Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 235: First Day Of Work

Gods, Artifacts, other worlds and... what the hell was with the kissing at the end? Laz felt there was more to it than a simple... greeting or goodbye. But still.

Sure, it had been a while since he had been with a woman, all things considered. However he didn't feel at though those women would suddenly just fall for him. And besides, Laz didn't really understand how they were vampyres as the whole thing never came up. It seemed like they had hid that stuff from him while he was there.

'Maybe there was a reason?'

Laz didn't know. So like all things that had happened to him lately, he just filed it under his not my business folder and began to walk back to the apartment. It was already late and Laz was getting a bit tired thanks to all the events that happened in one day. He really had no clue what he was suppose to do next, other than go to work and check out that sword of his. And figure out what the hell the ritual that was going on was all about.

'I need to check into that.'

And he had to keep an eye on Julia since having another infected close to him that he knew nothing about was never a good thing.

Laz was beginning to think that maybe he was a bit more busy that he originally thought, or at least he had quite a few things on his plate now. On top of that, he missed his girls. Maybe it was a bit of ego talking through him or even pride. But after everything that had gone on, he really began to think of them as his girls. Thinking about it, maybe the kissing had woken him up to this thought. After all, there is a big difference between the kiss of a girl who cares about you and the kiss from someone who just seems to want something.

At least Laz thought so.

Either way, nothing was going to get done by standing around and thinking about it.

As Laz made his way back, he decided on a game plan. He needed to go to work tomorrow and after that, he would investigate his sword more. He had said he would visit Heaven or Hell soon, but he wasn't too keen on heading back just yet. He had just met them today and they had a god in their presence. He wasn't to keen on spending too much time there. Instead, he would go though just because they were a force that at least Laz had a bit of trust with, even if they were just using him. Compared to the Vodun of the Children of God, they were the best choice.

It was only now that Laz had a thought about building a force of his own. He had never considered it before, but it could be useful. It was only a thought though. He really would have no idea how to do it and besides which, raising others would hinder you from the ability to raise yourself. And Laz could barely manage to do that on his own.

...

When Laz returned, his entrance brought a lot of jokes from Eddy and Benny while they sat around, watching Tv while playing with their phones. Abraham was in the bedroom reading when he heard Laz return.

"Where have you been? Find a girl and decide to have some day sex?" Eddy asked.

"Is that even a thing? I mean, sex is sex, day or night right?" Laz asked, grabbing a water from the fridge before sitting down on one of the recliners.

"I don't know. Just seemed to fit. I mean you don't know anyone here and didn't decide to hang out with us so... I figured... sex?" Eddy responded back while laughing. Benny was laughing too. The only one who seemed concerned was Abraham who looked like he was slightly worried about this new friend who disappeared for a day.

"Nah. I had some things to run and then ended up eating at a restaurant I found." Laz replied, acting nonchalant.

"Oh? Anywhere good?"

"Yeah. It was. Ever hear of Heaven or Hell?" Laz asked. He figured it was best to get some local opinions about the place to see what people who didn't know what went on there thought.

Laz waited a minute while watching TV to see if Benny or Eddy responded, only to hear silence. Laz casually looked over and saw them both staring at him with wide eyes. In fact, Benny's cell had fallen out of his hands while his face looked like he had seen a ghost.

"What?".

"You're... tell me you're kidding?" Eddy asked, while Benny was brain dead.

"Uh... no?"

"Dude... Tell me you're fucking kidding?" Eddy repeated himself, this time with a mix of excitement.

"I'm not..?"

"Holy shit."

"Fuck..." Benny finally got something out of his mouth. Even Abraham was looking over with interest as though wondering what had these guys asking like this. As they were coming back form having dinner, him, Benny and Eddy had been propositioned by some working girls and spent the next five minutes flurting with them before walking away. After all, they neither had money to spend nor the want to. But to Abraham, being approached by a girl about having sex for money was something he had never experienced before and he could barely get a word out as the girl was rubbing up against him. Luckily, he was saved. And to him, it looked like they weren't bother by this in the least. So watching them lose it over Laz just having dinner somewhere was an eye opener. He didn't think these guys would be surprised by anything. Of course, that was just based on his view.

"Is that really so great?" Abraham asked.

"Yeah. Yeah it is. Don't you know what Heaven or Hell is?" Eddy asked, looking at the young man.

"No?"

"It's the one place every man dreams of going, but can't. You have to be invited. Hell, do you think you can just walk in off the street?" Eddy asked.

'I did,' Laz thought.

"You can't? What kind of restaurant is that than? Is it expensive?" Abraham asked, still confused.

"No it's..." Eddy was about to continue, but Benny cut him off.

"The girls... are the really as beautiful as the rumors say?" Benny asked Laz.

"Yes?" Laz was confused.

"Then... did they do anything... weird?" Benny asked, focusing on Laz's response.

"Weird? No... I mean. I ate, met a few girls and left. Well, I guess I met the girls before I ate... and some after... why?" Laz was playing stupid. He already had an idea what Benny was asking.

"Because. You remember about the whole... groups thing in town. The strange happenings and shit?" Benny pressed on.

"Yes."

"Heaven or Hell is suppose to be the base of the vampyres operation."

"Really?" Laz kept up the innocent act.

"Yes. Really. And every worker there is a drop dead gorgeous hottie that guys like us could only dream about." Eddy responded this time.

"Why would you dream about them? Especially if they are blood suckers?" Laz asked, wondering if Eddy has special tastes.

"They... don't kill people. At least, nothing had been like confirmed like that."

"OK?"

"I mean, you can lose a lot of blood and not die. It happens all the time. It's not healthy, but it happens." Eddy went on.

"Right." 'Uhh?" Laz's inner voice and outer voice where saying two different things.

"And from what we've heard... it's like... better than sex." Benny competed the thought.

Laz just looked at the two of them as though he was watching two idiots while Abraham had no idea what they meant. After all, he hadn't even had sex yet.

"You know what? We have work in the morning. I'm going to bed." Laz turned around, leaving these two with their interesting fetishes to themselves. At least he tried too.

"OH HELL NO."

"GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE."

Benny and Eddy jumped after Laz and after a few moments of play fighting, they dragged Laz back to the living room to explain everything that he saw and what happened, or at least, what he would tell them. By the end, Laz had mentioned that he might take them for a meal sometime, but that would depend on if he was allowed back. Benny and Eddy had gotten the idea from Laz that it was some sort of club like thing that required access without saying such. Since they had all just kind of met each other, they wouldn't pry much more. Laz also offered to invite Abraham, but he seemed to think it wasn't a good place to go.

'Maybe I should drag him along...?' Laz thought to himself.

It was a long time before anyone got to sleep.

Laz woke up in the morning to do his normal exercise routine, only to find that Julia was outside working out as well. She had taken the approach to getting up earlier so that she could train with him, seeing how strong he was. The didn't really interact with each other while doing so. At first, Julia just did stretches and weight training, using weights she had gotten from who knew where.

Laz was different. He would have normally liked to run, but in this small space, that was pretty impossible. As such, he focused on intense still training such as holding himself upwards in a one handed hand stand or working his muscles by lifting himself into a tree and coming down upside down like a cat. Of course he also spent some time hitting the log. After enough hits, he would take the blow back as though he was being attacked and defend against it with his body. Doing so allowed him to work on taking hits without it being damaging to his life.

When he finally sat down to rest, Julia walked forward and looked over at him to which Laz shook his head ok. It was him allowing her to use the log for her own purpose. As he watched her go, he noticed that she still had that flowing water form, but that something was off. Her hits were like bee stings towards the log without an ounce of power behind them. Although she hit it many times and felt the blow back, it was at most like a gust of wind. Laz couldn't help but wonder if she was scared of it or something.

After watching her do this for a straight five minutes, Laz lost his cool and walked inside. He was done anyway and wanted a shower, leaving her to enjoy herself alone.

After a few hours, everyone else was up and dressed and ready for the day. With Benny leading the way with Madison, they soon arrive at the crab shack. Laz couldn't help but wonder for a moment if he had an affinty with shacks or something. But either way, he didn't let it bother him.

After gathering together in the closed dinning room, everyone filled out paperwork while being introduced to the members of the staff that would be training them today. Laz looked around and saw at least twenty other people here besides his group. He really had no idea that so many people would be needed to run such a small place. But that confusion was cleared up soon by a dick named Chad.

'For fuck's sake...' Laz couldn't help but swear to himself as he got a load of Chad. He was a typical pretty boy who also happened to be the son of the owner. He was going to be working with all of the newbie's as a way to get some management experience before running some of his parent's other business.

'The guy honestly looks like a rich asshole...' Laz thought as he listened in.

Basically, the idea was that they would be staying open twenty four hours during the course of the season and that all the new help was going to be working the off shifts. Basically, overnights. For the week, they would be training in the morning/afternoons and learning the ropes after which they would work the overnight hours in which Chad would be the manager.

"Now then. I would like to go around the room and ask if anyone has any experience in this business," Chad said with a smile that could make women swoon.

"I bet he bleaches..." Laz whispered to Benny and Eddy, causing them to laugh. Chad's hair looked way too unnatural. Benny and Eddy didn't have a likeable impression of this guy either since not only was he good looking, but he was also rich. They originally wouldn't have like Laz either, seeing that he was unnaturally handsome, but after spending some time with him, he was just another guy to them. And besides, since he was doing this job, it was assured that he wasn't rich.

Or so they thought.

After a quick around the room to the rest, they finally got to Laz's group. Madison, Angie and Steph had no experience what so ever. Despite that, Madison was going to be a greeter and seater while Angie and Steph were going to serve the masses as waitresses. Of course this only came after a long bit of flurting with them, causing Laz, Benny and Eddy to get more annoyed. Abraham was just looking around and taking things in, totally unaware of the other guy's annoyance. When it came time to Julia, she didn't say much, but Chad had a weird look on his face when she said her name. After what seemed like a bit of internal debate, he placed her as a greeter as well.

When it came time for the guys, Benny and Eddy ended up as waiters while Laz was apparently going to be a bus boy. He mentioned that he had experience serving, but it seemed like Chad was annoyed with Laz for some reason known only to him and wanted him away from the customers and the other staff.

Finally, it was Abrahams turn.

"What experience do you have?" Chad asked with a smile. He seemed much friendlier than he was to Laz.

"I can cook." Abraham said, somewhat shyly.

"Excellent, but you will have to prove it. You can work in the kitchen today, but if it doesn't work out, you will be busting tables with the pretty boy over there," Chad said, pointing at Laz.

'Ah. Ok. Now this makes sense," Laz thought, laughing to himself. Chad was jealous.

After a few introductions to the current staff and getting some uniform shirts, everyone was off to their own stations to learn.

Laz actually had a decent time with the older man who was training him.

"Alright. It's real simple what we do. Pick up dishes, clean up the table and the area around it, set out new placings and bring the dishes back to wash them. Piece of cake. When you don't have anything else to do, you can clean up the kitchen. I'll tell you this right now lad, chefs are a messy bunch and arrogant pricks. So you'll have to toughen your skin to work here," the older man nicely advised him.

"Sure thing gramps. My skins pretty thick already," Laz said proudly. It felt weird for him to be doing stuff like this since any job he had worked prior to this would end up making him a hundred times the money for much less effort. Of course, many of those jobs had been illegal, but still.

Turned out the old man was just doing this after retirement since his wife didn't want to watch him sit at home all day and do nothing. After chatting with him for a bit, Laz felt like this old man was rather similar to how his grandpa would have been, without the mental problems.

As far as working in the kitchen went, Abraham astounded the chefs with his ability to cook almost anything on the menu after he was told what he needed to do. His knife work was superb and won him an instant spot.

Everyone else was also doing well with their trainers and they prepared to open for the lunch rush around eleven. It would be slow going at first, which was what everyone needed.

The day progressed well and one thing that Laz was thankful for was that in his position, he was mostly invisible. Since he looked like a poor worker, he was treated as such. Had he been a waiter, he would have had to take care of the customers close up, causing himself to be noticed. This was something that Chad didn't want to happen since as long as Laz wasn't around, he was the hottest guy in the place.

Laz didn't mind in the least.

Just when he was clearing a table however while keeping his head down, he over heard a conversation that caused him to pay close attention.

"You hear about it?"

"About?"

"The people. The disappearances."

"Man, that's only some hearsay. Come on. Just cause some tourists get lost, it don't mean people are missing."

"That's the strange part, ain't it? It's only the tourists. Makes it that much harder for the popo to find them, don't it?"

"Just shut up man. Don't talk about no shit and no shit will come find you. Thems the rules, ya know?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

'People missing huh?' Laz thought. As he finished cleaning the table and heading towards the back, he saw the old man happily washing dishes and set his bin down next to him.

"You seem way too happy washing dishes there gramps," Laz said with a smile. After several hours together, they felt pretty comfortable with each other.

"Heh. You see, there's something you don't know. When I wash dishes here, I get paid for it. When I have to wash them at home, I don't get jack shit."

"Doesn't it keep the peace with the missus?"

"At my age kid, nothing makes a woman happy anymore."

"So this is your escape?"

"Catch on quick huh?"

"Hey. I heard some people talking about people going missing. Hear anything about it?" Laz asked, watching the old man put the dishes into the washer after rinsing them off.

"Come with me kid." The old man led the way out a small back door used for receiving deliveries and lit a cigarette before talking.

"People are being taken, people who won't be missed, you know? I hear about it from some friends. You live around here and you will be noticed if you go missing. If you're just visiting though, chances are you won't be noticed for a while. On top of that, even the people that have gone missing aren't really being reported. See, if something like that gets out, it will affect the festivities and they sure as hell don't want that. So everything's hush hush. Now, in your case, you're working here so you should be fine. Right now they only aiming for the easy to miss ones. But, heed my advice boy. Stick with a group. And if you find yourself alone and surrounded by some unsavory types, run away. No being a hero now."

Laz listened to his words and nodded his head, but he was having a different plan in mind.

He wanted to find these people since that would give him the information he needed.

For the first time since he got here, Laz was excited. He was going to be hunting again, real soon.