Vampire Agent (English Version)

Chapter 12

Widow

It had taken quite a long time for the emergency doctor and the fire department to arrive. The house was nothing but a steaming pile of rubble when they arrived.
Jennifer was immediately taken to the hospital and Max had accompanied her, on Jonas' orders. He, on the other hand, now ordered the cleanup. 
I leaned against a tree away from all the commotion and watched the goings-on while I waited, teeth clenched, for the stinging of the burns to subside. At some point he came over to me and stood quietly next to me for quite some time.
"How are your injuries?" he then asked simply. 
I shrugged my shoulders. 
"Healing. Will take another hour or two, then I'll be back on my feet," I replied emotionlessly, searching with my gaze for the place where the vampire had disappeared into the forest. 
I wanted to see if he had left any traces, but I also admonished myself to wait at the same time.
"Unfortunately, the clothes we got for you fell victim to the flames," He held out a soot-stained shirt to me, "The one from one of my coworkers. But probably still better than what you're wearing now."
I eyed the shirt out of the corner of my eye and then accepted it. My top was now nothing but charred rags.
"And I have to take you on some business. The job that was planned is postponed for now," he told me in a bad mood. 
"What business?", I asked monotonously, hoping to get more information. 
"If I tell you more, you'll refuse to come.", he said, and then just stood silently next to me again. He seemed to want to say something, but didn't. 
Seemed like a family trait. 
"Again, about the alleged arsonist," I continued, nodding in the direction of the edge of the forest on the opposite side of the clearing, "He ran in over there. Since it's already morning, he was probably picked up on the other side of the forest."
"How would you know? You also managed to block the sun with the help of clothing.", Jonas said simply.
I hesitated. It was possible, of course, that the culprit had hidden a bag of protective clothing in the forest. 
"In such a risky action, there is usually a getaway car available, at least if this was an official mission. If not, he might actually still be waiting in the woods until the coast is clear," I turned my gaze now to Jonas and eyed him. 
His jaw muscles tightened and loosened again. 
He must've been thinking. 
"Why did you go in the house to get Jennifer out?" he asked now. 
I raised an eyebrow. So that was the thought he had been chewing on all along. I shrugged again. 
He had asked me for it and so I had something good with him now. Reason enough for me.
But apparently not for him.
"You begged me and I now have something open with you, insofar as your word can be relied upon. Otherwise, I guess I've only done something for my raven soul. Perhaps I convert in one to Christianity and will go from now on every Sunday in the church. Then I could actually start right away with the thirty thousand Our Fathers and Hail Marys that will surely be imposed on me because of my sins," I said sarcastically and changed my top on the side. I rolled up the sleeves for the time being so the fabric wouldn't be on my sensitive burns.
"Cynic.", Jonas muttered and put his hands in his pants pockets. He wasn't wearing a suit for a change, just a shirt and jeans. 
Probably it would have taken too long to put on the suit during the fire. 
Then silence reigned again. 
"Don't you have something to do over there? The anxious silence is disturbing my chakra.", I grumbled while my gaze rested on the edge of the forest again, "If you don't mind, I'll try to follow the vampire's tracks."
"Yeah, I'd have some work to do...", he sighed wearily, "And no, I don't mind. When you're done there, we'll go.", he added, but didn't move an inch. 
I eyed him annoyed out of the corner of my eye and with a shake of my head, I finally let him stand. As I entered the forest to pick up and follow the vampire's trail, I noticed a very familiar smell. 
The smell of fresh blood. 
Slowly I followed it, careful to be quiet in case the culprit was still nearby. 
It didn't take long before I found the victim. 
With a furrowed brow I looked from a distance at one of the men who had picked us up yesterday at Gliss. Pushing a few branches aside, I slowly walked to the edge of the clearing. I squatted in front of the dead body and examined it closely. He had not been dead for long. Not longer than half an hour.
The body was still warm and the blood on the neck had not yet dried. A bite wound on the aorta. A vampire, as already assumed. 
I listened for a sign that the culprit was still nearby. He couldn't have gotten too far.
The birds were not chirping and I did not notice any other small animals in the immediate vicinity. Probably they had all fled at the smell of the fire.
This made for an unusually quiet atmosphere, but it was easier to listen. A crack behind me made me spin around, almost a second too late.
I dodged a forearm-length dagger that was about to be rammed into my back. 
I easily avoided the following attacks. 
The vampire was fast, but my eye was trained and I could also anticipate what tactics he was trying. 
Since we were at the shady edge of the clearing and the mid-morning sun now made it shine brightly, it was clear to me that my opponent wanted to push me into the sun. 
I beat him to it, however, and backed up until I felt the tingling, warm sensation of the sun's rays on the back of my neck.
When my opponent realized what I was doing, he paused. He was in the undergrowth, wearing a cloak, mask and hood.
And he was staring at me. 
"What the...?" the vampire started, but didn't finish the sentence. I took advantage of the time and studied his silhouette in the shadows. 
I tilted my head slightly when I realized from the body figure and voice that I was dealing with a woman. 
"Freshman.", I snorted unabashedly and carefully rolled down my sleeves.
The fabric hurt on the burns, but protected the wounds from the sun and thus from drying out. 
"How would you know? You don't know me." the woman said coldly.
"I don't care if I know you or not. You act like a rookie.", I laughed softly and shook my head. When I closed the buttons on my wrist, I looked up again.
"You shouldn't mess directly with someone you can't gauge the age of as a youngster," I advised her calmly.
"You must be pretty old if it's in your power to stand in the sun without collapsing," she said, putting the blade away again. 
Wise decision. 
"If you only knew.", I grumbled softly, "Did you set the fire? Neat job," I said. She would certainly make the time-honored mistake of trying to take credit from an older vampire. 
And bingo.
"Of course. Humans are too incompetent for that, aren't they?", she said, very sure of herself.
So she hadn't been in the business long, or she'd know never to confess anything unless you knew who your counterpart worked for.
"Which clan?", I asked, stepping into the shadows, of course keeping enough distance from the woman so she wouldn't smell a rat. 
"None yet, but I'm working on it. Which one are you in?" she replied skeptically.
"Not allowed to talk, sorry kiddo.", I said and leaned relaxed against a tree, my hands in my pockets.
"Then basically only two clans come into question. The other clans aren't that radical." she said, as if she knew better, "Why do you hang out with these... people?" she then asked, leaning against a trunk as well. 
Exactly what I wanted to achieve.The atmosphere of a chat. 
"If I'm not allowed to reveal anything about my affiliation, do you really think I'd yak about my mission?", I asked amused, looking up into the treetops, "Still...", I then murmured softly.
"Please?" she asked, confused. 
"No clan yet. What test were you given for acceptance?"
"Three guesses why I'm here."
"Ah, typical again, hiring a rookie to do your dirty work.", I laughed with a slight shake of my head.
Then I pointed to her clothes with a nod.
"Pastors Jr.?", I asked, since he was one of the only ones who tailored for us vampires. 
She nodded. 
"Custom made or off the rack?"
"Like you'd know anything about that." she snorted skeptically, "I just saw you standing in the sun myself." 
"Jealous?", I laughed at her, "Say, that stick you stole...", I started then, but at that moment she drew her blade again and took a step back. 
I thought about how I could best approach the matter. However, I had a plan quite quickly. 
I took my hands out of my pockets and crossed my arms, ignoring the stichting of the burns.
"Relax kid, but we have a problem. The data is my target too, so I can't let you walk away with it just like that. After all, my reputation is on the line."
"Then you should have been faster," the woman hissed, turning around to make a run for it, but I was faster. 
I rushed forward and grabbed her by the cloak. 
Then I pulled her back, tore off her cloak and mask, and threw her into the clearing in the sunshine. She shrieked out as she tried to get to safety in the thicket.
"Easy, little mouse.", I said with a cold smile on my lips. I stepped on her back so she couldn't move from the spot.
"Let's talk some more. Who sent you?", I asked, looking at the dagger I was now taking from her. 
"Fuck you, motherfucker!" she hissed weakly and not half a minute later she was unconscious. I looked at her. 
Dark hair, very pale, but well-fed, which means she had to take five to six liters of blood about every three days. Pretty girl, without question.
She could not have been older than twenty when she was bitten. I searched her pockets and found the data carrier. I held it up to the light and looked at it curiously.
"Hmm, you seem more important than I thought. Let's not take any chances," I muttered to myself and pocketed it. I would tell Jonas that she hadn't been carrying it. At least until I knew where to place him and his company.
If he still insisted on my help then, I could be sure that the whole thing never had anything to do with that stupid data carrier in the first place, but was specifically directed at something else. 
"Widow?!", I heard Jonas call from the edge of the forest. 
"Come on.", I muttered and stood up, "I've got our arsonist. And a case for the mortician!", I then called in his direction. A short time later, several people with guns came tromping through the woods. Loud as a horde of wild boars. 
I shook my head and waited patiently until they had arrested the woman and taken her away.
Then I followed them at some distance back to the house. 
"Well done," Jonas said.
He had probably been too fine to accompany his people into the woods. 
"If I keep doing all the dirty work for you guys, I'll be asking for a steady paycheck soon. You better make sure you get your shit together without my help," I grumbled, walking past him without stopping. 
"Did she have the flash drive with her?" asked Jonas, joining me.
"No, from the looks of it, she either hid it somewhere, or passed it on already," I lied, watching a car pull up. A fat, black SUV with tinted windows.
"I guess that's our ride," I muttered. 
Jonas confirmed this to me and pointed to the back seat. I screwed up my face. 
"Back seat, seriously?", I asked.
One could assume... No, you couldn't assume anything with this person. 
I was probably already lucky they didn't tie me up and throw me in the trunk. 
So I sighed as I just mentally agreed to sit in the back.
"Just get in, Widow.", Jonas said annoyed, "I have enough on my plate and right now I don't have the nerve to argue with someone like you about seat assignments."
With someone like me, just that choice of words.
I wrinkled my nose as he turned his attention to someone who was now approaching him with a clipboard.
With a silent curse, I then climbed in and realized that I was also sitting next to an armed agent who instantly drew his pistol and pointed it at my thigh. 
As a mental aid, I assumed. 
Because since I'd been stuck at DAM, I'd killed so many people, too. And I was especially dangerous during car rides. 
I'm sure they'd found that out when they'd dragged me unconscious to the ex-pen here.
"You shoot, you're dead," I threatened, buckling my seat belt. Then I let my gaze wander fleetingly around the car.
Black leather seats, dark interior. This car literally screamed the old agent cliché. 
Jonas got in on the passenger side and buckled his seat belt. 
"Go." he said breathlessly to the driver. 
People and their shortness of breath. I was glad I had nothing to do with that anymore.
The car drove off and I looked intently out the window. Just to make sure that another car didn't unexpectedly crash into the flank again.