Tarnished Innocence

I turned my face away from the blowing wind, one hand trying to shield the small flame of fire coming out of the lighter. The night was windy, that was for sure. It nearly took me five tries to get the damn thing lit. What was worst was that this was my fifth cigarette in the last two hours. I told myself to stop chain-smoking weeks ago. Apparently, that resolution didn’t last.

Julie, the girl I had been waiting for, finally stepped out of the shadows to greet me, pretending that she didn’t make me wait nearly till dawn to show up. It was all smiles, the greeting; it even lit up her gray eyes. “Hello Aya.”

I smiled, trying not to look pissed. “Julie. So what finally brought you out?”

She took a glance at the cigarette in my hand and frowned. “Smoking is bad for you. I thought you’d take better care of your own body, seeing the profession you’re in.”

I scoffed at her feigned concern. Well, maybe it wasn’t exactly feigned, but I was sure she wasn’t too worried about it. I inhaled the damn thing for a long time before exhaling and smiling sweetly at her. “Does it look as if I give a damn?”

Julie gave a disapproving look. “I guess not. Let’s get to business shall we?” She pulled out a black duffle bag from behind her and laid it between us. The bag had to be half her size and weighed just as much too, but she handled it as if it weighed nothing.

Julie was my height, with thick curly brown hair once. Now she just straightened the whole thing and put it up in a bun. Claimed that she put it that way so it would be more practical. I’d like to think that she did it because it made her look more ruthless. But that was my opinion. She had pretty eyes too, if glasses didn’t cover them at the moment.

“So are they done?” I asked, a bit curious as to what else she had in that bag. Julie’s father was the best weapon smith around, and going to him always cost a small fortune. But, fortunately for me, Julie is learning the craft. She only charges half the price. I had given her a pair of daggers to repair a week ago. A pair of expensive, skillfully crafted, dangerous, in my hands anyways, weapons. I love those daggers to death, and would never part with them. But, they had been broken a week ago, by some half crazed vampire. It still gives me shivers to think about it.

Don’t take me wrong; it wasn’t the most dangerous job I’ve been on, just the most disturbing one. I had specially placed a spell on those daggers that night to melt vampire flesh on contact. Yes, the spell was complicated and took me nearly three hours to complete, but I thought it was worth the effort at that time. And given my job, which was to chase down a renegade vampire and subdue it any way possible, even killing it, I thought it was well worth the time.

What I didn’t know was that this vampire had been buried alive as a sort of cruel punishment for five weeks already. If that wasn’t bad enough for the poor guy, he was buried along with Arrowmites, a kind of parasitic insect that finds the internal organs and lives on them, literally. One thing though, Arrowmites only live on dead flesh, so that spares me and any other living creature. Lucky me, I guess. But this vampire, I truly felt bad for him, for had so many Arrowmites in him that they had nowhere else to go but to crawl, lingering on his skin. So all I could see was the Arrowmites, not even the vampire himself. It was like a giant ball of insects. Let’s just say that if I didn’t hate insects before, I hate them now.

The vampire had somehow escaped his burial site and started to run loose. And guess who was in charge of capture and possibly destroying the damn thing? Me. The money was really good, and the job sounded easy enough, so why not I thought. I didn’t expect a blob of moving parasites coming at me at full speed.

The vampire must’ve gone crazed a long time ago. His eyes were unfocused and drool, as well as some of those bugs was leaking out of his mouth. Not a pretty sight. So I thought I could just use my daggers and hack away. But I guess even insane, the vampire had the most basic instinct to want to live, because he came charging at me, aiming for my throat. No way was I going to let ‘that’ touch me. Most vampires would back away once my daggers nicked them. The searing pain of burnt flesh was not something they want to endure. But this one, his mind was so gone that he didn’t even register the pain, only the hunger that resided in his stomach, the need of blood. He kept coming at me, jaws wide opened, ready to bite, while my daggers kept burning away his flesh. And up close, I could really see those insects squirming in his skin. His flesh was melting away against my weapons; even the insects retreated from them.

I knew the only way to kill him was to stab out his heart, or to decapitate him. I wasn’t going to get that close to stab his heart out. Frankly, those insects creep me out more than he does. So decapitate it was. I took out my katana and slashed. A heap of bug infest, burning flesh lay unmoving on the ground. The job was done, much to my relief. I didn’t even realize that my daggers were damaged until I stopped to wipe them clean. They had met with the burning flesh so many times that parts of the daggers were damaged along with the flesh. Now that had never happened before.

Julie made a gesture for me to calm down, like a parent to a child. Of course, I pouted and pretended to be angry. “Patience, Aya. I have them right here.” She pulled them out, all shiny and new again.

I took them in my hands possessively. “I guess you live up to your name.” I said, eyeing the blades for the newly made changes.
“But you already know that.” Julie zipped up the bag, ready to leave.

I tucked the blades out of sight into my jacket and pointed to her duffle bag. “Aren’t you going to show me what’s inside?”

Julie smirked. “No. They are none of your concern. You know I don’t show my client’s personal belongings.”

“You showed them to me last time.” I gave her puppy eyes. I knew it wasn’t just client’s stuff in there. She carried around a lot of her own weapons too, and I wanted to see them, maybe even convince her to part with one or two.

Julie leaned close to me and whispered. “And what do I get in return?”

“Name your price and we’ll see.” I tried not to wince when I said that, because I knew exactly what she had in mind.

“Julius would want to see you, you know. He’s right inside.” She motioned her hand towards the door beside us.

Julius was a vampire, one with a near obsession with me. And he was Julie’s brother. Did I mention that Julie’s a vampire too? I guess I forgot.

“Why are you so concerned with your brother’s wants and needs anyways?” I asked her even as I walked inside the dark building.
Julie tilted her head, seeming to think. “Let’s just say that I owe him a very big favor.”

“So what does he want you to tell me to do this time?” I was well aware that Julius had a very big thing for me. It’s not that I minded, he’s six feet two, with the hottest body and a face to match. He’s a heartbreaker. He just hasn’t broken mine.

“Straight to the point, Aya. He wants you, in his bed.”

I blinked. That was surprisingly straightforward from Julie. After a moment of silence, I smiled. It was my turn to ask, “So what’s in it for me?”

I saw Julie sigh. She knew that it would take a lot to get me in bed with her brother. God knows he’s been trying for almost two years now and hasn’t succeeded.

“Your daggers are free of charge,” Julie paused, debating, while I just stared at her impatiently. “And any one thing in that duffle bag that you might want.”

“And what if I don’t want anything there?” I baited her.

She smiled predator-like. “Oh…there’s something you’ll like, Aya, believe me, something you’ll like a lot.”

I pretended not to care. “Like what? I think I have everything I already need in terms of weapons.”

“It’s not a weapon, dear. It’s something much more.”

“I’ll have to see it to believe it.” I was already dying to know, but I wasn’t going to let Julie know that.

Julie’s voice was barely above a whisper. “A Gathering stone.”

My eyes grew wide with those words. A gathering stone was rare, very rare, and extremely valuable. The only reason why the spell on my daggers took three hours to make was because it took time collecting enough magical energies to do the job. But with a gathering stone, it could take minutes instead of hours. The stone itself could contain a vast amount of energy at an alarmingly fast rate. “I’m listening.”



One hour later found me sitting on the softest bed, ridiculously so, covered in the most revealing outfit I’ve ever worn in public, waiting for my vampire prince to come. They had bathed me, cleansed me, and made me smell like a flower. I was dressed in a light blue, to match my eyes, no doubt. But the color really contrasted my hair, which was a strawberry blonde color, or I thought so anyways. The bed was a deep red, like a burgundy, except a bit brighter.

I felt like a whore, but an expensive one at that. The gathering stone alone costs twenty grand, and that was only a small piece. I couldn’t help but wonder what Julius did to earn him such a high favor from Julie.

I didn’t have time to ponder at that mystery, as just then, the heavy doors to the room had opened. I tried not to look too nervous, being on display and all. Julius walked in, all high and mighty. His black hair waved side to side as he took each step, closer to me. He was breathtaking. His emerald eyes locked with mine and I could see the lust in them. There’s no backing out now, I told myself.