Seventeen
1103 Words
“You’re a new one.” The prisoner said. As he spoke, I noticed several gaps in his mouth where teeth should have been. Beneath his unkempt form and wrinkled prison garb were lean muscles. Despite his appearances, I would need to remember that he could probably overpower me without too much effort.
Smarter. Not stronger.
I kept my charming smile pasted on my face as I closed the door behind me and tucked the key into the front pocket of my jeans.
“I am new around here. I do know that you have some information for me.” I stalked closer to him and stopped just out of his reach. I twirled my hair around my finger and tried to look coy. “Do you think you can help me?”
He crossed his arms and leaned back, resting his back against the white brick wall. “I don’t know what you think I know, but I don’t know nothin’. Can’t help. Sorry. You’re wasting your time.”
I took a step closer and bent down, putting my face near his. I turned on my charms and pushed a bit of energy his way. His pupils dilated. The werewolf relaxed.
“See?” I whispered in his ear. “You’ve gotta know something. Can you help me?”
He nodded. With him under control, I relaxed a little. As long as I could keep his attention, he wouldn’t attack me.
“Now, I’m going to tell you a story and you’re going to help fill in the gaps. Deal?”
He nodded again, his eyelids drooping slightly.
“You see, I was kidnapped when I was a human. This was just a few months ago. When I woke up, my husband was murdered and I was a vampire. These jerks kept me and rented me out for the evenings, if you catch my drift. I wasn’t the only one. You know any people like that, by chance.”
He didn’t move a muscle.
“Come on, you said you’d help a girl out. You can tell me. It’s safe with me, promise.”
He opened his mouth and closed it again. “They’ll kill me,” he whispered.
“You’re safe here with me. Don’t worry about them.”
“It’s big. Organized. You won’t be able to make a difference.”
His words echoed my fear. I wouldn’t be enough to stop them. I refused to give in to defeat without trying.
“You let me worry about that, alright. I need names. Who did you work for?”
“Tucker.”
“Son of a b***h,” I said.
“What’s Tucker’s last name?”
“Smith.” It was the same Tucker.
“What other contacts did you have?”
“None. Tucker was my only contact.”
“Thank you. Can you tell me where the people you recruited went? Do they have a headquarters?” I needed something. Anything to get to Tucker.
“All I know is that I met Tucker under the bridge with the recruits.”
“What bridge?”
“The one over the river on the east side of the city.”
I had hoped for something much more useful out of the werewolf. It wasn’t nothing, but he didn’t have the specifics I needed. Or, perhaps, I didn’t know the right questions to ask.
I maintained eye contact and backed toward the door. Only when I’d reached the door and pulled out the key did I turn around to let myself out. By the time I’d slammed the door shut and locked it, he was back to himself.
“You b***h. You have no idea what you just dragged us both into.”
“Nobody has to know if you don’t tell them,” I said.
I moved over to the other cell with the demon. I looked inside and saw a scene very similar to the werewolf in the cell next door. A person, laying face up on the cot. Their shape, however, seemed to be made of liquid. The form shifted like waves on the ocean, never staying quite still.
I took a deep breath. I had no idea what to expect from a demon. The last few months had opened my mind to things I could fathom before. Vampires, werewolves, angels, demons. All the things that go bump in the night were real and I was one of them.
“Don’t just stand out there, child, come in. Come in,” the demon said. Its gravel-like voice sent chills down my spine. Her accent was thick but understandable.
It knew I was out here before I even made myself known.
I opened the door and stepped one foot inside the cell. The demon sat up on the bed but didn’t make any other moves. I couldn’t sense any aggression. Nevertheless, I kept it in my sight as I closed and locked the door behind me.
“H-hello,” I said.
“I was wondering when you would come to visit me, stranger.”
“You were?”
It smiled. I think.
“It’s been so lonely. Only that angel and the guards ever come down here. I heard you talking to the others and I hoped for company.”
This was so not what I had been expecting.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
It smiled again and winked. Its facial features rearranged themselves every few seconds. I struggled to maintain eye contact or to discern any emotion on the face.
“What’s in a name? Oh no, child, I won’t be sharing my name with you.”
I remembered hearing fairy tales growing up that knowing a name could give someone else power over that person. That couldn’t be what the demon was referring to, was it?
“Why can’t I know your name, demon?”
“Names give the hearer too much power. I won’t give.”
“Fair enough. What can I call you?”
Its face shifted again, and I couldn’t track its eyes. Without consistent eye contact, I didn’t have a chance of using my energy to get this situation in my favor.
“You may call me Zen.”
“Zen.” I chuckled. I don’t know what I expected but it was not Zen.
“And you, child?”
“Alice.”
“How lovely, Alice. Now, please, tell me why you have come?”
“Gemba says that you have connections that might help me get vengeance on the people who hurt me. Is that true?”
It crossed its legs and gave what I thought was a grin.
“Gemba is a fool. The fallen angel always has another agenda.”
“F-fallen angel?”
“Oh, he didn’t mention that part to you?”
“No. No I guess he didn’t.” I thought back on our few conversations and was sure that he hadn’t mentioned it.
“He’s playing a dangerous game, you know?”
“I didn’t come here to talk about him. Please, can you help me?”
“It depends. I know a lot of things and a lot of people.”
“Traffickers. I need to find the people that killed my family, turned me in to this,” I gestured to myself. “And they sold me. I’m sure you heard me telling your neighbor about it already.”
“I might. But I need you to do me a favor first.”
- Writer
