Wonder why I’m even here.

Dear reader, I wish I could tell you that the vampires survived.

I can’t. We didn’t check on them, not after clearing the mission parameters. We left the zone of operations once we secured the payload.

But I did leave the cage door open. There’s a chance, a chance they made it out on their own.

There’s a chance they got away before the thunder came down.

That’s all we could do for you. Give you a little hope.

I slipped the note inside the paperback, and left the coffee shop before its owner returned, before I was spotted.

I didn’t think I’d be recognized, not here, not now, but I did not want to try to manage a conversation, there were some explanations I didn’t want to make.

Tiffany joined me outside, holding a carry package loaded with a dozen cups.

All sugary espressos. Extra cream. Disgusting.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything?” she asked, lip twisted as she looks down at me.

She knows what I did. She could have stopped me. It’s against the rules. Even for somebody who is on the inside, we’re supposed to keep secrets.

She should have stopped me.

She didn’t. She’s the one who held off. Didn’t wipe the site clean.

Besides, that note was nothing. A bit of paper with some writing on it.

Just a little breach in operational security. Deniable. She’s keeping a bigger secret for me.

Well, not keeping it. Helping me dispose of a problem. I couldn’t have come here without her, well, I could have, but there would be records of my travel, and somebody might put two and two together and come up with three or four reasons to start asking questions.

Annoying ones. With answers I didn’t want to give.

“I suppose your appointment went well.” she says as she takes a drink from her first cup, she’ll drain the whole bundle before long. Needs the energy she says. Tired. That’s what she reported to the watch office. Might be a day before she gets back. Two even.

They probably figure she wants an overnight. Have some fun, relax, after a messy party, let some charming bit of distraction block the memories with a bit of entertainment.

Pick some hapless puppy off the street and play with him till he can’t go no more, and if she needs more, well, it’s just a matter of picking up another toy.

“As well as could be expected,” I reply, “nothing I didn’t know. Going to need to follow up in a couple of days. I can’t go back. Not yet.”

She runs her finger through the shining strands of her golden hair. A man passing by stops to stare. He’d probably offer to cosign on an apartment lease for her just for that.

If she winked at him, well, assuming he lived through the experience, he’d leave his wife and kids.

They didn’t deserve that, and neither did he. Probably.

I ran my own fingers up in the air, and he suddenly remembered a pressing engagement, jogging off without looking back. Everybody around us on the street finds a reason to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

“I’ll find a place, don’t worry about it.”

She took my hand. The contact stung. Fire meets ice.

“You can’t hide in an alley like a homeless bum, you need to stay somewhere safe, somewhere secure. Somewhere that won’t cause more problems.”

Her eye flashed green. Any man who looked in her face right now would drop at her feet and beg her for the grace of whatever she wanted to do to him.

I wasn’t moved. I stared right back at her.

“Are you worried about me? Do you think I can’t take care of myself?”

“No, you know I’m not worried about you. You know I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this because your little problem needs to be handled. Properly. You’d mess it up. Like you already have. You’re a lucky little snot that I’m willing to help. That’s why I brought you here, and why I’m going to make sure you have somewhere to stay.”

Her voice is flat and even. But that’s because she’s keeping her anger in check.

She didn’t like what I wanted to do any more than I did. What I had to do.

I took a breath. Arguing wouldn’t help. Fighting wouldn’t. Not that I had a chance to win, not against her. I just wanted to do it. I wanted my own distraction.

“Fine, whatever. As long as they don’t make me listen to any stupid songs.”

She laughs. It’s cruel how beautiful it sounds.

“Listen? Girl, they’ll make you sing along. It’s just what you deserve.”

It really is. I lied. I killed all the drinkers myself.

I didn’t give them a chance. I took it away.