Interview of NIX DE LA FUENTE
by Scott Tripp, Editor, Arizona Daily News
S. Tripp: When did you come through the rift?
N. de la Fuente: Actually, I was born here. My mother was in the Influx of 2222 BC. She originally lived in Wales, but came to the States just after World War I. She met my dad in early 1986 and I was born about 9 months after their first meeting.
ST: How does that affect your outlook on preternaturals and humans?
NF: I always felt like I had to walk the line between two worlds, with neither one completely accepting of me. I guess it wasn’t all that different than what a biracial human child may go through.
ST: Do you still do tai chi? If so, what’s your favorite movement?
NF: I do, though I don’t have to do it for the same reason now. I’ve been doing it so long that it’s become a habit. And you want to know my favorite movement? Hmm. Let me think a sec… I’d have to say Repulse Monkey. I just like saying that. Repulse Monkey. *laughs*
ST: Tell me what a normal day is like for a council liaison.
NF: Oh, wow. You know, that was one thing I loved about my job. There really wasn’t a typical, normal day. Each day brought something different because of the variety of preternaturals that could be involved. But, let’s see… I usually got up by six o’clock, took Rufus—that’s my dog—out for his morning walk, fed him, fed myself, showered and headed to my home office to start working on case files. Or I’d head out to continue interviews with witnesses. Most days I’d get at least one phone call of a situation involving preternaturals and humans, and I’d have to report to the scene for the initial investigation.
ST: What was that like?
NF: What? Conducting an investigation? Tedious, sometimes, but interesting overall. Some cases were easier to solve than others.
ST: So, I’m going to get a little personal now, I hope you don’t mind. Do you think you and your mother will ever have a normal relationship?
NF: I don’t know. She’s a complex woman. And she has a thing about vampires. And dogs. You know the saying, Love me…
ST: Love my dog. And my vampire?
NF: Exactly!
ST: Let’s lighten things up a bit. What’s your favorite band?
NF: I have so many bands I enjoy listening to. I don’t really like music at the opposite ends of the spectrum, you know, opera and rap, but everything in between I’m okay with. I listen to anyone from Kanye to Bennie Goodman, from Enya to Godsmack.
ST: So you’ll listen to bluegrass? Jazz?
NF: Oh, sure. If I’m in the mood or I’m someplace where they’re playing, like a festival or something like that. I appreciate the talent.
ST: One last thing: What advice would you give to someone who wants to apply for a council liaison position?
NF: Be prepared to be grilled. I mean grilled. The council interview process is brutal. You begin by interviewing with three councilors, usually junior members, who pretty much conduct a regular job interview. You know the kind with behavior-type questions and “tell me about your favorite job” sort of thing. Then there’s another panel interview with seven of the councilors that presents more hypothetical scenarios for the applicant to answer. The final interview is in the field at an actual crime scene. There’s also a written test to determine the applicant’s knowledge of the different preternatural groups because even though a human liaison like me responded to cases involving humans, I still had to deal with different types of prets, so understanding them is paramount.
Interview of TOBIAS CAINE
by Scott Tripp, Editor, Arizona Daily News
S. Tripp: I’ll admit, Mr. Caine. I’m a little intimated here. I’ve never interviewed a vampire before. If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep things a little on the light side.
T. Caine: I don’t mind. Go ahead.
ST: What did you do on your last vacation?
TC: I…haven’t really had much time for vacationing.
ST: But haven’t you been here for a couple hundred years?
TC: On Earth, you mean?
ST: Yes.
TC: Yes, I have. But I’ve had a mission and a very slippery adversary to track. I…would have felt guilty if I’d taken time off for fun.
ST: Let’s talk about your mission, if you don’t mind. You came through the rift voluntarily, am I right about that?
TC: Yes. I was an Enforcer of the High Laws—like the American Secret Service and U.S. Marshalls rolled into one. Someone assassinated our leader on my watch and I felt it was my duty to pursue and carry out the sentence handed down by our justice system.
ST: And that sentence was…
TC: Death. I’ve come very close a few times, but fate hasn’t been kind.
ST: If you’ve been after him since you came through the rift, that’s been over…let me do some quick math here…two hundred years.
TC: Two hundred and nineteen, to be exact.
ST: Don’t you ever think about giving up? I mean, it’s been a long time.
TC: There’s no statute of limitations on murder.
ST: No, no there’s not. Has this…sense of duty negatively impacted your personal life? I would imagine it has.
TC: It has. I haven’t had a lot of time for relationships.
ST: But you have been in love before, right? I mean, you can’t have gone two hundred and nineteen years without falling in love.
TC: There is…was someone I loved. But I messed up in the past and lost her. And that’s all I’m going to say about it at this time.
ST: I can respect that. All right, so let’s lighten things up somewhat. People want to know: Can we follow you on Twitter?
TC: Did I tell you I’m not too crazy about this decade? I don’t understand all this need for tweeting and the whole social media craze. Whatever happened to people talking face to face? So, no, you can’t follow me on Twitter but you can follow my good friend, Cynthia Garner @cynthiagarner.