When Syndrome wasn’t being battered by heavy bass music, pumped up with people throwing their bodies around fueled by some sort of animalistic desire to dance; it wasn’t as charming. Under normal lighting the place looked particularly dreary. It could have even been mistaken for some sort of ugly, poorly decorated amateur theatre. Metal beams hung from strange angles with haphazard floodlights, every single wall seemed to be painted a different, clashing color, and the empty stage was unconvincing as one usually occupied by a DJ who knew how to set the mood. Arthur considered it some sort of esoteric art to be able to design a place like this that could have two completely different atmospheres, just with some lighting and music.
Even the upstairs lounge which normally seemed distant, and exclusive, now just came across as a sort of grimy, unimpressive area adorned with ugly steel tables and unimpressive black couches. This was where Arthur, Claudia, Benny, and numerous body guards of hers were stationed. Arthur and Claudia were sitting in her office which had a one way glass pane looking over the main floor of the club. The office was decorated in vogue, which Arthur expected, but with Claudia’s own little twists. Stylized paintings of nude women and men, strange little art baubles that had no obvious shape or meaning, and a huge, hairy red carpet like from the eighties. It was maybe the one place in the club that still kept some of it’s charm when the lights weren’t dim.
Benny was down the hall inside the security room, monitoring all the cameras around the building. Arthur had only gotten a moment to formally reintroduce himself once they met again. But, unsurprisingly to Arthur, Benny seemed to already know everything that had happened, so he didn’t need to explain it all. In fact, they barely talked about anything other than some light conversation and amusing back and forth. Despite being outright hideous to look at, Arthur had always liked Benny, and he still did. Benny seemed far more normal than the rest of the vampires Arthur knew. And he never seemed to treat anyone differently, regardless of whether they were human or not.
Below, the main floor had been cleared out except for a cheap plastic table that had been set up with steel folding chairs. Persephone and Lewis sat on one side, quietly discussing the meeting to come, facing the front door. On the other side there was a single chair set up for Santiago. Arthur had gotten into the habit of thinking of him as Santiago now, not Saint, as everyone else did. Like he was told at their first meeting, only Saint’s friends called him Saint. Arthur wasn’t his friend anymore. In fact he probably never was.
To most everyone’s surprise, Santiago had agreed to the terms of the meeting. Neutral turf at Syndrome. He could only have two people with him, and they’d be stripped of weapons on entry. Persephone never showed a hint of doubt he’d refuse, but Arthur wasn’t so sure. The reason Santiago agreed to the meeting was explained to him by Claudia. The Baron’s people operated with a level of respect, and willingness to follow the rules. Meaning, they could be trusted to not set this up as some sort of assassination attempt, because if they did, the Baron’s name would be smeared in all of vampiric society. And according to Claudia, reputation was one of the Baron’s most powerful tools.
Arthur respected that. Claudia thought it was a weakness. Because on the other hand, Bartolome was willing to break every law in existence to get what he wanted. If this meeting was being set up by Santiago for example, it was obvious that they would simply kill all their guests in one big massacre. Arthur had already known that after working with the Soldados and Santiago. But now, having been on the opposite side from those people, it just made him angry. The worst part, something Arthur hadn’t been able to reconcile still, was that he was an accessory to all the wrong things they did. And for a long time, he barely had any qualms with it. So, it wasn’t so strange to him that Bartolome was willing to be so brazen, even if a misstep meant all sorts of hell would come down on both him and vampire society as a whole.
It was too easy to pretend like what you were doing was right, regardless of how it affected other people. Though, Arthur wasn’t so convinced that Bartolome, or Santiago even cared about that. Bartolome was too old, too powerful, and too influential to care about the blow back. He was far beyond the point of empathy.
“What could someone have to gain by exposing vampires?”
Claudia looked up at Arthur through comically small reading glasses she was using to do some book keeping.
“Oh Art, is this a hypothetical or are you planning a revolution?”
“Well,” Arthur began, “I was just considering what exactly Bartolome could have to gain through all this. He’s already in a position of pretty intense power, or so I hear. He already has a ton of people willing to kill for him, human or vampire. He has a ton of money, or at least appears to. And every time I talked to him he always was cold, calculating, and methodical. He rarely if ever did anything out of anger. So whatever he’s up to has to be part of some plan of his, and a lot of that plan seems to be as brazen as possible without walking directly up to the chief of police and telling him he’s a vampire.”
Claudia shrugged, looking back down and continuing to scribble in a large note book. “Hard to say. If vampires were to be exposed to greater society, the common sentiment is that everything would come crashing down and we’d be hunted extensively to the ends of the earth. Historically vampires are the villains, you know? But just fairy tale villains, ones who prey on human and scheme and coerce. Which isn’t too far from the truth. I don’t think most people would stop to consider our well being.”
“So in other words, we’d all be totally screwed?”
“Probably,” she said, putting her pen down and removing the little reading glasses. “I mean, there’s some of us who are totally schizo and already have contingency plans if something like that did happen. And lots of us have done a pretty good job blending into normally society anyway. It’d be like any other major world ending event. The little guys would get hit first. Your Ferals, your newly turned vampires, the people who are just trying to get by. All the rich, dangerous Ancients would just hunker down until the storm blew over.”
Arthur was scratching his chin. “So let’s say right here in Longley, vampires expose themselves as a whole and the entire city goes in an uproar, what happens?”
Claudia just laughed, “You’re thinking about this too hard. You know as well as I do what it was like when we were humans. Vampires, werewolves. Magic, witches, all that sort of stuff. It was so far beyond reason. Even if a vampire ran up to you screaming at you, trying to convince you he’s a vampire, you’d just think he’s a crazy person.”
Arthur nodded, “Yeah, you’re right. But, just for the sake of discussion. What if it did happen?”
“Ok, fine. Let’s say all the vampires write a thesis together presenting all evidence to, I don’t know, someone important, and they read it and believe it. Then what? It’s not going to become some sort of social movement. I mean, some wackos will probably post on their Twitter trying to rally rights for the poor vampires. But in reality we’d probably be hunted, experimented on, and killed.”
“And the chances of that happening?”
“Zero.”
Arthur nodded, “That makes sense.”
“Now you’re getting it. No matter how evil or maniacal any of us are, trying to expose vampires on a large scale is suicidal for everyone involved. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve heard of a few truly bonkers people who tried. But they’re always dismissed, mis-labeled, or put down before they can get far.”
“I guess ye olde vampire hunters never really got too far, huh.”
Claudia didn’t respond. Arthur looked up at her. She had an expression on her face like she was trying to hide something. She seemed nervous, almost.
“What, you’re not telling me there’s still vampire hunters out there?” Arthur started to laugh. But Claudia wasn’t laughing.
“Look, I hear things, ok. That’s it.”
Arthur’s laughter died down as he realized Claudia was being serious. “Hear what things…?”
She tapped her pen against the desk. “I’m only going to tell you this because I like you, but you have to keep it to yourself, ok?”
“...ok. I’m still not even sure what you’re going to say.”
“I’ve heard,” Claudia said quietly, and slowly, “That sometimes, there are vampires who get a little too…involved. They try to seize too much power, try to control humans a little too brazenly. Obviously, we have people like Bartolome to deal with them, most of the time, But I’ve heard stories of…others. Humans.”
Arthur smiled, “Come on, it’s like you’re about to tell me there’s a vampire snatching boogeyman out there. Aren’t we the boogeyman?”
She shook her head. “There’s a lot of weird things out there. For example, I’ve heard that there are groups of people who specialize in hunting vampires. Not like guys with big hats wearing shawls, wielding garlic and crosses. I’m talking about worse than that. Guys decked out in full body armor you can’t bite through. They use some kind of military night vision to see heat signatures, which vampires are sorely lacking. They know all the weaknesses of vampires and have studied our Potential. I’ve never dealt with them myself, but…”
Arthur raised an eyebrow. “But?”
“I had a friend who managed to escape them. He said they came down on he and his pals fast, and hard. They used bullets they lit things on fire. Professionals.”
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Arthur watched Claudia trail off, then grinned. “Come on. This is a joke, right?”
Claudia leaned back in her chair and shrugged, “Look, I hear what I hear. I can’t say if it’s true or not, but I’ve heard it enough times to make me think it just might be. Why the hell would vampires go around lying to each other about death squads? We’ve got enough to worry about.”
Arthur didn’t have an answer for that, but it still sounded too far fetched to be true. “How could those old priestly, garlic wielding guys have turned into military grade killers? One’s who know about vampires, but decide to not reveal anything?”
“I don’t have all the answers, Art,” Claudia said. She stood, turning to the large glass window behind her and looking down at the floor of the club. “I’m just saying, try to keep your nose clean. There’s plenty of vampires trying to kill each other in the first place, and you don’t want anything else that might be out there coming after you too.” Claudia’s attention seemed to be drawn to something downstairs, then she checked the clock on her phone.
Arthur looked past her, “It’s time?”
She nodded, “Looks like it. Our guests have arrived.”
Looking down below, Persephone and Lewis had taken their places. They were standing on the far end of the table, looking towards the front door. Claudia’s guards were at attention now, hands on guns and eyes sharp. The scene was a clear display of authority, and of power. It was obvious who was in charge, and their demeanor said that they weren’t afraid to gun someone down if need be. Arthur just wasn’t sure how effective this display would be against someone like Santiago, who spent every day of his dead life hurting people.
The front doors of the club opened up. Lamplight from outside barely filtered in under the dark moon sky. Walking in like it was any other day, like there wasn’t a concern in the world, was Santiago. He was flanked by two people. Arthur recognized them immediately.
“I know them,” he said to Claudia, who was also watching. “Those guys followed me away from one of the church’s that Santiago operates out of.”
“Anything we should know?” Claudia asked.
“One of them I think can do the same thing Lysander does.” Claudia gave him a confused look. Arthur had just assumed they all knew each other, realizing that wasn’t the case. “The woman,” Arthur said, pointing at the large woman with short cropped hair and tattoos all over her arms. “She used a Potential, I think. She was able to…freeze me. Like all I could see was her.”
“Ah,” Claudia said. She tapped away a text on her phone. “What about the others?”
Arthur shook his head, “I’m not sure what the other guy can do. And Santiago, I’ve never seen him use anything besides his own hands.”
Claudia sent another text. A few seconds later, one of the bouncers moved over to Persephone and Lewis, whispering something in their ears as they nodded. At the opposite end of the room, Santiago and his two goons had just finished being patted down by the guards who gave the all clear. They were unarmed, outnumbered five to one, and agreed to meet with the enemy at a place of their choosing. Something about this made Arthur’s skin crawl.
Nevertheless, Santiago put on his usual wide smile, greeting Persephone and Lewis like old friends. Neither seemed particularly amused, simply motioning for him to sit. His two guards stood about ten feet away on either side.
“To what do I owe the pleasure to my friends?” Santiago asked. Normally, Arthur imagine he could barely hear the conversation down below through the glass. But, if he focused his senses, he could faintly making out what they were saying, alongside read their lips fairly well.
Lewis began to growl something before Persephone raised a hand, cutting him off. “We invited you here, with good intent, to discuss the presence of you, and more specifically, Judge Bartolome’s forces in our city.”
Santiago grinned at ‘our city’, but said nothing about it. “How formal! I would’ve worn a jacket if I’d known. But we’re here now, and I am absolutely willing to discuss whatever you would like.”
“Help me understand,” Persephone said coolly. “I was under the impression that you were sent here to deal with one Bosco Walton. As we both know, the Baron got to him first, and graciously handed him over to your superior.”
Santiago nodded, “Sounds all correct to me.”
Even from upstairs, Arthur could hear Persephone’s tone change just a touch more cold. “Following that, you and your men…you and your men went after my sire, Aiden. Gunned him down like an animal in the streets, along with a few other of his associates.”
Without missing a beat, and without changing his smile, Santiago nodded. Persephone stared at him for a few moments. Arthur could only imagine she was trying to gauge if the man had any remorse, any sympathy; anything at all left inside him. Arthur already knew the answer to that question.
“The Baron…waived, this transgression, despite that you had no official orders to do what you did. And further, you not only killed two otherwise innocent vampires in the process, but also decided to come after me yet again later down the line.”
Arthur looked at Claudia, who glanced at him for a brief moment before turning her attention back below. This was the second time now that it had been mentioned the Baron didn’t seek recompense for Aiden’s murder. And with the way Persephone rarely spoke about him, it seemed to Arthur that maybe Aiden had deserved to die for some reason. But now wasn’t the time to ask.
Santiago just shrugged, “It was all bad intel on our part, I’ll admit that. But, nobody who got hurt didn’t deserve it.”
“Except,” Persephone snarled, “The two people with Aiden who did absolutely nothing to deserve their brains getting plastered all over the inside of their own car.”
The ice in Persephone’s voice was something Arthur had never heard before. It was like she had flipped a switch from her always-professional demeanor and some sort of vicious, predatory animal came out. Arthur could even see that Lewis was surprised at the sudden change in tone. Santiago, on the other hand, never dropped his smile. That irked Arthur. It probably irked Persephone more.
“Regardless,” Persephone continued, the vitriol slowly fading from her inflection, “All this occurred, and under the good graces of the Baron you and Bartolome were forgiven for your mistakes,” she hissed, and for the first time Arthur saw Santiago’s smile falter for just a moment. He knew the man well enough to know he was prideful, and didn’t like anyone calling him out. For anything.
“Have you dragged us all the way to this dump just to remind us of the past year? My memory isn’t faulty. In fact, I can even remember their faces when it happened.”
Lewis slowly turned to Persephone. Claudia’s face represented what Arthur was thinking; that someone was about to get seriously hurt, or worse. And yet, Persephone sat stalk still, like a statue, staring hard at Santiago. Arthur thought nobody could stand up to Persephone’s evil eye, but she and Saint stared at each other for a good ten seconds without saying anything, neither one backing down or looking away. Finally, Persephone spoke.
“We dragged you all the way here to ask you a very simple question. And depending on how you answer, is going to determine how the rest of this conversation goes. Why. Are. You. Still. Here?”
Santiago looked down at his nails, then back up to study Persephone, gauging an answer. Arthur imagined Santiago was trying to act nonchalant, but at this point it came across more like being petulant. Like Arthur had seen, and been subject to many times before, Persephone was widdling him down, chipping away at his ego. It seemed to be working.
“Before I answer, I must ask; are we not allowed in this city? Like you said, your gracious Baron has not taken action against us. Perhaps we determined that this was simply a nice, well run place, and wanted to try to make something of ourselves in it.”
It was so obviously a deflection tactic that both Arthur and Claudia made disgusted sounds at it. Arthur wasn’t even sure why he attempted it. Either he didn’t know Persephone as well as he should, or he was dragging this out. Arthur furrowed his eyebrows.
“Are the cameras recording?” Arthur asked. Claudia raised an eyebrow at him, then nodded towards her computer on her desk. Arthur made his way towards them. The cameras covered the exterior and interior, including all exits and entrances. Nothing stood out after a quick scan. The parking lost was mostly empty, nobody unusual was standing around outside. And yet that little feeling that something was off was starting to grow.
“What’s wrong?” Claudia asked.
“Nothing, which is the strange thing. I just…have a feeling.” Arthur said, making his way back to the one-way window.
He had missed some of the conversation below, but Santiago was speaking again. “Look, I want to explain something for you. My boss, Bartolome, is a very prideful person. He believes in old traditions, following the rules to a T. That sort of thing. He has not survived for so long because he is rash, or willing to expose himself. He has survived because he manages to prove he is capable, and dangerous, and those he answers to recognize that. The same people your Baron answer to.”
Persephone’s finger began to tap impatiently as Santiago continued, “He believes that when one is given a job, one must see that job through to the end. And as you know, his role as a Judge is to find and remove those from out society who are deemed lost. Do you know how many times Bartolome has failed to kill a mark, since becoming a Judge?” Santiago asked rhetorically. Lewis, who had been quiet up to this point, narrowed his eyes at Santiago, and Arthur could see Lewis’ body weight shift ever so slightly.
“Zero times. He has never, ever failed to take down one of his targets in a timely, efficient manner. That is, until now.”
Arthur noticed one of the club guards by the door open the door a crack, look outside, then close the door back. The only person in the room that seemed to notice was Lewis, who dismissed it and turned his attention back to Santiago as he kept talking. Arthur couldn’t see her face, but as he saw Santiago’s expression turning to anger, he could only imagine equal rage was rising in Persephone. She was completely fixated on Santiago, whose tone had changed from friendly and cheery to dry, and bitter.
“More specifically, the mark that we were sent to kill died before we could get to him. Bravo, on the initiative, by the way. He was not an easy man to find. But for the first time ever, Bartolome failed. Not technically, of course. But I was there when he was asked about what happened. You know what I saw, for the first time ever? Disappointment. For the first time ever, Bartolome had acted too slowly. For the first time ever, those who he is beholden to considered him unreliable. Inefficient. Weak,” Santiago spat.
“And you know what that meant for us? For me? Who was in charge of the operation?”
This time, both door guards were now investigating some kind of disturbance outside the front door. Lewis’ attention was now fixated on them instead of the conversation. He turned to Persephone, placing a hand on her shoulder, but she ignored him. Most of the club guards were getting agitated now. The only people who acted like nothing was wrong were Santiago’s two goons who were now standing on either wall of the club, Santiago, and Persephone, who was staring daggers into him.
“Something’s wrong,” Arthur said.
Arthur moved quickly to the camera feed on the computer. He noticed now there were multiple cars parked outside in the parking lot. Three cars. Small, four door sedans all parked next to each other. All with blacked out windows. All BMWs. Arthur turned to Claudia who was staring at him, panic on his face.
“Get them out!” Arthur practically shouted.
Claudia saw the shock on his face, retrieving her phone and making a call downstairs. One of the guards answered his phone, Claudia hurriedly instructing him to call the meeting off. He nodded, and began to move towards the table as Claudia was giving them instructions to lock down the club.
“What this means,” Santiago said below, ignoring the guard making his way towards them, “Is that our only course of action was to rectify this failure. Remove all doubt in anyone’s mind that anyone can take our prey from us. By any means necessary.”
By the time the guard got to the table, a large black van smashed through the front door of the club, sending the doors flying off their hinges and crumbling the walls around it in a huge spray of brick and dust. As the dust cleared, Persephone and Lewis were now on their feet, looking like they were getting ready to lunge at Saint. Then, the back doors of the van crashed opened and gunfire roared through the club.
