The Outcast - Act 3
Hobbs let the beer flow freely as Pearce and Niki toasted another successful hunt. Niki was slowly warming up to the vampire. He was often an annoyance, but the sheer volume of annoyance in her life recently made his company somewhat of a relief.
Logan didn’t join them that evening. Neither, however, did he go home. He found a quiet park bench in Central Park and watched the sun go down. Niki wasn’t sad at his absence. He was her problem this week. As she thought about it, he had been a problem since they had met. Sipping at her beer, keeping the friendly smile, she questioned her decision to explain to him the way of the world.
“Hey, Birk,” Niki’s smile widened as the man, still in his carmine shirt and vest, walked easily through the doors of the Nail Biter. “Take a seat,” she said warmly.
Hobbs locked eyes with the man and began to fill a glass from the tap. The barkeep’s expression was unreadable, but Hobbs, for the short weeks that he had been working here, was never known to be as friendly as Felix had been anyway.
“I don’t think we’ve ever been formally introduced,” Birk held out his hand to Pearce, who set his beer back down on the bar. “Edward Birk, of Birk and Hatt.”
“Pearce,” the vampire took the hand a little hesitantly. “Of... Valtaine and Associates.” Niki chuckled into her beer. Birk nodded and placed a white card into the vampire’s hands. Pearce looked down at the initialed calligraphy and nodded. “What is Birk and Hatt?” he asked easily.
Birk shrugged. “Private geological surveyors. Hot business for budding mining companies.” He took a sip of beer as Niki and Pearce exchanged odd glanced. “And what is Valtaine and Associates?”
Niki blushed and took Pearce’s arm to prevent him from responding. “–We’re into private security.”
Birk frowned, looking from one to the other. “You guys are goons?”
Niki raised an insulted eyebrow. “Something wrong with that?”
The man shrugged. “I suppose a vampire and a Slayer would make a dynamic duo in the security industry.” He noticed both their eyes widen. “Oh, sorry–” he hunched closer and whispered conspiratorially, “were we keeping that a secret?”
Niki sighed and returned to her beer. “No, I guess not. I just didn’t think it was that obvious.”
“Well, for all intents and purposes, you seem human,” Birk explained, “but in a place like this, with a vampire sitting next to you —clearly intimidated by you—”
“-Hey!” Pearce protested.
“—you must be a Slayer.” He sipped his beer and patted Pearce on the shoulder consolingly. “I just wanted to join the team.”
Niki raised her eyebrows. “Join the team?” She was at a loss for words. She leaned over to Pearce and whispered quickly, “we have a team?”
“Sure,” Birk nodded emphatically. “Fighting vamps, killing monsters... all that fun stuff you and your team do. I want in.”
Pearce shook his head. “No way — I’m the new guy. Unless you have some kind of super power... like you can breath underwater or fly... then we’re going to have to say–”
“Sure, why not,” Niki shrugged. Her mind was tracing the short history of their group, truly starting with Pearce’s arrival... But even before that. To the night she had met Logan. All of the events from that point to this careened through her mind in one instant. She shook away the memories. “We could use a third member,” she said icily. Pearce slowly looked over at her. He was about to lean in and whisper something but her look made it clear she knew exactly what she had said.
“Great,” Birk smiled. He took the beer from the glowering barkeep, raising it in a grandiose toast. “To the Associates!”
Towards the end of the night, everyone was hunched over a little more, but the excitement was still present in Birk’s eyes. Finally he sighed, staring into the bottom of his empty glass. His eyes flickered to the barkeep, then down again. “Well, I gotta go. Hatt will have my ass if I don’t show up to work in three hours.”
Niki nodded, standing as Birk did. Pearce was still slumped and Hobbs was still glowering. “It was good to meet you, Mr. Birk. I know we both look forward to seeing what you can offer,” she smacked Pearce on the shoulder and he winced. “Don’t we?” Pearce mumbled and nodded.
“I’ll see you tomorrow night then?” Birk raised an eyebrow. “We could find a nest and have us some fun.”
“It’s a date,” Niki smiled. And the man in the carmine shirt left. The Slayer sat down at the bar with a satisfied sigh. “What a nice guy.”
Pearce raised his eyebrows. “Nice?” He sat up straighter and glared at the girl before him. “What a nice guy?”
Niki frowned and shrugged. “What?”
“What is wrong with you?” he asked. “We don’t have a crime-fighting team! We already have three people and we don’t need anyone else getting their ass mopped around the floor.”
“It couldn’t hurt,” Niki shrugged.
Pearce observed her for a long moment. “Or is that exactly what it will do?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Niki returned her gaze to her drink.
Pearce scoffed and shook his head. “Real mature, Slayer. Why don’t you just send him a Dear John?”
“I’m not trying to replace him,” Niki defended. “I just think he’s not cut out for fighting vamps and demons.”
“And that assessment wouldn’t have anything to do with his performance... in another arena?”
Niki glared. “Real subtle, Pearce.”
“I’m just saying...” he shrugged.
“I don’t think we can trust him like we used to,” she said seriously.
“You mean like you used to,” the vampire corrected. “I never trusted him.”
“Fine,” she spat, “I don’t think I can trust him anymore. I think there’s something wrong with him.”
“What d’you mean?” Pearce frowned.
Niki sighed and shrugged her shoulders, almost as though she could just forget about it. Then she thought twice. “Haven’t you noticed anything out of the ordinary with him recently?”
“Out of the ordinary how?” Pearce asked,“I mean: he’s a small claims lawyer who kills vampires.”
“I mean – memory lapses. Unusual aggressive behavior. Unpredictability. Things like that.”
Pearce shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much all of those things. Why? What’s that mean?”
Niki frowned and thought for a moment. “I have no idea — wait...” She turned to Hobbs, who had steadily been working his way down the bar away from them. “Hobbs, come here.”
The barkeep sighed and returned to his most dependable, yet most profit depressing customers. “Can I get you anything else tonight?”
“Do you know anything about that thing a bunch of weeks ago?” Niki asked casually. “Right before you got this job?”
“The plague scare? Yeah, that had demons packing up and down the coast.”
“Do you know anything about the plague itself?” Her gaze narrowed on him, her voice lowering just slightly.
“Sure– got a friend who knows a guy who knows this chick–”
“Yeah, we get the idea,” Pearce interrupted. “Just tell us what you know.”
Hobbs shrugged. “Nosphoric plague – Macedonian witch doctor’s masterpiece. Turns the local vampire population into carriers and virtual slaves to the one who started the plague. All the unlucky ones who go under the fang of the carriers end up just the same – slaves, except to the vampire caste.”
“Slaves–” Niki frowned. “How do you mean?”
“Zombie type,” Hobbs said easily, “keyed to recognize in their infected subconscious whoever it is they’re supposed to serve. That’s how its insidious. You can have an entire Greek army loyal to the Macedonian general... and they don’t even know it.”
“So they serve from their subconscious?” Pearce frowned. “With white eyes and animal ferocity?”
Hobbs frowned. “No, that’s just symptomatic. The result of virus-induced blackout. They go under at the behest of their master or when the circumstance of their infection is triggered, then they wake up with no memory of what happened. The deprivation of sleep makes them irritable and aggressive, sometimes irrational. Same for the vampires – except they get the ugly rat-face thing—”
“Which eventually goes away,” Niki held up a finger. “Which is why we have to catch them early.”
Hobbs nodded. “Exactly. But you caught them, so there’s nothing to worry about...” he looked from one to the other, concern in his eyes. “Right?”
Pearce shared the worry and turned it on Niki. “Right?”
“I think...” Niki thought of Logan, his insistence that he had never seen Birk before. His constant adversarial attitude towards her recently. In fact... just since Hobbs had begun working. “I think Logan’s infected.”
Pearce sat agape for a moment. “Uh... hm,” he thought about this for a moment, then his lips tightened in a mischievous grin. “So what’s the cure?”
Hobbs backed away his eyes widening. “Whoa, I really think you guys want a bit more than a hunch before you start talking about the Cure.”
“Why? What is it?” Niki leaned forward, her interest piqued.
“Three days of indescribable agony,” Hobbs said bluntly. “Strapped to a table with silver spikes imbedded in your stomach and spine.”
While Pearce’s smile only increased, Niki sat back on the stool. “That’s a little harsh for being an ass.”
“Not where I’m from,” Pearce smiled. “I know vengeance demons who’d do worse.”
“Sorry,” Logan frowned looking up from the park bench, “but who the hell are you?”
Birk smiled. “I’m your replacement.”
The man in the blazer frowned. “Uh, are you from law school?”
“I’m taking Niki, I’m taking the vampires, the demons, the adventure... I’m taking it all.”
Logan stood, crossing his arms with a profoundly confused expression. “Who are you?”
“There’s nothing you can do,” Birk smiled. “You waste what you’ve got: you pollute it and you put it up for grabs. You’ve got no idea what you’ve got – how lucky you are to belong.”
“Look, buddy,” Logan smiled condescendingly, “I’m sorry you’ve got no friends, and I’d like to get to know you better – but Niki’s not your type, and I don’t like threats.”
“I am replacing you,” Birk said confidently. “And you’re going to step aside gracefully. Go back to that life you hate and be miserable for the rest of your little life.”
“And why would I do that?” Logan frowned, readjusting his crossed arms to appear even more unimpressed.
“Because if you don’t, Rachel Kilpatrick will find out exactly how you’ve been spending your late nights.”
Logan examined Birk’s face for a long time. “You wouldn’t. There’s no reason to.”
“Fuckin’ A, I would. We’ve met several times and every time you piss me off. You don't deserve either of your lives, let alone both of them. It’s time to choose, asshole. Your wife or this life.”
Logan continued examining Birk, slowly uncrossing his arms. Finally he gave a little chuckle and drove his fist into Birk’s face.
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