Chapter 5
-Cue Song- Blood on My Name, The Brothers Bright-
Warning: Dark, children being harmed stuff in this chapter, read at own risk yeah?
Señor Noche had been parkouring aimlessly around the city on the lookout for the bloodsuckers for a few nights now. He was beginning to think that this might not be the most successful tactic. Of course he’d completed several missions in the meanwhile, violently ending quite a few of Khonshu’s chosen undesirables. But there still wasn’t a hint of fang or claw to be seen. He could feel his God’s looming dissatisfaction weighing down on his shoulders. It was suffocating.
He wondered what they would do if they were in his shoes. Prolly just wet themselves, like the pathetic parásitos(1) that they were. He snickered as he stabbed the man in front of him in the stomach while gripping the back of his head with his other hand. He loved looking at them as they died. Their fearful expressions were the best aphrodisiac. He twisted the man’s own knife inside of him and then withdrew it in a smooth movement. The body crumpled with a groan, blood pooling around the warehouse’s filthy floor. As he watched the red puddle spreading like a tide towards his feet, Jake suddenly had an idea. If he couldn’t find the vampires, maybe…he’d let them find him instead... He was grinning happily while he pictured the look on that vamp puta’s(2) face when he finally caught her, until he found the kids chained up in a back room.
He’d dropped the knife with a loud clang next to the corpse, and looked up towards Khonshu leaning against the wall across from him.
“In here Jake, there are travelers.” He pointed with his staff to the locked door beside him.
“Bueno.(3)” Maybe he’d find another pretty lady to save. He tore the padlock off with one hand and pulled open the rusty shrieking metal door, boldly making his entrance. There was no light coming from inside, but he could still see clearly thanks to his suit.
Within the small windowless room there were filthy mattresses strewn about the floor with several children upon them. Two of them, an older girl and young boy looked up at him in abject fear as they stared at his glowing white eyes and the black wrappings drifting around him. A smaller girl sat curled up in a corner and just looked in his general direction without any emotion whatsoever. They were all chained from one thin ankle to a metal hook sunk into the cement floor.
“Fuck.” He uttered softly in shock. Two of the children flinched. He left the room with the door open and moved towards the moonlight coming in from the warehouse windows. Jake took a calming breath and turned to his God. “Khonshu what is this? You didn’t say there’d be kids here.” The Egyptian God gestured with his staff airily.
“You didn’t ask. That’s what I like about you Jake Lockley, you do what is necessary without worrying over the minor details.” Jake pulled his fedora down lower on his head. It was true he didn’t ask. He’d never asked, not about any of the targets that Khonshu had picked out for him to dispose of like so much trash. He enjoyed his work, besides he trusted his God’s judgment. But kids though. If he’d known kiddies were involved he would have approached this mission differently, and used a more careful and less Jake-like method.
Maybe he should start asking questions… He patted absently at his coat’s hidden inner pocket and pulled out one of the disposable cells that he’d picked up from Marc’s apartment. He dialed 911, which somehow still connected him to the police over here. He gave them the relevant information and promptly hung up on them. He started to leave the warehouse but looked back. He shook his head and moved forward again; then he stopped, turned around, and began to stride back towards that sad little room. “What are you doing, Jake?” Khonshu sternly asked. Lockley thought about how the Brit would have handled this. Señor Noche entered the room again and waved at the children awkwardly in worm-like fashion. He snorted at himself and put his hand down. Steven would have tried his best to reassure them, he could do that.
“Don’t worry niño y niñas(4), you’re safe now.” He said lamely. See, he was good at reassuring.
“You have already notified the mortal authorities, they will look after the little bugs; you can leave now.” Khonshu stated from behind him, annoyance threading through his voice. Jake ignored him and moved slowly into the room. Two of the kids inched themselves back from him and clutched at each other harder. The other remained still, like a dear in headlights. He sighed and telegraphed his movements as he ripped apart the chains that they were attached to from the middle of the floor. He stayed at eye level with them, as he remained crouched on the ground.
“There will be people coming to take care of you in a little while, good people, and the bad men are all gone and will stay gone.” That would do, short an’ simple. He rose and turned with a swish of his suit and began to leave.
“W-wait, you came to save us?” The older girl spoke up, disbelief in her face. Lockley stopped and turned his head while he tipped his hat at them.
“Si, y-yes.” He replied warily. The boy moved a little away from the wall and asked, his eyes gaining a hint of light to them.
“Are you a superhero?” Jake scoffed and turned fully back to them while gesturing at his outfit.
“Sure kid, what clued you in?” He roughly asked. The young boy shrunk back into the girls’ arms.
“Don’t know.” He mumbled. Jake spent a moment hating his own mouth and then waved a hand casually.
“Forget about it, I’m new, call me Señor Noche.” Khonshu threw his inevitable two cents in.
“You still have work to do tonight. We don’t have time for this!” He barked.
“I do.” Jake calmly responded back. The children looked confused.
“What?” The older girl asked. Noche waved goodbye at them.
“Adios(5) kids, see ya around.” The boy suddenly cried out.
“Wait!” He sighed again and turned back.
“What is it?” The boy looked up at him.
“Can you…stay with us?” They were so needy, these kids, they reminded him of his pests.
“Why should I?” Jake coldly asked back. The little girl, who hadn’t spoken or moved all this time finally cautiously came up to him and pulled on his suit.
“Please?” She whispered. He could see how scared these kids were of being alone, the fact that they’d willingly seek his company proved it. But he wasn’t going to stay and have a fight with the cops so he had to go; besides they had nothing to do with him.
“No. I told you those chicosmalos(6) won’t be coming back, you’re safe.” He snapped as his suit pulled itself away from her indifferently. The little girl dropped her hand, staring at nothing again. Jake impulsively took off his hat and placed it on the girl’s head. She looked up at him, startled. “Here take this, it’s magic you know, this’ll protect you guys until the coppers get ‘ere. I promise.” He left after that without a backwards glance; he could already hear the sirens coming, they’d be fine. The hat would disappear on its own when he eventually unsummoned the suit. Magic, he tsked in his head with a mental shrug.
“How soft.” Khonshu murmured scornfully. After he was a few blocks away Jake said to the blowing wind.
“You know I don’t believe in having regrets, I would have regretted leaving them chained up like that for some reason, that’s all. It was just annoying me.” Khonshu stared flatly at him.
“If you say so.”
“Carajo!(7)” He cursed suddenly as he stamped a foot on the roof leaving a dent in the cement. The skeletal bird tilted its head at him questioningly. “I wish I could kill those pendejos(8) all over again, I would have spent more quality time with them if I’d known they were messing with kids.” He complained as his hands brushed across his now hatless masked head.
“How reassuring.” Khonshu said simply.
“What?” He asked.
“You never do change do you Jake.” It was more of a statement than a question but he replied anyways.
“Of course not, Khonshu, of course not.” Jake smiled his signature manic grin. He wondered what their names were. He could have asked. He needed to ask more questions from now on. He really did. Jake continued serving Khonshu’s needs as the night wore on. Before he went back to sleep in the worm’s apartment he made a large withdrawal from the bank. The blood bank that was, the nurses were not happy with him. But that wasn’t his problem. His problem was the soon to be dead vampires. He might have figured out a way to find them, maybe, but he still didn’t know how to kill them. But that was a tomorrow problem for tomorrow’s him. Worse came to worse he could just wing it like usual. That always worked out well.
(1) Parasites parásitos
(2) Bitch’s puta’s
(3) Goody Bueno
(4) Boy and Girls niño y niñas
(5) Bye Adios
(6) Bad Guys chicosmalos
(7) Fuck! Carajo!
(8) Assholes pendejos
Fun Fact:
Translations streamlined for better reading thanks to comments. Jake still curses a lot but I don’t blame him…and he may not be the most reliable narrator when it comes to his feelings…who knew?