by Martha Woods
“The office?” She sniffed, starting to come to her bearings and stepping more into the role of the person who had been instrumental in me keeping my sanity over the last few months. “Yeah, yeah we can make it… can you give us half an hour to get cleaned up and… get some coffee or whatever?”
“Of course, of course,” I apologized, “I woke you up this early, you do whatever it is you need to do. Just meet me there when you’re ready.”
“Alright, will do Amy. Love you.”
“Love you too Cara, say the same to Tariq.”
She giggled, moving the phone away from her mouth and saying something next to her, before leaning back in with a laugh, “Tariq says he loves you too.”
Snorting, I blew a kiss into the phone and shook my head fondly. “Get up you two, we’ve got some things to take care of. And bundle up, I don’t want you getting cold.”
“You don’t have to tell me that Ms. ‘eighty-hour work week’, if it wasn’t for me you’d probably forget to eat at work.”
“Shut up, get dressed.” I disconnected the call, sighing and rubbing my temples, already feeling a headache coming on. “She can be a real handful sometimes, but she’s right, I don’t know what I would do without her.”
“I imagine that you would have to spent quite a bit more time in bed sick,” Vincent said from beside me, leaning back in the passenger seat and chewing on a blueberry donut, “I think that might not be such a bad thing actually, aside from the part where you are sick too.”
“Yeah, I could do without that part. But just laying around in bed all day, not having to do anything at all and just… resting…” I groaned, letting my head thump forwards against the steering wheel and bumping the horn. “As soon as this is all over I swear to god I’m going to sleep for a week, I don’t care what else is happening, I’m going to get my rest.”
“You’ll get no arguments from me,” Vincent said, reaching over and squeezing my thigh comfortingly, “Come on, let’s get to the office and get all this over and done with. We’ll have a few hours after to catch up on some sleep, I think we could both use it.”
“Vincent, you don’t even need to sleep do you?”
“I need to sleep a little, but I just remembered after I met you that I liked sleeping.” He smiled, somewhat sheepishly. “Can’t blame me for wanting to do something I like with someone I love, can you?”
“Nope, can’t blame you at all for that.” I reached down and squeezed his hand, before taking my hand back and placing it on the steering wheel. “But you’re right, soon as we get this over with we can go back home and do what we want for a few hours. That sounds like a plan if I’ve ever heard one.”
* * *
The office was just like we’d left it, the doorman hadn’t even had time to change shifts yet, things were coming together so quickly that it was almost enough to make my head spin. At least there was still half a box of donuts waiting for us upstairs, some sugar would keep us energized pretty well. We were going to need all the energy we could get for the next few days, and I’m starting to think that I should have gone ahead and picked up a few more bottles of aspirin. The pain in my head was likely going to become just as bad as the pain in my ass.
If you’d told me three years ago that I would be negotiating to defend a clan of paranormals from potential annihilation I would have laughed, then when I saw you were serious I would have checked you into a psych ward, this just wasn’t a direction that I could ever see taking. But who am I kidding, this is so much better than the existence that I was making out previously, just floating from case to case and hookup to hookup while I waited for something interesting to happen. Sure I had a group of friends and… Rick, but how much longer would that have really lasted if everything had stayed the same? Aside from Cara I don’t even talk to any of the others, she keeps in touch and tells me how they are sometimes but honestly… I know this sounds dickish but I’ve got no other way to say it, I think I outgrew them.
Not because we’re at different levels of maturity, not because they weren’t there for me (though honestly there was some of that), I just think that aside from Cara, none of them would actually be able to handle who I am now or what it is that I’m doing with my life. When we finally split for the last time they had been so adamant about me going back to the way that I used to be, just so I could make them comfortable to be around me again. Just so that one of them wouldn’t have to feel threatened by me and another could have fantasies about fucking me someday, why should I have to give up everything that I’m working for to please people like that?
That’s why Cara and I always meshed together, that’s why we’re still friends today after everything that both of us have been through, everything that I’ve put her through, we care about who we are, not who we were. I honestly wouldn’t trade anything about her for the world, every transformation she’s gone through, every bump and dip in our relationship, it’s all been part of a long road of making our bond stronger, and I couldn’t be prouder of the woman that she is today.
So it was with thoughts of her that I sat in my chair in my office, and it was with thoughts of her that I smiled when I heard her voice, calling from down the hallway as soon as the elevator doors opened and she stepped out.
“Oh my god Amy,” Cara groaned, throwing her hand up dramatically and cradling a coffee cup in the other, “I know I said that I would do anything for you, but I didn’t expect you to ask me to come in when there isn’t even sun on this side of the planet! I hope that I get a raise out of this.”
“Just ask Joseph, I’m sure he’d be happy enough to give you whatever number you wanted.” I stood, walking across the office and wrapping my arms around her neck, pulling her in for as deep a hug as I could possibly manage. “Thank you so much for coming, it’s so important but I knew that I could count on you.”
“No problem at all Amy, what else are friends for?” She grinned, flicking her thumb over her shoulder at a bemused Tariq. “Though I think maybe you should thank him as well.”
“Oh don’t worry, it’s no big-” Tariq grunted when I threw my arms around him as well, putting just as much feeling into this as I had with Cara. “-Deal.”
“Thank you both so much, do you want to sit and I’ll get started?”
“Sure,” Cara said, popping open the box on the desk and falling back into her seat, “Ooooo they came, I was hoping they’d get here soon. Surprised that there’s even any left.”
“Just another reason you should ask for a raise Cara.” I took my seat, crossing my hands in front of me and taking a deep breath, here I was involving them again, but unlike the other times I had needed their help I wasn’t feeling nearly so nervous about this. They were both spectacularly capable people, and had only been improving steadily just as I had, whatever it was that I trusted them with I could be sure they were going to do to the best of their abilities. “I’m sorry to say, but I’ve dragged all of us into another mess.”
Cara laughed, sucking blueberry filling off her finger and shrugging lightly, “You always get us into mess Amy, that’s just how you are. Who do we have to help this time?”
“There’s a group of shifters that have come to us on the run, they want to have protection against another clan led by a hunter that is after their blood. I’m going to go negotiate with them personally tonight, but Joseph agrees that we need to have some people present just in case things go badly when the other clan shows up. That’s why I want you two to go negotiate with the other groups in the alliance to see who they can spare.”
Tariq nodded along slowly, absorbing and thinking over everything carefully. “Who are we going to talk to? The vampires and hunters are probably out of the equation for us, which leaves the witches and werewolves right?”
“That’s right, I want you to go talk to the werewolves since they seem to like you so much. Can’t really blame them, you’re a joy to have around Tariq.” Smiling, I nodded at Cara and continued, “The witches also like talking
to you more than they do to me, it’s not like they hate me but… come on, who would you rather talk to? You’re the life of the party.”
“Well, I can’t exactly deny that,” She laughed, “But you really don’t think they would rather hear from someone who is actually a witch and doesn’t just work for one? Even if they like talking to me more, they might not appreciate being approached like that.”
“They’re not really sticklers for that kind of thing, the two most respected witches right now are Alexis and Faye, and they really could care less about who delivers the message so long as it’s delivered. If you just explain that why it is that we’re doing this then they’ll be fine with it, the other witches will fall in line behind them as well.” I smiled, nodding approvingly at her questioning gaze. “Good job for asking though, I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think that you were the right person to ask, the fact that you want to make sure it would be alright with everyone else rather than just doing what I say… that’s why I really wanted you here with me, I don’t need a lackey, I need a friend.”
“I’m everyone’s friend Amy, you know that by now.” Dropping her hand to her side, she entwined it with Tariq’s and relaxed at his touch, some of her anxiety over what this meeting was about leaving her now that she had an idea of what she needed to do. Tariq however looked just as questioning, though he was more reluctant to bring up his concerns at first.
“About me talking to the werewolves… I think my concern is much the same as Cara’s, don’t you think that there is someone more appropriate to send in my stead? The werewolves are very proud, very territorial, they may not appreciate having a human dictating their direction, not so soon after having to mistrust all of us out of survival.”
“Tariq,” I said, leaning forward, enjoying the way that even Cara knew why he was here, “I didn’t appoint you to their unofficial ambassador because it was my choice, they pretty much asked for you personally. They have a connection with you that they just don’t share with any of us, a lot of that is due to them intentionally closing themselves off from us for the most part, but according to them you’re basically kin. You’re as close to family as one can get to be with werewolves without actually becoming a werewolf yourself, as far as people who can talk to them on their terms without insulting them there’s no one more suited to the task than you.”
“Plus you’re really nice to talk to, just like me,” Cara said, “You’re really calming, I feel like I can tell you anything and I’ll like whatever you have to say to me in return. Just relax and you’ll do fine, you always do.”
“They’ve listened to you before as well I think I should remind you,” I said, “It’s not much of a stretch to say that you’re the main reason why they’re here in the alliance to begin with, without you vouching for us do you really think that any of them would have taken the chance in joining our alliance? With all the trouble that they’ve had with witches and hunters, no fucking way, that was all you.”
“I can’t…” He trailed off, seeing that arguing the point was rather redundant, and also not truthful, “I suppose that you’re right, but who’s to say that they’ll listen to me this time? Like I said, they are very proud.”
“If they don’t listen then they don’t listen, I can’t force them to help us, that wouldn’t be much of an alliance if they couldn’t make their own decisions. But if you’re the one to talk to them then that’s the best chance that we have, they might just decide to help out as a personal favor to you.”
It took him a few moments of thinking to himself and some calming breaths, but eventually he came to his decision. Looking up and nodding at me, he allowed himself a relaxed smile and a reassuring wink. “You got it,” He said, “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try my best to convince them. Who knows, maybe they’ll have grown to trust you more in the last few months, stranger things have happened.”
“Yeah, like the fact that this alliance even started in the first place,” I said, standing again and walking around to the front of the desk, “Thanks again for doing this, I’m sorry that I dragged you out of bed at four in the morning but… I hope you understand how important this is, to everyone, but especially to me.”
“Hell Amy, you could have just called us up to hang out and we would have shown up.” Cara looked to the side, stifling a giggle at Tariq’s head shake, “Well, maybe I would have, but you can’t really blame him for wanting to sleep in can you?”
“Don’t worry, next time I call you up for that it’ll be at a much better time of the day, it’s almost winter, we could go ice skating one night.”
“Oh, ice skating?” Cara laughed, “Are you going to skate out with me and dip me low in the moonlight?”
“How scandalous Cara,” I chuckled, “Tariq and Vincent are right here, how are you going to explain that to them?”
“Don’t stop on my account,” Vincent drawled, thumbing his way through a magazine with a smirk on his face, “I think you know by now how I would feel about that.”
“Ah, true true,” Cara said, elbowing Tariq in the side and flicking her head at the door, “Come on big guy, we’ve got work to do don’t you think?”
“That we do…” He nodded, resting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing down lightly. “Good luck with what you need to do Amy, if you need any help don’t hesitate to call us. We’ll come running as soon as we can.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, squeezing his hand before pushing him back lightly, “Now go on, get out of here. I’m already taking up enough of your day without holding you back here even more.”
“We’ll see you soon Amy!” Cara called over her shoulder, tugging Tariq along towards the elevators, “Don’t worry about a thing, you just think about what you need to do and leave the rest to us!”
I stood there waving for a minute after they had descended and left the building, I guess I just had to make sure to myself that they were actually leaving safely while I could still watch them. They were only going to go talk to the other members of the alliance, I wasn’t putting them on the frontlines anytime soon but… I was still getting all of us into another fight without asking, there was always collateral damage from that. Cara had been held captive only a few months ago because of exactly that, she wasn’t even a part of the alliance at that point.
But she was right, I should just focus on what I needed to do and leave the rest to them. I couldn’t have put everything in better hands, the witches and werewolves were pretty much shoe ins to fight for us with them doing the representing. I’m not blind to the fact that I can be… abrasive sometimes, and though Alexis and I had mended our bridges we still weren’t exactly able to stand in the same room for hours at a time without getting a little on each other’s nerves, but I was working on it. Until then, Cara could be my eyes and mouth, I think some would prefer it that way.
“Alright,” I said to Vincent, shrugging at him over his magazine, “Should we get back home and rest for a few hours? I’m going to have to get up soon and start planning for the negotiation, but you’ll still be able to get a few more hours, given that it’ll be daylight by then.”
“We have blackout curtains Amy, I can still help you out around the apartment when you’re busy working.” He rose, burying his face in my hair and starting to lead me away towards the elevator. “I told you, I like sleeping, but I only really need it when you’re by my side. Otherwise, wherever you are, asleep or awake, that’s where I need to be.”
I hummed, relaxing into his hold and letting him lead me. There weren’t many other places that I could have wanted to be, and for right now… this was exactly the one that I needed.
* * *
A few fitful hours of sleep passed by in what felt like an instant, my anxiety over what was going to happen tonight coupled with a burning need to do something already was good at doing that, but when I rose from the mattress I was amazed at how tired I didn’t feel. Normally after the tossing and turning that I had just done I would be ex
hausted in mind and body, ready to just fall back into the covers again before resigning myself to the fact that the work never really ended around here, but not today. It was kind of weirding me out if I was being honest, but far be it from me to complain about not having a splitting headache or a dry mouth for once.
“Stay down for a little bit more,” I said, pushing down on Vincent’s chest while he tried to rise with me, “I know you want to help, but sleep for an hour or two more. For me, ok?”
“Alright...” He nodded, smiling up at me and pressing his lips to my palm. “Don’t strain yourself too much, I’m right here to help if you need me.”
My laptop was out in the lounge, it was always tempting to take it back into the bedroom but I’d learned the hard way back in my cop days that you had to separate work from sleep, it was a recipe for disaster if you didn’t do that sooner rather than later. Even if you did all your work curled up on the couch, that was still better than doing it in the comfort of your bed, that should remain a place of rest and pleasure, and that’s it.
It was tempting to put on a pot of coffee just to be sure that I could stay energized, but I figured that was something that Vincent would want to take care of personally. I wasn’t going to say no either, he really had perfected the art in my opinion, coffee from some corner side deli wasn’t really going to cut it anymore now that I’d had it prepared by someone who had more time to learn the art than some countries had existed. Instead of doing any of that I just picked up the laptop from its space on the desk, popping it open and throwing myself back against the couch, letting the soft fabric conform around me and almost suck me in, the perfect amount of comfort that I needed while still keeping myself awake and aware. It was time to get to work.
First off I had to check through some of the information that had already been digitized, there were some morgue reports from some of the bodies that had been found, old newspaper clippings from the timeframe that Anthony had detailed about when the rival clan had been exiled, from the looks of it they had been far more brutal than he’d described. Families going missing, fires being set, hunters showing up torn limb from limb every second day, no wonder the other clans had decided unanimously to put aside their own squabbles with each other to force them out, they were a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off.