Capetonification

It was another hotel room, in another drop dead town in the middle of America. A place where the insignifcant lost souls of an earthly super power came to slowly fade from existence, one day at a time. Why else would anyone go there?
Shadow stretched out on the bed, the hard mattress supplying little comfort to him. He pulled out the Macbook and attached the 3G card. It managed to get GPRS. It was slow, and painful, but Shadow was grateful to get any sort of internet connectivity at all.
He signed onto Gmail with his Dopey99290 account and waited for the page to load. Three minutes passed. A chat window popped up. It was the Seeker.

$33k3r: I take it you were successful in locating Lestat de Lioncourt?

Dopey99290: yup. got his head in a bag next to the bed

$33k3r: LOL! You're a crazy kid, Dopey. I really thought I would never hear from you again. Congratulations!!!

Dopey99290: thanks. i got to admit though, for someone nicknamed the FAG, he held out for longer than i expected

$33k3r: What did you do to him?

Dopey99290: 8 hours of torture

$33k3r: Wow.

$33k3r: Did he give you anything?

Dopey99290: yup. a name. alucard. he was screaming it near the end.

$33k3r: Alucard. Dracula spelt backwards. There was a Castlevania game featuring him on the Playstation. I think it was called Castlevania X. Let me google it quick.

A few minutes passed. Then:

$33k3r: Yeah. Dracula's son. He features in a Manga Anime series, and like I said the Castlevania game. In the anime series, he IS Dracula, who was caught by Van Helsing, turned to the side of good, and then renamed to Alucard. In Castlevania, he was sired by Dracula with a human women. His name is Adrian Farenheights Tepes (WTF?!?!?), but is called Alucard. In both versions it seems he is always at odds with the rest of the vampire community. Either way, he is a big fish.

Dopey99290: so he might be dracula himself

$33k3r: Yes. But remember, even though the Vampires created the stories and myths from their own lives, humans have gotten involved and developed them further, unknowingly straying from the fact. It's difficult to discern which of these two are true, or should I say closer to the truth.

Shadow sat back from the keyboard. Seeker was right. This was big. Either he'd get the Lord of the Vampires himself, or he would get his son.
He was almost there.

$33k3r: You still there?

Dopey99290: yes

$33k3r: How are you going to proceed?

Dopey99290: find alucard.

$33k3r: It's not going to be easy. If he's royalty, he's going to be in hiding.

Dopey99290: what are you saying

$33k3r: This will be triple my usual fee.

Dopey99290: done

$33k3r: I'll be in contact.

Dopey99290: any news on the one lestat calls mekare

$33k3r: You know as much as I do. I'm starting to think that Lestat made her up. I don't think there ever was a Queen of the Damned. Did you ask him about it?

Dopey99290: yes. repeatedly. he gave nothing up

$33k3r: A single Vampire, who if destroyed, will wipe out the entire race of vampires? That's a bit rich. Maybe he was just using poetic license to give his books some much needed drama?

Dopey99290: i need that confirmed. you can charge me whatever you like if you find her

$33k3r: Oh, I will. Trust me! :P Later Dopey!

Dopey99290: thanks

$33k3r did not receive your chat.

The Seeker had already signed off. Shadow closed the chat window and went through his mail. There was one from his former zNetworks colleague, Eddie. It read:

Hey Tony,

How you doing my man? Where have you been? I went to you place the other day and there were new tenants living there. What the hell is going on? It's like you disappeared over night and nobody knows where you are. You didn't even let me know you were moving. I tried talking to Jill, but she's distant and unwilling to share anything about you. What happened between you guys? It really looked like you were into each other.

Myself, I hooked up with a girl named Clare. It's been a month now, but it's going really well. I think she might just be the one. She even plays WoW with me everynight! It's incredible, I've never met anybody quite like her.
Work as always is a bitch. Joel is still up our asses everyday. I swear I think the guy hates me. I don't understand why though. I don't give him any trouble.
The work load has increased, and they still haven't found anyone to replace you. Things are not the same at zNetworks. The office is quieter, less friendly even. Harry Porter is always in a mood. His wife left him by the way. No one knows why. It's supposed to be private. Mario says 'Hi'.

Life is just not as simple as when you were around. I miss all the shit we used to talk about, all the lunch breaks together, just hanging out.
I hope you reply to this mail.
Looking forward to hearing from you old pal.

-Eddie-

P.S: Finally got my Druid up to lvl 80. Now I'm in the Arena BABY!!!

Shadow had a half curled smile on his face. Eddie's mail brightened his mood. He closed Gmail, disconnected the 3G modem and put the laptop into standby mode. zNetworks seemed like the memories of another man. A normal man. a happy man. Not the fucked up freak sitting in this motel room. Anger came, as always, and he tried to quell it. But it would not be quelled. He had given up another life to delve into darkness. He was happy at zNetworks (or as happy as a working-class man could be). He had friends, and a girl. He enjoyed the simple life it allowed him, a life rich in emotions. The same emotions he buried all those years ago under the grief and self-pity of his vengeance. As Tony Conrad, there were no complications, no super-powered freaks out to kill him.
Now zNetworks was gone, Eddie was gone. And Jill was gone. It was all gone. Again.
It was your choice to go on this quest, he said to himself.
There was never a choice, he argued back.
That's what you always say. It's called 'Being a Victim'. Grow up. Take some fucking responsibility.
I am taking responsibility, that's why this has to be done.
Then don't bitch about it.
Shadow leaned over and pulled the Jack Daniels from his bag. He cracked the seal and drank straight from the bottle. It was good. Too strong to enjoy, but good none the less. He finished about a third of the bottle in under an hour before laying it down at the bedside. His mind was swimming. He tried to take his Lacoste sneakers off, but failed. Instead he turned oh his side and pulled the blanket over him. Within moments he fell into a deep dreamless sleep.