Night Owls

by Lauren M. Roy

  Think about it like you’re his friend. Great, another thing she had no idea about. But it made sense: Val was his boss, and she seemed to like him. Every step she’d taken so far—bringing Justin here, trying to find a cure for him—had been about protecting him. Hell, even keeping her own nature from him was probably as much about sparing Justin a ride on the freak train as it was about keeping herself safe.

  Then it hit her: that hungry look wasn’t only a need to know the specifics of their deaths; it was fear that he’d played a part somehow. He’ll blame himself. That’s why she didn’t tell him. He finds out they’re after the thing in his head, he’ll think it was his fault. Just like she thought it was her own, for bringing the book to them in the first place. He’s going to blame me, too.

  Difference is, I actually deserve it. She’d brought the Creeps to the Clearwaters’ door. Henry had chosen to send the book away. Nothing Justin could’ve done to prevent that. Elly, on the other hand, could have just stayed the hell out of town.

  “Elly?” He leaned forward. “What did they want?”

  Tell him. It’s only fair. “They wanted—”

  She was saved by the kitchen door banging open, making them both jump. Cavale entered first, followed by Val, then Chaz. Elly caught Cavale’s eye and glanced pointedly at the clock: How could you leave me alone for so long?

  He seemed to catch her meaning, wincing and shrugging an apology.

  Val reclaimed her seat at the table. More blood had seeped from beneath her bandage, staining the cloth a rusty red. Earlier, Elly had thought her thin. Now Val’s skin had tightened, the hollows beneath her eyes deepening until she looked almost skeletal. Her collarbone jutted out, sharp and unsightly.

  Justin was halfway out of his chair. “Val? Are you okay?” He shot a glance at Chaz, who’d gone to stand in front of the coffeemaker, arms folded, the scowl back on his face.

  “Don’t look at me, kid. She says she’s fine.”

  “I am fine.” Val picked up a mug and sniffed. Its contents had to be cold by now. “Change of plans, though. It’s too close to dawn for me to go home for the night, so I’m going to stay here. Chaz is going to take you somewhere safe for the day, and probably through tomorrow night.”

  “But I have classes. And I’m scheduled four to nine thirty tomorrow at the store.”

  “You’re playing hooky and Chaz will get someone to cover your shift.”

  “And you’re staying here?”

  “Cavale has graciously offered me lodging in his basement.” She threw Elly a tired grin. “As long as you’re not going to drag me out into the sunlight once I’m asleep, that is.”

  Elly shook her head. “No, ma’am.”

  “Good. Justin, are you going to argue with me, or can we agree that missing one day of classes won’t kill your GPA?”

  He’d looked ready to argue, but after a moment he relented. “I’ll e-mail my professors. I’ll . . . I’ll tell them I need a day to myself.”

  “Good. Because I think you do need one.” She clapped her hands together and got shakily to her feet. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be dead to the world.” The cellar door was adjacent to the sink. The thumb bolt looked like it was probably the original, which meant it had been painted over every time the door got a new coat. Layer after layer had worked like glue, fusing the parts together. Elly’d toyed with it earlier while she’d toured the house and been unable to make it budge.

  Val flicked it up and slid the bolt back like it was newly installed and well oiled. Flakes of paint drifted to the floor. The hinges screamed as the door opened and the smell of dank earth rushed up from below, the musty scent of an old New England basement wafting through the kitchen.

  They were all quiet for a moment once Val’s footsteps disappeared down the wooden stairs. Finally, Justin cleared his throat. “Um, Chaz? Where is this safe place we’re going?”

  Chaz grinned. “I’m dropping you off with the succubi.”

  14

  CHAZ COULDN’T REMEMBER the last time he’d seen the interior of Hill O’ Beans lit by early morning sunlight. His brain kept trying to fill in nighttime shadows, with ancient, white-haired Margaret behind the register and her twin Adele working the coffeemakers. He certainly didn’t know the two young women manning the counter this morning. They were probably students at Edgewood, like the majority of the small crew at Night Owls, but to him they looked wrong there.

  Everything on the drive from Crow’s Neck back to Edgewood had been that way; landmarks that were usually draped in shadows looked alien in the pinkish glow of sunrise. It went with the territory of being a Renfield—you traded some of your own daylight so you could be available during your master’s waking hours. Chaz preferred sleeping through the mornings and starting his day around noon. He supposed others did the opposite, waking at sunset like their masters and staying up to watch Good Morning America and take care of daytime business, but he’d never really had a chance to swap notes with any others.

  He didn’t care to, either. His brief glimpse into how the other half lived a few years back was quite enough, thankyouverymuch. Chaz’ impression of other Renfields—what little he could remember through the three-day haze of pain and mind-fuckery—was that most of them were obnoxious fucking sycophants. Most of them would have thought it an honor if their masters drained them to a husk and dumped their bodies into Boston Harbor. You don’t get a trophy for being a tasty snack. Christ. Now that he thought of it, getting rid of bodies was probably about as close as vampires got to defecating. He grinned. Val would appreciate that one, when she woke up.

  The girl at the register must have thought the smile was for her. She returned it as she arranged the four coffee cups in a carry-out tray for him. Silver braces with hot pink bands covered her teeth. “You manage Night Owls next door, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, but I’m usually on the night shift.” He peered at her, trying to dredge up some recognition, but nothing came. A good bookseller knew the regulars, and Chaz was usually pretty good with faces, even if they didn’t shop at Night Owls often. Still, nothing, not even a hit on the braces. “I’m having trouble recalling your name—I blame this ungodly hour.”

  “Nah, I don’t think we’ve met. I usually go there during my morning break. I just noticed Justin out there in your car. He sits next to me in Western Civ, and he usually goes straight from class to his shift.” She tilted her chin toward the front window. “He looks beat. I’m not sure even a shot or six of espresso would wake him up.”

  Chaz half turned. Justin was asleep in the front seat, head tilted against the backrest, with his eyes closed and mouth hanging open. “He’s had a long night.”

  “I’d bet he’s had a couple of them. With Professor Clearwater and all.” She rang up the coffees and stuck a couple of chocolate croissants in a bag. “Here, on the house. Tell him Nadine from Dr. Forrester’s class says hi.”

  “Will do.” Chaz dropped a healthy tip in the jar and headed out to the car.

  At the creaking of the driver’s side door, Justin jerked awake. He accepted the tray and the bag of pastries blearily as Chaz passed them over. “How long was I asleep?”

  “Maybe ten minutes. Nadine says hi.”

  “Nadine?”

  “From one of your classes. She saw you all conked out and drooling and sent me away with free food for you. Either she thought you looked like a kitten in need of rescuing, or she’s crushing on you.” The Mustang roared its way to life, and Chaz backed out of their spot. He saw Nadine watching them leave, and gave her a wave. “She’s cute. You should ask her out.”

  Justin looked up from contemplating the croissants and waved in the same general direction as Chaz had.

  “You didn’t even make eye contact.”

  “I’m still half-asleep!” It showed, too. He stared down at the coffee cups and touched the lid of each, counting. “Four cups? Are Cavale and Elly meeting us?”

  “No, they’re staying put. These are for Sunny and Lia.
”

  Watching Justin trying to make the connection was like watching the Mustang trying to start on bitterly cold mornings. He could almost see the check engine lights coming on in the kid’s eyes before the memory of where they were headed kicked in. “Wait, the succubi?”

  “Yep.”

  “Their names are Sunny and Lia. Succubi.”

  “Yep. Well, no, but close enough. They said their real names for me once. I don’t really remember the next hour or two.” They’d told him he’d just sat there, entranced by a pattern on the wallpaper in their parlor, but whenever it came up, Lia and Val dissolved into snickers and Sunny succumbed to outright cackling. Chaz was just fine not knowing the specifics.

  “Should I be, um. Worried, or anything?”

  Chaz glanced sideways at Justin. The kid had turned bright red. Oh shit, he thinks he’s going to be babysat by porn demons. Don’t laugh, don’t laugh . . . To buy some time, he reached over and retrieved his coffee, settling it between his thighs to pry open the lid—the way you weren’t supposed to unless you wanted to risk burning your junk. But the Mustang was older than cup holders, and Chaz had yet to spill a drop in the ten years he’d had the car. Still, he figured showing amusement at Justin’s sudden embarrassment would be a great way to invoke karma, so he made sure his voice was steady and the hot coffee wasn’t hovering over his bits before he answered. “No. You shouldn’t be. Listen, I’m going to let you in on something about these girls, okay?”

  “Okay?”

  “Sunny and Lia are more interested in each other than they are in either of us.”

  Justin’s brow creased as he puzzled that one out. “You mean . . . ?”

  “Yep.”

  “But I thought . . . I mean, aren’t succubi supposed to, um. Like men?”

  “Technically, yes. And they do, I guess, but that’s none of my business so I’ve never asked for details. But you can stop worrying that they’ll spend the day trying to jump your bones.”

  He let out a huge sigh of relief. “Okay, good.”

  “You going to break out those croissants, or no?” It had been hours since either of them had eaten, and Margaret and Adele’s pastries were beyond amazing. Chaz’ disappeared in under two minutes. Justin ate more slowly, picking his apart in slow strips. He was at least being careful to keep the flakes falling into the bag rather than all over the seat, which Chaz appreciated. “Here’s what I don’t get. A guy your age, I’d think you’d be disappointed that you’re not in for a day of something straight out of Letters to Penthouse.”

  So much for keeping the seat clean. Or the windshield for that matter. Justin spluttered, spraying crumbs all over the passenger side. “What?”

  “Just saying.”

  “I’m . . . I’m not like that. That’s not, it’s not my, I mean . . .” He cracked open his coffee and took a scalding sip. They’d come to a four-way stop, and Chaz took the opportunity to get a good look at Justin. The red, which had been subsiding, returned in force. Now he was full-on crimson from forehead to chin as he mumbled, “I wouldn’t even know what to do.”

  A car behind them honked. Chaz waved an apology in the rearview and got going again. You didn’t flip off your fellow drivers in Edgewood; chances were they were also your patrons. “Are you telling me you’re a virgin?”

  “I, um. Yeah.”

  “Weren’t you with Annie for like a year?” Chaz had liked the tall blond girl who, up until a few months ago, used to come around for Justin’s dinner break. Something had happened over the summer, though, and she’d stopped swinging by. Justin had never said much about it, though he’d filled the poetry section with a slew of really depressing collections after the breakup.

  “Yeah, but we never. You know.” From the look of things, he was about to spontaneously combust, and boy would that ruin the interior.

  “Hey, that’s fine. Nothing wrong with it. And? It’s not any of my business either.” He waited a beat, then winced as he added, “Listen. Sunny and Lia will just know, okay? And they’re going to find it endearing.”

  “‘Endearing’? Toddlers are endearing.”

  “They’ll probably give you some shit about it, but I’ll tell them to lay off. I just figured, forewarned is forearmed, yeah?”

  Justin groaned and took another sip of coffee. “Anything else I ought to know?”

  “One other thing. Do you still think of Annie a lot?”

  “Sometimes, I guess. I mean, I know we’re not getting back together, but I miss her, you know?” He paused and eyed Chaz suspiciously. “Why?”

  “Just . . . Try not to be too freaked out if one of them starts looking like her. It’s a succubus thing. They pick up on who it is you’re wanting and sometimes they react to it. It happens subconsciously for them. Especially if you still have feelings for her. It’s not a big deal. If you ask them to turn it off, they will.”

  Justin gaped at him for a good thirty seconds before he found his words again. “Are you sure I can’t just go back to the dorm?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. Seriously, don’t sweat it. They’ll probably stick you in their spare room, tell you how the TV remote works and where the bathroom is and leave you alone.” He pulled into the driveway of a neat little Victorian and killed the engine. They had arrived.

  Sunny and Lia’s house was their pride and joy. They’d spent most of the summer up on ladders, touching up the paint. Lia kept a vegetable garden out back, and she’d lined their brick walkway with pots of red and orange chrysanthemums. It was cozy and welcoming, the picture of domestic contentment. None of the neighbors would ever have suspected they lived next door to a pair of demons.

  “You ready?” Chaz leaned over to take the coffee tray from Justin.

  The kid took a deep breath and plastered on an exhausted smile. “My boss is a vampire and I have some kind of evil spell stuck in my head. How could spending the day with a pair of succubi be any weirder, right?”

  “That’s the spirit.”

  The front door opened when they were halfway up the walk. Sunny came out onto the steps in a blue and white tee shirt that read “Edgewood College Athletics Dept.” that was three sizes too big for her. Her bare feet peeked out from the bottom of her blue plaid pajama pants. She was short today; Chaz guessed she was only a hair over five feet. Her skin was nut-brown, her hair thick, black, and bobbed. Huge chocolate brown eyes peered up at him from an otherwise plain face.

  Chaz could feel the confusion emanating from Justin. Sunny’s appearance didn’t exactly scream “sex demon.” Chaz knew this face of hers, though. It was Lia’s favorite, and thus the one Sunny usually wore.

  “Sunny, this is Justin. Justin, Sunny.” Chaz gestured with the tray of coffee as they climbed the steps. “Val wanted me to tell you how much she appreciates this.”

  “Oh, please. Anything for you guys.” She stepped back, beckoning them inside. “Lia’s out for a run. She should be back any minute now.”

  They followed her into the living room and sat down on the black marshmallow leather couch. Chaz deposited the tray on the glass coffee table and sat back with his cup. Sunny plunked down on the matching love seat across from them and took in their rumpled clothes and tired eyes. “No run-ins on the way?”

  Chaz shook his head. He’d told Sunny the Jackals might be after Justin, and she’d insisted he floor it to get there. “None. Val says they go to ground during the day, and they don’t know that what they’re looking for is cozying up next to The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe in Justin’s head.”

  “Yet,” muttered Justin. He got that sluggish-engine look again, then startled. “It is what they’re after. That piece of Professor Clearwater’s book.”

  Shit. Chaz had told Val the kid wasn’t stupid, that it wasn’t a hard leap to make. She’d been hoping that exhaustion combined with the whole “my boss is a vampire and my handwriting’s been hijacked by some fucked-up spell” thing might distract him from drawing the obvious conclusion. With your average kid, t
hat might’ve worked. But Justin was almost frighteningly smart, and, well, when a kid spends that much time thinking, sooner or later the brain was going to rejoin the party.

  I was just hoping it wouldn’t be on my goddamned shift.

  He felt guilty for even thinking that, but Chaz had never been very good at reassuring and comforting. I’ll probably just make it worse. Damage was already done though; he had to at least try. “Listen, Justin . . .”

  “Sweetie, it’s not your fault.” Thank God for Sunny. She reached across the table and took Justin’s hands in hers. “If I understand it right, Professor Clearwater gave you the book, not the other way around, yes?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Because he trusted you with it. He knew you could get it where it needed to go, and that he wouldn’t have to worry about it. You eased a burden for him by taking it. Do you see?” While Sunny spoke, she stroked her thumb slowly back and forth across his knuckles. Her voice was low and smooth, and her eyes . . . It shouldn’t be possible for that brown to get deeper, but it had. They seemed almost liquid now, and even bigger than when Chaz and Justin had first arrived.

  The smell of sandalwood filled the room, earthy and deep. Had she lit a candle? Or a stick of incense? Chaz found he couldn’t remember, and that was what brought him out of the stupor. Sunny never broke her eye contact with Justin, but Chaz was fairly certain the amused quirk of her lips was aimed at him.

  She kept murmuring, too low for Chaz to make out the words. Justin nodded now and then, deep in her thrall. Probably should’ve told him she’s a therapist for her day job.

  Chaz let his mind wander as Sunny eased Justin’s worry. He had very little to do until tonight. Night Owls’ daytime crew could take care of itself, and the plans for the Jackals’ return depended largely on Val, Elly, and Cavale. Which meant he could close his eyes, let his mind slip into neutral for a few minutes, and quietly freak the fuck out.