PRISONER 157342: By Lori Titus
Thursday, December 24th, 2009The Marradith Ryder Series: Bonus Story 1
Sojourner Archives: September, 1986
Time: 11:35 PM
Sojourner Detention Facility, White Sands, New Mexico, USA
Female suspect is believed to be a member of The Circle, having committed crimes under their direction. Her underworld connections have identified her as Luna. During a previous interview, she asked to be called Leny.
On the date of this interview, we are in the process of verifying her identity.
Written Transcript of Recorded Conversation Between Female Prisoner 157342 and Interrogator R312
Interrogator: You seem more rested this morning. Are you willing to talk?
Prisoner: If you’ll get me something to eat, I’ll talk. It’s been days since I ate.
(A few minutes elapse. As the guard arrives with a plate, the interrogator speaks again.)
Interrogator: Alright, what I would like to know is how you came to know Percival.
Prisoner: I have always known him. He knew my brother.
Interrogator: They were friends?
Prisoner. Yes.
Interrogator: Were you aware that Percival was a vampire when you met him?
The prisoner laughs. Well, he wasn’t a vampire when we first met.
Interrogator: How do you know?
Prisoner: He was a thin little weakling with crooked teeth and acne back then. And he was scared of the sight of blood.
Interrogator: Okay. So did you have a friendship?
Prisoner: Sort of. He admired me, but I really didn’t have much to do with him.
Interrogator: Why?
Prisoner: Because in those days, Percival was a groupie. I know it sounds odd to say, but there are humans who seek out vampires, who wanted to be turned. He was one of those.
Interrogator: Was this the reason he was friends with you?
Prisoner: He’d heard about us. He knew my brother and I were half vampire. I told him that I couldn’t help him.
Interrogator: Had you ever drank blood at that point?
Prisoner: Oh, yes. I enjoyed the drink. But I’d never killed a human by draining them. I certainly didn’t have the ability to turn anyone.
Interrogator: Are you sure about that?
Prisoner: I don’t know. Would you like to try?
Interrogator: No thanks.
The prisoner laughs. You turned green.
Interrogator: Just not my thing is all.
Prisoner: Percival found somebody that turned him. I don’t know who. There were rumors that it was Ella Mercier, an old vampire that lived just outside town. I hope for his sake that Ella did not turn him. It would have taken a special brand of desperation to bring any man to her door. I can tell you that he moved away from our block in New Orleans, and I did not see him for about ten years. I was twenty five when we met again, and at that time he was a vampire.
Interrogator: I see. So how did he pick up the relationship with you?
Prisoner: He dropped by my Aunt’s house one day when I happened to be visiting. I’m sure that was planned. He’d probably been following me. At the time it seemed a normal event.
Interrogator: Did the fact that he’d been turned bother you?
Prisoner: I would not say it bothered me, though I was aware of it. Percival seemed to feel this made us more equal.
Interrogator: Did you drink from him?
Prisoner: We met about a week later, and we did drink from each other. It’s sort of a custom, a nicety, you might say.
Interrogator: How long before you started to work for him?
Prisoner: I started working for him about a year later.
Interrogator: Why?
Prisoner: It seemed like fun, and there was good money in it.
Interrogator: What did you do for him?
Prisoner: I killed people.
Interrogator: Who?
Prisoner: Whoever he told me to. He had many enemies. He wanted to be mayor at one point, and I was being sent around to kill his competition.
Interrogator: Who else did you kill for him?
Prisoner: A couple of women that he’d turned by accident. A man that was trying to blackmail him. I can’t remember them all.
Interrogator: During this time, the sexual relationship between you was ongoing?
Prisoner: Yes.
Interrogator: Weren’t you ever afraid of him?
Prisoner: Oh no. I’m sure he could have killed me, but he didn‘t want to.
Interrogator: Why is that?
Prisoner: I controlled him just well enough that he knew he needed me.
*****
Want to know more about The Circle? Click here:
http://loribeth215.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/the-sojourners-the-circle/
©2009 Lori Titus
Green Water Lullaby, Lori’s collection of short stories, is available for pre-order: http://www.sonar4publications.com/green.html
