Rain Cloud

“Why isn’t she there?”

“She isn’t home yet. Clearly.”

“You said she’d be back almost half an hour ago.”

“Will you calm down?” Ginger hissed, swiping a hand down her rain drenched face and adjusting the drooping hood of her parka. “Her schedule never changes except for Saturdays. You wanted to do this on a Saturday. Ergo, we wait.”

From her hiding place in the black of the drenched alley shadows Mallo ground her teeth. Several moments of her fussing and fidgeting passed before she rubbed away the dripping water from her aquiline nose. “Five more minutes, then I’m calling it off.”

Ginger’s head bobbled sassily, but in a rational tone she replied, “She’ll be the hardest one to convince, but if the rumors’ are true she’s hit a low. We can get Wish to look into their Decker next.”

Mallo growled, displeased at not getting a fight. “Thick-headed — If “someone” hadn’t disappeared for almost a week we could have had this over and done with.”

“Gonna rain on your parade, big girl, but if we’d done this days ago one of us would’ve gotten shot.”

“And taking an impromptu vacation with a man even the Ancients give a wide berth to is exactly how we avoid bullet holes,” Mallo snorted.

Ginger hummed distractedly till Mallo swatted her arm. “Hey! What do you want from me? The informant said they were looking for me, and seeing as they don’t know it’s me they’re looking for, what better way to keep tabs on the executioner?”

“So they’re calling it ‘tabs’ now, eh?”

“Oh my gosh, we didn’t do anything.”

Mallo smirked. “Shut up. It’s witching hour and I can still tell you’re blushing. If you start texting your swarthy murderer in the middle of a job, so help me.”

Ginger swatted back at the Ork, and missed, smacking the stock of her friend’s shotgun. “Ach! Frick!” She nipped and kissed her offended knuckles. “We didn’t exchange numbers.”

“Gin, I swear –” Mallo cut short, and pointed back to the rain-covered street. A taxi rolled to a stop at the opposite curb. Both women pressed their backs to the brick alley wall as the elegant Koshari secretary slid drunkenly out of the vehicle.

“Dammit, she’s sloshed.”

Ginger maintained visual contact as Mallo brought up a digital screen to scan the area. “She’s walking away. No escort, digging for her keys. Mal?”

“No tails, either. Cab’s turning the corner in three… two… one.”

“She’s almost to her door….” Ginger hesitated, squinting in the darkness as movement caught her eye. Suddenly a shadow swooped down from the rooftops and the dryad had no time to scream as she was yanked into the darkness between two townhouses.

“Shit – No! No, no, no –” Ginger leapt out of the shadows and sprinted across the empty street. Mallo, startled, did not hesitate to race after the human. In seconds they were half a block down to where the secretary had vanished and Ginger slowed to take the tight corner into the narrow walkway.

“Gin, hold up! What is it?!” Mallo demanded, huffing from the sudden mad dash.

Ginger, already cocking her heavy pistol, clipped on a hard light attachment. “Vampire.”

Mallo spat a stream of curses and shouldered her own weapon.

The pair ducked under an overgrown shrub near the back of the house to be abruptly greeted by the horrific sight of the dryad. Laying in a puddle on the broken sidewalk her legs kicked weakly as two Nosferatu held her down, bleeding her as they drained her essence.

A practiced team, the two women attacked. Wasting no time, Ginger ripped off the necklace she wore and threw it to Mallo who caught it and tossed her companion her shotgun. With the necklace gone Gin’s astral nature erupted to life, it’s repressed light bleeding between dimensions like incorporeal wings and arms.

Startled from their feeding the blood-drunk vampires reeled, momentarily dazed, and Mallo took the opportunity to slam her shoulder into the vampire closes to her, sending him flying back into the small, overgrown backyard. The ork scooped up the now sobbing dryad as if she weighed nothing and rushed to get out of Ginger’s way.

“Clear!”

Ginger opened fire. With only a second to barely rise to their feet the vampires screams echoed between the close buildings as bullets ripped into them. Ginger clotheslined the closer Nosferatu that charged at her pistol arm. She pivoted, dodging a a deadly swipe of it’s claws, and at the same moment one of her ghostly glowing arms reached out and summoned sunlight within the second fiend as it began to morph into mist to flee. It’s final despairing shriek seemed to silent the night of all but the rain.

Mallo huddled under the short overhang, protecting the trembling dryad as she stoically watched Ginger work.

“I’m going to take her and get her patched and cleaned up. You good?”

Ginger sniffed against the rain, tripping the last vampire as it frantically regenerated. She stalked after it. Countering several more attacks, she slammed the monster to the oversaturated ground and shoved the barrel of the shotgun into it’s fanged maw as it gasped for breath. “Yeah. I’ll find a manhole for this goat-sucker and meet you inside.”