Widow

I opened my eyes and found myself in a dark room. My arms still hurt, so I couldn't have slept for too long. I sat up and rubbed my temples.
My head was throbbing painfully. As I looked around, my vicinity became brighter and sharper. My senses were usually the only thing I could deadly rely on. Apparently I was in a bedroom, a small, square bedroom. Next to the bed was a small bedside cabinet and in an alcove next to the door was a round table with two chairs. No sign of any personal property. A glimmer of light fell under the door. I could tell by the white intensity of the light that it must still be daytime. Annoyed, I lay down again and closed my eyes to think. Before I could form a clear thought, however, I heard voices. I became alert and listened.
"That guy hacked the password and changed it!", I heard a man hiss.
"Another reason to take him with us!" the woman said angrily.
"He's a vampire!" he hissed at her.
"You dragged him along, didn't you?", The shrug was clearly audible.
"Because of the fucking data carrier!", his voice sounded extremely irritated.
"You could have just pulled it out of his pocket and disappeared, but you didn't.", there was defiance in her voice.
"I didn't know by then that he was one of those fucking bloodsuckers," the man hissed again, "And what about you, have you forgotten what Dad taught us about those...", he searched for a word, in his place I would have taken 'wankers', "...Those monsters?! We can't bring a guy like that into this!"
"It wouldn't hurt to have him up our sleeve, though. He might even be involved already, that would make it a lot easier."
"Do you like him?!" the man then asked, laughing at her out of all logic. 
"No!" this time the woman hissed at him, "But I don't think it would be wrong to have someone with supernatural powers on our side."
"So that means we take advantage of him and if something goes wrong, we blame him?" he finally sounded interested after all.
She gave a hesitant, quiet "yes" and sighed. "Maybe, if he's good and has his instincts under control, he could work for us permanently, like a permanent position or something."
"Are you crazy?! The vampire as an agent?", The man's laugh elicited a soft chuckle from me as well. He was right, a vampire was as out of place as an agent as a fish on land.
"Just forget it, there's no talking to you without shit coming out of your mouth. I'm going to go check on him. If he's awake, he can unlock the flash drive for us," she decided and footsteps approached the door.
Not bothering to pretend I didn't hear anything, I sat up, arms on my knees, and waited for her to come in. The bedroom door opened a little and a figure slipped into the room. The woman closed it again and turned around.
She stared into my eyes. I stared back.
"You didn't hear what we were saying back there, did you?" her voice suddenly sounded rather dry.
"Just the ending," I said into the darkness.
She sat down, trepidatiously, on a chair in the alcove next to the door. You could almost say at a 'safe distance'.
"You caught the part about the flash drive?" she then asked.
"What was that about tenure?", I echoed, just out of pure malicious joy, as understood. It was amusing to see her, avert her eyes in shame.
"I asked a question first, answer it," she mumbled, turning her face away.
I stretched for a moment. "Of course I heard the part about the data carrier, but I don't feel like talking about it," I said then, rubbing my eyes, "Let's talk about how you have advantage over me instead."
"I know, we can enjoy daylight and eat what we want," she had quickly regained her composure and I heard the provocation out as she crossed her arms.
"Whatever you say, then I'll call you Lotte and that good-for-nothing out there Marie," I replied.
"Jennifer. And the good-for-nothing out there is my brother and his name is Max.", she replied directly and rather coldly. 
"Alright, so Jennifer, if I were to unlock the flash drive, what would you have in mind with the information?"
"None of your business," she replied.
"Wrong, my job is to deliver the drive to someone else, if you want to do something with it, it is my business until I know what I'm getting myself into here. After all, I work for dangerous people, Jennifer."
"It's none of your business because it's not your data."
"Ah, so the kindergarten level. Well, you're out of luck then, I'm not going to unlock the flash drive for you without proper compensation."
"We have people ourselves who can crack the password, you're just saving us work and time in which I could be doing more important things. For example, thinking about what I'm going to do with you."
"Irony of fate, but don't pull sweetie. Have fun waiting.", I lay back down and thought about how to get out of here. My phone was still in my cape, and it was still hanging over the back of the armchair in my apartment.
"We would give the flash drive to my boss along with the password. Everything else is yet to be decided," she then came out with after a long hesitation, "And your help would come in handy."
"Haven't you been listening? I'm something of a mercenary. If you want something from me, then only against payment.", I could not afford to play on the other side of the law. Because, apart from the fact that the legal system didn't suit me, I had too much dirt on me. Plus, gun prices were going up, leaving out the other bills.
So money was important.
"I'm sure we'll find a favor or two for you," Jennifer then said. I said nothing back and sighed. 
"Let's say I don't help you, then what?", I asked after a short while. I had to go through all the options before deciding on the best one.
"We will file a lawsuit, start a trial, after which you will be found guilty of the murder of this man. After all, we have the bite mark where we can determine your DNA. Then you'd go to jail for about... 200 years under lenient circumstances? Yeah, that's about right."
"Sounds exciting," I didn't have to think long about which of the current possibilities was best. The decision sort of made itself.
"Under those circumstances, I might have a little time for your.... spectacle. But you'll have to wait for the password, I think I should check with your boss personally."
"Okay," agreeing, she nodded and pushed out of the room. Behind her, the door fell into the lock with a soft click. Staring at the door for a moment, I shook my head.
"Too bad they don't always compromise like that," I muttered, trying to fall back asleep.
But sleep wouldn't come. So for the next few hours I just lay awake in bed, having time to think about my next course of action. And also to think about how I had gotten into this hare-brained situation.
Why had I come to this woman's aid in the first place? I told myself that I had not done it to help her, but all my actions went against my usual logic. I had not done it because it had brought me something, on the contrary. I had saved the life of a person who had shot at me before.
That didn't even fit into my business. I usually killed people. And even more so when they put lead through my shoulder. Other than that, I had enough brains to learn from my experiences and stay away from people as much as possible. I usually did that, too.
The only problem with this was that it would do absolutely no good to do the Hercules and beat my way out of the situation.
I would have to wait for a moment when I could pull myself out of it and go back to my job. 
So it was a case of wait and see.

The light under the door slowly turned blue. When barely a glimmer fell under it, I stood up and opened it. I squinted through the crack in the door and was relieved to see that the sun had set. Then I went back into the room, pulled up the blinds, opened the window and was standing by for a brief moment. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the cool moonlight on my skin. A few keys rattled, the front door lock clicked and voices sounded.
"Well, awake already?", Jenny came in.
"Hmm.", I grumbled as I then closed the window again.
"Not been tired at all?", I recognized her brother by his voice. Max leaned against the doorframe and eyed me hostilely. He had brown, short hair and dark brown eyes. He didn't like my presence, you couldn't just tell by looking at him, you could smell it.
"Is that garlic?", I asked and had to pull myself together not to laugh at him. He had merely eaten it and certainly not because I was a vampire, but I just couldn't help myself.
"Yes, it was very tasty, but you probably don't know about that. Do vampires actually die from normal food?", he replied directly and seemed to believe that he could lure me out of my reserve with something like that. It was always nice to see how people loved their drawers. But I had gotten used to it. I didn't answer this comment and just looked at him deprecatingly.
He narrowed his eyes and just opened his mouth to say what was sure to be an uncreative swear word when Jennifer interrupted him.
"We're supposed to introduce you to some of our people," she quickly interjected.
"Your people?", I raised an eyebrow.
"Sure, you think we do everything on our own? It's not like we're like you," Max teased.
"Handsome and charming? No, you certainly are not," I replied coldly, slowly crossing my arms.
"We're taking you to the headquarters," Jenny gave Max a warning look.
"Just like that?", I raised an eyebrow. I was wondering why they left me unattended in the apartment. Taking me to the main office could backfire.
"Yeah, I can hardly believe it either. We're taking you to our headquarters when every kid knows that vampires can't be trusted," he shook his head. I passed over Max's comment again. 
"So when are we leaving?", I asked, looking outside again.
"Now," she tossed me a bag, my cloak had been hanging over her arm. She also had gloves and a fresh shirt with her. So they had been to my apartment again. As well as at my car, I had left the hat on the passenger seat.
Disapprovingly I pressed my lips together, but said nothing.  
"So even during the day.", I grumbled instead.
"Yes, unfortunately.", Jenny said and turned away to leave the room.
"Why unfortunately? I like the sun.", Max objected and joined her. I wondered what kind of blatant inferiority complex this guy must have that he had to throw a comment after every sentence Jennifer said. It was quite clear which of the two had more to say.
"Get ready and then follow the staircase down. We'll be waiting outside. And don't try to escape, there's someone behind the apartment door keeping watch." she ordered from the doorway.
I sighed and changed my shirt. I put my gloves in my pants pocket, since they weren't necessary for the moment. I searched the cloak for my cell phone, but of course it was no longer in the inside pocket. With a grumble, I left the apartment. I let a glance glide over the man standing next to the door. He had a gun in his hand and seemed to be just waiting for me to make a wrong move. I wrinkled my nose a little and walked down. As I stepped outside, I heard a very familiar engine. For a moment I stood there staring at my Jaguar purring.
"What the heck do you think you're doing!!!", I yanked open the car door and glared angrily at Jennifer who was sitting in the passenger side. 
That could only mean...
"Get out of there!", I hissed, walking around the car and glaring at Max, who had rolled down the window and was looking at me from the drivers seat with a disgustingly grin. 
"We're taking your car because it has tinted windows. And..." he pulled on my sunglasses and grinned at me again, "...I'm driving."
"You have five seconds to get off my seat, or I'll castrate you in one swift move," my voice was menacingly calm and I gave him a heartfelt smile. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to teach him a lesson. I would rather pick his brains off the leather upholstery than see him sitting behind my steering wheel. I almost hoped he didn't take me seriously, so I had the opportunity to put my words into action.
"Max, let go of it.", Jennifer's hand appeared on his forearm. Max mumbled something and got out.
"Glasses.", I said and held up my hand as he stood next to me. With a growl, he handed them back to me. I dropped behind the wheel, unnerved. Before he could get in the back, I pulled forward a few feet and let him follow.
"Hilarious!" hissed Max as he got back in the car, "Do you really think it's wise to let him drive? Besides, how is he going to find his way to our quarters?"
"I know where your headquarters are. After all, this is not my first day in this business," I said.
"How do you know the location of our headquarters?", Jennifer looked at me suspiciously.
"I should know which places to strategically stay away from when I'm carrying out one of my missions," I said coldly. In the rearview mirror, I saw the roll of Max's eyes.
"How can you peek through that glass!!!", Jennifer tried to peek through the dark glass with a furrowed brow.
"Don't bother. What you see now is all your human little eyes can register. That's special glass, specially designed for our vision, was expensive as hell," I went on.
"What would have happened if I hadn't gotten off your seat?", Max wanted to know twenty minutes later. He had his arms crossed and seemed pretty pissed.
"You think I was bluffing?", I replied coldly.
"You wouldn't have killed him, would you?" asked Jenny then with raised eyebrows, "Would you?"
"I only kill for money and if it's worth the effort. But I'd murder and skin that skunk there even if I didn't get paid. And give it away. To another skunk who can then regret his sorry ass," I said coldly.
"That means if I paid you a little money you'd kill my sister, for example?"
"A little is a little too less you buttermilk face. I'm a professional and I only accept jobs for good pay. And only if the risk is passable, otherwise there's either extra charges or I'll pass the job on to some idiot who'll get caught and executed," I said.
"How much time was between your last two jobs?" asked Jenny, trying to act unimpressed.
"I doubt I'll tell you anything about my assignments," I laughed dryly, shaking my head slightly.
"He's afraid we'll have even more on him than we already do," Max said, turning to his sister, probably thinking he could get me to talk. 
"That's right, I'm literally shitting myself at the thought of getting busted by some bootlickers like you."
Two seconds later, I slammed on the brakes hard. A truck sped past in front of us. They didn't actually drive around downtown that fast at night, but I wasn't itching to get going, and with a quiet curse in the driver's direction, I kept going.
"That was close," Jennifer took a deep breath, she had grabbed the handle of the door.
"Watch the leather," I growled with an appraising sideways glance.
"Don't you get upset with people like that?! That could have gone wrong. We all could have died in an accident!", Max hissed from behind me, then leaning forward, "I told you that vampire shouldn't have been driving!"
"YOU could have been killed in an accident. And as long as the car doesn't have a scratch on it, I don't care.", I turned at an intersection and drove down some more untraveled streets.
Jennifer looked at me, upset.
"Is a human life worth so little to you?!"
"Do I know you guys? No. Would I miss you guys? I don't think so. So I wouldn't care."
"Leave him alone, Jenny, he doesn't get what it's all about anyway. People like him don't have to fear for their lives."
"People like me still pay attention. We also have a sense of pain. Besides, it would be expensive to repair," I replied, stroking the inside panel of the driver's door with my hand.
"People like you, however, seem to be more hurt by property damage than an accident with several deaths," Max said irritably.
"People like me just have other priorities. Besides, I don't even know what you want, you're still alive," I glanced annoyed in the rearview mirror. This discussion was far from my level.
"My point is that people like you can't be trusted," I said.
"People like me don't expect you to," I said wanly. This conversation was tiring, extremely tiring.
"Yes, but only because people like you..."
I had the divider between the back and the front raised. Luxury I could afford and rest I had earned. The hammering of Max's knuckles on the plexiglas pane was easier to ignore than his stupid ramblings.