Fangs for the Memories, Chapter 1

Chapter 1, Henry

The bronze circle looked burnished in the dim mezzanine light of the Nocturnal Lounge. I'd been exhausted when I finished it. I couldn't remember that happening to me before. I wondered whether it had. I might have wiped the memory, storing a copy in some object not too different from this one. Memory was my business; copying, recording, sometimes deleting.

I could wash my hands of this project after sunset when I bound the amulet to the magus I'd made it for. She had Umbral Affinity, a rare talent that went with her magical energy. I'd had a friend with that talent up until 1989 just before the Big Reveal happened and the whole world found out about Extrahumans. She ended up dead in the same incident that made me a vampire.

"Hey, Henry!" I glanced into the lower level at a wiry dark-haired guy in a trench-coat. I wrinkled my nose, getting it used to the gamy scent of a shifter. With the amulet in my pocket, I headed down, trying not to look as reluctant as I felt. Being an introverted vampire with psychic powers wasn't usually a problem. Being one who had to go back to school was a whole different ball of wax.

"Tony," I grinned at the cat shifter with my lips closed. He'd never seemed disturbed seeing vampire fangs before, but I didn't like showing them off.

"I'm here to bring you to your client." Once Tony Gitano stopped talking with his hands like a good Italian boy, he poured a cup of coffee.

"Oh. Okay." I watched him dump five packets of sugar his cup. Sometimes he took it with just milk and other times black. Nothing I knew about Tony made sense. That was par for the course with most feline shifters. I never knew back then exactly what type he was.

"You want some?" He stirred the cup briskly, then tossed the stirrer and empty packets in the trash.

"I don't drink...coffee." I leaned against the counter, still feeling the languid heaviness in my limbs which meant the sun was still up. "It's too early to leave. Not sunset yet."

"I know. But I figured I'd be nice to have coffee without all the estrogen." Tony smirked. "Your client's there with some friends."

"I'll be good to go by the time you finish that." I glanced at the coffee, glad he'd poured it. I could eat and drink regular food, but taste paled in comparison to scent. Being a vampire was kind of like having a slightly burnt tongue all the time unless I tasted blood.

"Figured as much." He splashed cream into his cup, making clouds in his coffee. "I got a question for you."

"Go ahead." I hoped he didn't have a terminally ill relative. That kind of thing was always awkward. Turning had strict regulations, and it didn't get rid of the effects of most diseases the body couldn't eventually heal on its own. Turn someone with stomach cancer, they'd be in pain for eternity. Turn someone with Alzheimer's, they'd never recover their lost memories.

"Why are you even here?" He blew on his coffee. "At school, I mean. Don't want to get metaphysical this early in the day."

"I need a license if I want to keep my business." It was mostly that simple. I could have just gone to community classes, though.

"Yeah, I've heard that. But how do you still take clients?" He sipped the hot beverage, glancing up at me over the rim of the cup.

"They can't stop me from doing piecework, but the law says I can't advertise or claim any business expenses." I shrugged. Even with Extrahumans added in, tax law was boring.

"Fred's dad didn't have to get a degree to keep running Redford Renovations." Tony raised an eyebrow. "Uses magic and enhanced materials, too. Unfair, huh?"

"It is," I smirked, trying to lighten the mood. "I can handle it."

"Seems lame. I mean, you're a vampire and a psychic, which means double limits. You can't go out in the daytime and you're a one-trick pony. Fred's dad is a full member in the Goblin King's court, with a pretty high rank. Redcaps are bad-asses. Way more there for them to worry about."