Blood Rider

Lee tracked the rogue the rest of the night. It wasn’t a hard task in itself. Wilhelm knew she hated having to hunt and kill vampires not playing by United Council laws. The role was better suited to some of those clanless who had been kicked out of the Clan. She better suited to be a spy or to keep tabs on key members of the Clan. She couldn’t turn down a contract though. It wasn’t optional, pick and choose sort of thing. It was do what your damn well told.

When she woke up the next night she felt a little better than usual. In defiance of regulations, she had hunted the night before. The thrill of the pursuit and the satisfaction in the catch always tamed her instincts and made her mood more settled.

-We will feed again tonight. A good feast.-

“Oh, shut up. Are you never satisfied? And must we always chat in the morning, Charlie? You know I’m never in the mood.”

-I am here. I am staying. I think, you hear.-

“What I need is a…”

-An old priest, a young priest and a virgin sacrifice for good measure. Heard that, still not funny. Besides these days, where you gonna get a virgin?-

Lee chuckled dryly, but it wasn’t funny. “Good point. Still, I have been visiting the other vamps I have connected with lately. Some older than me. They know more about riders and maybe they can help us.”

She dressed quickly in her dyed black leathers, supple and with some give to give her freedom of movement. She wore nothing but a tailored short-sleeved shirt.

She made her way upstairs, broadly sweeping her aura out to make sure she was not getting any more guests and sensed Tia slowly waking up. Richard was still gone. A wizard hardly answered to her, that was for certain but he was also her meal of the evening generally. It would have been common courtesy to say he wouldn’t be around so she could have arranged one of her preferred donors. Once in the kitchen, she brewed some strong tea. The first sip was bliss. For a moment she regretted the fact she had porked down all the cream puffs instead of savouring them.

Vampires had existed before Creation, not as many and maybe even not the same, but they had. Those elders had to know more. They were not part of the Council and so what knowledge and ways they had were separate. They took advantage of Creation though, stabilizing their structure and being out in the open with the rest of the changed and second generations. They survived and thrived under the conditions, because unlike governments they didn’t crumble. They had people who were old enough to have knowledge lost to most human generations. Thus they had more technology but were not willing to share as things stood in the city now.

-You wound me.-

“Unfortunately, that is the problem, isn’t it? I wound you, I wound me.”

-So self-destructive, Sunshine. You ought to see someone about that.-

Lee choked down a sip of tea. She supposed it said something about her that she found that funny. She wasn’t a ‘morning’ person and bickering with her rider was like a married couple that should have long since divorced but enjoyed arguing too much.

She had loads of bitterness and resentment, mostly because of the decades being treated like a lunatic and enduring the cruelty that passed for psychiatric care back in the day. It has seemed back then her rider was a constant torment and one she literally couldn’t run away from. One that urged her to do things she didn’t want to, pestered her with its desires and needs and essentially driving her a little mad in the process.

It was for her own mental wellbeing that, after failing to kill herself, she tried to shut it up. She had succeeded off and on, which gave her some relief. So when it had surfaced into a more tangible presence a few years back she had been less than enthused.

Unfortunately, now that Lee had begun seeking out those of her kind over the last few decades, she knew she was an oddity in many ways, which made her question her sanity. From her vague probing none of the vamps she had gotten to know really had a deep connection to their riders. Certainly, they didn’t have in-depth conversations with them. She was hoping they knew some solid facts though or at least some secrets on suppressing the rider to a more tolerable level. It was hard to say. The Clans were a secretive lot and she just moved on the outskirts of their society.

-It is because you are special, Lee. I have always told you so.-

She chugged back the remainder of her tea before it reached the lukewarm stage. “Yes, so very special,” she muttered. She craved a nice strong shot of malt whiskey. Or a bottle. Instead, she pulled out an overly dry cigarillo from her tin. A nice finely rolled thin smoke with just a hint of marijuana. Perfectly blended.

“If you mean special as in crazy as a wolf on a full moon, they, yeah, you‘re special, darlin’.”

Lee turned to her roommate slash partner as she lit the cigarillo and took a long drag. The voluptuous brunette, with liquid amber eyes, looked far too sexy for someone who had just rolled out of bed. She wasn’t sure how Tia managed it really, but at worst she looked dreamy, with tousled hair, like she had just woken from a lusty and satisfying dream.

Werewolves, or were-anything, manifested many traits of the animals they were, and couldn’t always control the change. Second Generation Changed. Humans often thought were-kin were an Elder race, as vampires, but in fact, they were Creation born mostly. The Council was very philosophical about the emergence of this species; nonsense about the collective unconscious and the shapes manifesting as predator types. Lee supposed what mattered, in the long run, is that they had survived and prospered more than any other changed.

And Lee’s roommate, Tia, was one alpha bitch. They both contracted with the Council, to keep everyone on the down low. Segments of the government knew a great deal about their kind, whatever that kind may be, and they had treaties with the Council. Other more religious segments of the government thought they were all evil and should be purged. And other segments thought they were mutations and should be sterilized and removed from human populations.

The local government created a special police force to handle crimes of Changed nature, mostly to appease the Council, who held a lot of sway with the southern countries. They had the authority to kill, contain or otherwise deal with any Changed who stepped over the line. They were also tagged with a tattoo which tracked them. Most vampires were unregistered, but Lee was Council bred, like Tia, and thus was part of the system. The humans, especially the overtly religious ones, needed to think the other races were contained. That they were safe and had some way of knowing the person in front of them was different from them. It would be funny, if not for the fact that in some places they would kill the Changed on a whim and usually got away with it.

However, what passed for a government in their small northern country was mostly human run with a strong United Council influence. Humans still outnumbered the other races in the north, although certainly there were more vampires in the colder climates. As such, their government was considered the government. That, however, had been violently debated in the streets the last century. Quarter City, where the races were crammed into their Quarters, was a reflection of the country as a whole. All the hate, the bias and the desire to assert their control and territory made it a constant war zone.

Those of them contracted to do various tasks by the United Council often had them assist in these cases, to wipe memories of witnesses and such. So they had badges, well, marked tattoos, so the cops knew they were off limits. They still had to be careful, because human law enforcement was generally gang run. It was just freelance work for Lee. She had learned self-preservation at an early age and liked to keep the skills honed.

-More like tossing yourself into danger because you secretly desire to kill yourself.-

Lee kept her face impassive but inwardly scowled. Nothing like her rider interrupting her inner voice and thoughts.

-Trust me, not much goin' on in here.-

“Yeah, well, you said it, as crazy as a wolf on a full moon, which is you,” she said finally, working up a faint smirk. She exhaled a big poof of smoke since Tia hated the smell of it.

Usually, werewolves were not fond of vamps and vice versa. Werewolves were of a different species, but whatever had shaped them, an animal spirit or some such thing didn’t like whatever possessed Lee. But it was something like Lee’s condition. A person didn’t change into a wolf, no matter their mutation of the human genome, but something merged with them, and it could. It was a working theory of Lee‘s but made sense. What she did know was that they had condensed auras, tight with power that ripped outward when they shifted. It was explosive to see with vampiric vision but apparently not painful. The first time she had seen Tia go fluffy, it certainly had looked painful.

They didn’t have that inbred animosity, because Tia was packless, at the moment, and Lee was clanless. Two loners worked well enough together and perfectly for the Council who wanted them to hunt down others not playing by the rules. Lee never asked what had happened to Tia’s pack and Tia never asked how Lee had managed to not be initiated into a Clan.

“I’m wolf-kin, darling. It is in my essence. And I don’t chat it up.”

Lee laughed dryly. Tia had met her during one of her ’moods’, lasting a few years, where she took as many drugs and intoxicating beverages as much as possible in order to dampen her rider. Perhaps she was leaning that way again. Tia was a little wary of it being more present and it was hard to hide the fact from her. Yet Tia had kept it secret and for that Lee valued her. Likely because at first, she had thought Lee was crazy and simply didn’t care if she was. Had she not, Lee wasn’t sure what she would have done.

-Probably killed her.-

Yeah, but I wouldn’t have liked it.

Her eyes slid to Tia’s neck, the throbbing pulse and admitted the wolfling had cause to worry. When Lee’s rider was more alert, Lee had less self-control and that wasn’t much for her race. Especially since the Changed had a vital essence which was so much more satisfying than their human cousins. So very sweet. Lee let her body still until she could temper the thirst. “And what would it say if it could? I want to go pee on that tree? Let’s chase our tail? How about we go sniff a few butts? Chomp down on some feces maybe?”

“So funny, Lee. And what does your rider talk about then? We all know a rider takes possession of the host in order to experience the physical realm, in all ways, and to consume energy,” she stated, as that was what they had been told by the Council. Lee wondered if Clan vampires shared that theory. “It probably demands you have sex with anything that moves, individually or in groups, chase some beer with whisky and eat pastry all night.”

She was not far off right.

-Yeah, but I would also suggest just a nibble of our furry friend. Have we had wolf before? I bet it is heady.-

A rider gave the host many strong desires and urges because they thrived in such experiences. Sometimes Lee hated the fact she couldn’t tell her desires from its, but other times she rolled with it because it was all she had ever known. Sometimes she liked to throw herself into life with wild abandon. Charlie and her had some good times. She just didn’t like her rider there all the time, like a voyeur watching her life from the inside out.

Still, when Charlie was all alert, up in her face, or up in her head, it became so defined. There was Lee, tempering her emotions, tempering her instincts and managing her thirst. And there was Charlie arousing emotions, feeling constrained that they couldn’t act on their instincts and wanting to bite everyone in sight.

Tia began to put on her outdoor wear, which consisted of an extra pair of loose pants, a zipped up sweatshirt, boots and a jacket. Never ceased to amaze Lee that a werewolf could no more tolerate the weather than a human. Clothing had to inhibit the change. Perhaps to distract her prey she did a sort of crazy winter striptease before she shifted.

“You see Richard? Couple weeks ago he had his workroom smelling something awful, was in there for days straight and I have not heard from him since,” Lee said before she thought too much on desires and needs, that tended to shake things up. Richard was one of her authorized donors, which made him handy to have around. Mighty rude of him to take leave and not tell her he had made other arrangements. She needed a bit of a boost and preferred to select her own donors rather than using any of the other Council bred ones. “I heard he took a leave. So like him to tell Wilhelm and not me.”

“Hunting something I expect. He loves a good hunt. So who’d you get then? Donny? Patrick?”

Lee grimaced. “Beth.”

“Oh, miss polite, how unusual.”

“Not really. Miss Polite is escorting a Mr. Bennett, a visiting anthropologist, if you can believe that, to vampire gatherings.”

Tia laughed. “Expect he will get a bit nibbled on.”

That thought brought to mind Richard and her morning thirst.

They lived in a comfortable townhouse, refurbished by them and altered a bit. It had taken some work. They had put tiles on the roof, built a stone fence and added a workroom. Lee had the basement as her apartment. Tia had the upper floor.

Then Richard came to live with them and they had to make an addition. Richard had his workroom attached to the back of the house and a room off it for himself. He was never around much, just when he needed to work on more charms, more weapons, to rest up and leave. Since Wilhelm sent the man, he certainly was around enough to keep tabs on Lee and Tia. The privilege of living in her own house outside of University City could be taken away.

-I’m still disgruntled about that. This is our territory. And I never trusted him.-

He served on the Hunters Guard, part of the law enforcement; sweeping around the city, within it, for anything more dangerous than the Changed were. Most humans didn’t see the difference, but there were plenty of new things around since Creation and their basis for existence was quite different. The Changed were merely altered humans, like Richard, and not newborn species.

“So what is up for tonight, vamp girl?” Tia asked, sauntering to the counter island. Lee wrinkled her nose at the scent of wolf, feeling her rider stir within her, always aware and wary of other breeds.

She shrugged. “I have a bleeder tonight. Nothing special, but sloppy killers are never good. And this one has pissed a few people off. I think there was more than one. But I will go for the first and see if I can trail the other scents. I have tracked him down to his usual haunts and marked his scent. Should be easy-peasy. Then I’m hitting Crimson.”

“Got a hot date?” Tia teased.

Tia being an alpha werewolf had more dates than anyone Lee had ever met, or more specifically plenty of lovers and booty calls. Being of her breed brought a whole new definition to ‘hormonal’.

-Not that we are any different. We are all about needs, and having them satisfied, and gluttony and pride and wrath… all the sins really, sometimes all mixed together for good measure.-

So very true. But with werewolves, it’s not the same. It’s their nature. Nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to deny and thus not really run of the mill overindulgence. Besides for them, it is an ardent quest for a mate.

“Nothing like that, unfortunately. Just making contacts.” Granted she had made those contacts by getting close and steamy with the local Master, but really, her self-control had limits. It was part of her job to keep track of the Vampire Quarter, its sub-quarters and any rogues or bleeders that slipped Clan justice. How she kept track of things might be what had Wilhelm in a snit. Self-righteous bastard had kept her isolated for decades and now came down on her every time she commingled with her own kind. How could he expect her to live like that?

“Nothing wrong with hanging with your own,” Tia said. “But that is Clan ground and not at all neutral. They are going to think you want to initiate with them.”

“Yeah, right. With my job description, they are more likely to think I’m looking for a naughty vampire to kill. But I’m trying to establish relations that are not quite so tense. My job is to keep all Quarters safe if that is even possible, but at the very least take care of vampires who don’t play by anyone’s rules. Since, when it is all said and done, I wasn’t initiated into a Clan, and so I’m not privy to all the knowledge they pass along to their fledglings.”

“Jeez, girl, pick up a book once in a while.”

“I’d have to raid a Council library and then learn Latin or other overly complex dead languages. And you know me; I’m not so good with the languages. Besides the Council doesn’t know much about my race. How can I know what they have learned is even remotely accurate?”

“Well, have fun feeding on the bleeder. But watch yourself around the Clans. God only knows how many for their rules you break without knowing, one of which is not being initiated by the Clan.”

“Yeah, will do,” Lee said. As if not being initiated had been any choice of hers, although not doing so now was a definite choice. She didn’t do servitude well. She barely tolerated it with the Council.

Tia pulled on some gloves and began to wrap a scarf around her head. “I plan on going to the Central Market and stocking up a bit on the basics. I hear we are in for another blizzard. Need anything?” she asked, her voice all muffled.

“Fudge, cookies, tea, cinnamon buns if they have any and more sugar.”

“I get it. Your candies and sweets.”

“Not as sweet as your blood, sweetness,” Lee said with a wicked grin.