Children of the Wheel

Thanks to Liter Knight for her careful editing!

Chapter 4

Abby looked around a little uncertainly. The bar Will had brought her to after work wasn't really that rough. She had been in the city for long enough to know this place was cheap and there might be a fight every few nights between dumb guys who were blowing off steam, but no one was going to bother her, especially with Will at her table. But she and Will preferred quieter places. Will had picked her up from work and announced he had another member of the family who had agreed to let her tag along on his nightly hunt. Abby had followed him eagerly to the meeting spot. But after sitting in this noisy, overcrowded bar for ten minutes her mood had soured a little.

"Sorry," said Will, "Enzo picked this place. I hadn't been here before so I didn't realize."

"That's alright."

"I should have asked to meet at Tommy's."

"It's fine. We won't be here that long."

"I should have known. This is totally a dusk bar. They tend to be a little rough around the edges."

"Dusk? Is that another party?"

Will nodded, "Its smaller than the others. It's the Savons that hunt monsters and try to stop crimes."

"They hunt monsters?"

Will gave a little half smile, "Other monsters."

Will glanced off to the right where a guy was laughing in that fake, too loud way guys do when they're trying to convince themselves they're having a good time. He was with a group of guys and one of his friends had just fallen on the floor. The guy on the floor was also laughing hysterically while the beer on the floor soaked into his pants.

"Enzo's young," said Will, then looked back to her. "But that's good too. You'll be a fledgling for the next few decades so it'll be good for you to get to know some of the younger members of the family. With all the changes of the last few years, the latest generation of the family is very different from the old timers like me."

Abby glanced at the grey in Will's hair. She never really thought about his age. Back home, plenty of girls her age were married to men twenty or even thirty years older than them, if they were rich or if their first wives died in childbirth. But even though Will looked like he was in his late thirties, that was just a trick. He was far, far older.

"Just how old are you?" asked Abby.

Will laughed, "It's a funny time for you to ask me that."

"Sorry."

"It's fine, I'm..."

"Will!" Came a shout from behind Abby, loud enough that she heard it over the din of the bar.

Will stood, breaking into a grin.

"Enzo."

Abby turned to see a young man standing behind their table. He was short, only a few inches taller than her, but very broad, with big shoulders, powerfully muscled arms, and a square head that all made him seem bigger than his height. He had a big mouth and brown hair that he kept slicked to the side.

"Fuckin' A," said Enzo, and crushed Will in a hug; they held it for a minute before breaking off.

"How long's it been?" asked Enzo.

"Just a few months. Before I left on that little campaign," said Will. Abby was amused to hear Will was pitching his voice a little deeper and rougher when he was talking to Enzo.

"Fuck, you get to have all the fun."

"Eh, you shouldn't be jealous. Enjoy your bunk time while it lasts."

"Yeah, you're right. How was it?"

"It was..." Will gave Abby a nervous glance, and she realized they were talking about putting down her town's rebellion.

Abby had a sudden memory of the aftermath of the battle. She had emerged from her basement and wandered through the town, passing her shocked and broken neighbors. She had a sudden vision of Brendan, a farmer who owned good land a few miles from town, who her mom had cleaned for. She had seen him sitting on the ground, tearing at his arms and weeping, broken under the power of the Millstone. He had torn huge rents in his arms, clawing at bugs that had never been real but he insisted were crawling just under his skin.

Will shrugged. "It went fine," he said. "Spent most of the time walking there."

"Yeah that's how it is," said Enzo.

Abby had stayed seated, she wasn't sure if she was supposed to get up or not, and now Enzo glanced down at her.

"So this is your girl?"

"You could say that. Abby, this is Enzo."

Abby figured she should probably stand, so she got up and put out a hand.

"Nice to meet you."

Enzi grabbed her hand and jerked her forward a little too hard, her arm complained and she barely kept her balance. Then Enzo crushed her in a hug.

"Welcome to the family," said Enzo.

"I haven't decided anything yet," said Will.

"Ha. Will, you gotta get the stick outta your ass."

Will rolled his eyes, "You want a beer?"

"Sure, I'll have a quick one."

Will wandered toward the bar, leaving Abby at the table with Enzo. There was an awkward silence for a minute. Abby silently cursed Will for putting her in this situation, but then again she was going to be following this guy around all night. If she couldn't talk to him at a bar she didn't know how the rest of the night was going to go.

"So, how did you meet Will?"asked Abby.

"Oh, on the campaign. I'm from down south but I came up when word came down the family was joining up with the Dragon's latest shit storm. Will's sort of a relative, my uncle knew his ma', so he took me under his wing. We'd both done a little company work over the years so we hit it off."

Abby had about a dozen questions in response to that short statement but she started with the last one.

"Company work?"

"The free companies? They're mercenary bands that work in the League and the Free States."

"Will is a mercenary?"

"On and off. You don't have to do it all the time. A lot of tradesmen would do it as a second job, same with me," said Enzo, "Will's been at it a lot longer than me. He worked for Doc John and the Black Band. Which, like, fuck, that was the real deal."

Abby had no idea what Enzo was talking about and was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact Will was a mercenary.

Will was back pretty fast with three beers. They had blood beer here and he handed one of the glasses filled with deep red liquid to Enzo and a cider to Abby.

"You were a mercenary?" asked Abby.

Will laughed, "Enzo's been telling tales. Back when I was human I needed the money and now... I like to take breaks from the carpentry every once in a while. My old commander was a good guy so it was nice to help him out and I watched his son grow up so when he took over it was nice to help him get his feet under him."

He raised a glass.

"To old friends and new," said Will.

"Amen, brother," said Enzo.

They all clinked, Abby's cider was cool and dry. It reminded her of the times she had snuck off at home with Lily and stolen some of her dad's cider and just talked under the stars. About their frustrations and joys, hopes and dreams. She wondered what the past her would have thought about where she was now.

They all put their glasses down.

"So," said Enzo, "you were serious about having your girl go on patrol with me?"

Will nodded, "She followed me and watched while I did a little duskwork, just something I stumbled onto."

"Ha. Will, you should come back. They still talk about you at meetings."

Will shrugged, "Maybe in a decade or two. I'm enjoying woodworking right now. So anyway, she saw me break something up and she was interested, so I thought she should see how the professionals do it."

Enzo turned to look at her, "I like her already. You interested in busting some heads and turning some tables?"

Abby had to smile, "Uh huh."

"You're a little small."

"Look who's talking."

"Ha! I can't say I've ever had a human tag along but I'm game," said Enzo. He looked back to Will, "You just want me to do a normal patrol?"

"That's the idea. A night in the life."

"Alright, yeah sure let me just finish this."

Enzo slammed back the beer, opening his throat and guzzling it down in seconds, and slammed it on the table. Abby mimicked him, relaxing her throat and letting the cider pour down. She slammed her mug on the table a moment after Enzo.

"Ha, nice. Alrigh', let's go fuck up some assholes."

He stood and Will and Abby followed him.

"Keep her safe," said Will.

"Of course man. She'll come back to you as is."

"She tends to get into trouble."

"Hey," said Abby.

"Don't worry, trouble is what this is all about."

...

Abby walked alongside Enzo. Covered in the muffled blanket of his Shroud. When they had headed away from the bar Abby had expected them to head towards the docks, into the rougher part of town, but the neighborhood was nicer than she expected. Maddie had taken her to a poorer but quiet neighborhood, full of families trying to make ends meet. This neighborhood was where men without families went to live, before starting one or mourning the one they had lost. There were a lot of younger people too. Walking in big happy groups or quickly, like they had somewhere to be.

Enzo strolled down the street, barely looking at the people they passed. They all got out of their way without ever looking at them, the Shroud nudging them out of their path without them ever knowing anyone was there

"So you saw Will do a little dusk work?" Asked Enzo.

"If that's what you call it. We were in the park and some rich asshole was going to beat a prostitute."

"Oh, that's a good one. Damsel in distress and all. I love those. I don't get a lot of those around here. I'm new in town and the neighborhoods with the prostitutes always go to the old guys and the locals. Prime real estate. So you liked what you saw?"

"Yeah... I know guys like that. Think they're the gods' gift to creation. They love making people miserable. It was great to see one of them be on the receiving end of a little misery. I loved the surprised look on his stupid face."

"Ha, exactly," Enzo got loud and excited, "That's one of the things I love the most about it, the shocked looks on their stupid fucking faces. Like they can't believe anything wouldn't go their way."

"Exactly," said Abby, her voice was high and excited.

Enzo leaned over, "Let me tell you, you can fucking taste it too."

"Really?" Abby's voice was a whisper, that excitement was bubbling away in her chest.

"Oh yeah. Underneath the fear and the pain it's there. The outrage, the surprise. They can't believe they're actually facing consequences for the shit they do. Its like fucking whiskey and chocolate," said Enzo. He smiled and Abby saw his fangs.

"That sounds awesome."

"It is. It really is."

They walked for another minute. Enzo turned at the corner. They passed a food stall. An ancient looking man in grease stained clothes selling roasted meat. The street was fairly busy, they were at the part of the night where people were still making their way to the bars.

"So you're a lot younger than Will."

"Yeah they still call me a fledgling. I'm coming up on... fuck, nine years now. Ma almost didn't let me come up and fight. As if I'm an actual fucking child."

"Do you have any regrets? I just realized you probably remember being human better than Will."

"That's for sure. Ummm..." Enzo ran a hand through his hair, messing up his careful styling, then started slicking it back, "Ha, it's funny, I never really think about it. I kind of take each night as it comes. But now that you ask, not too many. I had a night job back in the day so I never saw the sun anyway. Never had a girl for more than a month or two so, you know, no worries there. And I kept in touch with my ma, my human ma, I mean."

"They let you do that?"

Enzo shrugged, "Sure. I mean if your old family starts blabbing your new family's business that's a big problem, but my family knows how to keep their mouths shut. My ma died a few years back..."

"I'm sorry,"

"Thanks. I was real broken up at the time but, you know, you get over it. But, point being, I got to live out my ma's twilight years, see her off, don't really give a shit about having kids, don't miss the sun, and now I'm a fucking immortal ass kicker. So no, not a lot of regrets."

"You know, thank you. My friend was like 'what about kids?' and you know, fuck kids. Childer seem better anyway."

"Ha, yeah, seriously. No diaper changes and they're not crying all the time."

They kept walking. And Enzo turned left at another corner. Abby realized if they kept this up they'd be circling the neighborhood. She guessed this was Enzo's territory. Enzo had mentioned there was competition for the better neighborhoods. This neighborhood did seem quieter and nicer than she had expected, which for Enzo meant it was probably poorer pickings. Still, she could tell this wasn't one of the really classy neighborhoods that hired private guards.

She opened his mouth to ask him but at that moment he cocked his head, "Oh, I think we got a bite," then he smirked at his own small joke.

She looked around, "Where?"

Enzo pointed. There were two young men walking down the street. At first there didn't seem to be anything particularly remarkable or dangerous about them, but after a minute Abby realized they set off her warning bells. They had that cocky swagger a lot of younger guys had, just a little bob to their walk, and they looked around constantly. One of them saw a younger, pretty looking woman walking down the street and elbowed the other and said something, and they both laughed. The laughter carried and the woman hunched her shoulders and started walking faster, looking down, both men stopped for a moment to watch her, eyes on her ass. Abby had rarely studied a guy harassing a woman before, she had never realized how satisfied they looked when they did it.

"Those guys do look like assholes," said Abby.

Enzo nodded, "The taller one stole those shoes."

Abby blinked, "what?"

"His shoes. He beat a man and stole his shoes," Enzo sounded furious. And when Abby looked his eyes had gone black.

Abby looked at the man's shoes. They were nicer than the rest of his clothes. Well made fine leather that was only just beginning to lose its shine.

"How can you tell?"

Anzo blinked and his eyes went back to normal. "Oh, got a little bit of the Sight. Some of the Duskers and Midnighters do. Makes things a lot easier, let me tell you. I can't read minds or anything but when something's stolen or someone hurt someone there's a kind of cloud."

"Holy shit that's awesome."

"Yeah it's pretty great. And once I get the shoes I'll be able to tell how he got them and who they belong to. Let's go."

Enzo walked a little faster and started walking beside the two men. People still got out of their way but they also tried to avoid the two young men, whose air of tense menace was almost as effective as the Shroud. Enzo looked them up and down, then glanced down the street.

"You see that alley up ahead?"

Abby looked ahead and saw the space between the two buildings, "I see it."

"When we get to it I'm going to shove them in and take care of business. I want you to stay at the mouth of the alley. If you get caught in the crossfire Will's gonna tear me a new asshole. Can I trust you to stay out of the way and let me work?"

"Yeah, you can count on me. I'll get a turn soon enough."

Enzo gave her a fanged smile.

"Good. good." He cracked his neck."Alright, let's fucking go."

They walked parallel with the two men. Abby heard snatches of conversation, they were talking about a girl one of them had hooked up with at some point. The way they talked about her, like she was an animal or a piece of meat, made Abby even more excited for what was about to happen.

When they got to the alley, Enzo gave her one more smile and then just barreled into the two men with a heavy shoulder, sending them tumbling to the ground in the alley. Abby followed, stopping at the edge of the alley. Enzo' back was to her and the two young men were on the ground, looking at him with shocked looks on their stupid faces. In the moment before the shock was going to turn to anger, Abby felt Enzo use the Millstone. It wasn't directed at her so she only felt the faintest edge of it. Looking at Enzo filled her with just the faintest hint of panic, and there was just the faintest watery film around him. The air felt charged, looking at Enzo felt like looking at a fire or a wild animal, something she knew would destroy her if she got too close.

Whatever she was feeling the two men felt it a hundred times over. They looked at Enzo and their surprise turned to deep terror. They stared at him with wide eyes and slack mouths, unable to move.

"His shoes? Really? You stole his fucking shoes?" snarled Enzo, his voice had that chewy sound that meant his teeth had turned sharp and jagged. A mouth full of needles and razors.

The two men didn't move. They just shivered and stared at Enzo as he walked toward them slowly. When he reached the young man with the shoes he grabbed him by the ankle and lifted him into the air, holding him upside down. The man's head bounced off the ground before Enzo got him into the air. Enzo held him by the ankle with one hand and started yanking a shoe off.

"Oh, and you beat the shit out of the guy, you fucker, you piece of shit. Punched him and kicked him while he was on the ground and you laughed. You fucking laughed."

Enzo got the first shoe off and threw it down the alley toward Abby, the second shoe quickly followed. Abby stared down at the shoes for a minute. They had fine stitching between the different sections with a little swooping pattern to the stitch lines. It gave them a jaunty appearance. As she looked back, Enzo reached down and grabbed the man's shirt, then let go of his ankle as he lifted. The man flipped around fast enough that it must have been nauseating. Enzo brought the robber inches from his face, making him stare into Enzo's dead black eyes

"Who's laughing now, you fucker?" asked Enzo.

Then he jerked his head to the side and bit down. The man let out a moan of absolute terror. It was the same moan she had heard when Will had fed on the merchant. It was deep and low and full of pain and despair. And just like that time, it was beautiful music to her ears. Enzo fed quickly, gnawing on the young man's neck as he started crying. Abby had seen enough vampires feed to know Enzo had bitten into a vein to make the blood pour out fast. The young man twitched in Enzo's grip. He was tall so Enzo had to pull his neck down to his level, bending him at the waist. The man's legs gave out and Enzo put an arm around him to keep him upright. The young man's feet were scrabbling at the ground and his hand was gripping Enzo's thick cotton shirt. With the blood coming so fast Enzo probably fed for less than a minute. Then Enzo licked the wound and pulled away, tossing the man to the ground.

He turned to the second young man, who had stayed on the ground the entire time, watching his friend get devoured without moving a muscle, frozen by the power of the Millstone.

"And what about you? Did you laugh too? Get a few kicks in?" asked Enzo.

Enzo reached down and hoisted the second youth up, pulled him close and sniffed him.

"Yeah you did. I can smell it on you. More than a few kicks. You know what it feels like when ribs break under your feet."

Enzo turned him and slammed him into the wall. Knocking all the air out of him so he couldn't even scream.

"Bad news for you, buddy. So do I."

Enzo quickly bit into the second man, who finally managed to scream. Enzo held him by his shirt and used his other hand to turn the young man's head and press it into the brick wall. Enzo sucked in big hungry gulps. There was a ferocity to Enzo that Abby hadn't seen the other times she had witnessed a feeding. She knew on some level every vampire was eating when they fed, but usually it was covered up by moments of intimacy, by an emotional connection of love or comfort. There was none of that here. The mask of any sort of caring or reciprocity was absent, the only connection between these two men was predator and prey.