CHAPTER ONE.

J.O.B.

Rachel took a single look at the interior of my new office/living space before turning toward me and giving me a withering look of extreme disapproval. She then took a seat on the beat-up leather chair placed in front of my battered old desk and with a single raised brow, asked, “What the hell are you doing, Kyler?”

I gave a slight wince at the cold tone of voice with which she addressed me. Clearly, my little angel was not impressed with the profession I had chosen. I mean, I knew from the start she wouldn’t approve, but I didn’t think she’d be this upfront about it.

Would it really have been too much to ask for her to pretend to care?

“Well, dear one, this is both my new home and my new workspace,” I said as I took a seat in my creaky office chair. “I just figured if I was going to achieve the greatest possible good as a resolver, it would be from here, in the beating heart of Gardenia. I think it’s a good thing to dwell among the good people of this extraordinary place.”

“This is a decrepit slum, Kyler. You’re surrounded by criminals and desperate people on the verge of becoming criminals,” Rachel replied without humor. “Come back to the estate, please. Whatever happened between you and Anikka, we can work this out.”

“Nothing happened between me and Anikka!” I said defensively. “Why is that the first place your mind went? You can’t spell assumption without first being an ass, daughter!”

“I already spoke with her, Kyler. She feels awful about what happened. Come home, let’s get this sorted out,” said Rachel.

What? She’d already spoken with Anikka? Oh, that was cheating! Why don’t women ever play fair? Maybe it was a principal of survival hereditary to their nature as the gentler sex. Since they were smaller than men, perhaps that meant they felt no obligation to respect the rules of civilized conduct. It wouldn’t surprise me. Most of the women I’d associated with throughout my life were extremely effective mass murderers.

“Rachel, please,” I said as I held up a hand to cut off her plea. “Just tell Anikka that there’s nothing to be sorry for. It was a moment of weakness for us both and it’s already been forgotten. There’s nothing to forgive.”

“I wasn’t asking you to forgive her,” Rachel said with increasing annoyance. “No, if anything, what happened was entirely your fault, you lascivious goat. You have absolutely no sense of judgement whenever you receive increased blood flow to your groin. It’s too embarrassing.”

“Hey! Whoa! I tried to stop things before they went too far!” I replied. “Don’t I get any credit for that?”

“She was half-undressed in your bed when you allegedly came to your senses,” Rachel snapped. “Try to see this from my perspective, I’m the one who loves her! Do you think I want to see my child humiliated like this?”

“What about me?” I countered. “Do you know how it feels when you think you’re about to have an enjoyable sexual encounter only to have your partner begin sobbing uncontrollably? It’s not a good feeling, Rachel. In fact, it’s horrifying!”

“Oh,” she said. “Anikka didn’t mention that part.”

“She’s new to this life, Rachel,” I said as I ran a hand down my face. “Unlike you, Anikka is a genuine fledgling. She doesn’t have your ancient blood to help her maintain control of her senses. Extreme emotions and manic fits are an unfortunate part of the process. She’ll be this way for years.”

“Okay, so she’s new. That doesn’t mean you have to run away—”

“Daughter, she’s still in love with a dead man,” I said gently. “A dead man whose body I happen to be wearing. I shouldn’t be around her when she still hasn’t recovered from her loss. It would not only torment her; it’ll also be unpleasant for me.”

“You’ve been through worse,” Rachel insisted.

“Perhaps that’s true. But at least I faced those difficult times of my own volition,” I said, now beginning to grow angry myself.

“Are you saying this is my fault?” Rachel asked haughtily.

“Isn’t it?” I countered. “I warned you it would have been better to raise her as our lesser kin. You instead chose to bring her entirely into our bloodline, despite knowing of this potential complication. Now look at how melodramatic everything has become!”

“Kyler, that isn’t fair!” protested Rachel. “I just wanted Anikka to have the same sort of relationship with me that you and I share. I couldn’t bear the idea of making her a mere thrall.”

I sighed again and tapped my fingers on my desk.

What a mess.

Just more evidence that someone could plan for anything in this world except for the consequences of their own behavior.

“Let’s not argue about this any further, Rachel,” I said. “What’s done is done. Furthermore, it’s nothing that a little time can’t fix. A few scant years will pass in the blink of an eye. It won’t be that long until we can reunite. In the meanwhile, be there for Anikka. Be her bedrock. Teach her what she needs to know. This is an important time for her. She needs you.”

“Kyler,” Rachel said tearfully as she rose from her chair to embrace me tightly. “What about me? I need you. Why must I give up on one member of my family to be with the other? Please. It won’t be the same with you gone.”

“Rachel, this is a time of learning for you as well,” I said as I returned her hug. “You may be two millennia old, but you spent most of those years sleeping in that spear those fanatics trapped you in. You haven’t properly adjusted to the passage of time as a vampire ordinarily perceives it. The anxiety you’re feeling will soon pass, I promise. Once you’ve gained a proper perspective then a time will come when we can pass centuries apart with you barely noticing.”

“I don’t want to spend centuries apart. I don’t even want to spend months apart. I want you to come home,” said Rachel.

“Well, you’re a parent now and you have a greater responsibility than being my bratty sidekick,” I said to her fondly. “Take Schultz with you.”

“Take him where?” she asked.

“Traveling,” I replied. “Take advantage of the name and wealth we stole from that old bastard Velas and go see the world. Find everything of interest that you can on this continent, and then go abroad to wherever your whims demand. Break the hearts of a few girls along the way. Be as angelic or as devilish as you like, I’ll love you all the same. Even better, make yourself some grand enemies and have a proper adventure. Teach Anikka what it means to conquer.”

“An adventure,” Rachel said thoughtfully as she considered my advice. “That does sound amazing. Like we could have a lot of fun.”

“Of course, it does,” I said warmly. “You’re the heir to the Lord of Blood. This world was made for your selfish indulgence.”

“But what about you?” she asked. “How will you pass the time all by yourself?”

“I will do exactly as the sign on my door suggests,” I said with a bold smile.

Outside, the sign hanging on my glass window read: Kyler Velas. Resolver.

“Kyler, that’s such a confusing title,” said Rachel. “I don’t want to come across as being overly critical, but what exactly is a resolver?”

“Me,” I said with a preening grin. “I’m a resolver. Well, the resolver since it’s a profession that didn’t exist before I thought it up.”

“Okay,” Rachel said slowly. “But what does that actually consist of?”

“You know, things. Important things. Solving mysteries, fighting crime, improving the lives of the little people. Each week it’ll be something different. It’s a position that offers a lot of variety, I’ll have you know.”

“It sounds like syndicated television,” Rachel said flatly. “Something you’d watch in the 1980’s. Like a weekly detective show.”

“Hey! It’s not nearly as simplistic as that!” I protested.

I was lying. It was exactly like that. I just didn’t like that she’d picked it apart so quickly.

Since you’re probably wondering, I was once known as Kyler Stragos, the Lord of Blood. I’m not trying to be boastful about myself or anything, but during my heyday, I was one of the four great rulers of all vampiredom, in service to Great Crusica, (our mother) a survivor of the primordial darkness that existed before the big bang.

In her service, I killed a lot of people and did a few other notably bad things.

I felt a little guilty about it.

But a scant four years ago, I was slain after fourteen hundred years of wickedness that culminated with the near extinction of humanity. I was then reborn into this interesting new corner of creation. A place where the earth was under constant peril from ceaseless dimensional incursions that brought monsters, demons, and other alien forms of intelligent life, who besieged the cities of man and brought civilization to its knees.

In response to this dire threat, humanity was gifted with something called the Akashic Codex, more commonly referred to as the system, which gave the people it empowered access to powerful skills, magic, and equipment, if they accepted the roles it assigned to them. These chosen ones were originally known as the ascended; but in modern times they’re better known as hunters.

In the country we currently reside in, the Allied Kingdom, the hunters long ago proclaimed themselves the supreme authority due to the power they wielded. To cement their claim, they alleged that they were chosen by the gods themselves and had a divine mandate to rule over baseline humanity.

Naturally, that was little more than a self-serving fiction they propagated to justify the power they’d seized for themselves. But even though they couldn’t prove what they claimed, bad things were known to happen to anyone that didn’t bend the knee to them

I knew for a fact that the nobles were lying because I was good friends with the Alpha Administrator, the luminous intellect who oversaw the system they worshipped. At all times, Alpha was delightful company, but never once had she ever claimed to be a god or the servant of one. If anything, praying to her was an excellent way to make her keep her distance.

She found it creepy.

Technically, Rachel and I were both hunters, but activating our unique class, Vampire Lord, was no different from becoming actual vampires. So much so that we could willfully violate certain laws enforced by the system. Such as eating humans.

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(Not that we’d dream of indulging in such behavior, but we could if we felt like it, which was nice.)

(There’s nothing wrong with having options, is there?)

Here in these wild new lands, I eventually felt a personal call to renew myself. No longer content to be a cog in the engine of destruction, I decided that I would spend my second life seeking redemption for my past misdeeds. Just because such a feat was utterly impossible was no reason not to make the attempt.

I simply had to take it one day at a time. Hence, my new occupation.

And so, with my newfound resolve to be a better human being…er, a better person now foremost in my heart, I, the dreaded beast formerly known as Kyler Stragos, the fifth child of Crusica, the fourth of the four great vampire lords, the most talented practitioner of blood magic to ever live, nay, the very lord of blood itself, have rented these affordable accommodations in a less upwardly mobile section of this great city, in a bid to seek out those in need of my assistance.

That doing so also gave me a convenient excuse to avoid being around Anikka, my daughter’s newly created vampire child who was desperately in love with the person who previously occupied my current body, was a bonus.

It wasn’t that I resented Anikka’s interest in me. She was a beautiful, brilliant woman, as well as a talented apothecary. Now that she had become a vampire, her talents were sure to expand far beyond her wildest dreams. It would have been a pleasure to watch her gradual development. But as I explained to Rachel, young vampires need to be kept under strict control for the early years of their new existence. This required their creator to be with them constantly to force them into compliance with their mental bond. Rachel’s unusual origins had made her an exception to that ironclad rule, but Anikka had no such luck. Because I was the focal point of her obsession, it was important that I remove myself from her presence to avoid her developing an abnormal fixation on me that could potentially drive her insane.

That would have been a tragedy for two reasons. It would have meant the loss of Anikka’s limitless potential. And it would have also forced Rachel to experience the pain of having to destroy her own child.

I couldn’t allow that.

It was bad enough being a monster who’d struck down three of his own beloved children and alienated the rest with his selfishness and neglect. In my old life I was hated by those who’d once loved me and rightfully so. I couldn’t allow myself to repeat the same mistakes. That meant avoiding unpleasant vampire dramatics at all costs.

Anikka didn’t love me. She was confused by her new senses and was desperate to see her dead lover again. She didn’t need me as a substitute for him, she needed the passage of time to finish mourning.

As for me, I needed time alone to assuage myself of the guilt of having taken his body. Although it hadn’t been by choice, it still saddened me to see how much pain my presence brought her. Distance from each other was what was required. When the time felt right, we’d reunite. But until then I would miss both her and Rachel.

Especially Rachel, my brilliant daughter.

There was also my dog, Schultz. It would hurt not having him around.

He was such a good, good boy.

__

After saying goodnight to Rachel and promising to see her one last time before she and Anikka left on their journey, I settled back into my chair and resumed staring blankly at my wall as I let my mind drift into the void.

I hoped a job would come soon. I spent a few hours last week placing flyers for my services wherever I could, as well as handing them out to curious strangers, most of whom were uninterested. Perhaps I should have used the more traditional title of private detective? Would that have gotten me more attention? I hated to admit it, but Rachel had a point when she said that being a resolver didn’t exactly explain itself very well. I’d assumed that people would see that the title could be applied to a variety of different situations. There were lots of things in life that needed to be resolved, after all. It was a job that implied adaptability for any situation.

Interchangeability. That was its strength.

No one seemed to care, though.

Customers were scarce.

It was a damn shame. They were missing out on a very good deal. Ever since Rachel had enthralled the late Lord Velas and forced him to adopt us, money had ceased being a concern. Anikka, Rachel, and I were obscenely wealthy. Thanks to that, I felt no urge to charge prospective customers money for my services. I was perfectly willing to accept payment through a novel experience. Or at the very least, an enjoyable one. And yet, despite such generous terms, no request for me had been made. Did the lowly citizens of Gardenia not understand what a great bargain they were missing out on? Or did they think this was an elaborate prank being played on them by a cruel noble?

They’d learn soon enough. I just needed to be patient. Curiosity would eventually drive someone to find out if I was the real thing, and once that happened, and my authenticity was confirmed, the walls of hesitancy preventing them from trusting me would quickly come tumbling down.

A sudden burst of noise from the communicator on my desk, custom designed to look like an old-fashioned rotary telephone, caught me by surprise and brought my musing to an end. It seemed the time would come sooner, rather than later!

Not wanting to appear too eager, I waited until the fourth ring before I answered. “Kyler Velas at your service. How may I be of assistance?”

At the other end of the line, I heard naught but heavy breathing.

Meh. It wasn’t the first time I’d received a call like this. “Hello? Are you all right? If you’re seeking to make a romantic connection, I’d prefer you to give me a bouquet of roses with a nicely worded card. Or take me dancing somewhere classy. Otherwise, I’m not sure what I can possibly offer you.”

“Help…me,” a terrified young man whimpered across the line. “Please help me…I can’t stop it. I don’t want to…”

I could hear the genuine fear of death filling the caller’s voice as he spoke. Sensing his authentic terror, I immediately grew alert. “Who are you? What’s happening? I need details.”

I heard the thick sound of swallowing before the voice continued. “I’m at my home…I know I’m at my home. I keep seeing things, I can’t…why is it so hard to think? To hear? Why is this happening?”

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “But perhaps I could find out. Tell me where you are.”

“They’re going to destroy everything. Ruin everything my father worked for. You can’t…you can’t let them. You can’t let her. Gardenia…Gardenia will burn…”

It would? What a frightening thought.

I instinctively knew that he sincerely believed what he was saying. The despair in his voice, the utter hopelessness saturating each spoken word. The realization that his days beneath the sun had ended. I’ve heard people speak that way before and knew that wherever this boy was, I’d never reach him in time.

I wondered if I should take his case.

Well, he did say Gardenia would burn.

That would be terrible. All my things are here.

Rachel and Anikka too, for the moment.

All right, I suppose I could take a look and see what’s happening.

“Can you tell me your address?” I asked him. “Or your name? Can you tell me anything that would help me locate you?”

“It’s happening,” the caller wept. “It’s happening…why wasn’t I strong enough?”

“Be strong now,” I urged him. “Whatever’s happening, try to resist. Tell me who you are, tell me where you are. You’re showing so much courage right now. Follow through on it! You can do this.”

“I can’t…it hurts…I can’t…”

Oh, to hell with this. Now I was bored.

“Okay,” I said. “Well, you tried and that’s what really matters. May I suggest you contact the constabulary if there’s time? I sincerely wish you the best of luck.”

Having said that, I hung up and began wondering where I should go for dinner.

I can already sense your judgmental glare being directed at me, and in my opinion, you aren’t being fair. Hadn’t I already tried to get his name and location? I’m not perfect. I’m just an ordinary private citizen of advanced years volunteering for a little community service. The fact that I’d indulged him for as long as I had was proof positive of my good intentions, was it not? Advising him to contact city security was the right move. At least they’d be able to trace his call to its source.

Ten minutes passed before I settled on getting a big plate of spicey chicken tenders with a pitcher of root beer. I grabbed my coat and was heading outside when the phone rang again before my foot could cross the doorway. Was this someone new or was it a repeat caller? If it was the latter, then I had no obligation to answer. But if it was the first, then I might be missing out on an opportunity for a real case.

I couldn’t help but feel indecisive. Now that I’d set my sights on enjoying a good meal, I really wanted to get going. Ever since I’d gained the ability to become human at will, eating has become a passion of mine.

Oh, well. I guess it could wait for just a bit.

“Kyler Velas, Resolver, speaking,” I answered. “Make it quick, please. I’m late for dinner.”

“I’m sorry, did you say Kyler Velas?” asked a surprised woman’s voice. “What the hell are you doing on this line?”

A woman’s voice that I recognized.

“Elphie Cross?” I asked in return. “Hello! Goodness, it’s been ages since your awkward breakup with Rachel. I’m glad to hear you speaking coherent sentences again. What’s up?”

“I asked you why you were on this line, Kyler,” Cross replied, ignoring what I’d just said. “How the rest of your night goes will depend heavily upon your answer.”

Well, that wasn’t a friendly thing to say, was it?

Although Cross was a whimsical, playful sort of lass in her free time, she was still a member of the Valkyries. An elite team of five extremely powerful hunters that answered directly to the Regent, the supreme ruler of the kingdom. It was a dangerous thing to impede them when they were carrying out their duties.

It really didn’t help that their master hated my guts.

“Are you going to answer the question?” she pressed.

It also didn’t help that my daughter had one-sidedly used her for fun for an entire year before ending the relationship out of boredom, leaving Cross with a broken heart and an additional incentive to give me a hard time.

…Maybe I wasn’t going to miss having Rachel around quite as much as I thought.

“A male stranger called recently, seeking my services,” I replied honestly. “I spoke with him for a few minutes, but I couldn’t get a name or an address from him, so I suggested he contact the proper authorities and hung up. That’s as far as we interacted.”

“Did he seem off or anything?” asked Cross. "Was there anything unusual about how he spoke?"

“If you're suggesting he was on something, that may have been the case,” I replied. “He spoke in a strange manner and complained about being unable to control himself. It may have been a hallucinogen; he tried to warn me that someone was going to burn the city down.”

When Cross didn’t reply immediately, I sat on the corner of my desk and waited for her to say something. This behavior of hers was an interesting change from how she normally was. Cross was ordinarily a gregarious goofball, who went out of her way to lighten the mood. Not so today. I could almost taste the tension exuding from her words when she finally spoke.

“I’m sending an ariel transport for you,” she said. “Be ready when it comes.”

“For what?” I scowled, annoyed by her authoritative tone of voice. “What exactly did I do?”

“You’re not being placed under arrest,” Cross said. “I want you out here with me.”

“Again, for what?” I repeated.

“You’re a private investigator now, right?” Cross said irritably. “If so, then come investigate something for me. Privately. Whether you like it or not, you’re now involved. I may as well put you to use.”

“I refuse,” I said.

“Why?” she sighed.

“Because you got my title wrong. I’m a resolver. I resolve things! I’m not some petty P.I. trying to scrounge up a living by taking photos of unfaithful spouses mounting their personal trainers.”

“What if I said you didn’t have a choice?” she mused.

“You’d force my compliance? But aren’t we dear friends?” I asked.

“You and me? Not that I can recall,” was her response. “In fact, you were mildly hostile towards me from the moment we met.”

“It wasn’t personal. I’m just disdainful of others on general principles. Most people find it charming once they get to know me better.”

“Then it’s a shame we never reached that stage in our own relationship. Your ride will be there within fifteen minutes. I’ll be expecting you.”

And with that, Cross hung up on me.

Wow. What interesting feelings that stirred within me.

On the one hand, I found Cross’ high-handedness deeply offensive. I hate being forced to do anything against my will. I’d spent centuries essentially being a yes man for Great Crusica, and carrying out any command she gave me no matter how cruel it was. One unexpectantly happy outcome of her being destroyed during her war against the cultivators was finally being freed from her tyrannical grasp.

In the time since then, I’ve grown to treasure finally being my own man. Anyone who dared to give me orders did so at dire peril. It was the main reason I hadn’t gotten along with Regent Norus when we met. The man was a belligerent, power tripping little shit.

Oh, I curse now. Not a lot. I don’t like being excessive with it, but now that I’ve decided that I’m a brand-new man, I don’t see anything wrong with peppering my words with the occasional bit of saltiness when polite language won’t adequately express the depths of my feelings.

Yep. The Regent was an ass. A bullying bastard. A petty little peckerwood.

Heh. I’m so bad.

Still, despite my contrarian feelings, I was deeply curious about what that strange phone call had got me entangled in. It had to be something big. If the Valkyries were involved, then so was the Regent. And if the Regent was involved, this was a mystery where the consequences involved could potentially affect the entire nation.

And if that was the case, then I wanted in on it. After all, if it became known I had assisted the Regent with a problem as momentous as this, then wouldn’t that be great advertising for my burgeoning business?

Who cared if we despised one another? Such trivial emotions could easily be set aside in the face of mutual gain. That was how things went when you operated on this scale.

With my course of action now decided, I took a quick shower. Then I put on a smart looking red and black pinstripe suit in the style of old Chicago, over a charcoal dress shirt and tie, with a nice pair of black leather oxfords and my favorite gold pocket watch and chain to cap off the look. I then spent my remaining time admiring my reflection and practicing dynamic poses until my ride finally arrived.

A minute later, I was soaring above the city on the plush leather seat of an A-ART, which stood for Arial Armored Transport, although I had no idea what the R stood for. Maybe they just didn’t want to call it an A-AT? I asked the pilot his opinion about it, but he was far too professional to respond. Perhaps Cross had warned him not to speak with me. Or maybe he just didn’t enjoy conversing with strangers.

If that was the reason, then I couldn’t blame him for it. The world was a dangerous place. It was bad enough that some people chose to behave like monsters. Wasn’t it better to keep to yourself than risk interacting with the genuine article?

That’s not being rude. That’s being sensible.