by Sean Hayden
"What?"
"Not trying to sound creepy, but it smells like you."
"That's my old room, so I'm not surprised. Lived in that room for seventeen years." I laughed a little. "Wait. You can smell me?" I self-consciously lifted my arm and whiffed.
"Yes. You smell very good. Like vanilla and cinnamon. You're kinda spicy."
"Can you tell what someone is by the way they smell?"
"Um, what?" She gave me a sidelong glance.
"Nevermind," I said with a blush.
"Wait, you can?"
I nodded.
"What do I smell like?"
"Flowers and spring."
"Oh, thank the gods. What does Marcel smell like?"
"Vampires smell like sickly sweet heavy spices. Lycanthropes smell like earthier spices. Humans who can use magic smell like both."
"That's pretty handy."
"It's saved my ass a time or two," I said and shrugged.
"Any other neato abilities I should know about my roomie before I move in?"
"Not re–" The words died in my mouth.
"What?"
"Yeah. You better sit down for this one."
"Okay," she said and followed me back into the living room.
"You want some coffee or anything?" Sure, I couldn't drink it, but that didn’t mean I didn't have a pod machine in my kitchen. I wasn't a total barbarian…
"I'd love one. Come on. We can talk in the kitch."
I went into the cabinet above the maker and pulled out a donut shop pod for her. "How do you drink it?"
"Black with sugar."
"That's a new one on me."
"Dairy kills me. Not literally," she added holding up her hands when she saw my concern.
"Oh. I don't keep milk or cream in the house. I have the powdered stuff. I think it's non-dairy."
"And probably made from asbestos. Sugar is fine. Thanks."
I laughed and put everything together while I debated where to start and how much to tell her. I decided to go for broke and tell her everything. She was going to be living with me after all. She had a right to know.
I set the coffee down in front of her and she took a sip, nodding. I grabbed a pouch of blood out of the fridge and hopped on the counter. Unlike Mel, I wore shorts to bed.
"So, here's the thing. You know I have particular dietary requirements. Did Marc mention why?"
"No. He said the story was yours to tell. I didn't want to pry, so chalked it up to you being the vampiric equivalent of diabetic?"
"Well, apparently I'm not a normal vampire. You've seen how my fangs, claws, and eyes are different?"
She nodded.
"Okay. So, my mother was human. Her sister raised me, my mother didn't survive the childbirth," I continued and let that part sink in.
"So, you're only half-vampire?"
"Honestly, no. I'm not any part vampire. My mother was human, daddy was a dick-head demon that my mother the witch summoned."
"Are you serious?"
I nodded and waited for the disgust. It didn't come. "That doesn't bother you?"
"No. I haven't known you for very long, but evil is something you're not. I would have felt it. Doesn't matter to me who your dad is. My lineage is weird, too. Mom was a low court elf, dad was some sort of nature spirit Fae. We can't help what we are."
"Thanks."
"No problem," she said with a grin and drank some more of her coffee, lost in thought. "Anything else?"
"Oh. I met Daddy in a vision. He called me an abomination and pretty much wants me dead. And when I get really pissed off I grow horns and really vamp out," I said and made a snarly face and clawed the air.
"I'll make sure not to leave my laundry everywhere."
"Definitely don't. I wouldn't want it to get mixed up with mine!"
"Are you a slob, Ash?"
"Would that be a deal breaker?"
"No…"
"Then, yes. Yes, I am."
"Lord and Lady, what have I gotten in to," she said with a wink.
I slurped the last of my blood and she finished her coffee.
"Well, I need to get ready. I need to stop by my house and change before I show up for work. What are you up to tonight?"
"Nothing. I might go see a movie. Definitely not hanging out at the Dungeon tonight. I don't think I could handle that again," I blurted out honestly.
"If you need me, call me."
"I will. And I'll text you the code to the door. I know your lease doesn't expire until next month, but feel free to start moving your stuff over."
"I'll take you up on that. It's a furnished apartment, so I don't really have much to move. Clothes, altar, knick-knacks, et cetera. I'll probably go hit up Ikea for furniture."
"Shit. I donated all my old stuff. It wasn't suited for a hundreds-years-old elf, but you could have made do."
"No worries. Okay if I have deliveries made during the day? They charge a shit ton for night."
"As long as you're up to accept it. I can be, but getting near the open door during the day isn't exactly pleasant."
"I can't even imagine."
We wandered back to my room and she pulled her skirt and shirt off the floor and dressed. I plopped back down on the bed. I had nowhere to be and wasn't in a hurry to do nothing.
"Thanks, Ash. Looking forward to this."
"Me, too," I said and watched my breath turn into a fog.
"Did you lower the air?"
Chills rain over my arms and up my spine. I backed up against the headboard and started a low chanting, "No, no, no." I loved Vic, but I didn't want to see her ghost again. Ever.
"What's going on?" Mel curled her arms around herself and started rubbing her arms. The door to my bathroom opened by itself and the light flickered. Mel started walking toward the door. "Marcel, if that's you, you're dead."
"It's not," I managed to whimper. I hugged my knees and drew them to my chest and began rocking.
Vic appeared in the doorway between flickers of the overhead bathroom light. Mel's gasp echoed weakly off the walls and the temperature in the room plummeted even more.
"Ash?"
"It's Vic."
"Is this why you didn't want to be alone?"
"Yes," I said sadly and looked at my Vic. She was staring at me, imploring me soundlessly, and holding up her hands in front of her. I'd had enough. I gathered every ounce of courage I had, stood, and walked toward her.
"Oh, Vic. I'm so sorry…" Tears began streaming down my face as I slowly closed the distance between us. "I know. It's my fault. Please don't hate me. Please rest."
Vic opened her mouth, let out a soundless scream, and grabbed her head. The wound on her neck opened and blood began to spill, shimmering silver in the light. It pooled at her feet, her eyes turned white, and she vanished in a wave of heat.
I collapsed to the ground and lost consciousness.
∞ ∞ ∞
"Kid, wake up." A big beefy hand swatted my cheek.
"Hey partner," I managed to squeak. "Long time no see."
"Yeah. Been a couple of days. You managed to stay out of trouble that long, eh."
"Ain'tcha proud?"
"You have no idea," he said and lifted me up off the ground, setting me down gently on the bed.
"So, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"
"Got a call that my partner was seeing shit again."
"I swear to gods it's real. I'm not hallucinating!"
"I know, kid. You had a witness this time. Guess me and Frenchy owe you an apology, huh."
"It's okay. I wouldn't have believed me either. Wait. Who called you?"
"Marc. The new girl called him, shitting kittens, and he called me. I was closer. He should be here any minute."
"Where's Melanie?"
"In the kitchen drinking coffee and contemplating life. She's cute. She your new…"
"Roommate," I supplied casually. "Or at least she planned on it until she found out the house is haunted."
"She looks like a tough cookie. Guess that makes her a Keebler elf."
"That's not funny and kind of racist…"
"Shut it or I'll start with the vampire jokes."
"Don't. They all suck. Ba dum, tiss."
"You kill me," he said and gave his deep throaty laugh. "So, what the hell happened? The elf wasn't making much sense when I got here. Said it was Vic?"
I nodded. "She looked like she was suffering. And screaming. I kept telling her how sorry I was, but she just screamed, bled, and vanished. That's when I hit the floor."
The front door opened and slammed shut. Marc ran into the bedroom and saw me lying on the bed, Thompson next to me. "Are you okay?"
I nodded. He peeked his head out the door and repeated his question to Mel. I could hear her muffled response but couldn't tell if it was a yes or no. I started to get up to check on her, but Thompson's hand pushed me back down.
"She's okay. Give her a few minutes. It's not every day somebody sees a ghost."
"She saw it, too?" Marcel sounded like he was having trouble believing it.
"Yep. I had a witness this time. I told you I wasn't crazy."
He opened his mouth to object.
"I meant about the ghost."
"Okay," he said and smiled. If he wanted to crack jokes to deal with the situation, I'd play along. "I'm going to go check on her."
"Please," I said and relaxed. The cavalry had arrived. As they always did. Sometimes my life felt pretty shitty, but the people in it made a difference.
"So, what's new?"
I looked up at my partner and laughed. "Oh, you know. The usual. Dead girlfriend showing up, met a mage, fooled around with Marcel, became an exhibitionist…" I trailed off and shrugged like the past two days had been no big deal.
"I don't even want to know. At least you seem to be enjoying your vacation."
"Yeah. Fuck that. Can we go back to work now?"
"Well, since you're not crazy, that sped up the timetable. Sanders called Reese. Apparently, there's been a string of murders in L.A. Vamps, Weres, you name it. If it's magical it's getting tortured and eaten. He wants us on it, but Reese squashed that. They were actually yelling at each other over the phone. You should have seen it."
"How did you see it?"
"Was having lunch with the boss. He wanted to know how you were doing."
"What did you tell him?"
"The words hot, fucking, and mess came up."
"Apt description."
"So, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm the bearer of bad news."
Fear swelled up in the pit of my stomach. "Am I suspended indefinitely? Fired?"
Ten thousand thoughts swept through my head simultaneously. How the hell would I live, foremost. That settled when I remembered Marcel's offer. Fuck this, I'm gonna be a stripper, flashed in my head and I started laughing.
"You okay?"
I nodded. "I will be. Give it to me. What's the bad news?"
"You have an appointment this evening. Go take a shower."
"Appointment?"
"Yep. You're gonna get your head shrunk whether you like it or not. Sorry, kid."
I briefly debated arguing, but that had gotten me absolutely nowhere as of late. "Fine. Where?"
"Here. He'll be here in an hour."
"Oh, that's convenient."
"Well, it was one of the topics of discussion at lunch today. In fact, you were pretty much all we talked about. How does it feel being so popular?"
"Exhausting. Alright, I'm gonna check on Mel and hop in the shower."
He nodded and backed up a little, giving me room to move. I put my feet on the floor and hoisted myself up. Surprisingly, the room didn't spin or go black.
Yay.
I walked out into the living room and over to my kitchen. Mel was parked on one of the stools, slowly sipping her coffee. I felt bad about not keeping any liquor in the house. I'm sure she could have used something a little stronger.
"Hey," I said to her.
"Glad to see you're up. Sorry, I tried waking you, but you were out for the count. I did the first thing I could think of and called Marcel. Hope you don't mind."
"Nope. They're like my keepers. You did good."
She smiled and continued drinking, staring off into space.
"Thompson, you want coffee?"
"Please."
I decided to let her be for a moment and made my partner a cup. He was one of those people who didn't take a damn thing in it. I liked them. They were easy. But, if I heard him say, "I take it like I am, hot and black," one more time…
I handed him the mug and stood at the counter in front of Mel.
"So, I guess this means you don't want to move in, huh?"
"I'm going to be honest. That was absolutely my first fucking thought. But then I thought about it. I'm still in if you'll have me."
"Why?"
"Because it was scary as fuck."
"You a masochist?"
"No. But I am a good roommate, and I could never ever make you deal with that by yourself. I'm moving in right away. Marcel, can I have the night off?"
"Oui."
"I'll be back. Gonna get my clothes and stuff. I can pack the rest of the shit later. During the day."
"What about a bed?"
"I'll order one online and have it delivered. You mind sharing for a day or two?"
"Not at all," I said with a smile.
"Bet you don't," Thompson mumbled behind me.
I tried to be inconspicuous with my kick to his shin, but Mel saw me and laughed. My face flushed, and I kicked him again just for good measure. He chuckled behind me and wandered off to sit.
"What did I miss?" Marcel said as he walked into the kitchen, putting his cell phone back in his pocket.
"Your elf is moving in with your vampire," Thompson called out.
"Oui?" He looked at the two of us.
"Yep. I have a roommate," I said.
He smiled and left to go sit with Thompson.
"Keep an eye on them while I hop in the shower? Make sure they don't break anything. Or steal anything."
"You got it. Have fun. Don't get wet."
"Har har."
"Let's start with how you're feeling."
How did I know that's what he was going to ask?
I looked at the middle-aged man sitting across from me in my living room. Dr. Rosenfeld had shown up at my door right after my shower. I made him wait for five minutes while I put some clothes on. What truly amazed me was how fast everybody abandoned me when the psychiatrist showed up.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to say I feel fine," I said to hopefully lighten the mood.
He took a sip of the coffee I made him and waited for me to continue.
"Let's just say I'm feeling a little brighter than the last time you saw me."
"That was an interesting day."
"You have an unusual definition of the world interesting."
"I was being polite," he said and smiled for the first time. Maybe in his life.
I laughed a little. "Yeah. That wasn't my best day ever."
He picked up the notebook and pen off his lap, closed it, and set it on my coffee table. He leaned back on the couch and crossed one leg over the other, making himself comfortable. I guessed we were going to be a while.
"Want me to tell you about my mother?" I grinned at him, going for smile number two.
He put his hand over his mouth and set his elbow on the arm rest of the sofa. "You never met your mother. I'm guessing you feel as if you know her because you were raised by her twin sister, your aunt. The same aunt that kept you hidden from the world for the first seventeen years of your adolescent, for a para-vampire, life. Would you like me to continue?"
I shook my head. Apparently, the good doctor had done his homework before acing his Ashlyn test.
"Good. Then maybe we can get somewhere tonight."
"You think you can fix me by tomorrow?"
"I'm a psychiatrist, no
t God."
"You telling me to go to a priest?"
"I'm asking you to work with me. No more jokes. No more snide answers. I really want to help you, but there's no way I can if you don't let me. I've basically been told to get this over with and get you back to duty, but I won't do that. Not until I make sure you're not a danger to yourself or others. I can't."
I sat forward in my seat and looked into his eyes. "That's just it, Doc. Even at my best, I'm still a danger to others."
"And that's the first honest thing you've said tonight." He reached down, picked up his notebook, and opened it to take some notes. "Let's start with this. If you had to describe yourself right now to me using only one word, what word would that be?"
"Fucked."
"Why?"
So, I told him. I told him all about the four cities full of vampires tied to me, draining me, depending on me. I told him about Vic, and how her death wrecked me. I told him about her ghost. I told him about how I was afraid to do anything, because no matter what I did, someone usually ended up hurt or dead. I told him about my fear of losing anymore friends. I told him about how much I missed my aunt. And then I cried.
Dr. Rosenfeld sat patiently through it all, making a few notes here or there, but never once showing an ounce of surprise. I briefly wondered how in-depth my file at the FBI was.
He clicked his pen closed, and I half expected him to shut his notebook again, but he didn't. "So, what's your plan?"
"My plan?"
"To overcome all of this. To get back on your feet. Have you thought about it? Do you have any ideas?"
"Marcel told me to pick one thing. The most important thing on my plate right now. Deal with that and then work on the next thing. And then the next. Do one at a time."
"That's very wise."
"He is a thousand years old. Guess it comes with extreme age."
Rosenfeld huffed. It was almost a laugh. "So, what is your one thing?"
"To get these vampires tied to someone else. We met with a mage who works for the Catholic Church. He's going to help me. Once he figures out a way, we're going to California and severing the bonds."
He nodded. "Can I be honest?"
"I should hope so."
"Ash, I'm not going to lie to you. You are a mess. You have way too much on your plate and you've been dealt a shitty hand, every hand, since the beginning of the game. Want to know something else?"