The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

“Goblins are the one ones who like houses like that. Vampires like ’em tall and grand, werewolves prefer stuff with more open spaces, and elves are like vampires except they want their houses further apart.”

“What about humans?”

“Humans like trappings on the outside. They like porches and barbecues and things that let everyone else know how much stuff they have. A little bit egotistical, but kind of refreshing. The reasons for things like porches and barbecues is so that you can invite people over to share your bounty. They can be close minded sometimes, but humans are more likely than other races to cross social boundaries.” Sadie glanced around. “These neighborhoods are so species-centric . . . has it always been like this?”

Devlin shrugged. “Kind of. Well, maybe not quite like this. When the mayor started rezoning in his first term, the vampires started shifting to West End. Something about tax breaks.”

“Tax breaks that only vampires can take advantage of?”

Devlin pursed his eyes. “Elves too. Some humans. It’s one of the swankier areas in all of Midian now.”

“Shame,” she replied. Then the radio started to squawk at them.

*We’ve got a 10-103f with multiple perps at the corner of Londonderry and Sage, (click)*, the dispatcher said. *That would be the Bygone Cafe, (click)*.

“How close are we?” Sadie asked.

Devlin grabbed the radio. “Roger that. This is car 0105 and we’re just a couple of minutes out.”

There was a pause. *Copy. We’ve got two other cars that’ll just be a few minutes behind you. Be careful. (click)*

Sadie floored the gas and hit the lights and siren. Devlin was quick to give directions and they arrived in hurry. Sadie hopped out of the SUV and grabbed her shotgun (known as Hooters) out of the rack.

“You think that’s necessary?” Devlin asked.

“Probably not, but I’d rather have it with me and not need it than need to and have to come back for it.” She was striding towards the front of the cafe when a goblin came stumbling out the door. Goblins weren’t particularly good brawlers and tended to fight in groups, and this one was looking pretty battered. Devlin got on his radio and called for an ambulance, trying to get the goblin to get down on the ground at the same time. Sadie stood next to the window at the front and glanced in, and there was chaos. There was at least a dozen combatants inside.

“Dispatch, what’s the ETA on backup?” Sadie shouted. She didn’t wait for an answer, since she heard multiple sirens approaching. “Never mind.” Then she heard crashing from inside and a second form came flying out the window, spraying her with glass in the process. “Crap!” She glanced inside, able to get a better look without the glare from the glass. There were some larger humanoids towards the back and a shorter humanoids.

The taller ones seemed to notice they had a visitor and took off through the kitchen.

“In pursuit!” she shouted, jumping into the room.

“Arbiter, wait! Wait for backup!”

“They can catch up!” As she bolted through the building, she took note of the people who were down. Lot’s of bruises, minor bleeding and maybe some broken bones, but no one was dying. The place reeked of blood and testosterone, so she couldn’t make out the races of all involved.

She tore through the kitchen where a frightened staff pointed towards the swinging back door, so Sadie made her way out onto the street. She heard their footsteps before seeing them as the fleeing combatants made their way out of the end of the alley. They had a good head start on her but to Arbiter Sadie Hewitt, the chase had just started. She vaulted any number of trash bags, cans or alley flotsam as she struggled to make up ground. Hitting the edge of the alley, she saw them weaving through traffic.

“This is Arbiter Hewitt,” she said into her radio as she hurtled a cute little VW Beetle, “and I’m in pursuit of suspects heading west on . . . Flair Ave.,” she added, looking around for a street sign. “Vamps!” She shouted this after one of the chased turned to look at her. Even if she couldn’t smell them, there was no way she would mistake the creature and the arrogance behind those eyes.

“Stop!” she shouted, mostly out of a sense of obligation. She really didn’t expect them to comply, which they didn’t. She was gaining on them, and she wondered if they knew it. Sadie had spent twice as much time on obstacle courses as anyone else at the Arbiter Academy, just because she loved to practice. She weaved around and jumped over cars until she got to the sidewalk, quickly turning a corner. A ways down the street, she saw her quarry piling into a car.

“What the fuck?!” She kept running, wondering what was going on. Had they parked all the way over here? It didn’t make sense. And she hadn’t seen any of them get into the driver’s side door. She tried to get a good look at the plates as pulled her walkie-talkie up. “Suspects are getting into a black . . . Lincoln. License plate numbers . . . Damn it!” The car had a dark protective covering over the plate, making it impossible to read from that distance. She had no idea why those things were legal. The wheels on the getaway car spun out. “The car is heading north on Pleasant Street and . . . no, it’s turning right on Concord.” She turned and ran through the office building to her right, trying to find a way through to make up more ground. She wound up jumping through a secretary’s window to land on the street next to some terrified passersby, but it was too late. The car had vanished. She looked up and saw a sign: “West End City Limits.” They had escaped into vampire territory. She saw some Gravestones police cars go flying by, but she doubted they’d have better luck. A bunch of vampires had roughed up a bunch of goblins and they’d had help getting away. It didn’t set well in her stomach . . . not at all.

She turned and walked back the way she’d come, stopping to calm down the frightened secretary and leave her card so she could see about the damages. When she got back to the Bygone Cafe, she found that most of the Goblins were being treated or questioned. Vladimir was there and walked over to her.

“It was dumb chasing after ’em on you own,” he said, but he really didn’t seem to be chastising her. It was more like he was saying what he was supposed to say. “You okay?”

“Just my pride hurt. They had a getaway car, which took them to West End at the very least. Anyone hurt badly?”

“Nah,” Vladimir replied. He looked confused. “By all accounts, the vamps just came in the back and started wailing on people. No attempt at robbery or anything. Owner said that one of them shoved a flier in his mouth then knocked him through the dishrack.”

“Got the flier?”

The two of them walked over to where the owner was giving a statement to Officer Devlin. The young human looked almost bored, and it made Sadie mad.

“Hello sir,” she said as she approached, ignoring Devlin completely, “I was wondering if you had the flier that you were assaulted with.” She got down on a knee and looked the goblin in the eye: in their culture, it was a show of respect to meet them on their own terms.

“It’s back in there somewhere,” he said. “It was one for ‘Werewolf Wednesday.’ It’s a dumb name, I know, but I was trying to get the furry crowd back in.”

“What do you mean by ‘back in’?”

“We used to get a lot more diverse crowds. It’s kinda fallen off this year, and it’s a shame. Weres know how to party like no one else.”

“You’ve never seen ME party,” Sadie said, patting the goblin on the shoulder. “Sorry I didn’t catch them, but I promise you I’ll get them some time or another.”

“You can’t win them all,” the Goblin said. “May have to close down after this though. It’s hard to keep a place going when you have people making it clear you’re not wanted.”

“Don’t let them win,” Vladimir said, following Sadie’s lead and kneeling. “Don’t let a bunch of bloodsuckers tell a goblin that they can’t run a business.” It was a good tactic, since goblins had worked longer and harder than other races to earn respect in the workforce, so they tended to be more proud of their accomplishments. “No offense,” he added, glancing at Sadie.

“None taken.”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

“It’s always the vampires’ fault,” Devlin muttered sarcastically.

Sadie ignored him for the time being, taking a look around. She let Vladimir talk to the owner while she looked at the walls of the restaurant. There were a number of different fliers up with discounts for the different races. A young human female with a waitress outfit and a black eye walked over and stood next to Sadie.

“We’ve heard a lot of grumblings about these recently,” she said quietly. “Vamps that use to come in started talking shit to everyone else, and they’d sometimes hang outside on human night or werewolf night just to hurl insults at people. Everront,” she said, looking towards the owner, “was trying so hard to get a mixed clientele. Always thought it was better to keep more doors open than shut.”

It had been a long time, but she had been a young girl once. She knew what it looked like when you wanted to cry but were afraid to. She put an arm around the girl’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” she whispered. The girl wept quietly into the Arbiter’s should. Sadie didn’t figure the girl could be more than eighteen years old, which was a tough age to be. It was old enough to vote and die for your country and think you’re invincible, but not too young to find out the world wasn’t always flowers and puppy dogs.

“You’re a vampire, right?” the girl asked. “I’d heard the new Arbiter was a vamp.”

“Yeah, I’m a vamp.”

“Why do you guys hate us so much? I mean . . . I didn’t mean you –”

“It’s okay. We don’t. Not all vampires are like that,” she said, not sure how much she believed it. “You got someone coming to get you? I’ll stay with you until they get here, okay?”