Conspiracy (invite only)

[Zodiac]

Despite all the perks and good times that came with the job, there were some nights Jennifer Hayes wished that she was not part of this. She was counting out her register as the change of the shifts was underway, occasionally casting an eye at the closed office door to her left. Part of her job was to go through the mail and separate the nonsense to the nonsense from the semi important and make sure the very important landed in her employer's in box. Often that involved reading the mail first and she was waiting for the explosion. It was oddly overdue.

Receipts and cash in hand, she went to the back and bagged it all for deposit and dropped it in the safe, again looking at the door before slipping on her coat and stepping out the back door to have a smoke. This was not normal in her experiences at all she decided as she zipped up and leaned against the wall to lessen her exposure to the wind as it pushed around colorful flyers with names like Spencer, Gilbert, and Bancroft upon them down the alley. Gold one day, trash the next. All the noise and thunder suddenly silent now. Jennifer had a unique view of the race most living breathing souls did not thanks to her boss. Three people as honest and pure as what Kim Karnes called 'New York Snow' in her one hit song, had played the game and perhaps the most dangerous one of the three had emerged from the dog fight the winner. The ramifications of this went way deeper that the average mortal knew, of course. Harper Rock was a multilayer system despite being a little town and what was good for some layers did not bode well for others. Of course, this town had layers most were ignorant of and if they knew they existed, well...

"Jennifer,"

The girl jumped at the sudden sound in her mind and was startled to find her employer, Zodiac, standing next to her. "Would you at least make some noise once in a while," she gasped as she bent down to get her cigarette from where it fell. Zo could always move quietly before her 'accident' but now she was death in stealth mode if she chose to be.

"You read the mail," It was not a question at all.

"Yes I did. It came with the forms we have to fill out to calculate how much tax they want to rape us for daily now." she replied as she watched. The girl just stood there without a clue on her face to betray what she was thinking. She had expected her employer to be in a livid rage over the new taxing.

"Tell me, how many gods and goddesses are there? If you read the books I told you to skim thought you should have a base idea of the amount."

"Ummm," She hated when Zo suddenly jumped subjects like this.

"So out of 'ummm'. how many have I managed to insult or offend?"

"I don't know," Jennifer admitted.

"Apparently all of them at this rate," the mystic continued to stare into the darkness around them.

"Don't take this wrong, but your kind helped Bancroft win this thing." Jennifer replied. The issue of who one was voting for was a taboo subject around the shops and was not discussed. (Jennifer had personally voted for Spencer) As Zodiac had politely told all that worked for her 'I am not paying you guys to debate politics-so do this on your own time, please'.

"Oh yes, they did." she admitted while changing the pitch of her mental voice. " 'Let's vote for the thrall. Since a vampire controls them, they HAVE to be good for us all.' Idiots!"

Jennifer nodded in agreement. She had heard the gypsy argue this point to deaf ears. Who was the puppet master and did this vampire mean any good to any of them.

"Just after I was turned I heard stories about a vampire named Cobb. Nasty son of a *****. Pulled a major double cross on the other elders and was the sole king of the town till he did something that caused the Nexus to belch out the others. Then he waged a one man war on every vampire he could find till he got sloppy." her voice back to its normal soothing tones now. "What if there is a Cobb holding Bancroft's strings?"

"You think this new tax is some kind of attack on you guys?"

"Of course it is. It targets the successful among us. Temporary tax? People swallow **** like that? When have you ever heard a politician say 'Okay, we don't need no more money so we rescinding the tax'. Only the opposite. 'We need more, so the percentage has to go up.' I will bet what's left of my soul that cash is going to start lining the pockets of the puppet master or mistress for their future plans. Bancroft will get a taste, but the rest? How much a day times every single business in this town, vampire owned or not? You do the math. That is gonna add up real quick."

"What about the gun control thing?"

"There I would be guessing, but in my view it takes more brains to use a gun than just being a barbarian with a battle axe. Even if not, the more of us noted and tagged, the clearer the number of us the puppet master knows they have to deal with. A list is being formed now is my best guess. Who are the thinkers and the movers and shakers. If I was in charge and wanted total control, those are the targets I would want to know about first and start finding ways to squeeze them out of the overall picture." she shrugged while motioning for Jennifer to share her cigarettes with her. The girl gave her one and lit it for her.

"Thanks," she exhaled. Jennifer knew Zodiac only smoked when she was excited or upset about something. "Everyone who supported Bancroft are happy as hell and have no clue what kind of basket we all suddenly riding in. I may be wrong on some of it, but it's a conspiracy of sorts. This is only phase one. Phase two will attack the barbarians among us hopefully, unless the PM thinks they are sheep and has uses for them. Who knows. Maybe they will hire them to begin shaking down the rest of us even more."

"Interesting time to hit this town with a new tax. Right when holiday spending will be the rage."

"Bingo. They will make a killing with the tax in this small time frame. The Puppet Master will have a fat nest egg to work with by New Years."

"So what are you going to do?" the girl asked. Zodiac leaned against the building in silence for a few moments before answering.

"I have tried very hard to keep all three places legit. Keep all my outside work out of the picture when it comes to the shops. I tried so hard to be good with this." she looked at her best friend sadly. "After the first of year, start trimming the books. Nothing drastic at first, but start working things down as possible. In four months I want us down as low as possible while still turning a profit. We can't stop the ******** from stealing money from us, but we can limit how much he or she actually gets."

"That may be a hard sell." she cautioned the mystic.

"Is why it has to be a small thing at first. A few dollars here and there. Might even start closing a day or two here and there to toss off the totals. I'm on vacation. Or sick."

"If it's a vampire doing this, you think they will believe that?"

"What can they do? Send some of those MIB types to my door and say 'We know what you are so get back to work'? Not without exposing vamps in general. That is one thing I am sure our new Puppet Master wants to keep in place. The Masq protects them just as much as us now. Only time that one will come out of the coffin is when they are sure nothing can touch them."

"They never talked about stuff like this in business school," Jennifer laughed weakly.

"Still not too late to hop a plane out of here," Jennifer looked at the girl and saw she was not kidding. Zodiac had made her this offer once before when discovered her friend was putting clues together about what her employer actually was. The girl was silent for a few moments before shaking her head no.

"Nahhh. If I leave you will just screw this all up and end up in limbo."

"My thoughts exactly," the gypsy smiled.