SteeleKizz, Inc

The Call

    Katarina had settled into the swiveling chair behind the dark mahogany wood desk.  She was feeling regal and important in this small room with just a couple of tall, thin curtained windows.  Awaiting for her next client to arrive, she flipped through her log book and calendar confirming her day’s appointments.  To keep her business secret, she leased a space in an apartment complex that the landlords had trouble renting due to its minimal size.  It was big enough that she fit in a love seat and a couple of high back chairs, her desk and chair, along with a small wall bar off to the side.  Some could classify it as a small studio apartment.  Either way, it fit perfectly for her as a quaint overseas office, away from eyes and ears that may pry in on her bustling new business.  

She smoothed out her knee length skirt and toyed with the cuff of the matching jacket.  Her first client, much like herself, was foreign to this country.  Most of her client’s preferred the autonomous route, keeping their identities discreet from public scrutiny. 

Today’s scheduled clients were no different.  Offshore bank accounts with Jane or John Doe names, even going so far as hiring someone to meet her in their place with a listing of wants and needs.  

She’d brought along her catalog of photos of purchases she’d made at the auctions.  She would be glad when she could recoup the money she’d spent.  

The office phone rang causing her to look up intrigued on who might be calling.  It was rare that a client called the day of an appointment to cancel or reschedule.  She picked it up and put it against her ear.  

“Yes?” she asked.  Very few had her number.  Casual greetings were far and few.

“Camilla Katarine Krzysztof?” A strict, callous female voice came through the line.

Katarina’s body tensed up hearing her given name come to her from out of thin air.

“Possibly,” she replied with much trepidation.

“Very good then.  I have your attention.”

“You do.” Kat stated.  She glimpsed over to the business phone to see if she recognized the number.  Private.  Kat nervously looked around the room trying to see if any one may have installed some type of monitoring system.  Her dark painted walls were as she left them the last visit.

“Camilla, I seek out your skills and services, not for as they end up being.  But, how you obtain them.  There is a boy, a man by now.  My sources tell me that you are familiar with him, if not professionally, then personally.”

Kat sat back in her seat, her palms becoming clammy, her eyes darting this way and that.  “I’m listening.”

“Good.  I need him.”

Kat couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  Could this be one of the many prospects from the art shows calling her to lay claim on her own side piece?  It couldn’t be. 

“Are you listening, Camilla?  You must listen to me and be precise.  If you already have him in your possession, keep him there until I come to claim him.  Do you know if he is still human?”

Kat scoffed at her anticipatory expectations that Kat would hand over Jaxon so casually.  She had her own stake in him.  

“What do you mean, human?”  Kat asked.  “I do have access to him at my own leisure.  What is in it for you?”

“Don’t you worry about why I want him, just that I want him. There is no price too high for the likes of him.  If he’s human, he’ll be an easy sacrifice.  If he’s not, I have a lot more work cut out for me.  Especially, if he was changed by another of my own caliber.:

Kat cradled the phone between her ear and shoulders.  Crossing her arms, she leaned back in the seat.  

“That boy, or man, is not for sale.  He’s my own property.  I’m not sure how you heard of him, but there is not a price tag for him.  You don’t have enough money…”

“I can take you for every breath you breathe and every eye lash you bat, you foolish mortal.”  The female's voice turned cold and calculative.  “I can end your life just as quickly as you could sit up straight in your chair.  I know things that you may never understand.  This is my target, not your’s.  Do you understand me, Camilla?  I know of your own family back home.  Remember your aging father?  His blood tastes like rich clover honey tainted with a pence.  Or how about your crippled younger sister?  I’m sure she’d love to see the day when she’s no longer bound to her chair.  Test me you insolent child.”

Kat ground her teeth together seething at the last bit of information that this person, woman, had on her.  She’d kept her own family ties private.  How did this person know about it?

“I know his where abouts.  He resides in my home back across the large murky pond.  I presume you already know about that as well.  But why come to me?  Asking me this information, when you know so much as it is.?”

A nasally huff pierced the silent phone line.  “There is much more to him that I originally counted on.  It seems he’s got someone protecting him. Shielding his presence from me.  To harm that protector, would end my own life.  I wish to complete my mission before that’s a possibility.  Now, tell me, child, is he still  human?”

Kat swallowed a pit of disgust thinking over everything that’s been spoken.  “Human?  I still don’t fully understand.  Can you tell me anything more, clarify?

“Is he a vampire or has he turned into some furry beast?  Wolf, perhaps?  That’s what I’m meaning.”

A slow insidious grin crossed Kat’s face hearing this bit of further information.  “I was not aware that the dark side of the earth, hid tose type of secrets.  You must tell me more.  First, as I am aware, he’s still human.  None of those other things from fairy tales.”

“Child, they, we, are no fairy tale.  We exist in the here and now, just like yourself.  It is good to know that he still has his human side.  Once he changes, my plans change.  For now, keep him firmly anchored at bay.  Watch him.  The time will come soon, I’ll send you payment to obtain my target.”

    “I will do my best.  So that I know who and where this payment will be coming from other than a voice over the phone.  What is your name?”

“All you need to know is Murial.  I will be in touch.”

“I can’t wait to hear from you…”  Before she could say much more the line went dead.  She had but a few seconds before her client would arrive.

“Jaxon, my dear, what has a vampire got on you that I don’t?  This is very, very interesting indeed.”