Ms. October and the Vampire Prince: Part 2

THE QUEEN

Molly October was twenty eight years old. She had no immediate family and was the oldest of her various cousins. Some people who saw her saw her as white, some people saw her as black. She had shoulder length dark hair and dark brown eyes. She was not fond of exercise but did what she had to in order to stay in shape. Men had often told Molly that she was attractive. Most of the time they would follow it by a list of things they wanted to do to her. Molly’s favorite way of getting rid of them was letting them see her sidearm. Occasionally she would even take it out of the holster.
Molly October was in a used bookstore without her gun or her badge. The building was located on a part of Wabash that had not yet had the benefit of some of the city’s recent beautification initiatives. A used bookstore took up most of the first floor. The rest of the building held apartments for rent. This was where Charles and Elaine lived and worked and where Molly was staying while she was in Chicago.
Molly was looking at some old hard covers of Stephen King novels. Charles and Elaine had gone upstairs to their boss’s office. Molly had not met the woman who ran the bookstore and owned the building. She got tired of looking at books she would never have time to read and went up to Charles’ apartment. She turned on the television and found a news report about the Art Institute. There had been a robbery and one security guard had been killed. The wheels of Molly’s mind began to turn and she knew they would not stop until she was sure of something. She headed back downstairs. She was about to go out the front door when the blonde girl at the front register stopped her.
“Hey aren’t you Charles’ cousin?” she asked smiling as she put herself between Molly and the door.
“Yeah,” Molly replied, “I’m just staying for a week or two.”
“My name is Angie,” said the blonde girl. She was young and pretty and she had blue eyes to boot and to Molly she seemed very nervous at the moment.
“I’m Molly and I’m going to be out for a while.”
“Where are you going?” said Angie still smiling nervously and refusing to move.
“No offense but I don’t have to explain myself to you,” said Molly.
She tried to go for the door but Angie pushed herself up against it.
“I’m not supposed to let you leave,” said Angie.
“Excuse me?”
“You have to talk to Valerie first.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Who’s Valerie?”
“I am Valerie,” a woman called from behind.
The first thing Molly noticed was the woman’s red hair. Not just red but crimson like blood. And she was gorgeous; she had a fair angelic face. She had a strange regality to her even though she was wearing jeans and a white tank top.
“Okay then,” said Molly, “is there some reason you’re making this girl prevent me from leaving.”
“You and I need to talk,” said Valerie, “Angie you can head home I’ve got this covered.”
Angie, still quite nervous, carefully moved away from the door and went to get her things from behind the register. As she went out the door she looked back and said to Molly, “I’m really sorry about that but you should trust Valerie this is serious.”
“I don’t know what the hell is going on but I’m leaving now,” said Molly.
“Do you want you job with the FBI back?” asked Valerie.
Molly froze with her hand on the door handle. She slowly turned around and said, “How do you know about that?”
“I know everything,” said Valerie, “I know about Agent Banks. I know about the robberies. I also know the one at the Art Institute this evening is in fact linked to the case you were working on.”
“And how do you know all this? Who the hell are you?”
“I’m Valerie Field and I’m the queen of Chicago final member of the council of seven. But we can talk more about that later. I own this building and this is my bookstore down here. Now if you will come up to my office I will explain everything to you.”
Valerie turned on her heel and headed for the stairs at the back of the store. Molly hesitated just for a moment before following.
The office was not very large and it was a bit crowded. Valerie was seated in a large leather chair that made her petite frame seem even smaller. Her desk was a large wooden antique with various cluttered papers and snow globes and brass monkeys and other office paraphernalia. There was a glass case against the wall with a selection of old comic books. The only one Molly was familiar with was Wonder Woman #1. There were two chairs on the other side of the desk also made of leather. Elaine was sitting in one with Charles standing behind her. Molly was offered a seat in the other chair but she chose to stay standing.
“Do you believe in magic?” asked Valerie leaning back in her chair.
“Excuse me?” said Molly.
“Do you believe in magic?” Valerie asked again, “And I don’t mean that crap David Copperfield and Criss Angel do. I mean real magic. That there are forms of energy out there that can’t be analyzed with machines, energy that can be harnessed with thought given the proper training. Do you believe that creatures born of magic can exist?”
Molly hesitated but quickly comprehended that Valerie was serious.
“I like to think I’m open to the possibility that there is more to the world than just what we see everyday,” said Molly, “I can’t honestly say I believe in magic. But I’m willing to believe that there are still things to be discovered.”
“I like your answer,” said Valerie, “Now let’s talk about that case you were working on before your forced leave of absence.”
“What do you know about it?” said Molly.
“I know that Special Agent Samuel Banks went to great lengths to discredit you in an attempt to further his own career. I know about the thefts that have occurred in several museums and private collections over the last year. The items stolen don’t seem to have anything in common other than that they were stolen by the same men. Men who wear long white coats. I know that several of them resulted in the night watchmen on duty being murdered.”
“How the hell do you know all that?” said Molly.
“I have contacts within the FBI,” said Valerie, “But that is not the issue. I know things about this case that the FBI has not even guessed at yet. I would like to offer you a job. I want you to solve this case.”
“For the sake of argument,” said Molly, “if you actually could get me the chance to finish this case. And I’m not saying I believe you can do that. Why would you offer me that chance?”
“You have prior knowledge of the case it saves me the time it would take to catch summon one else up on it. I like it when my city is safe. These guys in the white coats are breaking the laws not just of my city but of the world we are a part of.”
“Yeah because you’re the queen of Chicago,” said Molly skeptically.
“To be more accurate I am the Queen of Chicago’s magical underworld,” said Valerie, “Chicago is part of the council of seven. The seven cities that govern the Earth’s magical beings. The other cities on the council are New York, London, Moscow, Tokyo, Mexico City and Jerusalem. Magic is real Ms. October. The men who committed those thefts used magic. That is why you found no physical evidence of them other than the security tapes.”
“Magic?” said Molly still skeptical.
“The world is much bigger than most people realize,” said Valerie, “The magical world does exist but it is hidden from the regular world. But I suppose just saying that is not enough. We will have to show you.”

Ms. October and the Vampire Prince: Part 1

I will now be posting my novel in progress on this blog. Here is part one.

CHICAGO

Molly October did not have a good feeling about this. She did not know how to pronounce half the things on the menu. And every other thing seemed to have goat cheese in it. Molly was not totally against the idea of goat cheese but she was cautiously suspicious of it.
Coming to this little café/sandwich shop/bookshop, whichever it was, had been her Cousin Charles’ idea. Or to be more accurate his girlfriend Elaine had suggested it and he had agreed it was a good idea.

“Are you guys sure about this place?” Molly asked.

“Yeah,” said Elaine, “This is a really good restaurant.”
“Are you sure this is a restaurant?” said Molly, “Restaurants have waiters. This place has… bookshelves. And why does everything on the menu come with goat cheese? Do they have something against regular cheese from cows? Are there a lot places like this in Chicago? How do they stay in business?”
“Come on relax Molly,” said Charles, “You came out here because you wanted to get away from your work. Just stop asking questions for a minute and enjoy things.”
“Yeah sure,” said Molly halfheartedly.
It was nice seeing Charles but what she really wanted was to get back to work. She wanted to be in her office back in Washington D.C. at FBI headquarters. She wanted her case back. But now Molly was on a forced leave of absence and she could not bring herself to stay in DC and not investigate. So she had flown out here to Chicago to see the only family she felt close to.
“They do pretty good business here,” said Elaine, “They’re on Michigan Avenue and close to Printer’s Row so they get a lot of college students in here. Mostly the vegans and communists.”
Charles and Elaine laughed at this. Whatever the joke was it was lost on Molly. She found Charles and Elaine to be an odd match. Not because he was black and she was white. Molly herself was of biracial decent; her father had been white and her mother black. The odd thing was that Elaine was a skinny pale Goth girl, she had black hair, she dressed in black, and she wore various pieces of metal on her face and fingers. Where Charles, as Molly had always thought of him, Charles was a health conscious academic, he kept his hair cropped very short, he had no tattoos or ornaments of any sort and always seemed to wear something that showed of his muscles. He was not a vegetarian or anything but he did take care of himself and he was very intelligent. It was easy to see why any woman would be attracted to Charles. But Molly had never been sure what he saw in Elaine.
It was then that Molly noticed the first police car through the front window. Its siren was blaring and its lights flashed. It was followed by two more. People began walking in the direction of the police cars. Molly stood up and headed for the door.
“Are you okay?” asked Charles.
“I want to check something out,” said Molly without looking back.
“Where are you going?” asked Elaine.
“Just order whatever, I’ll be back later,” said Molly.
She jogged down Michigan Avenue in the shadow of the buildings only glancing to see if there was oncoming traffic when she crossed a street. There were people gathered a street away from The Art Institute of Chicago. Molly could see a police line and an ambulance along with many police officers telling people to stay back.
“Did something happen at the Art Institute?”
Molly turned around. Charles and Elaine had followed her.
“Oh my gods do you think anyone was hurt?” said Elaine.
Hearing that reminded Molly that Charles had mentioned Elaine was a pagan at some point.
“I’m going to try to get a closer look,” said Molly.
“No you are not,” said Charles, “You warned me not to let you do anything stupid while you were here.”
“I just want to get a better idea of what’s going on.”
“No you want to investigate,” said Charles, “come on its getting late. We should head home.”
“It’s not that late,” said Molly, “Why do you really want to get back to your place? Does it have something to do with the call you got just before you caught up with me?”
“How do you do that?” asked Elaine, “How does she do that? We just got a call from the… from out boss. She needs out help tonight.”
“Then just say so,” said Molly, “and to answer your question, I saw you put your phone in your purse when I turned around and you both seem vaguely nervous. Is your boss really that intimidating? And is it weird living in the same building you work in?”
Molly went with Charles and Elaine back to their building but the whole time she kept looking back towards the Art Institute scene even when it was out of sight and two streets away.

what do you think?

How do you like this little tidbit of story?
Should I post the synopsis?
Or should I just go from the start and let people see the progress?
Is anyone reading this?

Space story that has no title yet

“Where did this ship really come from?” demanded Janessa, “I know the story but it doesn’t add up. There is no way the Solar Fleet was able to develop this technology this fast.”
“We have had twenty years to work on it,” said Kerrigan, “We have spent that entire time finding new ways to fight the Ghost Horde. This ship is the culmination of that achievement. Why is it so hard for you to accept that little girl?”
“Because she knows it is a lie,” said Duron.
Janessa said nothing when he entered. Of all the people she had tried to convince. Why did it have to be him that believed her?
“You do not have permission to divulge any such information Commander Duron,” said Kerrigan.
“He has my permission,” said the deep voice behind Duron.
The thing that stepped out of the shadows was the shape of a man. He was over six feet tall. He wore a black bodysuit and a rather menacing helmet with sharp mandibles sculpted on it and horn like antennae.
“What are you doing out here?” said Kerrigan startled.
“You are a very clever young woman,” said the tall dark creature, “you are right. This ship was not developed by the Solar Fleet. This ship belongs to me.”
“And who are you?” asked Janessa.
“I am Zai, last of the Raath,” he replied, “That which I serve has sent me to aid humanity in this time of crisis. I have come here with this ship, the last remaining Raath warship and I am allowing the Solar Fleet to use it to combat the Ghost Horde.”
“Are you an alien?” asked Janessa coming to the realization.
“By your definition I am an alien. I come from the planet Zeith. My world is gone now, my people destroyed.”
“Were your people attacked by the Ghost Horde?”
“No they were destroyed by a force far more dangerous.”
Janessa wanted to ask what could possibly be worse than the Horde but Zai turned away.
Before he was gone Zai said, “You would do well to remember who this ship belongs to Mr. Kerrigan. You may have a position of authority in the Solar Fleet, but you have none over me.”
Kerrigan was sweating slightly. He told Janessa she was not to speak of this to anyone and stormed off. She was left there standing alone in the corridor with Duron. She caught him looking at her and she turned away in disgust.
“We will be approaching Mars soon,” he said, “Make sure you are ready to deploy if necessary.”
“I know my duty,” Janessa snapped at him.
“You do not have to like me Pilot Janessa,” said Duron, “but remember that I am your superior officer.”
He walked away without saying anymore. And for a moment Janessa remembered a time when he was the center of her world and she was the center of his. Then she remembered the day Tania died and why she could never forgive Duron for it.