Not a Sidekick
Chapter 2
Ridley came in ready to work. Scratch that, he came ready to kick ass. His clothes were dark and close fitting; a thin sweater and PDU pants that somehow still looked like they cost more than most car payments. His shoes were military issue combat boots, also black and looked like they didn't see much use. In fact, I don't know that I've ever seen them before, but then again I could count on one hand the amount of times I'd ever seen Ridley out of dress clothes. Which meant we were about to go to war against this son-of-a-bitch.
He eyed me as he walked in and sighed. "And now I owe Ixtli $20."
"Twenty bucks? Why what did I do?"
"He bet me that you'd be dressed to kill despite the situation. I told him even you weren't that vain." He shook his head. "Didn't you get the call?"
"Nah, I walked into this shitstorm completely unprepared." I gestured to the closed folder in my lap. "Got briefed via impersonal folder like the peon I am. They were waiting on you to give me the rest. Apparently they're looking to do this in teams." My lips parted in an impish grin. "I'm your lacky for the evening."
Ridley groaned, mostly for show. "And here I thought Ixtli was punishment enough for one eternity."
"Shut up, you love me."
I was seated outside the Director's office in one of the expensive chairs lining the hallway, waiting on my assignment, and as it turns out, my partner for the night. We'd worked together before and while we differed about as much as brussel sprouts and rocky road ice cream, we'd sort of earned a reputation for being the trouble shooters of the ECU.
Which still didn't get me a promotion. Office politics suck.
I glanced over at Ridley as he settled himself in the chair beside me. He was about 5 foot 11, all lean muscle and iron will, with the look of someone you don't want to cross. His skin hinted at the olive complextion of italian heritage, but his dark hair had defintely come from his his father's spanish roots; a dark, very absolute black. He, like Rodney, had the look of someone who'd been a bit odd before turning; Ridley's face was made of angles. He had high, sharp cheek bones and a severe jaw that narrowed near his chin, plus one of his parents had cursed him with a long, narrow nose. Now though, there wasn't a fashion magazine out there that wouldn't kill to have him on their cover. His intense eyes were fixed on the director's door, icy blue trying to pull a superman and look through it. Or maybe laser it down.
We didn't have to wait long before the Director's personal secretary, Miranda, a severe woman of about 50 (pre vamping), came out of his office and waved us in.
Alright listen, I won't bore you with the details because, seriously, I don't care how exciting the case is or how important the little nuances are, trips to the director's office are never exciting. Ever. There was a bad vamp out there, targeting women between the ages of 20 and 50 and chewing their throats out. There seemed to be some premeditation to the act so he wasn't a rogue, acting purely on an uncontrolled instinct to feed. This guy knew was he was doing, which made him much more dangerous and a lot harder to catch.
Rogue vampires are basically like wild animals. They hunt, they feed, they make a mess and they don't really realize that killing is wrong. They do it because they're hungry. The problem is, in vampire society its forbidden to feed on a human without their permission, and its obviously even worse if you kill one. Your sire is supposed to teach you the dos and donts of the vampire world, but sometimes they don't. Sometimes a sire with turn you and leave you, which screws you over....big time. Without that guidance the chance of going rogue is probably 95%. And once you go rogue, you meet us, at which point your change of survival is zero.
There is much more to the ECU than that, but once you get to the agents, we're pretty much, detectives and executioners, carrying out the Director's orders with absolute prejudice.
Rogues are primarily driven by instinct; the instinct to feed, the instinct to kill, you get the idea. This make them predictable and easy enough to find and catch. It can get messy as hell, but its simple enough. This perp though, he knew what he was doing and he'd already avoided us multiple times. Our job was much tougher on this case than most.
We left the office, armed with information and very no nonsense orders (find the vamp, kill him) only to find Miranda talking to a cute little piece of fresh vampire ass.
I'm kidding, it was Ixtli.
The guy was leaning on Miranda's desk, casual as could be, grinning from ear to ear and telling her some story that was no doubt about Ridley, and no doubt extremely inapporpriate. You can tell already why I like the kid. He looked up and beamed at the two of us as we joined them in the lobby. He spared a moment to give his boyfriend and quick kiss before bouncing, yes I said bouncing, over to me, holding out a small duffle bag.
"Hey, Ike. I figured you'd have wanted something better for hunting in, so I swung by your place and got you a change of clothes."
The bag he handed me contained a black henley, a pair of charcol grey combat pants and my own, much more worn looking military boots. I groaned in relief. "Ridley, I'm stealing your mate and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
Ixtli grinned wider, which I would have sworn was impossible and he gave me a quick, eager hug. "I'm late for work, but I'll tell Rosie you're thinking about her. Dirty, dirty things about her." He winked mischievously.
"You do that, hunnie. The three of us will have fun later."
He giggled and waved at both of us as he hurried down the hall, off to his normal job, where there were no murderous vampires to kill.
Ridley watched him go before turning to give me an exasperated look. "You just have to flirt with him, don't you? You have to encourage him?" The vampire was smiling; this was a running gag.
"What can I say? The boys love me." I winked at him. "Gimme a minute to slip into something more comfortable, Rid, then you and I can go play."
In the bathroom I hustled out of my expensive clothes and into the combat attire Ixtli had smuggled in for me. I spared a quick moment in front of the mirror to check my hair after the shirt change.
No one would ever mistake Ridley and I for brothers. While the man is by no means short, he always looks that way next to my 6 foot 3. I'm broader than him, more muscular but not heavily so. I've always thought heavy muscle was overkill; too much of a good thing. My dark blonde hair was impeccably tousled, and my eyes were a deep teal blue, less piercing than Ridley's intense icy stare. And finally, looking at me you'd never mistaken that I'd been good looking as a mortal. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn, I don't really think I need to. Its just a fact. All vampires are attractive, its part of the deal, like I said before. Being pretty makes it much easier to lure your prey to you and get their guard down so you can feed on them. But that doesn't mean we're all created equal. I'd been given a good hand in genes, from my thick hair to my square, chisled jaw. And I thanked my parents for it every day.
Ridley was waiting out in the hall, all previous joking shoved back behind his game face. He gave me a look as I came out that said very clearly. 'Alright, now, time to work.'
He eyed me as he walked in and sighed. "And now I owe Ixtli $20."
"Twenty bucks? Why what did I do?"
"He bet me that you'd be dressed to kill despite the situation. I told him even you weren't that vain." He shook his head. "Didn't you get the call?"
"Nah, I walked into this shitstorm completely unprepared." I gestured to the closed folder in my lap. "Got briefed via impersonal folder like the peon I am. They were waiting on you to give me the rest. Apparently they're looking to do this in teams." My lips parted in an impish grin. "I'm your lacky for the evening."
Ridley groaned, mostly for show. "And here I thought Ixtli was punishment enough for one eternity."
"Shut up, you love me."
I was seated outside the Director's office in one of the expensive chairs lining the hallway, waiting on my assignment, and as it turns out, my partner for the night. We'd worked together before and while we differed about as much as brussel sprouts and rocky road ice cream, we'd sort of earned a reputation for being the trouble shooters of the ECU.
Which still didn't get me a promotion. Office politics suck.
I glanced over at Ridley as he settled himself in the chair beside me. He was about 5 foot 11, all lean muscle and iron will, with the look of someone you don't want to cross. His skin hinted at the olive complextion of italian heritage, but his dark hair had defintely come from his his father's spanish roots; a dark, very absolute black. He, like Rodney, had the look of someone who'd been a bit odd before turning; Ridley's face was made of angles. He had high, sharp cheek bones and a severe jaw that narrowed near his chin, plus one of his parents had cursed him with a long, narrow nose. Now though, there wasn't a fashion magazine out there that wouldn't kill to have him on their cover. His intense eyes were fixed on the director's door, icy blue trying to pull a superman and look through it. Or maybe laser it down.
We didn't have to wait long before the Director's personal secretary, Miranda, a severe woman of about 50 (pre vamping), came out of his office and waved us in.
Alright listen, I won't bore you with the details because, seriously, I don't care how exciting the case is or how important the little nuances are, trips to the director's office are never exciting. Ever. There was a bad vamp out there, targeting women between the ages of 20 and 50 and chewing their throats out. There seemed to be some premeditation to the act so he wasn't a rogue, acting purely on an uncontrolled instinct to feed. This guy knew was he was doing, which made him much more dangerous and a lot harder to catch.
Rogue vampires are basically like wild animals. They hunt, they feed, they make a mess and they don't really realize that killing is wrong. They do it because they're hungry. The problem is, in vampire society its forbidden to feed on a human without their permission, and its obviously even worse if you kill one. Your sire is supposed to teach you the dos and donts of the vampire world, but sometimes they don't. Sometimes a sire with turn you and leave you, which screws you over....big time. Without that guidance the chance of going rogue is probably 95%. And once you go rogue, you meet us, at which point your change of survival is zero.
There is much more to the ECU than that, but once you get to the agents, we're pretty much, detectives and executioners, carrying out the Director's orders with absolute prejudice.
Rogues are primarily driven by instinct; the instinct to feed, the instinct to kill, you get the idea. This make them predictable and easy enough to find and catch. It can get messy as hell, but its simple enough. This perp though, he knew what he was doing and he'd already avoided us multiple times. Our job was much tougher on this case than most.
We left the office, armed with information and very no nonsense orders (find the vamp, kill him) only to find Miranda talking to a cute little piece of fresh vampire ass.
I'm kidding, it was Ixtli.
The guy was leaning on Miranda's desk, casual as could be, grinning from ear to ear and telling her some story that was no doubt about Ridley, and no doubt extremely inapporpriate. You can tell already why I like the kid. He looked up and beamed at the two of us as we joined them in the lobby. He spared a moment to give his boyfriend and quick kiss before bouncing, yes I said bouncing, over to me, holding out a small duffle bag.
"Hey, Ike. I figured you'd have wanted something better for hunting in, so I swung by your place and got you a change of clothes."
The bag he handed me contained a black henley, a pair of charcol grey combat pants and my own, much more worn looking military boots. I groaned in relief. "Ridley, I'm stealing your mate and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
Ixtli grinned wider, which I would have sworn was impossible and he gave me a quick, eager hug. "I'm late for work, but I'll tell Rosie you're thinking about her. Dirty, dirty things about her." He winked mischievously.
"You do that, hunnie. The three of us will have fun later."
He giggled and waved at both of us as he hurried down the hall, off to his normal job, where there were no murderous vampires to kill.
Ridley watched him go before turning to give me an exasperated look. "You just have to flirt with him, don't you? You have to encourage him?" The vampire was smiling; this was a running gag.
"What can I say? The boys love me." I winked at him. "Gimme a minute to slip into something more comfortable, Rid, then you and I can go play."
In the bathroom I hustled out of my expensive clothes and into the combat attire Ixtli had smuggled in for me. I spared a quick moment in front of the mirror to check my hair after the shirt change.
No one would ever mistake Ridley and I for brothers. While the man is by no means short, he always looks that way next to my 6 foot 3. I'm broader than him, more muscular but not heavily so. I've always thought heavy muscle was overkill; too much of a good thing. My dark blonde hair was impeccably tousled, and my eyes were a deep teal blue, less piercing than Ridley's intense icy stare. And finally, looking at me you'd never mistaken that I'd been good looking as a mortal. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn, I don't really think I need to. Its just a fact. All vampires are attractive, its part of the deal, like I said before. Being pretty makes it much easier to lure your prey to you and get their guard down so you can feed on them. But that doesn't mean we're all created equal. I'd been given a good hand in genes, from my thick hair to my square, chisled jaw. And I thanked my parents for it every day.
Ridley was waiting out in the hall, all previous joking shoved back behind his game face. He gave me a look as I came out that said very clearly. 'Alright, now, time to work.'