Nightwalker Chapter 8.

Reggie tore open the wrapper of a candy bar as he peered around the corner of the alleyway from which he was trying to be, incognito. Across the street from where he was, lying low was a blood bank, which strangely was yet to open. Reggie looked down at his watch as he shoved the last of the bar in his mouth, then clicked play on the voice recorder in his hand. In an abnormally deep voice, Reggie described what he was seeing, "It's three in the afternoon. I'm across the street from what I'm told is the All-Saints blood depository, and there are no signs of movement; the place is closed, almost abandoned. Definitely not your... standard operating hours."

He hit pause and dug into his pocket to withdraw another candy bar, "Really satisfies, huh? Then why am I about to open my fourth in twenty minutes, eh?" He muttered to the bar as he tore open its wrapper.

Between mouthfuls, Reggie cleared his throat and hit record once more. "The blood bank is most definitely new to this building; it's been hastily painted white, and there are signs of the former business visible beneath the paint job. The building looks to be a rectangle with wide alleyways on either side. It certainly seems like this isn't your usual blood bank. Oh, I see someone approaching the front door." Reggie hastily stopped his recorder and stuffed it and his half-eaten bar into his pockets.

Alright, time to get Ulaq what he wants. Reggie told himself as he hurried across the street.

After Lev and Reggie's meeting with Ulaq, the enigmatic vampire had delivered a list of things he wanted the pair to look into. To be precise, it was Ulaq's trusty crow that had delivered this list to the balcony of Reggie's apartment, a feat that had greatly impressed Reggie. While the list advised using caution and patience, the pair had swiftly decided to split up and attempt to complete the list with much haste. Reggie had picked his first task based purely on spotting the words 'blood bank' written on the list. "That's some A-grade vampire cliche right there!" he had exclaimed, much to Lev's bemusement.

Attached to the list was also a note on humans that are in the servitude of vampires; the name most vampires used for humans like these was 'familiar'. Ulaq's note made sure to point out that while these familiars were just regular humans, they were not to be taken lightly just because they're not vampires. Reggie, being ever the optimist, simply retreated to his bedroom and, after a few minutes, returned to Lev with a shoebox. Inside were several pistols, tasers, pepper spray, and even an old World War II grenade. "You wanna take that and see just how familiar these familiars are with hand grenades?" Reggie had asked Lev as he tossed the grenade in the air like it was a baseball

A slightly mortified Lev replied to Reggie, "No, I'm good, that thing is all yours."

Reggie shrugged and stuffed the grenade into his jacket pocket. "Don't mind if I do."

Back at the blood bank, the woman had barely entered the building before Reggie burst through the doors behind her. "Oh yeah! I'm ready to give blood!" Reggie exclaimed as he burst in and immediately began eagerly casting his vision about the room, trying to take mental notes of anything and everything he could.

The woman who had nearly had a heart attack from Reggie's sudden entrance sighed and gave Reggie a suspicious glare. "Eager aren't we?" She remarked.

Reggie had imagined the many different kinds of people he was going to see in his mission: Gruff security guards, pale goths, shrivelled-up, impossibly old women, but an attractive 30-something-year-old blonde woman with straight, shoulder-length hair, perfect skin, and sleek minimalist glasses was not one that he had expected.

Focus, Reggie, focus, he thought to himself as he shrugged and tried to act cool. "Oh, hey, yeah well, twenty dollars is twenty dollars, am I right?" he said, putting his hands in his pockets with another shrug and continuing to look around.

The woman raised an eyebrow and scoffed before handing him a clipboard with a form to fill out and telling Reggie to take a seat.

"Forward aren't we, do I get your number as well?" he said as he walked over to a seat.

The woman rolled her eyes, "I like to think I'm worth a bit more than twenty dollars," she quipped back.

Reggie threw his hands up in defeat, then made a zipping motion across his lips, which elicited a smirk from the woman. "Good boy," she teased.

Reggie took a few deep breaths and looked around the foyer once more; the front room seemed nothing more than a white rectangle with a handful of chairs, a desk, and the odd potted plant. Behind where Reggie was sitting, however, was a glass window that made up over half of the wall and had been painted white to match the rest of the interior. From a small scratch in the paintwork, Reggie could see what looked like a roller door at the far side of the building.

With the form filled out, Reggie walked it over to the woman sitting at her desk. She accepted the clipboard and stood up, "Alright if you'll just follow me," she said as she motioned towards a door by the painted glass window. Reggie gulped and nodded as he followed.

The pair went through the door and walked into what looked like a mechanic’s workshop. "Uh, excuse me, miss, I'm here to give blood, not get my oil changed," Reggie quipped in mild confusion.

The woman laughed and threw her hands up in indifference. "I guess the rent was cheap. Makes it easy for the courier to come pick up the blood though. They just roll in through one roller door and straight out the other," she said as they walked over a mechanics’ inspection pit that had been haphazardly covered with a board or two and a rug.

Reggie took one last look around the narrow, dimly lit room; there were the already mentioned Roller doors on the left and right walls, and... not much else. The place so far was an empty, sterile building, even more so than Reggie had been expecting for a blood bank.

The next room the woman led Reggie to was a small cubicle with a doctor's chair. Reggie stepped inside and was confused when there was nobody inside to greet him. "Uh, wh-wheres the doctor or whoever to take my blood?" he asked as he turned to look back at the woman.

"That would be me," she replied as she motioned for Reggie to sit in the chair.

An impressed Reggie nodded and sat down, "I'm sorry, I thought you were just the receptionist or something."

"I'm not sure if I should be impressed or offended," she replied as she pointed at the left side of her chest. Reggie looked and saw her name tag, which read Dr. Sonja Voss.

"Oh, ooops, I apologise, doctor, I'm uh, quite the gentleman, you see. There's no objectification going on when Reggie is around!" he exclaimed as he threw up a hand sign from his days of being a Boy Scout, which, truth be told, had only lasted about three weeks.

Sonja feigned wiping her brow in relief before strapping up Reggie's arm and going to a set of drawers to get her tools for taking blood. It was at this point that Reggie remembered his reason for being here and began to get nervous. Wait a second, if she's the one taking blood, is she in on whatever bad stuff Ulaq wants to know about? he thought to himself as his eyes went from Sonja to the door.

"S-so, you worked here long?" Reggie stammered as he tried to remain cool.

Sonja looked over her shoulder at him curiously. "Are you alright? You kind of look pale," she remarked as she walked back over to Reggie with a syringe at the ready.

"Y-yeah, it's just... I'm scared of needles, y'know." Reggie answered, which made Sonja chuckle and shake her head.

"Wow, you must REALLY need that twenty dollars then, eh?" She joked. "I'll give you a moment to collect yourself, then you'll just have to look away, alright?" she added as she sat down on a stool next to Reggie.

After an enthusiastic nod, Reggie reiterated his question, "S-so have you been working here long?"

Sonja shook her head, "I don't actually work here, I'm just filling in for the week for a friend who's sick."

"Oh, Wh-where do you normally work?" Reggie added, feeling a little less like he was about to be vampire food.

"I'm a pathologist normally," she replied as she checked Reggie's arm again to make sure his vein was ready for extraction.

"No way!" Reggie exclaimed, almost jumping out of his seat, "I could really use your help with something I'm trying to work on!" he added, much to Sonja's astonishment.

"Oh? What would that be?" she asked with some trepidation.

Reggie stopped and wondered how likely she was to believe anything he could tell her about Lev, his former fiancé, and the existence of vampires. "O-oh, I won't bother you with my random stuff, p-probably some super simple answer I could just find on the internet anyway," he said, deciding against spilling the proverbial beans.

"Huh? Ok, well, you seem better, so if you want to just look away, then I'll get to taking your blood," a miffed Sonja replied

Reggie stepped back into the foyer and watched Sonja close the door and head over to her desk. "Well, so long as you put your details in correctly, you should be receiving twenty dollars in your bank account by tomorrow," Sonja said as she sat down and drummed her fingers on the form Reggie had filled out. "Also, if the internet doesn't provide the answers you're seeking, here's my business card. I'm always happy to help answer burning questions about blood."

"O-ok, thanks!" Reggie stammered as he took Sonja's card and stuffed it into his pocket. "It was nice meeting you, Sonja, er, Dr. Voss... Goodbye."

Reggie left the blood bank and hurried back over to the alleyway he had been waiting in earlier. With a sigh, he put a hand on his chest. "I wonder, is this love, or impending doom?" he muttered to himself.

Reggie's ponderings were interrupted by the sound of tapping on a dumpster behind him, and he spun around to see a crow sitting there watching him. "O-oh, hi, Ulaq Junior? Crow-laq?" he said to the bird with an awkward wave. The crow let out a shrill caw and flew off. I wonder if that was Ulaq's way of checking to make sure I was safe? Reggie wondered to himself as he watched the crow disappear from sight.

After a short rummaging of his pockets, Reggie looked at his copy of Ulaq's list and wondered what task he should attempt next. He had never actually read the list when they got it, and so now that he was reading it properly, half of the things on it seemed way out of his and Lev's depth. "Who does this guy think we are? Rambo and McClane?" he muttered as he continued reading

At the bottom of the list, he read a task that brought a grin to his face, "yippee-ki-yay mother-effer," he exclaimed before stuffing the list back into his pocket and heading off down the alley onto his next task.