Chapter 5: Stepping Back
Sanguine.
That name just hung in the air. We could hear some whimpering in the background. I assumed it was Porsche, but that didn’t seem important in comparison to who was speaking.
Neither of us spoke. Jacob was just staring at the speaker and I didn’t know the protocol involved with this.
“Hello? You didn’t put me on mute, did you?” the man that just called himself Sanguine said.
“I’m from Vantage Point Security. My name is Ryan Black,” I said eventually. God, my tail was getting twitchy just talking to this guy.
“Ryan? Oh! Right, right, right. That’s the name you’re going by these days. How have you been, dear friend? It’s been a dog’s age since we last spoke!” Sanguine said as if he was talking with an old buddy. Just the idea of being a friend to this man made me grit my teeth in anger.
“We’ve never spoken before,” I said. Something told me that wasn’t quite true.
He didn’t seem to care about how I denied knowing him because he didn’t get any less cheery. “Hmm. Well, you were a few hours behind me, weren’t you? So, where are you along the changeover? Did your tail come in yet?”
I wasn’t about to play his game, and ignored what he said. “Where is the man that called us earlier?”
“Him? Well, I don’t think he’ll be doing much more talking, or anything much anymore. Huh. Porsche, remind me to pick up his cat later. Poor thing shouldn’t starve to death,” he said as casually as one would make a to do list.
“Mom!? Dad?! He killed him!” she shrieked over the phone.
“I’m here Porsche! Everything is going to be alright!” Jacob yelled right back.
“Oops! Somebody is getting a little too excited. I need a minute here,” he said in a singsong and the phone was put down on his end. We could hear the shuffling and struggles in a muted sort of way.
“Do you actually know this man?” Jacob asked shakily.
I looked down, and tried to work through my thoughts. “I don’t know. I’ll try to explain everything I know as soon as this is done,” I said apologetically.
The phone picked up again. “Sorry about that. She’s a lovely girl, but a little rambunctious,” Sanguine said. “Where were we?”
“What do you want?” I asked shortly.
“Right now? I just want to catch up with you, Vantage. Tell me, what’s your count like this time around? I think I’m up to twelve now. Maybe thirteen depending how Chris reacts to all of this,” he said.
“My count?” He couldn’t mean what I think he did.
“Yeah. How many times have you killed? Old habits die hard, after all. At least, die harder than other things,” he joked with a chuckle.
“Never! I’ve never done anything like that, you bastard! I’m not whoever you think I am,” I snarled at the phone. Every word he said was just putting me further on edge and now he was accusing me of killing. What did he think I was?
“You really don’t remember anything?” he asked of me, sounding concerned. “Nothing? Not even the deal I cut for us?”
“I don’t know who you think I am, but there’s nothing between us,” I answered, as I gripped the edges of the table until my knuckles went white. I’d do this to his neck if he was here.
There was another pause. “That’s too bad. Maybe I’m not speaking to the right person right now,” he said and he did sound rather defeated, too. Then, there was a faint groan over the line. “Oh, you’re waking up just in time, Chris! You can help me out a lot right now.”
“Holy Jesus fuck, what did you do to Brad?” a new voice screamed (I presumed it was Chris), followed by a dull thud of two solid objects striking, and a pained groan.
“Please watch your volume. I’m on the phone,” Sanguine scolded the other voice like a parent might scold a child, then he chuckled. “Do you at least remember what magic was like, Vantage?”
I looked up and Jacob was just staring at me as if he couldn’t believe this exchange was happening. I knew I couldn’t believe it. It was plainly obvious that we were dealing with some sort of wackjob here. “There’s no such thing,” I answered slowly. Of course, the whole transformation thing I was going through was making me doubt that.
“It’s very real, my friend. I know I can pick up anything around me that I can picture in my head. Like this apple, for example. But, you can’t see that, can you?”
I didn’t trust that one bit. What was he doing?
“Maybe something with a more audio component. I know! Like these fingers!” he stated and then a series of pops could be heard with a man crying out in pain. I was grinding my teeth and I just realised how hard my fists were clenched together until my knuckles were white. I wanted to stop this and beat this asshole to death in the process.
“I don’t even need to see it as long as it’s within my reach and I can picture it. A liver, for example,” he mused aloud, then started chuckling. The other man screamed in agony and all I could see was red.
“You fucking let him go or I’m going to sheer off your horn, break your legs, and leave you to the wolves!” I screamed at the phone, as if the sound of my voice had all the power needed to destroy this fucker.
“There you are, Vantage! You had me worried that I was speaking to the wrong person, but only you have that way with words. What really makes you special though, is that you really mean it,” he laughed as if I just told a joke. My chest was rising and falling sharply as I huffed. I was ready to destroy this man and was willing to go to any length to do it. “You’d do all of that and more. And, all for me! It’s so beautiful a promise that lets me know that you care so much.”
“I swear if you hurt anypony else, I’m going to make you pay for every bit of it and then some!” I snarled into the phone.
“You don’t need to worry, my friend. Chris here is mostly alright, internal organs aside, and the girl will be safe for now. I still need them both, after all. What’s truly important is that we’ve found each other again. There’s so little time to get ready for when we meet face to face, but what a time will be had by all. It’ll be just like old times just as he promised, my friend,” he said happily. I hated him so much.
“What the hell do you mean “old times”? For the last time, we haven’t met!” I demanded. If he knew something I needed to know and needed to know now.
“And, there’s Ryan back on the phone. How disappointing, but that’ll be fixed over the next few days,” he painfully sighed. “But now that we know how to find one another, I’ll keep in touch. After all, we’ve a lot of catching up to do. And, since I’ve you on the line Jacob, I’d like to tell you not to worry about the cash. It’s really not that important anymore.”
The line went dead at that point, leaving Jacob and myself in silence and staring at the phone. I was still angry. Angrier than I’ve ever felt and I’ve never met this man. If he could do this to me just over the phone, what would I do face to face?
You know what you’d do; inflict a marvelous amount of pain upon him. You want to break his bones, draw his blood and leave him a shattered waste in front of you.
Since when did I become the sort of person that’d scare me? It didn’t even sound like my thoughts, but they had to be. There was no one but me in my head. Right?
“What are you?” Jacob finally asked. “What sort of thing is my daughter with right now?”
“I…” My voice trailed off as I found a total lack of answers. What could I say? I didn’t know what was happening. “I don’t know. This change started over the last couple days, and only seems to be getting worse.”
“But, what are you? How does he know you?” he pleaded to get at least one solid answer. I wish I could give them. “Please, I need to know.”
“I’m sorry, but I really don’t know, and what I do know sounds stupid and insane. As far as I can tell is that all those rumours about people turning into ponies are true and I’m one of them. And, maybe he’s one of them too, but that’s about all I can guess at,” I offered and felt like an idiot for doing so.
He looked at me as if I grew a third head, then sat down heavily in his chair. “If I didn’t see those eyes of yours, I’d never believe you. So, where does that leave us?”
I had to think about that because I really didn’t have much of a clue about what was going to be happening to me. “I think its time you called the police. This has gone beyond what it started as. Hopefully, Daphne will come back and they can get some information out of her. I’ll leave you with my notes so you can pass them off to them too, but I don’t think I want to deal with them looking as I do right now.”
“So, you’re abandoning the case? I wouldn’t be blaming you with your condition and all,” he asked.
I looked the man over and felt a great deal of sadness; he was a wreck and I in no way intended to add to that, but what else could I do. If this were a movie, it’d be the place where the guy backs down right before something horrible happens to his best buddy or his family to pull him right in with a vengeance. That wasn’t going to be me. “She doesn’t know that we know about what she did. Call the police, get them over here and keep me posted on the details. I’ll help in anyway I can, but if the best case scenario happens, she’ll spill the details and we can get your daughter back right away without me getting further involved.”
“I can’t believe she’d do this. Why? It doesn’t make any sense,” he said as he came to terms with what was being said. He slouched back in his chair and stared straight ahead.
I took a long breath. While I didn’t know the first thing about the whole ‘pony’ thing, that sort of question was one that I was used to fielding, and I could fall into a familiar routine that might actually help. “Has anything been different in your relationship lately? Any arguments or fights?”
That could’ve used some more context, because Jacob sank in his chair and let out a wounded sigh. At least he realised what I was trying to get at without taking offence. “No. Nothing new. We met while arguing in front of a judge. She’s a lawyer and it’s how she thinks and kept it up the entire time, but it never became something that’d lead to this,” he answered while he stared at no particular point in the air.
That was something to note at least. “What do you argue about lately?” I asked, as I flipped open my notebook and joted a quick couple notes.
“Lately, it was fiscal policy and how it affects small business. We don’t bring up anything about us personally. We just enjoy the verbal sparring,” he said, still looking defeated. “Why would want the money? It’s all the family’s. We don’t even have investors in the company because we want it there for Porsche.”
Not exactly a dead-end there, but the mention that it was the ‘family’s’ money hinted that Daphne might not have the access to cash she thought she might have when she married in. Maybe after a few years, she decided to get a little more proactive. What a bitch. Anyways, I followed up as soon as I finished jotting down my theory. “Does she have any side projects, or former business operations that could use an influx of cash?” I asked.
“Well, she had several investments when we married, but our pre-nup made sure they stayed separate legally. I did the same for her, that way we wouldn’t be responsible for each other’s mistakes. Anyways, they’re still going, even if they’re smaller than they were. The downturn was really hard on them.”
That sounded like a motive if I ever heard one, though it was the stupidest sort of thing I’ve ever heard. She had to be desperate to try a stunt like this. And, a horrible, horrible person.
You want to find her. Make her pay for this, don’t you?
I was sure that the inner monologue wasn’t me, but damned if it didn’t make sense. If anyone deserved to be caught and have the full weight of justice on them, it was her. Hell, why wait for the courts? Why not just wait until the right moment and just handle it myself. It could be quick and- What the fuck am I thinking?! I gave my head a hard shake to clear my head. “Sorry that this is all happening to you. You really didn’t need any of this,” I said softly and Jacob didn’t so much as twitch in his seat. I bet he was thinking on what he did wrong, but I doubt he did anything. “You should call the police soon, so they can find her. I’m still here for you though; if there’s anything further you think of, give me a call.”
Again, he just kept staring straight ahead. Damn, this was getting awkward. I took a couple steps towards the door, and he finally spoke up. “I’ll transfer your payment to your account tonight,” he hollowly said, stopping my progress.
“Thank you,” I replied, then sighed as I noticed he still hadn’t moved from his spot. “Are you alright to be alone right now? I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now, but it’s got to be absolute shit.”
He finally looked my way and forced a smile. “I’ll make it through this,” he replied with a little more life. “Just stay available no matter what happens.”
“I will,” I said, then turned to the door. Before I even left the building, I could hear him placing the call. At least we had the cavalry coming. Fuck, what a all-around, shitactular night. I’m turning into a pony, there’s a crazy fucker with magic out there that swears he knows me, and Jacob just got the worst news he could possibly get. About then I tripped over my own feet when I got of the door because not only am I on my toes again, I can’t see anything because everything is too god fucking damn bright!
Lanny was already there as I got up. “I saw you fall, bro. You alright?” he asked as he offered a hand to me. I took the help up. “Cool eyes.”
“Cool eyes? That’s it? No asking something like, ‘What the hell?’?” I replied as I dusted myself off. “And, what were you doing at the door.”
“Just got worried, so I wanted to be rush in to save you, bro. And you got a tail already, so why should I get worried about the eyes. They look cool.”
Now that I was outside, the brightness of the world was easier to deal with, but the street lights were still miniature suns to me. Unlike everything else today, I had solution to that. I resumed walking to my car with Lanny beside me and as soon as we were in, I pulled on my sunglasses. The early night was instantly and infinitely more bearable. "So, what's the plan, Ryan? Everything alright?" Lanny asked.
"Right now? They could be better, but we got to get moving before the police show up; I might be kind of hard to explain to the nice men with guns," I answered as I started up the car and pulled out.
"So, you're home free?" Lanny asked.
“I’ve got no idea. Sanguine apparently knows me because of the whole pony thing, and it’s the wife that set this whole kidnapping-thing up for some god-damned reason. Probably money, but that’s messed up.” Just saying this out loud helped me with my own thoughts, but it wasn’t getting me answers. Just more ‘whys’ again, and again.
"That Sanguine guy knows about you?" Lanny asked. Just looking over at him, I could see him trying to work out what that could mean. Good fucking luck, Lanny. Let me know how you do, because I don’t have a clue.
"Yeah. He called us while I was in there and asked for me by the company name, then proceeded to talk like a total psycho," I replied, but just thinking about him was setting me on edge. “Oh yeah. Just to make things better, apparently he does magic too.”
"Wait, what?"
"Unless the poor shit with him is a very good actor, and wasn’t screaming because Sanguine was rearranging his organs." I lost it and punched the steering wheel. "Fuck Lanny! I'm fucked! I'm turning into a horse-thing and there a crazy asshole with magic power out there that thinks I'm his man-crush or something! What the fuck am I going to do, Lanny?"
He sat quietly beside me, looking at me with fucking pity. Pity! For me. That was the last fucking thing I needed right now. To keep from snapping, I turned my attention entirely to the road and the drive towards Snowflake’s home. At least it was something I could do right now.
Lanny pointed to the next turn. “Take a right,” he stated flatly.
“But, Snowflake isn’t that way,” I snapped.
“Just take a right. You’ll thank me, bro,” he repeated. I gave in and turned, and quickly I realised what he was planning. Up ahead was a favourite burger joint of mine called TJ's Drive-In. I don't know if there ever was an actual TJ, but he'd be proud of lending his name to a superior hole in the wall such as this. This place was the greasy spoon to measure all other greasy spoons against. “You’re stressing and need to calm down. I’ll pay.”
“Lanny. I think my problems are bigger than a burger,” I replied.
He laughed in his carefree way and nodded. “Yeah, but it might help you anyways, bro. Besides in a day or two, you won’t be able to have a burger again, so we’re going to take a break here.”
He was right, and I knew it. This could be my last shot ever at eating meat and I already needed to get my head back in the game. Better yet, the place didn't seem that busy, so I pulled in. "Alright. We're doing this then we're off to pick-up your new pony-man crush.”
“Hey, he lifts, bro. I can relate to that,” Lanny said to explain himself.
“Whatever.” Like always, the place was humming with people coming in for late dinners and early late night snacks, but the lines were worth it for deep-fried deliciousness and greasy perfection on a fresh bun. Heck, my mouth was already watering just thinking about it, and I stepped out of the car and took a sniff of the air. One upside of this change is that my sense of smell is so much better, so this should be a wonderful experience for me. With much anticipation, I sniffed the air drawing the scent in and instantly my gut twisted in total rejection and my appetite vanished. There had to be something about different about the meat today because it was way off. Too greasy, and salty to the point of smelling revolting. It was just my luck the one day I was here, and they had bad meat, unless… Ah fuck, it’s me. As if I needed anything else to go south on me. “Oh, come on. Really?”
My buddy looked over my way. “What’s up?”
I took another sniff of the air, and it didn’t get any better than the first time. “I don’t think I can eat here. It really doesn’t smell right.”
“What? It doesn’t smell any different,” he said right back. “Oh. Is this one of those pony things?”
“Lanny! Shut up,” I snapped and gave the parking lot a look around to make sure no one heard and fortunately, we were alone. Finally, something turned out alright, but he was really bad at keeping anything secret for long. “But yeah. I think I can handle a milkshake and fries or something like that, but that meat is really smelling bad.”
“You serious, bro? Man, that’s shitty.” Yup. That’s what I needed. More pity from Lanny, and I wasn’t going to take it sitting down. There had to be something I could do to have one last meal out in public before this damned curse went too far. A quick look around the neighborhood revealed that there was a there was a corner store across the street, and TJ’s had a patio so I could eat outside without pissing off the staff too much. I should be able to find something to appease my new sense of taste, whatever that was.
“Yeah. Just go and get yourself whatever you want. I’ll be back with something that I can stomach,” I said as I already took a few steps in the store’s direction. With my glasses on, no one should be able to see the yellow eyes, and even if they did, I could just say they were contacts. No risk.
"Okay, bro. But, get yourself something good because you need it bad," Lanny called after me.
"What would I do without you telling me what to do?" I asked sarcastically over my shoulder.
"Be a lot more upset and work stressed," he answer back honestly. He had me there. Whatever.
The store itself was one of those corner stores you’d find anywhere. All the necessities you could need at an inflated price for the convenience. I looked around quickly, and the place looked pretty much deserted except for the clerk doing orders behind the counter. Thank god for the sunglasses because those florescent lights were bright. I didn’t see anything I wanted to eat up front, but I could smell the produce section in the back, so I headed that way on autopilot. If there was anything I did like about this change was that my senses were getting better. Hell, that could even be handy in the job. Other than the fact I wouldn’t have hands. Fuck. I wish I understood what was happening better. Snowflake didn’t really didn’t know anything, but Sanguine did.
Who was that guy anyways? He just acted like he knew me. And, he cut a deal for us? When did that happen? What the hell was this deal he made and with who? I needed to get in contact with him again I wanted more, but I don’t think he’d be the sort to give me anything straight up, and he had way too much crazy on him.
While I was thinking, I was tossing anything that looked appetizing into a handbasket. It didn’t really matter what it was because I was going to find something that I’d like for what was looking to be the last meal public. Anyways, where was I? I guess if I wanted to find him, the best way would be through Daphne. She’ll just return to the house because I doubt she knew about the second phone call, and the police should be waiting for her by then. After that, I’d have to play it by ear, but I’m sure I could get a chance to speak to Sanguine. That is, if I wanted one. I wasn’t too clear on that yet, but my only other option would be check the internet again and try and look up details again. My sister liked the show; maybe she could look up information on ponies or whatever with cat-eyes. There couldn’t be too many of those out there. Of course, that might include showing her the tail. Jeeze. I’d end up in braids or with bows on. But, that could be simpler too.
It didn’t feel right to leave it all up to the police but it was simple and clean, and well, considering the fact I had a tail right now, I shouldn’t be wandering the city looking for her. I huffed. I wanted to keep going on this, but again, let’s keep this simple.
“Card in the bottom, please.”
“Uh, what?” I replied back. I was at the till with a bag full of stuff. I wasn’t paying much attention and was just letting my nose decide, so this will be an interesting experiment. “Oh, right. Money.”
I pulled my card out and hoped there was enough cash in the account to cover it. Towing my car towing really tapped me out, but it came back approved. Heh. I guess the insurance company actually paid me on time for once. Nice for them to get the last time right at least. I took my dinner back to the patio where, Lanny was already sitting, with a milkshake ready for me, along with the usual for himself.
“Think you have enough, bro?” Lanny asked as he glanced at my bag. It wasn’t that much, but there should be something for a snack later.
“Heh. I don’t know what I eat. Might as well apply the shotgun method,” I replied as I took my drink and took a sip. At least dairy was still alright for me. Actually, it was pretty damned good. Now that I was satisfied with the taste, I lifted my glass towards Lanny. “Anyways. Here’s to my last night out.”
He obliged with a little tap of his glass to mine. “Let’s make a good one,” he toasted back.
I chuckled sadly. Right now, I was very aware of that tail of mine in my pants, reminding me that I wasn’t going to be human-ish very much longer. Might as well try what my nose picked out for me, and I grabbed the orange at the top of the bag. “Yeah. If I’d known that all this would happen, I’d shown up at my party.”
Lanny snorted and shook his head, before he started picking through his dinner. “You kidding me, bro? I knew you wouldn’t show even before you missed it. It’s just what you do.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked between bites.
“Just that bro. You’ve missed your last few birthdays, last Christmas your parents called me to ask where you were, and you skipped out on every dance in high school as soon as you got a chance,” he replied with his mouth full. He swallowed hard. “I worry about you, bro.”
“Well, I had work to do,” I said in my defence after I put down the orange to pick up something new. I don’t recall ever liking kiwis before, but my sense of taste must be shifting like my smell because it was better than I remember them being. “I can’t drop everything just to goof off.”
He rolled his eyes at me. “You’ve always got work to do. Or people to talk to. Or pictures to take. Hell, if I didn't’ make you, you would’ve worked this entire night, and this is your one big last chance to get out there like a normal person, bro. You don’t even really have anything to do. Just relax a little and let the police handle it.”
A twinge of annoyance ran through me. I should be going home and researching what’s happening to me, or trying to pin down where’s Sanguine or Daphne. “Need I remind you, that there’s a girl out there, in the hands of a psycho?”
“And the police got this, man. They’ll get the woman, get the info and get the girl. You did your part, and you’re turning into a fucking horse, bro! You can take a night off and worry about yourself for once!” he snapped and then he noticed he got a little loud there, and we were overheard. A table several seats over looked over our way.
“Tell me what the girl said after that!” I said loudly as a cover as if this was all building to a punchline, and the gawkers looked satisfied. Fuck, Lanny had no clue how to keep anything quiet. “Quieter, please. I don’t want to be picked up for the local zoo. Anyways, all the stores are closed so its not like I’m going to be taking care of myself. Not sure what I even need, really.”
“I ain’t talking about going shopping for Mane and Tail or anything like that. This is your last night that you’ll be able to get out and you never did that enough already. Come on, bro; hit a bar with me. We can pick up Snowflake on the way back, and continue the party at my place,” Lanny said in a much more appropriate sort of voice, but he still looked worried for me. “And, tomorrow morning, we can work on this “pony thing” for you.”
I tossed the rind aside, and went into the bag again. He was pretty simple in his worldview sometimes, but he had a point. The police were on the job, and it was just a waiting game for me right now. “Maybe, I’ll come out. I always wanted to be a normal person, Even if it’s just for one night. But, if I get a call, or pick up any sort of lead, we are following it the minute we get it.” I answered hesitantly, then bit into my next selection. Whatever it was, it was crunchy and kind of sweet.
“Shit man. If you’d wanted to be a normal person, maybe you should eat like one,” Lanny exclaimed with his eyes wide in surprise. “How the fuck did you do that?”
“Do what?” I asked, before I glanced down at what I hand in my hand. It was a coconut with a bite out of the shell. The rinds were entirely intact on the table, too, expect for a pair of small punctures in them. I had no clues and just gave my buddy a sheepish smile and shrug.
“Woah. Your teeth!” he said as he pointed at my face. I immediately ran my tongue around my mouth. Molar, molar, bicuspid, fang, front teeth, fang, bicuspid, molar, molar. Everything checking in normal. Wait. Fang? I actually reached up and tapped a finger on the long, pointed teeth to check if they’re real. The certainly felt real, and were pretty strong apparently too if I could bite through a shell like that. Now that I was aware of them, I couldn't help but continually tongue at them.
“What the hell type of horse has fangs? I’m going to go through that show’s wiki as soon as I get home,” I stated.
“Leather jacket, blue hair, ‘contacts’ and ‘fake fangs’. I know where we’re going as soon as we’re done here,” he said with an ever widening grin. That confirmed that he had what he thought was a good idea.
“This won’t be good,” I muttered, as I worried about what I might’ve got myself into.
“We’re going to hit a goth bar!”
The sound of a facepalm echoed over the patio.
_-_-_-_-_
~Just after the phone call~
How was he ever going to contain himself! After all this time, his friend that he never knew he had was back. It was a crying shame that no one else here seemed to appreciate that. Brad was good fun but now he was rather broken. Chris was a little better as he rolled around in the fetal position, and Porsche was just sobbing.
All signs of a very wonderful night.
“My dear friends, I know we all have some issues to work through, but I’ve need of your attention for about two minutes here,” Sanguine said with a clap of his hands and a oddly unbalanced grin on his face. “You just heard half of a conversation between myself, and someone very dear to me. Everything has to be perfect for us to meet up again, so I expect the utmost of cooperation from all of you. Except for you, Brad. You can take five.”
The mutilated corpse stayed exactly where it was, and no one laughed.
“I suppose you’re all right; that was a terrible joke,” the half-unicorn admitted, as he pulled up a chair towards Chris and sat in. Just the approach made the man shrink back in fear. “Easy now. I don’t need to hurt you again right now, so relax. But, since I’m soon going to be short opposable thumbs, I need to make sure you’re committed to this project.”
Chris turned his gaze up at the man. “Go to hell,” he coughed and was immediately rewarded with a sharp kick across the jaw.
“Come now. I need someone to watch the girl while I’m away, and to drive once my restoration completes itself,” Sanguine explained as if the blow never happened. “And since you already know of it, it makes you the perfect candidate!”
Chris just glared with his hand up to his bleeding lips to try and contain the flow.
“Heh. I understand and you’re free to go, but I think I’ll go pay your mother a visit to see if she’ll help out. I might not be as kindly as I’m being with you though. The interview process isn’t my forte,” he mused aloud as he stroked his chin.
“You leave her out of this,” whimpered Chris as he struggled to get to his feet. “I’ll do it, but she stays out of this.”
“Excellent! I knew you were my favorite co-worker for a reason!” Sanguine chimed as he got up and offered his chair to Chris. It was followed by a friendly hand into it.
Now, what to do? The girl was a wreck, Vantage wasn’t quite ready, and Chris needed a while before he was up for anything. Right! The boss! He could give the boss a call, and find out the secrets Brad was hiding. It was a simple matter of going through the call history to find the number.
“Quiet please, everyone. I’m on the phone,” he announced before he placed the call.
It only rang once and an older woman answered it. “What is it?”
“Good evening to you too, Miss. I’m just letting you know that Brad is unable to handle anymore of the calls. He’s taken an early forced leave on the project here, but the good news, I’m already stepping up and into the role, Miss,” Sanguine said cheerily, leaving the woman bewildered on the otherside.
“What are you talking about?” she eventually asked.
“He’s dead,” Sanguine tersely explained, then chuckled.
“Wha- How did it happen!?” the woman demanded as she tried to control her tone.
“Well, it started with a deep thrust straight into the gut with a four inch blade, followed by a slow peeling of the skin off of his… Or, you didn’t really want the detailed answer?” By now, Sanguine was flicking his knife again in his aura with a frightening amount of control and speed, which gave him something to do in that silence. “You’re not much for words, are you?”
“What are you doing with the girl?” the woman finally asked in a poor effort to hide her worried tone.
That one question made Sanguine’s eyebrow perk. He then chuckled. “Excuse me. So, you don’t care about the money as much as her? Interesting. Very, very interesting. And revealing, too. Now, why would that be?”
“Just, don’t,” came a aimless stammering reply.
“Let me guess. Don’t touch your daughter?” There was a gasp on the other side of the line. That was good as a confirmation. “Well, don’t worry. I rather like your daughter, and as long as I’ve need of her, she’ll remain unharmed. You have my solemn word,” he said, full of confidence. “But, I must let you know it wasn’t that hard to figure out who you were. I was really looking more for confirmation.”
“But how?” the shocked woman asked.
“Well, I did notice there hasn’t been a single security guard through this building since we set up here, and that means someone would have to cancel the service. Pretty simple to do when you’re the building owner, I would think. And, justifiable since this place is mostly empty, too. Must be hurting the pocketbook pretty bad, no? So, what did you do? Did you watch Fargo one night and decide that the fatal flaw in that plan is the man hired Steve Buscemi?”
“It’s n-not that simple! It was supposed to be-”
Sanguine laughed into the line, cutting off the response entirely. “I’m sorry. I really don’t care about what you thought would be happening now. This is bigger than you and your money, and I’ve work that needs to be done so everything will be perfect.
“That aside, you’re away from your home right now so you can make a few calls without worrying about being overheard, correct? My advice to you is stay away from home. If I figured this all out, I know he will and then, he’ll be hunting you.”
There was no reply.
“Anyways, you have a wonderful evening.” He hung up the phone and smiled widely towards the window. This was working out too perfectly. Vantage will have a warm-up before he came.
A hunt. A gift for an old friend.
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I find myself thinking that Vantage shouldn't have lost his taste for meat, on account of his fangs.
also wondering when the self control that presumably went along with his darker urges will kick in...
glad you're back. I missed this story.
3446613
Has fangs, but eats fruit rather than meat. Has large eyes that are very sensitive to light. Hmmm...
So Vantage is a thestrel?, or a batpony?, or a night guard?, they don't really have an official name do they?
3449778
It seems that's the implication.
What? You banged your head? Sorry, I just got to this story in my read-later list, I might be a bit behind... You alright? What happened?
3803979 I took a 14 foot fall onto rough poured cement. 1/10 Wouldn't recommend.
Seriously though, I lost a week of time period.
After which, I was very scattered in thoughts for a while. 
I'm getting better though and hope to keep improving.
And, I'm working on this right now actually, so I hope you stick around for the next chapter!
3804023
Well, good to hear both those bits of news!
And hey, could be worse: it coulda been wet cement.
3804048 Well... Considering they found me leaning on a wall, bleeding and repeating "I don't rememebr falling", I think that was bad enough.