The Investigator

The following a short story that takes place in the Dusk Veil world. I hope you enjoy.
Don’t forget to check out the new adventure

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San Francisco hadn’t been Arun’s first choice for a city to make his home. It was a little too small to be the center of much of anything and too big for him to stay out of the political mess that he was somehow always dragged into. It was close to the redwood forest, which was nice.

 He had moved here back in 1979, around the same time he decided computers were going to be the future of this world.  Some elves were sticklers for tradition and took a lot of time to adopt the new technology humans were constantly pushing on society.  Arun had caught on quickly that blending in with humans was easier when you kept up with their fervent advance towards more and better technology. Besides, after three hundred and seventy-two years on this planet, it was nice to learn something new.

Now, with his skill with computers and his proximity to so much of the underworld scene, he was constantly called on by the Veil Wardens to help with all manner of problems.  He ended up involved in exactly the things he came to Frisco to get away from, Dusk Veil politics.

It helped pay the bills and kept him on his toes though, so he usually took the job.

He turned down a dimly lit driveway on Ellis Street in the Tenderloin District. Half the reason the bar he was looking for was in the city’s most rundown and crime-heavy district was to keep people away who weren’t supposed to be there.  But Arun had always felt like there was nothing that would call more attention to him than ducking down a dark alley in the middle of the night in the TL. 

Two concrete buildings flanked him as he walked towards what seemed like no more than loading docks for local businesses. On his right, tucked most of the way down the alley, was a simple wooden door.  Painted on the door in plain letters were the words “Subterranean Homesick Brews”.  Dwarf bars always had puns. A Bob Dylan pun had now become the most famous one in all the underworld.

Arun knocked and the door opened to reveal a huge man, barely able to fit in the hallway with his broad shoulders.  He was covered in brown hair and had a face like a furry brick.  If Arun didn’t know better, this would’ve been the biggest human he had ever seen. Except this was no human, it was a bugbear, most likely disguised through a simple illusion spell. 

The bugbear bouncer sniffed at him and spoke with little more than a grunt. “What do you want, elf?”

“I’m hoping to one day retire to a private island where I can fish for my food and sleep in a hammock whenever I want.” Arun looked off into the distance, playing at being wistful. “Worried there won’t be any internet access though.”

The bugbear cocked his head and looked at him lamely. “Wi-Fi is for customers only.”

“Never mind.” Arun shook his head.  Bugbears were as dense in their brains as they were in the muscle department. “I have an appointment in the back room.”

Arun pushed past the Bugbear and headed down the narrow staircase.  If anyone got this far, all they would see is another dingy, graffiti-filled entrance to a basement.  Nothing unusual in a major city.  But at the end of those stairs was a large wooden plank door, held together by wrought-iron banding that had the telltale signs of being forged by hand.

Opening those doors was like being taken back in time.  Subterranean Homesick Brews was built in the early 1970s, but it looked and felt like it was from the 1670s.  Wide hardwood floorboards, naked timber framing, and an open stone fireplace in the corner, currently lit, helped bring it all together. The bar was active at all hours, many folks behind the Veil led lives at weird hours, but in the evening like this, it was downright crowded. Dwarves and Halflings sat at the bar; pewter mugs full of the beer brewed on-premise. Elves and Gnomes, sat in small groups at round tables, thick in conversation. A few goblins even mixed with the crowd.

Humans were conspicuously missing.  Very few humans were permitted to know what was behind the Veil.  Those that did rarely mingled in semi-public places like this.

Arun spotted the people he was supposed to meet with at a table in the corner. The bald Elf was Galan Oloyra, a regular contact and generally a humorless sack of paperwork.  The Halfling he knew by sight but had never formally met her. Andrea Correa was most likely here as Galan’s supervisor, as she definitely ranked higher than him. Her reputation in the Wardens was that she was fair; merciful with those that deserved it and brutal with those that didn’t. The Dwarf was a face Arun had never seen and he had no idea who they were.

Arun put his long leather jacket that doubled as armor on the back of a chair and sat down. “If I had realized this was a whole committee meeting, I would’ve worn my better suit.”

Galan glared at him, as unamused as ever. “Arun, glad you made it. You’re late of course.”

“The meat sack at the door held me up.” He was maybe two minutes late. But that was Galan, everything needed to be done in exactly the manner prescribed.  “Doesn’t matter. I’m here now.  What’s the job?”

Andrea put a warm hand on Arun’s wrist, and gave a gentle squeeze.  “This is a very sensitive case, so I would appreciate it if you would keep your voice down.’

“If it’s that sensitive, why meet,” Arun waved his hands around gesturing to the couple dozen people noisily gathered in the tavern, “ya know, here?”

Andrea smiled at Arun. It was probably meant to be reassuring but came off as condescending. Like she felt the need to explain something to a child who had asked the wrong question. “The details are not that confidential, but I would prefer not to alarm anyone. Besides, the ambient noise is more than enough for us to keep this conversation private.”

Galan interjected in usual matter of fact way. “We’ve got some information that a member of New Dawn has been collecting video footage of Veil creatures that they intend to release.”

New Dawn was a small faction of people who wanted the Dusk Veil Accords abolished, thereby introducing the whole world to magic and creatures behind the Veil. They believed that it was only fair that everyone knew the truth and Veil folks no longer be forced to hide. Their heart was in the right place, but their methods sometimes left something to be desired.

Arun knew that video footage couldn’t be allowed out, or the Veil could be destroyed overnight. “So, you want me to acquire and destroy the video. Got it. Anything else I should know?”

“The target is a Dhampir.” Galan added no emotion to the blunt statement.

A half-vampire. That could be interesting.

Andrea continued to give information, albeit in a more friendly manner than Galan.  “Because they work at a corporate firm, you have to go at night to avoid any commoners. But as they are Dhampir, they are likely to be on site. The sooner the better.”

“Ah.” Good thing Arun had packed his kit. It was always better to be prepared. “So, it’s not just infiltration and destruction, but possibly dealing with a loose end.  Why not send some regular Wardens in to deal with this Dhampir?”

The Dwarf who had been silent the whole time spoke quietly, without looking at Arun. “We would prefer the Dhampir to survive, Mr. Thenan.  He is a link to something bigger.”

Andrea gave a nod of agreement. “Best case scenario is you are unseen, but the most important thing is his files are not released tomorrow morning as he plans.” She pulled out her phone and typed something rapidly. Arun felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. “Here is the address. We appreciate your work, Arun. You will be nicely rewarded if this goes well.”

There was no need for Arun to stick around any longer. He might as well head right to the job. He thanked the trio and head to the street as he sent a request on his ride-hailing app.

The bugbear stopped him at the door. “Hey, you said you were going to the back room. There is no backroom.”

 “How long have you worked here? And they still haven’t shown you the back room.  That’s a shame.” Arun almost felt bad for messing with the brute, but it was too easy.

The ride to the Financial District was quick and uneventful. His driver was a young woman, chatty, but not too invasive. She never asked why he was going to a business district in the late evening, so Arun didn’t care what other questions she had.

Arun walked through the first set of doors in a high-rise office building. The security guard looked up from his desk, and Arun flashed his enchanted badge. It was a gift from one of his friends in the Wardens, a small glamour was placed on it that would cause anyone who looked at it to see exactly what they expected to see. Sure enough, the guard gave a curt nod and buzzed the second set of doors open.

A quick elevator ride and Arun was in a hallway leading to the Dhampir’s office. The only sound that greeted him was the gentle hum of the building’s climate control. Coming at night was a good call. Reaching his target door, he saw a passcode electronic lock. That wouldn’t be a problem, but first, he had to know what was going to greet him on the other side.

Opening his leather messenger bag, he fished out his tiny night vision camera and shoved it under the door. He reached for his phone to connect the view, but it wasn’t in his pocket. Oh, hell. Where had he left his phone?  There wasn’t time to worry about it. He looked up and down the hall one more time to double-check that he was alone and pulled out his laptop, it would connect to the camera just fine.

The purple-tinged fuzzy image of the camera scanned the room.  Basic small office setup, one desk, a computer, a few filing cabinets. Most importantly, no people.

A small but powerful magnet was all Arun needed to trip the switch on the door lock. A well-known flaw in the security world, but for some reason, cheap companies kept using this kind of lock on their doors.

The room was dark, but Arun didn’t need much light to work with. The desktop PC was asleep but not off.  Man, was this really going to be this easy?  Nope, it still needed a password to get in.  A minor setback at worst. He pulled a thumb drive from his bag of tricks and plugged it in. A quick reboot and sure enough the BIOS wasn’t password protected. He booted to his thumb drive and had immediate access to all the files on the system.

The Dhampir hadn’t even bothered to hide the files, they were in a folder called “Dusk Veil Evidence.” He was making it too easy. Arun hit the delete key on the folder and watched as the progress bar showed 156 files, forty-two gigabytes worth of data being erased.

Goosebumps ran down Arun’s arms as he heard arcane words being spoken in a soft, resonant voice. Shit! Someone was in here after all, and they were casting a spell.

Arun dove over the desk hoping to protect himself from whatever magic was about to hit him. As he did, he watched a man, pale, almost gray skin, shimmer back into the visible spectrum.   Invisibility. He should’ve used the thermo camera. Of course, they could’ve told him the Dhampir was a mage.

There was little time to think about that as crackling lightning arced through the desk, a half a heartbeat after Arun had dodged it.

The Dhampir’s voice was smooth but intimidating. “You’ve just cost me months of work, and no small amount of financial loss. Show yourself so I can return the favor.”

“That won’t be necessary. Real friends don’t ask for payback on favors.”  Arun huddled behind the desk and checked his holsters. Pistol was too loud, and they wanted him alive. Baton might do the trick, but he would have to get close. He extended the metal rod to full length.

Peaking around the side of the desk, he was met with an explosion of arcane fire. He barely ducked out of the way in time. He guessed the smell of burnt hair meant he had just lost his eyebrows.  His face was still warm, so he had probably taken some first-degree burns.  It would hurt when the adrenaline wore off.

Well, getting close wasn’t an option.  On the other hand, the Dhampir had ruined any chance of this being a quiet affair.  The Wardens or Council or whoever might want this guy alive, but he clearly wanted Arun dead.  Self-preservation was more important than following directions. 

Arun pulled his snub-nosed revolver out and checked that it was loaded. All but the first chamber for safety. Perfect.  He tossed the baton against the wall on the far side of the desk, hoping to distract his opponent. A glowing ball of force struck the weapon.  Praying the distraction lasted long enough, Arun popped up over the desk and fired three shots.

A translucent green shield appeared in front of the Dhampir. The bullets smacked into it, causing ghostly ripples in its surface, but not penetrating.

Arun ducked back down before he could be caught with another spell. He had to figure something out. He looked around the dark office. A crack of light was coming from the door. He had either forgot to close it all the way, or the force of the fireball had opened it. It was only a few feet away he could make a break for it.  But then what?  He would be in a wide-open hallway with a Dhampir right behind him.  He had to do something about the half-vampire if he wanted to escape with his life.

Vampire! That was it. Dhampirs were practically undead. He reached into his bag and found the healing potion he kept for emergencies.  This wasn’t what he intended, but it qualified.

He popped up from the desk again, pistol pointed. The Dhampir raised his shield to block the gunfire. As he did, Arun saw it left his lower body wide open. Perfect.

Arun threw the healing potion with all his might. It shattered on impact with the Dhampir’s thigh. Healing energy raced through the Dhampir’s body. Positive energy that was bane to all undead, including Dhampirs.

As his flesh sizzled away, he tried to cast one more spell. An icy ray escaped from his fingers but went wild. A second later the Dhampir had melted into nothing.

Arun plopped down to the ground, leaning against the desk, chest heaving. It had only been a few seconds, but it had gotten his blood pumping. He made it out alive, even if the target didn’t. He would have to explain himself. As long as he cleaned up the mess and nobody had seen what happened or any evidence, the Wardens would forgive him.

He suddenly had the feeling that someone was staring at him.

Looking up he saw a young woman standing in the doorway. Her dark brown eyes were as wide as her hanging jaw. “I…you…uh,” she held up a small black device. “You forgot your phone,” she managed to stammer before collapsing to the ground.

Oh, great.  How was he going to explain this one?