Episode Three: Shut it Down

After Patrick leaves, Hunter finishes up with the liquor delivery. He grabs the deposit bags from his office and heads to the bank. While waiting in line for his turn, he hears someone call his name.

“Hunter? Is that you?” A familiar voice asks.

Hunter turns around to see Michael standing behind him. 

“Michael, what are you doing here?”

“It’s the bank Hunter. I’m making a deposit.”

“Right. Sorry. I just didn’t expect to run into you.”

“I’ve called you a few times… You never returned my messages.”

“I’ve been really busy with the club.”

“So I hear. The name Hunters is on everyone’s lips, along with that signature bourbon of yours. I’ll have to stop by sometime and check it out.”

“You should come check it out on Thursday nights. My man Kenny is the dopest DJ in the city.”

Just then, the next available teller calls next, loudly enough to get Hunter’s attention. He turns around and signals an apology.

“I’ll see you later. Good to see you, Michael.”

Hunter makes his deposit and rushes out of the bank to avoid another conversation with Michael. He’s been ghosting him for weeks now. They almost hooked up at Michael’s apartment until Hunter thought better of it. When poachers get together, things can get messy. Blood hunger cravings and sex make them act like the  insatiable vampires of human legends. He could smell fresh blood in Michael’s apartment when he was there. He must’ve fed right before he got there. Or he had someone stashed in his house. Either way, Hunter wanted to avoid the inevitable hive mind behavior a relationship with Michael would cause. Thoughts of blood brought his gaze into the rearview mirror. His facade was deteriorating quicker the longer he stayed on this planet. He’d have to make sure he fed well before tonight. He had a feeling this morning was only a preview of drama to come.

Kalico speaking:

“Welcome home Hunter. You have no new messages and 14 saved messages. Would you like to hear your saved messages?”

“No, thanks Kalico.”

Hunter collects the mail from the floor behind the front door and rifles through it while walking through his home to his bedroom. Setting the mail on his bed, he goes to his closet to look for his orderly uniform. 

“Let’s see… where is it? Where…here it is!”

He says, pulling the uniform from his closet. The fake name badge that read Frank was still attached. A quick change of clothes and he’s back out the door, headed to the bus stop. A light jacket covers his orderly uniform. Thick glasses and a beanie hat change his appearance enough to disguise him from anyone he might know during his trip. The number 37 bus arrives on time as usual. Hunter stands in the middle of the bus by the doors. It’s crowded this afternoon. Fifteen stops later, he arrives two blocks from his destination. Comfort Springs Retirement Community. This place has such a high turnover rate of staff. This is the fifth time he’s come here to feed, dressed as an orderly. He brushes past the front desk. The receptionist and her co-worker are too busy gossiping to notice him. There are people everywhere, but no one seems aware of his movements through the hallways. An elevator dings and Hunter rushes to the stairwell to not be seen. He sprints up the stairs; taking them two at a time until he makes it to the fourth floor. This is where the oldest residents live. A dark room at the far end of the hall by the elevator has the door cracked. Hunter slips inside to stash his coat. As he’s walking out of the room, he hears Michael’s voice! 

“What the fuck was he doing here?” 

Hunter thinks to himself. He waits a beat before leaving the security of darkness. Michael is walking with another staff member. He’s wearing a suit and a name badge that says ‘Director’ on it. 

“He works here?” 

Shadows cover him while he waits for Michael and the employee he’s with to board the elevator and disappear out of sight. Once the elevator seals them inside, Hunter is officially on the prowl. Scenting the residents behind their closed doors to discern the best source of  blood. He’s halfway down the hall when the hair stands up on the back of his neck. 

“Hunter…?” Michael says. 

“Hey..Michael. I didn’t know you worked here.”

“I recently acquired this place because of the high turnover rate. The previous owner couldn’t wait to offload his burden. I practically stole this place from him.” 

Michael says, stepping in close enough for Hunter to smell his sweat.

“If you wanted to see me that badly, you shouldn’t have rushed out of the bank.” He teases.

“This is awkward.. I came here to feed. If I’d known this was your…kitchen..”

“It’s all good Hunter. I don’t mind if you feed here as long as you take care of me.”

“Take care of you, how?”

“Humans have a saying. Ass, cash, or grass. You know which one I want.”

“Where should we take care of this?”

“Feed first. I want you at your full strength. We can settle up after.”

Michael opens his mind to Hunter, allowing him a preview of all the freak nasty things he wants to do to him later. Before sauntering away. 

“Great, now I have to figure out how to deal with Michael.”

Hunter says to himself. Turned off from the fourth floor, he went to the sixth. An elderly resident was struggling with her key in the lock of her home.

“Can I help you with that?” Hunter croons. 

“Oh, yes, I can’t get my hands working like I used to.”

He helps her into her apartment, and she invites him to stay for tea. They sit and have a conversation about the day. This old lady isn’t who he wants to feed on. Hunter stands to leave. Thanking his hostesses for the tea. She opens the door and tells him goodbye. The elevator dings as he walks down the hall from the woman’s residence. Sounds of crying catch his attention. He waits for a moment and the crying stops. As he’s about to continue, the crying starts up again and he hears a weary voice call out for help. He knocks on the door and it pushes open. 

“Hello?” he calls into the residence. 

“Oh… please help me. I cut myself making lunch.”

Knowing this is Michael’s personal pantry sours Hunter’s appetite. He notices the disarray of her apartment and asks when the last time she had a visitor. 

“My children haven’t visited since they put me here seven years ago. They send me  a card in the mail every Christmas and every birthday.”

Hunter notices several unopened boxes from the home shopping network. She must have been buying things just to have someone visit her. 

“You noticed my boxes… I’m so embarrassed. I can’t afford to buy frivolously anymore. Money used to be my superpower and even with that, I still ended up alone. Me cutting myself wasn’t an accident. This thought of ending it all has been with me for some time. I wanted to know if I could really do it. This floor is pretty desolate since we’re all in good health up here. Not even nurses bother to come check on us unless we press the emergency call button. It costs my insurance $7,000 every time I press that button. I learned that the hard way. That’s when I turned to shopping. No one has ever answered my cries for help. Not the excessive spending or the running up of my insurance… No one cares enough to even check on me just to say hi. So I thought I’d cry out to see what would happen, and that’s when you came.”

Hunter hugs her, feeling her loneliness seep into him. She had no fight in her. There was none of the usual gratitude of person-to-person connection in the hug. She wanted to die. Granting her the mercy of not having to live with loneliness anymore; Hunter sinks his feeding teeth into her neck. Feeling the life leaving her body and flowing into him, he drinks until she’s a whisper away from the end. He places her body gently on the kitchen floor next to the spots of blood that fell where she intentionally cut herself. The old woman looks up at Hunter and smiles at him. Then she closes her eyes and passes peacefully. When he goes to see Michael, he’s in a bad mood. He never really thought about the lives of the people here. For all of his disgust of humans… he’s grown fond of them. Michael is ready for sex when he finds Hunter. He brings him into a recently vacant residence. The odor of death from the previous inhabitant still lingers in the air. 

“Can we go someplace else? This place reeks.” Hunter complains. 

“The scent of death makes my dick hard.”

Michael says, coming in hot for a kiss. Hunter, using his head to push Michael’s face to the side, going straight for his jugular. Draining him until he’s too weak to struggle. He leaves him on the floor of the rank residence and returns home. 

Kalico Speaking:

“Welcome home Hunter. You have one unplayed message. Would you like to hear it?”

“Yes Kalico, play message.”

Hey Hunter, it’s Trish. I hate to do this, but my sitter cancelled on me at the last minute. I won’t be able to work my shift tonight. Can you apply sick time so that I don’t miss hours on my check? I promise I’ll make it up to you and I’m so sorry for having to call out tonight.

“Kalico, call Trish.”

“Calling Trish.”

“Hey Hunter, did you get my message?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about tonight. I got you. I’m going to pay you regular so you can save your sick days for when you’re actually sick. Take care of that pumpkin and tell her uncle Hunter said he loves her.”

“Thank you Hunter. You’re a real one.”

“Have fun with your little one. I’ll see you when you’re back at work.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

The club was packed when I got there. It was a little after 9pm, and Kenny was all the way in his bag with the music. High energy and sexual tension buzzed all over my senses, sending me out back for a smoke to maintain self-control. I’m halfway through my joint when who comes walking up on me? Officer Reginald Cameron of the 14th precinct. Bitch ass. He has all the same energy Rick and his boys had last night. Before either of us can make a snide remark. Uly and his boys come folding out of the shadows. 

“Everything cool, boss? Me and my boys, we saw what went down last night. We didn’t want to spook you so, we just let you handle your business. But, know we got you. What’s this fool’s problem?”

“His friends are the ones that came looking for trouble last night.”

“And found it. That kick you planted in homeboy’s face… Nasty Hunter. You got a black belt or some shit?”

“Some shit…”

“I feel it. What you want us to do?”

“Just have my back. I’ll take care of this bitch.”

“Say less.”

“I’ve got a warrant to search your club and your cellar, Hunter!”

Officer Reginald sneers. His greasy skin is sweating the same funky mixture of cheap coke and unwashed ass as his friends.

“Let me see it.”

“It’s all in there.”

Officer Reg says, handing Hunter the warrant.

“This warrant is bullshit. The notary seal… who’s desk you steal this out of? And you have no partner, no backup. This is a rogue mission. You thought you could fool me with $7 paper from Office Mart? The signatures on the bottom are copied, not signed.”

“So you have x-ray vision now?”

“Always, for sniffing out lies! I think I’ll hold on to this as evidence of harassment. Stop fucking with me before you lose everything you have.”

“Is that a threat?”

“It’s my first line of self-defense since you came here to intimidate me.”

“It’s my word against yours, asshole! Who do you think the court will believe? A cop or your delinquent looking ass?”

“I think they’ll believe my surveillance footage that has full audio capability. And the testimonies of my eight man security team, with my own. Officer.”

Officer Cameron looks up to see the cameras and curses under his breath. He tries to snatch the forged warrant back from Hunter but thinks better of it when Uly and his boys take a step towards him. Spinning on his heels, he waddles back to his car and takes off from the parking lot. 

“Asshole.” Hunter says. 

“You know he’s coming back, right? Probably with a legit warrant and a team next time.”

“Yeah, I know…”

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know yet…”

Pissed off, Hunter goes to his office to calm down. Pulling a special bottle of vintage from the drawer at his desk. He places two large ice cubes into a short square cut glass and pours just enough to submerge the ice. As he’s taking a sip from his stress relief, he spots Patrick entering the club, dressed like a slice of pound cake. Lust is a welcome distraction as he savors the amber liquid over his tongue. Remembering the taste of his lover. Bethany ruins his view, deflating the growing bulge in his pants. The last thing he needs tonight is more fucking drama! He finishes his drink and pours himself another. Taking it to the head and setting the glass down hard on the bar. A short, rough exhale of breath and he leaves his office to go see what the vibe is like on the club floor. Patrick and Bethany seem to keep their distance from one another. 

“Hey baby.” Patrick says.

He snuck up behind Hunter. No one sneaks up on Hunter. 

“Hey, where’d you come from?”

“The bathroom. Bethany’s here. I went to hide in there for a few minutes until she went somewhere else. I saw you standing here when I came out, looking like sex in a suit.”

“You’re looking pretty damn sexy yourself. How did you get all that ass in those jeans?”

Patrick gives an appreciative laugh that makes Hunter smile. The music drops out momentarily while DJ Kenny asks the club over the mic,

“Ya’ll remember this one?”

Prince’s ‘Party Like its 1999’ blares through the speakers and the club goes wild. Everyone who wasn’t on the dance floor went there and those who were already dancing get hyped at the iconic jam. 

“Dance with me.” Patrick says, pulling Hunter into an embrace.

“Nah.. I don’t dance.”

“You’re gonna dance with me.”

Patrick kisses Hunter and falls into a dance pose. Gyrating his hips and circling him seductively. Hunter can’t help but be drawn into Patrick’s magnetic sphere. He’s so goofy and sexy all at the same time. It makes him smile and eventually join his lover in the act of dance. After the song ends, the entire club cheers in celebration. Modern hip hop music replaces the 80s nostalgia and Hunter leads Patrick up the stairs to his office. The blaring of Bethany’s voice interrupts passionate kisses and fondling hands. She forced her way into the DJ booth and commandeered the mic from Kenny.

“Attention patrons of Hunters’ This establishment violates Riverton Health Code 6 line 48 part B. For your health and safety, we require you to vacate the premises! Law Enforcement is outside to assist with your safe and orderly exit of the building and the parking lot.”

“Fucking bitch!” Hunter curses.

He tears down the stairs to confront Bethany, who’s holding up a very official-looking health code violation notice. 

“I told you to stop fucking my man, Hunter.”