The small shutter opened on the door as a man stared at a pair of glowing green eyes. He closed the shutter and locked it.
“Open the door Mike.” Said Zeph.
“Closed for business.” He said. The door suddenly flew open with a thud, the metal bar holding the lock in place, clanking off the stone floor as Zeph walked in, eyes lasering in the dark.
“Oh shit, Zeph. I didn’t know it was you. I have so many customers.” He nervously chuckled. Zeph cornered him and stared him down.
“You can get me anything I want for the right price, right?”
“Yea sure, anything you need, coke, meth, Delmar red, your favorite strain.” Mike winced.
“Blonde, female, 5 foot 2ish, human.” He said.
“Buddy, you got some specifics, that could take some time."
“I feel like you may have one in stock recently. How much?” he asked.
“Man I deal drugs, the only blonde I got is crystal dust, and she’s feisty and goes down rough.” He said, holding up a baggie. Zeph grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the metal display rack, knocking product off and slowly squeezing.
“I thought you were cool. Not like, cool-cool, but legit. You’re gonna sit there and lie to me like that, and say you didn’t pick up a blonde human for sale maybe a day or two ago? Now I thought we were friends and friends wouldn’t choke a friend to death, so…are we friends or not?” he growled.
“Okay fine, Just…chill. It’s just a job, wasn’t personal. But I don’t have her, she went through the system. You gotta bid like everyone else.” Mike wheezed.
“Can a human’s nuts fly out their ass if you kick them hard enough? Is that possible or no?” Zeph puzzled aloud.
“Zeph I don’t know where the girls go, I can’t give you what I don’t have, just the bidding number. I can’t help you if I don’t know, I’m trying to help you.” He begged.
“So, how does this work?” he asked. “Details.”
“I thought you were more of a hunter than a buyer Zeph. I know you have a thing for the game but paying to win isn’t your style."
“She’s different. I almost had that fair and square, and you grabbed and ran. Now that’s bullshit. Mike, you’re gonna explain to me exactly how this works, and then I’m gonna smack you around for a minute for swooping in on my blonde. Or you can keep this shit up, and I just start pulling fingers off till I get bored, how many you got… Eleven?”
Vinn and Vicki strolled down the halls, a collar around her neck and a chain leading to his hand, the other hand on his cane. Charlotte marched in full muzzle and cuffs, leading in front of him.
“Whoa, mister, you can’t be down here. This is off limits, mining safety.”
“Do you know who I am, young shit?” he said in a cocky accent. “General Stone would like to speak to Mister Alvarez about his mining safety standards.”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t recognize you without your hat.”
“Yes I forgot my hat. This little one lost it last week,” he said tugging on Vicki’s chain, slightly harder than he meant. She turned back and gave him a look, he cringed and winced as if saying a silent “sorry”
“Security has been tightened lately, I’m afraid you can only bring one human pet with you, and she must be scanned first."
“This one is for sale. Give me my money back and I will only have one human pet. Charlotte. I bought her last week and she has been nothing but trouble. She cannot cook, clean, or tell her left from right on anything useful. She keeps crying and no matter how much you beat her, she will not follow instructions. She is defective, I demand a refund." He said firmly.
“Normally sales are final, but for a general of your caliber, I think we can get you a refund in credit." he said checking his ID and taking a scan of his fake thumbprint.
“I have a house getting dusty buy the minute, and you think I want credit, I want a replacement. Any human with a functional brain and working ears that can tell a broom from her ass will due, as long as you take this dysfunctional primate back immediately. Or should I simply leave her in the tunnels?”
"Right this way.” The man said, leading him further and through a few locked doors.
Vinn stepped under a doorway and into an area that resembled a hotel, name cards on every room.
“Ah, General Stone.” Smiled the man behind the counter. A pleasure to finally meet you, your reputation precedes you. I hear you have received a defective human.”
“Quite defective.” Vinn sneered.
“The redhead?” he asked.
“No, this one is very much remaining with me. I'm satisfied with her very much. But the blonde can fuck right off.” He said, shoving “Gizzy/Charlotte” on her face without hesitation.
“We have plenty to pick from in stock. Do you have any requirements?”
“Partial to another blonde, short. I do like them feisty, so the newer, the better. I want one who still has hope in her eyes and a little bit unbroken.”
“We have several you may want. Guard, take this one to the leftover room and get her a cage. She’s trouble.” He said.
“Now, call me a sentimental old buck, but I think a name says a lot about someone. May I see the list of names in stock?” he asked.
“Normally I wouldn’t allow that, but for a general, I could make an exception.” He said, handing him a clipboard with some first names and color coded marks next to it. No Dee on the list.
“I don’t suppose you have another list?” he said looking displeased.
“No, sir, these are all the girls.”
“What about your…competitor's selection?” he asked.
“I don’t understand…competitors?”
“Just checking. The friend of any frequent buyer is the fair prices created by competition. Humans call that capitalism back on Earth. My pet Samantha here will make my selection, please send her to the rooms to choose while I rest my old bones.” He said, sitting down at one of the couches and placing a tracer bug under the couch.
Vicki made her way down the hall, hoping to see Dee, still convinced she was taken. She peered into the rooms through the barred opening, her heart sinking as she saw their faces, none of them were Dee.
“Say, you don’t have a restroom, do you?” asked Vinn.
“Down the hall to the left, sir.”
Zeph strolled down the hall and checked his phone.
“Are you kidding me?” he said, stopping to raise the bid on the bottle of wine with Dee’s bid number. “Fucking animals.” He huffed. “Oh seriously, gonna outbid me that quick. Come on.” Suddenly, his back hit the wall, and he was staring down at Jack, holding a pistol in his right hand.
“What the hell, man?” Zeph sighed.
“Loverboy 63?” Jack squinted.
“Okay, first off, rude. Secondly, hey, that’s my damn phone.”
“Bottle of vintage wine, aged 27 years, blonde blend, unopened case, celebrity owned.” He read “Bidding 400,000 credits on some wine?”
“Maybe I have expensive tastes.” Zeph snipped.
“Listen here you son a bitch, we just had a 27-year-old blonde blend celebrity go missing, right after you two were supposed to meet up.”
“Jack, what the shit, man. You think I took Dee? I’m trying to BUY Dee back, I tried getting answers and this is what I got. They’re bidding on humans, obviously it’s Dee, the fuck am I supposed to do, I have money not spy connections. I’m buying her to get her back. Why would I kidnap Dee, and then bid on her?”
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“That’s a good point. When is the last time you saw her?”
“The night at the Arcade when your Delmarian friend went apeshit. You think maybe he didn’t take well to being dumped, and decided to sell her ass off?”
“I don’t know, but he was with Vinn the night she vanished, meeting up with Loverboy 63.”
“Well obviously I’m loverboy 63, I’m trying to tap some ass online with donation and charm, but Dee never messaged me again and we sure as shit didn’t meet up…but Mikey was in the arcade, and I found his cheap cologne and Dee’s hair. It’s pretty damn obvious that little shit took her, the question is, who let him in? I don’t have keys to the arcade…does Hyde?”
“Yea he does. Who the hell is Mikey?”
“Mikey Money. He’s a dealer that opened up in the tunnels. The word is that he can get you anything for a price, I assumed that meant drugs, not human slave trade. Apparently he can do both. He got me Dee’s auction number. He didn’t know where the girls are being held.”
“How do you know?” Jack asked.
“Well, if he knows, he’s a gifted liar with 6 broken fingers and a hell of a good poker face. He did a lot of talking, never gave a name or a location, just how the bidding works. So do you have half a million fucking credits up your ass, Jack, or a better plan?”
“You keep bidding. How much can you spend?”
“Oh I can win this bid, don’t you worry, and when we get her back and time is no longer an issue, I’ll get my money back in some way or another if I have to accumulate it in teeth.” He nodded. “What kinda sick bastard buys a human slave? Hookers, sure, they get healthcare that’s legal, half a million credits for a human slave…someone is racking up the bid, man. I make an offer, and it just goes right up. You may wanna worry about where your wooly big friend is, because if I find him before you do, I may start getting my money back ahead of time in antler, and then teeth.”
“You won’t get Hyde talking with intimidation, and if he’s not the one behind this, then you’re torturing the wrong asshole and wasting time. You just stay out of the shit, keep bidding it up, we’ll find a way to pay you back, whatever it costs.”
“Oh, someone is gonna pay, Jack. Bet your ass on that. But it ain’t gonna be you guys.”
Vinn stepped out of the bathroom, wandering down the wrong hallway and suddenly noticed two armed men staring his direction.
“Sir, the lobby is this way, and we hate to ask, but we need some form of identification, preferably a retinal scan.”
“Uh, sure.” He said getting nervous. “Son of a bitch…I got fake ID, I don’t have fake eyes, any ideas here people?” he muttered.
“Shit.” Gizzy said, still muzzled and chained up in the cage. “How many guys are on this floor?”
“A lot.” Nicole said, checking the screens and the series of red dots littering the tunnel model. “At least 30, moving Vinn’s direction.”
“Shit, Vinn, listen up.” Gizzy said. “I’m staying behind as planned, your mission is aborted. You and Vicki get the hell out. We got guys headed your way, probably armed, if they scan your eyes, you’re fucked. Screw the plan, new plan is: get out and leave me here.”
“Balls.” Vinn muttered, suddenly faking a stumble with his cane.
“Vicki, you guys are compromised, get out.” Gizzy said as she turned to run and noticed 4 armed men in the lobby all holding 9mm SMGs and looking ready to go.
“Young lady, this way.” One of them said, nudging her with the gun before she could go for hers.
Vinn suddenly went from kneeling and leaning on his cane to swinging the cane and tripping one of the guards, grabbing his gun and knocking out the other guard. He took both guns and ran down the hallway, sliding to a stop as gunfire came his direction. He hit the lobby, weapon shouldered, firing a burst to put down the guards on Vicki. She grabbed one of the SMGs and followed him. More guards opened fire as they took refuge behind the counter.
“You good?” Vicki asked.
“Yep. Body armor took all the bullets for me. You good?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine.” Vicki lied.
"Oh, I’m gonna be bruised in the morning, that soft armor doesn’t do much for the thump, does it?” he wheezed, looking at Vicki, her leg covered in blood.
“I guess mine didn’t cover quite as much.” She smirked.
“Shit, you’re hurt. How bad?”
“I can run on it, so it’s not that bad. You’re bleeding too.”
“No I’m not.” He objected, checking his chest and finding red. “Oh, are you kidding me? The damn blood vials were in my suit pocket. So I guess you need to drain someone to heal that up.”
“Not a lot of dead guys behind the counter.” She reminded.
“Vinn you need to move, now.” Nicole yelled. “They had body armor too.”
“Oh bullshit. Did we kill ANYONE?” he asked.
“Doesn’t look like it. They all got back up.”
“Oh, that’s just fantastic.” He barked, grabbing Vicki and standing, spraying ammo for cover as she did too, just to get to the exit door. He jammed the SMG in the door handle, locking it, and taking the magazine with him.
“How much ammo you got, Vick?”
“Two rounds, burned it up on the cover fire.” She said.
“Piss... sandwich. I got like 8 rounds in the mag, here. Nicole, honey, where are we going?”
“Two lefts and down the first stairwell, all the way down.” She replied.
“Vicki, how bad you bleeding?”
“Not bad, stop worrying about me and run.” She said firing one round down the hall, and taking down a stray guard. “Their sunglasses aren’t bulletproof.” She noted. “So that’s a positive turn.”
Jack stopped, listening to the subtle sound of gunfire, and doubling back towards it.
“I hear active engagement, what’s going on?”
“Gizzy is full blackout, we’re on the move, guys on our ass, she’s got a…” Vinn said as she elbowed him to stop. “Uh, few bruises and scrapes, we both do, but we’re alive. We really need a tunnel closed down behind us."
“Jack, head to section 33, second elevator.” Nicole ordered. “Do you have grenades?”
“Of course I have grenades.” He huffed, sprinting down the hall.
“If you can get under them, you can take out the floor and cut them off.”
“I follow.” He confirmed, hopping down the stairwell and skipping a floor to get to the one below. He followed her rapid fire instructions. And found the tunnel he was looking for. Jack fired 3 shots into the ceiling, getting out his grenades and taping them to the craters strategically. He fired 3 more rounds to create a hole, calculating the distance from the support column.
“Vinn, down the hall you’ll see a flashlight through the floor. The moment you run past that, tell me and give it all you got, full sprint.” Nicole ordered.
“That doesn’t make me nervous.” He said spotting the light. He sprinted full speed and his hooves landed next to the light. “NOW!” he yelled. Jack aimed at the grenade and counted to 6, firing a shot and bailing into the nearby room. The whole hallway swelled and shuttered, the floor collapsing and fire alarms going off as the armed group was severed from Vinn and Vicki, opening fire down the hall as they turned the corner.
“What the actual hell was that?” Vinn yelled.
“Gas line, structural beam, grenades.” Jack listed.
“I guess knowing construction tunnels comes in handy.” He huffed, slowing down and turning another corner. “Uh people… we got a dead end problem. Honey, ideas?"
“Oh no, Vinn. Turn around and go the other way, there’s an elevator at the end of the hall. It’s the only way out.” Nicole said as he reached it.
“Uh, yea and it’s out of order.” He said looking worried.
“Can you pry the doors open?” she asked.
“Sure, but I can’t pry the elevator up There’s no power here.”
“Fuck!” Nicole yelled, slamming her keyboard. “Jack they’re trapped in there. The elevator has no power.”
“Vinn, get in the elevator, close the doors for cover, I’ll get power rerouted. Just hang on." he said, changing course.
"The guards are confused." Nicole confirmed. "I think you lost them, but there’s still no way out. You can’t fit through that maintenance hatch, what about Vicki?”
“Uh…don’t tell Jack but Vicki’s not climbing out the hatch either. She took a hit and she’s bleeding. We’re camping this elevator till Jack gets power to it."
“How long are we talking?” she asked Jack.
“35 minutes?” he said with little confidence.
“They could be dead by then.” she noted.
“I can’t fix everything, Nicole. Just let me work, keep an eye on the guards, let me know if anyone moved on that floor or in my direction."
“Okay. Just hurry.” she huffed nervously.
“So…this is awkward for both of us.” Vinn said as Vicki held her leg.
“It’s a little more than awkward.” she cringed, looking weak.
“You could bleed out in 35 minutes, and you can’t go through that hatch, so we’re stuck here, and you need blood."
“Vinn I’m fine." she lied
“You remember that time we did the thing with the blood packet, and it was weirdly sexual and we both were like never again?” he asked.
“We don’t have a blood bag.” she noted.
“Yea well you gotta do that for real this time, so pick a spot and bite me.”
“I’m not biting you, Vinn I’m venomous.”
“I’m a big boy with lots of blood and no IV kit. So, you thinking wrist, probably?” he huffed.
“What if the venom knocks you out, and you can’t get up. I can’t carry you.” she mentioned.
“Then you heal up and go get help through that vent. Right now we’re both stuck, and you’re bleeding badly, I’m just tired and bruised and full of blood. Just do it. The longer you wait, the more you’ll need to suck…boy, I worded that poorly.” he regretted as he heard it.
“Okay… Fine. This is gonna be weird, isn’t it?” she said getting into position.
“Hella weird. You got like scary last time, and this time you’re actually biting me. Hey Nicole…uh, we gotta do something kinda odd here. I apologize in advance, but it’s very necessary. Please don’t be super mad.”
“I don’t like it, but I understand, stop stalling. Vicki, bite my husband already…and turn off the com before you do because it’s gonna sound really bad for me.” She cringed.
Vicki struggled to find his wrist vein through the fur, and looked up at him with regret.
“Sorry.” She said, sinking her teeth in and feeling the rush as her eyes went red and rolled back.
“Yep, that’s oddly sexual and hurts at the same time. I hate this. I hate this a lot. Oh wow, that’s…a sensation. I assume that’s the venom part.” Vinn rambled as she moaned and fed.
“Stay with me, Vinn.” Vicki sighed, barely able to keep her coherence as the craving washed over her. She went in for more, Vinn’s eyes getting droopy.
“I’mma just tookd a nap for a second.” he said, looking drunk.
“Vinn, stay awake.” She yelled, going back in for more.
“Feels kina good ashully. Not the bite, the…tingly. Like th elevator’s made of warm jello.”
Vicki pulled back, barely able to restrain herself, the sound of Vinn snoring and her heart racing as she debated on whether she got enough, and if she went in again would she be able to stop herself.
“Vinn…please don’t be dead.” She said climbing on him and trying to check for a heartbeat, his heart was beating faster than normal, his muscles twitching slightly as she pried his eyelids up, and he stared incoherently into the dark, alive, but basically zombified and incoherent.
“Go-sleephoney. Is late.” He said, slurring his words and flopping Vicki down on his chest with a thump, hugging her and fading into a snore as she struggled to move his arm.
"Shit. Vinn, I’m not your wife, please wake up. God, you’re strong, Vinn you’re okay, just wake up." she begged.
“5 more nimits, sweetie.” He said, ruffling her hair as she gave up, awkwardly stuck in a big bear hug, arms up like she didn’t know what to do with her hands. She wasn’t moving him. He wasn’t moving.
“Oh, this is just weird.” She said under her breath, teeth still extended and eyed red, still craving more blood and almost glad she couldn’t move to be tempted. She laid there, moving up and down as he breathed heavily, pinned to him by a massive arm and the sound of his snoring echoing in the elevator.
“Jack, please hurry the fuck-up.” She huffed as he playfully ruffled her hair and hugged her with the free arm, one eye half-open and pupils rolled back like the undead.