Behind the Eight-Ball

[TragicTrees]

Behind the Eight-Ball

​

Anne Benett

The city was full of ruckus, as usual. Anne was sure it would ALWAYS be loud; the Big Apple was never one to shut it's certifiable mouth, no matter how broke it was. It would always be bustling, full of life, and full of dips. All of which contributed to how dangerous the streets were. Now, that wasn't to say the dips were the problem; of course not. In fact, in most cases, they were INJURED by the problem. That problem? The Mafia.

'Course, Anne was no flatfoot- she wasn't out investigating crimes, in the way the average joe would do. Sure, she was investigating something, but it ain't the usual malarkey the coppers got to deal with. No, she had her own special form of malarkey, which just so happened to involve the Mafia. And boy, was it something. It made what the coppers did look like a piece of cake, because while they were out trying to fight the crime on the streets, she was getting it done.

That said, she wasn't friends with the coppers. Oh, no. She doubted they even knew she existed. Keeping it that way was a tough pill to take, though. It was a elaborate put-on, what she was doing, and even one mistake could cause for it to come crashing down. She couldn't have that happening. She had much bigger fish to fight with than some try-hard do-gooders.

Those bigger fish, if she told anyone, would make her seem slap-happy. Telling the dips of this place that the Mafia were vampires? She'd be placed in the loony bin lickety-split. Faster than, probably. Which is, of course, why she told no one about this issue. It would be dealt with soon, anyway. She was on the case to take care of the blood-sucking fiends, and she doubted she'd fail at her task.

Right now she was working on it, actually. She had on her usual evening wear, striding down the road, purse filled with a gun, a stake, and a flask of booze for good measure. She wasn't going to get soused on the job, but afterwards was a different story. That was beside the point, though. This time, she was trying to attract attention.

As she saw it, one of the macks might like to try and eat up a pretty little dame such as herself. So, she had a solid plan to play that to her advantage. She didn't see any problem with it; she was sure it would work well. Of course, that wasn't the only thing she was doing.

She went along road that she had heard they usually went on. Night time, too. She was pretty sure that this was the best place and time to dish out some justice. And, if all went well, she could wrap this up by the end of the week. Oh, that would be golden. She needed a good break, her back was hurting a hell of a lot.​

 

[Raesha]

Evelyn sat in the back seat of one of her family's many cars. This particular one was the latest model of Rolls-Royce, meant to show off their wealth to any they passed. Who they were most trying to impress, though, were the hosts of the little party she and her younger brother were heading to. 'Little' might be a bit of an understatement, however. Though it may appear a small, tasteful gathering to passers-by, it was actually one of the biggest events of the half-year for the powerful underground families. The true party was hidden in a secret room of the owner's residence, where booze flowed freely. Though alcohol had little to no effect on vampires, it still sometimes gave Evelyn a pleasant, albeit slight, buzz.

It was one of those events that the Mafia families held where the importantly-ranked members pretended to be friends and pretended that they wouldn't go back to killing one another sooner or later. Evelyn found it amusing, in a way. It reminded her of the aristocracy in England from when she was a child. Not all of the Mafia families were vampires. In fact, very few of them even knew that vampires existed. So Evelyn, like many other vampires, found it almost entertaining to watch the humans run circles around themselves at these parties to please the vampire families - which were undoubtedly the most powerful in the city - while the vampires merely humored them.

The car eventually came to a halt outside one of New York's taller buildings. This particular party was being hosted by another vampire family, the Hammonds - the Joyce family's biggest rivals. The driver opened the door for her and she stepped outside, pulling her coat tightly around herself. Though she didn't actually feel the chill, it was still wise to keep up appearances. Even minor slip-ups, if repeated, could bring unwanted attention from the humans. Her family had learned that the hard way over the years. Once she and her brother had exited the car, the driver left. They were not completely unattended, however. She knew that her father would have underlings hidden nearby.

She stopped by the entrance to the building, motioning for her brother to head up without her for the time being, and lit up a cigarette. She leaned against the side of the building as she smoked, watching. She noticed a particular young woman walking along the street. There was something about the way she carried herself - something that wasn't entirely normal for a human. She subtly sniffed the air. Not a vampire. There was a very faint smell of gunpowder - she would have missed it if not for how attuned she was to her abilities. A hunter, perhaps? A small smirk tugged at her lips. This could be interesting. "Tail her, maybe get close and see what happens" she whispered under her breath, just loud enough for another vampire to hear, still pointedly watching the woman go by. A man, who had previously sitting on a bench, stood and began to follow her. Now, all Evelyn had to do was watch the results. A hunter this close to one of their biggest parties could be trouble, after all.

 

[TragicTrees]

Anne usually had a partner with her on jobs. Marie was her name, and without her, Anne was all nerves. Of course, she would take a bash at solving any problem in her path, but Marie? Marie was the brains of the operation. And then, Anne would also have backup. Her brother, Theodore, usually would be in a car nearby, just in case. But no, she was alone in this case this time around. Anne knew how to boondoggle and boff, but she was always forgetful; she'd forget her head some days, she'd bet. That didn't help her when working cases, but she's gotta do what she's gotta do. Theodore was busy down with daddy dearest, working out new defenses for the latest creatures going bump in the night, and Marie was off visiting her ma in the hospital. This didn't completely dissuade her, though.

The man tailing her did spike her interest, though. She almost missed him. She hadn't been too good with spotting people tailing her, to be honest. She was used to Theo getting that done. But, thankfully, she happened to glance back and catch sight of him. Now, she wasn't quite sure if he was following, but one could never be too sure in this business. Her dad had taught her that one. The man had taught her a lot of things, like cooling and dropping people. But, the first had been something he used to emphasize on. You never could be too careful in this town, with all the creepy crawlys going round. It was always best to assume that they knew about you before you knew about them. So, she was going to assume this was a goon until proven otherwise.

This led her to one more conclusion: Something big was going down. It was a odd thing to take away, but she was really hoping for it, so in her head it seemed probable. The way she saw it was that this? This was real damn unusual. Why trail a hunter by your lonesome if you aren't protecting someone or taking orders, right? Making a scene might get the big lame-brain out. Or, the possibility of violence might.

She pulled her purse in front of her casually, hand hovering above both weapons. Guns were good for long distance. They, however, did not kill the vampire. They were also pretty loud, and attracting too much attention wasn't her goal. This would be difficult in the middle of a street. She took a sharp turn to a alleyway, deciding if there was to be a showdown, she'd do it somewhere private. She didn't need the coppers getting a whiff of this, that would only cause more trouble. She took out both the stake and the gun as she turned, though, still undecided as to which to try first.

 

[Raesha]

As another party-goer approached, Evelyn began to chat to her. Appearances were everything. If the woman was, in fact, a hunter and noticed her watching- well, it could spell trouble for all of them. She had to be smart about this. So, while she kept an eye on the hunter and her tail, she put on a pretty smile and charmed the girl in front of her. She'd met the girl before. Her name was Isabella - Izzy, for short - if she remembered correctly. She was pretty. She was short, with curly blonde hair, and a vampire. Evelyn was quite young for a vampire, but Isabella was even younger. The girl was only 52, though she was a member of a fairly important family.

She laughed at one of Evelyn's jokes, covering her mouth slightly with her hand. Evelyn's smile widened. She could use this girl. Though she hid it, or was herself unaware of it, Evelyn could tell that she had an interest in women, from the way she held herself and from how she spoke to Evelyn. Though same-sex relations weren't allowed by the American government, vampires were far less stuck up about that sort of thing. When one lived for hundreds, even thousands, of years, one learned that there were greater things to worry about. Like being caught by hunters. Though this girl was an American, and young, if Evelyn charmed her in just the right way, she knew that she could make use of her.

She noticed the hunter and her tail turning into an alleyway. The vampire wasn't a pureblood, so he wouldn't be able to resist his instincts easily. Evelyn knew that. It's why she sent this particular grunt after her. If she died, she wasn't a problem. If she fought back, it meant that there were hunters about.

"Excuse me," she said, her English accent coming through thickly. She didn't bother to put on an American accent when it wasn't strictly necessary. "I think I see an old family friend. I'll meet you upstairs." The girl said her goodbye in exchange. Evelyn laid a hand on her bicep, letting it linger just slightly, as she left to follow the woman. She set a brisk pace; just fast enough to get her there quickly, but not so fast as to draw unwanted attention. She rounded the alleyway just in time to see her vampire attack, fangs out. He wasn't a particularly strong one, a hunter would most likely make quick work of him, but an ordinary human would stand no chance. She watched eagerly to see how it played out.

 

[TragicTrees]

Anne flashed a grin at the attack "Awe, so you were after me, darl'in!" She cooed, deciding the stake was a good option since he was this close, "Its really too bad I have to dust you off, you coulda just walked away!"

She thrust upwards with the stake as the man was close enough, feeling it pierce into the chest cavity. She did hope this was good enough aim; this was the general area of the heart. But she knew this would at least hurt the creature. To say the least, she had a ....ritual with her various stakes. She dipped them in holy water, and covered them in garlic, then washed it off with MORE holy water, for good measure. Then, a quick prayer-though, she wasn't the type of gal to believe in such things, she only knew it worked- and she was off to the races. The same process went for the bullets, too.

Alright, saying it worked was a bit much. She wasn't sure what worked, so she just did all of it. And that? That was okay. As long as she survived another day. And it looked like she would. This mack didn't seem particularly good at this whole following thing. She did hope whoever was doing this had better, or she just wouldn't be very excited about all this. That would be a disappointment! She did hate being disappointed. After all, her job was only fun if she had something to do. It being over this quickly wouldn't fly with her, oh no. She'd just go looking for more.