Apprentice (Arauchia)

[Zodiac]

She arrived downstairs in time to see Arauchia exit the shop. A smile appeared on her face as she stepped into her office and grabbed her cloak and purse. Jennifer appeared in the doorway and gave the girl a stern look.

“You didn’t.”

”I didn’t what?”

“I don’t care if she is a vampire, Amazon, or what. You sent her into that viper’s nest clueless, didn’t you?”

”Hey, best way to learn. Tough love and all that nonsense.” Zodiac shrugged as she slipped on her cloak. ”Is how I was taught when I was a budding apprentice back in the day.”

“Oh please!” Jennifer pressed her argument. “You are telling me that sainted grandmother of yours…”

”Watch your mouth.” Zodiac warned.

“Sent you, her very flesh and blood, into such things without a clue? Only what you had to get and where to go as information? I know those asshats down in Newborough and they do not play nice.”

”Exactly! If I am to have a real apprentice to train for once, I need someone who can think on their feet and survive without causing undo damage to things. If she is half of what I sense in her aura, this should not be an issue for her. If not, oh well. I never liked handing them my money any ways.”

“So where are you going?” Jennifer stepped aside as Zodiac slipped past her.

”To observe, of course. Hearsay and recounts never hold the entire story.”

*****

A couple of heartbeats later, a small woman wrapped in a dark cloak entered an apparent dilapidated building after giving the proper password. Teleportation was a good friend when speed was of the essence. She took a seat at one of the tables in the back that gave her a good view of the place in full. It was the usual crowd of the under life of the town’s criminal elements. Some selling, some buying, and others taking a small break in their nightly dealings. She handed a woman a note when she was asked what she wanted to drink and settled in to wait for Arauchia’s arrival. Zodiac paid for her drink, took a sip and her face scrunched up as if she had bit into a raw lemon.

”What the hell kind of bloodwine is this? ‘Evening with Rat’?” she thought. Oh well, she had drank worse in her time. She adjusted her hood so her vision was clear but not her face and waited. This might be quite entertaining.

[Arauchia]

As the train screeched to a halt, Chia rose from her seat and tossed her notebook into her backpack before exiting the subway car. Violet eyes glanced down to the map on her phone as she plotted her route. Three blocks south, one east, then down the alley to the second door on the left. Before starting off down the street, Chia committed the area to memory in case she needed to make a rapid escape from the rendezvous point. Worse case scenario, she could tome out of there. But that risked making a scene, and Chia was sure that was the opposite of what her employer wanted. But having a route pre-planned made it more likely she could lose anyone trailing her and merely disappear into the dark from whence she came.

The walk from the station to her destination took about fifteen minutes, moving at a leisurely pace. Even though she might have been walking into a clusterfuck of a situation, it put a smile on the young woman’s face. The whole situation was very reminiscent of her late-night strolls to the “speakeasy” during her stint as the lead intelligence operative for the Angels. As she meandered down the side walk, her mind took a dip into the nostalgia of the past as faces and places replayed in her mind. Her favorite bartender that made the drinks extremely strong to give her a brief respite from her survivor’s guilt. Carlos, the flamboyant bouncer that always made sure she had back up in case a deal went sour. Elina, her most trusted informant. Hopefully with time, she would make friends like that here in the Canadian black market. Would serve her well if she was interfacing with Miss Zo’s suppliers on the regular. As she rounded the corner and moved into the alley, fingers slid into her pocket to retrieve a tube of ruby red lipstick. She gave the pigment a quick swipe across her lips before knocking in the manner instructed in the dossier and providing the code word.

The door creaked open to reveal a mountain of a man standing before her, crossing his arms, and glaring at her disdainfully. “You aren’t the lady assigned to that password.” A small smirk passed the Spaniard’s lips as she leaned up, running a finger down between the man’s pectoral muscles that were barely contained by his tight t-shirt. “Papi, you’ll have to understand, my employer doesn’t have time to come all the way down here just to fetch her delivery.” The Spaniard flashed the man before her a sultry smile before continuing. “I’m her new assistant and I have her payment on me, so I’d appreciate if you let me in to see Carlos.” The burly man took a step and moved aside. “Head to the right when you go in, he’s at the table nearest to the bar along the wall.” The Spaniard gave the doorman a wicked grin before moving in past him and heading off to the right as she was directed.

There was a booth, just to the right, with a man seated inside seeming to be awaiting someone’s arrival. She walked over to the table and stopped at the end, offering the man a smile. “Carlos, I presume?” The Spaniard hinted with a bit of a coy smile while gesturing to the booth as if she wanted to join him. A simple and was given to indicate his agreeance to her company at his table. “And whom might you be?” Carlos asked as Chia took her seat across from him, his eyes inspecting her carefully. “Arauchia. I am Zodiac’s assistant. She requested I drop by to get her package because she is far too lovely to be caught in a dump like this.” While she put her own personality on the delivery, Chia was extremely careful to give the code phrase as instructed by the gypsy.

Just as predicted by Zodiac, Carlos did indeed begin to laugh as he waved over one of his associates. “Get the Dendroaspis from the back, yeah?” As the man walked off, the contact turned and looked at Chia like he was expecting something else. “You have the payment, yes?” As if expected, Chia opened the left half her jacket to show him the manila envelope secured inside. “Of course, but I will need to inspect it first.” Carlos nodded and motioned for his associate to bring the small box over to Arauchia.

She reached out to take it, her hands feeling over the exterior of the box while she maintained eye contact with Carlos before peeking inside to make sure there were indeed vials of liquid inside. “Bueno. It is still cool to the touch. I believe we have a deal then.” With a firm grip on the box with her left hand, she got the envelope with the right then placed it on the table. Chia scooted out of the booth and swiftly tucked the box into the interior pocket of her jacket before zipping it up. “I’ll be seein’ ya around soon. A pleasure doing business.” The Spaniard gave a small bow to the gentleman before turning and making her way out the way she came, being sure to wink at the beefcake doorman on her way past him.

She started to head up the alley the way she came but quickly noticed that she had picked up a straggler within a couple of moments. He thought he was being super stealthy and was probably trying to sneak up on her to take her new acquisition. However, it was hard for a human to sneak up on a vampire when the thump-thump of the heart in their chest was so very loud. Not to mention his footfalls were super heavy. So when she stopped at the end of the alley, she pretended to look at her phone long enough to bait the man’s hand. Before he could reach her, her right hand darted down and drew her dagger as she turned around and immediately pressed it to his throat. Green eyes widened in surprise as she smirked at her would be assailant. “Try that again, and I’ll lop your head from your shoulders. Got it?” A vigorous nod was given in response, the man clearly disturbed that she seemed to have known he was coming. She used her momentum to push him off her and into the wall. Chia laughed heartily, blew the man a kiss, then slipped off into the darkness to head back across town.

[Zodiac]

Her eyes followed the woman’s progress. From debating with the door man, to Carlos, and back out again. The entire deal was somewhat anti-climatic in her view. The only one who challenged her was the door guy. ”Perhaps she has a touch of allurist in here,” she fumed. She had hoped to see Arauchia in a more intense situation. She could hire simple errand girls by the dozen.

She stood up and left the remainder of the less that eloquent bloodwine on the table and approached the door man. He looked down at her and actually smiled when she pulled her hood back. To reveal her face.

”Ah, so gypsy queen, she meet with your standards?” he asked.

”So far she can follow directions, but I need to know how…..durable? Effective? Subtle and blunt she can be. And you didn’t help! I saw you melt under her feminine wiles.”

“I did not!”

”Did too!”

“What was I supposed to do, throw her out?” Zodiac was about to answer when she heard a knock at the door. She stepped back out of the way while the man did his job. Once he was finished, she returned her gaze upon him.

”You know how…unstable this place can get. Several times in the past I had to fight my way out of here because 2 idiots decided they were cheating each other and that is all that is needed for a free for all to go off. I do not wish to invest my time and effort in training someone only to find out they fail in such hazards of the business, and this is not the only snake pit in town I do business with.”

“What? You planning on retiring or something?” The man raised an eyebrow. The girl stood silent for a few moments.

”I am considering it, yes. Or at least scale back and leave the more normal works to another to do.” she answered.

“Woah!” the man looked shocked. “I thought you blood drinking types had forever to play with when it came to doing things.”

The sharp laugh of contempt in his mind made the door man flinch. ”Don’t believe the movies, dear man. Maybe we do live longer, but that doesn’t mean we want to be doing the same job a hundred years from now. Having an apprentice also means I begin to get time to explore other things I wish to learn and do. You don’t want to spend the next twenty years being Carlos’ door man – do you?”

“Okay, you got a point.” He admitted.

”I could always use another bodyguard. After a bit of alteration, of course.” Zodiac smiled while revealing her fangs.

“Hey! None of that!” He pointed at her, causing her to laugh. Another knock at the door came and she grew quiet again. “I suppose I should give you a password for her?” He asked once his job was done for the moment.

”It would help.” He wrote on a scrap of paper and handed it to Zo. ”Not gonna make a note of this?”

“I’ll remember. She’s kinda hard to forget.”

”That is true. Well, I should be on my way. I need to stop in at Monty’s while I am down here.”

“Monty? Why do you deal with that thief? You got Carlos.”

”Carlos doesn’t deal with live animals and some of the items I use are best taken ‘fresh’ rather than bottled. Monty does. That’s why.”

The man opened the door for her. “See you next time.” Zodiac made a gesture of blessing and smiled as she slipped into the darkness. The normal sounds of this area of town settling into her ears as she walked along. Her pace was normal. This area could be home to her in another time. She had played these games when she was still alive, so she felt no need to move as if her life was in danger. Usually the people she dealt with would give her a heads up when they called if something was going down. Outside of some man cussing in the distance as he stood up there was nothing out of the ordinary in this night.

”I went to the animal fair,” she sang in her thoughts as she approached the door in question. Her fingers danced along the keys on her phone composing a text to Jennifer.

She survived test one. I will be back after I make a pick up. Have her put the stuff in the fridge and tell her she can start studying.

[Zodiac]

“Do you have to do that?”

The man stood several feet away as Zodiac opened the heated shipping box and began to poke at the sacks hiding inside. The sounds of agitated rattling could be heard in response to her pokes. ”Well I have to be sure I am getting what I am paying for,” she explained as she pulled one of the bags out and open it. ”The last time we tried this we both took a loss.”

“I know.” The man took a seat and lit up as he watched her.

”It wasn’t your fault the order got fulfilled by a bunch of idiots, but I can’t pay top dollar for defective, half dead merchandise, Monty.” She held the bag at arms length and watched the head of the Timber rattler emerge – not very pleased its sleep had been disturbed. She judged the attention of the reptile carefully before her free hand moved in a blur and caught the snake behind its head. Zodiac then pulled the now helpless snake from the bag and began to inspect it.

“I made sure these were sent properly this time.” Monty took a timid step closer as he watched.

”So I see. Good age, well fed, Should be a good producer of venom.”

“What do you do with all that poison?”

”You really want to know?”

“Not my business.” Monty re-lit his cigar and sat back down.

”Smart man.” Zodiac smirked as she replaced the snake into the bag and secured it. ”Well, I am satisfied.”

“I always like hearing that. So, what’s next on your list?” Monty asked. From somewhere in the depths of the warehouse, a roar was heard.

”Nothing, but in a couple weeks I will have a better idea.” she turned as she too heard the roar. ”What is that?”

“An order gone bad. Want to see?”

*****

”And what happened here?” Zodiac stood beside Monty and watched the tiger pacing back and forth in it’s cage as it continued to roar. She could tell by how it was moving this was not simply a bored animal. It was quite upset.

“Someone in this town wanted a tiger and so did an associate of mine.” Monty began to explain. “We paired up to save some money on the deal. No one told me we took a deal on a mother and cubs. The order got to my associate first and he took the cubs and I was sent the angry mother. As you can see,” he pointed to her underside as she passed. “She was not done with them yet.”

”No wonder she is throwing a fit. And I assume your customer declined their order?”

“Ya think? What can you do with her now? She is angry and when she finally gets over that most likely she’ll be depressed. I don’t ask why people want some things, but I doubt she will fill the bill now.”

Zodiac took a step closer to the cage. The tiger spotted her and lashed out in rage. She held her ground and focused her thoughts to the tiger. The tiger continued to rage for a time, but then slowly settled down. ”I know, I know dear one,” her thoughts cooed softly as she drew closer to the cage. Her hand slipped between the bars and caressed the big cat’s head as a sorrowful note of loss was heard.

“Well **** me.” Monty said. “Interested? I can let you have her at cost.”

”Would if I could,” She continued to try and calm the animal. ”One, she is too big. I have no place I could keep her safely and not cause a riot among the locals. And two, I did not just ‘fix’ her problem. To keep her sedate like this would need me in her mind 24/7 till she does accept the loss, and I can’t do that.”

“I guess so,” Monty sighed. Zodiac continued to calm the animal for a few minutes before backing away. The tiger made that mournful sound again as she did. “I am working fast. I need to get her to someone before I am forced to…” He let his words trail off.

”I understand. If I find someone, I will send them your way.”

“Thanks, Raggedy Ann.”

*****

She entered the back door of her shop with a large bundle over her shoulder.

”Any sign of my apprentice?” she called out to Jennifer’s mind.

“Not yet,” The red head answered. “What’s in the bag?” Zodiac gave the bag a firm shake and the woman heard the rattles inside. “Oh fun.”

”I’m going upstairs to get these fine fellows in cages. When she shows up, just point her up, please.”

[Arauchia]

The Spaniard ran off the train as it reached Honeymead Station like a bat out of hell, running in the direction of Zo’s shop. By her calculation, she should’ve been back maybe thirty minutes ago, and to her own standards, that was thirty minutes too long. When she was still alive and in Spain, she was often given the most time-sensitive assignments. She wasn’t necessarily the best person for the job every time, but she prided herself on being the most efficient agent. Chia would meticulously research and plan, so she could get in and out before the mark knew she had even been there.

She did not plan out her route well enough before taking off across town. After leaving the man shitting himself in the alley, Chia wove her way back to the transit the same way she came. Unfortunately for her, the train was pulling out of the station right as she was walking up to the platform. Even with her supernatural gifts she wasn’t going to be able to run fast enough to get it in time. Had she been less focused on trying to impress her new mentor with how well she could handle traffickers, she might have realized that she was going to miss the train running back towards Honeymead.

Had the dots been connected a little earlier in her mind could’ve elected to tome home and take the fade portal out of Larch Court and back down to a different station. Since her ship had sailed for the next 20 minutes, Chia decided she might as well enjoy it. There was a man on the other side of the platform, eying her like a dog eyes a t-bone steak. What a perfect combination, dinner and a show. Chia picked up her backpack and sauntered over to talk to the man who seemed to vibrate with anticipation as she came over.

Just with a few words out of his mouth, she was able to wager that not only he was drunk, this man was overflowing with machismo. Getting at his neck was like taking candy from a child, she merely had to inflate his ego enough to make it seem like she was interested. Which she was, but only for that precious lifeforce in his body. She made quick work of her meal, leaving him slumped over on the platform like he had passed out in a drunken stupor before retreating to her side of the platform to impatiently wait for her ride.

“At least I’m not thinking about dinner.” She muttered to herself as she skidded around the corner and hurried down the street to where Zo’s shop was. She struggled with the door handle a moment before half tumbling inside. She straightened up and gave Jennifer a smile. The brunette merely pointed upwards, seeming to gesture Chia to head on up where Zo was waiting for her. “Thanks, “ the blonde commented before ascending the stairs and letting herself into the laboratory after closing the doors as she was instructed by Zodiac. After turning the latch at the top she approached, she glanced around looking for the gypsy-woman.

“I’m sorry I was delayed, I missed my ride. Won’t happen again.” Chia announce apologetically as she stopped in the center of the space, unsure exactly where the other woman was. ”However I have your goods, and they were cold as you recommended.” As she spoke, she pulled the box out of her backpack, confirming it was still indeed cool to the touch. “What is a Denadropsis anyways?” She queried, her fingers pulling open the box to peek.

[Zodiac]

”Ah, you are back.”

Zodiac stepped out of the small storage room that was arranged to be next to her main working area. A small cardboard box in one hand and a very upset rattlesnake in the other. ”Yeah, the transit can be a ***** this time of night. For your education, Dendroaspis polylepis is known as the Black Mamba. A nasty fellow from Africa. Those tubes in that box you holding contains venom from one.”

Zo sat the box she held on the workbench and checked two of the three fish tanks she had prepared. Within the two, a rattler sat adjusting to their new home in each, while a third tank sat waiting..”Just got these tonight. Hey, you ever milk a snake for venom?” Zodiac asked with a total straight face. She managed to get the box open and pulled out what looked like a transparent plastic cup with a rubber seal over the mouth of it. “C’mon over here. I bite occasionally and this guy will bite every time, so you know the odds up front.” She laughed.

”There is a gentle art to this,” She explained when Arauchia stood next to her. ”The only firm part is my grip around his neck.” She rolled her wrist and showed how three fingers firmly held the snake between the head and body. ”Ignore the rest of him. That part can’t hurt you. The gentle part is where we get the venom out of him.”

Softly her thumb and forefinger squeezed at the corners of the mouth, coaxing the mouth to open. “And there are the money makers.” she showed the woman the fangs and the soft sacs sitting in the upper jaw. Her free hand took the cup and held it near the mouth. With a gentle twist of her hand, the fangs pierced the rubber top. She then pulled against the cup with the snake gently. As she did, a yellowish thick liquid began to creep down inside the cup. ”You have to be gentle. Doing it like you were milking a cow could damage the poison sacs behind their fangs. Takes a long time for them to heal those things and some breeds of snake can poison themselves by swallowing their own venom. You just have to coax it from them.” She encouraged a second and third bit of the venom into the cup and paused.

”Since it’s his first time, I will do another 2 pulls, and then put him in the tank to start adjusting to his new home. I limit it to 6 max, but that’s only on the more mature ones used to the process. Got to leave them a little to eat with.”

Zodiac looked at the woman and smiled. ”So,” she held up the snake and cup. ”Want to give it a try?”