I did this quick plot-sketch that I want to come back to later because I think it will be a fun little tongue-in-cheek short story about a vamp hunter doing her night job to make-ends-meet.
(3/7/2021) I spent the morning writing notes on paper for this story, and the story is finished; I just need to upload it to the paper. There is a bigger story behind the story, but for now, it's the ending for this mission.
Write a 350-word story in the drama genre. It's about a single mother and should include weights. Also, use the sentence 'Where'd you get that wound?' Bonus prompt: There is a great storm.
(plot notes)
The wound could come from her night job-killing vampires or something.
They could be at a gym.
There could be a gym rat jock "going, hey how you doing, and go how did you get that wound, and then she would continue working out and eventually entice him into finding out how she got that wound before she offed him too because he was also a vampire. Then she would dust off her hands, say something witty and bounce out of the gym or finish her set before she left, not sure which.
Sathia character name
Daughters name Mia Elain
Adventures of Sathia and Mia
Episode 1 Jock Vamp
Sathia parked her lilac Vespa outside the upscale gym; and dismounted, activating the kickstand. She'd just finished her job and had been on her way home when she'd received an emergency investigation request. Her right cheek smarted as she pulled off her helmet, popping up the seat and getting ready to secure it; her phone rang with an all-to-familiar jingle.
She finished stowing her helmet as she answered the phone, and the wind kicked up around her. She looked up at the sky and noted that storm clouds were rapidly rolling in. "Mia? Sweety, what's the matter?" She asked in a calming voice.
"Mom, where are you?"
"I got hung up at work. Management called in a last-minute job." The wind around her blew stronger.
"Mom, are you going to be out late again?"
Sathia closed her eyes and took a deep breath; she'd give anything for them not to have to go through this but here they were, the both of them alone. "No. I just need to identify the source of something, and it shouldn't take too long."
"Okay, Mom, I love you, be safe."
"I love you too, baby." She looked up at the sky as she was about to hang up and thought of something. "Mia Elain, you should really calm down. You know that your mood affects the weather, and you still don't have great control over your magic."
"Sorry, Mama, I was just worried when you didn't come home on time."
"I know, baby, I know. It's...just be careful, okay?"
She heard a small voice, almost a squeak, "I know, mama. I'll try."
Sathia looked up and nodded with satisfaction, her hand on the gym door as the storm cleared. "It's okay, honey, just do your best; I'll see you after work. Love you."
"Bye, Mama."
"Bye, kiddo." She opened the gym door and hung up the phone, placing thoughts of family and home behind her.
Sathia focused on the job at hand and on the information she knew about the missing teens and young adults that had gone missing from this establishment. She looks around the high-end gym, the perfect trap for wealthy younger people who like to stay up with the current trends.
She scanned the room, took in the receptionist, and waited to see what the woman would do and as if on cue.
“May I help you?”
“Yes, I received a certificate to try out the facilities to decide if I want to become a member. What are the guest sign-in procedures here?”
The receptionist did a quick scan of her clothing, taking in the wound on her cheek from her last job. “ I’m not sure this is the place for you. You should really leave.”
Sathia wondered if she was really a snob or if she was warning her about something else. So, she pushed a little harder. “Well, my girlfriend paid good money for me to try out the facilities here, and I don’t want to let her down.”
The girl’s hand shook as she took the card, her lips pale. “Well,” she put on her best plastic smile, “I hope you enjoy your experience then.” she looked around and dropped her voice to a whisper leaning forward. “I would just give you a word of advice. It’s best to just do your workout by yourself around here; some of the guys can be real creeps if you know what I mean.” She jerked, standing straight again as if something scared her, and the plastic smile became more mechanical. “Let’s get you all checked in now.” She said; her hands flew over the keyboard as she looked down at the card in her hand.
Sathia leaned against the counter, drumming her fingers as if she were impatient. Things were too odd; there was no way that this was just a one-and-done deal. This girl was scared. She knew something, and from the looks of it, someone was controlling her.
There you go, this is a temporary card that opens the member areas, like the sauna and racquetball court: the massage room, and several of our more exclusive services, require an upgraded card to go into, but the basic-card will let you access anything on the main floor. Just come back here when you’re ready to leave and let me know if you’re interested in continuing your stay with us, and I’ll get you set up with a plan and show you the pricing lists. Or we could go over it now if you’d like.”
“No, that’s okay. I’ll check it out on the way out.”
The girl seemed about to say something more but stopped herself, or something stopped her.
She walked around the lobby for a few minutes as if she were indeed a new client familiarizing herself with a gym she might be considering joining. Sathia walked past the vending machine and popped a few coins in the slot to purchase a bougie-water that was too expensive for her blood and was definitely coming out of her clients’ costs.
She ran her hand over the machine for back exercises and made sure that there weren’t any problems with the cables; she adjusted the weights, then she sat on the bench and reached up behind her, pulling the bar down until it just touched her shoulders.
Sathia kept her eyes on the door to watch and see who came in and out. She also kept half an eye on the rest of the exercise area. Then she saw it, a rookie mistake in this day and age. She shook her head; she didn’t think she had run into a vampier this stupid in a long time. Sathia watched him as he scouted the room and nodded at the receptionist. Who shrank away from him ever so slightly? Yep, that girl definitely knew something was up in this club. There had to be more to it than just this one vampire.
She sighed. Well, her mission stated that she only needs to identify the cause of the disappearances, and she’d done that. They likely had a new den, but that wasn’t her problem, not anymore. She bit her lip and focused on seeming like she was deep into her workout; while she watched this cocky jock of a vamp saunter over to her. At least this time, he’d remembered to cloak because he was visible in the mirror behind her.
“Hey, How are you doing? My name is Jake,” He said, standing to the side with his arms crossed, nodding his head as he watched her. “Your form is pretty good, but it could use a little work. If you would like, I could give you some pointers. We offer some instruction here. With personal trainers like myself. I haven't seen you before, are you new?”
She raised an eyebrow at him. Was he being serious right now? Did anyone ever fall for this line of bs? She stood up and shook out her shoulders, taking a breath. “Who did you say you were?
“Oh, sorry, Jake,” he shot his hand out to grasp hers, but she avoided touching him, unwilling to give the game away.
She wiped her hand on her legging and said, “sorry sweaty,”
He pulled his hand back with an awkward grin, “It’s alright. So, are you interested in signing up for any additional training?” He asked again.
“I’m not sure what would that entail?”
She asked, turning to face him, and he hissed.
“What happened to your cheek, you poor thing?”
“Oh...this,” she said, bringing her hand up to touch her cheek. It happened at work. It’s nothing to worry about.”
“You must have a difficult job.”
Sathia smiled at him with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes; “you have no idea.”
“Well, Why don’t I give you a quick tour of our facilities, and you can make an informed decision?”
Sathia glanced over him, a playful smile dancing on her lips, and shot a quick glance to the nervous girl behind the counter; and nodded to her. “You know what? That sounds like a wonderful idea.” She said as she followed him. “So...How’s the security around here?”
He paused for a second before continuing, “well, we’re a twenty-four-hour facility. We have a state-of-the-art track behind the building, and there are cameras inside and outside the building. However, for the most part, only our daytime clients make use of the track since we have hiking trails off the track, in the woods on the backside of the property.” He turned to smile at her. “I guess people are still afraid of the woods at night.”
They came to a heavy double door. “Let’s see this is our pool,” he said, pushing the door open and a mist of wet air enveloped them.
She ducked her head in and did a quick survey of the area. “Nice, I might have to swim a few laps next time. Do you also have a sauna and hot tub?”
“Yes, there are. They’re on the other side of the pool, we can take this hall, and I’ll show you the changing rooms and where the entrance to the sauna and the hot tubs are.”
“Okay, sounds awesome.” She backed away and let him close the door, and continued following him down the hall as if she were really interested in the tour.
Satha made careful note of any security that they passed and let a tendril of magic loose to intertwine within the camera just in case she required it before she left the facilities. One never knew when one had to doctor the video images fed into the mainframe of the public security network.
She studied the back of this obnoxious jock vamp and wondered how long he planned to draw this out. They were already quite a ways away from the front desk area, he must do this quite often for the girl at the desk to be so worked up about him enough to warn her, well not just about him, but sounds like the other ‘personal trainers’ were a problem as well.
He must do it towards the back of the building on these tours or even take them out back where there wasn’t much security from the sounds of it, they only had cameras, and she knew just how easily those could be altered. She thought, looking up and sending another strand of magic into yet another camera.
The magic she planned to use at the end of this job was a bit tricky, so leaving a helping hand within the onsite cameras wouldn’t hurt. She’d cast a low-grade scanning magic on him the second he’d walked in the door and didn’t have a cloaking spell on. It captured all the nuances of his mannerisms and behavior, so she could use it for later. Not her fault he was a dumb jock.
With the security in this place, they could take several victims a week. She hoped he would take her outside; her magic could be subtle. Still, staking sometimes left evidence, and blowing the ashes away on the wind was her preferred cleanup method and would let her enact the second part of her plan without a hiccup.
“So, are you going to show me the track after the sauna and other indoor facilities? I don’t always train at night. I just got off from my job a little later than normal today and wanted to work off some steam.”
He made an almost imperceptible pause in his steps. “Well, I can’t show you all of the indoor facilities, some of them are reserved for only our V.I.P. members, and I hadn’t originally planned on heading out there.” He said. “But if you want to see it, why not.” He turned and smiled at her with a hundred-watt smile. "Here's what we can do; we can swing out there real quick before we come back in and get your paperwork squared away if you think that you like our facilities and are interested in our personal training program.”
“Sounds good. I’ll keep it in mind while checking out what your facilities have to offer.” She just wanted the game to end and couldn’t believe that he would drag this on as long as he had.
He looked over his shoulder at her, smiling with half a lip curled up, “how are you liking the tour so far?”
“Well…” She looked him in the eye for half a second before shifting her gaze away and looking at the signs on the wall, “I must say it’s been very informative…Yes, you’ve been an excellent host, I’d only come to check the place out, and had expected a very uneventful evening.”
He turned, smiling wider and making a bicep, showing off, “well, we aim to please,” he pushed open the doors to the spa and hot tub. “While you don’t have access to the true massage parlor here, there are massage chairs in there too,” he winked.
She laughed and blew out a breath. “Oh, really?”
“Yep, they come highly recommended.”
“I see.”
“I can’t really show you the changing room, but it's through there,” He said, nodding slightly further down the short hall, within a few feet from where they stood. “If you want to check it out.”
Sathia nodded and went in. Might as well go through the motions; she didn’t need him getting suspicious that she was anything other than what she claimed to be. She tooled around for a few minutes admiring the details and flopped on the couch, used the facilities, and came back out.
“How was it?”
“They seem... nice?”
“So, you want to see the tract area now?”
Finally, she breathed a sigh of relief. He had finished dicking around and had decided to bring the game to a close. “Sure, sounds like a plan.”
“It’s just down through here,” he said and took her down a dark hall.
There was a thin strip of runner lights along the baseboards that turned on one at a time as they walked past them.
“Are you sure this is the right way? How come there aren't really any lights on? She asked, acting nervous; she might as well ham it up, she thought, letting the endorphins flood her blood to get him all worked up.
“The management doesn’t like to have them on in this part of the building during the night since no one uses the track or the hiking trails in the evening. They think it’s a waste of money, and you know, saving the environment.”
“Oh, I see.” She said with a slight tremble in her voice as she moved closer to him.
“What, scared.” he scoffed, turning to her and bumping open the door.
“Well, not exactly,” she said. Activating the mimic spell that had been held in suspension; attached to the scanner spell, and pushing him the rest of the way through the door marking the cameras with her magic; freezing them for a split second in time as she brought up the stake stabbing it deep into his chest.
“You asked how I’d gotten hurt,'' she said, shoving the stake the rest of the way through his sternum into his heart. “Like I said, my job is kind of rough. Next time you shouldn’t drop your cloaking around so many mirrors; she winked and blew him a kiss as his body disintegrated, becoming energy as it flowed back into the magic stream, reintegrating where its frozen time had once been lost.
When the Mimic fully formed, she took a deep breath and looked back at the cameras; they started back up again, and she stood there for a moment; before brushing past him, “haha, funny. I thought you were going to show me the track, not grope me, be careful, or I’ll have to report you.”
“Very funny; well, if you don’t want to see the track, I’m going back in.”
“Sure you do that. I’m going to get some air for a second,” she said, taking out her phone and leaning against the wall playing with it to look like she’d come out for a break.
-Missions done- she sent a text then looked up at the deep forest across from the track. -However, this place. There’s something off about it; send a team. I’m pretty sure the missing persons are related to a den. I’m activating a mimic; you can collect it at the same place as usual.-
She slipped her phone back into its pouch on her upper arm and walked back into the building.
Sathia slapped her temporary membership card down on the counter, the receptionist jumped. “I don’t think I’ll be joining your facility after all,” she said, looking over her shoulder at Jake’s Mimic; you were right; the men around here are really off-putting.
The girl looked around nervously and then smiled at her. “I’ll get that processed for you right away.”
“I really appreciate it, also” she leaned forward. “I wouldn’t worry about the situation for much longer.”
Sathia winked at the girl, who gaped at her.
“Well, then thank you for your patronage, come again.” She smiled at her and waved. It looked like a weight had been lifted off her chest.
She nodded and pushed open the doors. A gust of wind caught her by surprise, and her good mood deflated a bit. Something was up with her kiddo; she sprinted to the Vespa and quickly unlocked the seat, pulling out her helmet. She slapped it on her head. Not noticing the dark shadow that shimmered in the air behind her.
She took off and headed for home, glad that the day was finally over and she could relax. The old house suited them well. She slammed open the door, chucking her helmet on a chair and her keys in a bowl left on a long bench by the entrance. “Mia, I’m home.”
“Mommy!”
The scamper of padded feet and the scrape of claws clattered down the hardwood stairs. And threw themselves into her arms, she kissed her cheeks, “yes, baby, I’m home. Let's have dinner and go to bed.”
“‘Kay, mom.” She said, giving her a hug.
The weather outside calmed down while the dark shadow watched the happy scene through the window.
To be continued….
Further adventures of Sathia and Mia Episode 2 Fanatic from the Forest Prompt 6
Fin- 3/8/2021
