Gettin' Off the Train (01)

My name is Sita, and I am a Vampire Slayer.

Well not really. The Council trained me but I was never called. Lacking any other real training they put me to work. I couriered messages around the city, acted as a basic research and lab assistant, and on some few occasions pulled bodyguard duty for some ranking Council member. They were determined to work their recompense out of me for their... Investment.

It was on one of those courier runs that they lost me.

All day I had, quite literally, run all over the city delivering parcels, messages and I don't even care what. After my last delivery I decided to take the tube back to Council headquarters. Exhaustion probably contributed to my failing to comprehend how early the train arrived, then failing to notice how different the interior looked. Honestly I think my eyes were half-closed when I boarded. At best. Maybe a couple of minutes post departure someone came around asking after tickets.

This was when I noticed all the somethings wrong.

The man checking tickets was dressed in a far to retro style train conductor's uniform. I'd swear I've seen pictures of that style; and I reckon those pictures were from the last century.

That first perception and my exhaustion must have eased the flood that followed.

The coach we rode in complimented the conductor in its style, gilded and posh. But not too posh. I quickly glanced to the window and for a moment felt relief at the darkness beyond. Then my eyes registered a multitude of back lit pinpricks in that silky darkness speeding by. They resembled nothing so much as stars.


"Ticket miss." Up close the conductor's round face was half bushy mustache.

I began rummaging through my pockets, "I think I may have gotten on the wrong train."

Behind me body's shifted; heard but unseen.

"Lets see your ticket miss, then we can sort this all out" His mustache undulated as he spoke.

After a little more rummaging I found the ticket in one of my vest pockets and handed it over. He turned the paper stub over a few times, squinting at the printed text. Eventually he handed it back.

"This isn't one of ours miss."

"Yeah, I'd kinda figured that." I slipped the ticket back into my pocket. "Mind in that station there's only one place to get tickets and only one set of tracks. So I'm still a bit boggled at how I ended up here."

For the first time I looked around the compartment. Really, I've never been too sure what I expected to see but even so... The seats were half full give or take. What they were half full of set me instantly to tense. Demons of all stripes. Most were at least humanoid; horns, fangs, claws, possibly a tail, but still two arms, two legs, one torso and one head. One in particular was a weedy little thing; blue skin and lank black hair hidden mostly by its bright yellow hoody. A couple of rows behind me was something that looked like a dog sized spider with bird legs; and in the back, across the isle from yellow hoody, was something that must have just been a singular mass of tentacles.