Continuing Education

There was a rap at the door. Nina got up and went to see who the late night caller was.
Just outside the door stood a man that Nina had never seen before: dark hair and eyes, tall, in a trim suit of a cut just a few years out of fashion. He wore a jet derby hat and shoes the color of midnight.

It was two in the morning and after her recent adventures with fellow kindred she was in no mood for visitors.
"Can I help you?" she peered through the cracked door, barely concealed contempt in her voice.

"Pardon the hour, cariña, but my name is Ricardo. I am looking for a friend of mine. Goes by the name of Thomas, or Tom."

Ricardo smiled at her, a shining gleam that could be seen even in the dim light.
"And what gives you any idea or desire to look for him here?" the contempt in her voice became a snarl on her face.
 
The man held up his hands defensively. "I, uh, was told he was around here. By some fairly reliable sources." He peered past her. "I am with the Camarilla, if that helps, at all." The smile flashed again, slightly strained this time. "Is there, perhaps, anyone else I could talk to?"

"I'm afraid you've only got me." She opened the door and motioned him in. He entered with a tip of his hat- but something caught her eye. His shadow was... wrong. In the harsh electric light of the foyer, the visitor's shadow looked hunched and crooked, and his well manicured hands had become grasping, spindly and spider-like. In a flash, Nina had slipped the stiletto out of her boot and was pressing the tip of the blade gently to his throat. "I'll take you to him, but he will remain or leave here of his own free will."

A dark drop of sweat slipped down Ricardo's temple, but his voice was steady. "Ah, well, we are perfectly clear on that, cariña, if he is happy here I wouldn't dream of taking him away."

A moment slid past.

"So, is he... up or down? I imagine he is either hiding or fluttering about, one of the two." Ricardo laughed, the lame attempt falling flat on the linoleum floor of the library. Nina stared for a moment, stiletto poised, taking in this odd creature. Affable and charming, but something hideously amiss. "He's neither. Follow me." She removed the blade from his throat and motioned casually with it toward the center of the library and its round circulation desk. Seated casually in the librarian's chair, legs propped up on the desktop was Tom. He was reading a back issue of Black Mask, but his eyes flicked upwards as the pair approached and he tossed the magazine away.

"Hello Nina, this guy causing trouble?"

The stranger tensed.

"He says his name is Ricardo and he's looking for you," she gestured, perhaps too freely, with her knife. "But something isn't quite right about him." She glanced at the shadow Ricardo cast and hoped that Tom would follow her gaze. But the trim stranger was gone.

In his place was a short creature, his stature even more shrunken by his hunched appearance beneath his ill-fitting coat. His nose flat and upturned, his mouth so sunken that it seemed more akin to an old wound than a jawline. His shoes were still black and shiny, but they stank, a significant detail that Nina wondered how she had missed it. The creature muttered sheepishly- "my apologies for the deception, I did not want to shock you, cariña."

Tom let out a loud snort of laughter. "Ricardo, you rascally devil, it is you!"

The twisted vampire gave a mock bow. "Yes, my friend, in the flesh. Your lodgings seem to have improved, as well as your choice of companionship, eh?" Ricardo laughed, approaching the desk.  "Could you please tell your librarian friend that I am not here to cause any trouble? I am just here to make sure you are doing ok."

The gargoyle nodded affably.

"Nina, Ricardo is one of my friends, he helped me find a safe haven after my sire was forced to leave town." Tom looked the newcomer up and down. "He's alright. For a New Yorker."

"Ah hahah!" Ricardo laughed- despite his monstrous appearance, it was a hearty, good-natured sound. "Yes. We had not seen you for a few weeks, and I wanted to make sure you was still out and about."

"Very kind. We can give you a tour!" Tom said, motioning toward the sculpture gallery.

"Ha! I would be honored." Ricardo gave them both a stoop-shouldered bow. "But first I must state that I am also here because I have a favor to ask of you, Thomas." He cast a glance back at Nina. "At the risk of sounding rude, it may be better if it is private matter, for now, cariña. I may not care if this was my own business, but it is not. My message is for Tom's stoney ears only."

Nina stared blankly at Ricardo. She weighed her options, but let none of her thoughts pass over her face. She swiftly tucked her stiletto back into her boot and shrugged.
"Tom, I'll be in the workroom making a notes on the library's new acquisition," she glanced over at Ricardo. "And I'll be able to hear anything over the level of a civil conversation."

As she left, Tom ushered Ricardo into the next hall. The Nosferatu's ghoulish face had cracked into his approximation of a grin. "I like her! A little uptight, of course, but, hey, aren't they all. And she seems to actually know which end of the knife to grip- pow!" Ricardo feigned a few quick jabs and slashes as if he were carrying a switchblade. Tom rolled his eyes at the sewer rat's antics. "Sometimes I think that librarian has thicker skin than I do- she is tough, Ric, and she is straightforward with me. That's more than I can say for most people here lately."

As it was after hours, the sculpture hall was dimly lit, and around them the room was lined with the silhouettes of statues, haunting the edges of the room like transfixed ghosts. Ricardo ignored them and leaned forward conspiratorially, his voice a graveled whisper. "Then let me be another one of the few, my friend. I am here because Ellis sent me. The old man has a mission for you, but it is dangerous; he wants to know if you are interested-"

"Of course!" Tom grinned, fangs flashing in the half-dark.

"Always eager to please, that's you, eh, Tommy?" Ricardo gave a wry laugh. "At least least let me finish telling you about the job. There is a sleepy little community on the edge of the city. We want eyes on it, periodically. We think some of the residents there might be connected to some of the recent strangeness, especially that business at the Green Mill."

"Alright- but why do you need me for that? Aren't you spymasters and rumor-mongers up to the challenge?"    

"Ah, but in this case, infiltrating our way isn't easy. This place is backwards, insular. Outsiders aren't trusted, and we don't have any strong connections to the place. Get this-they aren't even connected to the Chicagoland sewer system." Ricardo shook his head in a mixture of disbelief and disappointment. "More's the pity. So! Ellis figured you were the best kindred for the job."

"I am always up for a little action. But you haven't given me much in the way of specifics-"

"No, no I haven't, but I figured you'd want in. However, in order to do this, we need you to play it subtle."

Tom nodded. "Sure thing. Subtle. I can do that."

Ricardo, hands on hips, looked Tom up and down, exaggeratedly giving the taller creature a once-over.

"Ah, sure, and you can call me Douglas Fairbanks. No, for this job, Ellis wanted you to be to trained, and properly. He wants you to be just as sneaky as any one of us. And that means training you in the unseen ways of the blood." Ricardo raised the tattered remnants of his eyebrows for theatrical effect. "That's gonna be your training and your compensation, master gargoyle. Once you demonstrate mastery, then I will vouch for you, and Ellis will give you the final details, which, frankly, I don't even know.
 
"You should tell Ellis that secrets don't make for lasting friendships," Tom said with a light chuckle ("Yeah, yeah, I'll get right on that, muttered Ricardo). "But as I said before, I am interested. Way I see it, I owe Ellis one, it was his territory I was squatting on, after all."

"Terrific." Ricardo's scar-like mouth twisted wide, his fangs sinking into his own hand just below the wrist. "Lets get on with this. Lesson one starts now."