The Meeting – Part 1

Scottie and Sky stepped into the warehouse and laid eyes on the Councilman. He was a good-looking (Scottie was loathe to admit) young man in a nice suit, his hair neatly attended to and his teeth flashing through a politician’s smile. That smile faltered as the Melniks entered the warehouse.

Scottie had his pistol drawn and leveled it at the Councilman while Sky brandished her daggers, casually twirling one around her finger as the other was firmly held and her hand was cocked, ready to let loose. The Councilman raised his hands to either side, “Can I help you two? I’m afraid the Thieves’ Quarter is on the other side of town.”

Scottie started, “Yes, you can help us. You can explain why… wait, there’s a Thieves’ Quarter?”

The Councilman chuckled and shook his head, “No, there isn’t. But there is a section called Crime Alley.”

Scottie shot a look at Sky, unsure of whether the Councilman was still joking. Sky looked at him and shrugged, neither of them taking their attention fully off of the politician.

“Okay,“ Scottie said, “first, you folks really need to use a bit more imagination in naming your quarters.” Sky nodded resolutely.

“Second,” Scottie continued, “you need to explain to us why you’re pitting the vampires and the Church against each other.”

The Councilman smiled broadly, two rows of pearly whites shining as though they projected a light of their own, “Well, I’m not quite sure why I would do that…”

Scottie frowned and motioned to his gun, “Really? Seems rather obvious to me. Unless you’d like to explain with a bullet in your… hmm… shoulder? Knee?” He started pointing the gun at various parts of the Councilman’s body. One area in particular got the man’s tongue to loosen up.

“Okay, okay! Be careful with that, son.” the politician begged, though he looked a few years younger than Scottie. When he seemed satisfied Scottie wouldn’t shoot, he proceeded, “I need to get rid of one of them. Or both of them would be even better. You’ve seen how they are. Those two groups were never meant to coexist. It was a small matter to get them fighting each other. You know, if you put your weapons aside, I could just cut you in on the deal. Say, five percent?”

While completely confused about what he was talking about, the Melniks perked at the offer. “Five percent of what?” Sky asked.

The Councilman chuckled in an ‘aw shucks’ kind of way, “Ooh, right. See, if those two fight long enough, one will be driven out. Their land prices will drop, and I, along with a few investors, scoop it up and rebuild. It’s possible both could be driven out and we take both Quarters. A five percent stake in two Quarters of Ravila? Rather tempting, yes?”

Scottie and Sky traded a look and did what they always did when presented with a deal. They started haggling. Sky started, “Twenty-five percent.” Any facade the Councilman had been putting up dropped away.

“Ten percent. And I think that’s more than fair.”

Scottie smirked, “We’ve got the weapons here and we can bring this all to a stop by tipping off both sides. Twenty percent.”

The Councilman rubbed his chin as he contemplated, darting his eyes between Scottie and Sky, “Let’s split the difference, hmm? Fifteen percent. Unless my friends behind you think that’s too much…” and nodded behind them.

The couple began to whirl, and in that moment Sky saw that Scottie was going to check behind them. She reversed and brought her eyes back to the Councilman, who had reached behind his back and was drawing two large pistols. Sky let her daggers fly, one striking the Councilman’s wrist and the other embedding into his opposite shoulder. Both of his guns fired wildly into the warehouse.

When Scottie realized no one was behind them and heard the gunshots he swung his gun around and fired into the Councilman’s chest. The Councilman gasped and fell backwards from the impact of daggers and bullet.

“Scottie!” Sky admonished, “What was that all about? I had him handled!” She ran over to the body, checking for signs of life.

“What!? There’s no one there! He was using it as a diversion to kill us!” Scottie retorted.

“Yes, but he’s dead now. We have no real proof of what he was up to.” Sky calmly shot back.

“Oooh…. right…. yeah… sorry,” he apologized as he tucked away his own pistol. There were shouts from the street. The area in which the warehouse resided may have been quiet, but it wasn’t completely deserted. Sky retrieved her daggers and dashed to the door while Scottie searched the body.

When he caught up with her, he showed her a little black book and shrugged, “Might be evidence in here. Let’s go.” and the two hurried off before the first man arrived on the scene.