“Hmm… what’s that look for?”

“I’m trying to figure out what you’re doing here.”

“I thought I made that pretty clear.” Genevieve said with her head resting on Wilee’s chest.

“I mean the coincidence that you’re here with me when you should be working on your special assignment for the prince of the ‘Big Easy’ in the midst of a civil war in New York.”

Genevieve sat up. “Are you so insecure that the only explanation for me wanting to have sex with you is anything other than me just wanting to? When you insinuate that I’m here for any reason other than I want to be here you’re insinuating that I would use sex to achieve a particular goal. Which is to say that I’m being paid to have sex with you. Which is to call me a whore. Is that what you’re doing? Are you calling me a whore Wilee?”

“No, of course not. I got a pretty good bead on my appeal as a man, and it doesn’t add up to you.”

“And if you’re so sure I have all of these ulterior motives then why in the hell would you share your bed with me?”

“Have you looked in the mirror lately?”

“Here’s my ulterior motive. You wanna hear it?”

“Sure.”

“You know how important my task is. My prince’s mate is in torpor. She should have come out of it by now but hasn’t. And I’m supposed to find out why. And yet here I am spending most of my time with you. I find myself thinking of you…” She paused for a moment. “I want you to be my research partner.”

“Wait. What? What about Christian? Isn’t he your partner?”

“You’ve met him. Several times in fact. He’s an ass.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

“Asking for your help wasn’t my motive until…until I found myself naked in your bed arguing about why I’m naked in your bed. Look Wilee, I don’t have to sleep with you to get access to the chantry’s lore or anything else for that matter. I’m here because I want to be here.”

“I want you to be here too. I don’t think you’re a…”

“Don’t say it. If you want me here, just hold me.”

They embraced each other in silence for a time before Genevieve spoke again.

“I want to know more about you.”

“What do you want to know?”

“How did you get embraced?”

“It’s a long story.”

“We all have long stories.  I want to hear yours.”

“Are you sure?”

“You insinuated I was a whore. This is your penance.” She said with a mischievous grin.

Wilee signed in protest, straightened himself and cleared his throat. “I was at Pier 51 doing a flash performance. This guy, Egg Shen, always seemed able to find me…”

Wilee thought back to that particular memory.

“Come in close. Closer. Because the more you think you see, the easier it’ll be to fool you. Because what is seeing? You’re looking, but what you’re really doing is filtering, interpreting, searching for meaning. My job? To take that most precious of gifts you give me, your attention, and use it against you. I’m going to flip through this deck. And I want you to see one card. Not this one. That’s too obvious. Pay close attention. That was too fast. I’ll do it again. Are you ready?”

“Mm-hmm.” Said the mark.

“Okay. Now did you see one?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have one in mind?”

“Yes.”

“Now, do you see your card here?”

“No.”

“That’s because you’re looking too closely. And what have I been telling you all night? The closer you look…”

“The less you see!” The crowd shouted in unison.

Wilee took the deck of cards and threw it against the side of a nearby building. All the cards fell to the sidewalk save one, the seven of diamonds stuck on the side of the warehouse.

“Whoa! Wait, wait. What? What? How did you do that?!”

“That’s a trade secret. Ladies and gentlemen thank you!”

The crowd applauded.

“Wait! Before you go anywhere. I’m working on something new. Do you have a second? I will give one hundred dollars to anyone who can tell me how this trick is done.”

Wilee then quickly chose a young woman from the crowd.

“Okay. could you please, pick a card, any card. Not that card.”

“Oh!” said the young woman as she quickly released the card.

“No, that’s an old joke. You can take that one. Okay. This one?”

The young woman nodded in the affirmative.

“Show it to your friends. But not to me. Okay, great. Now if you could just sign your name there.”

“Right here?” said the young woman.

“Yes. That’s good. Thanks. Put it in your pocket. And now for one tiny detail. Was this your card?”

“No.”

“See, I knew you weren’t a queen of hearts lady, and I respect that.”

“It’s up your left sleeve. Isn’t it?” Shouted a disheveled elderly Asian man.

“No. No, nothing up my sleeve.” Wilee countered.

“You know, why don’t you check your unnecessary velveteen pocket there?” The old man said as he reached into the pocket with unnatural speed. “Ace of Spades. Knew it.”

Wilee was exasperated. “What’s this? What are you doing, man?”

“Look at this!” The old man said holding up the card to the crowd.

The crowd groaned in disappointment and began to disburse.

“I’ll take my 100 bucks. You said you would.”

Wilee begrudgingly took out his wallet.

“Nice wallet.” The old man said with a toothy grin.

“Thanks.” Willee said with venom in his voice.

“I am your biggest fan.” The old man said, still grinning.

“I can see that. Thanks for nothing, asshole.” Wilee said as he slapped a hundred-dollar bill in the old man’s hand.

“My name is Egg Shen. Aren’t you tired of this street side bullshit? How would you like to learn real magic?”

“Piss off old man. You just blew me up and you’re gonna talk about ‘real magic’?”

“Do you know what I see? I see a little boy. He wants to be a great magician someday. And though he’s good, he’s not quite good enough. So, he ends up at the bottom of the entertainment food chain, feeding off of those who have the talent that he never did. Tell me. Am I getting close?

“Screw you yang laji!” (foreign trash)

“Tell me huangchong. (locust) Do you really believe in magic?”

“Chinese sorcery? There’s no such thing.” Wilee said dismissively as he took out his cell phone to answer a call.

“You’re lying.” Egg Shen retorted as he pointed a gnarled finger at the cell phone. There was a brief spark followed by a faint scent of ozone. In an instant the phone was dead.

“What the hell man! What did you do?! How did you do that?!”

“See? That was nothing. But that’s how it always begins. Very small.”

“You’re really serious about this? You’re gonna teach me real magic?”

“Yes. Absolutely. So what do you say?”

“I say you’re like Buddha, if he wasn’t so enlightened.”

“And you’re like Jesus, if he was arrogant and all of his miracles were fake.” Egg Shen handed Wilee a crumpled piece of paper. “Go to this address tomorrow night and I will show you a world so unreal and yet, at once, so frightening.”

“Monsters and ghosts I suppose?”

“And sorcery.”

The following evening Wilee found the address written on the paper, The Chan Sing Exchange. He knocked on the door and Egg Shen let him in.

“Wilee my boy! Come in! Come in!”

“God, this place is creepy.” Wilee thought to himself. “You live here?”

“I own the block. I’m a rich guy.”

“Rich? This place is a dump, Egg.”

“To Western eyes. Focus on your Chinese heritage! The stuff in these bottles is priceless. With the easing of trade restrictions, next year we’ll start importing lots of things from Hong Kong.”

“What sort of things?” Wilee asked as he looked at a jar of monkey sputum.

Ignoring the question, Egg Shen walked over to Wilee.

“Well, all set?”

“Yeah. Ready when you are, Egg.”

Egg Shen opened a well-worn wooden cabinet and took out a silver flask inscribed with Chinese characters and other arcane runes. 

“What’s in the flask? Magic potion?”

“Yeah.”

“Thought so. Good. Do we drink it?”

“Yeah.”

Egg Shen poured the contents into two small glasses and handed one to Wilee.

Wilee stared at the dark viscous fluid in the glass “What is that?”

“Black blood of the earth.”

“Do you mean oil?”

“I mean black blood of the earth.”

“This does what again, exactly?”

“Huge buzz.” Egg Shen said with a toothy grin.

“Good! What does it do?”

“You can see things no one else can see, do things no one else can do.”

“What more can a guy ask for?”

Wilee stared at the dark viscous fluid in the glass one last time. “Cheers!” Wilee consumed the thick honey-like contents of the glass.

“I feel pretty good. You know, I’m not… I just feel kind of…”

His world went black. He didn’t know how much time passed before he woke up. Wilee jumped off of an old worn couch with a start and shed the well used blanket that was covering him.

“Where the hell am I?”

“My office. Sit down.”

“You sleep in your office?”

“How do you feel?”

“Like shit! What did you do to me?!”

“What do you remember?”

“I dreamt that I was on fire. I can still feel the pain. I remember drinking…blood. I’m a reasonable guy, but I’ve experienced some unreasonable things.”

“It depends on how you look at it.”

“The hell it does! Tell me what is goin’ on!”

“The truth?”

“Yes the truth goddamn it!”

“All you need to know is that vampires are real. Here and now. You may have been taught other words. “Vampire” is a favorite of mortal mythmakers. “Lick” shows the vital vulgarity of the Anarchs. Such words are no longer adequate. You are Kindred.”