Case 1: Fragment 1
Another... successful night. Well as successful as one could hope for. I have so much more information gathered that I do not even know where to continue from. I was sitting on my balcony smoking a kretek and reviewing my notes on my laptop when my phone put off that distinct "beep beep" sound of a text message. I flicked the ashes to the ground as I tapped on my phone's keys to unlock it. The screen glowed bright with the text "Weiss: 1 Text Message". I groaned as I had gotten use to the idea of going to bed soon; my phone's screen also read 2303. I clicked confirm on the message and the screen changed to read "New subject acquired. Rendezvous at usual location." I sighed as I sent my reply. "Affirmative. En route. ETA 20." I put out the little remains of my kretek in the ashtray and brought my laptop inside, closing and locking the balcony door behind me. I strapped the shoulder holster to my body and secured it placing my pistol into it. After grabbing my black trench and putting it on I left my apartment and locked the door.
As I briskly walked down the hall I noticed the neighbor girl sitting out in the hall. She had her hood up from her jacket and was listening to some music as I passed to go down the stairs. She waved and I nodded as I continued down out of her line of sight before exiting the building. I looked at the sky as I crossed the building's parking lot to my car. There was no moon or anything; the clouds had a slight glow about them from the city's lights. "Sky's going to fall out soon..." I mumbled to myself as I got in my car. I lit a new kretek as I turned the ignition over. I flipped on my lights and proceeded to drive to the meeting point.
While driving I tapped on my mp3 player and cycled it through my playlist and settled on Spooky by God Module. As I neared the location rain started to lightly tap the windshield. I finished off my cigarette and flicked it out the window before closing it. I had reached the point exactly on time and my phone beeped with another message. I parked and turned off the car killing the lights as I got out and locked the door. Reading the text, "On time as usual. The door is unlocked. Just come in,” I approached the back door to the warehouse the rain picked up. "It's open, Love, just come on in."
A hazy smoke filled the room and fluttered past me as the door was closed behind me. The glint of silver from her hair stood out the most as she smiled at me flicking her ashes into the ashtray. "Good to see you're punctual as usual," she said as she adjusted the way she was seated so she was sitting up more straight. "As always Weiss. Who's the new subject?" She gestured at the chair in front of her desk and I looked at it and looked her in the eyes. "I insist Herr Blood." Pushing my hair back off my face I sat down in front of her as she offered me a kretek. Declining her she gave a playful pout, which irritated me to no end. She knew it did; so to head off my anger she handed me a folder that was blank on the outside.
Within, I found a few file notes with a picture of what looked like a girl in her late teens, or early 20s as the file confirmed. Apart from her basic height and age, the file was pretty light on information. It said she was second in command for one of the scum we had been weeding out for the past few months but under surveillance it appeared her allegiance could be easily swayed. "So what do you think?" Weiss asked in her heavy German accent. I looked up at her and said, "I think you need to practice your English more, how long have you been in this country?" She chuckled and stood up. She walked around the desk as I kept reading the document to commit it to memory.
I felt a warm softness press against my back as she leaned down and whispered in my ear. "She's in the interrogation room. Do me this favor and I will..." she ran her hand inside my coat then down my chest to my waist, "...be able to help you much more Blood." I felt a sharp pain in my temple which caused me to blink hard as I spoke back to her, "You're a little close there Frau." I stood up and looked her in the eye before she straightened her posture. Her giant stature put my eyes at level with her collar bone. She smirked. "No need for flattery," I said to her pushing my falling hair behind my ear. She returned to her chair and gestured at the door on the opposite side of the room from where I entered. "Go and do the... interview... for me and report back." I thought about declining, as I always considered, however I mulled over the fact that she was the major source of income and information pertaining to my case. So the assistance was reciprocal, at least as much as it could be. I walked through the door and stepped into a dark hallway.
About halfway down the hall there was light being cast through a window as I saw a thin redheaded woman sitting in a chair with her head held forward and down at an angle so the wet hair covered most of her face. Her hands were cuffed behind her around the chair and her feet were cuffed to the stationary table that was in front of her. I walked past the window and opened a door near the frame and entered the slightly bright room. I half closed my eyes as the door behind me locked shut. I walked up to the table and sat down across from her and just stared at her mess of hair.
She lifted her head a little and spoke in a soft voice. "So how long am I going to be here? I have previous engagements to attend to." I crossed my leg over my knee and just sat quietly staring at her. She was shivering and letting out pained breaths. She tilted her head sideways slightly and tapped her nails on her chair's back softly. "Are you going to talk, or are you just going to stare at me?" I reached in my pocket and pulled out my silvered tin and offered her one. "I don't smoke," she said shifting her weight. I put one in my mouth and flicked my lighter with a flourish lighting it and taking in a deep inhale. I leaned my head back slightly and blew out into the air.. She sat there shivering as I studied her. She was wearing cargo styled pants and boots, like the lower half of a set of military fatigues. She had a black tight fitting tank-top on as well as a half jacket with a frilled collar. I raised my eyes to her neck and noticed a very thick leather collar that had what looked like sensors for biometrics built into the clasp. She was clearly becoming more uneased each second I didn't speak.
"Are you..." she started before I cut her off suddenly. "Lloyd Strand," I let roll from my throat. She cocked her head to the side the opposite way in that slight movement as before. "What?" she asked as her hair fell revealing her left eye. It was a very bright green – like a shot of absinthe that just louched. "My name?" She got quiet for a minute before saying, "I don't think it's necessary." I flicked the ashes onto the floor as I looked into her eyes through her hair. "Well without introductions,” I inhaled deeply and blew out a large haze, “no questions for either of us can be answered."
I blew another wisp of smoke upward as she mumbled something nigh inaudible, "Voss." I rested my free hand on the table, "Just Voss?" She flipped her hair back flinging water around showing her face. I lightly wiped the water drops from my face and inspected her pale face. She had a jagged scar running from both corners of her mouth to her ears. I felt a stinging in my temple again as the voices surfaced.
Maybe her praenomen is Chelsea?! the voice laughed as I commanded it to silence itself in the confines of my skull.
She closed her eyes and spoke calmly. "That is all you may call me. Only one name is needed Mr. Strand." She was still shivering and breathing hard. I nodded to her. "So how is this going to work?" she asked me to the eyes with a very pained expression. I put the kretek out on the desk and it let out a stronger smell of burnt cloves. "I ask questions; you answer them."
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes leaning her head back. The way the light lit her from her face was ethereal with the deeply shadowed smile that was permanently carved in it. "I understand," she said as she returned her head back to level looking at me with those pain filled eyes. I slowly looked down from her eyes to her collar and back up to them. “So Voss, why are you so disheveled?” I crossed my right leg back over my left knee as she shifted in her chair. “Your boss had her own 'interview' process that she administered herself.” I rested my knuckles against my chin. “Boss?” I said as I started flicking my lighter open and closed in a steady pattern. Her eyes focused on the lighter as she said. “Tall woman, white hair, well endowed...”
Click. Click. Click. I continued flicking it watching her eyes narrow either from pain from the sound or a growing frustration of it. “Ah, that... woman. She's an acquaintance; I'm just doing her a favor.”
Click. Click. Click. She closed her eyes but I could see the tension in her face as she sat back in the chair and continued. “She gave me the old military interview, you know, sharply inclined plank. A burlap sack...”
Click. Click. Click. I interrupted her, “A few buckets of water too.” She nodded in agreement. I clicked my lighter closed very hard as I stowed it back in my coat and her eyes opened from the sudden loud sound. I looked to the side into the distance to mask the sensation item I felt in my pocket that I hadn't noticed.
I gestured for her to stand up and she did carefully trying to avoid falling over from the shackles around her ankles. I produced a key from my inner pocket and unlocked her feet and motioned for her to move away from the table. “Stand up straight,” I said as I rose to my feet to stand in front of her. She did as commanded and looked straight ahead. I was able to inspect her more clearly now. I began to circle around her about my arm's length from her looking from down at her boots up to her face. Her boots were covered in a viscous substance that was grey and dark red mixed together. There was a visible spatter moving away, up her legs, from her boots. I trailed up further not noticing anything inordinate about her clothing.
“So Voss, where did this... substance come from?” She stayed looking straight ahead as her body continued to heave up and down from her ragged breathing. “Your 'acquaintance' put a bullet through the head of my escort when he bent down to pick up something I had dropped,” Voss said as she was becoming more visibly pained. “Yes, a 10 gauge shell is rather messy. What did you drop?” I asked as I stood behind her left shoulder. She let out a wheezy sigh, “Something that didn't matter enough for him to die. It was my medication.”
Satisfied with what little information I acquired, I brought the key to her wrist and unlocked her hands then I walked back around to her and looked in her eyes. “Clearly, you're going through withdrawals right now. What kind of medication is it?” I asked her as put my weight to one side. She looked at me, “Diazepam.” I nodded and rested my hand on my hip. “Well if you continue to be this compliant. I will make sure that my acquaintance fills your prescription for you. For now, stay focused and continue answering the questions. Understand?” She nodded her response to me. “Good, only a few more questions. Now then, you work for a very... powerful... man. You're his second in command. We need information and access to him. What does your job entail?” She was quiet with her eyes closed for a few minutes and spoke with them still closed. “I was his head enforcer. I was his hand when he couldn't actually pull the trigger himself. I also was in charge of his business information.” I just stared at her while she continued.
“I was also his doll. His toy.” She opened her eyes and brought her hand to the collar. From the look in her eyes I had chosen a topic that opened up old wounds that still needed sutures. “All the scars I wear are from him.” I looked at her mouth watching it form the word scars feeling a sharp pain in my temple again. She raised her hands to her face and rubbed the marks on her face. “He gave me these... because, as he put it, I 'have too serious of a look' and I 'should smile more often'.” I looked in her eyes feeling the synchronization as she recalled the events in her head. I could see it as if I was there spectating from the same room. All I could do was light up another kretek and spoke through a puff of smoke, “You don't need to go on about it. There's no need to justify anything to me.” I let out an exhale causing the area to be covered in a haze.
Her eyes had gotten red during her recollection. She hadn't started crying but was damn near close to it. I took in the information and processed it. “Well,” I thought to myself, “she survived.” She was shaking badly now and started to sway before falling to her knees. “Can I have my medicine now?” she asked looking up at me with her pitiful eyes. I looked down at her and lifted her chin, brushing her hair off her face. “I have one more question for you. Stand back up. I know you can,” I said as I held out my hand. She took it and struggled to her feet. “Yes, Mr. Strand?” I looked down at her small frame and into her eyes. “What would you say to helping us get into his office and putting him away?” She shook her head, “He'd just be released on bail and...” I shook my head, “You misunderstood me. Poor word choice I suppose. How about helping us assist in his forced retirement?” She was quiet thinking about it for a bit of time. “What if I say yes?” she asked returning back to her more collected demeanor. “Then we remove him and you can do whatever you want. My acquaintance may even need some help that she would be willing to pay you for.” Her eyes shown calculations about this woman whose interrogation method involved threatening to drown her and of the other choice. The process didn't take much consideration.
“I'll help you take down that son of a bitch once and for all.” Her eyes widened as she saw the first change in my face; I smirked at her remark showing my teeth. I led her to the door that I had come in and pressed the intercom button next to it. “Frau, we've reached an agreement.” I released it and after a few seconds there were a lot of mechanical clicking sounds as the door unlocked and opened for us. I flicked the still burning butt into the room as the door closed behind us. I led Voss down the hall to the door to Weiss's small office and knocked on the door frame and Weiss called out, “It's open.”
Weiss turned in her chair to look at us and then gestured at the two chairs across from hers. I walked up to the table and waited for Voss to sit before me. After a moment of quiet I turned and noticed Voss had an uneasy look on her face. I could tell in her eyes she was waiting for me to sit first. Weiss raised her eyebrow as she watched the silent exchange before her. I looked in Voss's eyes then at the chair and back again. “Sit,” I ordered her. She bowed her head and did as told. I sat next to her as Weiss tapped the table with a slight smirk before speaking. “So, we've reached a point of negotiation Fraul―Miss?” Voss was quiet for a minute before answering. “Voss.” Weiss nodded as she handed her a paper and a pen.
“Weiss Kirchner. I apologize for my methods earlier. Training that's been used for most of your previous professions are very difficult to break away from. That paper is so that you can write down any information pertaining to the company.” Voss took the pen then looked up, “Write it down? Are you going to transcribe it?” Weiss shook her head as she started tapping on the keyboard set in front of her. “Paper can be easily be destroyed. I am just making adjustments to my payroll for another contract worker.” Voss continued writing the notes as I sat silent watching their hands move at incredible speeds.
I reached into my pants' pocket and pulled my cellphone out. I tapped the screen and it lit up. 0207 was what it read nothing else. I stared into space stroking the hair on my chin. Absentmindedly I tapped my phone and the screen lit up with 0229. Voss set the pen down and handed Weiss the paper. Weiss's eyes lit up and smiled and lightly pursed her thick lips. “Ms. Voss, this is one of the most detailed reports I've ever been given on a subject. I may just hire you permanently before the job is done.” She winked at Voss and continued reading it. Voss looked at me with eyes that looked like she was expecting something from me but I just turned and looked at Weiss. “So when will the plan be written up and ready to execute?” I asked her. Weiss looked at Voss then me. She spoke while typing, “Well I'll have to analyze the maps and cross reference them to the notes.”
She continued typing and after a few minutes spoke up again. “With this level of description... I'd say two days.” Voss was quiet sitting in the chair with her eyes closed. I pulled out my tin and pulled the lighter out with a flourish before lighting a kretek. “That's a narrow time frame, even for your usual plans.” She let out a small chuckle and leaned over her desk. “Thanks to Miss-” Voss interrupted, “Just Voss.” Weiss nodded, “Thanks to Voss, we may have a massive amount of information but more information means I cannot process it quickly.” I nodded agreeing with her train of thought. Weiss gestured at Voss. “We need to decide on where she's going to stay. It'd be very suspicious for her to just walk back in the next day after being kidnapped. I think it's best if she stays with one of us for the night,” Weiss explained. I looked at Voss and my eyes settled back down on a collar I noticed during my interrogation. Voss looked at me. “W-what?” she had a look of fear on her face. I started to put my kretek out as Weiss rested her hand on mine and took what was left and put it to her lips inhaling.
Voss nodded, “I can't remove it, the lock on it is matched to his biometrics. I can't remove it, believe me I've tried. The way it's set up: if I try to remove it, I am shocked. If someone else attempts to and it doesn't recognize the person it will inject them with an extremely dangerous toxin. If untreated they can die within an hour. However as long as it is synched to his DNA it will tell him it is active in the computer. It only deactivates when he himself removes it or I die. There's a lot of specific criteria protecting its removal as well. For example it will not deactivate if his heart-rate or brainwaves are not within a certain range. Those are a few of the countermeasures.” Weiss tapped the desk as she exhaled a plume of smoke. “Well... this is something that may cause a delay,” Weiss said as she finished off my kretek and opened my tin to light another. “I will have to mess with my company's computers to break into his security or we can just ignore this and keep it going to see if he acts based on her being alive.” She inhaled and sat back in her chair. She tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling in thought as she took a long drag from the kretek. “Well now... I say we just leave it be, we can worry about disengaging it when we get there. What do you say Lloyd?” I crossed my right leg over my other knee mulling it over.
I nodded my answer as I started to stand. “I think it's probably the best course of action for now. As for the living situation for Voss, I'll take her in for the next few days until the job is complete. We can find a permanent place for her after.” Weiss smirked and said, “Well that's all well and good but won't your Mädchen get a bit jealous?” I looked at Voss and cross my arms over my chest. I had thought about that but hearing it out loud made it have quite a bit more weight to it. Voss stood up and looked at me with pleading eyes to take her anyway. She was a lot like a dog that recently lost its owner. Weiss rose from her chair and walked up behind Voss and placed her hands on Voss's shoulders. “I'll take care of her. I have plenty of room at my place. What do you say Voss?” She towered over the small redhead. Voss tilted her head back so she was looking straight up and said. “Okay, that works,” they locked eyes for a moment with a strange silence. While their vision was locked I had turned and quietly made my way to the exit and spoke up. “Well don't try to break her in or anything Weiss. I think she's had enough for tonight.” I waved behind me as I exited. Weiss chuckled as the door closed behind me.
I made my way down the hall to the exit and opened the door to a torrent of rain falling off the roof. I clicked my lock to my door and then briskly walked through the downpour to my car. As I got in I noticed the door opening and an umbrella opening. Weiss stepped out under it and was holding Voss close to her side as they waved at me and walked off to Weiss's car in the next parking lot. I started up my car as they disappeared into grey distance. I looked at the time on the dashboard; 0300 was its reading. I sighed to myself, “I will never be able to fix my sleep with this,” I pulled out of the driveway and continued mumbling, “well of course the insomnia was there before this job...”
I spent about 45 minutes getting back to my apartment building. I parked my car and walked under the overhang to the entrance. As I entered the code to the building I flung my hair back since it had matted to my face. The door let out a beep and I opened it and entered. I looked to the side at the night shift manager and gave a slight nod as I stepped down the hall too tired to even note which person was there. I walked up the stairs shaking the water off my coat. As I stepped up to the walkway I noticed neighbor girl had gone inside, which was good, no kid should be sitting out that late. I walked over to my door and unlocked it and slowly opened it trying to keep it as quiet as possible. After moving into the dim room, I took my coat off and hung it on the rack then closed and locked it back.
I walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, it was pretty bare, just a half empty bottle of Jägermeister, a packet of luncheon meat, and some mustard sat there. I wouldn't get paid until Friday at earliest. Weiss would probably be cooking me dinner for the next couple of nights.
“Sometimes I feel she purposefully withholds my money so that she has a guy friend to spend time with,” I said to myself mentally. I decided to make a sandwich so I pulled out the pack of turkey breast meat and set it on the counter I took out the meat and set it on the counter. Reaching on top of the fridge I grabbed the loaf of bread and pulled two pieces out before setting the loaf back wrapped up. I finished up the luncheon meat and discarded the plastic in the trash grumbling about how late it was. After finishing my sandwich I poured some water. I walked up to the kitchen window and drank from the glass watching the downpour still going on outside.
I set it on the counter and stretched my arms and back before decided to go back to the living room for the night. Letting out a sigh of relief, I sat down in my arm chair and propped my feet up on the ottoman. I leaned to my right and picked up my laptop off the side table and turned it on. After navigating past the startup screen and login, I signed in to my messengers and checked my mail. I had no offline messages and most of my email was spam or just updates from my memberships to sites. I left my slave a message saying that I had gotten back okay from my job and that I was heading to sleep so she could talk to me later today. After deleting my mail and messing with my wallpaper a couple times out of boredom, I decided it was best to try to sleep since my eyes were getting very heavy. I closed the laptop and set it back at its place on the table. I lay back in the chair and let the heaviness and dark take me to sleep.
I woke up to my living room filled with blinding light. Shielding my eyes, I sat up and stretched my back making it give a clearly audible crack. After sitting for a moment trying to cope with my morning ritual of a migraine, I grabbed my cellphone to check it. There were no missed messages and the time read 0800. I stood up and rubbed my eyes as I took the phone and set it on the kitchen counter as I passed by on my way to my bedroom. I had left my door open the night before and just walked through the door frame and did a slight take of the room. My bed was a mess from the morning before; I had neglected to make it in my rush to follow the leads I had gotten. I realized my shoulder felt heavy and I remembered the gun at my side. I took the leather straps off and set it on the bed with the gun still in it. Shuffling in a pulsating haze, I walked to my closet and laid out a pair of pants. Then, moving to the dresser that my television sat on, I pulled out a pair of socks and a shirt. I sat on the edge of my bed and began unlacing my boots. As I pulled them off I made a note that I needed to do the laundry later today. Kicking off my boots, I then removed my socks and stood up. I walked into the door to the left of my bed to the bathroom and pulled a towel out of the cabinet and set it on the rack next to the shower. I then did my morning ritual of using the toilet, brushing my hair and shaving. After finishing I took off my shirt and pants and stepped into shower.
After pulling the curtain, I tested the water before turning on the shower head and began bathing. The water felt extremely relaxing as it helped me fully wake up from my morning haziness. The migraine was still there though which was rather unusual. I lathered up my shampoo and worked it into my hair thinking about the night before. “That Voss girl seems interesting. It's a shame, when Weiss messaged I was hoping that it was my personal case, not the one her and I are working on. Oh well.” I said out loud to myself. I lathered the orange bar of soap and washed my face and ears cleaning the piercings; then I cleaned my neck and back. I lifted my face under the shower head, making sure to keep my hair out of it. “I wonder how those two are doing. Weiss can be quite...persuasive. I hope she didn't break her toy yet.”
After the lather was gone I decided it was best to put the conditioner in so I did that after rinsing the hair. I then grabbed the soap and began lathering my chest as well as between my legs. Paying careful attention to the piercings on the former and latter I continued mumbling to myself. “After we take care of that bastard maybe my case will pick up. Someone in charge of so many operations is one or more of three thing: detail oriented, lucky, or involved with the paranormal. Judging from his previous actions towards our investigation, I'd have to say definitely the first and maybe the last.” As I lathered down my legs and began rinsing off my whole body, my migraine started to get worse. Saving my hair for last I closed my eyes and tried to focus on reducing the throbbing in my temples. “Stronger than usual...” I mumbled to myself as I turned off the shower.
Grabbing the towel I began drying my body. My vision was becoming blurry as I finished and stepped out of the tub and walked up to the mirror. I struggled to focus and grab my deodorant and put it under my arms. My head felt like I had just been smashed into a wall. I grabbed my toothbrush with a shaky hand and cautiously applied the paste to it. As I brushed my teeth I started hearing the sound of murmurs that I had grown accustomed to. My migraine started to fade as I shook my head. A cold sweat had rolled over me and I was shaking holding the sink fixture looking down at the drain trying to focus. As my vision finally settled on one point, I let out a sigh. Forcing the air out of my lungs and renewing the supply helped settled my shuddering a bit. I reached up to wipe the sweat on my brow. I groaned my displeasure; I hated sweating after having just showered.
I brought my hand down and noticed there was a dark red. I moved my fingers around inspecting it as I knew what the substance was. I looked up at the mirror and saw my face there was blood pouring from my forehead. I turned the knob to the faucet and looked at the blood that stained it. I began rinsing my hands off quickly and the mixture stained the marble. I noticed that the blood wasn't washing off it just seemed set into my hand. I began scrubbing frantically trying to clean it. No progress was being made so I turned off the faucet and grabbed the towel I had on the counter. The moment I touched it, the towel began to soak with the red fluid. I looked down at the sink and noticed the blood dripping from the knobs was starting to flow to the counter top as it did so it began puddling near the wall. My eyes widened. In my periphery I could that the blood began flowing up the wall.
“How is this possible?” I muttered to myself as I noticed the now fully saturated towel was dripping on the floor. I dropped it and placed my hand against the wall. The blood continued flowing and turning the wall into a vivid image of a cascade. I stepped in it as I staggered out of the bathroom onto the carpeted bedroom leaving foot prints as I held my head in pain as the migraine returned. I stumbled around my bedroom to my night stand on the other side of my bed. The blood was flowing across the carpet at an alarming rate. I picked up the bottle of aspirin and took a couple and put the bloodied bottle down as I held my head and heard murmuring getting louder. I stumbled towards my bedroom door. I remembered that I set my phone on the kitchen counter and I needed help badly. I threw open my door as fast as I could and stumbled through a pain filled haze towards my phone. I heard the front door click.
“Lloyd, darling, I've come with some more...” Weiss stopped as she walked in the room to see me clutching the phone in my left hand as I was leaning against the kitchen counter trying to hold myself up. She closed the door without taking her eyes off me and said, “If I would have known you were going to be naked I would have been here sooner!” She slowly walked towards me taking off her coat and setting it on the rack. I looked up at her trying to focus my sight on her. She laid a bag of groceries on the counter before she places her manicured nails on my shoulders. All I could make out was the shape of her figure as I saw the blood creeping across the room. I mumbled as I fell to my knees limply, “So much...”She knelt beside me with a concerned look on her face and held the back of my head. “It's okay Lloyd, I'm here...” She wiped the sweat from my brow and shook her head as she helped me to my feet. “You're burning up, have you been taking your medication?” I looked around the room and she led me to my bed and helped me on it.
“So much blood,” I said to her. She nodded knowingly and looked in my eyes and spoke as she helped me put on my pants. “You need to take it more often if it's bothering you this much,” she said as she patted my chest before dressing the way I hung and zipping them. She moved my holster to the side and sat next to me and checked my pulse. “You know I can't afford to use it that often. I have to ration it,” I said as she wiped my sweat. She smirked, “You know I can always fill it for you.” She shook her head amused at her own quip. “Well then, you'll just have to believe me, whatever you're seeing, feeling, is just in your head, ja?” she looked at me and rubbed my head. Hearing that made my head ache feel slightly better but the blood had now covered the whole room, save for the ceiling. I closed my eyes and focused on those words. “It's just in your head...” I mumbled to myself and felt my body became less tensed. I opened my eyes and my focus had started to sharpen from the haze before. I did a quick inventory of the room. Everything was as it should be, not a trace of blood anywhere. I let out a sigh of relief as I sat up onto the edge of the bed next to Weiss. She pulled me close and cradled me against her chest. “You worry me if you don't take your medicine, love,” she said. I pulled away abruptly and shakily rose to my feet. The dizziness was gone but I felt like I had sea legs.
Ignoring Weiss's eyes I slowly stumbled out to the living room area working my legs back into shape. I walked over to the sink and turned on the tap and leaned under the faucet. After taking a large gulp of water, I lifted my face up and slicked my head back turning it off. “So, you were saying when you walked in?” I asked her as I slid my phone into my pocket walking back to my bed. She nodded and stood up, walking to her hanging lab coat and reached in the pocket. “I was able to get a little bit more information out of Voss before she passed out,” Weiss said as she sat down on the couch in the living room. “And?” I called out to her as I pulled my shirt over my head. I unbuttoned my pants to tuck it in as she spoke up, “Apparently her guard that I disabled was holding documents on his computer at his apartment.” I put on a belt and walked in the living room fastening my pants. She looked up at me and nodded her approval of the clothes and returned to her small tablet.
The tapping of her fingers on the keys came steadily as I sat down in front of her in my “bed” from last night. “So we need to... acquire them,” I said as I cracked my neck and looked out the window at the grey overcast sky. I shook my head at the sight and thought, “It's a shame that the weather is so fucked up lately… needing to wear a coat in Louisiana, in the middle of the summer no less.” I stood up and walked over to the balcony and looked down across the apartment complex. Many of the parking spaces were empty since it was now a Tuesday. I noticed that Weiss had not come in her vehicle as I lifted myself up and turned to face her. She nodded an affirmative to what I assumed was both of my questions. “Ja, it's been very cold since that plant problem last year,” she said as she crossed her legs opposite from what they were. After a few brief taps, she flipped her tablet's case closed and the tablet let out a light sound to signify sleep mode.
She adjusted her eyeglasses and stood up gesturing at the door. “We should meet back at my office Blood.” She continued as she stood up, “Voss is waiting back at my apartment for us when we are done. I rose from my slouching and feel my knees crackle as I stood up. “Are you sure that's a good idea?” I say as I walked by to my room to grab my socks. She chuckled and adjusted her glasses again as she put on her coat. She walked up to the door of my room and leaned against the frame as she watched me lacing up my boots. Her eyes met mine as I stood up and she said, “She will be fine there. And even if she decides to go looking around, there is nothing to find there. All my notes are either encrypted or kept in my head.” She smiled as she helped me put on my shoulder holster's straps. “Not using the lower back one then?” As I ignored the question, I led her to the front door and put on my trench coat and opened the door motioning for her to step outside.
After walking out the door I slammed it behind me and locked both sets of locks. Weiss shook her head and looked at me saying, “Do you have to be so rough with it?” I shrugged and interlocked my arm with hers and began leading her down the hall and stairs. The receptionist at the office waved at me and said, “Have a good day Mr. Strand.” I nodded at her as we left the building but didn't try to commit her face to memory. I think it was the older woman who actually owned the building. I lead Weiss to my car and clicked the unlock button on my key ring twice so I could let her in the passenger side. She shook her head as I closed the door behind her and moved to my side. I got in and shut the door putting on my seat belt as she began to chuckle. “Love, why don't you ever let me drive anymore?” she asked as I adjusted my mp3 player in its cradle and the rear-view mirror. As I put on my sunglasses, I looked at her from the corner of my eye and said “Don't you remember a couple years ago?” She started laughing as I put the car in drive and pulled out of the complex's parking lot.
“As of yet,” I said, “you haven't shown any difference in your driving.” She messed with the mp3 player cycling through songs as she replied, “How would you know? You won't let me drive.” I looked at her as I turned to look behind to switch lanes as I got onto the interstate highway. “Well how about next time we go somewhere in your car I let you drive. And anyway, you know I don't like being a passenger.” She nodded as she settled on the song. I recognized the song without reading it softly nodded my head to the song's bass as we continued past one of the city's malls going towards downtown. I spoke as I switched lanes, “Why do you always choose this song while we are driving around?” She adjusted her eyeglasses as she typed on the keyboard for her tablet and spoke with a smirk, “I'm surprised you haven't figured it out Blood.” I sighed as we continued down the highway through the morning traffic. I looked up at the interstate sign and switched lanes. As our car went down the ramp I noticed flashing lights as I swung by a car stalled around the curve. Weiss held her tablet closed as she held the overhead turn handle. Weiss let out a deep breath as I looked up in the rear-view watching what I assumed was the driver trying to move their car. I slowed to the side of the road and came to a stop.
Weiss looked at me as I opened my door and climbed out. “Stay here,” I told her as I closed my door. I jogged up to the flashing car and saw a man trying desperately to push the car. I walked up and yelled out, “Hey get in the car!” The guy looked at me, and said, “What?” I shook my head and walked up next to him and said as I put my hand on the bumper, “Get in the car, put it in neutral, coast down the hill. Park next to my car.” The guy nodded and when I felt the car jolt from the gears shifting I gave a hard push. It started coasting down the turn ramp and he parked off to the side near my car I nodded as I walked back down towards him. I pulled out my phone and called road assistance and gave the woman a short description of the car and the location. The dispatcher said tow truck was on the way. The guy walked up as I was climbing back into my car and offered to pay me for the help. I shook my head and said, “Just wait for the truck.” He shook his head. “I insist son,” he nodded forcing a couple twenty notes into my hand and went back to his car and sat inside. Weiss adjusted her glasses again and looked at me saying, “That was awfully nice of you.” I shrugged as I stowed the cash in my pocket.
Putting my car back in gear and we got back onto our route. “Why'd you stop and help him?” she asked as I followed the road going into downtown. I shrugged because I didn't really have an answer to it. “I suppose because I need all the good karma I can get,” I said as I switched lanes going towards one of the most expensive complexes in town. Weiss nodded as she looked out the window. “I suppose you do Herr Blood,” she said with a smirk.
As we turned onto a street a block away I found a parking lot with no rent charge. We parked and got out. After locking the doors, we started walking down the sidewalk to his street. There was some kids skateboarding around the stairs to one of the buildings we passed by, a couple stopped and stared at Weiss slack-jawed. She moved closer to me and wrapped her arm around mine and my expression stayed the same as it normally was, blank with a slightly angered look on it. “Looks like you have some fans Fraulein,” I said as we continued around the corner to the apartment building. She chuckled, “Darling they're far too young for me.” I scoffed and said, “That hasn't stopped you from robbing a cradle in your time.” She's laughed, “Well that's true but not today. I have some clients that I need to visit later on that aren't quite that green.” I slightly shook my head as we walked up to the building. Weiss stopped me and gestured at the door. “This is the place.” I looked around slightly and noticed a security camera in the top right corner of the door and walked up with Weiss in tow and stepped aside as she opened the door.
The interior of the building was a pleasant surprise. It had a lobby that looked like it belonged into a three or maybe a four-star hotel. There was a receptionist sitting down typing at a computer. Weiss led me by my arm up to her and we stood there. The woman tapped at the keyboard and had not looked up since the door had opened. Weiss whispered in my ear, “The name of the man is Christian Richard.” I nodded and waited for the woman to look up. I was becoming slightly irritated at either her ignoring us or her horrible perception. I tapped on the counter, “Excuse me Miss.” She looked up wide-eyed and startled. She shook her head, “I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. Most people that come in don't even stop at the desk so I...” I shook my head, “It's fine, but I need to know which apartment one of our friend's is staying at, he just moved here recently from across town.” She nodded and typed on the keyboard. “What was his name?” she asked me as she looked at the screen. Weiss spoke up, “Chris Richard, not very specific for a Cajun I know.” The girl smiled as she looked. “Well we only have two people here by that name,” she said to both of us. “One lives in 352 and the other lives up on 1014.” I nodded and she asked, “Do you need anything else?” Weiss cut me off before I could say, “No we'll be good, thank you Miss.” The receptionist nodded and went back to her computer.
We started towards the elevator and pressed the up button. The door beeped and we stepped in after the double doors slid closed with a thud. Weiss stood at the back as I hit floor 10 on the pad figuring that a man that was that high in the organization would have a more distant apartment. Weiss nodded as the doors closed and handed me a key from her pocket. “This is the key that Voss had passed to me last night. She was not aware if they had posted anyone there so we need to be cautious,” she said as I stowed it in my pocket. I adjusted my pistol in its holster, unclasping the guard. If all else failed, I'd be emptying a magazine in however many... men were behind that door. The elevator jolted up before stopping completely and the doors slid open with a ding.
I stepped out of the elevator and quietly walked down the hall making sure to walk heel to toe on carpeted floor to avoid creaks. Weiss followed close behind treading just as light as she could in her heels. I pulled the key out and opened my coat up reaching in the tool kit that was inside the pocket. After drawing a peephole spyglass, I gestured for Weiss to stand to the right of me to take advantage of her handedness. Putting the glass up to the peephole quietly, I looked through and saw there were two men sitting down holding guns, smoking, and drinking. I held up the first three fingers of my hand, starting with the thumb, to Weiss as I saw another man pacing around talking to them with a shotgun in his hand. She nodded as I made a cocking motion and held up my thumb and made the sign for a hand gun then did hand signs for two and three. She nodded again and reached into her coat pulling out her Five-seveN. I opened my coat to her so she could take my SIG. She took it and switched hands; I figured it was because my gun had more recoil. I knelt down below the peep holes site as I gestured for her to take target two and three. She leaned to the left of the frame as I inserted the key and started to turn it. I heard the men shuffle about a bit and I heard safeties being released. Looking up at her, I looked at the door knob and back. She nodded as I turned the key the rest of the way letting it click.
After waiting a few seconds I heard footsteps approaching and heard the sound of something lightly press against the door near my head. “Of course...” I said to myself mentally, “Lady, don't fail me now.” I adjusted my footing and Weiss tightened her grip on the pistols. I leaned down and threw my weight into the door with a loud bang and reached out to grab the nearest object. My reflexes proved true as I grabbed the shotgun and tilted it up towards the stunned man's jaw as Weiss jumped in and took aim at the other two. In perfect synchronization, I pulled the trigger to the shotgun causing a rain of blood and viscera as Weiss squeezed off a quick burst of fire into the two men. I watched through the hail of gore as one man's hand rip at the wrist before being shot in the center of his clavicle and the second one's chest and forehead erupted visible spray from behind. I swung the shotgun into aiming position while ripping it from the body's hand as Weiss and I took a few steps further in.
Surprisingly, very little of the gore got on either of us. There was a small bit of grey matter on my coat, but nothing a little cold water and dish detergent couldn't clean. Weiss and I scanned the room and found no other men. I closed the door and locked it back as Weiss moved to the closed bedroom door and gestured for me to have my shotgun ready as she put up her pistol and readied mine. I she threw open the door and I leaned forward with the gun ready to shoot anyone else but there was not a soul present in the room except for us. Weiss went to inspect the bathroom as I moved a couch in front of the front door. After sitting on the couch I brushed the brain fragments off the shoulder and arm of my coat. I shook my head to bring myself into focus; the shotgun going off had addled my senses. Weiss came out of the bedroom and looked at me and shook her head and smirked. “I see your training is still good for something Herr Blood,” she said as she approached. I shrugged and replied, “Clearly luck favored me today.” She smiled and handed me my pistol. As I put it away she commented, “The Devil's own luck, ja?”
I stood up and surveyed the room. I looked at the gore of what was left of the three guards. I gestured around the room to his desk and book case. “Get the information we need, I'm going to see if they have anything important.” Weiss nodded and walked over to the desk and sat down and her fingers began rhythmically tapping at ludicrous speeds as I rummaged through the coats of the men. I started with the last one killed and knelt near the slowly spreading pool of blood. I pried the pistol from his hand and stowed it in my coat's pocket and did the same with the man next to him. I began rummaging through the first man's pockets and found a wallet. I briefly glanced at the name and shrugged because I wouldn't remember it; he was just another nameless casualty from the organization. There was some cash in it so I pocketed that. I moved to the next corpse and began sifting through his person. I didn't really find anything except for some cigarettes.
“Gross,” I mumbled as I put them back in his pocket. Weiss spoke up, “What? Too much of a mess for you to handle?” I chuckled as I stood up and looked at her. “No he just smokes a disgusting brand,” I said and she let out a light laugh as she continued searching on the computer. I walked over to what was left of the first target. There was a giant pool of blood pouring from the stump where his head used to be. I checked his jacket pockets and found a set of keys that weren't for a car or a house so I pocketed them just to be sure. I found some money in his wallet and took it as well. The smell of the blood was getting to me; I was starting to get a dissociative feeling. That voice spoke up,
Such a pleasant aroma “Blood”, isn't it? You can't resist it much longer can you?
I watched as the blood slowly began to trickle across the floorboards to my fingertips. Weiss's voice rang out, anchoring my sense back into my body, “I found what we were looking for, love.” I sighed and wiped the sweat from my brow with my free hand as I pulled my resting hand away causing the trail to stop abruptly.
I stood up and moved behind the desk and leaned over her shoulder as she pointed at the screen. “Look,” Weiss said trailing her nail on the screen, “they have a location near the port. There's also a notation that police were there...” I looked at it and shook my head speaking up, “That's where the first body was found.” Weiss nodded as I kept reading. I leaned back and scratched my jaw and thought to myself, “What do this asshole’s tools have to do with my case.” Weiss spoke up as if she read my mind, for all I knew she probably did. “Maybe the killer has ties to the organization, but not directly affiliated with them?” she said as she pulled out a thumb drive that she used quite regularly. As the PC recognized it, her program shell opened locking out all outside interference as well as modifying the computers systems. She copied the files to the thumb drive and looked up at me through her glasses. “The twins did really well with this protocol, don't you think?” she asked. I nodded as the file finished saving. She withdrew it and I moved towards the couch in front of the door.
“Strange,” I muttered to no one in particular. Weiss walked across the room avoiding the blood and stood next to me. “What?” she asked as I moved the couch to the side so that it looked like it was set there in the first place. I gestured around the room. “Don't you find it odd that we haven't had anyone banging on the door?” I asked as I stowed the shotgun under my coat. She looked down in thought and nodded replying back, “That is rather peculiar.” I shrugged and grabbed the knob with my coat sleeve and opened it. After stepping out with Weiss, I closed the door and locked it. I wiped this knob too and then the key before kicking it underneath the door into the apartment. I looked to my left and noticed a woman in a red pea coat with long black hair down the hall. The hair was obscuring most of her features from that distance. I had tensed up my muscles in my arms instinctively and felt a soft caress of nails on my wrist. “What is it Blood?” Weiss said looking down at me? I glance back towards the woman and didn't see any semblance of another person in the hall. “It's nothing Fraulein,” I said to Weiss as I hurried her to the elevator. I pressed the floor key and noticed a glint of metal down the hall as the doors slid closed.
We left the way we came and waved to the girl at reception. She smiled and asked, “Did you choose the right one?” Weiss nodded and replied back, “Yes we did, he happened to have been the first one you mentioned. So we lucked out didn't we?” The girl smiled and waved, “Well, have a good day.” I tilted my head to acknowledge her and Weiss waved as we left. Weiss sighed as we wandered down the side walk as she held her hand in the pocket with the flash drive. “That was a bit messy,” she said as she stayed near my side. I nodded and pulled out a pair of my kreteks and lit them at the same time. Puffing a couple times I handed one to her as I said, “It could have been worse, they all could have had shotguns.” She laughed as we kept down the street. The kids playing earlier had left and I noticed that the sky had gotten darker. I led her to the car letting her in. I slid the shot gun and extra pistols into an empty guitar case in the trunk. After situating myself and plugging my mp3 player back into the radio, I put my car in drive and we started heading back to Weiss's apartment.
As we turned the block we noticed cops pulling up to the building we had left. I nodded and mumbled, “How fortuitous.” Weiss hummed along to Fascination Street as she pulled her tablet out and plugged the drive in. I heard the quick but light tapping ensue as we got onto the interstate and continued towards her home. Flicking the ashes out the window I looked at her as I switched lanes. “So, anything useful in those files you took?” I asked as I maneuvered around cars to get into the middle lane of the interstate. She shook her head and let out a small haze of smoke from her mouth. “There is a lot to go over here, I will need some extra hands if we're going to continue along our projected time frame,” she said as she flicked the ashes out her window. I shrugged and felt my phone go off in my pocket; the vibrations making me twitch slightly. It was only a single buzz so I figured it was a text message. I decided it'd be best to wait until we were at least off the highway. I wasn't too comfortable messaging during a storm, going 80 down the highway with Weiss in tow. After taking a quick look at the exit we had just passed I realized that the next was the one we needed. I switched lanes again as Weiss threw the butt out of her window before lighting up another of her own. “Remind me when we get home, I can refill your tin,” she said as we took the exit ramp. I nodded feeling a migraine coming on. Back when I had a regular job I had a reasonable sleep schedule but all this overnight work was still messing with my head.
After a going down the road for a while we came to one of the newer sub-divisions in town As we pulled up to the gate I flipped down my vanity mirror and pulled a card from the strap on it. After placing it in the scanner the gate opened slowly. We drove down the lane as I inspected the area. It was very nice, one of the few gated communities I had been in that was actually very secure. We continued down the back to the larger apartments, which in reality were just houses for rent. Weiss had put some resources to use and had actually purchased one of them outright from the owners. She had her... methods and they worked well enough that we could have a nice location to hide out at that was inconspicuous. People just assumed she was one of the high end tenants and she had a good rapport with them. I pulled up into her garage next to her Mustang. After the doors closed she stowed her tablet and got out to unlock the door.
As she opened the door I pulled my phone out and saw the screen read “Slave: 1 Text Message” I clicked enter on it to read her general daily message of, “Hey daddy.” I nodded to myself as I told her that “I am in the middle of working a case, I will be online later tonight. Weiss and I just got back to her house.” After a few seconds the phone buzzed back with her response, “Okay.” I went inside the door that Weiss had left open for me. She was taking off her coat and hanging it as I stepped through the frame. She gestured at the rack afterward and I hung mine up too as I walked about the house. She walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and pulled out some tea she had made. “Thirsty?” she asked as she poured herself a glass. I shook my head and she nodded as she took her glass and walked through the living room to her ground floor office. She sat down at her desk and connected her tablet to it and began a synchronization of the files she edited and whatever else. I held my head and felt it swimming as I leaned against the wall.
She tapped on the monitor hard to get my attention. “Look,” she said running her nail on it, “here's some more reports pertaining to your case.” I pushed myself up feeling woozy as I walked heavily next to her. Supporting myself on the desk I leaned in and started reading about the different deaths that had occurred as well as the states of the bodies. All of them had that same Grin across their face that Voss had. Weiss pulled up another document. “Look here, love. The report says that police are following these murders as if it's a serial killer. What are your thoughts?” she said as she looked up at me. I felt a massive migraine on as I felt my brain subconsciously processing all the information and drawing the lines I need.
I looked down at her with a grimace on my face, “These murders don't make sense for a serial killer. Unless the killer is attacking differently than the police think. Sure so far it's been mostly criminals and street trash, but there've also been students from the local colleges. The only link would be their age. And that doesn't even make much sense as to why they are choosing these specific people.” She nodded and crossed her arms. “There've even been a few children killed this way... I don't think it's copycats either. See the way these scars are show it's done with a something smooth, not jagged,” she said. I shrugged, “That doesn't even disprove copy-cats. I mean, all it takes is a smooth edged weapon...”
I paced slightly and said, “Tell the Chimera to cross reference all the murders and get me any information on the way the scars were made. Weiss nodded and typed them a message into an instant messenger. It let out a ding and it popped up, “We are researching right now, give us a few hours and we'll have it all marked up with notations for you and Blood to go over White Queen.” Weiss nodded and pointed at it and I nodded in return. “Very well then,” Weiss typed. She set her status to away and looked up at me. “Are you okay Blood? You're looking pale, well paler than usual,” she said as she crossed her right leg over the other. I looked to my right and through my hair, “Feeling kind of dizzy right now and I have a horrible migraine. The usual.”
She looked at the clock on the wall and I followed her gaze. It read 3:00pm. She shook her head and looked at me, “You haven't eaten at all since last night have you?” I used the desk as leverage and pushed myself back up straight shook my head. Weiss let out a sigh and stood up. “Here, I can at least make you a something to tide you over until I make dinner,” she said as she walked towards the kitchen. I followed her and sat down in the dining area. She was humming a song that I recognized but the name of it escaped me as I fought off the throbbing sensation in my temples. I heard a faucet turn on amidst the screeching in my skull. Shortly afterward the sound of water stopped and I was left with that horrible high-pitched sound.
Weiss set a plate down in front of me while I was massaging my right temple and forehead. It was a large sandwich, massive. I lifted it up as she sat down across from me, setting a glass in front of me and then her. Taking a bite from it I felt my stomach easing. I hadn't realized how hungry I was. I chewed slowly savoring the simple ham sandwich. She smiled as she drank from her glass of water. “Looking better already, love,” she said setting it down and pulling out a kretek from the tin in her white coat. I looked up at her as I hungrily devoured it. She lit up the kretek and the scent of vanilla filled the room as I finished my sandwich. “You know,” I said between long sips from my water, “if you would pay me on a regular basis, I wouldn't have to go hungry like this.” She nodded as she blew a plume of smoke to the side. “Yes but I mean otherwise I wouldn't have the pleasure of seeing you except for work,” she said with a wink. I finished my glass and stood up and felt the migraine quieting at least to a dull headache. I filled my glass up again from the tap and leaned back against the counter.
She turned the chair around and said, “Well tonight I'll transfer you some money, it should be there in the morning. You should go out with Voss and see if she can give you information.” She blew another cloud of smoke at me and adjusted her glasses. “She mentioned something about how she felt more comfortable giving you information, but I guess with time she'll be more responsive to me, ja?” she asked as she flicked the ashes into the ashtray on the table. I shrugged and took a drink from the glass before saying, “Speaking of the ginger, where is she?” Weiss raised her eyes to the ceiling. “I assume she's still in one of the guest rooms. She said she hadn't slept in a bed like that in a while,” Weiss said finishing the kretek and putting the butt in the tray. I pulled out my cellphone to check the time; it read that it was now 15:35. “She's been asleep for a long time then,” I said looking at Weiss. She nodded and gestured for me to sit down I shook my head and rested my head against the wall. She stood up and rubbed my forehead looking at my face intently. “You're getting bags under your eyes again; you should take a nap, love,” she said as she rubbed the patch of hair on my chin. I pulled away and she smirked as she saw the fatigue behind my movements. “Go upstairs, you can use my room since the other guest room is a bit of a mess right now,” Weiss said as she took the dishes and set them in the sink.
I sighed with a nod and slowly walked up the stairs trying to be as quiet as possible. I passed by the two guest rooms and heard some snoring through one of them. I stopped in front of the door and quietly opened it and looked in. Voss was wrapped up in a comforter facing the door letting out rhythmic snores. I closed the door lightly and head down the hall to Weiss's bedroom. I shook my head as I saw the engraving she had on her door of Lilith. I noticed for the first time that she had carvings of succubi set at the corners of the ceiling. I shook my head with a smirk as I turned the knob and entered the room. It was full of the color red, much more than I remembered from last time. I took off my boots and set them next to the door frame as I climbed up onto the bed. I didn't even bother covering myself up as I laid down on my side and held my head. I felt a throbbing in my head as I felt my eyelids getting heavy. I blinked them open slightly as I noticed movement and as I felt my eyes closing a small figure moved up leveled with my face. It looked like a young girl with long black hair and umber eyes. She slightly smiled exposing a far larger grin than humanly possible and I tried to open my eyes to check but I was just so tired that I felt myself falling into a haze of grey before everything turned black.
As I briskly walked down the hall I noticed the neighbor girl sitting out in the hall. She had her hood up from her jacket and was listening to some music as I passed to go down the stairs. She waved and I nodded as I continued down out of her line of sight before exiting the building. I looked at the sky as I crossed the building's parking lot to my car. There was no moon or anything; the clouds had a slight glow about them from the city's lights. "Sky's going to fall out soon..." I mumbled to myself as I got in my car. I lit a new kretek as I turned the ignition over. I flipped on my lights and proceeded to drive to the meeting point.
While driving I tapped on my mp3 player and cycled it through my playlist and settled on Spooky by God Module. As I neared the location rain started to lightly tap the windshield. I finished off my cigarette and flicked it out the window before closing it. I had reached the point exactly on time and my phone beeped with another message. I parked and turned off the car killing the lights as I got out and locked the door. Reading the text, "On time as usual. The door is unlocked. Just come in,” I approached the back door to the warehouse the rain picked up. "It's open, Love, just come on in."
A hazy smoke filled the room and fluttered past me as the door was closed behind me. The glint of silver from her hair stood out the most as she smiled at me flicking her ashes into the ashtray. "Good to see you're punctual as usual," she said as she adjusted the way she was seated so she was sitting up more straight. "As always Weiss. Who's the new subject?" She gestured at the chair in front of her desk and I looked at it and looked her in the eyes. "I insist Herr Blood." Pushing my hair back off my face I sat down in front of her as she offered me a kretek. Declining her she gave a playful pout, which irritated me to no end. She knew it did; so to head off my anger she handed me a folder that was blank on the outside.
Within, I found a few file notes with a picture of what looked like a girl in her late teens, or early 20s as the file confirmed. Apart from her basic height and age, the file was pretty light on information. It said she was second in command for one of the scum we had been weeding out for the past few months but under surveillance it appeared her allegiance could be easily swayed. "So what do you think?" Weiss asked in her heavy German accent. I looked up at her and said, "I think you need to practice your English more, how long have you been in this country?" She chuckled and stood up. She walked around the desk as I kept reading the document to commit it to memory.
I felt a warm softness press against my back as she leaned down and whispered in my ear. "She's in the interrogation room. Do me this favor and I will..." she ran her hand inside my coat then down my chest to my waist, "...be able to help you much more Blood." I felt a sharp pain in my temple which caused me to blink hard as I spoke back to her, "You're a little close there Frau." I stood up and looked her in the eye before she straightened her posture. Her giant stature put my eyes at level with her collar bone. She smirked. "No need for flattery," I said to her pushing my falling hair behind my ear. She returned to her chair and gestured at the door on the opposite side of the room from where I entered. "Go and do the... interview... for me and report back." I thought about declining, as I always considered, however I mulled over the fact that she was the major source of income and information pertaining to my case. So the assistance was reciprocal, at least as much as it could be. I walked through the door and stepped into a dark hallway.
About halfway down the hall there was light being cast through a window as I saw a thin redheaded woman sitting in a chair with her head held forward and down at an angle so the wet hair covered most of her face. Her hands were cuffed behind her around the chair and her feet were cuffed to the stationary table that was in front of her. I walked past the window and opened a door near the frame and entered the slightly bright room. I half closed my eyes as the door behind me locked shut. I walked up to the table and sat down across from her and just stared at her mess of hair.
She lifted her head a little and spoke in a soft voice. "So how long am I going to be here? I have previous engagements to attend to." I crossed my leg over my knee and just sat quietly staring at her. She was shivering and letting out pained breaths. She tilted her head sideways slightly and tapped her nails on her chair's back softly. "Are you going to talk, or are you just going to stare at me?" I reached in my pocket and pulled out my silvered tin and offered her one. "I don't smoke," she said shifting her weight. I put one in my mouth and flicked my lighter with a flourish lighting it and taking in a deep inhale. I leaned my head back slightly and blew out into the air.. She sat there shivering as I studied her. She was wearing cargo styled pants and boots, like the lower half of a set of military fatigues. She had a black tight fitting tank-top on as well as a half jacket with a frilled collar. I raised my eyes to her neck and noticed a very thick leather collar that had what looked like sensors for biometrics built into the clasp. She was clearly becoming more uneased each second I didn't speak.
"Are you..." she started before I cut her off suddenly. "Lloyd Strand," I let roll from my throat. She cocked her head to the side the opposite way in that slight movement as before. "What?" she asked as her hair fell revealing her left eye. It was a very bright green – like a shot of absinthe that just louched. "My name?" She got quiet for a minute before saying, "I don't think it's necessary." I flicked the ashes onto the floor as I looked into her eyes through her hair. "Well without introductions,” I inhaled deeply and blew out a large haze, “no questions for either of us can be answered."
I blew another wisp of smoke upward as she mumbled something nigh inaudible, "Voss." I rested my free hand on the table, "Just Voss?" She flipped her hair back flinging water around showing her face. I lightly wiped the water drops from my face and inspected her pale face. She had a jagged scar running from both corners of her mouth to her ears. I felt a stinging in my temple again as the voices surfaced.
Maybe her praenomen is Chelsea?! the voice laughed as I commanded it to silence itself in the confines of my skull.
She closed her eyes and spoke calmly. "That is all you may call me. Only one name is needed Mr. Strand." She was still shivering and breathing hard. I nodded to her. "So how is this going to work?" she asked me to the eyes with a very pained expression. I put the kretek out on the desk and it let out a stronger smell of burnt cloves. "I ask questions; you answer them."
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes leaning her head back. The way the light lit her from her face was ethereal with the deeply shadowed smile that was permanently carved in it. "I understand," she said as she returned her head back to level looking at me with those pain filled eyes. I slowly looked down from her eyes to her collar and back up to them. “So Voss, why are you so disheveled?” I crossed my right leg back over my left knee as she shifted in her chair. “Your boss had her own 'interview' process that she administered herself.” I rested my knuckles against my chin. “Boss?” I said as I started flicking my lighter open and closed in a steady pattern. Her eyes focused on the lighter as she said. “Tall woman, white hair, well endowed...”
Click. Click. Click. I continued flicking it watching her eyes narrow either from pain from the sound or a growing frustration of it. “Ah, that... woman. She's an acquaintance; I'm just doing her a favor.”
Click. Click. Click. She closed her eyes but I could see the tension in her face as she sat back in the chair and continued. “She gave me the old military interview, you know, sharply inclined plank. A burlap sack...”
Click. Click. Click. I interrupted her, “A few buckets of water too.” She nodded in agreement. I clicked my lighter closed very hard as I stowed it back in my coat and her eyes opened from the sudden loud sound. I looked to the side into the distance to mask the sensation item I felt in my pocket that I hadn't noticed.
I gestured for her to stand up and she did carefully trying to avoid falling over from the shackles around her ankles. I produced a key from my inner pocket and unlocked her feet and motioned for her to move away from the table. “Stand up straight,” I said as I rose to my feet to stand in front of her. She did as commanded and looked straight ahead. I was able to inspect her more clearly now. I began to circle around her about my arm's length from her looking from down at her boots up to her face. Her boots were covered in a viscous substance that was grey and dark red mixed together. There was a visible spatter moving away, up her legs, from her boots. I trailed up further not noticing anything inordinate about her clothing.
“So Voss, where did this... substance come from?” She stayed looking straight ahead as her body continued to heave up and down from her ragged breathing. “Your 'acquaintance' put a bullet through the head of my escort when he bent down to pick up something I had dropped,” Voss said as she was becoming more visibly pained. “Yes, a 10 gauge shell is rather messy. What did you drop?” I asked as I stood behind her left shoulder. She let out a wheezy sigh, “Something that didn't matter enough for him to die. It was my medication.”
Satisfied with what little information I acquired, I brought the key to her wrist and unlocked her hands then I walked back around to her and looked in her eyes. “Clearly, you're going through withdrawals right now. What kind of medication is it?” I asked her as put my weight to one side. She looked at me, “Diazepam.” I nodded and rested my hand on my hip. “Well if you continue to be this compliant. I will make sure that my acquaintance fills your prescription for you. For now, stay focused and continue answering the questions. Understand?” She nodded her response to me. “Good, only a few more questions. Now then, you work for a very... powerful... man. You're his second in command. We need information and access to him. What does your job entail?” She was quiet with her eyes closed for a few minutes and spoke with them still closed. “I was his head enforcer. I was his hand when he couldn't actually pull the trigger himself. I also was in charge of his business information.” I just stared at her while she continued.
“I was also his doll. His toy.” She opened her eyes and brought her hand to the collar. From the look in her eyes I had chosen a topic that opened up old wounds that still needed sutures. “All the scars I wear are from him.” I looked at her mouth watching it form the word scars feeling a sharp pain in my temple again. She raised her hands to her face and rubbed the marks on her face. “He gave me these... because, as he put it, I 'have too serious of a look' and I 'should smile more often'.” I looked in her eyes feeling the synchronization as she recalled the events in her head. I could see it as if I was there spectating from the same room. All I could do was light up another kretek and spoke through a puff of smoke, “You don't need to go on about it. There's no need to justify anything to me.” I let out an exhale causing the area to be covered in a haze.
Her eyes had gotten red during her recollection. She hadn't started crying but was damn near close to it. I took in the information and processed it. “Well,” I thought to myself, “she survived.” She was shaking badly now and started to sway before falling to her knees. “Can I have my medicine now?” she asked looking up at me with her pitiful eyes. I looked down at her and lifted her chin, brushing her hair off her face. “I have one more question for you. Stand back up. I know you can,” I said as I held out my hand. She took it and struggled to her feet. “Yes, Mr. Strand?” I looked down at her small frame and into her eyes. “What would you say to helping us get into his office and putting him away?” She shook her head, “He'd just be released on bail and...” I shook my head, “You misunderstood me. Poor word choice I suppose. How about helping us assist in his forced retirement?” She was quiet thinking about it for a bit of time. “What if I say yes?” she asked returning back to her more collected demeanor. “Then we remove him and you can do whatever you want. My acquaintance may even need some help that she would be willing to pay you for.” Her eyes shown calculations about this woman whose interrogation method involved threatening to drown her and of the other choice. The process didn't take much consideration.
“I'll help you take down that son of a bitch once and for all.” Her eyes widened as she saw the first change in my face; I smirked at her remark showing my teeth. I led her to the door that I had come in and pressed the intercom button next to it. “Frau, we've reached an agreement.” I released it and after a few seconds there were a lot of mechanical clicking sounds as the door unlocked and opened for us. I flicked the still burning butt into the room as the door closed behind us. I led Voss down the hall to the door to Weiss's small office and knocked on the door frame and Weiss called out, “It's open.”
Weiss turned in her chair to look at us and then gestured at the two chairs across from hers. I walked up to the table and waited for Voss to sit before me. After a moment of quiet I turned and noticed Voss had an uneasy look on her face. I could tell in her eyes she was waiting for me to sit first. Weiss raised her eyebrow as she watched the silent exchange before her. I looked in Voss's eyes then at the chair and back again. “Sit,” I ordered her. She bowed her head and did as told. I sat next to her as Weiss tapped the table with a slight smirk before speaking. “So, we've reached a point of negotiation Fraul―Miss?” Voss was quiet for a minute before answering. “Voss.” Weiss nodded as she handed her a paper and a pen.
“Weiss Kirchner. I apologize for my methods earlier. Training that's been used for most of your previous professions are very difficult to break away from. That paper is so that you can write down any information pertaining to the company.” Voss took the pen then looked up, “Write it down? Are you going to transcribe it?” Weiss shook her head as she started tapping on the keyboard set in front of her. “Paper can be easily be destroyed. I am just making adjustments to my payroll for another contract worker.” Voss continued writing the notes as I sat silent watching their hands move at incredible speeds.
I reached into my pants' pocket and pulled my cellphone out. I tapped the screen and it lit up. 0207 was what it read nothing else. I stared into space stroking the hair on my chin. Absentmindedly I tapped my phone and the screen lit up with 0229. Voss set the pen down and handed Weiss the paper. Weiss's eyes lit up and smiled and lightly pursed her thick lips. “Ms. Voss, this is one of the most detailed reports I've ever been given on a subject. I may just hire you permanently before the job is done.” She winked at Voss and continued reading it. Voss looked at me with eyes that looked like she was expecting something from me but I just turned and looked at Weiss. “So when will the plan be written up and ready to execute?” I asked her. Weiss looked at Voss then me. She spoke while typing, “Well I'll have to analyze the maps and cross reference them to the notes.”
She continued typing and after a few minutes spoke up again. “With this level of description... I'd say two days.” Voss was quiet sitting in the chair with her eyes closed. I pulled out my tin and pulled the lighter out with a flourish before lighting a kretek. “That's a narrow time frame, even for your usual plans.” She let out a small chuckle and leaned over her desk. “Thanks to Miss-” Voss interrupted, “Just Voss.” Weiss nodded, “Thanks to Voss, we may have a massive amount of information but more information means I cannot process it quickly.” I nodded agreeing with her train of thought. Weiss gestured at Voss. “We need to decide on where she's going to stay. It'd be very suspicious for her to just walk back in the next day after being kidnapped. I think it's best if she stays with one of us for the night,” Weiss explained. I looked at Voss and my eyes settled back down on a collar I noticed during my interrogation. Voss looked at me. “W-what?” she had a look of fear on her face. I started to put my kretek out as Weiss rested her hand on mine and took what was left and put it to her lips inhaling.
Voss nodded, “I can't remove it, the lock on it is matched to his biometrics. I can't remove it, believe me I've tried. The way it's set up: if I try to remove it, I am shocked. If someone else attempts to and it doesn't recognize the person it will inject them with an extremely dangerous toxin. If untreated they can die within an hour. However as long as it is synched to his DNA it will tell him it is active in the computer. It only deactivates when he himself removes it or I die. There's a lot of specific criteria protecting its removal as well. For example it will not deactivate if his heart-rate or brainwaves are not within a certain range. Those are a few of the countermeasures.” Weiss tapped the desk as she exhaled a plume of smoke. “Well... this is something that may cause a delay,” Weiss said as she finished off my kretek and opened my tin to light another. “I will have to mess with my company's computers to break into his security or we can just ignore this and keep it going to see if he acts based on her being alive.” She inhaled and sat back in her chair. She tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling in thought as she took a long drag from the kretek. “Well now... I say we just leave it be, we can worry about disengaging it when we get there. What do you say Lloyd?” I crossed my right leg over my other knee mulling it over.
I nodded my answer as I started to stand. “I think it's probably the best course of action for now. As for the living situation for Voss, I'll take her in for the next few days until the job is complete. We can find a permanent place for her after.” Weiss smirked and said, “Well that's all well and good but won't your Mädchen get a bit jealous?” I looked at Voss and cross my arms over my chest. I had thought about that but hearing it out loud made it have quite a bit more weight to it. Voss stood up and looked at me with pleading eyes to take her anyway. She was a lot like a dog that recently lost its owner. Weiss rose from her chair and walked up behind Voss and placed her hands on Voss's shoulders. “I'll take care of her. I have plenty of room at my place. What do you say Voss?” She towered over the small redhead. Voss tilted her head back so she was looking straight up and said. “Okay, that works,” they locked eyes for a moment with a strange silence. While their vision was locked I had turned and quietly made my way to the exit and spoke up. “Well don't try to break her in or anything Weiss. I think she's had enough for tonight.” I waved behind me as I exited. Weiss chuckled as the door closed behind me.
I made my way down the hall to the exit and opened the door to a torrent of rain falling off the roof. I clicked my lock to my door and then briskly walked through the downpour to my car. As I got in I noticed the door opening and an umbrella opening. Weiss stepped out under it and was holding Voss close to her side as they waved at me and walked off to Weiss's car in the next parking lot. I started up my car as they disappeared into grey distance. I looked at the time on the dashboard; 0300 was its reading. I sighed to myself, “I will never be able to fix my sleep with this,” I pulled out of the driveway and continued mumbling, “well of course the insomnia was there before this job...”
I spent about 45 minutes getting back to my apartment building. I parked my car and walked under the overhang to the entrance. As I entered the code to the building I flung my hair back since it had matted to my face. The door let out a beep and I opened it and entered. I looked to the side at the night shift manager and gave a slight nod as I stepped down the hall too tired to even note which person was there. I walked up the stairs shaking the water off my coat. As I stepped up to the walkway I noticed neighbor girl had gone inside, which was good, no kid should be sitting out that late. I walked over to my door and unlocked it and slowly opened it trying to keep it as quiet as possible. After moving into the dim room, I took my coat off and hung it on the rack then closed and locked it back.
I walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, it was pretty bare, just a half empty bottle of Jägermeister, a packet of luncheon meat, and some mustard sat there. I wouldn't get paid until Friday at earliest. Weiss would probably be cooking me dinner for the next couple of nights.
“Sometimes I feel she purposefully withholds my money so that she has a guy friend to spend time with,” I said to myself mentally. I decided to make a sandwich so I pulled out the pack of turkey breast meat and set it on the counter I took out the meat and set it on the counter. Reaching on top of the fridge I grabbed the loaf of bread and pulled two pieces out before setting the loaf back wrapped up. I finished up the luncheon meat and discarded the plastic in the trash grumbling about how late it was. After finishing my sandwich I poured some water. I walked up to the kitchen window and drank from the glass watching the downpour still going on outside.
I set it on the counter and stretched my arms and back before decided to go back to the living room for the night. Letting out a sigh of relief, I sat down in my arm chair and propped my feet up on the ottoman. I leaned to my right and picked up my laptop off the side table and turned it on. After navigating past the startup screen and login, I signed in to my messengers and checked my mail. I had no offline messages and most of my email was spam or just updates from my memberships to sites. I left my slave a message saying that I had gotten back okay from my job and that I was heading to sleep so she could talk to me later today. After deleting my mail and messing with my wallpaper a couple times out of boredom, I decided it was best to try to sleep since my eyes were getting very heavy. I closed the laptop and set it back at its place on the table. I lay back in the chair and let the heaviness and dark take me to sleep.
I woke up to my living room filled with blinding light. Shielding my eyes, I sat up and stretched my back making it give a clearly audible crack. After sitting for a moment trying to cope with my morning ritual of a migraine, I grabbed my cellphone to check it. There were no missed messages and the time read 0800. I stood up and rubbed my eyes as I took the phone and set it on the kitchen counter as I passed by on my way to my bedroom. I had left my door open the night before and just walked through the door frame and did a slight take of the room. My bed was a mess from the morning before; I had neglected to make it in my rush to follow the leads I had gotten. I realized my shoulder felt heavy and I remembered the gun at my side. I took the leather straps off and set it on the bed with the gun still in it. Shuffling in a pulsating haze, I walked to my closet and laid out a pair of pants. Then, moving to the dresser that my television sat on, I pulled out a pair of socks and a shirt. I sat on the edge of my bed and began unlacing my boots. As I pulled them off I made a note that I needed to do the laundry later today. Kicking off my boots, I then removed my socks and stood up. I walked into the door to the left of my bed to the bathroom and pulled a towel out of the cabinet and set it on the rack next to the shower. I then did my morning ritual of using the toilet, brushing my hair and shaving. After finishing I took off my shirt and pants and stepped into shower.
After pulling the curtain, I tested the water before turning on the shower head and began bathing. The water felt extremely relaxing as it helped me fully wake up from my morning haziness. The migraine was still there though which was rather unusual. I lathered up my shampoo and worked it into my hair thinking about the night before. “That Voss girl seems interesting. It's a shame, when Weiss messaged I was hoping that it was my personal case, not the one her and I are working on. Oh well.” I said out loud to myself. I lathered the orange bar of soap and washed my face and ears cleaning the piercings; then I cleaned my neck and back. I lifted my face under the shower head, making sure to keep my hair out of it. “I wonder how those two are doing. Weiss can be quite...persuasive. I hope she didn't break her toy yet.”
After the lather was gone I decided it was best to put the conditioner in so I did that after rinsing the hair. I then grabbed the soap and began lathering my chest as well as between my legs. Paying careful attention to the piercings on the former and latter I continued mumbling to myself. “After we take care of that bastard maybe my case will pick up. Someone in charge of so many operations is one or more of three thing: detail oriented, lucky, or involved with the paranormal. Judging from his previous actions towards our investigation, I'd have to say definitely the first and maybe the last.” As I lathered down my legs and began rinsing off my whole body, my migraine started to get worse. Saving my hair for last I closed my eyes and tried to focus on reducing the throbbing in my temples. “Stronger than usual...” I mumbled to myself as I turned off the shower.
Grabbing the towel I began drying my body. My vision was becoming blurry as I finished and stepped out of the tub and walked up to the mirror. I struggled to focus and grab my deodorant and put it under my arms. My head felt like I had just been smashed into a wall. I grabbed my toothbrush with a shaky hand and cautiously applied the paste to it. As I brushed my teeth I started hearing the sound of murmurs that I had grown accustomed to. My migraine started to fade as I shook my head. A cold sweat had rolled over me and I was shaking holding the sink fixture looking down at the drain trying to focus. As my vision finally settled on one point, I let out a sigh. Forcing the air out of my lungs and renewing the supply helped settled my shuddering a bit. I reached up to wipe the sweat on my brow. I groaned my displeasure; I hated sweating after having just showered.
I brought my hand down and noticed there was a dark red. I moved my fingers around inspecting it as I knew what the substance was. I looked up at the mirror and saw my face there was blood pouring from my forehead. I turned the knob to the faucet and looked at the blood that stained it. I began rinsing my hands off quickly and the mixture stained the marble. I noticed that the blood wasn't washing off it just seemed set into my hand. I began scrubbing frantically trying to clean it. No progress was being made so I turned off the faucet and grabbed the towel I had on the counter. The moment I touched it, the towel began to soak with the red fluid. I looked down at the sink and noticed the blood dripping from the knobs was starting to flow to the counter top as it did so it began puddling near the wall. My eyes widened. In my periphery I could that the blood began flowing up the wall.
“How is this possible?” I muttered to myself as I noticed the now fully saturated towel was dripping on the floor. I dropped it and placed my hand against the wall. The blood continued flowing and turning the wall into a vivid image of a cascade. I stepped in it as I staggered out of the bathroom onto the carpeted bedroom leaving foot prints as I held my head in pain as the migraine returned. I stumbled around my bedroom to my night stand on the other side of my bed. The blood was flowing across the carpet at an alarming rate. I picked up the bottle of aspirin and took a couple and put the bloodied bottle down as I held my head and heard murmuring getting louder. I stumbled towards my bedroom door. I remembered that I set my phone on the kitchen counter and I needed help badly. I threw open my door as fast as I could and stumbled through a pain filled haze towards my phone. I heard the front door click.
“Lloyd, darling, I've come with some more...” Weiss stopped as she walked in the room to see me clutching the phone in my left hand as I was leaning against the kitchen counter trying to hold myself up. She closed the door without taking her eyes off me and said, “If I would have known you were going to be naked I would have been here sooner!” She slowly walked towards me taking off her coat and setting it on the rack. I looked up at her trying to focus my sight on her. She laid a bag of groceries on the counter before she places her manicured nails on my shoulders. All I could make out was the shape of her figure as I saw the blood creeping across the room. I mumbled as I fell to my knees limply, “So much...”She knelt beside me with a concerned look on her face and held the back of my head. “It's okay Lloyd, I'm here...” She wiped the sweat from my brow and shook her head as she helped me to my feet. “You're burning up, have you been taking your medication?” I looked around the room and she led me to my bed and helped me on it.
“So much blood,” I said to her. She nodded knowingly and looked in my eyes and spoke as she helped me put on my pants. “You need to take it more often if it's bothering you this much,” she said as she patted my chest before dressing the way I hung and zipping them. She moved my holster to the side and sat next to me and checked my pulse. “You know I can't afford to use it that often. I have to ration it,” I said as she wiped my sweat. She smirked, “You know I can always fill it for you.” She shook her head amused at her own quip. “Well then, you'll just have to believe me, whatever you're seeing, feeling, is just in your head, ja?” she looked at me and rubbed my head. Hearing that made my head ache feel slightly better but the blood had now covered the whole room, save for the ceiling. I closed my eyes and focused on those words. “It's just in your head...” I mumbled to myself and felt my body became less tensed. I opened my eyes and my focus had started to sharpen from the haze before. I did a quick inventory of the room. Everything was as it should be, not a trace of blood anywhere. I let out a sigh of relief as I sat up onto the edge of the bed next to Weiss. She pulled me close and cradled me against her chest. “You worry me if you don't take your medicine, love,” she said. I pulled away abruptly and shakily rose to my feet. The dizziness was gone but I felt like I had sea legs.
Ignoring Weiss's eyes I slowly stumbled out to the living room area working my legs back into shape. I walked over to the sink and turned on the tap and leaned under the faucet. After taking a large gulp of water, I lifted my face up and slicked my head back turning it off. “So, you were saying when you walked in?” I asked her as I slid my phone into my pocket walking back to my bed. She nodded and stood up, walking to her hanging lab coat and reached in the pocket. “I was able to get a little bit more information out of Voss before she passed out,” Weiss said as she sat down on the couch in the living room. “And?” I called out to her as I pulled my shirt over my head. I unbuttoned my pants to tuck it in as she spoke up, “Apparently her guard that I disabled was holding documents on his computer at his apartment.” I put on a belt and walked in the living room fastening my pants. She looked up at me and nodded her approval of the clothes and returned to her small tablet.
The tapping of her fingers on the keys came steadily as I sat down in front of her in my “bed” from last night. “So we need to... acquire them,” I said as I cracked my neck and looked out the window at the grey overcast sky. I shook my head at the sight and thought, “It's a shame that the weather is so fucked up lately… needing to wear a coat in Louisiana, in the middle of the summer no less.” I stood up and walked over to the balcony and looked down across the apartment complex. Many of the parking spaces were empty since it was now a Tuesday. I noticed that Weiss had not come in her vehicle as I lifted myself up and turned to face her. She nodded an affirmative to what I assumed was both of my questions. “Ja, it's been very cold since that plant problem last year,” she said as she crossed her legs opposite from what they were. After a few brief taps, she flipped her tablet's case closed and the tablet let out a light sound to signify sleep mode.
She adjusted her eyeglasses and stood up gesturing at the door. “We should meet back at my office Blood.” She continued as she stood up, “Voss is waiting back at my apartment for us when we are done. I rose from my slouching and feel my knees crackle as I stood up. “Are you sure that's a good idea?” I say as I walked by to my room to grab my socks. She chuckled and adjusted her glasses again as she put on her coat. She walked up to the door of my room and leaned against the frame as she watched me lacing up my boots. Her eyes met mine as I stood up and she said, “She will be fine there. And even if she decides to go looking around, there is nothing to find there. All my notes are either encrypted or kept in my head.” She smiled as she helped me put on my shoulder holster's straps. “Not using the lower back one then?” As I ignored the question, I led her to the front door and put on my trench coat and opened the door motioning for her to step outside.
After walking out the door I slammed it behind me and locked both sets of locks. Weiss shook her head and looked at me saying, “Do you have to be so rough with it?” I shrugged and interlocked my arm with hers and began leading her down the hall and stairs. The receptionist at the office waved at me and said, “Have a good day Mr. Strand.” I nodded at her as we left the building but didn't try to commit her face to memory. I think it was the older woman who actually owned the building. I lead Weiss to my car and clicked the unlock button on my key ring twice so I could let her in the passenger side. She shook her head as I closed the door behind her and moved to my side. I got in and shut the door putting on my seat belt as she began to chuckle. “Love, why don't you ever let me drive anymore?” she asked as I adjusted my mp3 player in its cradle and the rear-view mirror. As I put on my sunglasses, I looked at her from the corner of my eye and said “Don't you remember a couple years ago?” She started laughing as I put the car in drive and pulled out of the complex's parking lot.
“As of yet,” I said, “you haven't shown any difference in your driving.” She messed with the mp3 player cycling through songs as she replied, “How would you know? You won't let me drive.” I looked at her as I turned to look behind to switch lanes as I got onto the interstate highway. “Well how about next time we go somewhere in your car I let you drive. And anyway, you know I don't like being a passenger.” She nodded as she settled on the song. I recognized the song without reading it softly nodded my head to the song's bass as we continued past one of the city's malls going towards downtown. I spoke as I switched lanes, “Why do you always choose this song while we are driving around?” She adjusted her eyeglasses as she typed on the keyboard for her tablet and spoke with a smirk, “I'm surprised you haven't figured it out Blood.” I sighed as we continued down the highway through the morning traffic. I looked up at the interstate sign and switched lanes. As our car went down the ramp I noticed flashing lights as I swung by a car stalled around the curve. Weiss held her tablet closed as she held the overhead turn handle. Weiss let out a deep breath as I looked up in the rear-view watching what I assumed was the driver trying to move their car. I slowed to the side of the road and came to a stop.
Weiss looked at me as I opened my door and climbed out. “Stay here,” I told her as I closed my door. I jogged up to the flashing car and saw a man trying desperately to push the car. I walked up and yelled out, “Hey get in the car!” The guy looked at me, and said, “What?” I shook my head and walked up next to him and said as I put my hand on the bumper, “Get in the car, put it in neutral, coast down the hill. Park next to my car.” The guy nodded and when I felt the car jolt from the gears shifting I gave a hard push. It started coasting down the turn ramp and he parked off to the side near my car I nodded as I walked back down towards him. I pulled out my phone and called road assistance and gave the woman a short description of the car and the location. The dispatcher said tow truck was on the way. The guy walked up as I was climbing back into my car and offered to pay me for the help. I shook my head and said, “Just wait for the truck.” He shook his head. “I insist son,” he nodded forcing a couple twenty notes into my hand and went back to his car and sat inside. Weiss adjusted her glasses again and looked at me saying, “That was awfully nice of you.” I shrugged as I stowed the cash in my pocket.
Putting my car back in gear and we got back onto our route. “Why'd you stop and help him?” she asked as I followed the road going into downtown. I shrugged because I didn't really have an answer to it. “I suppose because I need all the good karma I can get,” I said as I switched lanes going towards one of the most expensive complexes in town. Weiss nodded as she looked out the window. “I suppose you do Herr Blood,” she said with a smirk.
As we turned onto a street a block away I found a parking lot with no rent charge. We parked and got out. After locking the doors, we started walking down the sidewalk to his street. There was some kids skateboarding around the stairs to one of the buildings we passed by, a couple stopped and stared at Weiss slack-jawed. She moved closer to me and wrapped her arm around mine and my expression stayed the same as it normally was, blank with a slightly angered look on it. “Looks like you have some fans Fraulein,” I said as we continued around the corner to the apartment building. She chuckled, “Darling they're far too young for me.” I scoffed and said, “That hasn't stopped you from robbing a cradle in your time.” She's laughed, “Well that's true but not today. I have some clients that I need to visit later on that aren't quite that green.” I slightly shook my head as we walked up to the building. Weiss stopped me and gestured at the door. “This is the place.” I looked around slightly and noticed a security camera in the top right corner of the door and walked up with Weiss in tow and stepped aside as she opened the door.
The interior of the building was a pleasant surprise. It had a lobby that looked like it belonged into a three or maybe a four-star hotel. There was a receptionist sitting down typing at a computer. Weiss led me by my arm up to her and we stood there. The woman tapped at the keyboard and had not looked up since the door had opened. Weiss whispered in my ear, “The name of the man is Christian Richard.” I nodded and waited for the woman to look up. I was becoming slightly irritated at either her ignoring us or her horrible perception. I tapped on the counter, “Excuse me Miss.” She looked up wide-eyed and startled. She shook her head, “I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. Most people that come in don't even stop at the desk so I...” I shook my head, “It's fine, but I need to know which apartment one of our friend's is staying at, he just moved here recently from across town.” She nodded and typed on the keyboard. “What was his name?” she asked me as she looked at the screen. Weiss spoke up, “Chris Richard, not very specific for a Cajun I know.” The girl smiled as she looked. “Well we only have two people here by that name,” she said to both of us. “One lives in 352 and the other lives up on 1014.” I nodded and she asked, “Do you need anything else?” Weiss cut me off before I could say, “No we'll be good, thank you Miss.” The receptionist nodded and went back to her computer.
We started towards the elevator and pressed the up button. The door beeped and we stepped in after the double doors slid closed with a thud. Weiss stood at the back as I hit floor 10 on the pad figuring that a man that was that high in the organization would have a more distant apartment. Weiss nodded as the doors closed and handed me a key from her pocket. “This is the key that Voss had passed to me last night. She was not aware if they had posted anyone there so we need to be cautious,” she said as I stowed it in my pocket. I adjusted my pistol in its holster, unclasping the guard. If all else failed, I'd be emptying a magazine in however many... men were behind that door. The elevator jolted up before stopping completely and the doors slid open with a ding.
I stepped out of the elevator and quietly walked down the hall making sure to walk heel to toe on carpeted floor to avoid creaks. Weiss followed close behind treading just as light as she could in her heels. I pulled the key out and opened my coat up reaching in the tool kit that was inside the pocket. After drawing a peephole spyglass, I gestured for Weiss to stand to the right of me to take advantage of her handedness. Putting the glass up to the peephole quietly, I looked through and saw there were two men sitting down holding guns, smoking, and drinking. I held up the first three fingers of my hand, starting with the thumb, to Weiss as I saw another man pacing around talking to them with a shotgun in his hand. She nodded as I made a cocking motion and held up my thumb and made the sign for a hand gun then did hand signs for two and three. She nodded again and reached into her coat pulling out her Five-seveN. I opened my coat to her so she could take my SIG. She took it and switched hands; I figured it was because my gun had more recoil. I knelt down below the peep holes site as I gestured for her to take target two and three. She leaned to the left of the frame as I inserted the key and started to turn it. I heard the men shuffle about a bit and I heard safeties being released. Looking up at her, I looked at the door knob and back. She nodded as I turned the key the rest of the way letting it click.
After waiting a few seconds I heard footsteps approaching and heard the sound of something lightly press against the door near my head. “Of course...” I said to myself mentally, “Lady, don't fail me now.” I adjusted my footing and Weiss tightened her grip on the pistols. I leaned down and threw my weight into the door with a loud bang and reached out to grab the nearest object. My reflexes proved true as I grabbed the shotgun and tilted it up towards the stunned man's jaw as Weiss jumped in and took aim at the other two. In perfect synchronization, I pulled the trigger to the shotgun causing a rain of blood and viscera as Weiss squeezed off a quick burst of fire into the two men. I watched through the hail of gore as one man's hand rip at the wrist before being shot in the center of his clavicle and the second one's chest and forehead erupted visible spray from behind. I swung the shotgun into aiming position while ripping it from the body's hand as Weiss and I took a few steps further in.
Surprisingly, very little of the gore got on either of us. There was a small bit of grey matter on my coat, but nothing a little cold water and dish detergent couldn't clean. Weiss and I scanned the room and found no other men. I closed the door and locked it back as Weiss moved to the closed bedroom door and gestured for me to have my shotgun ready as she put up her pistol and readied mine. I she threw open the door and I leaned forward with the gun ready to shoot anyone else but there was not a soul present in the room except for us. Weiss went to inspect the bathroom as I moved a couch in front of the front door. After sitting on the couch I brushed the brain fragments off the shoulder and arm of my coat. I shook my head to bring myself into focus; the shotgun going off had addled my senses. Weiss came out of the bedroom and looked at me and shook her head and smirked. “I see your training is still good for something Herr Blood,” she said as she approached. I shrugged and replied, “Clearly luck favored me today.” She smiled and handed me my pistol. As I put it away she commented, “The Devil's own luck, ja?”
I stood up and surveyed the room. I looked at the gore of what was left of the three guards. I gestured around the room to his desk and book case. “Get the information we need, I'm going to see if they have anything important.” Weiss nodded and walked over to the desk and sat down and her fingers began rhythmically tapping at ludicrous speeds as I rummaged through the coats of the men. I started with the last one killed and knelt near the slowly spreading pool of blood. I pried the pistol from his hand and stowed it in my coat's pocket and did the same with the man next to him. I began rummaging through the first man's pockets and found a wallet. I briefly glanced at the name and shrugged because I wouldn't remember it; he was just another nameless casualty from the organization. There was some cash in it so I pocketed that. I moved to the next corpse and began sifting through his person. I didn't really find anything except for some cigarettes.
“Gross,” I mumbled as I put them back in his pocket. Weiss spoke up, “What? Too much of a mess for you to handle?” I chuckled as I stood up and looked at her. “No he just smokes a disgusting brand,” I said and she let out a light laugh as she continued searching on the computer. I walked over to what was left of the first target. There was a giant pool of blood pouring from the stump where his head used to be. I checked his jacket pockets and found a set of keys that weren't for a car or a house so I pocketed them just to be sure. I found some money in his wallet and took it as well. The smell of the blood was getting to me; I was starting to get a dissociative feeling. That voice spoke up,
Such a pleasant aroma “Blood”, isn't it? You can't resist it much longer can you?
I watched as the blood slowly began to trickle across the floorboards to my fingertips. Weiss's voice rang out, anchoring my sense back into my body, “I found what we were looking for, love.” I sighed and wiped the sweat from my brow with my free hand as I pulled my resting hand away causing the trail to stop abruptly.
I stood up and moved behind the desk and leaned over her shoulder as she pointed at the screen. “Look,” Weiss said trailing her nail on the screen, “they have a location near the port. There's also a notation that police were there...” I looked at it and shook my head speaking up, “That's where the first body was found.” Weiss nodded as I kept reading. I leaned back and scratched my jaw and thought to myself, “What do this asshole’s tools have to do with my case.” Weiss spoke up as if she read my mind, for all I knew she probably did. “Maybe the killer has ties to the organization, but not directly affiliated with them?” she said as she pulled out a thumb drive that she used quite regularly. As the PC recognized it, her program shell opened locking out all outside interference as well as modifying the computers systems. She copied the files to the thumb drive and looked up at me through her glasses. “The twins did really well with this protocol, don't you think?” she asked. I nodded as the file finished saving. She withdrew it and I moved towards the couch in front of the door.
“Strange,” I muttered to no one in particular. Weiss walked across the room avoiding the blood and stood next to me. “What?” she asked as I moved the couch to the side so that it looked like it was set there in the first place. I gestured around the room. “Don't you find it odd that we haven't had anyone banging on the door?” I asked as I stowed the shotgun under my coat. She looked down in thought and nodded replying back, “That is rather peculiar.” I shrugged and grabbed the knob with my coat sleeve and opened it. After stepping out with Weiss, I closed the door and locked it. I wiped this knob too and then the key before kicking it underneath the door into the apartment. I looked to my left and noticed a woman in a red pea coat with long black hair down the hall. The hair was obscuring most of her features from that distance. I had tensed up my muscles in my arms instinctively and felt a soft caress of nails on my wrist. “What is it Blood?” Weiss said looking down at me? I glance back towards the woman and didn't see any semblance of another person in the hall. “It's nothing Fraulein,” I said to Weiss as I hurried her to the elevator. I pressed the floor key and noticed a glint of metal down the hall as the doors slid closed.
We left the way we came and waved to the girl at reception. She smiled and asked, “Did you choose the right one?” Weiss nodded and replied back, “Yes we did, he happened to have been the first one you mentioned. So we lucked out didn't we?” The girl smiled and waved, “Well, have a good day.” I tilted my head to acknowledge her and Weiss waved as we left. Weiss sighed as we wandered down the side walk as she held her hand in the pocket with the flash drive. “That was a bit messy,” she said as she stayed near my side. I nodded and pulled out a pair of my kreteks and lit them at the same time. Puffing a couple times I handed one to her as I said, “It could have been worse, they all could have had shotguns.” She laughed as we kept down the street. The kids playing earlier had left and I noticed that the sky had gotten darker. I led her to the car letting her in. I slid the shot gun and extra pistols into an empty guitar case in the trunk. After situating myself and plugging my mp3 player back into the radio, I put my car in drive and we started heading back to Weiss's apartment.
As we turned the block we noticed cops pulling up to the building we had left. I nodded and mumbled, “How fortuitous.” Weiss hummed along to Fascination Street as she pulled her tablet out and plugged the drive in. I heard the quick but light tapping ensue as we got onto the interstate and continued towards her home. Flicking the ashes out the window I looked at her as I switched lanes. “So, anything useful in those files you took?” I asked as I maneuvered around cars to get into the middle lane of the interstate. She shook her head and let out a small haze of smoke from her mouth. “There is a lot to go over here, I will need some extra hands if we're going to continue along our projected time frame,” she said as she flicked the ashes out her window. I shrugged and felt my phone go off in my pocket; the vibrations making me twitch slightly. It was only a single buzz so I figured it was a text message. I decided it'd be best to wait until we were at least off the highway. I wasn't too comfortable messaging during a storm, going 80 down the highway with Weiss in tow. After taking a quick look at the exit we had just passed I realized that the next was the one we needed. I switched lanes again as Weiss threw the butt out of her window before lighting up another of her own. “Remind me when we get home, I can refill your tin,” she said as we took the exit ramp. I nodded feeling a migraine coming on. Back when I had a regular job I had a reasonable sleep schedule but all this overnight work was still messing with my head.
After a going down the road for a while we came to one of the newer sub-divisions in town As we pulled up to the gate I flipped down my vanity mirror and pulled a card from the strap on it. After placing it in the scanner the gate opened slowly. We drove down the lane as I inspected the area. It was very nice, one of the few gated communities I had been in that was actually very secure. We continued down the back to the larger apartments, which in reality were just houses for rent. Weiss had put some resources to use and had actually purchased one of them outright from the owners. She had her... methods and they worked well enough that we could have a nice location to hide out at that was inconspicuous. People just assumed she was one of the high end tenants and she had a good rapport with them. I pulled up into her garage next to her Mustang. After the doors closed she stowed her tablet and got out to unlock the door.
As she opened the door I pulled my phone out and saw the screen read “Slave: 1 Text Message” I clicked enter on it to read her general daily message of, “Hey daddy.” I nodded to myself as I told her that “I am in the middle of working a case, I will be online later tonight. Weiss and I just got back to her house.” After a few seconds the phone buzzed back with her response, “Okay.” I went inside the door that Weiss had left open for me. She was taking off her coat and hanging it as I stepped through the frame. She gestured at the rack afterward and I hung mine up too as I walked about the house. She walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and pulled out some tea she had made. “Thirsty?” she asked as she poured herself a glass. I shook my head and she nodded as she took her glass and walked through the living room to her ground floor office. She sat down at her desk and connected her tablet to it and began a synchronization of the files she edited and whatever else. I held my head and felt it swimming as I leaned against the wall.
She tapped on the monitor hard to get my attention. “Look,” she said running her nail on it, “here's some more reports pertaining to your case.” I pushed myself up feeling woozy as I walked heavily next to her. Supporting myself on the desk I leaned in and started reading about the different deaths that had occurred as well as the states of the bodies. All of them had that same Grin across their face that Voss had. Weiss pulled up another document. “Look here, love. The report says that police are following these murders as if it's a serial killer. What are your thoughts?” she said as she looked up at me. I felt a massive migraine on as I felt my brain subconsciously processing all the information and drawing the lines I need.
I looked down at her with a grimace on my face, “These murders don't make sense for a serial killer. Unless the killer is attacking differently than the police think. Sure so far it's been mostly criminals and street trash, but there've also been students from the local colleges. The only link would be their age. And that doesn't even make much sense as to why they are choosing these specific people.” She nodded and crossed her arms. “There've even been a few children killed this way... I don't think it's copycats either. See the way these scars are show it's done with a something smooth, not jagged,” she said. I shrugged, “That doesn't even disprove copy-cats. I mean, all it takes is a smooth edged weapon...”
I paced slightly and said, “Tell the Chimera to cross reference all the murders and get me any information on the way the scars were made. Weiss nodded and typed them a message into an instant messenger. It let out a ding and it popped up, “We are researching right now, give us a few hours and we'll have it all marked up with notations for you and Blood to go over White Queen.” Weiss nodded and pointed at it and I nodded in return. “Very well then,” Weiss typed. She set her status to away and looked up at me. “Are you okay Blood? You're looking pale, well paler than usual,” she said as she crossed her right leg over the other. I looked to my right and through my hair, “Feeling kind of dizzy right now and I have a horrible migraine. The usual.”
She looked at the clock on the wall and I followed her gaze. It read 3:00pm. She shook her head and looked at me, “You haven't eaten at all since last night have you?” I used the desk as leverage and pushed myself back up straight shook my head. Weiss let out a sigh and stood up. “Here, I can at least make you a something to tide you over until I make dinner,” she said as she walked towards the kitchen. I followed her and sat down in the dining area. She was humming a song that I recognized but the name of it escaped me as I fought off the throbbing sensation in my temples. I heard a faucet turn on amidst the screeching in my skull. Shortly afterward the sound of water stopped and I was left with that horrible high-pitched sound.
Weiss set a plate down in front of me while I was massaging my right temple and forehead. It was a large sandwich, massive. I lifted it up as she sat down across from me, setting a glass in front of me and then her. Taking a bite from it I felt my stomach easing. I hadn't realized how hungry I was. I chewed slowly savoring the simple ham sandwich. She smiled as she drank from her glass of water. “Looking better already, love,” she said setting it down and pulling out a kretek from the tin in her white coat. I looked up at her as I hungrily devoured it. She lit up the kretek and the scent of vanilla filled the room as I finished my sandwich. “You know,” I said between long sips from my water, “if you would pay me on a regular basis, I wouldn't have to go hungry like this.” She nodded as she blew a plume of smoke to the side. “Yes but I mean otherwise I wouldn't have the pleasure of seeing you except for work,” she said with a wink. I finished my glass and stood up and felt the migraine quieting at least to a dull headache. I filled my glass up again from the tap and leaned back against the counter.
She turned the chair around and said, “Well tonight I'll transfer you some money, it should be there in the morning. You should go out with Voss and see if she can give you information.” She blew another cloud of smoke at me and adjusted her glasses. “She mentioned something about how she felt more comfortable giving you information, but I guess with time she'll be more responsive to me, ja?” she asked as she flicked the ashes into the ashtray on the table. I shrugged and took a drink from the glass before saying, “Speaking of the ginger, where is she?” Weiss raised her eyes to the ceiling. “I assume she's still in one of the guest rooms. She said she hadn't slept in a bed like that in a while,” Weiss said finishing the kretek and putting the butt in the tray. I pulled out my cellphone to check the time; it read that it was now 15:35. “She's been asleep for a long time then,” I said looking at Weiss. She nodded and gestured for me to sit down I shook my head and rested my head against the wall. She stood up and rubbed my forehead looking at my face intently. “You're getting bags under your eyes again; you should take a nap, love,” she said as she rubbed the patch of hair on my chin. I pulled away and she smirked as she saw the fatigue behind my movements. “Go upstairs, you can use my room since the other guest room is a bit of a mess right now,” Weiss said as she took the dishes and set them in the sink.
I sighed with a nod and slowly walked up the stairs trying to be as quiet as possible. I passed by the two guest rooms and heard some snoring through one of them. I stopped in front of the door and quietly opened it and looked in. Voss was wrapped up in a comforter facing the door letting out rhythmic snores. I closed the door lightly and head down the hall to Weiss's bedroom. I shook my head as I saw the engraving she had on her door of Lilith. I noticed for the first time that she had carvings of succubi set at the corners of the ceiling. I shook my head with a smirk as I turned the knob and entered the room. It was full of the color red, much more than I remembered from last time. I took off my boots and set them next to the door frame as I climbed up onto the bed. I didn't even bother covering myself up as I laid down on my side and held my head. I felt a throbbing in my head as I felt my eyelids getting heavy. I blinked them open slightly as I noticed movement and as I felt my eyes closing a small figure moved up leveled with my face. It looked like a young girl with long black hair and umber eyes. She slightly smiled exposing a far larger grin than humanly possible and I tried to open my eyes to check but I was just so tired that I felt myself falling into a haze of grey before everything turned black.
