear and guilt bled through his desire. “You a cop, lady?”

I pushed him back on the bed, hard. I restrained his wrists above his head and bared my two fangs.

“Sweetheart, you’re going to wish I was a cop when I’m done with you.”

His eyes widened and his pupils constricted. I focused on his arousal and pushed more energy toward him, needing more to sate my own needs. He relaxed a little under my grasp.

I nipped his neck with a fang. “Answer my question.” I demanded. He moaned and writhed underneath me.

“I don’t know anyone. I swear.”

I couldn’t detect a lie in his voice and his aura didn’t indicate that he was trying to hide something. The son of a b***h was telling the truth.

My disappointment was overshadowed by my hunger. I plunged my canines deep into his neck and moaned as the coppery tang of blood hit my tongue. He squirmed under me and moaned. Now that I could control my power a little better, my meals screamed less.

I was able to turn their deaths into a sensual experience instead of a terrifying one - not that I cared about these scum bags’ feelings. Lust, after all, tasted sweet, like honey. Terror, on the other hand, tinged the blood with putrid notes.

I drank deeply until the blood stopped flowing and my belly was full. His body became still underneath me.

Unsatisfied with his answer, I grabbed his limp hand and used his fingerprint to unlock his phone. He had pictures of a seemingly happy family as his background and lock screen. What a joke. He was a pig. Lucky for him, I had been too hungry to play with my food tonight. A quick search of his texts and emails revealed that he had really been telling the truth.

I slit his throat to cover my bite and dumped his body in a dumpster like the trash he was. The good thing about this part of town was that nobody ever saw anything. The neighbors stayed out of my business.

After I’d cleaned up, I pocketed the cash from his wallet. With my hunger sated, I needed to pick up where I left off. I made my way back to where I’d found my dinner.

Before too long, another car approached me. This time, a man wearing sunglasses leaned out the window at me.

Sunglasses at night.

He certainly had my full attention sitting in the white luxury car. I didn’t care about the make or model — I just knew that it was expensive. I noticed that the people on the street had stopped to look.

“Hey,” he called.

I walked over and turned on the charm.

“Well, hi, sugar. You looking for—“

“Not interested in that, Alice.”

I froze. He knew my real name.

He snickered. My surprise must have been written all over my face.

“Oh, I’ve heard so much about you. You’ve been asking a lot of questions. Word travels fast.”

I took a step back. I’d been worried that I might attract the wrong kind of attention. Or maybe, this man was exactly who I’d been looking for.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“What do I want? I think I can help you.”

“And what do you think it is that I need help with?“

“Why don’t you get in and we can talk about it? It’s not safe to talk out here in the open,” the man said quietly, looking around the dark and dirty street.

I pushed a little of my power toward him in the hopes that I could get him a little more talkative.

“Come now, Alice. That little trick isn’t going to work on me.” He grinned.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Just quit it with the games, succubus, and get in. I’m not going to hurt you,” he growled.

I focused on the air around the man. I needed to see his aura. The air was empty. No color, no texture, just air.

I couldn’t see his aura. This had never happened before.

The man raised his hands to his face and lowered his sunglasses. He looked over his glasses at me, showing me his onyx eyes.

I took another step back, I'd never seen anything like this before. What does he want? More importantly, who, or what, was he?

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Name’s Gemba. Please, I have a business proposition for you. I’m certain that it’ll be mutually beneficial.”

A business proposition?

“Alright, fine. No games.”

He smiled and pushed his sunglasses back up on his face. I walked around the back of the car and let myself into the front passenger seat. I immediately began sweating. Heat blasted into my face from the vents on the dash.

“You uh, mind, turning the heat down. It’s summer, you know.”

“Sure, I like it warm and I forget that not everyone does.” He reached for the dial and turned it so that the air didn't blow so hot.

He pulled away from the curb and drove down the street further into the city. Streetlights kept the interior of the car illuminated. Gemba looked to be a middle-aged man. His dark complexion seemed to absorb all the light from outside.

“So, you were saying?” I asked.

“You’ve been asking a lot of questions around here. It’s almost like you’re looking for someone specific. Am I right?”

“I am. How did you know?” I thought I’d been careful. Apparently I wasn’t careful enough.

“I have my sources.”

“Okay, well, go on.”

“I run a little bit of a cleanup operation for our kind.”

“What does that even mean?” I grew impatient with his vague remarks.

“I own a facility for supernaturals who can’t behave. Those who threaten our secrecy get to stay in my facility.”

“So, a prison?”

“Of sorts.”

“Fair enough. What does that have to do with me?”

“I’m running a little, ah, short-staffed these days. I need someone who can run pick up for me. I’ve seen you work and I’m impressed.”

“I’ve only killed humans who have deserved it. None of our kind.”

“Ah, but your search isn’t for humans, is it?”

“No.”

“I don’t expect you to trust me right away, Alice. I’m offering you a chance to get revenge on those who’ve wronged you. Those who took away your family and your life. You work for me, you can use my resources to take down their perverted ring.”

“You really did your homework, didn’t you?” I asked.

“If I was able to get this information, imagine what information they have. You might have escaped, but did you think they’d just let you go? I suspect that they are looking for you just as you look for them. I’m sure the trail of bodies in your wake hasn’t gone unnoticed.”

My eyes grew wide. I’d had nightmares about being found by them again. After what they put me through. The torture, the panic the degradation. I would end their pitiful lives.

“So, let’s say I agree to work for you. I still need to have somewhere to stay and money. What’s the pay?”

“Meet me tomorrow at this address and we’ll discuss the particulars.” He handed me a business card. Printed on it was the address of a milk-bottling facility.

“This company went out of business years ago.”

“Exactly,” he said.

“I haven’t agreed to anything, yet, Gemba. I’ll think about it.”

“So I’ll see you tomorrow night?”

I nodded.

He turned on his blinker and pulled off to the side of the road and I opened the door. We’d stopped in front of the motel were I’d been staying.

“How did you—?”

He pointed his index finger at his temple. “Sources.”