The Vampire's Apprentice

If the exterior of the shop was unique, then the interior was downright weird. Several of the same products were laid out, but there were even more esoteric things scattered around – black-bound books written in red ink, artwork made of animal bones, and jars of what appeared to be fake shrunken heads.

At least, Alain assumed they were fake. These days, it was hard to tell.

They milled about the inside of the small shop for a moment before a voice from deeper within called to them.

"Come in, come in."

Alain motioned for the others to follow, and they moved past the counter and into one of the back rooms. There, they were met by a large, dark-skinned older woman covered in a shawl, seated at a circular table, upon which several books had been scattered about.

"I take it you're Ariana?" Alain asked. "I'm Alain Smith. These are my friends Felix, Az, and Sable."

Ariana's gaze slid over each of them in turn, and for the first time, Alain noted they were unnaturally green. What that was supposed to mean, he had no idea; every vampire he'd ever met had red eyes, save for a single member of the Tribunal who had blue eyes. Perhaps Ariana was just a regular person blessed with an unnaturally bright eye color. Still, he couldn't help the way his had steadily crept towards the grip of his revolver.

"I must say, this is unexpected," Ariana replied in her thick Cajun accent. "We don't get many vampires 'round these parts."

They all tensed, but she hurriedly held up a hand. "Relax – I am not your enemy. In fact, I'd wager that you're here because you think we can help each other."

"How did you know she was a vampire?" Felix asked.

"Because she isn't the first one I've met, child," Ariana said evenly.

"No offense, but I'm in my early thirties."

"When you get to my age, everyone else seems like they're still young." Her gaze shifted back to Sable. "With a few exceptions, of course. This one looks young, but I suspect she's far older than I could even guess. Tell me, when were you turned?"

"I wasn't," Sable replied, crossing her arms.

Ariana blinked. "You were born a vampire? Interesting."

"My sister and I, both. Unusual, I'm aware."

"Is it?" Alain asked. "Genuine question."

"Vampires are a type of undead," Ariana answered him. "They are incapable of giving birth the same way a mortal is – their bodies lack the necessary function to sustain life. There are a few exceptions, of course, but most of them involve a ritual of some kind." She turned back to Sable. "Your accent places you from eastern Europe."

"Romania," Sable told her. "My family was the leading vampire clan there, until my older sister usurped and murdered my parents. I would have stopped it, had I not been staked and left for dead years prior."

"Not many vampires could come back from that."

"Yeah, well, the vampire hunter hired to kill me didn't do a thorough enough job, apparently, because I'm still here."

"And your sister? What of her?"

Sable bristled. "I don't know what Cleo has planned, only that she's since taken over the rest of Romania's vampire clans and has cut herself off from the Tribunal and its envoys. It's clear to me that she's up to something, but nobody knows what it is. But that's not the point of our meeting."

Ariana leaned back. "Forgive me – I find the other side of the Veil quite fascinating, as you can all probably imagine. Like I said, it has been some time since I have encountered a vampire, let alone a friendly one."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Felix asked. "Did you hunt them at one point?"

"I dabbled in that world for a time. Ultimately, however, my calling was towards the medicinal and spiritual side of things more so than the physical."

"Then you must have networked with other vampire hunters," Alain announced. "That's why we're here – we're looking for one of them."

"Then perhaps we can help each other after all. Who do you seek?"

"Heather Smith."

Ariana's eyes narrowed. "I was not aware that Heather had a son."

"Then you do know her."

"I do. I wouldn't call us friends, or even acquaintances, but anyone interested in vampires 'round New Orleans has at least heard the name. She's part of the reason why we don't see so many active nearby. Of course, there was never much activity here compared to the northern states in the first place. Makes me wonder why a hunter of her caliber would want to stay here. Running from something, perhaps?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out." Alain crossed his arms. "Do you know how to find her?"

"Generally speaking, Heather isn't someone who you can find, she's someone who will find you. If she thinks you need to meet with her, then she'll eventually seek you out. Otherwise, good luck."

Alain tensed. "Why wouldn't she want to meet me? I'm her son."

"Think about it, child – she ran away from you in the first place for a reason. No mother does that unless they're cruel or trying to protect their loved ones from something, and Heather never struck me as being cruel to anyone but the rogue vampires she was hired to hunt. If she truly thought that staying was a detriment to your safety, do you really believe she'd risk drawing you back into it now?"

"That would depend on the circumstances," Az cut in.

Ariana looked over to Az in surprise. "You… you're not a vampire, but you're not a human, either. What are you?"

"I am Az. Nothing more, nothing less. I exist only to serve my queen-to-be."

"Queen-to-be…? Ah, so that's what she intends to do. I must say, you certainly picked the wrong country for it, in that case – America's history with monarchs does not bode well for your future kingdom."

"I shall worry about the details later," Sable answered. "What more can you tell us?"

"That is all I can say regarding Heather's whereabouts," Ariana replied. "If this is truly as important as you seem to think it is, then she will find you in due time. But until then, perhaps you could do something for me in return."

"Oh, here we go…" Alain muttered. "Alright, what do you need?"

"Do not act as though this is one-sided. What I ask of you would get you more involved in this city's side of the supernatural. If you wanted to draw your mother out, this would be a good way to do it, provided she's interested in meeting you, of course."

"I get it. What's the job?"

"How familiar are you all with the swamps?"

"We know enough to be aware of the fact that we need to stay out of them," Felix said.

"That is not incorrect. I take it you're aware of the disappearances, then?"

"Only of Jasper's sister, Tiana," Alain replied. "Does the name ring a bell?"

Ariana nodded. "It does. I remember her – smart girl; too smart for her own good, some might say. Excellent herbalist. Perhaps one day she might have replaced the original Voodoo Queen, were it not for her untimely disappearance. But that is neither here nor there – you are correct in that she is missing, but while she may have been the first, she was not the last."

"Enlighten us, then. What's going on in the swamps?"

"Truthfully, I don't know. I'm much too old to be wandering outside the city anymore, and all the people who have tried to investigate have ended up going missing as well. All I know is that the disappearances started a few years ago with Tiana, but they were far fewer in number – a tourist here, a drunk partygoer there, the usual. The local government was able to pass it off as people getting lost in the swamps and dying before they could be found, which worked for a while, but now… now, we're seeing several people go missing every week. And they're disappearing closer and closer to the city and roads, rather than deep in the swamps like they were in the past. Whatever's out there, it's getting bolder."

"And you're convinced it's something supernatural?"

"Child, I assure you, there's nothing natural about what happened to those people. One person every now and again would be expected – the swamps are deep and easy to get lost in, not to mention inhabited by all manner of nasty wildlife. But this is something far worse, I can just tell."

Alain nodded along with her words. "What do you need us to do?"

"Head for the swamps," Ariana urged. "Poke around a bit. See what you can find. There are people who live out there – see if you can speak with one of them regarding the disappearances; I suspect one a few of them know something, they're just keeping it to themselves. Too many shamans and other supernatural creatures living there for everyone to be ignorant of what's going on. I would go and speak with them myself if I weren't so old."

"And if we do encounter something out there?"

"You've got guns and a vampire on your side. I'm confident you'll know what to do in that case."

"Very well." Alain tipped his hat to her. "Thank you, ma'am. We appreciate the information."

"One more thing," Ariana said as they all turned to leave. "If, somehow, you do find Tiana out there, send her my way. Girl deserves a scolding for running off into the swamp the way she did."

"We'll see what we can do. Thanks again."

With that, they all stepped out of the back room, gathering in the front part of the store.

"Signed up for yet another job," Felix lamented. "How many does this make now? Two? You guys sure have a habit of attracting trouble."

"Believe me, I'm not exactly happy about it," Alain lamented. "But we do need to draw my mother out, and if this is truly the best way to do it, then we'll just have to deal with it."

"You're not wrong," Sable admitted. "Okay. We make for the swamps, and look for someone who lives in them that can tell us a thing or two about what's going on. If we can't find someone or they otherwise don't know anything, then I guess we're on our own."

"We'll make it work," Alain promised. "Speaking of which-"

He suddenly paused, a glint from outside the window and down the street catching his eye. Alain turned to stare at it for a moment until he realized what it was, then immediately hit the deck.

"Everyone down!" he called.

They all threw themselves to the floor just as the first salvo of bullets tore through the store's front windows. Alain grit his teeth as shards of broken glass and splinters of wood rained down on him. Bullets cracked by overhead, embedding themselves in the nearby wall just inches above where they were lying. Eventually, though, the shots tapered off, leading to complete silence from outside.

Alain and Felix wasted no time. They jumped to their feet, unslinging their long guns as they rushed out of the store, Az and Sable hot on their heels.