“Are you okay?” she asked again, worried that he was hurt.
“Physically I’m fine,” he answered. “But it was…it was terrible Allie. We went in and dragged one person out but they were so badly burned they died before we could get ‘em on the ambulance. They took ‘em anyway but it wasn’t any good,” he laughed, a stiff unnatural sound, “I don’t even know if it was a man or a woman and Gods I don’t think I’ll ever get that smell out of my mouth. Horrible. Just horrible. And we knew the kids were still in there and the captain said stay back because the structure was going and I went in anyway.”
“Did you – did you find the kids?”
“Yeah, I did. Hiding in a closet. I think the girl will live but the boy was pretty bad. Smoke inhalation. I just barely got back out before the whole thing came down,” he shook his head. “And then they put me on leave, just like that in front of everybody, right at the scene.”
“I am so sorry Jason.”
“Don’t be, I did it to myself,” he flopped down into a chair his expression brooding. “I was just driving around, going nowhere and decided I’d come here. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not! I’m glad you came here. Make yourself comfortable,” she said, meaning it.
“Right,” he made a face. “So how’s your day?”
She couldn’t control a nervous laugh. “Crappy.”
“What’s up? Please feel free to distract me from the way I totally wrecked my life.”
“Well I found a dead cat on my door when I opened today and had an epic panic attack,” she said making a face.
“You had a panic attack about a dead cat?”
“It’s the third dead animal on my doorstep in the last six days,” she said flatly.
“Are you kidding?” he asked sitting up straighter. “Allie you need to call the police.”
“Oh, believe me, I did. Suffice to say the cop who came out made it clear I won’t be getting any help. And then I had the panic attack.”
“What? Why?” he seemed so genuinely shocked she looked away.
“Jason…” she took a deep breath. “A lot of people don’t like me right now. Because the papers outed me as being not-all-human when I’d been pretty much flying under the radar passing as one. Because they think I had something to do with the murders. Because some people think Detective Walters was framed in some kind of elvish conspiracy to discredit human cops.”
He looked outraged, “That’s ridiculous! How can people believe that garbage?”
“Why should people believe that a human cop was killing people as part of some weird ritual? And that he was caught by the elven police? The whole thing is just so sensational people want to see conspiracies in it,” she said feeling suddenly tired.
He shifted uncomfortably, and tried to change the subject, “So did the cleansing work at least? Are things going better in here?”
“Meh, I think I should have used something stronger,” she said heading back behind the counter to finish unpacking the box she’d been working in when Jason had arrived.
“No improvement?”
“Well someone stole a pretty expensive book from me the other day, so I’d have to say no,” she replied wryly.
“You got ripped off? That sucks.”
“Tell me about it. But I reported it to the Guard so hopefully they’ll catch the guy,” she shrugged.
Jason nodded, then stopped, “Wait the Guard? It wasn’t a human thief?”
“Nope, not this time.”
“Wow. That’s weird. Hey aren’t those bells over the door supposed to tell you if someone coming in is dangerous?”
“Yeah, but only if they mean me or the store physical harm, or if they are…” she stumbled realizing she couldn’t tell Jason about the special ward against the Dark court “– or if they are, ahhhh, going to, if they have violent intentions.”
“Can you add a shoplifting and petty theft ward?” he said, half joking.
“Huh,” she said, thinking of what would be involved. “You know that’s not a bad idea actually. I might be able to come up with something that would work.”
At that moment the door opened, the bells jangling discordantly. Allie struggled to keep her face neutral when she saw who was walking in. Corey was a regular and he always spent money; he was also a complete jerk. And now, Allie thought darkly my shitty day is complete, and it’s not even 2 o’clock yet.
“Hey Sweetheart got anything special to show me today?” Corey walked in like he owned the place, ignoring Jason entirely to swagger up to the counter. He leaned over towards Allie, grinning. “Or a new book I might be interested in?”
She gritted her teeth. “Nothing new since the last time you were in, but I still have that copy of Westmore’s ‘Time and Magical Theory’ that you were looking at.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking about that one. I might get it today. Or I might not,” his eyes fixed on her chest, which was about as much eye contact as she ever got out of him. “Depends on how nice you are.”
Allie heard a disbelieving noise from Jason over in the seating area. She ignored both Jason’s reaction and Corey’s innuendo. “I’m always nice Corey.”
“Well there’s nice and then there’s nice.”
“This is about as nice as I get then,” Allie replied calmly. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up for anything nicer.”
“Well you’re always polite. You could definitely be nicer, especially with how much money I spend here,” he smiled, but not with his eyes. “Don’t good customers get special treatment?”
Jason was leaning forward now, watching the exchange with a distinctly hostile expression. Given his unusual dangerous mood Allie started to get nervous.
“All my customers get the same treatment Corey, you know that. Did you want me to get that book for you to look at or are you just going to browse today?” she said. By now she was used to dealing with Corey and found him annoying but not really offensive anymore. He always talked a big game and tried to be clever while mostly being extraordinarily rude but he never touched her and he always spent money. She had her shields up as strong as she could get them though, to block out whatever he was feeling. If she was lucky he’d get on to business before Jason lost his temper.
Today was not her lucky day.
“I’m fine browsing where I am, but I can think of a couple things I’d like you to show me,” he said, “or I could show you something I’m sure you know just what to do with.”
That last was too much for Jason who stood up quickly, stepping out into the open space by the counter.
“Why don’t you back off?” Jason said, his voice betraying his anger. Allie looked at him, wide eyed. Jason, like Allie herself, usually avoided conflict. In fact for as long as Allie had known him he had tended to stand back and watch things unfold without getting entangled in whatever drama was going on. Today though he was dangerously on edge and seemed to be looking for a fight.
Corey sneered, dismissing Jason with a glance. “Who are you, her boyfriend?”
“No her boyfriend would’ve already broken your face,” he replied tightly.
“Yeah right, so why do you care?”
“Maybe I’m not going to stand here and listen to a woman get talked to like that,” Jason said. Allie could feel the tension in the air but felt helpless to stop it. There was no way to explain to Jason that she was used Corey being like this and that she tolerated it. And somehow she didn’t think he’d understand why even if she did explain. Also she knew that there was no getting Corey to stop posturing, he was far too invested in his own idea of himself as the big alpha male. She stood looking from one man to the other, frozen in place by their volatile emotions which even her reinforced shields couldn’t totally block out.
“She’s not a woman, she’s part elf and everyone knows elves are easy. They can’t get enough and they’ll put out for almost anybody.” The words were ugly and Allie was surprised by how much they actually hurt, even though she
knew that what he was saying reflected the way most humans felt.
“Shut the fuck up,” Jason hissed, furious. “She’s not like that and she’s being really nice in telling you no. So leave her the fuck alone.”
“So she likes to play hard to get, so what? With a rack like that she’s worth the effort and I bet she’s a freak in bed. Besides I don’t hear her saying no.” Both men were talking like Allie wasn’t in the room, entirely focused on each other.
“Get out,” Allie said, not even realizing she was going to say anything until she heard herself speaking.
“Make me,” Corey said, laughing. “You can’t afford to lose my business and we both know it.”
Allie looked down, feeling angry and humiliated, because Corey was right. Maybe a year ago when things were better she could have put her foot down, but no matter how horribly he talked to her they both knew he was all talk and she could not lose the business. Jason, however, had been pushed past his limit. “You heard her asshole. Get the fuck out, or I’ll make you.”
“Yeah what are you going to do? Go all Kung-fu on my ass?” Corey laughed when he said it but Allie saw his muscles tensing, ready for Jason to jump him.
“Oh right because I’m Asian I must know martial arts right? You haven’t met a stereotype you don’t believe have you jackass?” Jason shot back
“What color belt do you have? Blue? Purple? Magenta?” Corey’s eyes narrowed slightly, mocking.
“How about I used to be a bouncer at a bar and I can wipe the floor with you without breaking a sweat. Or maybe you should be more worried about my concealed carry permit.” Jason hissed back. Allie realized, in a sort of slow motion horror, that he was completely serious. And she knew that he was carrying his gun, like usual.
“Enough!” she yelled, startling both of them into reflexively jerking towards her. “Enough. No one’s fighting in here.”
“Whatever,” Corey muttered, and Allie realized that he was afraid. “Fucking bitch. I don’t need this shit and I don’t need your stupid fucking store no matter how nice the scenery is.”
He glared at Allie, somehow shifting all of his anger onto her and she stepped back. Jason growled, the sound oddly inhuman, but before he could say or do anything else Corey turned and left.
Jason followed him to the door, making sure the other man was gone and then began pacing in the aisle between the seats and the shelves, clearly still furious. Allie flinched away from his rage. “Jason, it’s okay…”
“It’s not okay. How can that be okay Allie?” he said, his expression grim. “No one has a right to talk to you like that. Ever. I can’t believe you just stood there and let him.”
“He’s one of my best customers…”
“You have got to be kidding me!”
“…and what he said is pretty much what everyone thinks about elves. Except no one is brave enough to say that kind of stuff to elven women because they know they’ll get their butts kicked,” Allie finished ignoring the interruption. “I’m obviously not about to kick anyone’s butt, so people say things to me they wouldn’t to a full elf.”
Jason stopped pacing, turning to face her, suddenly subdued. “How often does stuff like that happen?”
“Like that?” Allie hedged. “Not often.”
“You know what I mean. How often do you get harassed like that?”
She sighed. “Jason.”
“I’m serious Allie.”
She shook her head. “People talk but they don’t mean what they are saying. It’s just empty words. I can’t let every jerk with a crappy opinion bother me.”
“How often? Every week? Every day? People talk to you like you owe them sex” Allie winced at that “and you just smile and ignore it?”
“It’s not that bad,” she said, and then seeing he was about to say something else. “Listen high school was worse. I could barely go an hour in school without people saying terrible things, way worse than anything Corey just said in here. If it wasn’t for Liz standing up for me all the time, protecting me from the rumors, the people…”she grimaced and shrugged.
He shook his head, tight lipped. “Allie you know I’m your friend. I really am. But you have got to start fighting for yourself at some point. You’ve got to stop letting people treat you like that. Because believe me, no one has the right to talk to you that way. Ever.”
Allie looked away, stung by his words. It wasn’t as if she liked people talking to her like she wasn’t really a person, like she was just a thing, without feelings, or opinions, or rights of her own.
“Jason,” she stopped, gathering her thoughts. “It’s like fighting the tide. I can’t change the way everyone thinks about elves or about me for being part elven. I can’t make people treat me better…”
“That’s just it Allie. You can. You just have to stop accepting the way people treat you now,” he sighed, running his hands through his hair. “Even if you only ever change how one person thinks about you, about people like you, isn’t that something? Isn’t that a victory?”
She frowned. “I guess I never think about it.”
“Maybe being an empath is part of it. No offense but you are just about the least confrontational person I know. I always figured you were just kind of shy and a go-with-the-flow sort but the more you talk about being an empath the more I think maybe that makes you act the way you do.”
Allie frowned harder, looking down and away. She didn’t want to admit he might be right, but when she thought about it…how often had she done what someone else wanted just to avoid having to deal with their feelings? How often did she give in or lose her resolve when someone else was upset? It was a disturbing train of thought. She shook herself slightly, “I don’t know Jason, maybe. I just can’t think about it today. I’m totally emotionally burnt out and I can’t think straight.”
He pulled himself up short, looking embarrassed, “I’m sorry Allie. I forgot you were already having a bad day before that happened. Hey, it’s almost 3, you want me to hang out here until you close and we can go drown our sorrows in ice cream?”
“I’d love to, but Jess and Brynneth are coming here later to-Oh! I forgot to tell you. That’s how crazy everything’s been,” she smacked herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand.
“Tell me what?” he looked wary and she put her hands up in a calming gesture.
“Nothing dire – well at least I hope not. They came in Monday and asked if I could help them with a missing person case they’re working. I guess the human police wouldn’t take it but the Guard did, because the girl’s half elven like me. I think they were thinking it would be easy because in Fairy it probably would be, you know because no one lies, but everyone they’ve been questioning here has been lying. They kind of don’t know what to do with that, especially with no mortal police backup. So they asked me if I could be an intermediary and help them, I guess translate the cultural issues…”
“Allie, you’re babbling.”
“Sorry. I guess I’m nervous. About getting involved again,” she said.
“So why are you?” he asked softly.
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” she said honestly. “And because I know the girl and I want to help.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but this isn’t another free thing is it?”
“Well, I’m not getting paid money no,” she hurried to finish as he started to open his mouth, “but I’m trading the work for healing with Brynneth.”
Jason looked impressed. “That’s actually brilliant. You won’t be in his debt so you won’t need to worry about owing him anything. And they came to you? Lucky it worked out that way.”
“I know. And this way I get the healing you suggested and I also made them agree to make it official, so it’s not just me tagging along. It’s all on the up and up. And they also agreed to give me some leeway in asking questions of their witnesses if I want to. They’re coming by today with the paperwork.”
He lo
oked torn. “It sounds like they gave you an awful lot. They either think it’s going to work in their favor or didn’t think what you asked for was a big deal.”
“I know. Hopefully the second one.”
He hesitated, “So, are you working for the Guard now? Because that might not be a great idea.”
“No,” she said firmly, “definitely not. I mean I don’t think so. There was never any mention of that anyway.”
He looked a bit skeptical, “Well, I know you know how to deal with elves as well as anyone would, but I hope they didn’t trick you Allie.”
She felt her stomach twisting, “You’re not helping my nerves.”
“Sorry. You want to meet me at the house later and we can hang out and do something mindless to get our minds off the day? And you can fill me in on how the rest of the afternoon goes?”
“Sure,” she agreed. “Sounds like a plan.”
He hesitated but she waved him away, “Go on Jason. Jess and Brynneth will be here soon anyway and you probably should go talk to Tony. If you keep spending so much time with me he’s going to get jealous.”
“Never. He knows what’s been going on and he understands that you need a little more support right now.”
Allie hated feeling weak and needy but she didn’t want to hurt Jason’s feelings. “Well then how about you go pick up some ice cream at the store and a good movie – something stupid and funny – and let me get some work done around here.”
He gave her a long look, “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“I should be asking you that – are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry I kind of lost it there,” he sounded subdued.
“Don’t apologize, but you’re definitely not acting like yourself today Jason. You think I’m non-confrontational, well okay you’re right, but we could start a club together for that. You’re usually the quiet one. I’ve never seen you get mad before, never mind threaten to hurt someone,” Allie said, watching him carefully.
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