Otherworldlies P3: A Bloody Finale
Last time in “Otherworldlies”:
“Sorry about them, there was no where else to put you except the collection room,” a woman shrugged after opening a dark door in the far right corner.
“It’s very intimidating,” Duck replied after hanging their head in exhaustion. There is a cup filled with, hopefully, water being held to their lips; they take greedy gulps. “How long have I been detained?”
The woman hummed and took the cup away, “about an hour? I had an guest I needed to dispose of before Michelle walked in with you.”
Duck’s head shot upwards, pulling a muscle, and shook in disbelief. ‘It felt longer,’ Duck thought, ‘much longer.’
The woman watched Duck come to terms with the length of time, “anyways, I hope you have no regrets because I have to dispose of you now.”
“What?”
“Company policy, I’m sure you understand.”
Duck’s head lowers in a weird camaraderie. “Why do you think I’m here? It probably looks like it but I’m a bookkeeper, the only outside air I’m allowed is from the air conditioner they put in.”
The woman sucks her teeth, “Yesh. I bet they keep you in the basement as well, you look like you keep several plants.”
“I do, they did bring in a poster of a window though so I can’t fully blame them.” Duck shifts in their bindings and notices they aren’t tight but snug. “I suppose you need to kill me now?”
“Yes, as I said, company policy is quite strict, especially about hunters. Sorry.” The kindness seeps out of the woman’s smile, turning her hands in a placating gesture. Duck nods. “Oh, I’m Seraphina, by the way,” she says as her fists, now covered in brass, connects with Duck’s jaw. Then another at the temple. Then another at the nose, breaking the small bone there. Seraphina stops, frowns, and continues with a baton holstered at her waist.
The first swing jerks Duck’s entire body back, rocking the chair, and then slamming back down to the floor again. Duck’s throat clogs with blood and mucus overflow, but they clear it to speak.
“Now, this is my f-first beating so I’m not certain, but usually you don’t torture right?”
Seraphina’s face falls into view, “Normally the person is dead after the first fist so this is a first for me. I promise it won’t be much longer.”
“Okay,” Duck agrees and stills their shaking body for ease of the kill. They lay on their side with a shoulder pressed into the concrete and wait. Seems simply enough, Duck tries not to flinch and keeps their breathing in check by holding it in and out for two seconds. It helps until the baton meets the flesh of their stomach and knee. Duck jerks but only slightly due to their preparation. After three more hits in the same place, Duck’s knee gives and pops.
“Stop!” Duck shouts. and Seraphina does.
“Yes?”
“Try hitting the vital parts, stop going for my legs and stomach. The only thing that will do is cause internal bleeding and stop me from escaping, which I wasn’t planning on doing anyway.”
Seraphina grimaces, “Oh, I didn’t even think about that sorry! Where should I hit you?”
Duck frowns in confusion, the file said Seraphina was deadly and killed mercilessly. This is not the same person the file mentioned. “Are you the fucking intern?”
Seraphina recoils then scoffs, “Of course not! I run this operation.”
Duck straightens and uses their shoulders to sit up to take a careful look at her. Her hands shake and her clothes which once gave her a terrifying figure now seemed childish; leather trench-coat and spiked spaulders. “It makes so much sense now. You have your recruit bring people here and then your boss tells you to get rid of the riffraff, no wonder you didn’t know how to kill me right away.”
They stare at one another, Duck wrings their hands and feels the rope slip down their wrists. Huh, that’s lucky. Seraphina drops the baton and moves to the back of the room where furniture is stored. “I know it must seem like my professionality is in question but this is my last test. My last rite to get ranked up.”
“It is just my luck to go on my first mission and not even meet the—geez, I mean did you guys practice this routine?”
Seraphina laughs, “yes, actually. Michelle came by and made sure I had an outfit from one of the bosses, I think it worked, right?”
“Your asking for my opinion, before you try to kill me again. Please spare us both that humiliation and just walk away.” Duck was feeling vindictive, they got a dislocated knee for nothing and a pulsing headache only being cruel could fix. Duck had been mad for a long time, since the first mention of budget cuts and the movement to active agents were in discussion. “Trust me, you are not going to make it to being a Phlebomacer.”
Seraphina looks younger when her face pinches in sadness. “It’s called vampire, dumbass.”
“Call it what you like, you’re still not going to be it.” Duck manages to get up. they might not have a weapon but the baton was right there. They really hated their job, they were definitely quitting after this—well technically, they had already quit, as the resignation letter was post-dated for yesterday and handed in today—and taking a vacation to somewhere isolated with less than a handful of people who live there.
Seraphina screams, “Just die!” and she charges, growing her fingernails. Duck shakes their legs and hopes the knee pops back into place before taking the baton. Duck throws their entire body into the swing aiming for the head, hoping to end it quickly, and connects with a hand. They bend and snap back up and hit the underside of Seraphina’s jaw. Her neck snaps back and connects with the chair on her way down and cracks.
“Oh shit! That’s disgust—” Duck vomits beside the body. Granted all the paperwork they do, they should’ve been used to seeing corpses, at least from the attached photographs, but Duck didn’t mean to kill her, just knock her out. “Why’d you drop like that, oh the neck is not supposed to look like that!”
Duck staggers back, “Okay calm down, at least you won’t be followed out…” They need to look away, but poor Seraphina. That is gonna haunt them for a while. “Thankfully, I still get my therapist for another few days.”
Duck wipes their hands on their pants and tries not stop gagging as they walk away. There’s only one door so they take it.
The room holds a bunch of higher up looking Phlebomancers. “Oh, honestly. You guys were in the next room?”
The Phlebomancers startle, then one of them—a woman matching the description on file—speaks, “Oh, hello.”
Duck is still polite, “Hi. Can you, um, direct me to the exit?”
She chuckles, the others settle seeing that she’s handling it, “No.”
“I quit, I am no longer a threat, and what happened in the other room was, well I was more of an accomplice.” Duck shakes their hands out, and almost twinges their neck before the tension leaves.
“Oh, the intern?” Duck knew it, “she didn’t pass her test, but you? You are in our lair, which is meant to be a secret.”
“Can’t you just blindfold me?”
“We don’t carry any, sorry.” The woman shrugs.
“A shirt then?”
“I don’t think you understand what’s happening here.”
“No, I don’t think I do—” Duck is slammed into the wall and teeth pressing against their neck. the woman wastes no time to bite into the flesh. Definitely a person in charge, she knew were to kill.
Their jugular pounds as blood flows from them to her, Duck pushes her off, ripping some skin. They gag. “Gross.”
“Sorry, normally people don’t have enough sense to push.” The woman spits the flesh out, Duck cringes, and smiles at them. the baton cuts into their palm with the strength they are holding it. Something Duck figured out earlier in their career was how to lose, it was easier than fighting for scraps, so they gave up. After making conditions for their surrender (they once negotiated a new swivel chair to stop complaining about their paycheck).
They knew they would lose this fight, but not before they got outside; they deserved to see and feel the last of the rain before slipping into the unknown. “Fine.” Duck did something stupid; they sprinted at the woman and threw both of them through the wall. The file might not have mentioned it but the research department kept agent appraised of abilities each Otherworldly is equipped with. Phlebomancers, or yes vampires, gain strength enough to make their bodies fairly indestructible—hence throwing them through solid concrete.
In truth the wall didn’t lead to the outside world, they were in a shipping warehouse with little rooms for package overflow, but they kept shoving until another wall gave to the rain. The woman holds Duck’s arms and then flings them a few feet away when they breach. “Nice trick.”
“Thanks, I researched it,” Duck coughs out blood and a tooth. “Dang.”
The woman pauses, “What?”
“Health insurance to cover this…” They whine.
“What plan do you have?”
“I- I have,” Duck starts but the woman cuts them off.
“Sorry, not the time to chat.”
“Right.”
Duck closes their eyes and let’s themselves be consumed by the overpowering sound of rain pelting their face. It nearly drowns out the rush of pain and numbness. Duck lays down, figuring it would make it easier.
“Damn. You’re healing far faster than I thought you would, sorry about this,” Duck’s head snaps back into the ground where it previously rested. “I can’t have you following after me, it’s bad business.” The voice intones above them; they barely hear it over the radiating ringing in their ears.
They black out and blink back into seeing the world, specifically the rainbow above and the silence. The woman who previously attempted to kill Duck, sighed in agony as the sun peeks out from behind a building. “Nice distraction…”
Duck lays in a puddle seeping water into every piece of clothing they wore. They watch the sun mosey higher into the sky and the rain slows.
It was the day Duck became an active agent and quit in the same day. It was the day Duck decided to take a vacation. It was the day the sun decided to rise two hours earlier than normal. It was the day Duck stayed in that puddle until a jogger found them, not dead, but unconscious. It was also the day Duck’s name went into the system as a permanent agent (resignation letter rejected) and classified as ‘hunter’.
AN: and there you have it, the Story of the Otherworldlies, but most importantly the Story of Duck. Might do one-offs of them, they were very fun to work with.
