by Chris Cannon
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Try the switch,” Sybil shouted.
Mrs. Connor reached inside and flipped the light on. Thankfully, both lanterns came on bright and clear.
“Relieved?” Mrs. Connor smiled and her eyes almost disappeared into her wrinkles.
“Yes. I didn’t want to fail at my first job. I’ll clean up my tools and be on my way. Mr. Dale will send you a bill.”
Sybil came into view. “Before you go, come visit Violet with me for a moment. You can see that not everyone grows old gracefully.”
“Company perks Violet up. Would you mind stopping in for a moment?” Mrs. Connor asked.
Well shit. How could I say no to that without looking like a jerk? “Let me put everything in the truck first.”
“Can you take the old lights and ask Dale if he can dispose of them?”
“Sure.” I packed everything away and grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler. I downed half of it and then put it inside the truck.
Sybil waited for me, leaning against the front porch rail. It registered in my brain that she wasn’t wearing leather. It was the first time I’d seen her that she wasn’t all vamped out. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore a blue T-shirt and khaki shorts.
“What?” she said when I met her on the porch.
“Nothing,” I said. “Your outfit is less intimidating today. You look nice.”
“Thank you.” She hooked her arm through mine and led me inside and up the stairs. “Violet won’t know who we are. She has dementia. If she starts talking, go along with whatever she says. Half the time she thinks I’m our mother.”
“That’s sad.”
“Which is why becoming a vampire is not a terrible thing, no matter what my other sister says about God’s natural order.”
She’d heard us. “Wow. You can’t talk quiet enough for a vampire not to hear, can you?”
“No.”
We reached the bedroom door which had a crystal handle. “Here we go.” She knocked. “Violet, can we come in?”
“I’m not ready for school,” Violet called out.
My stomach clenched. This was going to be uncomfortable. Sybil swung the door open.
“I told you I’m not ready.” Violet sat in front of one of those old-fashioned dressers with a mirror on the back, brushing what was left of her wispy white hair.
“Do you need help?” Sybil asked.
“Yes, Mom. Please. I don’t want to be late.” Violet spotted me. “Dad, when did you get home?”
“He drove in this morning,” Sybil said in the kindest tone I’d heard her use. “Now let’s fix your hair.” She brushed the old woman’s hair into a tiny ponytail and tied it with a pink ribbon.
Violet smiled into the mirror. “Don’t I look pretty, Daddy?”
It felt like my chest was going to cave in. I nodded and cleared my throat. “You look great.”
She grinned and her eyes lit up like a little girl who was excited for life. “Today after school, Sybil and I are going to the ice cream parlor. She said she’d buy me whatever flavor I wanted.”
“That’s nice,” I said.
Violet yawned. “I’m tired.” She closed her eyes and grimaced. When she opened her eyes the happy little girl was gone. Now her gaze darted around the room like she was a caged animal. “What’s going on? Who are you? Why are you in my room?”
I backed toward the door as Sybil tried to calm Violet down. Whatever she said only made it worse. Violet cried and screamed.
Sybil clasped Violet face and met her gaze. “You’re tired. You’re going to fall asleep and have happy dreams. When you wake up you’ll be at peace.”
I waited in the hall while Sybil tucked Violet into bed. When she emerged from the room there were tears on her cheeks. I didn’t know vampires could cry.
“I could have saved her from this,” Sybil said.
Mrs. Connor came up the stairs. “You could end it for her.”
“No.” Sybil shook her head. “You chose this path for her. If you want to end it, go ahead.”
“But you’re already a murderer,” Mrs. Connor said in a cold, cruel voice.
Sybil stalked down the stairs past her sister. I followed, trying to come up with something to say, to comfort a vampire. Nothing seemed appropriate.
“Can I ride back with you?” Sybil asked.
Damn it. “Sure.”
Chapter Fourteen
Meena
Three blue envelopes had mysteriously appeared on my nightstand while I was sleeping. Great. I checked the names and thankfully didn’t recognize any of them. All three were supposed to be at the casino this morning. Lovely. It had taken half a can of dry shampoo to get the smoke smell out of my hair after my last visit.
I headed for the kitchen and made breakfast as quietly as possible, since my dad was sleeping on the futon in the television room. Sage wandered into the kitchen in human form. “Please tell me you have coffee.”
I pointed at the coffeemaker on the counter. “Knock yourself out.”
I’d been focused on scrambling eggs and cooking bacon. Coffee hadn’t happened yet. My dad normally took care of that. I could take or leave coffee. My caffeinated beverage of choice was iced tea.
Sage set about making coffee. The smell must have woken up my father. He did a double take when he saw Sage sitting at the kitchen table.
He scratched his head in confusion. “Right. The cat-guy.” He poured himself a cup of coffee and then came over to give me a side arm hug. “I hope you made enough breakfast to share.”
“Of course I did.” I dished out eggs and bacon and cat food before sitting down to eat.
“What are you doing today?” my dad asked.
“I’m collecting for Bane at the casino this morning. After that I’ll curl up with a book.”
“I don’t like you going down there alone,” my dad said. “I could go with you.”
“Thanks, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Not all of Bane’s customers like people knowing they made deals.”
“I have no plans besides lying in a sunbeam and taking a nap,” Sage told my dad. “If you have other things you’d like to do, I can watch over Meena.”
My dad touched my arm. “Say the word and I’ll go with you, but I could hit the grocery store instead.”
“Promise to buy me Canadian bacon and Sage can be my wingman.”
“It’s not bacon,” my dad repeated the silly argument we’d had many times before. “It’s ham. But yes, I’ll get you some misnamed ham while Sage goes on demon duty.”
After breakfast, I showered and stared into my closet. How was a soul collector supposed to dress? I opted for a white tee and navy shorts with my favorite rhinestone flip-flops. I grabbed the leather backpack. Sage waited for me in the kitchen.
The ride out to the casino was uneventful. I was surprised to see the parking lot was almost full. “Shouldn’t these people be at church?” Not that I had much room to talk. We’d been a go-to-church-on-the-holidays kind of family. After my mom’s incident we’d stopped attending because some of the overly pious individuals of Crossroads said that we should take comfort in the fact that my mom might not be going to hell because she hadn’t actually committed suicide. Judgmental assholes.
Sage frowned as he checked our surroundings. “I sense an unusual amount of magic in the air.”
“What does that mean?”
“As a familiar I can sense when supernaturals are nearby. They put off…it’s hard to explain…it’s kind of like a scent in the air. Normally, there’s a whiff of it, like the scent of a flower drifting through the air. Right now it’s like we’re in a florist shop.”
“Any idea why?”
“No.” He unlocked his door. “But I’m coming with you.”
“Sage
, wait. I don’t understand how this familiar thing works. How can you help me if something bad happens?”
“In human or cat form, I’m a formidable fighter but my real power lies in protective and defensive spells. I can repel attackers. I can relocate us to your home or to Zelda’s, since I’ve spent time there.”
“That’s cool.” I was impressed. “When will I learn to do those things?”
“I think we should go to Carol’s after you meet up with Bane. It’s time for you to understand how to tap into your magic.” He grinned. “Goblin will have to deal with it.”
“Why is he worried about you stealing Carol?”
“He loves her and he doesn’t want someone younger coming in to try and take her away. Not that I would ever behave in that manner.”
There was so much about this witch business I didn’t understand. “Let’s get this over with.”
We walked across the lot to the steps. Before we made it to the door, it was opened by the young man with the old eyes who’d greeted me before. “Your timing is terrible,” he said. “Do your business and get out.”
“Good morning to you, too,” Sage replied.
Fog-like smoke filled the casino. Every slot machine was in use, and men and women dressed like bikers filled the poker tables. They all turned when I walked in and gave me fang-filled smiles.
“Must be vampire day at the casino,” I muttered.
Pretending not to be freaked out, I headed over to Beverly at her glassed-in booth. She buzzed us in. I was grateful to be on this side of the locked door, away from the vampires.
“Let’s see who you’ll need today, Meena.”
I pulled the envelopes out of my backpack, passed them to Beverly, and she scanned them.
“I’ll wait in the break room.” I headed for the small room with the folding chairs and the soda machine. It seemed more private than meeting people where Beverly could see.
Sage stood behind me, leaning against the wall.
“You could sit.” I pointed at the chair next to me.
“Standing signals that I’m watching over you. Some of these people may need to see that.”
“Okay.”
A man in a leather vest and ripped jeans strutted into the room like he was God’s gift to women. He did have bulging muscles and a square jaw, but his fangs and his arrogant attitude detracted from his appeal.
“Hello, new girl.” He grabbed the chair, turned it around backward, and sat down so he straddled it. “I’m Zeke.”
I grabbed the blue envelope with the label Z. Daniels. “Hello, Zeke.” I opened it up and took out the syringe. In a move so fast I couldn’t see it, he swiped the syringe from my hand.
Rattled, I glared at him. “Was that necessary?”
“One of the perks of being fanged. You humans move too slow.”
He put the syringe between his eyes. The plunger gradually moved out.
Curiosity got the better of me. “I didn’t know vampires could make deals.”
“Anyone can make a deal. I didn’t want to just live, I wanted to be young and strong forever. Best decision I ever made.”
He set the syringe on the table and stood up. “See you next month.”
After he left, Sage fixed the chair so it was facing the right direction.
“That guy can’t live forever, can he? He traded his soul. Don’t they all get ten years?”
“I believe demons can change the timeframe if they think it would benefit them in some way. Maybe collecting from someone for one hundred years is some sort of long-term agreement.”
“But everyone’s syringe is the same size. Wouldn’t they be drained in ten years like a human? How would that work?”
“I have no idea.”
I heard someone shouting at Beverly. “Forget it,” a man said. “I’m done.”
I stood and peeked out the door.
“Now, Frank,” Beverly said. “You haven’t even met Meena. She’s nice.”
What would I do if this guy stormed off? I had no idea. I cleared my throat and Frank glanced in my direction. “Hi. I’m collecting for Bane now.”
The guy reached into his jacket and pulled something out. When he pulled his arm back like he was going to throw a baseball, I ducked. A knife flew over my head and then something large jumped over me and roared. A tiger. It was a tiger. A tiger had the man pinned to the ground with his jaws around the guy’s head, which only partially muffled Frank’s terrified screaming.
I glanced back over my shoulder to make sure. No Sage behind me, which meant the tiger was my familiar.
“Don’t kill him,” Beverly yelled.
Sage roared and kept his mouth right where it was.
“If your cat kills him, Bane will lose the soul and he’ll take it out of your hide,” Beverly warned.
Roaring so loud the glass on Beverly’s enclosure rattled, Sage opened his mouth and backed up a few paces. Blood spotted the man’s shirt and pooled around his head but he was still breathing.
“Sage, can you heal him?”
Sage changed back to human form and wiped the blood from his mouth. “I can stop the bleeding if he promises not to hurt you.”
“Frank, are you ready to make your donation?” I asked.
He gave a strangled response which I took as consent.
“Stop the bleeding.” I went back into the break room for his syringe, came back out, and placed it on Frank’s forehead, doing my best to ignore his urine-soaked pants. The syringe moved out. Once it was full, I said, “You can go now. See you next month.” Then I went back into the other conference room and put the syringe in the envelope. My heart beat so hard I could hear blood pounding in my ears.
Sage joined me and took my hand. “I’m sorry, Meena. I overreacted.”
“No. He was trying to hurt me. Maybe go with a slightly smaller cat next time,” I tried to joke.
A man knocked on the door. “Hi. I’d like to make my payment, please.”
This transaction went smoothly. I wasn’t sure whose hands shook more, the donor’s or mine.
“Well, that was fun,” I muttered as we headed out to my car. “Time to go see Bane.”
At the library, I found Bane seated in the basement cafe in the same place he’d been before.
“I’ll wait over here.” Sage headed for a table near the wall.
When I approached Bane, he pushed out the chair on the other side of the table without touching it, which was spooky. “Have a seat.”
I didn’t want to sit. I could just hand him the envelopes, but he might think I was being rude. He was working at being polite so I figured I would do the same.
I joined him and held out the envelopes. “So, a guy named Frank tried to kill me and Sage intervened on my behalf.”
Bane’s eyes widened a bit. “Tell me everything.”
I gave him the disturbing details. He picked up the envelope with Frank’s name on it. “Defending yourself is acceptable. Make sure you don’t kill anyone if I’m not there to collect their soul before they die.”
Okay. “Maybe you could tell the people you have contracts with that they forfeit the rest of their soul if they attack your collection agents.”
“I suppose I could add that clause to the contract and give you a couple of large syringes to keep in your bag just in case.”
“I’m not killing someone for you,” I said.
“I never asked you to.” He leaned in closer. “Anything else I should know about?”
To take my mind off the disturbing turn of events, I asked the question that had been running through my brain after meeting Zeke. “Before everything went to hell, I collected from a vamp. He made it sound like he was going to live longer than the normal ten years. Do some people make different deals?”
“You’re nosy,” he said. “But
yes, sometimes I will make a deal for an extended period of time.”
“Wouldn’t you drain their soul before their time was up?”
He reached over and wrapped a strand of my hair around his finger. “Information isn’t free. I’ll answer your questions if you let me touch your hair.”
I had a vague memory of when my life had been normal. When no one threw knives at me and people answered questions without strange fetishy requests.
I missed that time.
“Seriously?”
“Everything comes at a cost.”
He sounded like Carol when she talked about magic. “Fine. You can touch my hair.”
“I don’t approve of this,” Sage said from his seat across the room.
“I didn’t ask your permission.” Bane’s fingernails grazed my scalp. A cool sensation ran over my skin that was sort of relaxing. “What was your question?”
It took me a moment to remember. “How would the vamp’s soul last for so long. Wouldn’t he run out?”
“No.”
I blinked at Bane. “Care to elaborate?”
“Supernatural creatures’ souls are different. That’s why I don’t make many deals with them. I can’t eat their souls, but I can use their magical power.”
“So you eat people souls but non-human souls are like magical batteries?”
“Yes.”
“Do you ever give humans longer than ten years?” I asked, thinking about my dad and my mom.
“No,” Bane said. “Unless their request is to be transformed into a vampire or a demon.”
Wait. What? “You can change a person into a demon?”
“I can do whatever I want.” Bane twisted a section of my hair around his finger. I felt a jolt of cold on my scalp and watched as Bane stood, still holding the lock of hair which was disturbingly no longer attached to my head.
“What the hell!” I jumped to my feet.
“Don’t worry.” He laughed. “It will grow back.”
“That’s not the point. You can’t take my hair.”
“Here,” he said. “I’ll regrow it for you.”
My scalp prickled and felt cold and then something slithered down the side of my face. Logic told me that it was my hair, but my instincts yelled, “Spider,” so I swiped at my cheek brushing the hair out where I could see it. Blue. My hair was freaking blue.