Work Text:
Overse crept towards the house. She had her stakes in her bandolier, her Magen David around her neck, and her sword in her hand. She would not be taken by surprise when she got there.
If this was even the right place. People had been surprisingly willing to point her here when she’d asked if there were rumors of a vampire, strange things at night, dead animals found exsanguinated, all the usual signs.
She knew Preservation had a vampire. Her grandmother, of blessed memory, had told her of one she’d chased until it hopped a ship and flew off to start a colony planet. That was how she’d gotten to this city — she’d looked up Consuela Makeba, tried (and failed, curse you planets with actually private records) to find direct descendants, and when that failed, she’d decided to come out to the city Makeba had moved to to raise its “child” after retirement. Then she’d started asking around.
The instant she’d said “vampire,” she’d been pointed to one Dr. Arada, supposedly only a few years older than Overse was, who had moved back here during graduate school and was very active in the local goth scene.
“Calls herself a vampire, she does,” one of the older folks had said. “She’s just one of those kids, dressing in all black and running around pretending they hate their families. They’ll get over it.”
Well, a lead was a lead. And Overse was starting to feel the thrill of the hunt. She’d been after a good fight for a while. And the vampires she’d been contracted to get rid of on Port FreeCommerce hadn’t been it. But one of her regular contractors, a middle manager almost certainly acting as a corporate cut-out, had offered her a lot of money for this job. Find Preservation’s vampire, kill it, and make it nice and obvious for the freeholders that harboring creatures of the night wasn’t smart for anyone.
She didn’t like that part, if nobody had noticed mysterious deaths then it was a waste of her effort to track it down, but money off her debt was money off her debt. And it was nice to have a smart opponent.
So she’d followed the trail all the way out to this house and hoped she could get it over with fast.
The house was well-kept and didn’t look dilapidated at all. Overse preferred the abandoned mansions; most of the vampires living there were monsters she didn’t feel bad about killing. A community member like this one was harder to justify to her rabbi (she hated how easy it was to justify to herself).
She settled herself in the forest to wait and watch.
It was only a few minutes later when a young woman about her own age wearing black hurried up the path. It had to be the vampire.
Or it had had to be, until the person knocked. “Arada! Are you okay? You haven’t been in town for a few days, did something happen?”
The vampire opened the door. She was short and not very obviously vampiric, although her skin was a medium purple inexpertly covered with brown makeup likely in her original skin tone. She wasn’t wearing black, she wore a green dress and smiled brightly. “I got distracted with a project I haven’t picked up in, oh, I don’t know, at least two millennia. Sorry about that, Pin-Lee. You want to come in and have tea anyways?”
“Nah, I have to get back, but you haven’t fed in a couple days. I came by to ask if you need it.”
“I fed yesterday. Ratthi came by and offered. I just got distracted, you know how it is.”
“You’ve got a problem, Arada. Not even human and you still neglect eating to work.”
The vampire clearly rolled her eyes and laughed. “Shush, you. I have cookies too, if you’d like.”
Overse snuck closer to the house. She’d like to know what was going on. Vampires didn’t laugh. They sucked their donors dry. They didn’t offer tea and cookies.
“Little hunter in the woods, do you want to come in?”
Fuck, the vampire saw her.
It didn’t seem murderous. She’d comply. Murderous vampires she didn’t mind staking.
“My name is Dr. Arada, and this is my friend, Pin-Lee. You are welcome in my house and will not be mistreated, I give you my word and bond.”
Fuck, the vampire followed the old ways. Overse touched her Magen David and slunk over to the porch. “Overse.”
No last name, no further information. She’d be smart.
Pin-Lee waved and promised to be back later, then left Overse alone with the vampire.
The inside of the vampire’s house was bright and sunny. Overse’s threat assessment slowly dropped; she couldn’t trust the vampire, but she didn’t seem to have it out for her.
(If she was a villain, the vampire clearly only murdered fabric. That was a lot of unfinished projects lying around all cut up.)
“So, little hunter, who sent you to find me?”
Overse stared away from her.
“You need not answer that if you don’t want to. Sorry, forget I asked. Tea? I have a few types. I’ll make it in a pot too, you can see we’d both be drinking the same thing.”
Overse shook her head. “I’m fine.”
“I’ll make myself one, then. Do you mind to follow me to the kitchen? It’s better for discussions with potentially hostile hunters.”
Fine, she’d follow. There was an odd lack of the usual hallmarks of a vampire lair. She even– “Is that a crucifix?”
Was that an embarrassed snort from the vampire? “I don’t see why a minor intolerance means I should have to give up my religion. Besides, it’s not as if it’s going to do any worse damage than going outside will.”
Overse touched her Magen David reflexively. “Huh.” This was definitely one of the weirder vampires she’d seen. “You have a fascinating approach to unlife.”
That one was definitely an embarrassed snort. “I was turned before viable intersystem flight. It comes with the territory. I’ve had six thousand years to free myself from my ass of a sire and do the exact opposite of what she did. I’m guessing you’re usually tossed at the young ones and the idiots.”
“I do what I get paid for. And what gets me a decent fight.”
“That’s a way to live. You sure you don’t want tea or something?” The vampire’s kitchen was bright with artificial lighting and curtains pulled across the windows. It was a pretty space despite that, painted in white and a few different yellows, as well as a mural of cheery flowers being pollinated by… yeah, those were some sort of bat as well as the usual bugs. Well, vampires were predictable.
Well, maybe it wouldn’t hurt. “I suppose.”
“Great! You can just sit down, I’ll handle it. So, I’m guessing someone in town pointed you to me?”
“Everyone. You don’t hide, do you?”
“I’m telling the truth. If they don’t believe it, it’s their problem.” Arada shrugged and put a jade tea kettle on the stove. “If you stake me, stick around long enough to explain to Ratthi what happened? He deals with my plants and I’d like him to know he’s got to take them permanently.”
“You’re fatalistic.”
“You want to kill me again. In a way, preferably, that leaves me unable to return. It comes with the territory.”
She had a point. “I don’t go after vampires randomly. I wouldn’t do this contract if I wasn’t being paid, and frankly I’m not being paid enough for this contract to take out a community member whose mysterious death would be noticed even with the extra fee for hitting someone not actively a serial killer. Politically motivated I can do, getting myself arrested for murder would cost four or five times as much as I charged.” Overse grimaced. “Much as I hate to admit it, I’m probably not collecting this one.”
It was, surprisingly, true. She’d spent too many years killing vampires. This was a higher-risk contract than anything she’d taken, even when desperate, and knowing now what she did, she’d have turned the contract down flat. She liked the fight, that didn’t mean she was stupid enough to pick one with someone who not only had more experience than the average vampire but was also likely to be investigated should anything happen. Especially since Arada clearly had friends who liked her. Including one who’d seen her face.
“That’s good,” Arada said. She took a deep breath, though they both knew no vampire need breathe. “Look, Pin-Lee does immigration law sometimes. Sh– you said a contract, that means Rim. Debt or a job or both? She can help, you could move to Preservation and get out of probably all of your Rim obligations.”
That… was a pretty good offer, actually. “I like that. Can you put me in contact with her?”