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Later, in the parlor with a clear head, I decided that my survival was all because of the vampire bite.

Many will call me paranoid, but when I accepted the contract, it had just sounded too simple. In my world, there was no such thing as ‘get in, get out.’ There were always guards, family members and the like. No lord would possibly let himself be alone in the London that we all lived in.

The contract was simply to eliminate Lord Heartwood. According to my employer, he kept a revolver on his desk at all times. Also, he had currently hit a dip in his fortune, and had begun to turn quiet, bitter. I was to enter his study, shoot him down with one shot of a revolver, make it seem as if he had committed suicide, and then I would receive the rest of my pay.

As I said above, I do not believe in ‘get in, get out’ situations.
The kill was supposed to happen that very night. I had a brief hour to get there on time, as my employer had requested. It was just enough time to see my favourite vampire before completing the contract.

I looked strange on the streets of the upper-classmen, even with the hat pulled down over my ears. Woman directed their children away from me, and men pulled down their hats and looked away. It was normal, and unavoidable. The slum was the only place I didn’t need to worry about being glanced at in such a manner.

Of course, it would make life easier for everyone if my vampire still stayed in the slums, but ever since changing and marrying a young noblewoman, he’d been up in the place my kind usually hated to go. However, he was my friend, and he had something I needed, so I had never tried to find a new one to go to.

His house looked unoccupied to anyone else, but I knew him better than that. After knocking once, and hearing no answer, I looked around to make sure no one was looking over at me before entering forcefully.

Forcefully meaning that I simply walked around the house to where the servant’s entrance was, and kicked the door open.
Upon slipping through the kitchen and the dining room, I stepped into the parlor, and looked up just in time to see my vampire’s noblewoman stand at the head of the stairs. Her usually styled hair was sticking up in random directions, and the only piece of ‘clothing’ that she was wearing was a light ivory sheet.

We looked upon each other for a few moments, before I settled myself onto the small couch. “Mary, would you please tell your husband that he needs to come down here? Sooner the better.”
There was a fluttering, showing that she’s left the hallway in search of her husband. Drawing my eyes away from the stairs and across the room, I carefully pulled my hat off, and rubbed the tips of my ears as I waited.

The rough fabric of the hats I could afford was simply torturous on my unfortunate heritage. Often, my vampire had offered up to let me take some of his. I always declined. Only God knew what may have been done with those hats.

“I’d offer one of my own, but I know your answer already.”

Glancing up, I gave a small nod of agreement. “Indeed.” Upon looking up again, I discovered that he had come down completely unclothed.

“John. You could have taken the time to put on a pair of trousers, I'm sure.”

“I could not.” He sat beside me on the couch, leaning his head back with a sigh. “As whenever you call, you usually do so at least less than a quarter of an hour before your next kill. Putting on trousers would have taken too long.”

I wrinkled my nose as he spoke. He smelled of sex, a scent that I desired as much as I desired to be in the prisons of London. He noticed my reaction, if his chuckle meant anything. Deciding that getting out quickly was the best way to escape him, I quickly dug around in my pocket, yanking the clattering coins out of my pocket and placing them in his hand. He only took a quick glance, before setting them aside, on the small table in front of us.

“The usual?” He leaned towards me slightly, and I nodded, tugging off my jacket as to give him better room.

His fingers trailed around my neck before they pressed into the skin right before my jugular, and within seconds his fingers were gone and his teeth were sinking into my flesh. The pain was surprisingly like when I had jumped off of a tall brick wall to escape some guards, cracking around four ribs and breaking at least two.

Unable to control myself, I arched up, balling my hands into fists and opening my mouth to scream. John, always there to stop me from being stupid, placed his hand over my mouth, and removed his teeth a second later.

The pain was fading already, and as he left to find me a bandage, I worked on relaxing my body.

A little known fact to humans is that vampire bites actually can’t kill you or change you. It can kill if they drink too much, but that’s rare. In fact, hired killers always have a vampire to go to before a difficult contract.

You see, the bite, when no or little blood is drawn, basically puts you on a warrior’s high. Your senses are still alive, you can still focus, but it makes you better at everything else. You become faster, stronger, and can think on your feet a lot quicker than most. Or, at least, that’s what it does for trained humans, elves, and so on. For someone who hasn’t been trained to take the bite, it causes a state like the drugs so many people corrupt themselves with.

It had taken me years to get used to the bite, and still I amuse John by stumbling into walls or tripping over my own feet for the first few minutes.

“Here.” He had returned, now wearing a pair of trousers, blessedly, and holding a long bandage. I quickly wrapped the fabric around my neck, before standing and sliding my hat back on. “Good luck, Yvaine. Remember, when in doubt, run for your life.”

‘I’d lose the money then.” I answered quietly. However, he’d already left the room. After only hesitating a brief moment more, I headed for the shattered door.

I had a contract to finish, and there was very little time.


The house my target lived in was large and uncomfortably lavish. I could hear more than see his children and wife downstairs. Lord Heartwood himself was standing, facing the window to my right. I lowered myself from the tree I was currently sitting in to the balcony, ducking behind a pillar when he started to turn.

The revolver in my hands was icy to the touch, just waiting to heat up with the thrill of a kill. Quickly, I formed a cross over my body with its tip. “Father, forgive me for the deed I am about to commit.”

I spun out from around the pillar, and launched myself through the open window. Lord Heartwood turned towards me, mouth open to scream, but the bang of my revolver stopped him before he could. Immediately, I grabbed the revolver from his desk and began to put it in his hand, hurrying as people began to walk up the stairs.

“Lord Heartwood!”

Damn it all to hell. There were four men pushing their way through the door, running straight at me. Fortunately, they were armed only with the peace sticks that the police had. Unfortunately, they were all huge. Doing the first thing I could think of, I pointed my revolver at them, and pulled the trigger. They froze, and a click filled the air.

“….One bullet.” We looked at each other for a moment, before the first man and I both lunged for Heartwood’s gun. There was a pause in which it was in my hand, before suddenly it was gone, and my arm was burning. Screaming sharply, I jumped off of the gun and launched myself into the man, grappling for the gun.

The other men watched, dumbfounded as I yanked at the gun, yet to no avail. The man was strong, and I was furious. Turning it as much as I could, I pulled the trigger with a quick prayer. His hand loosened on the gun, and blood sprayed from his forehead, splattering across my face. Turning, I faced the other men, and growled.

They seemed to have decided that running was the best option, but having the back of their heads showing made easy targets. They all went down quickly. Downstairs, I could hear the wife murmuring to her children.

“Time to leave.” Quickly placing the gun back in Heartwood’s hand, I turned and slipped out of the window, sprinting down the empty road. The last thing I heard from the house was a loud female scream, nearly inaudible over the throbbing of my arm.

Word count: 1,547

Favourite part: John coming down naked. That cracks me up for some reason.

Hmm, I like it so far. Haven't really seen any typos, but that might be because I'm not in "editor" mode.