"Blood Bargain" - an Urban Legends short story
This story takes place in the same continuity as all the other "urban legends" stories (see tag above). As before, the characters are different, but the setting and the rules that govern the way magic works are the same. The vampires actually come from the story I wrote earlier, but I never got around to finishing it, so it was never posted.
As before, questions, comments and criticisms are very much encouraged.
Blood Bargain
Kia took my hand. Growing up in Uptown, we knew better than to wander down dark alleys in the middle of the night. That went double here in South Chicago, where gangs are on every corner and school kids get shot during the day. But our contact specifically said - they will meet you in the alley off of 82nd and Commercial streets, and here we were.
I didn’t have much sensitivity to magic, but Kia was a natural. Her eyes darted up just in time to catch a couple of dark blurs jumping down from the rooftop. They moved at speeds human eyes couldn’t quite catch, but Kia followed every second of their descent.
The streetlight behind us flickered and died.
Kia mumbled something in Hmong and the light returned. It would only stay on for as long as Kia was there to will it, but it would be enough.
The vampires loomed in the shadows, the light barely bright enough to reveal their shapes. They looked human - but we knew all too well just how deceptive appearances could be.
The vampires were all black. Not unusual for the South Side of Chicago - in this city, segregation touches everything, even the supernatural. Darkness concealed details, but from what I could tell, they mostly stuck to typical ghetto wear - worn jeans, oversized T-shirts, dirty sneakers, hoodies and fake-fur-trimmed jackets.
A short vampire woman with flowing, wavy hair and a cheap grey suit stepped forward. The other vampires arranged themselves around us. If we ran, they would cut us off in seconds.
“Mister Kevin Odoyo. Miss Kia Xang,” the vampire woman sniffed the air. “You are not quite what I expected.” Her voice was soothing, with just a hint of a Southern accent. “I am Annabelle. So long as you don’t try and hurt my children, you are under my protection. ”
One of the vampires - a slightly taller guy in a green hoodie - let out a chuckle.
“I mean it, Harris,” Annabelle tilted her head in his direction. “The humans came to us in good faith, and it wouldn’t be right if we don’t honor it, now would it?”
Harris nodded.
“Now what is it that you wanted to talk about, darlings?”
Kia and I exchanged looks. We thought long and hard about what we were going to say, and it sounded great on paper, but it wasn’t quite the same as meeting actual vampires face-to-face.
“Like we told you on the phone,” I said. “We run a community theater in Uptown. Half of our cast is from the South Side. Lately, we’ve been talking about how South Side doesn’t really have a whole lot of theaters,” unless you count Hyde Park, which is really a world in on itself. “And how it would be nice if their families didn't have to take the 'L' all the way to Lawrence just to see them perform. So...we were thinking of staging a performance here in South Chicago.”
This time, the chuckles came from all vampires.
“Down here?” a vampire girl in a gold-trimmed red jacket snickered. “We don’t need no fucking North Siders sticking their ass where…”
Annabelle’s glare stopped her mid-sentence.
“Tanisha - language. And show some respect for our guests.”
The younger-looking vampire’s gaze shifted to the floor:
“Yes, Mommy Annie.”
“Now, where were we… Oh yes. A performance sounds lovely, but I can’t imagine how you’ll pull it off. South Chicago doesn’t have the space.”
“Actually, we do” Kia said. “We found a storefront we could use for a few days. But that’s not enough.”
“The store is on 80th and Exchange,” I explained. That got the vampires cackling again. This time, Annabelle didn’t even glare at them. She just raised her hand.
“I see,” the vampire leader said. “You want protection.”
“Not just that,” I said. “We’ll have gang territory all around us, and nobody is going to risk crossing gang borders just to see the play.”
“And you want to make sure everybody gets there and back safely. That’s an awfully tall older, child.”
A tall male vampire in the blue jersey took a step forward. He looked at Annabelle. She nodded.
“We’ll need to cover everything from 79th to 83rd, all the way to Southworks. We’ll need to cover bus stops and train stations. We’ll be spreading ourselves awful thin.”
“What I don’t get,” Harris spoke up, “is why we have to get involved. If we do it, we’ll be pissing off the Stones and the Dragons.” He stared hard at me. “We don’t need that kind of shit.”
He glanced around at the other vampires. Tanisha grinned, but others slowly backed away.
Annabelle tapped her foot, her expression as hard as steel:
“Are you done?”
Harris glanced around, apprehension clearly evident.
“What did I…” Harris said, but before he could finish that sentence, Annabelle marched up to him, grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the nearest wall. The old fire escape rattled.
Kia squeezed my hand.
“My dear child,” Annabelle hissed. “You haven’t been with us for long, so let me explain something to you. If you ever so much as imply that we should be afraid of some mortal maggots with guns, I will break every bone in your body, tie you to a tree and make sure you stay there until sunrise. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Ms Annabelle,” he gasped.
She released her grip and Harris collapsed onto the floor.
“Good,” She smiled. “Now, Curtis - I know it may seem difficult, but we know how to put the fear of God in mortals who get in our way, don’t we?”
“We do, Ms. Annabelle. But…”
“Yes, Curtis?”
He gulped - on odd gesture for a creature that doesn’t really need to breathe - and said:
“We can cover everything within ten blocks of 80th and Exchange, no problem, but it’s going to take a lot out of us. Our usual sources ain’t going to be enough.”
Harris got up and slinked off the Tanisha. She sneered and turned away.
“That won’t be a problem. I am sure Mr. Odoyo and Miss Xang would let us feast for a few nights. Two, three mortals should do it.”
I shivered in spite of myself. I knew this was coming. Vampires don’t need blood to survive day-by-day, but the more they use their abilities, the more blood they need. Not enough to drain you dry, but still enough to leave you weak and woozy for a few hours. And vampires like getting paid with fresh blood.
“We know,” Kia said. “We’ll do it.”
I nodded. We agreed on it ahead of time. We couldn’t let any of our actors do it - otherwise, we wouldn’t have much of play, now would we. Still didn’t make it any easier.
I was bitten by a vampire before. I didn’t know it at the time - back then, I was still clueless about the supernatural. Adrian Cressman, a half-Igbo sorcerer, saved me before the vampire could drain too much, but I would never forget just how much it hurt to have those teeth pierce your neck.
“It doesn’t have to be painful,” Annabelle said. “We can make it very pleasant. You’d barely feel a thing.”
Her whole face lit up, and the alley felt warm all the sudden. Anabelle looked awfully young… And she did have really nice breasts. She was way too dressed, maybe I should fix that.
Ah! Fuck! What he hell, that hurt!
“Stay the hell away from us, you walking corpse!”
Kia’s nails dug into the palm of my hand so hard that I could’ve sworn it bled. Shit. Yeah... Damn, how old was Annabelle? I knew vampires used to be able to charm their victims, but this was back when Bela Lugosi was young. I didn’t think vampires of that breed still existed, especially here on the South Side.
“Sorry,” I told Kia.
“It’s okay,.” She breathed deeply. “Not your fault.”
My hand hurt like hell, but after what just happened, I didn’t want to let Kia go.
Annabelle looked at us with a slight smile.
“I see,” she said. “You two are just full of surprises. Sometimes, I forget that race-mixing isn’t a scandal anymore.”
Kia and I exchanged looked. Say what you will about Uptown, but it's one of the few places where the usual Chicago stereotypes don't apply. There aren't that many places where a son of a Kenyan immigrant and a white woman can date a daughter of Hmong refugees and nobody would bat an eye.
Most of the time.
“He’s dating a chink?” Tanisha spat. “Eww!”
Curtis glanced at her direction.
“Oh, right. Sorry, Mama Anabelle - Oriental. That’s still gross.”
“What’cha you talking about?” Harris said. “Asian chicks are hot!”
The old vampire shook her head.
“Well, in that case, I guess we’ll have to do it painfully,” she said. “Shame.”
I looked at Kia. She snapped me out of the spell, but the effects still lingered. Focus on her. Just her.
“So, do we have a deal?” she asked, her voice the same carefully neutral tone she uses around her parents.
“We do. Let me know when you’re going to hold the performance and we’ll be there.” Annabelle paused. “I miss going to a theater. It’s been such a long time since South Chicago had one. It might be a few days, but if it works… who knows.”
Annabelle gestured at the other vampires. They jumped up and, in a swift blur of a motion, leapt onto the roof. Tanisha paused to stick out her tongue and blurred right on after the rest.
Kia’s magic flowed through my hand and the pain started melting away. it would be another minute or two before it would be repaired completely, but that didn't matter.
I let go of her hand and hugged her as tightly as I could.
“We did it,” I whispered.
“We did,” she whispered back.
The streetlight behind us flickered and died. We left the alley and headed straight for the nearest train station. A train to downtown would be there in a few minutes.
We made our way through the garbage-ridden, half-abandoned streets. We did it. We got vampires to work for us. Our audience will be safe. And all we had to do is offer ourselves up as snacks.
Yes, we certainly did it.
What the hell did we just do?
2011 (c) strannik01
As before, questions, comments and criticisms are very much encouraged.
Blood Bargain
Kia took my hand. Growing up in Uptown, we knew better than to wander down dark alleys in the middle of the night. That went double here in South Chicago, where gangs are on every corner and school kids get shot during the day. But our contact specifically said - they will meet you in the alley off of 82nd and Commercial streets, and here we were.
I didn’t have much sensitivity to magic, but Kia was a natural. Her eyes darted up just in time to catch a couple of dark blurs jumping down from the rooftop. They moved at speeds human eyes couldn’t quite catch, but Kia followed every second of their descent.
The streetlight behind us flickered and died.
Kia mumbled something in Hmong and the light returned. It would only stay on for as long as Kia was there to will it, but it would be enough.
The vampires loomed in the shadows, the light barely bright enough to reveal their shapes. They looked human - but we knew all too well just how deceptive appearances could be.
The vampires were all black. Not unusual for the South Side of Chicago - in this city, segregation touches everything, even the supernatural. Darkness concealed details, but from what I could tell, they mostly stuck to typical ghetto wear - worn jeans, oversized T-shirts, dirty sneakers, hoodies and fake-fur-trimmed jackets.
A short vampire woman with flowing, wavy hair and a cheap grey suit stepped forward. The other vampires arranged themselves around us. If we ran, they would cut us off in seconds.
“Mister Kevin Odoyo. Miss Kia Xang,” the vampire woman sniffed the air. “You are not quite what I expected.” Her voice was soothing, with just a hint of a Southern accent. “I am Annabelle. So long as you don’t try and hurt my children, you are under my protection. ”
One of the vampires - a slightly taller guy in a green hoodie - let out a chuckle.
“I mean it, Harris,” Annabelle tilted her head in his direction. “The humans came to us in good faith, and it wouldn’t be right if we don’t honor it, now would it?”
Harris nodded.
“Now what is it that you wanted to talk about, darlings?”
Kia and I exchanged looks. We thought long and hard about what we were going to say, and it sounded great on paper, but it wasn’t quite the same as meeting actual vampires face-to-face.
“Like we told you on the phone,” I said. “We run a community theater in Uptown. Half of our cast is from the South Side. Lately, we’ve been talking about how South Side doesn’t really have a whole lot of theaters,” unless you count Hyde Park, which is really a world in on itself. “And how it would be nice if their families didn't have to take the 'L' all the way to Lawrence just to see them perform. So...we were thinking of staging a performance here in South Chicago.”
This time, the chuckles came from all vampires.
“Down here?” a vampire girl in a gold-trimmed red jacket snickered. “We don’t need no fucking North Siders sticking their ass where…”
Annabelle’s glare stopped her mid-sentence.
“Tanisha - language. And show some respect for our guests.”
The younger-looking vampire’s gaze shifted to the floor:
“Yes, Mommy Annie.”
“Now, where were we… Oh yes. A performance sounds lovely, but I can’t imagine how you’ll pull it off. South Chicago doesn’t have the space.”
“Actually, we do” Kia said. “We found a storefront we could use for a few days. But that’s not enough.”
“The store is on 80th and Exchange,” I explained. That got the vampires cackling again. This time, Annabelle didn’t even glare at them. She just raised her hand.
“I see,” the vampire leader said. “You want protection.”
“Not just that,” I said. “We’ll have gang territory all around us, and nobody is going to risk crossing gang borders just to see the play.”
“And you want to make sure everybody gets there and back safely. That’s an awfully tall older, child.”
A tall male vampire in the blue jersey took a step forward. He looked at Annabelle. She nodded.
“We’ll need to cover everything from 79th to 83rd, all the way to Southworks. We’ll need to cover bus stops and train stations. We’ll be spreading ourselves awful thin.”
“What I don’t get,” Harris spoke up, “is why we have to get involved. If we do it, we’ll be pissing off the Stones and the Dragons.” He stared hard at me. “We don’t need that kind of shit.”
He glanced around at the other vampires. Tanisha grinned, but others slowly backed away.
Annabelle tapped her foot, her expression as hard as steel:
“Are you done?”
Harris glanced around, apprehension clearly evident.
“What did I…” Harris said, but before he could finish that sentence, Annabelle marched up to him, grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the nearest wall. The old fire escape rattled.
Kia squeezed my hand.
“My dear child,” Annabelle hissed. “You haven’t been with us for long, so let me explain something to you. If you ever so much as imply that we should be afraid of some mortal maggots with guns, I will break every bone in your body, tie you to a tree and make sure you stay there until sunrise. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Ms Annabelle,” he gasped.
She released her grip and Harris collapsed onto the floor.
“Good,” She smiled. “Now, Curtis - I know it may seem difficult, but we know how to put the fear of God in mortals who get in our way, don’t we?”
“We do, Ms. Annabelle. But…”
“Yes, Curtis?”
He gulped - on odd gesture for a creature that doesn’t really need to breathe - and said:
“We can cover everything within ten blocks of 80th and Exchange, no problem, but it’s going to take a lot out of us. Our usual sources ain’t going to be enough.”
Harris got up and slinked off the Tanisha. She sneered and turned away.
“That won’t be a problem. I am sure Mr. Odoyo and Miss Xang would let us feast for a few nights. Two, three mortals should do it.”
I shivered in spite of myself. I knew this was coming. Vampires don’t need blood to survive day-by-day, but the more they use their abilities, the more blood they need. Not enough to drain you dry, but still enough to leave you weak and woozy for a few hours. And vampires like getting paid with fresh blood.
“We know,” Kia said. “We’ll do it.”
I nodded. We agreed on it ahead of time. We couldn’t let any of our actors do it - otherwise, we wouldn’t have much of play, now would we. Still didn’t make it any easier.
I was bitten by a vampire before. I didn’t know it at the time - back then, I was still clueless about the supernatural. Adrian Cressman, a half-Igbo sorcerer, saved me before the vampire could drain too much, but I would never forget just how much it hurt to have those teeth pierce your neck.
“It doesn’t have to be painful,” Annabelle said. “We can make it very pleasant. You’d barely feel a thing.”
Her whole face lit up, and the alley felt warm all the sudden. Anabelle looked awfully young… And she did have really nice breasts. She was way too dressed, maybe I should fix that.
Ah! Fuck! What he hell, that hurt!
“Stay the hell away from us, you walking corpse!”
Kia’s nails dug into the palm of my hand so hard that I could’ve sworn it bled. Shit. Yeah... Damn, how old was Annabelle? I knew vampires used to be able to charm their victims, but this was back when Bela Lugosi was young. I didn’t think vampires of that breed still existed, especially here on the South Side.
“Sorry,” I told Kia.
“It’s okay,.” She breathed deeply. “Not your fault.”
My hand hurt like hell, but after what just happened, I didn’t want to let Kia go.
Annabelle looked at us with a slight smile.
“I see,” she said. “You two are just full of surprises. Sometimes, I forget that race-mixing isn’t a scandal anymore.”
Kia and I exchanged looked. Say what you will about Uptown, but it's one of the few places where the usual Chicago stereotypes don't apply. There aren't that many places where a son of a Kenyan immigrant and a white woman can date a daughter of Hmong refugees and nobody would bat an eye.
Most of the time.
“He’s dating a chink?” Tanisha spat. “Eww!”
Curtis glanced at her direction.
“Oh, right. Sorry, Mama Anabelle - Oriental. That’s still gross.”
“What’cha you talking about?” Harris said. “Asian chicks are hot!”
The old vampire shook her head.
“Well, in that case, I guess we’ll have to do it painfully,” she said. “Shame.”
I looked at Kia. She snapped me out of the spell, but the effects still lingered. Focus on her. Just her.
“So, do we have a deal?” she asked, her voice the same carefully neutral tone she uses around her parents.
“We do. Let me know when you’re going to hold the performance and we’ll be there.” Annabelle paused. “I miss going to a theater. It’s been such a long time since South Chicago had one. It might be a few days, but if it works… who knows.”
Annabelle gestured at the other vampires. They jumped up and, in a swift blur of a motion, leapt onto the roof. Tanisha paused to stick out her tongue and blurred right on after the rest.
Kia’s magic flowed through my hand and the pain started melting away. it would be another minute or two before it would be repaired completely, but that didn't matter.
I let go of her hand and hugged her as tightly as I could.
“We did it,” I whispered.
“We did,” she whispered back.
The streetlight behind us flickered and died. We left the alley and headed straight for the nearest train station. A train to downtown would be there in a few minutes.
We made our way through the garbage-ridden, half-abandoned streets. We did it. We got vampires to work for us. Our audience will be safe. And all we had to do is offer ourselves up as snacks.
Yes, we certainly did it.
What the hell did we just do?
2011 (c) strannik01