Vampire Agent (English Version)

Chapter 2

Widow

I opened my eyes and found myself in a dark room. My arms still hurt, so I couldn't have slept for too long. I sat up and rubbed my temples.
My head was throbbing painfully. As I looked around, my vicinity became brighter and sharper. My senses were usually the only thing I could deadly rely on. Apparently I was in a bedroom, a small, square bedroom. Next to the bed was a small bedside cabinet and in an alcove next to the door was a round table with two chairs. No sign of any personal property. A glimmer of light fell under the door. I could tell by the white intensity of the light that it must still be daytime. Annoyed, I lay down again and closed my eyes to think. Before I could form a clear thought, however, I heard voices. I became alert and listened.
"That guy hacked the password and changed it!", I heard a man hiss.
"Another reason to take him with us!" the woman said angrily.
"He's a vampire!" he hissed at her.
"You dragged him along, didn't you?", The shrug was clearly audible.
"Because of the fucking data carrier!", his voice sounded extremely irritated.
"You could have just pulled it out of his pocket and disappeared, but you didn't.", there was defiance in her voice.
"I didn't know by then that he was one of those fucking bloodsuckers," the man hissed again, "And what about you, have you forgotten what Dad taught us about those...", he searched for a word, in his place I would have taken 'wankers', "...Those monsters?! We can't bring a guy like that into this!"
"It wouldn't hurt to have him up our sleeve, though. He might even be involved already, that would make it a lot easier."
"Do you like him?!" the man then asked, laughing at her out of all logic. 
"No!" this time the woman hissed at him, "But I don't think it would be wrong to have someone with supernatural powers on our side."
"So that means we take advantage of him and if something goes wrong, we blame him?" he finally sounded interested after all.
She gave a hesitant, quiet "yes" and sighed. "Maybe, if he's good and has his instincts under control, he could work for us permanently, like a permanent position or something."
"Are you crazy?! The vampire as an agent?", The man's laugh elicited a soft chuckle from me as well. He was right, a vampire was as out of place as an agent as a fish on land.
"Just forget it, there's no talking to you without shit coming out of your mouth. I'm going to go check on him. If he's awake, he can unlock the flash drive for us," she decided and footsteps approached the door.
Not bothering to pretend I didn't hear anything, I sat up, arms on my knees, and waited for her to come in. The bedroom door opened a little and a figure slipped into the room. The woman closed it again and turned around.
She stared into my eyes. I stared back.
"You didn't hear what we were saying back there, did you?" her voice suddenly sounded rather dry.
"Just the ending," I said into the darkness.
She sat down, trepidatiously, on a chair in the alcove next to the door. You could almost say at a 'safe distance'.
"You caught the part about the flash drive?" she then asked.
"What was that about tenure?", I echoed, just out of pure malicious joy, as understood. It was amusing to see her, avert her eyes in shame.
"I asked a question first, answer it," she mumbled, turning her face away.
I stretched for a moment. "Of course I heard the part about the data carrier, but I don't feel like talking about it," I said then, rubbing my eyes, "Let's talk about how you have advantage over me instead."
"I know, we can enjoy daylight and eat what we want," she had quickly regained her composure and I heard the provocation out as she crossed her arms.
"Whatever you say, then I'll call you Lotte and that good-for-nothing out there Marie," I replied.
"Jennifer. And the good-for-nothing out there is my brother and his name is Max.", she replied directly and rather coldly. 
"Alright, so Jennifer, if I were to unlock the flash drive, what would you have in mind with the information?"
"None of your business," she replied.
"Wrong, my job is to deliver the drive to someone else, if you want to do something with it, it is my business until I know what I'm getting myself into here. After all, I work for dangerous people, Jennifer."
"It's none of your business because it's not your data."
"Ah, so the kindergarten level. Well, you're out of luck then, I'm not going to unlock the flash drive for you without proper compensation."
"We have people ourselves who can crack the password, you're just saving us work and time in which I could be doing more important things. For example, thinking about what I'm going to do with you."
"Irony of fate, but don't pull sweetie. Have fun waiting.", I lay back down and thought about how to get out of here. My phone was still in my cape, and it was still hanging over the back of the armchair in my apartment.
"We would give the flash drive to my boss along with the password. Everything else is yet to be decided," she then came out with after a long hesitation, "And your help would come in handy."
"Haven't you been listening? I'm something of a mercenary. If you want something from me, then only against payment.", I could not afford to play on the other side of the law. Because, apart from the fact that the legal system didn't suit me, I had too much dirt on me. Plus, gun prices were going up, leaving out the other bills.
So money was important.
"I'm sure we'll find a favor or two for you," Jennifer then said. I said nothing back and sighed. 
"Let's say I don't help you, then what?", I asked after a short while. I had to go through all the options before deciding on the best one.
"We will file a lawsuit, start a trial, after which you will be found guilty of the murder of this man. After all, we have the bite mark where we can determine your DNA. Then you'd go to jail for about... 200 years under lenient circumstances? Yeah, that's about right."
"Sounds exciting," I didn't have to think long about which of the current possibilities was best. The decision sort of made itself.
"Under those circumstances, I might have a little time for your.... spectacle. But you'll have to wait for the password, I think I should check with your boss personally."
"Okay," agreeing, she nodded and pushed out of the room. Behind her, the door fell into the lock with a soft click. Staring at the door for a moment, I shook my head.
"Too bad they don't always compromise like that," I muttered, trying to fall back asleep.
But sleep wouldn't come. So for the next few hours I just lay awake in bed, having time to think about my next course of action. And also to think about how I had gotten into this hare-brained situation.
Why had I come to this woman's aid in the first place? I told myself that I had not done it to help her, but all my actions went against my usual logic. I had not done it because it had brought me something, on the contrary. I had saved the life of a person who had shot at me before.
That didn't even fit into my business. I usually killed people. And even more so when they put lead through my shoulder. Other than that, I had enough brains to learn from my experiences and stay away from people as much as possible. I usually did that, too.
The only problem with this was that it would do absolutely no good to do the Hercules and beat my way out of the situation.
I would have to wait for a moment when I could pull myself out of it and go back to my job. 
So it was a case of wait and see.