"Father!" Jessica rushed forward, applying pressure to the bloody spot on the man's stomach. Ruth just watched, a strange detachment coming over her. She had almost never seen someone actively bleeding like this. Most gang violence involved clubs or flash guns, not knives.

  But Ruth was no stranger to violence, and she quickly snapped out of her shock. "Tell me what to do!"

  "There's bandages and a sewing kit in the room down the hall and on the left. In the closet!" Jessica's instructions came fast, and Ruth hurried to obey. Locating the medical and sewing kit, she quickly brought them out and set them near a chair.

  Together, the two girls helped the bleeding man to the chair and sat him down. Ruth realized that he had been sitting here when they knocked, a small trail of blood visible from when he had come to open the door.

  "Jessica." The man reached out a trembling hand, gently cupping his daughter's face. He was an adult, but Ruth had no idea how old he was. His hair had signs of faintly greying, and he had a few lines on his face. Older than Johnny or Richard for sure, but that was all she could tell. Things like age had always been nebulous to her.

  Jessica held her father's hand tight, looking at him with a pained expression. "You'll be okay. I'll fix you up." She began gently peeling away his shirt, exposing the wound to open air. "Ruth, can you get some hot water, please?"

  Ruth quickly went to obey, taking a moment to locate a sink. She had used sink a handful of times, but she still felt like she was wasting precious seconds as she turned to the wrong knob for hot water. She threw open the cabinets and drawers before finding a large bowl. She filled it with hot water, then brought it back to Jessica.

  "Thanks. Help me hold him still." Ruth obeyed, completely out of her element as Jessica took charge. Jessica scooped out some hot water, trickling it over her father's wounds. He hissed in pain, his muscles clenching as he fought to keep still. Ruth knew that he could probably throw her off if he wanted, but she wasn't about to let go of him all the same. This was not the time to get scared of flinch back, not when a man was bleeding like this.

  After cleaning his wound with water, Jessica reached into the medical kit and pulled out a tube of paste. She applied some of it to the stab wound, seeming completely unfazed by the gore. Ruth had to look away, her stomach turning somewhat. She had seen dead bodies and the like before, but gross things were still gross and and open stab wounds were not high on a list of things she wanted to look at..

  Once the paste was applied, Jessica dunked her hands in the water to wash them, then looked at her dad. "Should I sew it up? Or bind it?"

  Her father winced in pain again before hardening his expression. "Sew it up."

  Ruth watched with horror as Jessica took out a needle and some string, then began literally sewing the man's wounds together. Her face must have been quite the sight because when Jessica glanced at her, the girl actually chuckled. "It's okay, Ruth. I've done this sort of thing before."

  She had done this before? That was as crazy as...well, as crazy as it happening now! The Thrall kept his eyes squeezed shut, letting out grunts and groans of pain as his daughter sewed his skin together. Blood still flowed from the wound, but there wasn't as much as before.

  By the time Jessica was finished, her hands were red with blood, and she quickly dunked them in the hot water again. She grabbed the medkit again and began applying a bandage to her father's now-closed wound. Once that was done, she quickly found a bottle of pills and dumped some in her father's hand. He took it, swallowing the medicine with a wince.

  Jessica watched him, her body relaxing a bit as he leaned back in the chair. "Father, what happened?"

  The man opened his eyes and he looked down at his daughter with a smile. Then he glanced meaningfully at Ruth, as if debating whether he should talk or not.

  Without hesitation, Jessica spoke. "This is Ruth. I trust her."

  The words hit Ruth like an automobile. Trust? From Jessica? They clearly didn't know the first thing about each other! Jessica had spoken without hesitation, not an ounce of distrust in her voice. It was absurd to think that Ruth had earned that kind of belief yet.

  Unaware of Ruth's internal turmoil, Jessica's father nodded thoughtfully. "Very well. Ruth, you can call me Michael. This is Jessica, my daughter...obviously." He chuckled at his self-admonishment, then turned back to his daughter. "We were discovered. I was confronted and stabbed by one of the Vampires, but I managed to fight them off and escape."

  Jessica looked stunned, but Ruth was only confused. "Umm, discovered? What do you mean?"

  Michael winced again as he turned back to Ruth. "My daughter and I moved here years ago to join the Nosferatu gang. It was our cover while we lived in the city and gathered information."

  "Cover?"

  Michael nodded. "I'm a member of the GOA, working undercover."

  He seemed to believe that this would mean something to Ruth, but she simply gave him a blank look. She had never heard the acronym before.

  "It stands for the Governmental Oversight Agency. It's our job to monitor the general populace and cut off any unrest before it can grow too large."

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "So, you're like a constable?" Ruth felt herself grow a bit more wary, but didn't pull away.

  Michael chuckled, his face contorting in a small amount of pain. Jessica quickly took over for her father. "Not really. Father doesn't arrest petty criminals and stuff like that. He's more focused on the big bad guys, like the leader of the Nosferatu gang."

  That was the single craziest thing Ruth had ever heard. "Are you serious? Do you guys have a death wish or something? The Nosferatu gang is-"

  "They're a bunch of thugs and criminals." Michael interrupted her, his voice firm. "They aren't monsters we can't fight."

  Ruth disagreed entirely. The Nosferatu gang had this city in an iron grip, only second to possibly the power company. She couldn't even remember the last time anything the government did even affected her, local or otherwise. But she kept silent, not willing to fight the issue against a man who had just been stabbed.

  Michael seemed to take her silence as consent to continue. "We came to this city undercover. We weren't hunting the gang down specifically, but there had been some rumors about insurgents looking to take over the city."

  Jessica chimed in, "Working with the gang let father get involved in the city's underworld. He's been hunting down the people who want to overthrow the local government."

  Again, Ruth thought it was a bit of a moot point. As far as she could tell, criminals basically ran this city already. What did it really matter if they overthrew the people who didn't do anything in the first place? But, as before, she kept silent.

  Michael ruffled his daughter's hair. "I finally caught wind of a good lead about a month ago. A meeting between Vlad and some 'powerful people.'"

  "Vlad?" Ruth had never heard the name.

  "The leader of the Nosferatu gang. It's like a title though, every new leader is called Vlad."

  "Does it mean something? Like, it's not a monster or anything."

  Jessica nodded. "It's the name of the original vampire from old stories. Vlad Dracula Tepes."

  Ruth nodded at that. She had never heard the name, but having the head of the gang be named after some big, bad, mythical vampire made sense to her. It added to their whole legend and mystery for the normal people of the city.

  "Anyway," Michael continued, "I was able to sneak into the meeting. I didn't recognize most of the people there, but I was able to find out that they are going to strike soon. The gang is heavily involved, and I saw some lower ranking members of government there. But there were two other factions I'm unaware of. I knew we didn't have much time, so I got a bit reckless. I did some snooping around, hoping to get some names." He winced again, glancing down at his stab wound. "Guess they caught onto me."

  Jessica laid a hand on his. "Don't worry father. I was able to send the signal out."

  "Signal? What are you talking about?" Ruth looked at the other girl, confused.

  "We sent Jessica out with you in order to send a signal. She has a pocket radio device that we used to call for pickup. The GOA will send a team to come grab us within the week." Michael looked pleased for a moment, then let his smile fade as he looked around. "Wait...wasn't there one more of you? Ezra, I believe?"

  Jessica had been about to say something, but when she heard Ezra's name, she frowned. "He got caught by Richard, the Ghoul."

  Michael's eyes sharpened. "Tell me everything."

  The two girls relayed the events that had transpired, filling the older man in on the constable patrol and trouble it had caused. Once again, Ruth omitted the strange person she had seen standing out in the sunlight, still unable to wrap her head around that whole ordeal.

  When they finished, Michael looked troubled. "That's terrible. I'm so sorry Ruth. I will do everything in my power to get your brother rescued."

  Ruth just looked at him, frustration boiling up. "What do you mean, 'get him rescued?'" She whirled on Jessica, "You promised we would save him!"

  Michael tried to calm her, "Ruth, the situation is delicate. Give me some time and-"

  "I don't have time!" Ruth threw her hand to the side, knocking over a small end table in rage. "My brother is being held prisoner by crazy criminals because of you!" She thrust a finger in Michael's direction, fury building in her.

  Jessica laid a hand on her father's leg, silencing whatever response he was about to make. "I did promise. And I will help you." She turned to her father, her voice calm and level. "I was hoping you could help, but I won't leave without rescuing her brother. Clearly you aren't in any position to assist, but I need to do this Father."

  Michael looked at his daughter with a thoughtful expression. "Absolutely not...is what I would like to say. But I actually think that this is an opportunity." Jessica perked up, looking at her father with hope. "When I escaped, I was forced to leave most of the data I had collected behind. It's hidden in my office, and I doubt they'll discover it. But that data could mean the difference between swift action and a delay."

  Ruth wasn't furious anymore, but she was still frustrated. "Just get to the point!"

  Michael looked between the two of them. "I want you two to try and sneak into my old office, steal my data, and find out where your brother is being kept." His eyes were deadly serious, and Jessica nodded just as seriously. "It will be dangerous, but I think it is necessary. Once we have the data and know where Ezra is, we can mount a rescue."

  Jessica looked at Ruth, and there was a confidence there. Jessica believed they could do it. Ruth thought that these people were both crazy, but she didn't really have much of a choice if it meant saving her brother. "Fine. What do we do?"

  "Well, first Jessica needs to get out of those cuffs. There's a toolkit in the back room, you'll have to break them."

  A short trip to the toolkit later, Ruth hammered a screwdriver into the cuff's weak point. The metal bindings broke with a loud clang, and Jessica began rubbing her wrists. "Thanks, Ruth." The girl met Ruth's eyes, and she looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry about all of this."

  They were in the back room of the safe house, a ways away from Jessica's father. Ruth took the opportunity to grill Jessica, "Jessica, I don't like this situation. I don't care about this city, or the government, or any of that. I just want my brother back."

  "I know." Jessica looked a bit guilty as she spoke. "I promise that I care more about saving your brother than getting the data for my dad. The data is important though, it could save a lot of lives."

  The idea of doing good was all fine and dandy, but it didn't put food on the table. Ruth couldn't care less about random people living or dying as long as she and her brother could escape unscathed. "Look, I'll help you because it's pretty much the only option I have. But my number one priority is Ezra. End of story."

  Jessica glanced back at the main room of the house where her dad still sat slumped in his chair. She took a long moment, then answered, "I understand. Your brother is the main priority. We search for him, and get the data as our secondary goal."

  "Do we need to get the data at all?"

  "It's important to my dad, and important to me." She paused, as if unsure about her next words. She spoke them anyway, "And if you help us, there will probably be some kind of monetary reward once we leave the city."

  "...How big a reward are we talking about?"