Solbearers: Part 4- Pitch Meeting

Cassandra was sitting on her flight to Tokyo. Buibui told her he hated the cold so she wondered how he was holding up in the cargo area he had snuck and telepathed his way into. But he said he'd be fine so Cassandra trusted him. Just as Buibui trusted her gut instinct that they should go to Japan before America to meet a talent agency CEO. For a beautiful woman and an ancient spider vampire there was a bizarre amount of trust between them but Cassandra's life had been so strange as of late that she was willing to follow her instincts. Despite her stress she dozed off for most of the long flight.

The Miyazaki Talent Firm headquarters was like nothing Cassandra had seen before. She sat composed in the extensive lobby dressed in business attire until her name was called and she was ushered into an elevator and then into a large boardroom. The company's CEO Shinji Miyazaki bowed to her, pulled out her chair and sat in his own. Shinji assumed English would be their best bet to communicate and after the obligatory small talk Shinji started to talk business.

"Ms. Calimeris I have to say your proposal is intriguing but I'm wondering why you would want lean so heavily on Asian talent to tell a story about a Greek protagonist hunting vampires in an American setting" Shinji said with an inquisitive tone.

"So formal, please call me Cassandra. I know it's a little odd but M.T.F. has a great reputation and my gut feeling told me I need you involved in this project" Cassandra said trying to sound assuring.

"Okay then Cassandra, if we are done being overly formal is your visit related to the creature that has scaled my building to spy on us?" Shinji asked.

"You're perceptive" Cassandra replied.

Moments later the conversation continued now that Buibui had entered through an open window and Chen came in through to door of an adjoining room. Cassandra assured Shinji and Chen that Buibui was not a threat and that his telepathy would let him be part of the conversation.

"So you hunt vampires?" Chen asked.

"Yeah, ones who model their culture after lamprey" Cassandra answered.

"Lampires" Shinji said mostly to himself.

"And this spider vampire recruited you to help him in America?" Chen continued.

Cassandra nodded.

"So when you saw Shinji on a magazine you came here looking for what exactly?" Chen spoke again.

Cassandra paused then said "I have visions or dreams or just instincts sometimes. And people have thought I was crazy all my life. But since the vampires I hunt can't get in my mind the same way that they do to other people I legitimately think I have powers. The powers told me to find Shinji and now I know why based on how you reacted to Buibui. You two hunt vampires too and we're going to need your help in America.

Chen confirmed Cassandra's thoughts by saying "You're right. Shinji is newer to hunting but he's surprisingly effective and his ancestors have been hunting moth vampires in Japan for centuries. Personally I've specialized in hunting the leech vampires in China for decades. My order and Shinji's family have worked together for a long time to hold the leeches and moths at bay.

Shinji chimed in meaningfully in the first time since Buibui and Chen had entered, saying "If we're going to help you, we need your help first. How do you kill your vampires?"

"Silver weapons, Buibui helped me smuggle them into Japan." Cassandra answered.

"Silver and what else?" Shinji asked.

"That's it" Cassandra replied "silver knife spear gun and sometimes shinning a flashlight in their eyes".

"You and I are both relatively new at this but I've learned from the best and you might be doing yourself a disservice" Shinji began again " with some exceptions most vampires have four weaknesses a bit like you see in the movies. Two they have always had and two that are newer. Since their emergence moths and leeches are both typically weaker in the day and weak to cold. And at some point -some say due to a sorcerers spell- the average leech became weak to salt and jade, while the average moth became weak to camphor and lacquer. You've been using silver to take down your lampires but if I had to guess they are probably weaker in the daytime, weak to fire and weak to a fourth thing that actual lamprey are bothered by. It would serve your cause to figure all that out.

"I'm sorry I'm open to a lot since learning about these creatures but they are just creatures. The way you talk about them as magical beings seems like a fairy tale you'd tell a child" Cassandra said unconvinced.

"Some vampires dabble in science" Chen interjected "but all types are the product of dark magic".

"I know what I'm talking about" Shinji insisted "what are you weak to Buibui?".

"My kind and the mosquito vampires we stem from hate cold temperatures, the daytime, gold and African lavender" the three humans all heard in there heads "Shinji is right, gold and lavender came later and suddenly as if by magic".

Shinji spoke again while try to hide a smirk "If you are serious about your hunts you should figure out what hurts your prey but that's not our current concern. Most of the missions me and Chen go on separately or together take a bit of deception. We either kill moths and frame leeches for it, or kill leeches and frame moths for it. But this one's gotta be a clean sweep. An upstart among the moths named Hideki Ueda is tired of the old ways. He doesn't want moths living in secret anymore, if his movement grows moth attacks on humans will skyrocket. He's hated enough that wiping him out will created distrust between the moth leaders because they'll think someone broke protocol by taking him out. If we do this right we will take out a dangerous enemy but also get moths killing eachother. If you and your spider friend can help us take him and his followers out we can help you in America".

"We're in!" said Cassandra as Buibui nodded.