Mortal Agent of a Vampire - Chapter 5

For the next while, I was like a hard-working bee, working day and night, non-stop. Not only did I have to write stories and interviews, but I also had to deal with Vince’s endless tricks when his energy was at its peak. When is he not energetic? Good question, and the answer is no.
Looking at me exhausted, Vince suggested that I quit my job at the paper, but due to pride, I didn’t do it. Working as a servant for someone else, which could only be a part-time job, end of statement.
After receiving my first month’s paycheck, I took a three-day vacation from Vince.
“I should have withheld your first month’s pay.” He said slyly before I left, like a stingy contractor, “How do I know you won’t run away with the money.”
I think he’s totally overthinking it, “Come on, can’t you read minds? You can read it casually and know that the probability of this happening is negligibly small. Besides, I’m living in your house, what more do you want? Put a collar around my neck?”
He suddenly stopped talking, and as I watched him contemplating, I hurried to escape. Too many words, maybe he would really put a collar around my neck.
Yes, at this time I’m still living in his miniature pantheon, which has nothing fantastically erotic about it; he’s in the master suite and I’m in the concierge, and I’m not complaining because the difference between the two is just the difference between a standard room and a seven-star presidential suite.
But soon enough, I’d be dragging my bags and huffing and puffing as I moved back to my parents’ house. The reason has to start at the beginning.
It’s a little embarrassing, but I have to admit, I took my leave of absence for Mina. I had a huge surprise for her. A diamond ring? Too right! Of course it could only be a diamond ring. Dazzled by the hundreds of styles available at the jewelry store, and especially since I’m a bit of a choice-phobe, it took me almost a week of switching around to the point where the clerk who greeted me looked constipated at the sight of me before I settled on one, and I asked them to engrave a line on the inner ring that read, “Eternal Love”.
I was so happy about this that Mina would have been moved to throw herself into my arms, because as I said, it was a ‘big’ surprise.
As soon as I escaped Vince’s clutches, I called the jewelry store and was told that the ring you ordered wouldn’t be ready for pickup until the day after tomorrow, and I whined and whined and whined and whined, and they were very sorry and hung up.
But I couldn’t wait to see Mina, so I bought a bouquet of roses down the street and asked her out to dinner. Think of it as a rehearsal so you don’t bite your tongue when you get nervous and refer to marriage as tying the knot or something.
We had a wonderful hour of lobster and candlelight. After dinner, I offered to go to the movies, Twilight was playing, but Mina said she was tired and wanted to go home. I put her in the cab and watched her disappear into the hustle and bustle before I started walking slowly back. The walk back took a few blocks, and it was already a bit chilly for a November evening, but I didn’t care, Mina’s smile in my head warmed my whole body, and I opened up my trench coat, bouncing around like a kid falling in love for the first time, occasionally stepping into the water along the side of the road and splashing up a puddle.
“Hey! Lyle! Lyle! Servant!” “Doo-doo-doo-doo!” I was lost in a beautiful fantasy of the future until a series of shouts and car horns brought me back to reality. It had long since darkened, and the streetlights shone miserably on the street, driven in all directions by the night fog.
I settled down and glanced sideways; Vince was parked beside me, glaring at me through his sunglasses, and behind him, a trail of car drivers pounded their horns like mad.
“Lying in bed is the time to dream, don’t you know?”
“You ……” No doubt he read all about the beautiful new life in my head, I felt my face burn a little and soon anger replaced embarrassment, “I’m on vacation, I don’t have time for you.” I stepped away.
Vince drove up to catch me, it was annoying it was a straight road, “It’s not business, it’s personal.”
“Whatever!”
“Mina’s having an affair.”
He succeeded, I stopped, “You ……”
“Get in the car, I’ll take you.” He opened the car door.
I don’t know what I was thinking, I did what he said even though I thought it was utter nonsense. He made a U-turn and drove towards the city center, and the whole way there, a slight shiver ran through me. I was in complete denial of the possibility, he was a liar, Mina wasn’t that kind of person, I told myself, but if Vince needed me to do something for him, there were a hundred reasons why he could force me to do so and he knew that I would always give in, no need to bring Mina into it.
While I was suffering inside, Vince stopped in front of the theater.
I stuck my head out and looked around like a meerkat, “Where?”
Vince leaned into the back of his chair and started playing Sudoku on his phone, “Wait.”
Not long after, the movie broke up, it was Twilight, the audience walked out in twos and threes, I caught a glimpse of Mina, my goddess, and then breathed a huge sigh of relief, she was alone! Alone! But before I could cheer, a tall, sturdy blonde guy caught up with her and he handed her an ice cream, which Mina happily accepted and they walked down the steps, arm in arm.
I watched this with dumbfounded disbelief, “Damn! This is a terrible movie!”
Vince filled in the last number, “I agree, vampires can’t have kids – I tried.”
“No! I mean my life! My life!” I yelled, peeling open the car door and sprinting across the road with a gauntlet I hadn’t realized I could run so fast.
“Calm down ……” Vince’s voice was washed away in the back of his head by the traffic.
“Mina!” I sprinted until I reached the two men.
Mina froze and the blonde narrowed his eyes unfriendly, “Who are you?” He stepped forward. Up close, he was even taller, muscles bulging in his arms. With adrenaline, I just didn’t flinch.
“I’m her boyfriend!” I said, taking a deep breath.
The blonde looked back at Mina, and to my chills, Mina shook her head, and the blonde flashed a teasing grin and stepped forward, “Hey man, you’re on too many drugs, aren’t you? Mina’s my girlfriend, we’ve been dating for over a year.” He poked me in the chest, “Now get out of my face.”
Over a year?
“No, that’s not possible!” I tried to push him away, “Mina, this big guy coerced you, didn’t he? Tell him about our relationship, we’re the real deal, I won’t let him hurt you, never!”
“Don’t be crazy, man!” The blonde guy blocked there like a wall, “You better get a grip or I’m going to be rude!” He swung his fist, the commotion attracting a number of onlookers.
Before the scene got any uglier, Mina stepped forward and placed her hand on the blonde’s arm, “Okay, Bison, let me talk to him for a second.”She turned her head towards me, a guilty smile mixed in with the soft expression on her face, “Lyle, I’m sorry ……”
I felt the sky fall ……
I don’t know how long I stood there, anyway, by the time I came back to my senses, the last of the movie was done , the front room doors were locked and empty, only the neon lights of the sign were still flickering.
Mina thanked me for all the things I’d done for him, said I was a good person, the only bad thing was just not her type, maybe we’d been together for too long and were too familiar with each other to be fresh for a long time, and that what she needed was a flaming, sizzling love (love, she emphasized the word), not bland, lukewarm water, so……
“Ten thousand apologies, Lyle.” She gave me one last courtesy touch on my cheek and left, taking my hopes and future with her.
Suddenly, my phone rang, I picked it up and a sweet female voice said, “Excuse me, we’ve expedited your order for a diamond ring, it’s now made and you can pick it up first thing in the morning, good luck with the proposal”.
I cut it off without even bothering to say thank you. Why didn’t you do this earlier? If Mina had seen the ring …… forget it …… what the hell is the point of talking about it now?
I walked back to the side of the road and found Vince making out with a girl (or his dinner) in the car, normally I’d just know better and disappear, but now, no, I was in cynical mode.
I knocked on the window and pointed to the passenger seat, “Excuse me ma’am, that’s my seat, please leave or I’ll be happy to dial the number for the vice squad.”
“Psycho!” The red-lipped hottie gave me a blank look, shoved a couple bills into the j□j and took off.
Vince stared at me disgruntled, “I’m still hungry.”
I rolled up my sleeve and held my arm out in front of him, “Drink up, better dry me up and build me into the fireplace.”
He turned his head away after only one look, “I’m still hungry.”
I remembered his theory about compressed cookies.
We didn’t say a word on the way back, or maybe he said something and I didn’t hear it anyway. We walked into the porch together and parted in front of the spiral staircase that led to the second floor, and I was dragging my feet, ready to fall into bed and sleep as a way of mending my broken heart, when Vince suddenly called out to me, “Hey, Lyle.”
I turned my head and he was standing on the marble steps, looking at me across the handrail, I thought he was going to say something comforting, he’s always been a bit human.
“You can get back to work tomorrow I guess, I have a favorite painting up for auction.” He said in a commanding tone.
Luckily I had the good breeding to keep from cursing him out, however the irritation seemed to link up with a new line, and I somehow came up with a suspicious one, “Why do you know about Mina she ……?”
He seemed to be stopped by my question, and after a long interval, he said, “I investigated your background.”
“You investigated me behind my back?” I got a little angry.
“I had to make sure you were reliable.” Vince didn’t budge.
Well, count him out, “When did you find out?”
“A month or two ago, why?”
That would be the last time I went back on vacation, “Then why didn’t you …… you tell me earlier? Is it fun to see me in the dark like a fool?” He must have been secretly mocking me behind my back for quite some time now, my anger level shot up to my chest.
Vince looked puzzled, “She didn’t influence you to work for me then.”
If I was a bomb, that statement was the detonator. Well, now I know my role, I always thought he was a bit of a human being, that we weren’t exactly employer and servant, but a bit of a friend, or a partner, and now I’ve come to my senses, it’s all in my head, my wishful thinking, I’m just a tool to Vince, if it breaks down, fix it, who cares about the feelings of a tool?
“Fuck you!” I said, “I quit!”

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