The Tellerek

[redben]

A murky and overcast sky spat down an intermittent drizzle onto the head of the commuters, shoppers and passers-by who bustled down Great Russell St in front of the Tellerek. A man in an Armani suit casually tossed some coins into the cap that was a permanent fixture in front of the Tellerek these days. Time was the Tellerek ate whatever he pleased; a thousand years ago the man would have served as a meal instead of the junk food that largely comprised his diet now. The Tellerek smiled at the man who if he noticed didn’t acknowledge it. A quick scan of the coins in the cap revealed close to £4, not much more and the Tellerek would be feasting on a super-sized Angus burger meal tonight.

The area around Great Russell St had long been established by the Tellerek as his turf and everyone in the ‘other’ London knew not to work there. He had long since reconciled and resigned himself to life as a beggar. Twenty-first century city life was not for him; many of the denizens of the shadow society had adapted and integrated themselves but the Tellerek was far too old and far too set in his ways. He had been woken a couple of nights ago by a drunken club goer who had decided that the Tellerek’s face would be a hilarious place onto which to relieve himself. The Tellerek had wanted tear the man’s penis off and choke him with it but instead had to humiliate himself by moving away. The humans had flooded the city with their modern magicks and the Tellerek had learned the hard way about the existence of CCTV.

With each passing year, the Tellerek felt his power diminish a little bit more. He was, by the standards of his kind, an old man now and he barely possessed the power to do much more than maintain his façade. The Tellerek wasn’t one given to feeling sorry for himself and if his circumstances began to get on top of him he would console himself with the knowledge that others were worse off than him. Around the corner and two streets down from the squat he occupied south of the river along with a few other others there was a fairy house. It had been almost a hundred years since the link from here to the Fairy Realm was sundered and the few of that kind who survived in London eked out a miserable existence. Many had turned to junk in a desperate attempt to blot out their misery and fairy prostitutes were highly sought after by those who knew where to look.

The drizzle evolved into a downpour as the grey skies gave way to black. The stars were just one more in a long list of things that the Tellerek missed about his former life. Once they shone in bold patterns in the sky, now the lights and smog of the city obliterated any sign of them. He was close to £10; a packet of ten Mayfair was now on the cards, a welcome relief from his squatmate’s rancid rollies. He struck out for BK on Kingsway.

The Tellerek loved to smother his fries in ketchup and his large haul from the evening convinced him to splash out the 10p for some BBQ sauce as well. He’d salvaged a copy of the day’s Metro from a litter bin and was reading it in a seat near the door.

‘Urgh, how can you eat those chips with all that crap on them?’

The Tellerek looked up from his paper and across to the pasty-faced man who now sat opposite him.

‘Hello Adam.’

It had been over two years since the Tellerek had last seen Adam. The vampire was bad news; he’d almost gotten the Tellerek arrested once after he had been convinced by him to hold onto a few thousand stolen cigarette packets whilst Adam looked for someone to sell them on to. His £50 cut of the deal hadn’t been anywhere near enough for him to continue associating with Adam and he hadn’t been shy in letting the vampire know that.

‘I need a favour, big man.’

‘I thought I told you to leave me alone?’

‘You did and I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t desperate. I’m in trouble and I need a place to hide out for a few weeks. Everyone knows you’ll have nothing to do with me and no-one will think of looking for me at your place. I’ll give you six hundred quid for doing it.’

The Tellerek knew Adam must be in big trouble if he was offering him that kind of money. People like the Tellerek and Adam couldn’t just go out and get jobs or sign on and they rarely had that much money at once and as much as the Tellerek couldn’t stand the little prick, £600 was far too much money for him to turn down.

[hakoMike]

Hmmm. Interesting start. Sort of has a "Dresden" vibe going.