Informant

     He turned the corner, looking over his shoulder as he went. He’d been found out and was now being followed; by the very person whom he had been watching much earlier that evening, or he thought. There was no way to be sure who it was. He cursed, having toppled over a trash can in the alley way and nearly tripped. The resounding crash echoed somewhat in between the apartment blocks and cursed once more, so much for a stealthy get away.

      He turned to see if that dark figure was still behind him. It was gone, just gone. He stopped and looked around, surprised. He was sure there was someone, something, standing over there, just beyond the light of the street lamp. He his heart race and breathing quicken as fear crept across him. He shouldn’t have let it out of his sight. He started backwards, then turned once more and broke into a run, deeper into the dark alley.

    And there it was again. That dark silhouette, he skidded to a stop. This was the closest he’d be been to it. And the longer his eyes lingered on it, the more he noticed the distinct curves that could only belong to a woman. She was walking toward him and before he knew it, he was a retracing his steps backward against the wall. His back pressed against the cold stone wall, there was no where to run. Screaming for help was not an option, the cops where on trail for a much different reason and knew better than to attract that sort of attention. And he had a policy not to hit woman and this one looked like she’d hit back, just as hard, if not harder.

       Her eyes were glowing a bright green in the dimly lit back alley and very predatory. He shivered. He was being reminded of the shows on television, where the lion or other large cat stalked their prey. He knew what the prey felt like now. She stopped, just a few feet away.

       “Well?” she spoke. Her voice was commanding, seductive even. He gulped and didn’t reply. “Well?” she repeated. “I’d like to know why you were following my poor friend earlier.”

       She meant his target of course, the one his boss had sent him to watch and gather intel on. “I-I don’t know what you mean,” he replied, playing dumb was possibly his only option here.

       She tilted her head to the side and peered at him with those glowing green eyes, inching closer. “Really now? Then you should really explain the multitude of pictures she’s taken of you with the phone. You’ve been stalking her for quite a while now…”

        Normally he was the one asking the questions, interrogating with either intimidation or violence, which ever worked. It was odd to be in the other position.  He felt his pulse quicken again and a cold sweat break out onto his forehead and neck. “Maybe she’s been following me,” he suggested, quite brazen.

      Her laughter echoed in the cramped space. “Liar.” She whispered once she’d calmed herself. “You’re such a poor liar. But alas, I don’t have time for you right now. I have better things to do.”

     She turned as walked away, but stopped at the street. “Be sure, I’ll be watching you from now on though.”

 

        -------

 

        After racing back to his apartment, Driscoll closed every window shade and window and locked them as well as the door. He was leaving nothing to chance and yet chills ran up his spine whenever he played her words over in his head. He felt like she could get him anyways. He rubbed his arms, trying to warm them from the cool night air with no avail and sat on the abused couch. His pulled his laptop from the hidden compartment in the coffee tablet and turned it on.

      Vlad would need to know about what happened, though he certainly wouldn’t be happy to hear Driscoll’s position had been compromised. He was vital to finding out the mastermind behind the newest ‘covens’. Just when they thought they’d closed them all, some random vampire decides to be a rebel and open another. He laughed, they beg for forgiveness pretty quickly when faced with the option of death. He wasn’t the kind to kill though. He was merely an informant and he was happy with that.

      But, this coven was starting to ruin that happy life. Again. This one would mark the fourth in the past 2 weeks to be closed, but he was starting to think that it was really just the same one, in a different location, or it could all just be a front, a distraction from a much deeper plot. He’d tell Vlad his suspicions, both boss and friend, Vladimir would take his information and suspicions into consideration when figuring out their next move.

      “I’ll be watching you.”

       He shivered and looked around. He was still shaken from that. There was no doubt that woman was in the coven as much as the one he’d been tailing. This vampire though, wasn’t as reserved as her counterpart. He knew it was a vampire, those unmistakeable glowing eyes. He’d seen them before, only ever in the shadows though. He’d never seen the face they belonged to. She was smart enough to keep in the dark in the alley and still didn’t get a good look at her even inches from his face. He growled inwardly, as he typed the email for Vlad and was sure to ask if there was any green eyed female vampires in the area. Of course, that was a really vague description, but he was sure he could spot those eyes again.

         He rubbed his face and dragged his hand through his dyed black and red hair. Frustration was building as his thought seemed to focus in on her. Without a name or a face, she was like an apparition. He wasn’t even sure if it was all his imagination or not anymore either.

        Click. Email sent. He stood and walked over to the fridge and sighed. Things he had to do tomorrow before sunset; grocery shopping and stock up on silver bullets. Silver burned vampires just as much as they did werewolves, though vampires recovered faster. Merely holding out a crucifix or bible wasn’t enough, reciting certain passages was the key to it. But, once again, he wasn’t a fighter, just an informant for many people. As long as he kept low and his eyes on the target, he’d get through life with flying colours.

    He wouldn’t mind upgrade from the drab apartment though. The wallpaper was peeling, the ceiling above the bath leaked where the above apartment’s bath was and the walls were probably only as thick as his hand. He knew this from experience, neighbours complained when he had noisy ‘company’ when he first started staying there.

   Beep. Beep.

   He returned to the laptop. Vlad had replied. It was unusual for him to reply so quickly. ‘Keep Following Iris, but watch your back for that other vampire.” Attached to the email were pictures of every green eyed vampire in the city. He scanned them, looking for those bright, hungry eyes again. Farther and farther down the list. There. At the bottom of course: Vidalia  Schwartz.

        He snickered. He was sure that was a type of onion.

       Alias: Absinthe

       Now he was confused, what the hell was Absinthe? He Googled it. He raised an eyebrow reading the description. She named herself after an alcoholic beverage that could give you hallucinations? He flashed back to those eyes and then to the face staring at him on the screen.

       “I’ll be watching you.”

       He swore he saw her smirking at him, when he realized, she really was smirking in the picture, almost like she was taunting him. He slammed the screen shut, shaking slightly. He was just sleep deprived, he told himself. A little sleep and everything would be fine.

   ------------

      Driscoll was wrong. He found himself tangled in his sheets from a very restless sleep and still felt quite drowsy. But, the sun shone through the yellowed linen curtains and cast a light glow to the barely furnished bedroom of his small apartment. He pulled himself from bed and made his way to the tiny washroom to splash his face with water to fully wake himself. Looking into the mirror, his dishevelled appearance was made at least somewhat acceptable, by raking his fingers through his always messy hair.

     He walked through the hall barefooted to the living room again where he picked up the laptop once more. That thing contained his life. Every piece of information he picked up went onto it. Every photo he took, every letter he intercepted and scanned, and every file he ever hacked sat on the hard-drive of that computer. He would surely be charged with even years in prison to live his entire life three-fold if it was ever obtained by the law abiding people of the court.

      Once more to his emails, three new ones. Spam. Hadn’t he put up blocks to get rid of those? He clicked to be sure it wasn’t something important dressed as spam. Nope, just spam. It was quickly deleted. The other was from another employer, a list of important people to listen for and find out about. The last one came from an unknown sender. Curious he opened it.

      ‘Found you.’ Was the only line of text, followed by several photos of him. His eyes widened it shock. The images flashed in his mind in conjunction with the memories. They were from the night before, when he was tailing Iris. She hadn’t been lying; she really did manage to get pictures of him. He felt stupid, having left himself for open for such a thing to happen.

     ‘Found you.’ Soon followed by in his mind by, “I’ll be watching you,” made it clear to him very quickly. She wasn’t kidding and it was within her power even during sunlit hours to keep an eye on him. Driscoll wondered just what kind of power this ‘Absinthe’ had. What kind of strings could she pull to get to him so quickly? In fact, how could she know it was him in the pictures? It’s not like she’d seen him before. Or had she?

     He growled in frustration, ready to throw the laptop across the room. It had been less than twelve hours and already she had him going crazy, which was probably what she wanted. What else does a person want when they leave with saying, “I’ll be watching you.”? With the email, he was just being tormented.

      He looked at the address used to send it. Obviously made for sending just this one message, too random letters and numbers for any everyday use, but with just a few clicks he was viewing the network it was sent on. Of course it had to be a public network. Narrowing down part of the IP address he came to the conclusion it was actually the café down the street from his apartment black. That sent a shiver down his spine.

      He knew it was sent from a phone or laptop, but how the hell did she even know his e-mail to begin with? Especially this one, he kept this one for his employers only. He turned it off, shut the whole thing down and stuffed it back in the hidden drawer of the coffee table in front of him. He was restless now, unsure of what action to take. He reached forward to grab the cigarettes on the table and lit one up. Driscoll knew they weren’t good for his health, but neither was being stressed.

      He reclined into the couch and looked to the only clock besides the one on his laptop.

      “Nine in the f*****g morning," he groaned, it was earlier than he first thought. But that couldn’t be helped. He’d just start his day earlier too.

         -----------

       He checked the list of important people on his phone. Four names that he was to listen and watch for, another that was to be confronted on sight and taken in for ‘proper’ questioning by a higher authority than him, he was just supposed to be a distraction until they arrived to get him and there was another three from Vlad, personally, he wanted Driscoll to avoid coming into contact too. This email had arrived several hours late and into the afternoon. Vidalia was on this list, but it was way too late for that warning, perhaps that’s why Vlad had put her on that list.

         He was sitting on a bench in the park not far from home. The place was packed with people but there were few in attendance that weren’t there for lovely exposure to sunlight or fresh air and there intentions a little less benevolent than the kids that played on the juggle gym. He was watching for them and knew how to spot them. Many made it way to easy for him and could follow them without hiding himself for several minutes, listening to everything and even walk right pass them when he got what he wanted.

       That was not the case this time around. They were watching him just as much as he watched them and could not move any closer under their scrutinizing gazes. So, he’d wait and watch. A package was passed between two of them. He knew what it contained in name, but not what it was for or what it could do, something vampire related. He was beginning to wish Vlad had pulled him into this crazy world of supernatural beings and things that go bump in the night.

      Driscoll had found out about Vlad’s work within the ‘Hunters’ by accident, but his knowledge was a dangerous weapon for their targets. It was either he join them or die and though he opted out of the actual killing, he still maintain membership by being Vlad’s partner in crime, his personal informant or investigator.

     They were moving again, closer to him. He stood up from the bench attempting to act casual, but that wasn’t completely possible when he had three possibly armed drug trading thugs following him. As soon as he exited the more the densely populated area of the park he broke into a run, not for home though, he wouldn’t dare lead them there. He scrambled up a wall, grabbing the ledge and pulled himself over it. He dared to look back to look for his pursuers. They too had started running probably as soon as he did and were gaining on him fast. He sprinted from the wall and across the street, narrowly dodging an incoming car. Over a chain link fence, the metal top cutting into his hands and he flung himself over the top. Farther still he went, jumping up to catch an overhanging fire escape ladder and pulled himself onto the iron staircase that lead to the roof. As he reached the fourth flight he glanced down to see the thugs just making it over the fence. He laughed. They actually had to help each other over it, meaning one would be left behind to make his own way around, leaving two for him to deal with.

     Up several more stairs and he reached the top, he breathed deeply and listened. The two that made it over were finally on the stairs, he had to keep moving. He raced forward toward the next building and leaped. He didn’t stop, he continued onward for the next one. Then there was no more, within his jumping range. The rooftop fire escape door was unlocked and his only chance, he burst through and dashed down the steps two or three at a time. Nearing the fifth floor he tripped and fell down the next flight of stairs crashing painfully onto his back on the landing.

     He rolled over, hissing in pain and struggled to his knees. He heard the door crash open above and he knew the two following him were on him. He leaned against the wall to stand and prepared to run again, but instead stumble onto the hand rail, his ankle twisted and to his mind, possibly broken.

     Laughter from above spoke volumes. They spotted him and knew he was a sitting duck. Unarmed and unable to stand, he was vulnerable, for the second time in less than twenty four hours.

      “I think I remember that face,” said the taller of the two, but he was also the thinnest and compared to his counterpart, possibly the weakest of them.

      “From where?” the other asked, as they slowed their pace, knowing Driscoll wasn’t going anywhere too fast anyways.

       “He likes to be in places he shouldn’t,” was the reply.

       “Who’s to say where I shouldn’t be?” Driscoll asked, attempting to buy time, the throb in his ankle was nothing short of unbearable and he gripped the railing for support.

       “My bosses for one,” the taller one said.

        “And who would they be?” he asked.

        “None of your business!” The shout echoed in the stairwell.

        “Oh, but it is. That’s what I do actually, found this out about people.”

        “So, you’re a rat then?” Both burst into laughter. He regretted saying that, it gave them the perfect cause to kill him there and then.

         The lights in the stair well flickered then went dark.

        “What the f**k?!” shouted one of his would be attackers. Then there was a scream and the sound of flesh hitting something, very hard. “H-hey?! Randy?!”

        Randy didn’t reply and the nameless one shouted in pain not long after the other. Something large landed to his feet and looked down to look at it, but the darkness was too thick, he could take a good guess though.

        Then there was a chuckle, high in pitch. “I told you I’d be watching you.”

 

Author's Note

Vidalia really is a type of onion....It just too epic for just onions though.
Added a lot to this chapter. I felt like it was too short and unfinished.