Sins of omission

You get tired of so many depressing news on the TV. It's Friday night and was payday, so you decide you lose nothing and go out for a change. You order a cab and the blue skinned driver asks you for your destination, in its uncanny almost human accent. "First, is your cab safe?" you interrupt it. "It is, sir. I am equipped with defensive and offensive driving capabilities, and I am myself trained in at least 25 martial arts. There's a gun in the weapons compartment if the situation requires it."

"Good enough", you say. Altho nobody'd be as stupid to try to rob you mid flight. That's what the casinos are for, anyway. As the sky cab passes by the roofs, you notice a new sign on a 30th floor. "Alex's."

"What's Alex?" "New sex club, sir. The owner is a transhuman." You jack in and they have a 50% discount tonight. You chuckle. "Clever. I'll give it a try."

The cab lands and there's a big fucking orc as bouncer. He passes the radar over you. The scanner beeps and glows green after a while.

The orc speaks. "What's your limit?" You hesitate, but decide to depend on your credit. "Four hundred.” "Wait in line." Shit. A catgirl with a huge bulge down there and red leather jacket passes you and swipes her gaze down. She shakes her head. "Fucking casuals" you read her lips. Instinctively, you clench your fist. Fucking citadel people, you think. Of course they have money, they don't have to pay the god damn rent every fucking month. Finally after withstanding the rooftop winds, the bouncer lets you in. "Try not to spend it all" he grins.

You enter. There's nothing you haven't seen before... on TV. A butler girl whose shirt's buttons desperately want to pop out welcomes you and takes your coat before a french maid asks you to follow her. You take a seat and are shown an AR holo with the beverages. "Whiskey on the rocks. Shaken, not stirred." She rolls her eyes and shakes her head with a faint smile. You wonder how many times she's heard that cliché.

As you watch the dancers making out with each other, you notice the chair next to you is being pulled. You turn around and see a woman with purple cat eyes and beautiful black spiral horns. "May I have a seat?"

You swallow. Her cleavage is perfect, and so are her moves. "Sure."

"You're new here," she notices. "What's your name?" You reply. You can't help noticing the pornographic animated silhouettes on her skin, having all kinds of sex before vanishing at the cleavage.

"I'm Alex," she says. "What do you think of my place?"

Alex? you ask to yourself. She's the owner???

You let the impression of the place sink in. After giving a quick glance at it, you realize you have no words to describe it. You had never come to a place like this one before. "It's..."

Magic. The word is magic. All that high tech embedded in every single cell of the hosts gives the illusion of being an otherworldly place.

"Aaahhh..."

A female moan catches your attention. The girls on the stage are getting lewder by the minute. Alex smiles at you and licks her lips with her bifid tongue.

Suddenly, you notice that the pointy tail that has been caressing your leg is going right for the crotch. Not only can this woman move it at will, you feel it doing all kinds of maneuvers. It's like an extra hand. You wonder how many credits she spent on a body like that. The constant caressing of her tail is driving you nuts. You do your best to concentrate, but her caresses are too much for your mind. You swallow.

"Tell me..." she asks, resting her chin on her hands. "Have you ever dreamed of spending the night with a succubus?" "Uh... maybe." "Would you like to?"

This was the opportunity you were looking for. You accept.

Fast forward an hour, she's sharing the joint she smoked with you. Your bank account is half empty now, but it was definitely worth it. "You're a cop, aren't you?" Shit. She knows. "You show. Tell me, do you accept side jobs? They're risky, but worth it." "I..." you hesitate. Noticing your doubts, she sighs. "Try getting a license, and call me back."

You had always dreamed of becoming a hunter, but this is the first time you actually consider it. And then the Deja Vu comes. Your neurals are acting up again. At least, that's what the doc said. But it can't be an illusion. You did apply for a Rogue Hunter license before... or did you?

Was it just pot what she gave you to smoke? Or was it something else?

Then you remember being called by a name that's not yours. More DejaVu shit. Why, why now! You hate it when your implants go haywire like that.

"Listen..." she says with a frown. "I really need help here. Someone out there's killing my girls. I'm desperate. And the police won't give a shit. Will you at least consider it?"

You nod, and take a cab back home.

The Deja Vus start flooding your mind. You shut down your implants in panic, wondering if it wasn't all a dream. Silence, and doubts. They always come after you shut down. Maybe it's not you who's wrong... what if it's the implants? What if...?

You'd been searching for a chance like this for ten years. Now you're wondering if you're willing to risk it all just to prove a hunch. No. Not a hunch. An obsession. Finding out if your recurrent dreams are actually real. But... you're equally afraid of finding out. As you stay awake all night, you keep playing with Alex's presentation card. You finally fall asleep.

Morning. You turn on the news as you fiddle with the card again. You get a hunch that you made a mistake last night. One of omission. What did you forget?

The crime section starts. The owner of a prestigious sex club was murdered last night.

When the victim's photo is shown in the corner, you drop the card.

It was her.