Path of the Vampire forum

River Rock was one of his favorite areas in the city. Stuck between the Quarantine Zone and the Wilderness and with the dockyards in the north, it was a rougher place than many other districts in the city. It was quieter than other districts, less overrun by the in crowds. Yet of course, like in all those districts, there were one or two places which had become popular, places that were only known by word of mouth, popular with a mixed lot of locals and hipsters.

Nexus was such a place. Stagger Lee liked this place because it had the biggest choice of whiskeys in River Rock. The small venue was crowded as always. There was live music – something he greatly preferred to the horrible hip-hop, techno and dance floor they tortured their patrons with in many other places. The man with the Stetson hat made his way to the corner and sat down, motioning towards the waitress to make his order.

He’d order Louisiana Lightning today. The clear, unaged moonshine reminded him of the days of his youth, of the legacy of smuggling continued on by parts of his family. Nexus was the only place to get this specialty of his home state. People usually drank white whisky in cocktails. But Stag didn’t like cocktails, especially not those based on whiskey. Some things were to be enjoyed pure, not sugared and flavored and girlified. A whiskey that couldn’t stand on his own was like a man that couldn’t survive on his own, no matter if in the urban wasteland of the city, or outside in the wilderness. Only the strong survived.

In the end nature culled the weak. With a little help from Mister Stagger Lee…

He had been rather productive today. A trip to the Foucault Mansion to help dealing with the vampiric overpopulation of this city. Sadly these Lionelli creatures provided no nourishment to him, unlike their vampiric brethren elsewhere. But the thrill of the kill was just the same. It was not that he hated vampires. The two people he spend most time with – his friend Mini and the Countess – both were vampires, as was his boss at the Chicken Shack, Lyonel. It was just freaky to have so many of these undead in one place, way too many of them. And it was fun to make their blood dry up in their veins, and then pop their heads with a well aimed shot.

For a moment there was a hint of a smile on Stagger Lee’s otherwise so serious lips. It seemed the waitress has spotted him now, and he again called her over to make his order. It seemed to be a different girl there now than on his previous visits to the Nexus.

The waitress seemed new. He watched the girl as she approached, a little smile on his face as she addressed him in an overly excited manner. He greeted her, then made his order. His dark brown eyes wandering around the place as she went to get his drink. There seemed to be nothing extraordinary going on among the crowd of guests. No fangers looking for easy prey to feed from, no blood thieves looking for buyers or sellers, not even one of the guys in black suits sneaking around. This was a bit unusual for a place like Harper Rock where monstrosities lurked around every corner. Almost suspicious. He decided not to drop his guard and stay vigilant. He always did.

The girl returned with the menu. She seemed a bit nervous. Inexperience? Or was there something else going on. His eyes studied the young woman for a moment. Then as she turned away and was about to move on, he calmly spoke “bring me one of the house special burgers. Double beef. No fries”. The fries here were supposed to be pretty good, but why eat potatoes when you can have meat?

White whiskey, unaged and unrefined, didn’t offer the warmth and comfort of a traditionally aged bourbon, none of the richness, the slow pleasure of it. A distiller once told him, that they weren’t even allowed to sell moonshine as whiskey in Europe. But for Stagger Lee it was always a good start into the evening, it sharpened the senses. An aged bourbon had a quality that was like a warm hug. Moonshine didn’t have that. But right now he wasn’t in a mood for hugs at all.

Now he was hungry, his nose picking up the smell of the burger, the delicious grilled beef, the onions, the bread. He looked towards the kitchen, and saw his dinner sitting there on the counter. The girl who had taken his order was nearby, but seemingly distracted. It’s always frustrating when you are hungry, waiting for your meal, and you see it sitting there, ready for you to sink your teeth into it, feast upon the hot meat. And you can’t have it yet, because one damn waitress is too busy, lazy or distracted to serve it to you.

He was about to call her to attention, but then finally she picked up his meal and headed his way. “I am glad it still is”, he replied to her warning that the food was hot. He reached for the burger with both hands, when he noticed an outstretched hand in front of his face. Setting the burger down again, Stagger Lee sighed and looked up at the girl, who to his surprise was still standing there. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Kaelyn, but would you mind letting me have my dinner while it still is hot?”

The waitress was young and pretty in a girlish way, and for some reason seemed even more nervous than she was before. But Stagger Lee didn’t come to the Nexus to flirt. He wasn’t sure if he still believed in flirting at all. But he believed in eating a burger while it still was hot.

Now he was getting suspicious. Even though he was occupied with his burger, he noticed the glances the waitress was casting towards him. So far he had considered her odd behaviour due to the nervousness of a young girl new at her job. But this was odd. He checked the room for any other suspicious behaviour but noticed nothing unusual. It seemed it was just her.

Was this girl a cop? Or an agent of the government? A vampire looking for prey? One of those other beasts roaming in the city? Or was she just some naive young girl from the countryside, pulled to Harper Rock by its reputation for supernatural phenomena. Just like the Countess once was, before she became a vampire and his thrall.

Before he could muse for too long on that issue she returned to him. He took his time, slowly finishing the bite he had just took, before his mouth was no longer full and he finally turned his attention to her. “It is very good, as always. And yes you may. One more of the same.” His dark brown eyes looked straight and unflinchingly into her blue ones as he spoke. He was testing the strength of her will to see how much of a possible threat this young woman might be. “Mister Stagger Lee.” He finally introduced himself.

Even looking deeply into her eyes he could not find the answer to his questions, his suspicions about her. He noticed that she was now ignoring all the other guests due to her attentions to him. She was behaving to obviously suspicious to be some kind of cop or agent. Was she under a spell? He knew there were many ways to supernaturally control someone, manipulate their mind and behaviour. These actions seemed to be quite frequent in this city as he had discovered when he still was able to hack into the secret network of the vampires and was able to read their discussions.

But if this was the case with her who was controlling her and what were their intentions? Or was it in fact himself? Using a supernatural power he wasn’t even aware of to draw her towards him? Or maybe he was getting paranoid, and she just had figured him out as the guy most likely to give her an especially large tip. Stagger Lee was curious to find out.

“I feel very flattered by the attentions of such a beautiful young woman like you” Stagger Lee remarked as she brought his drink and asked her question, “and you observed well, I am not from around here at all. I am from the other side of town. Honeymead.” That was all he was willing to give away for now. “How about you? You’re from around here?”