I should have known

[Ron Caliburn]

I really should have learned by now that I am better off staying at home when the date reads Friday the 13th. I’ve been bitten, clawed, stabbed and shot on that inauspicious day. I’ve wound up arrested, hospitalized and committed on that thirteen times cursed day.

So I really should have just stayed in, but it was a full moon and I knew things would be stirring.

The night actually started off pretty well. My daughter provided a distraction that allowed me to avoid questions as I grabbed my kit and slipped out the door. I’d have to leave Mr. Fluffers at home this time. He wasn’t moving all that fast anymore and had earned a rest.

It didn’t take long for my luck to change . . . or rather go back to its usual.

No sooner had I quietly latched the back gate behind me than an enthusiastic voice boomed from the shadows.

“Howdy Mr. G!”

I’d forgotten that my daughter’s favours always come at a price. In this case, she expected me to do some babysitting. On the other hand, maybe she wanted someone to babysit me. Probably both, knowing the way her mind works.

“Remy . . .” I could never pronounce the kid’s full name, some sort of Italian thing. ”I’d rather . . .”

“. . . get a ride downtown in my care because your car is still in the garage?”

She’d coached him. Great.

“Listen kid . . .” Kid may not be the best term; he was half a head taller than me and about half again as wide across the shoulders to boot. Still he was young, a bit naive and he seemed to have some sort of weird hero worship thing going on. That sort of thing could easily make him wind up dead some time. “I’m grateful for the offer, but I usually do this sort of thing alone.”

“Well tonight you don’t have to, I’ll be with you.” He was clearly excited by the possibility.

He wasn’t going to make it easy. “Remy, you should go home and hang out with your brothers tonight.”

“Naw, they are out getting their freak on tonight.” The phrasing sent a shiver down my spine. I really needed to send the kid home.

“Remy, think a minute. What did my daughter promise you?” He started to open his mouth, I knew what was coming so I cut it off. “Not what you think she promised you, what did she actually promise you?”

He thought hard but said nothing. Cynthia is very, very circumspect with her commitments.

“Precisely, so I appreciate the gesture, but you aren’t owed anything tonight, so how about you head home instead?”



“Aww . . . come on Mr. G.” His eyes were wide, shining in the moonlight.

I shook my head. “This ain’t like playing with the tools in my shop, people get hurt and die out there.”

His face stretched downwards like a kid who’d just lost his ice cream.

Son of a … “Fine, you can give me a ride then.”

“Alright!” he reached out for a fist bump. I looked at the fist and then looked at him.

He nodded. “Quit while I’m ahead, got it.” He opened up the trunk for my gear.

He kept talking while we drove down town, but I tuned him out pretty quickly. Some nods, a well-timed grunt here and there and he was content to carry on the conversation with himself. I was focusing on what might be out there tonight; lots of monsters loved the full moon.

Remy just droned on and on, oblivious. But then again, neither of us knew what we were about to get into.

[Ron Caliburn]

The full moon was hanging large in the sky by the time we got downtown. I directed Remy past the more fashionable, well-lit areas. The gentrification of the downtown core had forced the street people to the fringes around the downtown. As the prey moved, the predators would follow. So, to make the most impact we needed to go to the least pleasant parts of town.

“Here.” I said. “Let me off here.”

“You can’t be serious.” Remy said, “I can’t park in this neighbourhood, the car will be up on blocks the moment we turn the corner.”

“You could just let me off and drive back home to where your car will be safe.” I told him, hoping he’d like that plan.

“Awww man.” He groaned, pulling up to the curb. “How long we gonna be here?”

“Until sunrise.” I advised. “You can go if you get tired.”

He gave a scoff at that one. He and I both knew him getting tired would not be an issue.

We got out of the car, grabbed our stuff from the trunk and started walking.

“This place is nothing but hobos and hookers.” Remy observed after about an hour.

“Not to mention a lot of addicts.” I added. “Or as I call them, people.”

“Well of course their people, but why are we guarding around these people? There’s more people around the clubs downtown. Something could do a lot of damage there.”

“There’s too many people downtown, too much light as well. Makes it harder for the predators to sneak up on their prey. Worse, since those people downtown have wealth, they are important. If one of them goes missing, it makes news. A dozen of the street people could go missing tonight and the police wouldn’t do anything more than shrug.”

I stopped and looked up at Remy. “I thought you’d understand that nothing attracts a predator like easy prey.”

“Well, yeah . . . I just . . . are these people that much easier?”

Why did I feel like I was teaching the wolf how to pick the tastiest sheep?

“Yeah, take a moment and look at these people, I mean really look at them. Tell me what you see.”

“Okay, well there’s a hooker on the corner there, a family living in a car across the road, a couple of bums … “

“That’s not really looking.” I cut him off. “The hooker, look at her some more, tell me about her.”

He gave me a sidelong glance then went back to looking at the girl working the corner. “She’s young . . . like really young. Shouldn’t she be at home doing her homework?”

“Yes, but she’s not, see if you can figure out why.”

“Okay.” He watched her some more. “She’s thin, bony even. She doesn’t eat a lot.”

“Yeah, she’s also got a nasty bruise she’s covered up with makeup. Probably her pimp keeps her skinny because fat hookers don’t make so much money. Besides, it’s cheaper for him if he doesn’t buy much food for her. The hunger also makes her desperate to earn cash, so she won’t be picky about her clients. That’s what makes her easy pretty to something that wants a victim who will come along quietly. If she does wind up dead, the pimp won’t care; he’ll just get another girl to beat on.”

“We gotta help her. I’m going to get her out of here.” Remy said, starting to walk towards her. I grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

“You can’t help her that way. I’ve tried. She’ll just come back here. Scaring off her pimp won’t help either; she’ll just wind up with another one.”

“So she wants to be here?”

“No. She hates being here; she just doesn’t understand that she’s good enough to be somewhere else. That applies to a lot of the people here. They have something that makes them think they aren’t worthy of a better life. Maybe they have a brain that works a little differently than most, or their hooked on something or maybe their whole life they just heard how worthless they are.

“The point is; trying to help them won’t work unless they decide they are worth the help. That’s why I get out and walk among them, talk to them, get to know them, let them know they have a chance at better. If they decide they want to take that chance, I help them. If they don’t, there’s nothing I could do that will help.”

He nodded. “And, in the meantime, you’re here when something tries for some easy meat.”

He wasn’t as dumb as he sometimes came across.

“I was kinda hoping I’d get to save one of the pretty girls from the club.” He sighed

Then again. . .

[Ron Caliburn]

We continued like that for several hours. Remy got the idea of looking at the people of the street as vulnerable, easy prey for something looking to take a human life pretty easily, but it took him longer to get why they were on the streets and why they just didn’t go somewhere else. It took a while to get him used to not trying to pull them off to a shelter or something.

The night had been strangely quiet. A surprisingly cold May night had pushed all the human predators off the street leaving only those who felt they had no other options.

We’d had no signs of trouble for so long that it had turned mostly into a walk around. I’d even bought the kid a hot dog from a street vendor while we chatted about what sort of things would take advantage of the various people we’d encountered.

But of course that peace didn’t last.

We’d just past an alley when Remy froze. I looked back at him, watching his nostrils flare slightly.

“Something dead walked down that alley.”

So much for the rest of our hot dogs.

I nodded, slipping my hands to my Piece and my new Blade. It’d taken a few years to make I since the old one broke, and now I was finally going to get the chance to use it.

Remy turned and started into the alley, I moved to the far wall and slid along beside him.

“You look hungry.” A woman’s voice echoed up the alley.

“It’s been a long time” came the reply. The voice was cold.

“I see, well, you gonna show me the cash?” Her voice was undeterred, unsuspecting.

We’d moved far enough down the alley that we could see the action. A tall, bony fellow with corpse-like skin and a surprisingly healthy looking working girl were engaged in a business negotiation between the dumpsters.

I gave Remy a hand signal to wait for my move.

He kept going, stepping out into the sight of the hooker.

“Hey, you gotta get out of here.” The hooker said, turning to face Remy. “You’re in danger.”

“I was just about to say the same to you.” Remy replied as I moved around him to make a clear fire lane.

“YOU!” came a growl as I stepped out into view.

“Yeah me.” I pointed my Piece at the walking corpse. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I’m going to kill you!”
The hooker launched herself at me, closing the distance between us in a heartbeat. As she leapt her features twisted, her mouth and nose elongating into a snout, her eyes turning yellow, her ears growing pointed. I had just enough time to duck the charge and she hurtled past me.

“Werewolf!” Remy yelled as he threw himself at my now fur-covered assailant. “I got her!”

“You gotta be kidding me.” The corpse man and I said at the same time.

[Ron Caliburn]

The corpse man and I made eye contact. “Just my luck” he muttered with a self-mocking laugh, then made a break for a fire escape.

“No you don’t.” I brought up my Piece and opened up at the copse man as he clambered up the fire escape. I scored a few hits, slowing him down for a moment with my silver tips, but he still kept moving.

I gave a glance at Remy and the she-wolf, they were throwing down on each other full tilt, but he seemed to be holding his own, so I reloaded and ran up the fire escape after the corpse man.

A six-story climb later I stepped out onto the flat roof of the building and started looking around for the corpse man. He came at me from behind a vent shroud with a swipe of his taloned fingers that left a gouge in my chest plate.

“Armour? Really? That’s hardly fair.”

“You should talk.” I slashed with my Blade to give myself space then brought up my Piece again.

The corpse-man grabbed my arm and tossed me across the roof before I could pull the trigger.

With superhuman speed, he was on top of me before I could get my feet, but he wasn’t expecting me to be ready for him, burying my Blade deep into his stomach.

“Son of a bitch!” he pushed himself off my weapon. “What are you? Some kind of pro?”

“I don’t do this for money.” I replied, swinging my blade for his throat. He got a block in the way and I wound up carving a chunk from his arm instead. A piece of dead flesh fell bloodlessly to the ground.

“You bastard.” He struck me with the same arm, he didn’t appear to be impaired by the injury in the least.

We continued to clash on the roof for some time. He was fast enough to keep close to me so I couldn’t any good shots with my Piece, but each time he put himself within reach of my Blade I took a piece of him. Not that he didn’t get his licks in on me, rather than trying to drive his talons through my armour, he went with hitting me hard, relying on the impact of his blows to do the damage.

While this all was going on, I couldn’t keep track of what was happening down below with Remy and the she-wolf. Still, I could hear metal banging and brick crumbling, so I knew whatever was happening, it was violent.

“I mean really, why are you doing this?” the corpse man asked for what seemed like the twentieth time. “I was just trying to have a snack.” He went tried to grab me to crush me, leaving himself open for the Blade.

I drove it deep into his chest, in a human anatomy, I would have cleanly bisected the heart.

“Awww, damnit!” without missing a beat he caught me with a follow up punch that sent me sprawling towards the edge of the roof, I could feel my ribs crack from the force of the blow.

“I really liked this shirt,” He pulled my Blade from his chest. “and you ruined it.”

He caught me with a kick before I finished getting to my feet, launching me off the rooftop.

[Nemesis]

I got into a bit of trouble over this. Momma wasn't happy to hear about it.

[Ron Caliburn]

You weren't the only one.

[Ron Caliburn]

Of course, he made the mistake of looking over the edge to watch me fall.

I’d managed to snag the fire escape just before it got out of reach, so when he looked over, I was hanging there, waiting.

I drilled him right between the eyes with a shot from my Piece. His head snapped backwards confirming the hit.

One down.

I looked below me into the alleyway. Remy and his playmate had been having a grand old time. Dumpsters had been overturned, masonry smashed and pavement torn up. Both of them were standing, eyeing each other over a space of about five paces. She was jawing at him, but I was far enough up that I couldn’t make out what she was saying.

Not that it mattered though, she’d taken a shot at me, it was time to return the favour.

It was a tough shot at this range with a pistol, which is why my first caught her in the shoulder instead of dead centre. She was fast enough that she was already out of the way of my follow up. I chased her out the alley with what was left of my magazine; I don’t think I managed a solid hit though.

“What the F man?” Remy shouted up at me. “I had that.”

“It’s a classic trick; they lure you into a pause while they regenerate. Then they attack at nearly full strength.” I called down.

“We were negotiating.” He replied. “Also, that doesn’t look comfortable.”

“That’s because it isn’t.” Did I forget to mention I’d snagged it with my boot and was hanging upside down by one leg the whole time?

“Do you need help?”

“No . . .” I tried to lever myself back up, causing my boot to immediately slip from where it was wedged.

Fortunately, Remy was both strong and fast, stopping my fall before I hit bottom.

“Thanks.” I said, after he set me down on my feet. “I’ll buy you a new shirt.” I gestured at the shirt that had been torn to tatters during the fight in the alley.

“Really? Thanks.”

So, that is the bulk of the tale. The she-wolf got away, and, when we got back up to the roof, the deadman was also nowhere to be found, just some pieces of skull and brain matter to prove I’d scored a hit.

[Nemesis]

It's a pity they both got away. Also, there seems to be an uptick in undead encounters in New York over the last year or so.

[Lord Shakar]

New York isn't the only place that seems to be having an uptick in Leech encounters.

[Ron Caliburn]

It was a weird fight as things have gone agaisnt the undead for me.

My Blade and my Piece seemd to make efective hits, with visible damage. Heck my last shot even scattered bone and brain matter over the roof. But none of it seemed to really bother him more than a temporary inconvenience. Other undead, when they get damaged, they care.

This guy, it didn't matter. Silver didn't seem to have any special effect either.

Usually only the really dumb undead, like zombies, don't notice theyv'e been injkured, but they are too dumb to. This guy was too smart and too aware to be a zombie.

So he's not a vampie either, otherwise he would have reacted to the silver or the holy symbols I was using.


Then there's the matter of the she-wolf.

[Lord Shakar]

Hmm, there is are a couple of variant types of vampire. I have encounted one type that holy symbols and water do not work on though silver and wood still do. The other type I have only read in some research that I was conducting.

When it comes to the were creatures. It is odd that she was working with the strange leech.

[Ron Caliburn]

Remy says she said she wasn't with the Deadman, but I obviously doubt anything she told him.

[Lord Shakar]

Always a healthy thing to do when dealing with unknown factors.

[Nemesis]

While we don't know what either was up to that night, I trust Remy on this one. Not everything that goes bump in the night in cahoots with all the other dark things. The number one type of target I was trained to engage while with the foundation were supernatural monsters precisely because they all have conflicting agendas.

[Lord Shakar]

This is very true. Many of the Monsters often fight as much against each other as they prey on normals.