| Dumpster Diving |
[01 Oct 2007|02:34pm] |
The first body was discovered by a garbageman named Marvin Vega. Marvin drove the pre-dawn route, and that day it was up to him to make sure the dumpsters were closed before the big truck latched onto them with the clamps. It was usually his riding partner's job, but Cosmo had called in sick that day, something about Chinese food that didn't agree with him. Marvin had warned Cos to to stay out of Mama Wong's Oriental Delights if he valued his stomach lining.
The garbage truck's headlights cut through the shadows thrown by the streetlamps as gears shifted, and the hiss of brakes preceded the creaky sound of the door opening. Marvin was a little barrel-shaped man in his late thirties, and he'd been driving this route for a couple of years now. His orange jumpsuit had the words Las Vegas Sanitation written on the breast pocket. There was a small diamond stud in his right ear, and his dreadlocks were ponytailed together with a leather thong as per regulations. He yawned, scratched at his unshaven jaw, inspected the two dumpsters behind Charlie's Chicken and Ribs.
They were both closed, but there was the distinctive shape of a bag poking out from behind the second dumpster. Marvin scowled. He'd told and told those people, hadn't he? Left a polite note and everything; Please put all trash into the receptacle for pickup. A simple enough request, because he sure as fuck didn't want to clean up their left-overs. His luck, the bag would probably leak on him when he picked it up and then he'd need four showers to get the stink off. Uh-uh. No way, no how, not this boy.
Marvin made sure all the doors were closed, then toed the bag lightly with his cheap white sneaker. If he didn't clean it up, the fools who worked here would probably complain, and his supervisor would put a write-up in his employment record. Marvin rolled his eyes heavenward, muttering something in gutter Spanish, and bent down to pick it up. Being built like a beer keg helped, his shoulders used to bearing burdens, but when a human hand escaped from the bag and smacked him in the face he let out a startled yelp and dropped the plastic-wrapped bundle, performing a sort of shuck-and-jive dance away from it. "Dios Mio!"
He looked around, toed the bag again as if the hand might move, then backed off another two steps to crouch down. The hand was still there, poking through a hole in the opaque plastic, and Marvin caught sight of the arm the hand was attached to. It was too dark to see everything, the sun still not up, and the sanitation worker looked back at his idling vehicle. He was gonna have to call this in. It looked like the rest of his day would be spent with the cops.
The door creaked open again, and Marvin kept an eye on the inert bag next to the still-full dumpster as if a zombie might leap out of it and try to eat his brains while he radioed Dispatch. "Yeah, Karl? This is Marvin Vega, Route 14, Truck 27. We got a stiff in with the garbage this mornin', man. I gonna call the fuzz now."
Marvin Vega was written by Stargazer
|
|
| A Night in the Basement |
[01 Oct 2007|10:25pm] |
Leah had been mildly concerned when she heard the news on TV of Fang Noir's transformation from Club to smoking ruin, and her call to Vicky's phone had ended in voicemail, which heightened her anxiety just a touch higher. She might not have been the best employee or friend in the past few weeks, but she still cared about the Vampiress.
If she didn't hear from Vicky or Deanna in the next day or so she'd start to worry, but for now she'd simply assume the two were busy dealing with the aftermath. She had her own issues to deal with.
With her current job masquerading as a high school teacher Leah had found herself working harder than she had in years. She was actually trying to teach her classes the value of physical exercise instead of just allowing the will of the mob to rule, and it was a difficult task.
Leah wanted followers, worshipers, but she didn't want worshipers that were slackers. The whole point was to mold the young minds of Las Vegas's potential movers and shakers to worship her without turning them into stoned out losers. It was tiring work, and after 'extra curricular activities' with some of the more promising students Leah was ready to relax and indulge in a drink or three.
She'd heard good things about 'The Basement' from some of the patrons of Fang Noir and had decided to check the place out. As she walked into the bar she could tell why the place held such appeal for the supernatural set, at first glance she could see vampires in full form, a fair number of humans, and several demons, all seeming to get along without issues.
There was one creature in particular that caught Leah's attention, resting on the coils of her tail...
( Fancy meeting you here )
|
|